Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Best Friends' Dogtown, living up to its reputation as Above Ground Cemetary

looks like the VICKTORY dogs got into a scuffle saturday night. nothing major, mind you. just a scuffle. one dog died and two were injured. the celebrities survived and that's all that matters.

the "official" story goes like this: BEANS, an adoptable pit bull at dogtown SOMEHOW escaped his containment and SOMEHOW broke into VICKTORY TUG'S containment who in turn SOMEHOW broke into VICKTORY DENZEL'S containment and "a fight ensued." when the rescue angels showed up for work sunday morning, BEANS, the adoptable cur was dead and the VICKTORY dogs were needing medical attention. the BEST FRIENDS nutter FAITH MALONEY is relieved that their cash cows, i mean that the VICTORY dogs will make a full recovery, while she makes NO mention of BEANS' name or identity in the blog post. BEANS is simply referred to as "one of the dogs". i love it when the nutters are honest. BEST FRIENDS is placing the blame on BEANS' prey drive towards deer. they are speculating that the site of deer pushed the loyal people pleasin' frankenmauler into berserking mode.

and the comments are just freaking awesome. some are actually suggesting that people who do not like BEST FRIENDS deliberately released the dogs to sabotage their work. i don't think there is enough B12 in the entire universe to fix them.

BEANS, the low ranking plebeian cur dog who doesn't even deserve to be named.

Beans really wants to be your friend --- really!

But you may not realize it at first. Beans loves it when people are willing to spend time with him and pet him, but it's hard for him to show his appreciation. We think he may have had bad experiences with people and when interacting with other dogs, because he tends to warn them away. (In fact, he'd like an experienced doggie handler because when you're out walking, he doesn't like bumping into horses, deer, rabbits, cats -- any of those things!)

But Beans is very obedient and loves to learn. He can sit, lie down, walk on a lead and he enjoys a good game of fetch. Beans wants to learn more tricks and recently has been trying agility training and is pretty good at it. He wants someone to take him into a forever home and give him the time he needs to know he's safe and loved. Is that too much to ask?

VICKTORY DENZEL

Denzel How did this boy get so happy? When 22 dogs arrived at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary after they were rescued from the property of former NFL quarterback, Michael Vick, most of them were pretty scared and traumatized. But one of them - Denzel - seemed like he had somehow come out of the dog fighting ring fairly unscathed. He was so sociable and friendly! But he hadn't come out unscathed at all. Denzel turned out to be deathly ill.

VICKTORY TUG

Tug gets his name because that's his favorite thing to do -- pull hard! He's a very strong boy, and Best Friends caregivers are trying to think up lots of creative ways to help him channel that energy.

Tug is one of the 22 dogs who came to Best Friends from the estate of former NFL quarterback, Michael Vick after he was arrested and charged with "conspiracy to engage in dog fighting in violation of the animal welfare act." He may have been a fighting dog, but when Tug arrived at the sanctuary, he didn't want to hurt anybody; he just didn't want anybody to hurt him. He's still afraid of loud noises and camera flashes. (But we thank him for letting us take his picture! We know it was scary.)

Caregivers are working round the clock with him to help him feel comfortable, and to help him channel all that athletic energy. They take him for walks with an "easy walk harness" that keeps him from pulling them down the road in excitement. And they're looking into a scooter wagon so he can actually pull his caregivers on rides! They think he'll like that.

Tug has a lot of healing left to do. Please be his sponsor and cheer him on from afar. It's you that makes his new life at the sanctuary possible.

UPDATE the best of friends, worst of friends blogger is reporting that BEANS was killed in HIS kennel. it appears that these sickos will say and do anything to preserve the image of the VICK dogs. take a moment to poke around the blog. this muckraker appears to be completely dedicated to exposing the utah cult. good job.

30 comments:

Small Survivors said...

They basically say in Beans' description that he shows aggression to people and dogs, and attempts a full on attack at the sight of any other animal. They are deranged to think that dog could have been adoptable.

The comments were incredible. One person said in the comments section of and account AN UNBELIEVABLY TENACIOUS SERIES OF ATTACKS, that there is no "scientific" evidence that these dogs can't be rehabilitated. DISCONNECT!

