Shortly after the North Carolina Department of Agriculture announced that it was launching an operation to transfer the animals out of All Creatures Great and Small this month following the release of a seven-month long PETA undercover investigation which revealed nightmarish conditions at the no-kill shelter, our Cruelty Investigations Department received the following e-mail from the investigator who had last spent time on the inside at ACGS, confirming that it was all worth it:
Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2008 6:14 PM
Subject: Heroes
Hello all-
I want each of you to know how wonderful things are turning out at the property formerly known as acgs. Every second that we spent every long night at the office or miserable day in the rain was so worth our effort. The animals that we helped there are exponentially happy and so much more at peace now. The Dept. of Ag…and other volunteers have turned the situation around almost a full one eighty in the last 32 hours. The animals on the hill and in the kennel have been relocated to pens where they no longer fight with their neighbors. The dogs outside with no shelter have been brought in out of the elements. The food, water, hay, sawdust, peanut butter treats, meds, and love have been flowing like these animals have never known before. There is very little barking and so much less commotion. This is truly a different place now. I wish you all could be here with me to see it. Things are not perfect yet but all is being addressed quickly and concisely. I can hardly hold back the tears for the joy at knowing how valuable our time was to dogs like Hammer who has finally been given vet care. I have gotten to know a young female pit named Lilly over my time here. She was always very excited to see me come into her unprotected outside pen, but today I took her out for her first walk in what seemed to be years. She was so scared at first that she cowered and crawled but after I had her out for a while she jumped into my chest and wrapped her arms around my waist and hugged me for the longest time, kissing my chin. She is now in her own ten by ten on the hill full of saw dust, hay, and new food and water bowls, and will be moved in very soon as she is sure to be deemed adoptable very soon. I am overwhelmed with all that has happened here and I know many of you have worked much longer on this than I have. If no one else says this, THANK YOU, to each of you, from the the bottom of my heart and on behalf of the animals who can not say it the same way as you are all heroes for them! Thank you for the work you have done here. I am proud to have worked with each of you on this. If there is anyone who you would like to share this with please do so, as all who have been there in thought and concern deserve to know how important it truly was.
Sincerely,
Comments (38)
In a somewhat unorthodox move, Eight Belles' owners evidently had her cremated almost immediately after her necropsy on Saturday. With this news coming right on top of a report in Sports Illustrated that the jockey riding Colonel John heard Eight Belles whinnying as they passed during the race, we want to ensure that there’s some real transparency about the investigation into this incident. Today, PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk sent a second appeal to Commonwealth's Attorney R. David Stengel in Louisville calling for the results of her necropsy and any other tests to be made public. You can read that letter here.
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