Wonderful rally, thank you to those who organized.

well, banning voluiunteers from govt shelters is nothing new. but now with social networking, the word gets out to many , fast . the govt cant hide the truth anymore. Our rescue, southbark, based in mobile , al. is banned for 6 mt, no contact w/ couinty shelter. we were told us we needed a cooling off time. so all the animals we could have saved, will now be killed.

Everyone contact Howard Stern, he is an animal lover : http://www.howardstern.com/howard-stern-show.hs

Excellent reporting Ms. Conroy. I must respond to the town's most recent update. The adoption coordinators only ties to one rescue group (out of state) was that she created their facebook page. How does that give you experience with successfully coordinating adoptions? To boot, Regina Thorne (shelter employee that was transferred in October) was the adoption coordinator. Why did the person who filled her position not become the adoption coordinator? Instead the town decided to hire someone, with no adoption coordinating experience at 45,000/year. More money to the two legged friends. As far as the rescue liason goes, she was a receptionist at a local vet's office. The only contacts they have between the two of them is the list of 50 approved rescue groups, created by the banned rescuer, Diane Madden. In fact none of the Long Island rescue community has ever heard of either of these women before. Kate Murray, is lying once again....it was not her who reached out to Last Hope but rather, Last Hope that reached out to her. The truth will prevail, as it always does and Kate Murray and her board will continue to look like the heartless people they are that have continued to ignore our pleas for help over the past five months. Shame on you, Town of Hempstead.

The shelter belongs to the tax payers, it is tax payers' money that funds it and pays the salaries. The volunteers have EVERY right to enter that building, and the elected officials who are throwing up road blocks must be sent a message in the election booth.

Thank you for the coverage, please continue to cover this story as we need to "SAVE THE ANIMALS"! God Bless all you who continue to fight for our "Furry Friends" at the Town of Hempstead Animal Shelters. A big thank you to you all!

You guys rock, keep up the momentum and the town will be forced to deal with the truth!

Want solutions to this ugly set of problems? First, check out this site dedicated to a new way of sheltering = http://tinyurl.com/6yxl4ny

It embraces the No Kill Equation for short term solutions. It then develops a marketing style centered on making the facility itself a fun place to visit and return:

1) All animals are showcased in large, open rooms.
2) Animals not able to live communally are transferred into rehab and then socialized.
3) Once balanced and healthy these animals are returned to the Adoption Center to be "presented" to the community.

Like prison cages and killing? Hire another typical shelter director. Keep the status quo. Want a real change? See this site called Shelter Revolution = http://tinyurl.com/6yxl4ny

I wrote to Kate Murray and quietly and respectfully, behind the scenes, made this same offer without strings or cost. All my advice for free. Guess she didn't care. Animals keep dying.

I'll come out and implement this program and spend 3 years bringing it to life. In return I get $70,000 a year and a mandate to make necessary changes: we can start with organizational streamlining! You guys get the best system in the country - the pilot program for Shelter Revolution. :-)

I think it was wonderful to see all the people come out March 19 to show their concerns with the animals, and the conditions that they were subjected to. Also I'm glad that I participated in that protest. They now have to keep pressure on Kate Murray, It is my opinion that she is incompetent and failed to do her job for the benefit of these poor animals. Also Patricia Horan, who was transferred to another facility making the same amount of money I think is appalling. I don't see any punishment here. I think the best thing is to keep pressure on this situation by holding more and more protest until Horan, is fired and the people get satisfaction from Kate Murray.