AR-News: ChampaignInhumane.com

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

Dear Friends of SHARK, 

www.ChampaignInhumane.com is SHARK's latest website to expose more blatant 
disregard for our animal companions. As we told you a while back, Champaign 
County Humane Society (CCHS) in downstate Illinois adopts out over 30% of cats and 
dogs before altering them!  Irresponsible to say the least, but that is just 
the tip of the iceberg.  Please visit ChampaignInhumane.com to learn more 
about this animal shelter that, although well-funded, is still in the dark ages. 

Representatives of SHARK and PACT (People and Animals in Community Together) 
Humane Society attended CCHS' monthly board meeting last night.  SHARK 
President Steve Hindi reported that he was impressed with comments from some of the 
volunteers and staff at the shelter.  "I believe the volunteers genuinely care 
and are trying to do the best they can, but they are limited in that they 
cannot fix certain things such as making certain that all animals are altered 
before adoption.  That is the job of the leadership, and that is where the failure 
is occurring." 

The following two articles appeared last week in Champaign's local paper, The 
News-Gazette. 

Humane Society comes under criticism 

Published Online Apr 8, 2004 
By MIKE MONSON 
News-Gazette Staff Writer 

URBANA - Conditions for animals at the Champaign County Humane Society 
facility in Urbana are overcrowded and disease-ridden, with some dogs forced to live 
in wire crates 24 hours per day for up to a month at a time, according to the 
Champaign County animal control warden. 
Based on those conditions, County Co-Administrators Debra Busey and Denny 
Inman are recommending that the county should negotiate an agreement with the 
village of Rantoul for boarding impounded animals. 
Busey and Inman are also recommending that the county should initiate 
discussions with the cities of Urbana and Champaign about developing a plan for an 
intergovernmentally run dog pound facility apart from the Humane Society. All 
three governments currently contract with the Humane Society for animal 
impoundment. 
County animal control warden Stephanie Joos made the charges in an April 1 
letter to Inman and Busey. 
Joos wrote that conditions are so overcrowded at the Humane Society facility 
at 1911 E. Main St., U, that employees and volunteers have difficulty keeping 
the cages sanitary. 
"Because the Humane Society is currently in an overcrowded condition, many of 
the animals become sick with ringworm, kennel cough, upper respiratory 
disease and parvo (virus)," Joos wrote. "These diseases are highly contagious and 
expensive to treat. The overflow of dogs are kept in the garage in wire dog 
crates. These dogs are forced to live in the crate 24 hours a day, and often for 
up to a month at a time. 
"These dogs must defecate and urinate in their crates and then eat and sleep 
in the same area. The cages are cleaned only once a day. This is the most 
inhumane way to keep dogs, in my opinion." 
Joos wrote that cats are also kept in the garage with barking dogs, she 
wrote. 
"I don't believe it is appropriate for cats and dogs to be housed where they 
are in direct view of each other - the cats are forced to be directly across 
from the dogs, which causes the dogs to bark continuously." 

Read more at:  
http://208.5.125.166/ngsearch/index.cfm?&page=displyStory.cfm&yearfolder=the04news&file=040804%5Fngstory%5F15785%2Etxt&search=champaign%20cou
nty%20humane%20society&theorder=asaphrase 


Questions on pet food deal 

By MIKE MONSON 
2004 THE NEWS-GAZETTE 
Published Online April 9, 2004 

URBANA - The president of the Champaign County Humane Society board continues 
to sell thousands of dollars worth of pet food to the humane society shelter 
while serving on the board. 
Garry Herzog, owner of Prairieland Feeds in Savoy, confirmed Thursday that he 
sells "a substantial amount" of dog and cat food to the shelter, something he 
said he has done for years and was doing before he was named to the board in 
September. 
While acknowledging the arrangement could be viewed as a conflict of 
interest, Herzog said he provides a 5 percent discount on the product he sells and 
"makes nothing off of that transaction." 

You can reach Mike Monson at (217) 351-5370 or via e-mail at 
mmonson at news-gazette.com. 

Read more at:  http://www.news-gazette.com/story.cfm?Number=15782 


SHARK will continue to stay on top of this issue until CCHS follows in the 
footsteps of the majority of animal shelters and makes the changes necessary to 
curb companion animal overpopulation. 

Please voice your concerns to CCHS' executives and board members by visiting 
ChampaignInhumane.com for contact information. 

For the Animals, 

Jodie Wiederkehr 
SHARK 
sharkintl at aol.com 
http://www.sharkonline.org/ 
  










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“I personally cannot get overly worked up about the deprivation of human 
rights in a world where non-humans have no rights at all. Until animals and nature 
have rights, none of us have any rights at all because without animals, 
ecosystems and nature's diversity, rights are meaningless. Humans are a group that 
was never very successful to begin with. Overly territorial, obsessed with 
trivialities, violent, petty, and completely lacking in empathy for other 
species. The world would be a much nicer place without us." Captain Paul Watson 
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