No-Kill or Slow-kill

I adopted a cat from pet rescue over ten years ago. What an awful place it was! I wanted to take every animal out of there. My cat was sick when I got her, with an upper respiratory infection and huge fleas. She was sickly the entire time I owned her, but had a good life. She finally came down with renal disease and died of pneumonia at the age of 11 (I had her about 10 years.)

There were so many sick animals in that place when I was there. I heard it was a no-kill facility, which is why I went there. I hated every second I was there. There was a cat with a huge seeping wound, another cat that had recently had its leg amputated and an ugly welt. Cages of cats stacked in this room. And the owner said there was another room with over two hundred more cats in it. I couldn't go in there. I talked to my vet about the place and told everyone I knew that it needed to be shut down. I totally support you in your efforts to close this place down. If there is anything I can do, let me know.

Karen B.
Wheaton, IL

1992 ..... Shameful

(Some specifics have been omitted with respect to the responder)

I testified against Dale and Penny in Springfield a few years back. For that one I went when someone fighting against PR asked me to. I have the transcripts from the trial but everything was "off the record" and I have no proof of what was said. That was quite discouraging,
when I went to Springfield both Shelter Investigators showed me a 4 drawer high file cabinet FULL of complaints against PR, and that was in 1992! Of course I didn't get to open the drawers and look at them, but hey pulled the drawers out and they were full. In the trial part that was "off the record" Dale was caught using money for PR to pay for an Alaskan Cruise! She agreed to stop misusing the money and get new, better cages for the animals. It sure doesn't look like that happened! What happened with the Attorney that was trying to close PR a year or so ago? She was mentioned on Fox News? Did anything come from her attempt to regulate or close PR? Please keep me posted.
Thanks!
Melanie

Sad but worse now @ Pet Rescue

Nov 11, 2009 Wednesday 8:58 AM

I volunteered on two different occasions, once for 3 years and once for 4 years. They did let me adopt two Lhasa Apso, since that dog breed was considered mean, yet they liked me, but I got one @ 4 and he passed away @ 14 with Cancer in Dr Baker's vet office and the other who ended up being diabetic @ about 17 years old. Him I had for about 13 years. While @ Pet Rescue, the place was dirty and messy.
The first time I volunteered on Saturdays working with the public and showing the animals to them and often the people were turned down. On my way to Pet Rescue Dale had me pick up one of the Kennel cleaners from Dale's home who would be cleaning her home each Saturday. She justified it, because she claimed she rescued a bunch of animals. I understand she hide animals because she would take over the limit & then never took them to be adopted and they became her pets, but when I arrived to pick the polish lady up a number of them would be by the door wanting to be patted and the lady would sometimes bring a few out some I would pat them while she quickly finished cleaning something @ Dale's house. I never seen the inside because she said she did not want to get in trouble with Dale, so I never pressed her to let me in, since she was a nice polish lady who I could speak with since I spoke polish. She did say there were a number of cages the animals were in, so how can they be considered pets (dogs & cats). She also said Dale was not a clean person and had her personal stuff as dishes to wash, bed sheets,etc. We would then go to pet rescue where the cleaning lady continued cleaning there and I showed the animals to people on Saturdays, though many times the adoption was declined. The lady went home with the polish men working @ Pet Rescue. My understanding the lady & men went back to Poland. Anyway it was not a win situation, so I left and one of the volunteer managers asked me to come back since she claimed I was good with the public. I refused, but did come back on Wednesday night to work with the animals.
The two older ladies, there longer, preferred dogs and this other gal who came a couple weeks after me liked cats, while I liked both, so The gal and I did the cats.
They almost never had any canned food for the cats and the two of us would bring a supply with us and the animals always were excited to see us. We would clean the liter pans too. I remember a few times I would try to clean the dusty room & shelves and the next week it would be very messy.
I also remember Penny wanted me to help her with something and telling me the cats did not need food everyday or fresh water.
I also understand that the water broke after I left and people had to bring from home. Hopefully this was daily?
The time I went to the dirty basement where in my time it was dirty, damp, and dogs kept there, plus supplies once in a while I seen a mouse too. A couple times they got a huge pet food donation in cans and instead of making arrangements for the food they would let it rot in the yard.
I then left having a class on Wednesday on good terms, and the gal I worked with left after she seen a dead cat with bugs eating away at the flesh. Neither of us went back since we felt helpless, to really help this situation.
Bo
Volunteer in the late 80's

A Heavy Heart Comes Twice

1) I volunteered at Pet Rescue 30 years ago and thought it was filthy and full of sick animals at that time. Quit because it was so depressing and frustrating. I now volunteer elsewhere and love it! I'm VERY interested in everything pertaining to closing Pet Rescue. I printed out names and addresses of all the important people to contact, and plan to write to each of them. Bless you all for what you're doing!
Dina