I really wonder why they didn't want to name the dog. They must have known all the devotees would want to know. And it was the first thing the devotees asked. I understand the elevation of the Vick dogs, but it still doesn't explain why they didn't even name Beans. There's something weird there.

And if they want to be lion tamers, this, of all places, would be the place with the resources and the space where they could do it. And they can't.

Anonymous said...

"Beans wants to learn more tricks"

Like ripping out the throats of young children.

BB said...

I kept reading past Beans listing and they didn't get any better. Virtually none of those dogs are safely adoptable. The answer for almost all of them should be humane euthanasia.

Anonymous said...

You should read all the comments that are pouring in from that site!

http://blogs.bestfriends.org/index.php/2010/10/11/sad-news-from-dogtown/

I'm trying to educate these people, but sadly I think my words and proof are falling on deaf ears.

Garnet said...

Good grief. That's at least three breaks ins/outs of apparently double fenced enclosures, "coincidentally" all by fighting breed dogs.

Deer didn't cause this - this is rather predictable behavior from fighting dogs. The idea that game-bred pit bulls have to be taught to fight and can be "untaught" is false. There's a reason pit bulls are so commonly used as fighting dogs - they will instinctively fight another dog until death. No other breed can even come close to matching their tenacity in the fighting pit. That "gameness," as they call it, is not a learned trait. If any dog could be taught to fight that well, other breeds would be used. When will these pit bull ding dongs realize that the dogs they promote have the potential to do serious damage to other dogs?

I'm going to guess that this little incident is going to be omitted from any other pit bull promotional material put out by Best Friends. They're lucky that a person wasn't caught up in this - someone could have easily been mauled trying to break up a fight among such aggressive dogs.

Anonymous said...

Dogsbite.org is also covering this "yard accident" and is looking for Beans' photo.

http://blog.dogsbite.org/2010/10/yard-accident-at-best-friends-involving.html

Anonymous said...

Best Friends is a big Utah dog fighting pit.

They dumped at least 250 other dogs so they could fill it with pit bulls and get money and attention from dog fighters.

They should all go straight to hell. They seem to enjoy trying to get animals and people killed.

Ledy VanKavage, you have blood on your hands. It's a miracle that these dogs weren't dumped in some home somewhere by now to kill. They have been trying to! Best Friends is perfectly willing to do it.

What the hell happened at this place? Who turned Best Friends into Dog Fighting Central? When did they forget about all the other breeds of dogs, and start encouraging pit bull slaughter of pets?

scurrilous amateur blogger said...

i am not at all surprised by this new revelation. i think it explains why they couldn't name him. falsely blaming BEANS was creating guilt so they had to create distance in their minds and depersonalize him.

Garnet said...

Geez, according to the ex-friender blog, Tug actually tore the head off of Beans?! Did I read that right? And that it was Tug who did the breaking and entering but Best Friends lied about it? Crazy.

I guess I was wrong about the double fencing, but it sounds like they should have had that.

I wonder if they are going to euthanize Tug? Tearing the head off of another dog is out right disturbing behavior and indicates a severe aggression problem. Anyone with half a brain should be able to see that.

Really, I like dogs, and it's awful that Vick treated his dogs so poorly and the dogs really can't help what they were bred for, but...sometimes an animal is beyond help and the safety of people and other animals has to take priority.

scurrilous amateur blogger said...

the problem is that the entire cult compound probably doesn't a fully functioning brain combined.

i can't see them euthanizing any of these Vick dogs, EVER.

Anonymous said...

They are all paying their bills off the backs of the Vick fighting dogs. All of them. These jackasses get paid to promote fighting dogs and cover up for fighting dogs.

The Vick dogs are getting caged up for these people to profit from. It's like a fighting dog zoo. They are truly sick.

And they so don't want to lose their paychecks, they invented the Beans breaking in story to take the rap for the Vick vicious dogs.

Garnet, what is the blog you mentioned?

Anonymous said...

The real tragedy is, there are probably thousands of highly adoptable, friendly dogs in this country that will be euthanized for lack of resources....dogs that require no special handling skills or attention, dogs that could safely and happily live almost anywhere, and make wonderful family companions. Yet these nut jobs at Best Friends want to spend millions to save aggressive, unadoptable dogs. I just don't get it. Why is it OK to put down 100 retrievers or hounds with no aggression problems to save one pit bull?

