People who are doing an important service for the dogs that will help
them get out of a stressful shelter environment in a timely manner
should not be banned. The 1st Ave kennel manager Lynn has banned or
fired FOUR people. I filmed shelter dogs for 7 years- starting at Lane County Animal Services in 2008.
The foster home/volunteer coordinator of LCAS (Elizabeth Thompson) said this about me on 12/12/14: "When
I worked for Lane County Animal Services I considered Molly Nicole
Smith one of our best resources for advocating for the underdogs. She
instinctively knew which animals needed extra exposure and/or were
misunderstood by their behaviors. She is a tremendous voice in animal
rescue!"
The last person who managed Lane County Animal Services was Rick Hammel. At this time we had a nearly no-kill shelter. Here are the reasons why this was able to happen: LCAS allowed EVERYONE to share ads and advertise pets wherever they wanted in order to get dogs and cats placed. They ENCOURAGED people to spread the ads on Facebook and wherever the pets would be seen. Staff was supportive of me filming. A LARGE and wide range of rescues and other shelters were used... anything safe and good for the dog was utilized. Rescues found it easy to work with Rick. Elizabeth the foster home coordinator (at the time when Rick was there) did an AMAZING job getting TONS of dogs and cats into foster homes CONTINUOUSLY, like I had never seen before! She did a bang up job. Foster people were allowed to adverstise their foster dogs on their own and have potential adopters come to their house to meet the dog. (Of course the new adopter would also speak with staff later.) This made for faster adoption rates and then the foster home could take on another dog. Adoption events were also helping. There were trainers qualified to handle a wide variety of behavior issues. Stray dogs that are dumped at the shelter are going to have a wide range of issues. Before Greenhill took over LCAS, they were only dealing with owner surrendered dogs that they chose whether or not they wanted to take in- not to say that a dog's behavior wouldn't change once entering the shelter. Rick Hammel knew the dogs by name and it was important to him that he did. He did his part too to try to find placements for them. All dogs on the Red Alert list had a half price adoption fee. LCAS HAD A RED ALERT LIST. The Red Alert list was made so that the animal welfare COMMUNITY would know which dogs had been there too long or were deteriorating or having a difficult time living in the shelter, SO THAT PEOPLE COULD FOCUS on getting them out of the shelter. THEY ENCOURAGED PEOPLE TO SPREAD THE WORD ON THESE DOGS. One thing that I wished we had was a special home set aside (where there were no other pets) where a shelter dog could be taken to for a few days to see if their negative behavior would go away if they were in a home where they could de-stress. I always wanted this opportunity for the dogs before they were euthenised- A dogs true nature can only be seen once out of the shelter and in a calm environment. Shelter stress can cause a dog to seem aggressive towards other dogs in the shelter whereas if they were in a home with no stress they may get along with other dogs. ALL THESE THINGS ARE THE MAKINGS OF A NO-KILL (or nearly no-kill) SHELTER. My hope is someday we can have this back again and do even better- a fully No-Kill shelter. But we must take action to make this happen.
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Reiterating in an email what 1st ave kennel manager Lynn said to me when I was banned.
During the meeting with Lynn, I took notes on what she was telling
me. I finished jotting down the rest of what she said as I stood in the
parking lot. I wanted to get it all written down right away so that I
didn't forget.
I sent this email to Lynn October 23, 2014. Lynn never responded to this email.
I sent this email to Lynn October 23, 2014. Lynn never responded to this email.
I believe that the real reason I was banned was because of my memorial videos of the dogs that were killed by Greenhill
I personally believe my memorial videos are the real reason I was
banned. The reasons the kennel manager Lynn had for banning me left me
dumbfounded and shocked since what she said was not true. Before the day I
was banned, the new kennel manager and I had been communicating in a
friendly way and then one day I received an email (below) about meeting
her and then when I met her I was banned.
Volunteer coordinator Kristi Chizacky called me on Jan 31st, 2014 expressed to me that they were not happy that I had filmed Mickey. At the time of the phone call Mickey was already dead.
Volunteer coordinator Kristi Chizacky called me on Jan 31st, 2014 expressed to me that they were not happy that I had filmed Mickey. At the time of the phone call Mickey was already dead.
Compelling email from former 1st ave kennel manager. My 1st amendment right violated.
