A couple of months ago I came in touch with a small group of animal advocates,  Nash County Animal Friends in Nashville (North Carolina). I could immediately see how that small group of volunteers (as usual, no men in their rank) had a drive and passion comparable to ours. They were no phoney couch animal activists, they had no egos and their leader, Carol Vierela, had been able to create a well organized working team. Those people had been gathered together by a twist of fate and they had one mission, to save as many animals from the cruel mouth of an ever hungry gas chamber that was, literally, devouring thousands of animals a year.

Those ladies had no agendas, they were there, saving lives, day after day, just like us!.

I was specially moved by one picture depicting Carol Vierela, the team leader, surrounded by kids holding handful of kitties, playing with them, embracing them. The idea was to give those kitties some love, to allow them to experience some human warmth so that, in the case they wouldn’t find a home and they would end up killed at least they would have experienced kindness for a few minutes.

I tell you, watching that picture I felt a fist in my throat.

I then looked at one of their albums… and in those albums I saw this…

Those are the faces of some of the animals killed since Nash County Animal Friends started working at the shelter. I was haunted by pairs of eyes that were no longer among us. I couldn’t be more horrified when I heard that those animals had been killed using the cruelest of methods, one specially abhorrent to Europeans because one of us invented it, asphyxiation in the gas chamber.

My mind went back to those kids holding the kitties, imagining the impact that this brutal state-sanctioned barbarity would have in those baby’s psyches. We used to speak of childhood as the age of innocence. In Nashville (North Carolina), those children had been robbed of their very souls!

In a way, what we have been doing in Nashville (NC) for the last month and a half has been as much saving animals as saving human beings. I am, on behalf of Let’s Adopt!, committed to achieve No Kill in Nashville. We have sworn to do whatever is necessary so that that long list of animals mercilessly killed doesn’t continue growing. We are going to show everybody in the United States and the world what a group of courageous people can do working as a team.

We have created an imperfect system that works. With every animal we save the system gets better, the logistics more efficient, and, amplified by social media our work reaches the world and sets a direction for others to follow.

We are building the most formidable network of volunteers, but in America, to put it simply, money talks. Right now every animal and transport to his home is costing us an average of 700 USD per dog, 400 USD per cat, much more if we include the costs of neutering each and every single animal. The numbers are frightening in their enormity and I wanted to share them with you because without you we will not be able to continue.

The animals and children of Nashville need your help. Please continue to our Gas Chamber Rescue Chipin… this is important… this matters…. Thank you. Viktor Larkhill

This is a story of kindness, love, cruelty and neglect all rolled  into one.

The woman found a stray dog. He was paralyzed and blind in one eye. It was obvious to her he would never heal, so she took him home.

But the dog never had the chance to experience love or a family life, instead he was carried down to the basement of the home and left there. In the dark and damp place he would be fed and given water. That was it. That was going to be his life.

In the meantime, outside the property, the woman took care of another paralyzed dog, but this one never entered the home, instead she took care of him on the street!

Last week’s heavy rains made the situation untenable… both dogs were at risk of drowning. In a scene worth of a Gothic novel both dogs, paralyzed and freezing were dumped at the infamous Shelter of Hell in Istanbul and were left there to die surrounded by filth and disease.

When we were told of this story we couldn’t believe it… we waited for a few hours to see if anyone in the animal lover community in Istabul took action and assumed the responsibility.

Noone did.. so we had to.

In all honesty, this is the kind of story that makes me despise most animal lovers, whose lack of vision, resources and wit ends up creating untold amounts of pain. Stories like these are also the reason why this group exists. Without us animals like Tom and Jerry (yep!, they have been given names for the first times in their lives) would die the most painful and miserable of deaths.

Tom and Jerry are now with us… they are staying in one of our clinics. They are in intensive care recovering from the ordeal. We need to make sure they don’t develop massive contact sores so typical of dogs in their condition.. we need to buy them wheelchairs… and we need to find them a perfect home, two perfect homes.. FAST!!!!!

Tom and Jerry will fly anywhere in the world where those perfect homes are found. Those two dogs would die in the hands of many so-called Humane Societies. We are their only hope, their only chance to living the live that was denied to them here in Turkey.

This is your chance to truly do something truly great, the ultimate gesture of generosity for a fellow living being. Your chance to truly become a hero.

