I would like to ask the HHS just why didn't the other two dogs that WERE NOT APBT have this terrible disease that humans could have contracted from them?????
We are not so naive and we know the policies of the HHS now and the policy is to KILL ALL AMERICAN PIT BULL TERRIERS AND ANY ANIMAL THAT EVEN LOOKS LIKE THEM! They will never get a cent from me ever, I don't care what they say and as long as they kill I have no use for any of them. I love Cesar Milan the Dog Whisperer who has APBT of his own, he is a good person for giving them a home...The Houston Humane Society is not a good charity for the killing they continue to do. In my opinion it was pure murder to those animals. Tonya Alexander

That is so sad about all the dogs. I am glad the place was shut down. Places like this should not exist, people like the one who ran this operation should not be allowed to exist.
:-(

I am happy to hear the "bait dogs" are doing well and ready to go to their furever home!

WELCOME BRAD!

This is one story that will not soon be forgotten; both for the horrific treatment that these animals lived in or the death sentenced they received for choices forced upon them. I do not agree with the judgment or the HHS's assistance with the situation. I called several times along with an email campaign to outside agencies to assist with this situation and yet to hear a response 4 months later. Correct me if I am wrong, but when looking into adopting the pups before the parvo was detected, there was no screening of potential adopters nor were any of the animals to be spade or neutered. Questionable, since the media has managed to capture the fear of the public and this agency would not, at least for these 27 pups, prevent them from continuing to produce future ring fighters. This is a strong, beautiful and intelligent breed which makes them conducive for the degenerates who choose to abuse them. They need our assistance and not to be exploited for the rating potential of "another Pit Bull attack," by the media. I rescued a 4 month old pit bull pup 3 years ago. When I brought her home she had been malnourished with severe staph-infection from cuts and abrasions received from being used as "bait" for aggressive adult. She was taken from a known breeder and fighter of Pits. Known by the HHS, who had previously banned this individual (Juan Frias) from owning animals because of his illegal activities involving APBTs, but continues to breed them. Not only does she live a happy, controlled and healthy life, but resides with 3 other animal peacefully. Proper care, precautions and training has made her a wonderfully rehabilitated companion. I would also like to inquire what repercussions were faced by the widow, who I believe claimed ownership eventually. And what is HHS doing with known breeders of fighters as far as follow-up?

I agree with Kimberly she is completely right in what she says, because I will never forget what the Houston Humane Society did to those animals. I called them too, I know what they told me on the phone.
How can they hurt a whole breed of a living animal, one of the most abused animals on this earth at this time? As far as I'm concerned they are the most abused dog on this earth. I didn't know their policies on the breed or I would have never thought they were a good charity for animals. I also called the SPCA and pleaded, yes, pleaded with them, and they told me they have the same policy as the HHS. I called on the phone to anyone I could find that may listen with tears and crying and nobody cares to help this breed, and that just broke my heart. I have no use for either organization, nor will I ever have any use for them at all, I swear this to be true. I called the National Humane Society in Washington D.C. and they said they are not involved with what the Houston Humane Society chooses to do, but they would not answer my questions there at all, sounding like politicians on the hill themselves asking questions on top of my questions and I never got a straight answer from them, and I come to the conclusion that this is just a money making organization that makes money on the helpless unfortunate animals.
I know one thing for sure if you call HHS or SPCA on an American Pit Bull Terrier or mix who may be abused or hurt or homeless be aware that if they get their hands on the unfortunate breed it will be killed at either place and if I understand right there is no exceptions to their rules, none whatsoever and that is just plain wrong. I saw the puppies on the news, I saw their condition and as they were standing in the cages on my news channels and I know enough about little puppies to know those puppies could have survived if they would have had a chance, but when those people got their hands on them they were doomed from the time they picked them up. They were doomed before that I realize, because bad people owned them, but an organization that claims to help animals should not treat any living animal the way those poor animals were treated! I will never forget what they did and I am completely aware now of their policies and I admit I was not aware before this, but now I know they KILL ALL APBTs that they get their hands on and they lied on television last night, because I called them and I know they lied about the disease these animals had and they should be prosecuted themselves for killing all of the puppies or just setting back and letting them die. They are LIARS and murderers and I have no use for them. That was damage control on television last night with what they said, you terrible people, we are supposed to believe that only the APBTs that were picked up died, so many of them and not even one, not even one survived the disease, but not the other poor animals, I feel sorry for those animals too, the two that did survive being kept there by the heartless, terrible people of the HHS. Go ahead and lie for your damage control I know you are liars and I will never forget what you did.
The HHS doesn't want to be liable in homing the APBT's, well I hold them LIABLE IN THEIR ACTIONS.
Thank You Brad, thank you for letting me tell what I know to be true, because I made many phone calls at the time and wrote emails and I know the truth about them. Tonya Alexander