And what of the Vick beagles? Where are they? Why aren't the animal welfare organizations which were granted these dogs letting the public klnow what happened to them? Why the big secret?

shar pei mix said...

...except that Beans was the victim of a misrepensentation! His photo is clearly that of a boxer/shepherd mix. Not an adoptable pit bull at all!

scurrilous amateur blogger said...

it sounded like beans was beheaded. certainly wouldn't be the fist.

steven hayashi's pits killed their chihuahua, parrot and beheaded their akita before killing his grandson.

http://cravendesires.blogspot.com/2010/07/deja-vu.html

Garnet said...

Anon: it is the one here:

http://exfriender.wordpress.com/2010/10/11/safety-is-too-expensive/

I don't see Best Friends euthanizing any of the Vick dogs either, primarily because of the money involved. Honestly, at this point Tug is a huge liability and a danger to the other dogs and people. They've got a lot of different volunteers coming and going and another accident could easily happen. Also, as noted above, a pit bull that had earlier beheaded an Akita went on to kill a child. This extreme behavior should not be ignored but I'm sure it will be. We're getting into criminal levels of stupidity here.

scurrilous amateur blogger said...

euthanizing a vick dog would be a an admission of failure. that will never happen as long as ledy's in charge.

Anonymous said...

Anybody else thinking that Tug learned his pulling skills on a springpole?

Tug will live as long as the money lasts.

scurrilous amateur blogger said...

tug will live out his entire natural life. ledy vankavage and jane berkey will makes sure of that.

Anonymous said...

Good lord the responses I'm getting towards the whole thing is asinine! You really have to read some of these gems.

Will said...

The Vick beagles were taken by HSUS and adopted out through the Virginia Beach SPCA. Those two groups didn't seem to feel it was necessary to fundraise over these dogs so they quietly put them into good, loving homes.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunatley this does not surprise me at all. One of my co-workers adopted a dog from Dog Town. She adopted her dog which I think is a Lab/Border Collie mix right before she left Utah. She said Dog Town was probably the worst, most scary place she had ever seen. The dog she adopted had been attacked and seriously injured not by his "abusive family" that he was "rescued from", but while at Dog Town. She said that they have huge pens with 15-20 large breed dogs(many of them Pit Bulls) running around in each pen. Very little shelter other than some crappy dog houses (and temps can be extreme in Utah.) The only human contact the dogs get are when the volunteers go in each day to dump food in pans spread out all over the place.
She immediately adopted her dog just to get him out of there and she paid for his massive vet bills to get him well from the attack.

Dog Town is in reality a Dog Nightmare! Can you imagine if you or I were wrongly arrested, or as a child abandoned by our families and then dumped into the "prison yard" of one of the most notorius maximum security prisons in the nation, housing the most ruthless criminals to pass through the prison system???? That's what many of these poor dogs are faced with. Scooped up from shelters or unsuspecting people who have fallen on hard times, handing over their gentle pets to these greedy psychopaths!

And SHAME SHAME on Nat Geo. Animal Planet and all of these other channels for glorifying these people. What the hell happened to investigative reporting??? Thank God for free thinking Bloggers, because our "journalists" are sorely. It's the Bloggers who are digging in and researching info. While the media just skims the internet for key words and quick stories.

Anonymous said...

Anon 10;19, it's worse than I thought.

Are they getting away with this because Utah has such lax animal cruelty laws?

Anonymous said...

Best Friends Financial Report shows cash holdings up over 100 percent between 2008 to 2009!

http://www.bestfriends.org/aboutus/pdfs/09%20BFAS%20Audited%20FS.pdf

There is no reason the organization couldn't have beefed up the enclosures to safely contain the Vick dogs and save Bean's life. Apparently, the decision was made to not double fence the enclosures...How would the public view these media dogs needing to be kept like wild animals?!?

Furthermore... would someone ask if a pit needs fencing like this, how can they be allowed in residential homes?

RIP Beans!

scurrilous amateur blogger said...

some non-profit organizations are run in a classic corporate type fashion: profit is the bottom line.

thank you for the link to the BF audit. i will read it later.