2) It was horrible, even back then. All the litterboxes were full of diarrhea. I was in that dark, damp basement once and saw the dogs' 'living' conditions.
A friend of mine wanted to adopt a dog 25 years ago or so, but Dale Armon wouldn't let him because he worked during the day. She never wanted to let go of any of the animals. Death seemed the only release for some of them. My teenage daughter told me several months ago that a friend of hers was going to adopt a dog they'd seen one day. The next day when they went back, the dog was dead.
I hope it's finally closed for good, for the good of those poor animals and others to come.
Dina
Medinah, Illinois

HEAVY HEART Responders

To Whom It May Concern,
I must admit this is the saddest letter I have EVER written.
I actually worked at Pet Rescue for over a month--I love animals
but I just couldn't see the faces of those poor innocent animals anymore that just wanted
a home. I was never taught what to do-Penny Horack, just figured I would
somehow know everything. She avoided me as much as possible. My
job was to help with this elderly lady,that helped twice a week and they
were so lucky for her. I never saw Penny do anything there. We would start
to clean the cat cages in the big house(the one that had a sink with
running water-the small building with animals cages upon each other didn't).
We would have to go as fast as we could--because no one was going to help us.
( a break--see if you can drink a bottle of water, you brought). I
would want to pet or play ONCE in a while with these animals striving for love
and would be told to go faster on cleaning. We where out of supplies
often, so everyone would not only bring newspaper for cages BUT we had to
bring Kitty litter, food - I brought new pillowcases for their beds and toys, a
volunteer, I think we had only 3(?) would bring home the pets' laundry. If Penny
brought anything in, she wouldn't get there usually until mid-morning, if she
came. By the time you bought everything there went your paycheck but it was for
the ANIMALS. Some of us didn't care. Everyone there THAT cared wanted to bring
an animal home. I already have pets so couldn't have,Penny probably would have
denied me-she does that to A LOT to qualified people, till the animals get older
with no discipline and some people would bring them back usually because of
illness or aggression. I can remember cleaning cages that had signs to give medicine BUT NO
MEDICINE was there and the animals needed it. I would ask my fellow worker and
she said write it up(I brought my own paper) Penny would take care of it--SHE
NEVER DID. Usually, Sharon Seremek(an angel for pets) would try to get them
into
her vet and pay for them because Pet Rescue I heard owed so much money to vets.
I never saw ONE vet there -to check on these poor animals. My heart would break
every day. I wrote so many notes for Penny on sick animals to no avail.
Upstairs,I couldn't believe it, they had a wall of Feral cats(ones that should
be released). The way they would get fed was you would stick a stick in their
cages and kind of flick in their food/water because they were known for
attacking--of course,they are not to be in cages. Then in the small
bathroom--they actually had pigeons, in the bathtub!!! All loosing their
feathers-how sanitary! We would try and get a sandwich or something in for a
lunch and go to the small house-it was always on the go. We sat where we
could because the cages are stacked on top of each other. In the accompanying
cat room-those cats did not look well at all. ONE day Penny was there (big house)
with someone she was trying to impress. They moved one sweet dog to the back
room-and another dog to the middle,again,trying just
to impress this woman.
FINALLY, Penny was there where I could talk to her. I told her of my notes and could she look at
this one REALLY sick cat, she was just laying in her litter and moaning. Penny
dismissed me saying later she would give it penicillin-she didn't even look at
the cat and left. I couldn't take it anymore, and kept telling the people in the
small house to call the owner,Dale, who finally agreed to have the cat taken
in to a vet. I TOOK the cat myself, to one of the vet's Kris used. They were
appalled=the cat had been sick and in pain for a long time-she had to be put to
sleep. I called Kris who called Dale who had to agree. The vet was angry. So I
left without the poor cat knowing it would be going to a much happier place. I
called Penny the next morning and said I had to quit, I couldn't take being with
those abused animals as it was affecting everything else I did. And the sick cat
was the last straw.-she told everyone I called in sick once and never again so
she had to fire me.
I didn't fight it, I
know what I did-I just couldn't look into their eyes anymore. I have to drive
by there more lately and with all those animals there, usually two cars in the
parking lot-2 people TAKING CARE OF ALL THOSE ANIMALS,I always get a tear in my
eye. Please,you have to get those pets out of there and into SAFE and HUMANE
places, please. They are living in worse than HELL and they did nothing but be at the
wrong place,wrong time-I don't think God wanted that, do you? Do you think your
fellow or rival politicians would?
Sincerely,
Nancy
Glendale Heights, IL.
Thank you for your time....