It's not fair to this breed or similar breeds to be banned, killed, or whatever! It's the bad owner, not the dog! I've rescued 2 registered APBTs that were neglected, the owner didn't feed them or water them on a regular basis, kept them tied up on short ropes in the backyard, and left them to the elements with no shelter. And then he even left them when he and his wife moved out of my neighbors apartment. I took them, got them medical attention, fed them properly and gave them shelter, love and some training. Despite their neglect, they were sweet girls, they showed no agression towards my 2 blue heelers or my cats, or children, or even food. My cousin adopted them and took them to their farm out in the country. They have lived a life of love ever since with no complaints because of the type of dogs they are. Another family friend had a pit bull and she was a well trained, loving family dog. In fact, she thought she was a lap dog! She loved other dogs, children and yes, even cats! These are just a couple of examples of how wonderful these dogs are. It's the owner that can corrupt or correct the dog. The breed should not be punished. I understand not being able to adopt a dog out that has fought, but the other ones deserve to have a chance, no matter if they are pit bull types or not! I do not agree with the policy of putting them down without exceptions! (I am very happy that the 2 "bait dogs" have been rescued and are getting a chance for a good life!)

Although I have had limited exposure to Pits, the Pits I have known have been loving family members! I do know that one of the meanest dogs I have ever seen was a gold Cocker Spaniel that had been trained to be a guard dog!! I think it is very sad that all of the pups died! As to whether the HHS tried to save the pups, I would like to think they did. I do know they do help out many animals so I would hate to condemn them totally on what may / may not have transpired with the Pit pups. In one way though, the pups may have been spared a bad existence - seems like some judge somewhere had said that they would be put up for auction but without being spayed/neutered. This was definately not a good decision and one that would have put the pups probably back in the same type of life they were saved from. The pups are now at Rainbow Bridge. I am very thankful the 2 other dogs were rescued from being bait - and I pray they will find their forever homes very soon!!

I too felt awful about the poor dogs, however I wish we had STRONGER protection for the dogs who are bred for the sake of money. This includes ALL BREEDS. I do not feel bad that the breeder is out of business, however I wish he were in jail (or staked out in the yard) rather than dead.

More sadness that I see is that people known as BYB (backyard breeders) or puppy millers are able to sell all kinds of animals on the street corners, in flea markets and PET STORES. Several people I have known have purchased dogs who came home with Parvo and other diseases. These people have no thought to the "bad genes", disease and blindness even that can be passed on in by this bad breeding!

The protection type dogs I've known (Pit Bulls, Rottweiler and Dobermans) protect through instinct and are generally loving sweet dogs. When this type of dog is "trained" to attack or the dog is not socialized - the problem becomes significant. No dog can be put out in a yard without exercise, training and socialization and be expected to be a "good dog".

Barbara

While I think it is very sad that those animals were put down, I believe it was necessary.

Those animals were bred specifically for the agressive fighting trait and their whole life they were trained to be that way. It is extremely hard to reverse the socialization of a mature dog with that much aggresiveness, perhaps even impossible.

Keep in mind, that the puppies had multiple blood diseases, including one transferable to humans. No doubt the adult dogs were carriers or had the same disease. The person to blame is not the HHS or SPCA, but the owner and the buyers and the people who propogate keeping these types of ILLEGAL fighting rings in existence.

If you research any type of dog breen, you will most likely find that type of dog was bred for a specific skill or trait, be it hunting, herding, etc. Most non-purebred dogs of the same breed still exhibit the traits.

The policies on pit bulls may seem extreme or callous, but think of the liability the HHS and SPCA face, if they do adopt out pure-bred (mixed breeds are accepted) pit bulls and one injures, attacks, or even kills someone. 95% of pit bull lines in Texas are bred from fighting lines. That doesn't mean all are bad or will exhibit the fighting trait, but that's a large risk to take.

Not to mention, the ONLY reason animals wind up at the two shelters is because SOMEONE ELSE either no longer wanted the animal, didn't take care of it, didn't care for it properly providing adequate food, shelter, and medical care, or the animal was found as a stray.

The HSPCA alone takes in 40,000 animals of all types yearly. It runs on donations and the help of volunteers who make up the majority of the staff.

