Rescuers and animal advocates protest against Riverside County's $2.45 million boondoggle

This is a story concerning America from that great animal advocate, Nathan Winograd. It's about animal rescue in Riverside County, California, USA which is located in the southern portion of this US state. What is a boondoggle? I looked it up! It means spending money or time on unnecessary, wasteful or fraudulent projects.

Cancel the contract protest by animal advocates. Photo: Nathan Winograd.

Animal advocates are protesting in Riverside County about a boondoggle which in this instance means spending $2.45 million of taxpayers money to pay a woman, Kristen Hassen, who according to Nathan Winograd has a dodgy record to be a consultant on animal rescue at Riverside County's pound after the removal of Erin Gettis, Riverside County's former pound director after a lawsuit charged her with ethical and legal misconduct.

According to Nathan Winograd, Hassen was one of the chief architects and promoters of Human Animal Support Services (HASS). This method urged shelters to make Covid-era closures permanent by turning away stray animals. And according to him, she also sat on the National Animal Control Association board which encouraged shelters to re-abandon animals people had found on the streets.

The policy manipulated the intake and placement rates by abandoning the whole idea of an animal shelter. The policy put the animals back on the street to be cared for by the community. They were no longer sheltered. According to Nathan Winograd, under HASS, "Intakes of healthy strays and owner surrenders don't exist any more". The conventional shelter model appears to have been disbanded under this policy and instead the community is expected to pick up the slack.

This, according Nathan can lead to animals dying on the streets. He refers to a dog called Nesa was turned away from a shelter under a program hatched up by Hassen and her colleagues. The dog was subsequently found dead in an alley. He argues that her policies can sometimes prove fatal to unwanted companion animals.

HASS results in the fate of unwanted animals to be left to chance. People who find them are told to take them into their own homes until their families are located. Or they should leave them on the street where they found them. According to HASS, the idea is that the animals will find their way home. That's what is hoped for but Winograd says that "Such hope is misplaced. Indeed, for many animals, it proves fatal."

And while Hassen was at Austin Pets Alive, it's alleged that she promoted or defended abusive pound directors and help formed a committee to shield directors from public accountability. It is also alleged that she defended the killing of healthy and treatable dogs and cats and promoted authors and their books that disparage rescuers and shelter volunteers.

Hassen praised Gettis despite the fact that it is alleged that she killed at her facility more animals than any other reporting shelter in United States.

I think that I have had enough. The animal advocates and citizens who are concerned about animal welfare in Riverside County are up in arms about this large consultancy fee payable to a person who is alleged has a very poor track record on shelter animal welfare. They appear to know this whereas the administrators of the county don't or are not bothered about it.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also, sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. And, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable. Finally, (!) I often express an OPINION on the news. Please share yours in a comment.

British rescuer of animals and humans shot in the head in Ukraine

A BBC2 documentary has been made about Chris Parry and it's called Hell Jumper. That's because what he did was like jumping into hell. And what he did was save the lives of people and their pets in the east of Ukraine where the Russians, as you probably know, have decimated towns and cities and razed them to the ground with incessant bombing and shelling.

Chris Parry. Image: believed Chris Parry's estate via the BBC.

Our rescue worker son always stood up to bullies like Putin. We won't forget his sacrifice. - His parents.

Chris Parry was a British volunteer. He simply was in Ukraine to help. He had a strong sense of injustice. He wanted to do something. He had no military training. He went to Ukraine eight days after the Russians invaded the country in February 2022.

He didn't tell his parents but he told his sister, Katy. She was very frightened for him. She thought that he was dramatizing the rescues that he got involved in but then learned that it was the truth.

Chris begged her not to tell mum and dad. On one occasion Chris Parry texted back that he was buzzing. He said that he had "rescued 11 people, two dogs and a budgerigar". That was in communication with his father Rob.

It's believed that he was executed by a shot to the head by the Russian Mafia group called Wagner Group.

The Sunday Times reports that Chris went missing after he had told Rob that he was buzzing about rescuing dogs and people. He was with another evacuated, Andrew Bagshaw, 48, at the time.

Their car was found abandoned. Katy was contacted, remarkably, by Russians on social media who were rubbing their hands in delight at having killed Chris. Or one of their colleagues had killed Chris.

Katy said "They sent photos of dead bodies saying, We've got your brother, he's got what he deserved."

Two weeks later, Rob received a call from Devon and Cornwall police. Rob said that they 'cried like babies'. Chris's body was returned in a prisoner swap. His clothes had been changed and his body washed. The Russians said that there had been killed in artillery fire but this was untrue. Rob says it was an execution because of the gunshot wound placement.

A coroner ruled that his killing was unlawful. His parents instinctively felt that it wasn't just another random killing. They believe, as mentioned that it was an execution. The family hope that the documentary will help highlight the plight of Ukrainians in this horrible war.

"The world has to wake up and realise that Putin is a bully and if he's not stopped, then it's not going to affect just Ukraine." The words of Christine, Chris's mother.

Rob said that, "We will do whatever we can to keep Chris's name alive and Ukraine in people's minds."

P.S. Chris had fallen love with a Ukrainian lady: Olha Volodymrivna Khomenko. They lived together. They had planned a future together. RIP Chris. A brave guy. He saved more than 400 Ukrainians. And let's remember Andrew Bagshaw too.

Hell Jumper will air on BBC2 this Wednesday at 9 pm.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.