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?
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ReplyDeleteWe adopted a neo from Blue Lion in 2014. Conditions aren't perfect, but they really do seem to work hard to take in and rescue and care for animals that would otherwise be abused, mistreated, or killed. Here's a suggestion - instead of denouncing the rescue, why not offer to help or donate to make their difficult effort a little easier?
ReplyDelete4 years later - Daisy, our beautiful rsscued Neo, is a wonderful companion that is an integral part of our household.
DeleteYou people are ignorant for sure! Lisa, head of Blue Lion Rescue takes dogs mostly large (Mastiffs) that people like you could never handle. These dogs would be put to sleep in a heartbeat if not for her. She has spent many years sacrificing to keep dogs alive and some do get adopted. Now I have to question all your stories and reports.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI have adopted two Neapolitan Mastiffs from Blue Lion and I full heartedly disagree with this blog's view. Since people were out there to take photos and so eager to bad mouth the place, why did they not offer to volunteer their time to help out? Nothing was mentioned in this blog about her efforts to rehome the dogs. Or that these dogs DO receive care from a vet upon their arrival and are screened prior to adoption. As for the dogs labeled as aggressive; they arrive that way to Blue Lion. My Bogart was a one year old Neo taken in at a shelter in Boulder who was feed by the workers there by throwing his food into his kennel because they were afraid of him. They labeled him as being an aggressive dog because they had no idea of how to handle him. They were considering putting him down. Lisa picked him up, with no help from the shelter workers on duty because they all took cover when she opened the kennel door and he made a break for it. He had an oral fixation (anything that he could get in his mouth he swallowed). I was told this upon adopting him, I was also told that he may show signs of food aggression and attempt to dominate other dogs, and the vet thought he was also under weight for his age. I adopted him anyway a few months after he arrived as Blue Lion. He thrived on the two weeks raw diet and two weeks grain-free kibble. His food aggression that he was thought to have lasted less than a month. He simply needed love. If Lisa had not taken him in, he would have been put down. This blog talks about rescue meaning "free", would the writer(s) rather see these animals dead or being cared for as best as they can be by a person who does the best with what she has? Why didn't this blog ask for volunteers to call Blue Lion and offer their time? Shame on you for spreading half truths and not offering to assist. Neapol!
ReplyDeleteI think you might want to make sure you have a proper understanding before you post on someone you know nothing about.
ReplyDelete1. Yes, at one time Lisa may have had close to 150 giant breeds (referring to your email snip it). But no, it isn't for the money. Do you really think there's "money" in rescue? The email was in response to people begging her to take the dog or it would be euthanized.
2. The dogs she takes are the dogs that have nowhere else to go. Why? Their history. Some of the dogs were so terribly abused prior to Blue Lion that their aggression (with humans and/or other animals) rendered them unadoptable, and they were on the euth list. These were the dogs she started with. The ONLY person who could go near them WAS Lisa. She was the only one they learned to trust. She never sought out the dogs, the shelters and other rescuers sought HER. (The ones adopted out are the ones that had a chance and, with work, were able to be turned around so that they could be adopted.)
3. So they don’t live in palaces with marble floors. Do you? If you had to depend on donations to house and feed yourself—over years and years—would you have a nice home? Would you even HAVE a home? No. Lisa doesn’t live in a palace either. Everything goes into the care of the dogs. You stated violations and lack of vet care. Do your homework before you make these accusations. Any dog that comes in and needs vet care gets it right away. On one inspection, this was an accusation, so an officer came to verify. He found that the accusation was unfounded as vet care had already been done (new dog came in with Cherry Eye and Lisa already had the surgery done).
I could go on and on about the good work Lisa does, but I’m limited to a number of characters. In short, please do your homework before you make statements and accusations.
I looked at your picture link and the photographer was saying how well the dogs are taken care of. I looked at the pictures you linked and all the dogs were in very good shape. Have you ever seen abused animals? These dogs are not abused. I sponsor one of the court ordered dogs there and I am proud to do so. You are so very wrong and your article is unfair.
ReplyDeletePeople need to go look at this place. She does not take care of these poor dogs AT ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI did. I volunteered. I spent a couple nights and anytime that direction I would chose to do so over a nice hotel any chance I could. The dogs are cared for, the caregiver amazing in her work and routine, she ran circles around me. What people and dept of ah doesn’t understand or maybe care about is there is a routine. #1 wake up in the morning and clean/ sanitize water bowls daily all the way around. # 2 feed all the way around. #3 is take an hour break for your own breakfast, answer a few emails, make a couple calls that have to be done early such as scheduling vet appointments etc... there is a reason for waiting that hour after feeding. I am sure you all if you have big dogs know this, once they eat they need a good poop within an hour. So that leads to #3. Which mind you time of day wise would be about 10-11am. Poop scooping. Cleaning the kennels. So of course @ 10:27 runs will still be dirty. Ever wonder why city shelters don’t allow the public in until noon or later? That’s why. So that for the general public who can’t put all the logic and understand the effort that it takes doesn’t have to think about it. There are far to many wine warriors such as the creator of this blog who sit back with no actual experience and after a few bottles of cheap Chardonnay try to attack the people who do the actual physical work and don’t have nor want to spend the time in front of a computer jacking with this kind of crap. Where was the authors dog while she was home creating this blog? Spending time with her owner? No. Because her owner was too busy not paying attn to her so she could try to slam someone who she could never understand. A hard worker. Someone who sick or healthy, tired or not physically gets out there and has for nearly 20yrs every single day dealing with the dogs people didn’t understand. The ones that aren’t the cute cuddly furballs someone purchased as a puppy and didn’t train, didn’t establish boundaries, didn’t put the correct type of time in to.
DeleteShe breeds dogs also. Just had some and sold last one I think last month? I thought rescues were not suppose to breed?
ReplyDeleteWrong. An abused female that came in was pregnant with puppies. The puppies and Mom have now been adopted out.
DeleteProud owner of 7 Blue Lion dogs over the last 15 years.
you literally have no idea what you are talking about. Sad. I have one of those puppies you are referring to and watched her pregnant mother’s journey from Amish auction house into rescue to blue lion to the incredible network all dogs including the mother have now. Every puppy we all know each other. Besides blue lion as a support network our dogs have their siblings for life. Adopters all share our birthday celebrations together, all our trials and tribulations. Each milestone our dogs achieve. Blue Lion and Lisa did that. What have you done besides make an uneducated uninformed post?
DeleteWhy do I have a feeling the author of this blog is from California? Something about it screams they live life with blinders on and literally know nothing about the rest of the country. Why don’t you take a yer
ReplyDeleteAt and drive the country from rural city animal shelter to rural city animal shelter and volunteer @ one all day each day? Learn what the rest of the country is like and maybe you’ll gain some enlightenment. Oh, and be sure that if you find one (there are still many) using gas chambers, you hug and play with one of the dogs just before they put the dog in it and be sure you watch thru the little window.
BTW, a couple violations over a 20 yr period doesn’t seem bad @ all. Why most restaurants I have eaten @ and see recurve a B rating, or in other states that use a #s system scores in the 80s. I bet right now I could find 5 things wrong with just your house. When’s the last time you dusted under the fridge or dryer? Had your air ducts cleaned? I bet you’d score poorly in health inspection as would we all. My point is you’ll always find something if you want to. And in my opinion you want to but it really doesn’t look like you found much. The food email? You realize a pallet is 2000lbs. How many people or even animal shelters have 8000 lbs of food on hand. And since you didn’t post the entire conversation I have to believe it was used out of context to further your agenda.