These are the people trying to help end the problems of animal over population, abuse, cruelty, fighting, etc.

Thank goodness these organizations exist or imagine how much worse the problem could be! China recently killed 5,000 dogs over 5 days brutally by clubbing them to curb a rabies epidemic. Would that be better?

If you want to see these atrocities stop, speak up and help get stronger animal protection laws in place, make punishments more costly and extreme. Tell people giving away free puppies on the side of the road that due to their irresponsibility to have their animal spayed/neutured, for every puppy they give away - a dog at a shelter is put to sleep.

Just because the HHS and SPCA have to be the ones to do the hard task at the end of the day - which, no one enjoys, doesn't make them the ones to attack. Without them, so many more animals would meet horrific ends.

In my own personal opinion, and I do try to speak my opinion to anyone that will care to listen to me now, the HOUSTON HUMANE SOCIETY is no better than the dog fighters, drug dealers, bad owners that hurt the American Pit Bull Terrier breed, and I mean NO BETTER! Where do your numbers come from 95% of all APBT's are breed for fighting, that is ridiculous numbers, most are breed because the bad owners don't spay and neuter, but they are not breed for the purpose of fighting, not that big of a number ( ridiculous numbers, and you know it!) , shame on you too Carrie, shame on you for singling out a specific breed of animal to be killed and it's inhumane to do so. Any organization that kills an animal of any kind because of the specific breed is no better than the drug dealers and fighters that hurt the breed! Go ahead and try your damage control, it's too late for many to believe your lies now, because we know what you are all about!

It is a very sad story, but it's wrong to blame or find fault with the HHS or the SPCA. Can one really think that anyone work works for one of these agencies would like to see animals put down?

1. They were sick. They could have communicated the disease to HUMANS.

2. They were bred and trained to FIGHT. They were not socialized to be pets. It is unfortunate that they could not be rehabilitated.

For those who feel so strongly about the breed, which IS misrepresented because of the bad people, don't use your energy badmouthing people who care about the animals. Use your energy educating people on how to socialize their dogs.

Tonya, I think your hostility is misdirected.

Actually Tonya you should re-read the article. HHS didn't determine the fate of those dogs. The Judge did when he ordered that they be destroyed. Maybe the Judge is the one you should be angry with.

" After it was determined they couldn't be rehabilitated as pets because of their temperaments, a Liberty County judge ordered that all of the adult dogs be euthanized --an order which HHS confirms has been carried out. "

Actually the HHS Veterinarian determined the fate of those dogs, since he is the one that told the judge that any puppy over the age of 6 months be considered an adult dog when everyone knows they were not, I called the Judge at the time too and was told that since he didn't know about the animals he was going on the advice of the HHS Vet that worked for them.
I was glad to call two elderly Aunts that usually give to the Humane Society yearly and ask them to not support the killing of innocent animals. I am very hostile when it comes to the inhumane treatment of any animal, everyone that knows me knows this to be true. I will continue to be outspoken as long as any particular breed is targeted to be exterminated by any organization.
Let's not forget the poor Katrina dog that was 'ACCIDENTIALLY' killed by them, or the poor cats killed the same day the woman turned them in, within hours I believe, when they had promised she had a few days, I know I seen the story on channel 11 news. Tonya Alexander

I would like to point out that the origin of the APBT dates back to the 1800's when 'bull-baiting' and bloosports were popular entertainment in the Roman and European areas.

The breed we know today was bred from dog types that exhibited 'bully' type behavior and good fighting skills, like the terrier, orignally used to hunt vermin when the black plague was around and rats carried the disease.

So, technically, one could say 100% of pit bulls were bred from fighting lines as that was what constituted the inception of the breed.

Google it.

Aside from that, like I said, with proper socialization and training and responsible ownership of these animals can make great pets.

The ones in this case, were sadly the victims of greed and inhumanity on the part of the breeder and those who would pay to fight them. Sadly, never being properly socialized or trained, these animals would never be able to adapt to a normal living environment with humans, even as much as we wish we could change them.

Well, which is it now, 100% or 95%, your statistics change with each entry you make, and anyone can find just about anything they wish to find on the worldwide web, true or not ?? "95% of pit bull lines in Texas are bred from fighting lines." Is completely incorrect and you know it! 285 Dogs killed from one organization in one full swoop of your extreme cruelty! Completely TRUE! Extreme cruelty and more than I could endure to watch happening every night on my television as The HHS pursued the deaths of the innocent in abundance since there were 285 and many, many, many were just babies!!! The HHS might as well have put all of those babies in a bag and threw them in the RIVER as far as I see it, because it was extreme cruelty on their part! Now there are your numbers for you of the HHS, 285, that's a big number!!!!!!