HEAVY HEART Responders

July 29, 2009

To whom it may concern:
Almost 15 years ago I went to Pet Rescue in Bloomingdale, IL to adopt a cat. Upon walking into the Cat Room, I was appalled at the conditions in which the cats were kept. It was overcrowded and EVERY single cat had a runny nose, watery eyes and sneezing. They were all very lethargic – not like cats normally behave. There was cat litter all over the floor and some cats were even sleeping or lying in their dirty litter boxes. After being there only about 15 minutes, I looked at my Fiancée with tears in my eyes and said there is no way we could take a cat home from there. Being a lifelong animal lover, I was emotionally torn by that decision. Had I the resources, I would’ve taken every cat there and released them back into the world rather than leave them there in the horrid, disgusting conditions.
My purse fell off my shoulder and fell to the floor. When I bent down to pick it up, an emancipated cat with the most beautiful green eyes literally jumped onto my shoulder and dug her claws into me. When I tried to remove her to put her back down, she was shaking and would not let me remove her from my shoulder. I looked into this cats face and knew if I did not take her home, she would die there. I adopted her, named her NALA and immediately took her to a Veterinarian. He said that Nala had an upper respiratory infection which is highly contagious and deadly if not treated. That is why all the cats in the room had the same symptoms. In addition, due to the conditions she lived in – her digestive system was affected. After receiving medication, love, a clean environment and decent food – within a weeks time – Nala transformed into the most beautiful cat I had ever seen. That is all it took – medication, a clean environment and decent food.
On the outside she was beautiful but internally, her digestive system never recovered and no matter what the Vet and I tried, she lived with chronic diarrhea the rest of her entire life. I took her to specialists and after thousands of dollars later, we all came to the conclusion that she had lived in such poor conditions for so long, that her digestive system would not recover and she would have to live with the diarrhea.
After that first week when Nala recovered from her upper respiratory infection, I called the Bloomingdale Police which transferred me to Animal Control. I complained about what was going on there and what the Vet told me. They said it was not in the power to do anything. A month later, I read where Pet Rescue was having some "take a picture with your pet" day and called the Daily Herald. This shelter that kept animals that were sick and HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS was inviting people to bring there pets there? I was HORRIFIED! I called the Daily Herald immediately and left several messages about what I had seen and what I was told by the Vet. Nobody ever called me back.
I thought at some point in the last 15 years I read that Pet Rescue was finally closed down. I just found out that it wasn’t. I cannot believe that a license for Pet Rescue has EVER been renewed. I cannot believe that the people who are in charge of caring for these animals have never been fined or arrested for the animal cruelty that I saw there 15 years ago. Not only that, but that these same people have been allowed, by our government, to continue in the practice of mistreating, harming and sentencing these animals to such cruelty and probably death.
I have watched the shows on the ASPCA and how they will go into a person’s home and not only take their animal but actually arrest them for the cruelty they inflict on one animal. Yet Bloomingdale and the State of Illinois allow this so called Animal Shelter to remain in business of doing the exact same thing for over 15 years!? Appalled I am at this. Sickened by what is allowed to continue and the blinders that have been worn for so long. Shamed that I did not do more before.


3 weeks ago I went to Stratford Mall and saw there was a store there with puppies. I went in there thinking they were for adoption. I was told they were not there for adoption, they were for sale. I looked into the makeshift baby cribs with Plexiglas around them and saw smelly, urine infested conditions. 3-4 puppies in one crib. Some with empty food and water dishes and some with no dishes at all. I asked to see one of the puppies and was brought into a small room. While we were walking, this teenager told me that puppy was $2,000! $2,000 for a puppy but you can’t give them food or water? The puppy ran around, sniffing the floor for food. Any little scrap he could get. I had a pretzel in my purse that I was bringing home and gave him some. He was STARVING. He ate that pretzel like he never had food before. When I brought the puppy out and handed it to this boy, I was furious. Yet, thinking about it, how could I be angry with a young boy who was probably working a minimum wage job for summer break? I told him he needed to give those puppies all food and water. He blinked at me and said they didn’t have enough dishes for each crib, so he switched them from one to the other. I looked at the wall and they sold fancy food dishes for $25. I told him to pull one of those down and he said he couldn’t do that.
If the State of Illinois cannot take care of simple things such as licensing for animal caretakers and will issue a license to any schmo who walks in the door and asks for it, then we are surely in the deepest of trouble. If the Village of Bloomingdale is so desperate for money that they will allow this sickness to continue – not only continue but allow others to do the same thing – then shame is upon the Village of Bloomingdale. If Stratford Square is so desperate for someone to rent a store front that they need to resort to allowing such despicable conditions to continue – then they should be shutdown as well.
In conclusion, my thoughts are that the people who are entrusted with the care of the needy – be it a person or an animal – must take that job seriously. If they do not, then they do not deserve to be in that position and should move on to something less responsible. STEP UP people. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to walk in the door of that shelter or that store front and see or smell EXACTLY what is going on there. Do your jobs or get out of the way and let other people do it for you.
Respectfully,
Jacquie
Bartlett, IL