For Immediate Release
May 30, 2007
Animal Volunteers Change Strategy
Former Rescuers Target LADAS Volunteer Coordinator for Incompetence
Los Angeles- Volunteers used to caring directly for abandoned or abused animals switched tactics last week, deciding instead to hold LA Department of Animal Services (LADAS) Volunteer Coordinator Heidi Hubner responsible for the gross incompetence that kills thousands of innocent companion animals annually. In a communiqué received by the Press Office, “volunteers” now working for the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) claimed to have sabotaged two vehicles belonging to Hubner.
The communiqué reads in part: “as laas volunteers we have been treated with almost as much contempt and disreguard by hubner as the companion animals who are killed there. we thought it would be more productive to volunteer with the alf then to continue the farce of being volunteers for a department that is so fucked up.” (Read the entire communiqe here.)
Hubner was hired at LADAS by Francis Battista of Best Friends to replace Aram Salmasi as volunteer coordinator approximately three years ago. She had no prior experience in organizing nor overseeing volunteers and the non-profit pet company she had worked for previously failed. Hubner has been called unskilled and disorganized by those she oversees; dedicated volunteers have been fired for criticizing the department publicly as well as for exposing the horrors of what goes on inside LADAS shelters. She has failed to implement productive volunteer dog walking programs so that the animals at the shelter are exercised; under Hubner exciting and creative venues for off-site mobile pet adoptions have been overlooked or gone unexplored.
A spokesperson for Animal Defense League-LA, which has been a vocal critic of LADAS and Hubner’s boss, General Manager Ed Boks, stated: “Hubner has no business serving as volunteer coordinator; without experience or creativity, she condemns thousands of animals to death by her failure to implement progressive adoption and fostering programs. There are so many dedicated volunteers standing by to help these animals, waiting only for knowledgeable guidance and management to save lives.”