To Whom It May Concern,
The Houston Humane Society kills all American Pit Bull Terriers that are brought to them, they do not want to be liable for homing any APBT or mix and as long as the HHS continues to hurt this breed of animal than I have no use for you at all. The policies need to be changed, there are no exceptions to the policy for this breed of animal and I hold all that kill animals and sentence them to death just because they are of a particular breed accountable for their actions. I hold all organizations liable for their own actions against any breed they may single out.
I feel APBT's are the most abused animals on this earth, by bad owners, dog fighters, drug dealers, The Humane Society and the SPCA, I include you in contributing to this poor unfortunate animals abuse, anyone that singles out this breed to be killed is just as bad as the dog fighters that abuse this particular breed.
Sincerely, Tonya Alexander

Tonya, open your own public admission shelter and take care of all the animals yourself. These organizations, HHS, HSPCA, BARC, and many others do the best they can with what they have. They can not make anyone adopt an animal, and they can not stop people from turning them in. Eventually, they all run out of space, and it is the animals who lose in almost every situation. I love pit bulls and all bully breeds, I hate to see them euthanized, but trust me, when you see them after they have been used as bait with all their teeth kicked out of their head, euthanazia may be the better option.But again, if you do not like the decisions made by the agencies we currently have, start your own.

Tonya,

It is obvious you are not approaching this discussion from an open-minded, educated perspective. You are not reading the facts I am stating and appear to be very ignorant about animal shelters, the overpopulation problem and the actual issue that has you so upset.

While normally I might take offense to being referred to as no better than a drug dealer by inclusion, I am really only mildy amused at this point.

You don't know me, so I will introduce myself.

I am an animal advocate. I write to my state and local representatives regulary to push for stricter animal rights laws and harsher punishments for offenders.

I have been volunteering my personal time with various animal orgizations for years. I do volunteer regularly for the HSPCA and participate in fund raisers, mobile adoption, educating the public and hands on care of the animals.

I foster animals that are too young or underweight, ill or injured at my own personal expense to get them healthy and socialized so they can be adopted. I keep in touch with several of my fosters new parents for updates.

When Katrina and Rita came through, I worked every weekend until I was so exhausted I got sick. I gave up my lunch hours to man emergency phone lines helping to coordinate the rescue and reuniting of pets with their owners.

No matter how happy it makes me to find an animal a home, my heart always sinks at the end of the day to see how many more animals people brought in to us for various reasons. I cry a lot and have seen horrors that haunt me due to animals being mistreated before they come to us. I cannot save them all, nor can any one organization, but I try to save as many as I can.

You have a passion for animals which is obvious. I encourage you to study more about the pit bull problems and would suggest renting a documentary about pit bull fighting. You are entitled to like or dislike whichever organization you choose. I do hope however, you will pursue finding one that you do like and give your time to help the animals. It is always more rewarding to help be part of the solution as opposed to just pointing the finger at others.

Call me ignorant if you wish, this is your way of trying to ignore the fact that you have been found out by many people who know your policies on killing the APBT.
I have a right to voice my opinion about you killing an innocent animal, because you kill them if they are of that breed and you know it, call me names, I don't care, you are just trying to keep people quiet so you can go on killing the poor APBT's like you have done in the past.
Many people do not know and so they should be made aware, you can not go and read the National Chapters and find the article stating they wish to exterminate and entire breed from the face of the earth, each individual chapter is different and the Houston chapters kill all APBT's that come in or they pick up, so people all need to be warned and all people should be made aware of your policies.
You love the Pit Bull's????? How can you love them when your organization takes the stand to kill all of them? Money is the number one priority for many of your organizations, not saving animals. Humanely killing them is still just killing!!
I do realize that all can not be saved, but you kill ALL of that breed you get your hands on and you know it, there is no trying to socialize them or find them homes, but you put them to death.

Ok. This is turning into being more entertaining to watch than Rosie O'Donnell and Donald Trump.

Hmm.. let me see if I can figure this out. Carrie (Rosie O'Donnell) makes a statement full of facts that are verifiable to anyone with reading comprehension skills. Tonya (Donald Trump) is going off on a tirade, hitting every talk-show known to man... calling names and skewing the facts that are just so obvious.

The only difference here... is I can't tell what color the ferret is that is living on top of Tonya's head.