Anonymous said...

Interesting article from 2009 on Board of Directors. This may be different right now, but not very impressive.

http://news.bestfriends.org/index.cfm?page=news&mode=entry&entry=04336AE9-19B9-B9D5-9D333F8A13904B79

Notice the comments at the end. Best Friends doesn't just treat animals badly, they treat people badly as well.

"However, until the nepotism and, darting about of the founders into and out of daily operations is addressed, it will be an up hill process. Interesting to see how this will happen with the past Chief Executive's wife on the new board.
One of the first tasks of the new Executive Director will be to overcome the fear, mistrust, and “gotcha” mentality that has been ingrained into the staff by the immediate past regime.

A great deal of time should be spent with the direct caregivers re-building trust, instilling the belief that they are valued by management, and developing a more transparent, rational, and consistent management style. Heaven knows, the caregivers are the real Angels of Best Friends and their voices should be listened to very carefully in this process"

I would like to know what Board Member Brian Wolf, a portfolio manager and member of the investment committee at the $22 billion investment firm Grosvenor Capital Management, where in 2002 he became the company’s youngest and first non-founding partner, has to say about the lying and coverups at Best Friends as well as the abuse. His field has certainly been under heavy criticism for bad behavior.

Anonymous said...

Anyone who donates to Best Friends is insane. It's all going into the pockets of management, not the animals.

Check this out. There's massive money coverup, and remember that the merchandise and gift shop income goes to the founders' private company. They are profiting off the volunteers that come and stay too and "rent" from them.

http://www.bbb.org/charity-reviews/national/animal-protection/best-friends-animal-society-in-kanab-ut-1107

Evaluation Conclusions

Best Friends Animal Society (BFAS) does not meet the following 2 Standards for Charity Accountability.

Standard 4: Compensated Board Members - Not more than one or 10% (whichever is greater) directly or indirectly compensated person(s) serving as voting member(s) of the board. Compensated members shall not serve as the board's chair or treasurer.

BFAS does not meet this Standard because:

5 members out of the 10 member board of directors (50%) are compensated either directly or indirectly. One of the compensated board members is the chair of the board.

Standard 16: Annual Report - Have an annual report available to all, on request, that includes: (a) the organization's mission statement, (b) a summary of the past year's program service accomplishments, (c) a roster of the officers and members of the board of directors, (d) financial information that includes (i) total income in the past fiscal year, (ii) expenses in the same program, fund raising and administrative categories as in the financial statements, and (iii) ending net assets.

BFAS does not meet this standard because the most recent annual report did not include:

Total expenses for each major program in the same categories that appear in the organization’s financial statements

Anonymous said...

So has Best Friends Wikipedia entry been updated with their recent Victory dog killing info? Or do these crazies cemsor the truth there too?

Has Charity Navigator gotten comments about Best Friends "charitable" abuses of recent date? There's a place there that people can leave comments.

Donors have no idea about the abuse at Best Friends, the lies, the profiting.

Anon 2;30, there are a constant stream of comments in other places that Best Friends is just not spending money on animal care at the facility.

Anonymous said...

How is Best Friends silencing the people who see first hand the dirty tricks and cruel treatment?

Employees "had to sigh paperwork stating that he would NEVER talk about BF in a negative way on penalty of being banished forever working again in animal care and/or being sued. How do I know that? I signed the paperwork"

I would just bet that anyone who adopts the Vick dogs has to sign the same thing, maybe anyone who adopts any dog. They are threatening and intimidating people into silence.

I just can't believe that people who care about animals would allow themselves to be silenced like this by these empty threats. Best Friends would get exposed to all if they initiated a lawsuit like this. It's just threats, but I guess the people they hire are very naive. Who could be silent about the terrible things Best Friends is doing?

Anonymous said...

More on Best Friends and Ledy VanKavage. What is she in charge of? I thought this woman was their lobbyist.

I wonder how much of Best Friends is getting controlled by Jane Berkey, through Ledy VanKavage?

"Between their two blogs and ghost comments, facts they give are intended to be contradictory and confusing. More so now, since Ledy has taken charge."

responsibledogowner said...

The pit nutters would rather they be in your community where they can "somehow get out" and maul you, your child or your pet.