This is not going to be an easy one. Please give Tom and Jerry a hand by contributing to their Chipin.. They need you. Please SHARE

Update: November 1st

We are on week 7 of the Operation No-Kill Nashville and we are close to reach the number of 100 animals saved!!!
As the time progresses we are facing a new number of challenges to which we are trying to find creative solutions…

1. We have a shortage of foster homes in Nashville and around. The volunteers there are amazing, and I cannot think of a better partner than our friends at Nashville Country Animal Friends but we need to find ways for them to grow their network locally so that we can rely on more short term fosters.
2. Winter is here. The arrival of winter is complicated things from a logistical point of view. Some airports are closed to animal transport, airlines request acclimatization certificates, snow and ice closes airports completely. Circulation and transport by road becomes somewhat unreliable. A possible solution I see here is to try to find more fosters and adoptants in Florida and California. Sadly, this will increase our costs significantly.
3. We are rescuing a number of animals that need more than just simple vetting and health certificates. In order to best deal with those cases we need to increase our network of veterinarians across the USA capable of offering the level of service we expect from our partner clinics. If you know an outstanding vet in your area please don’t hesitate to email me and give me his details. We will get in touch with them.
4. Funds: the total cost per life saved, including vetting procedures, transport and kennels/carriers is right now on average, close to 700 USD per dog, and about 400 USD per cat!, at times much more. We need to figure out ways to get our community involved, and to involve them in our fund raising efforts. For now, our Chipin is the only way we have to pay for all of this, and sadly, we are nowhere close to raising enough funds, which means we are permanently operating in the RED. We don’t know how long we will be able to sustain this rhythm, it basically depends on our community to make it happen. To this effect we have just started our November Chipin.. all our expenses will come out of it… Please, if you are in a position to help, please do… YOU are making this miracle happen. Many thanks!. Viktor

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It’s been a month since we started our Rescue Action from the Gas chamber in Nashville. I cannot begin to tell you how hard we are working on this..

Here are some numbers:

- In the first month we have rescued 62 animals in total, 22 dogs and a whooping 40 cats!.

- When in Kill Shelters around the USA dogs and cats die for lack of adoptants in Nashville this month only 1 adoptable animal died, and this happened on the first week of our campaign, when we were not yet organized. Since then, no animal has died in Nashville. Each and everyone of them has been adopted, either by us or by other rescues. Whomever says that there are not enough homes for all animals in shelters doesn’t know what he is talking about. No-Kill is possible, if a group with as few resources as us can achieve this everyone can.

- The shelter, however, has killed many animals that we never got to see, many of them feral cats and animals handed over by their owners with the precise instruction to be killed. The gas chamber has not stopped working in Nashville. This is completely unacceptable and we are starting talks to be able to rescue each and every animal delivered to the shelter, including feral cats and animals needing medical treatment.

- In the first month we have set up the bases of a formidable nation-wide network of foster homes. The search for fosters continues every day. This map will give you an idea of how far we have gone in just one month.

View Let’s Adopt Foster Network in a larger map

- Our two biggest challenges are:

1. To increase the number of short term fosters in/around Nashville. Short term foster homes are crucial, they are the ones where they animals go whilst definite transport arrangements to their long term fosters or final homes.

2. To increase the number of available Funds: After a month rescuing we have made a quick calculation. On average the cost-per-life saved in Nashville, including basic vetting and transport is 180-200 USD. This amount doubles in cases when we have to spay/neuter and can become much much more if more veterinary treatment is needed.

The cost of saving those 62 animals has been close to 12.000 USD. Sadly, we have only been able to raise 4.000 USD. Still, we are managing.

As you all know Let’s Adopt NEVER applies an adoption fee to the adoptants. This is a matter of principle. We will never be put in a position where anyone gets to say that they have bought a dog from this group. We believe in creating a relationship of partnership with our adoptants and Fans instead of one based on a fee transaction. Many organizations can’t understand this logic and continue applying absurd adoption fees. Adopting our animals is not a right, it’s a privilege that cannot be bought by payment of an adoption fee.

We need to find a solution to those two problems. The team of the Nashville County Animal Friends is working hard on increasing their network. From our part we need to be able to continue raising funds in a systematic way otherwise sooner or later the rescues will stop and that gas chamber will start killing animals again.

Let’s Adopt Global is committed to continue saving lives and together with NCAF achieve No Kill in Nashville.

We don’t make promises in vain, but the only way to achieve this is to do it together.. please continue supporting our rescue program in the gas chambers of North Carolina. Thousands of animals are counting on us…