It started many years ago with good intentions. Fences were built, people showed up to help on occasion. Dogs were being sent to the rescue, including one that a judge thought the rescue would be a good place to sentence a dog to life. One has to ask, did the judge visit this rescue?
How many dogs were there at the time?At one point she had well over 140, asking for food assistance saying she was going to run out, yet Californians still sent dogs with $$ and she continued to accept them - One has to ask was it because of the $$?
Email with Blue Lion Rescue stating they had nearly 150 MASTIFFS in January of 2013
Complaints were filed, violations were written, the rescue remained open as Ag gave time for the rescue to straighten out its mess.
Pictures posted by the rescue and Ag reports showed negligence. Dogs were sitting in their own filth, water buckets were frozen in the winter at 10:45 in the morning when the inspector showed up in January 2013. This was not the first time this occurred. Pictures below were taken approximately 4 years ago ( 2009 ) showing the same problems were occurring: Frozen water, feces in pens. She continued to take in dogs.
Someone who went to Blue Lion rescue and took pictures of the dogs there - I was told this was either 2009 or 2010
http://dmoynihan.smugmug.com/Dogs/Blue-Lion-Animal-Rescue/4123315_Eg5iL/18/240583006_ryM7i#!i=240545471&k=SZWcZcg
Ag report from January of 2013. Frozen water:
Very few of the dog houses have doors to keep out the rain/wind. All are in kennels with igloo dog houses - No roofs are over the top to keep the weather off of them - The owner stated that " it needs to be this way to keep them warm in the winter - the sun needs to shine on them...." She also stated that " dogs have lived outside for hundreds of years in the wild " Which is true, BUT those dogs could roam freely and were not stuck in a kennel with no room to move around
Ag has requested that she makes sure the dogs have doors/offsets on their doghouses - to get them off the ground and roofs over the kennels - Basic necessities for outside dogs in Colorado or anywhere else.
She is now asking for $10,000.00 to build a privacy fence around the rescue - claiming Ag has stated either she does this or the dogs will be taken and killed. After a conversation with Ag, a perimeter fence does need to be built. However, the part about Ag taking the dogs and killing them is NOT true. Ag cannot seize the dogs without a court order. They try to work with the rescues, as is obvious from the many violations Blue lion has received for not cleaning the pens, frozen water, etc.
Understand... it is NOT the way the fences look.. It is because there are huge dogs stuck in small kennels. It is because most of these dogs are condemned to a doghouse, with nothing to keep the weather off of them. It is because the feces are not being cleaned up. Vet care is not being given. There is no where in these pens for the dogs to run, play and be dogs
As far as quality time with each dog...There were approximately 150 dogs at this rescue in January of 2013 with 2 caretakers. Someone on Facebook did the math on the amount of time that was spent with each dog. It worked out to be approximately 14.4 minutes a day. This included feeding time. There is no time for " QUALITY " walks, runs, play, unless volunteers show up. Some of these dogs are labeled aggressive. They need more than an occasional pat on the head. The ones that aren't aggressive, run the risk of becoming so stuck in a kennel most of their days. The rescue owner shows nice pictures of dogs in the house. She stated that every dog came in at night. I can tell you right now...There is no way they bring 100+ dogs in every night.
Is this what rescue has become? To take a traumatized animal out of the shelter, ship it off on transport to a " Sanctuary ", to live its life stuck in a kennel?
The definition of rescue is to " set free ". In my humble opinion, some really need to take a second look at where they are sending animals. Doesn't anyone think the dogs deserve a better life than this?
This picture was dated May 2012 on Blue Lions Facebook page
It has been blown up to be able to see the kennels and igloos.
This is where dogs spend most of their time. Is it really fair to them?
