Dear Mayor Leon: I ask you to not take away the only thing these poor people have in their struggle for life. These pets mean the world to them and they rely on them for companionship. Taking away their pets is like taking away their reason for living. Not only do the homeless benefit but their pets also do by staying together. I would die if my pets were to be taken away from me. Please allow the students sometime to work this in a humane way, we are humans, not animals without feelings.

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Please let the homeless keep their animals. Their dog or cat may be the only friend they have. Don't let folks who are down on their luck be hurt again.

KC

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For God's sake. These souls are without homes for the time being, must you try and take away a member of their families as well? After all, that is what a pet is to most people.

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I DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW PEOPLE CAN BE SO MEAN HEARTED, WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE THOSE PEOPLE AND THEIR ANIMALS ALONE

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Dear Mr Mayor - It is a wonderful thing you have done to help the homeless in your town of Ontario, but you must give these poor people a chance to deal with their pets in a humane way. Please give these students more time necessary to care for these animals. I hope you can see clear to allow these residents to keep their beloved pets.
Thank you and good luck
Linda Rossi

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Mr. Mayor;

What would you do if someone decided that YOU or a member of YOUR family was worthless and had to go? Pets are family members and maybe more so to those who have nothing else.

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Dear Mayor Leon, I understand the problem but being as how there is a group of people willing to provide a more humane solution , I respectfully request that you change the deadline to allow this group to help the situation of animal overpopulation. Thank you for your consideration in this serious matter. Jan Myszewski, ABQ NM

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Dear Sir, Friday 21st March 2008.

We are from the UK, and are very impressed with the way that this idea has started out, however, it would be very sad if these homeless people are denied their pets and companions by way of this impending requirement.

The compassionate nature of a person can only be seen in their actions, and I feel that this is the opposite and lacks this good quality, so please do not ask these poor homeless citizens to part with their pets.

Well done students though, for initiating such a decent service, for the animals, - now that is compassionate!
J.K. from the UK.

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Lets keep something that was actually working going. These pets are probably much more loved than the ones tied in a backyard forever.

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This sounds like an amazing place this enclave. It is sad these people are homeless, so please don't take away from them one thing that gives them unconditional love in their tough world!!! Please let rescue groups help these people ASAP. DO NOT TAKE AWAY THEIR PETS!

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Please don't take their pets away! This may be the only reason for living for some of them. If the pets are being taken care of, I see no reason to break the homeless spirits any more then are already. Take a lesson from the animals...
"unconditional love" that's what this world needs more of and compassion.

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THANK YOU, debbies, for that all-important link. Please, all Network members, scroll down to debbies's post and click on the link! Then, send the letter (and ask all your friends to help out, too!) As a California-born and raised cat-lover, I am personally outraged that this kind of travesty of justice and complete lack of compassion would even cross the minds of those who should know better. Caring for a companion animal generally fosters respect and kindness for others as well as strengthening the sense of personal responsibility. That's not even discussing the impact such senseless punitive measures potentially have on the lives of the companion animals in question. We can fight this issue!

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Please continue to help these people in need and their loving pets who need help as well. If these pets aren't cared for or neutered, they will continue to populate and more dead animals will be the result. For these people, their only support and love is from these animals. Please help.

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How sad to be without compassion for your fellow man . . . People who are down on their luck often suffer with depression or other mental illnesses. They might even lose touch with family or friends because they are embarrassed to share their situation with anyone. The last thing they should have to part with is their pets - the only beings who will care about them no matter what happens. Let them keep their animals! It will help them to get back on their feet faster, without being alone.

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For anyone who would like to email Ontario's city officials, I created an action on Change.org for the Pet Ban. You can send Mayor Paul Leon, Board of Supervisors Representative Gary Ovitt and the Mayor pro Tem Jason Anderson a form letter email asking them to extend the ban and work with Jamie for a humane solution.

You can find the action - HERE

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The homeless are part of the community and most important they are equal to all people in the community. The students and nonprofit organizations are doing everything in their power to help. It is the community's responsibility to grant an appropriate extension so the animals can receive the needed shots and spay/neuter. To enforce a specific date that will subject these animals from being torn away from their owners and forcing people who are already desparate to loose their beloved pet because of a date that can not be met is cruel and inhumane. This is a time for the community to reach out and help the people who need help - don't issue laws that can't be met by an unreachable date - that is only a date of power over desparate people and their pets. Should I be one of those unfortunate people, I would leave that community any way I could and my pet would be with me through thick or thin. Communities are supposed to care about every member of that community. Just ask yourselves "WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?" You will have the right answer for the problem.

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As a veterinary student, I can understand the cities concerns regarding public health. It is true that animals transmit a variety of diseases to humans, and being that there is currently little control over the care of these animals, it is a definate issue. However, it is also true that the strong human-animal bond created between pets and their owners may be the only emotional support in a persons' life. There are many alternatives to removing these animals. The people will agree to tight regulations for vaccination, sanitation, and sterilization programs, and the volunteers, sponsors, and veterinary school will assist in implementing this. For the sake of the people and the pets, lets give these alternatives a try.

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It is really sad to see how we are treating the unprivileged, asking them to give up the only thing they have left that loves them unconditionally! What a cruel world we live in!!!!

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Please recognize that these homeless may have only their companions as family. These animals are their protection and a way of sharing their feelings. How much indignity must they endure, please reconsider what your planning there are other options.
Thank you. S. Hefner

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This sounds like an amazing place this enclave. It is sad these people are homeless, so please don't take away from them one thing that gives them unconditional love in their tough world!!! Please let rescue groups help these people ASAP. DO NOT TAKE AWAY THEIR PETS!

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What are you guys doing???Don't you know there are other alternatives to solve the animal overpopulation??? It's not a brainer to find a solution for ya'll problem if you only listen to the community.
Think again before proceeding with you stupid idea to ban pets.

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THERE BUT FOR FORTUNE GO YOU OR I. With the sweep of the minute hand, you too could become homeless...it's not beyond the realm of reality. With people losing their jobs and with all the recent home foreclosures, or with women and children caught up in domestic violence situations, more and more people are finding themselves in this situation. I think you will find that the majority of the people in this camp really don't want to be there, but have ended up there through circumstances beyond their control. These animals are all some of them have left, and to take them away would be cruel. And where will these animals end up....in some shelter where their lives will end shortly? Don't we have enough animals in shelters without adding to the problem? These animals are loved and wanted, and if they are being taken care of, they should be allowed to stay right where they are. How about some volunteer vets going to the camp and offering free spay & neuter and medical care? Many rescue groups have vets that work with them doing just that....remember how they were in New Orleans after Katrina en mass? And surely if they have the compassion and love for animals to do free S/N for feral cat colonies, they can do it for pets that are wanted. Let's show a little kindness to these people and pets, and as you sleep well in your warm comfortable bed tonite, thank the Lord and pray that you don't end up just like them.

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Thanks for the link debbies, and I will call Monday as well. When I read this post I immediately thought of Snowball, the little white dog ripped from his boy's arms and tossed to the side during Katrina evacuations. How cruel to remove people's companions, like having a family member taken from you. If there is free medical care including spay/neuter, I don't see the problem. There but for the grace of God go you or I....and in the coming economic storm, there will be the need for many more camps like this.

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With the exception of the lady who posted the link, very few bloggers here seem to absorb the concept that this is NOT the regulators' website, and that 'chewing out' the author of the aritcle won't get their gripe to where it needs to be heard. "March 21; DEBBIES" : FOLLOW THAT LINK!

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I thought the one good thing to come out of Hurricane Katrina was that decision makers realized that pets are family members and need to be right along side their human companions no matter the situation. Appears a few in Ontario, CA missed this life lesson.

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I agree with the previous posts. Let them keep their pets. A pet doesn't care if they live in a mansion or in a tent as long as they are loved and cared for. Let these people feel like human beings. They have already lost so much.

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I am a pet partner with She-Bear and I have seen first hand what an animal can do for people who are suffering hardships. It is criminal to take away the security that serves homeless people in their most critical time in need. The fact that there are Vet. students willing to give of their time shows how important this project has become. These people have lost their dignity, their belongings, their shelter, please don't take the one thing that may be giving them emotional and/or physical security!!!!!!!!!!!

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No family member should be taken away from anyone - homeless or not!!! How cruel and unnecessary. If the vet students are providing the necessary vet care, what's the problem? It's not like the animals are reproducing (thank God for the kindness of the vet students) or spreading any illnesses. Mr. Mayor, in case you haven't noticed, these people are already down on their luck and now you wanna kick um when their down??? Why?

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Come on, people. Can't you leave these poor people alone? Animals have the capacity of saving lives, saving sanity, and saving souls. I prescribe one year of everyone having a pet., then come back and tell me how 'useless' and 'disposable' they are.

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Dear Sir,
I am writing about your ban on pets in the homeless camp. I respect the fact that you didn’t realize it grow to such proportions, but you should have as there so many people homeless, especially in an area where they can be reasonably warm in winter.

It simply unconscionable that you would take these animals away from people with nothing and no other good friends in their lives. Let the college vets help them and give them the time they need. It would behoove you, instead to make more room for them by soliciting more land for homeless camps. God knows there are plenty of very wealthy, well fed, well house people in your area that should be helping to make housing and jobs available. These poor souls have no other means of existence and these pets are their only family. Would you take their children, too, if they had them? Most of them are not homeless by choice, you know. As a person who works with organizations who spend a lot time putting homeless pets with people who can love them, I can tell you, you need not make more animals homeless when they have someone to love them. Also, these animals protect their owners from a very bad world in which they are forced by circumstance, to live. I think it is important to reconsider this ban and try instead to help these people, the vet students, and their animals by finding them homes or jobs, or funding their vet care.

Sincerely,
Karen Wright

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animals like your own kid. Please don't give up your animals. we live in hotel which our animals we don' t give them. whould like do that to you. Now the animas feel not wanted in a place or they think they owners don't went them anymore.

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Please, I pray that the homeless camp will not lose their pets as they as close as having their children.
My sister works for a senator and for the League of Women Voters.
We are advocates for animals helpless causes..
I again please urge you to reconsider taking away homeless persons pets.
Amen

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