Jackson Tennessee Rabies Control Reform Is Being Demanded By Citizens

JACKSON, Tenn. - Aug. 28, 2013 - PRLog -- PRESS RELEASE

DATE:          August 28, 2013


RE:          Reform Jackson Rabies Control public meeting

CONTACT: Rachel Ray - rachelcatheyray@gmail.com

JACKSON TENN – A meeting of the Reform Jackson Rabies Control (JRC) organizers and supporters will be held Saturday, August 31, 2013 at China Pan restaurant at noon.

The meeting is to give information about the movement to reform the county’s government-funded animal control facility. Included will be information about the online petition demanding change, which has more than 3,000 signatures from across Tennessee, the nation and the world. http://www.change.org/petitions/citizens-to-the-rescue-of-jackson-tn-animals-change-the-conditions-and-treatment-of-animals-in-jackson-rabies-control?utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition

“The petition has drawn the attention of people worldwide who are interested in animal welfare and humane treatment, and placed Jackson Rabies Control in the international public eye,” says Rachel Ray, organizer of Reform Jackson Rabies Control. “The facility can no longer operate in secrecy. They can no longer ignore and continue to commit what we believe to be flagrant violations of minimal standards of care for the animals in their control using taxpayer money,” she says. “The world is now watching.”

Also to be discussed is the Reform Jackson Rabies Control Protest to he held Saturday, September 7, 2013. https://www.facebook.com/events/151326271737959/

The grassroots citizen movement to reform the animal control facility has garnered widespread and local support. “We have a Facebook page in which we have almost 300 supporters, but that doesn’t show a true picture,” Ray states. “People are afraid to speak up and to be visible on this, because they fear that their actions exposing JRC will result in worse treatment for the animals there. They fear that exposing JRC will trigger even more killings of the animals in retaliation and as a way to force concerned citizens to shut up and go away. It won’t work, though. We will not go away. Not this time,” Ray states that the statistics on the Facebook page show that in three weeks, there have been more than 20,000 views and interactions on the page. “This shows that people are very interested and concerned about what’s going on at JRC, but are intimidated about speaking out,” explain Ray.

Ray says that her group has given the government officials a Freedom of Information Act Request and that she and others will be looking at the information to get a better gauge on how JRC operates fiscally and in terms of animal euthanization, adoption, rescue, unexplained deaths, lost animals and more. “That information will be made public as soon as it is analyzed,” states Ray.