One Michigan animal “shelter” does not need volunteers. Services such as petfinder.com to increase adoptions are useless at this shelter.  City of River Rouge runs a no frills animal “shelter”.  The rules are simple, if a stray dog or cat enters the River Rouge shelter, he/she will die at the end of the stray time.  There are no reprieves.  The sweetest poodles, the most stunning purebred Afghan, the great family mutt all have the same fate when they enter that building, death by gassing.  Animals entering the River Rouge shelter have drawn the worst shelter in the state of Michigan.  It is the only shelter that killed every single animal unlucky enough to enter its doors.

City of River Rouge Animal Shelter 2007 State of Michigan Shelter Report:

Why does River Rouge kills all of the animals that enter its pound?

Ernest Bowling is the animal control officer for River Rouge and he is just following orders.  In 2001, Fox2 News reporter, Fanchon Stinger aired an undercover investigation of Hodgins Kennel, a USDA Class B Dealer.  River Rouge sold dogs and cats to Hodgins at that time.  Because of the public uproar, the River Rouge City Council commanded that its animal shelter stop selling to research.  According to Bowling “the only way I can 100% guarantee that I’m not adopting out an animal to research is to not adopt them at all”.  It seems that Bowling takes things literally and he claims Fred Hodgins told him that about 1% of the animals the shelter would adopt to the public would end up in research labs, so Bowling decided the only way to comply was to not adopt any. So for all these years Bowling gassed every single dog and cat that entered his shelter.  Every single one. 

Call to Arms

River Rouge’s Mayor Michael Balder and its City Council have some explaining to do.  However, they will not change a thing unless people stand up for the animals.  Humans must be their voices.  Quick action is necessary to end this hideous slaughter.  This project will take a little effort.  River Rouge is still in the dark ages without email or even a webpage.

Send letters and call on the telephone:

Mayor: Michael D Bowdler 

City Council: Patty Campbell, Karen Ward, Derek Perry, Malcolm Moulton, Mark Pruneau, Anthony Laginess

City of River Rouge

10600

River Rouge, MI 48218

Telephone:  (313) 842-5604

The city council meets the first and third Tuesday of the month at 8 pm.  The next meeting should be Tuesday, May 6^th.  Please call the City of River Rouge to confirm the meeting schedule.