*Emily cared about the dogs and was helpful to me.*
From: Emily Bullard <emily.bu@green-hill.org>
Date: Tue, Oct 15, 2013 at 12:24 PM
Subject: Posting Word Usage
To: Molly Nicole
Hello!
From: Emily Bullard <emily.bu@green-hill.org>
Date: Tue, Oct 15, 2013 at 12:24 PM
Subject: Posting Word Usage
To: Molly Nicole
Hello!
Hope this email finds you well.
Some
staff members brought the following postings to my attention, because
of word choice used in titles, such as "urgent" and the content of the
one. (Even if it's true)
You have free right to post anything
of course, but I just didn't want to lose the ability to work with you
(and use your videos) over this.
Conversation between former 1st ave kennel manager Emily and I
*Emily cared about the dogs and was helpful. A few days
before Emily wrote this email (below), she told me that staff was
"nitpicking" my videos at a staff meeting. She told me that a staff
person said I was not representing the dogs accurately in the videos.
She seemed to be unsure of what they meant by that. After I sent the
email to Emily on sept 18th (below) I met with her and asked her how I
could accurately portray the dogs. She wasn't sure how. She just told
me that she asked staff if she could start approving the videos I sent
to her so that they could be put on the main Greenhill website.*
From: Molly Nicole
Date: Wed, Sep 18, 2013 at 4:00 PM
Subject: Re: hey
To: Emily Bullard <emily.bu@green-hill.org>
From: Molly Nicole
Date: Wed, Sep 18, 2013 at 4:00 PM
Subject: Re: hey
To: Emily Bullard <emily.bu@green-hill.org>
maybe
next time when I am filming a dog you can show me/give me an example
how to accurately portray that dog. right now it isn't clear to me.
New kennel manager Lynn was supportive of me at first until after speaking with Jaclyn and Kristi C. about me (who probably mentioned my memorial videos).
On Wed, Jul 23, 2014 at 11:56 AM, Lynn Webster wrote:
Very nice!! Thank you, see you again next week, Lynn
I made a second one of Guthrie like Lynn wanted but no need to put it on the website
Very nice!! Thank you, see you again next week, Lynn
From: Molly Nicole
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2014 8:29 PM
To: Emily Hinman; Lynn Webster
Subject: new videos
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2014 8:29 PM
To: Emily Hinman; Lynn Webster
Subject: new videos
Claire http://youtu.be/V-IaPEnuq98
Adele http://youtu.be/bTAv6nnOnTUGreenhill gets the CP's Adoptapet.com account closed that advertised GH dogs. This is probably due to the use of the word "urgent" (which they don't like) on some ads for dogs that were going "kennel crazy" or running out of time.
*I never recieved guidlines from Greenhill* *The owner of the Cat's
Pajamas rescue used the word "urgent" on some Petfinder.com and Adoptapet.com ads. Greenhill complained to Petfinder.com and Adoptapet.com to get the Cat's Pajamas accounts taken away from her.*
From: Kristi Chizacky <volunteer@green-hill.org>
Date: Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 11:30 AM
Subject: RE: Another message for Kristi C.
To: Molly Nicole
Hi Molly Nicole. I’m sorry I have not gotten back to you yet. I am working on the posting guidelines we spoke about and will have those to you as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience.
Thanks!
Kristi
Kristi Chizacky
Volunteer/Foster Care Manager
Greenhill Humane Society & 1st Avenue Shelter
88530 Green Hill Road
Eugene, OR 97402
Tel: 541-689-1503 ext. 114
Fax: 541-689-5261
www.green-hill.org
Join our Facebook Fan Page
www.facebook.com/GreenhillHumane
Follow us on Twitter @greenhillhumane
From: Kristi Chizacky <volunteer@green-hill.org>
Date: Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 11:30 AM
Subject: RE: Another message for Kristi C.
To: Molly Nicole
Hi Molly Nicole. I’m sorry I have not gotten back to you yet. I am working on the posting guidelines we spoke about and will have those to you as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience.
Thanks!
Kristi
Kristi Chizacky
Volunteer/Foster Care Manager
Greenhill Humane Society & 1st Avenue Shelter
88530 Green Hill Road
Eugene, OR 97402
Tel: 541-689-1503 ext. 114
Fax: 541-689-5261
www.green-hill.org
Join our Facebook Fan Page
www.facebook.com/GreenhillHumane
Follow us on Twitter @greenhillhumane
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)