A new relationship with animals, nature and each other.

Pit Bull Patrick Still in the Middle of a Turf War

Back in March, when Patrick the pit bull was found, starved and barely breathing, in a trash bag after being dropped down a garbage chute, everyone seemed united on his behalf. But then, even as he was being nursed back to health at the Garden State Veterinary Specialists hospital, Patrick found himself caught up in a custody battle.

Six months later, the Associated Humane Societies of New Jersey (AHS) is still trying to take him away from the people who have cared for him all this time. Now they have filed a 16-page, 12-count lawsuit against the animal hospital and the City of Newark, which has consistently taken the side of the hospital. AHS claims that the hospital and the city have conspired to deprive AHS of its property rights in Patrick and thus cost them fundraising potential.

In a blog post on his website, Nathan Winograd, a former prosecutor, now advocate for the no-kill movement, accuses AHS not only of being more interested in dollars than dogs, but of having a “sordid history of corruption, neglect, inhumane treatment, and a refusal to put the best interests of animals above its own.”

Read Winograd’s full post here.