I have received a rather unfortunate update from Monica Martino, the co-founder & CEO of Detroit Dog Rescue. The original post about Ace is HERE. Here’s the latest news:
Detroit Dog Rescue has become very involved in this fight — we were able to find the owner of “Ace” (she saw him on the news — he had been stolen from her months ago). My partner Hush went to the Department of Animal Control this morning with her to claim Ace. She brought all the proper documentation, including vet records, rabies certificates, and personal photos of her dog. Department of Animal Control showed her the wrong dog and tried to convince her it was Ace, despite her protests. We have proof that the dog was NOT Ace.
Now we are trying to get legal counsel involved, as it is our belief that Ace was likely killed by DAC as soon as he was picked up and they have been trying to cover their tracks ever since. All the latest updates are on our Facebook page — www.facebook.com/detroitdogrescue.
We have over 10,000 supporters who have joined our fight to save Ace as well as the other 99,999 stray dogs in Detroit who deserve a fighting chance. Our goal is to open up a no-kill shelter in the city so that we can change the policy in Detroit, which currently has a euthanisation rate of 98% for its stray dogs.
Another update from their Facebook page:
BREAKING NEWS AS OF 3:12 PM EST: We have NO confirmation on whether Ace is alive or dead. We do know that Detroit Animal Control (DAC) tried to show Ace’s real owner a dog that was NOT Ace, therefore we fear the worst and believe that Ace has been put down already. Hush did go to DAC with Ace’s owner but Harry Ward refused to speak with him. DAC called security and the police were called to escort Hush off the property. He stayed in order to support the owner as she tried to find out what happened to her dog. We have PROOF that the dog DAC showed her is not her dog. We have secured representation for DDR as well as for the owner of Ace. We will be filing an injunction today to put a freeze on all euthanization of ANY AND ALL DAC dogs until this matter is resolved. We are NOT affiliated with The Lexus Project or with Save Ace and we are not receiving any donations from the chip-in set up by those parties. Please tune in tonight to local news Channels 2, 4, and 7 at 5:30 p.m. for this story, and please consider donating to www.detroitdogrescue.com if you would like to help.
This is all I have for now. I’ll update as I learn more. Please note that I do not have an opinion on whether or not you should donate to Detroit Dog Rescue. I have no knowledge of them and do endorse them one way or the other. Please do your homework if you decide to help out.
Another update from DDR:
BREAKING NEWS (please use instead as I had to clarify the wording of the injunction): Detroit Dog Rescue and Ace’s owner filed an injunction today, and the judge has ruled that the Department of Animal Control in Detroit is to halt killing ANY dogs in their control which are pitbull or pit mixes that could be Ace or that look like Ace until November 16 so that we can confirm whether they have Ace or not. On November 16 there will be a hearing – more details on that to follow. This is a HUGE victory for DDR and is unprecedented for the City of Detroit as well as for Animal Control. We feel very lucky that we were able to get this filed before the furlough day tomorrow, as I am certain that they were hoping to count the day the city is closed as one of Ace’s four “hold” days. As I said before, we have only begun this fight, but this gives me, Hush, Jessica, Dante, Shance and the whole DDR crew SO much hope. -Monica
An official statement from Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh:
It would be devastating to the good will of this City for the Mayor’s office to allow ACE to die when a reputable, state-approved rescue agency has told us that they will rehabilitate the dog and determine if it’s adoptable. My concern is the liability to the City, but this can be remedied by drafting a legal document relieving the City of its liability.Another option is for the Mayor to temporarily suspend the City’s policy. My office is looking at how we can amend the City’s ordinance to allow dogs like ACE to live through a shelter-to-shelter exchange if we can have our liability removed.
The bigger picture is that this is not a battle we should be fighting right now given the more critical priorities we are faced with. In the meantime, the Mayor’s office should do whatever is necessary to keep ACE alive.
UPDATE 2:
