Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Help Me!! I've Been Rescued By Brenda Barnette


Help Me!! I was Rescued By Brenda Barnette for a News Release. I’m “warehoused” at an LAAS shelter. She didn’t give me a name, except A1182494.

When Breeder Barnette first got the LAAS GM job, those who did their homework were deeply alarmed that L.A. had selected a breeder and AKC Legislative Liaison who opposed our spay/neuter law to run LA Animal Services. Nathan Winograd supported her. Did you notice that Mr. Winograd has become silent now that
Brenda Barnette's kill numbers are UP (not heading for no-kill as she promised?) Wasn't it the Whino himself who says the killing can stop "OVERNIGHT"? So six months of overnights and the killing is up?

When the informed complained about L.A. hiring a breeder for GM, the cry from the fawning uninformed Winograd followers (ESPECIALLY THE ADL-LA) was, "The shelter animals don't care who saves them! Brenda Barnette will save them!" (The Whino knows that Barnette actually worked against the shelter animals while in Seattle, preferring to import unvaccinated dogs from Kern County over the shelter animals in King County.)

And what happened to the ADL-LA? They used to be strident advocates for improved shelter results. Now they are pandering and manipulated operatives spewing disconnected misinformation and using pathetic overdramatized scenarios to try to make Brenda Barnette look good (or at least like she’s doing something!).

Recent example. A cat. Let's call him "A1182494." Because that's what Brenda Barnette calls him. (Whoa, isn't one of the "No Kill" rules is to give names to the animals?)

The ADL-LA dutifully cross-posted a "News Release" for Brenda Barnette about A1182494.

It seems poor A1182494 got injured in Beverly Hills. That eventually led someone to call in SmART, the LAAS specialists in capturing small animals in life-threatening situations. The injured cat had evaded a humane trap, tranquilizer pills, and multiple dart gun shots.

Finally the SmART team "rescued" the cat. WHERE WAS THIS CAT NEEDING RESCUE? Amid the chaise lounges. Brenda Barnette with her very questionable "wisdom" deduced that a specialized team with specialized equipment (at a pretty hefty salary paid by tax money) "rescuing" a cat from under pool furniture is newsworthy. (Wow! Don't slip on the suntan lotion!)

She issues a "News Release" describing the "rescue." The SmART team is excellent, but really, Brenda. A news release for rescuing a cat from a Beverly Hills chaise lounge??

The real news will be if Brenda Barnette can actually get this cat adopted.

Brenda Barnette’s riveting news release said the cat was impounded at the West L.A. shelter on January 16, 2011. It is now February 16th, one month later.

Where is the A1182494 now? Right where he was when he got impounded 31 days ago. Stuck in his little shelter cage like all the other cats Brenda Barnette has done nothing new or innovative to get adopted. (Thank goodness, he didn’t end up in somebody’s garage or basement!)

Wouldn’t any halfway decent GM who had nothing better to say in a news release than that a cat was "rescued" from Beverly Hills pool furniture would at least say something cute, endearing, lovable, or heart-grabbing about the cat to help him get adopted?

Not Breeder Barnette. Maybe because Brenda Barnette's choice is poodles. She demonstrates no affinity (or adoption ideas) for cats. In her news release, buried in the hyperbole about SmART, is an easy to miss one-word description of A1182494’s personality as "sweet." That's it. A 641 word news release and that’s all she can come up with to help save his life.

The very least she could have done is announce an adoption date, offered a reduced fee or something. If you care to look, you will see a most unbecoming picture of this poor cat, scared in a cage with an e-collar on. Sure, people will rush right out to adopt this cat after seeing that picture! Any idiot knows that the cat deserves a better photo than that.

Did Barnette bother checking the photo? Did she ask the West LA shelter to use the “rescue” story to help promote this cat? Does she understand or care how poor this cat's chances are? Does she have any idea at all to help him?? Winograd and ADL praised Brenda Barnette's masterful adoption skills. What has she done to "market" poor A1182494? Or was the goal the “news release” and nothing after that mattered?

So A1182494 is “lost” again. This time among the other 1,000+ LAAS animal photos on the LAAS website. Brenda Barnette's "news release" makes herself and the SmART Team look good, but not the cat, who is now in peril.

Brenda Barnette used the cat for her own purposes but is evidently not doing a damn thing to help him get adopted. It is now one month since A1182494 was impounded. ONE MONTH since, January 16, 2011, he has been waiting. Waiting for Brenda Barnette to do SOMETHING to help him get a home and save his life. This special “rescue” by the GM has been overlooked by even the New Hope partners.

But can someone tell A1182494 that it’s not just him? Sadly, the other LAAS cats are in bigger trouble than before Brenda Barnette got here too. Look at Brenda Barnette's LAAS cats statistics. The last four months show fewer cats falling under the live release stats. In other words, more cats dying under Barnette.

Just wait till the spring when those litters start rolling and watch the euthanasia go up because Barnette is pulling a Boks trick, called WAREHOUSING. Look on the website and see animals there for several months, sitting in a cage, getting kennel stress and becoming sick and/or less adoptable with each passing day.

Also want to mention that in the last four months, Barnette's adoption figures are LESS than when the department was under Davis and Barth, and Brenda in her ultimate wisdom dumped Linda Barth—the only person with administrative knowledge-- because Barth wouldn’t be her puppet like flunky Mark Salazar. Barth knew how to say “No” and she knew when something was badly wrong. Barnette doesn’t want to hear “No” because SHE is always right! (Tell that to A1182494!)

Hey, somebody out there—if you want a “sweet” cat, the GM assured us a month ago there’s one at West LA Shelter. He doesn’t have a name. Just ask for A1182494.

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