HELP ME SAVE MY FOSTER PETS!!!

12-16-13: YAY I get to keep my babies. Thanks to all that helped and thanks to all for the kind words of encouragement.  Lisa

I am asking for your help and your signature on my petition. After 12 years of dog rescue, the city of Wood Dale, Illinois is taking away my Department of Agriculture Licensing and that means that 4 rescue pets in my home, including several senior unadotpable dogs' lives are in danger.  I have worked so hard the past 12 years and a few complaints when a few dogs got loose has turned my life upside down. The extra dogs came from one of my bestest foster homes, adopters and benefactors- Kristy, and when her daughter, son in law and grandson came to town the end of July, her son in law carelessly left Kristy's gate open and some of her dogs got loose causing her neighbors to complain and the Police came over to tell her the extra dogs needed to go.

So early on a Sunday morning, Kristy showed up at my home in Wood Dale with 3 of her dogs including Aberdeen, Alvin and Jules. Was it fair of her to do that to me- no, could I do anything about it- no.  Kristy was also caring for her 16 year old ailing senior dog KC as I was caring for my strugging 14 year old Setter Thelmalou- we both were needing to make decisions about our older dogs soon. I did say that I did not want any issues with the village and they needed to move the following weekend once we made arrangements during the week.  Alvin is part Beagle and while I had a bark collar on him- he was a bit obnoxious with the squirrels.  As Kristy has a 6 foot privacy fence, my 4 foot could not keep some of them contained and on a few occasions they got out.

After one incident, Aberdeen came home in the back of a squad car after I looked for her for over 2 hours and called every municipal police department.  As we had made arrangements to move them into boarding, Aberdeen broke with kennel cough and spread it throughout the house. NO ONE would take these dogs in with kennel cough- not my vets and not the place we planned to move them.  So that complicated things even more. I did my best to try and keep the noise down and only let a few out at a time, but I wasn't feeling the greatest as this part of the summer I am always out of Lyme remission. Kristy also has Lyme disease and we both were doing the best we could and another reason I could not be angry over all of this.  I was also dealing with the sadness and reality that my sweetheart Thelmalou was not going to rebound as she had in the past and deciding what vet I would take her to - to end her life.  KC was let go about 2 weeks before I let Thelmalou go on Septermber 4th.  Alvin is Kristy's baby- he was born in her daughter's spare bedroom on December 22, 2011 and she was missing him terribly- especially with the sadness of losing KC.

Finally Aberdeen recovered and as Jules and Alvin could go home, we moved her into boarding in Wisconsin.  While Aberdeen was in boarding with a wonderful couple that have adopted 2 Setters from me, they decided they wanted to keep Aberdeen so that part has worked out well.

As far as my indoor/outdoor kitties, Jameson has been with me over 2 years and Mikey has been with me since April.  If there was an issue with the city, there were no complaints until the new neighbor moved in.  Mikey thinks he is a dog, helped with my 3 garage sales, comes when he is called and is currently helping with the mouse population around my home.  James is afraid of most people and is hardly noticeable when he is outside.

The dogs I have at my place now are Buckwheat- my nearly 12 year old rescue Pointer mix petsitting partner, Gavin- my 3 year old deaf Setter that has Rocky Mountain spotted fever relapses, Graham- the German Shephard mix that has bird shot in his legs, Dantes- my 10 year old Lyme/RMSF Setter that is untrusting of most people and has some health issues and Boonie- the 11 year old Pointer that had untreated RMSF for so long it has affected his personality badly and he can't even be petted.  He also has severe resourse guarding issues but thankfully with medication, seems to be over his storm anxiety and can be left loose in the home when I go out to work.

NONE of these dogs jump the fence and only go outside to potty.  Gavin needs his daily bird pointing stimulus and Graham stays out with him to keep him company.  Does Graham bark on occasion- sure but not more than any other dog that lives near me including a German Shepherd a few doors down, the lovely rescue Bloodhounds that moved in several weeks ago next door nor the Pits that live next to them.  At any given afternoon- you can hear dogs barking all over the neighborhood.  Things have calmed down here thankfully.

People get dogs for protection- and while mine may provide that service, they are also a huge part of my rescue's Tick Borne Disease Testing and Treatment Program.  BOTH kitties Jameson and Mikey are infected with Ehrlichia, Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.  Mikey was bit by a deer tick around my home on October 22nd, 2013 while he had flea and tick protection on.  These kitties have brought to light the issues of tick borne disease infections in our kitty population. If I were a pet lover or parent in Wood Dale- I would want to know about the little bugs that could attach to my dog or cat or kids and cause terrible health consequences. Parents please read Clinical Manifestions of Tick-borne Infections in Children It is frightening.  I wouldn't be letting my little Cub Scout hike in any woods in the area unless he was in a plastic bubble or sprayed from head to toe with Off.

Alas- the village has ignored the information I have provided them and the proscutor at the last court appearance actually suggested to me to dump my foster kitty Mikey into a shelter. He is heartless and the city government of Wood Dale has no compassion.  So much for my Community Service...

I will share more information about this issue on IBR's home page at Illinois Birddog Rescue and on IBR Facebook .

Thank you and please share for more signatures.

Lisa Spakowski

IBR Founder & President

If you want to express your feelings towards the City Government- here is their contact info. I emailed them all and have yet to hear a response. An adopter recently diagnosed with Lyme disease also emailed the Mayor and he also did not respond even with a courtesy reply. Your tax $$ goes to pay their salaries and as they are public servants- an email would be the polite thing to do when someone contacts them. Your tax $$ is paying the prosecutor that told me to dump my kitties in the local shelter. Wouldn’t $$ be better spent educating the citizens of Wood Dale about the dangers of tick borne disease affecting our families and pets?

 

 

 

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