Tonya,

Let me offer a new perspective.

In May of this year, my 7 year old, 8 pound Maltese was torn to shreads and murdered. By whom? My neighbor's pitt bulls.

Not only did I have to witness my precious pet's grueling death, my children had to suffer the consequences of losing him.

Hearing your 6 year old repeatedly scream out for his dog that he knows is now dead due to a senseless act is more than I hope you ever have experience. I not only lost a pet, my heart was broken.

Our entire neighborhood was terrorized by these animals - unable to walk their own pets on leashes, not able to jog around the neighborhood for fear of these animals who would constantly break out.

Thankfully, we only lost our pet. It could have been much worse. These dogs are bread for one thing: killing. It does not matter how they are raised, it is in their breeding. Period.

The dogs that killed mine were captured by the city and thankfully, put down.

I, for one, would be very pleased to have that breed of dog exterminated.

Call me what you want, but I don't want to have anybody go through what I did - when it can, and should be prevented.

Tonya needs to take a happy pill.
Tonya also needs to get her facts straight.
I don't imagine Tonya would feel quite the same way if she saw her own pet or kid get mauled by these lovely animals.

Just sayin'.

I oppose laws that ban specific breeds of dogs or that discriminate against particular breeds. These laws unfairly discriminate against responsible dog guardians based solely on their choice of breed. Such laws also fail to achieve the desired goal of stopping illegal activities such as dog fighting, and breeding and/or training dogs to be aggressive. So Houston fails to stop the illegal activities of dog fighting and breeding aggressive dogs by just killing the entire breed and you are wrong, you are profiling based unfairly on your own "Generic" based Organizations that are not the Nationally run organizations that people know, but Generic ones based on you taking the SPCA or Humane Society name and doing as you choose to do, which is kill.

Tonya,

If there are no aggressive dogs, there will be no aggressive dog fights. Problem solved.

No matter how "responsible" a pet owner thinks they are, the dogs are bread to be aggressive. It is in their blood.

If you are so opposed to these laws, do this. I will host a party in my backyard. You will be the only one invited. The neighbors who share my fence have the pits. They are constantly trying to jump over while snarling whenever anybody goes out there.

Have fun. And, have a beer for me - if you can before you are mauled.

Tonya,

If people would STOP deciding to get rid of their animals or letting them breed and then dropping the litters off at shelters, then there wouldn't be any shelters.

The shelters don't seek out animals, they are brought to them. When an animal is not suitable for adoption, they are informed. Many DO NOT CARE and say 'whatever' and leave. We encourage people to seek other shelters or find people to take their pets. Your pet is your responsibility and if you decide to discard it, the same responsibilty falls on you to find out what the policies are at the place you are dumping it before you go. It's really not hard to do.

No-Kill shelters are nice, but they eventually run out of room and turn people and their unwanted pets away. A lot of the time, these people will then dump their animal on the side of the road, which usually ends very badly and painfully for the animal.

I hate to tell you, but the policies about the HHS and HSPCA are not secret. I have shared them and explained them to many people, who are intelligent enough to understand why they are in place.

If the pitbulls in this situation had been adoptable, the HHS would have partnered with another organization to coordinate the adoption of the animals or proceeded with the auction the judge had suggested. Just like the HSPCA has partnered with the rabbit organization to find homes for the ones they took in.

Tonya,

If you do a search on Google for 'pit bull fighting rings' the first article will take you to the ASPCA (the one shelter in New York) pit bull information page which has the breed history, problems from fighting, and why many shelters turn them away or have to euthanize them. It is very informative. I assure you they are not liars.

I tried posting the link, but it appears to be not allowed in this forum as they can't monitor where it goes.

I think that no matter what is said and facts that are given Tonya is going to have her opinion even if it is not fact based and only what she wants to believe.

I love animals and dont feel that they should be put to sleep for just any reason but when they are inhabitable and dangerous to society what other options are there?

I googled the information Carrie posted and it is very eye-opening about this problem. Maybe everyone should take a look at it.

THERE WERE NO 'BAIT DOGS' ITS NEGATIVE MEDIA,THOMAS THE PREVIOUS OWNER OF THE SUPPOSED 'BAIT DOGS' RESCUED ONE OF THOSE DOGS FROM A WALMART, BAIT DOGS DONT MAKE ME LAUGH!PEOPLE LIKE TO GO OUT OF THERE WAY TO LIE ,BAIT DOGS COME ON WHAT NEXT,BBQ SAUCE,BRAD YOU DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT PITBULLS!