Liz Ellis is the adoption coordinator at the Kane County Humane Society (PAWC) which has a contract with Galesburg to take in local strays. Ellis loves pit bulls. I mean she just adores pit bulls. She even mentioned on her facebook page that she felt guilty that she counted a non-pit bull as one of her favorite dogs at the shelter one time.
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| Liz Ellis and Chris King of the Knox County Humane Society (PAWC) |
She also seems to be good at adopting out dogs. Just recently she bragged that PAWC had not only adopted out all the local strays and drop offs that came to the Knox County Humane Society, by October 2012 they had "pulled" 73 dogs from other shelters in other areas, importing them into Knox county to be adopted out locally. And at the end of October, she was told to go pull some more.
How freaking cool is that? It depends on what kind of dogs Ellis imported into Knox county to be permanent canine residents. She chose Houston area strays! Many of 'em pit bulls!
Yep, Ellis loves pit bulls so much that she drove down to Houston to pick up some homeless pit bulls to bring back to Galesburg to adopt out. Houston, by the way, is known for its dogfighters, dogfighting, pit fighting dogs, strays, and sky high bite and attack statistics. Five people have been killed by pit bulls in the Houston area, two of those in 2011. Before this year, there are no recorded fatal pit bull attacks in Knox county, Illinois.
And man, such fast turn around for these Houston strays. December 17th this "male dominant" (meaning they know it will attack male dogs) stray named Big Boy is picked up.
And BOOM, December 19th this aggressive stray is in some lucky Galesburg neighborhood! Were the neighbors warned that Big Boy will attack their dogs?
And how about this one. This is a pit bull that fought another pit bull and lost part of its face.
For pit bull rescuers, the thing to do is call all dogs with fighting injuries "bait dogs" which makes everyone think those dogs were just scared and didn't want to fight, and the dogfighters threw them in with the nasty pit bulls and let them get beat up for practice.
But some pit bulls are just the losers. They're fighters, just not good enough fighters to win against the best pit bulls in the fighting pit. But even a second or third rate fighting dog is capable of killing anything living in Galesburg - including people. Who knows if he'll decide to chomp down on some easy target some day? We don't know. This pit bull was born and raised and fought by a dogfighter. It sustained gross injury and had been in the shelter system in Houston for a little while while recuperating, and then was picked up from Houston by Liz on December 17th with the other pit bulls and dogs and brought to Galesburg, IL.
About TWENTY FIVE DAYS later, we can see this fighting dog IN A GRADE SCHOOL in Galesburg with grade schoolers touching it.
Notice the tail is tucked which is a sign of fear. This pit has not been in a stable living experience long enough to even get its bearings. It has only lived in a house less than a month! In fact, three months after this photo was taken, Chase's owner notes that Chase has still not adjusted to life in a home, which is understandable.
Twenty five days is nowhere nowhere near long enough time for an abused and injured dog's true temperament and quirks to be known. And just forget about it being enough time for ANY dog to be to be trained and conditioned to be safe in a school with unfamiliar children touching it.
After Ryan Maxwell lost his life to a pit bull, Ellis and her co-worker at the Humane Society Chris King, displayed their true concerns.
Chris King, the PAWC medical coordinator/animal control, chose to make his sentiments known by placing an obsolete anti-BSL propaganda poster on his facebook page erroneously suggesting that pit bulls "only" kill three people year (
try 23 in 2012). The message is that not very many people get killed by pit bulls, so it is it is just not big enough of a problem to even consider regulating who owns one. That is a downright bizarrely heartless message Chris King sends when just minutes away from him a family and their friends, and members of the same community are grieving, not for a statistic, but for the horrendous loss of their child whose name is Ryan Maxwell. Chris King shows no public concern about Ryan on his page, but shows concern that pit bulls might be regulated in the wake of Ryan Maxwell's death precisely because Ryan's death is insignificant.
Ellis had much to say before Ryan Maxwell was mauled to death. Here she is in January shaming someone for voicing the very thing that everyone in Galesburg now knows - interacting with a pit bull that is not on its best behavior can be fatal:
And then two weeks after Ryan Maxwell was killed, she brought her own pit bull to an elementary school for children to pet. Do you think she asked parents if they wanted their children to interact with a pit bull?
Less than a month after Ryan died, Ellis threw this poster up on her facebook page criticizing the parenting skills of anyone who dares to be concerned about her beloved but dangerous pit bulls. Why is she pointing fingers at parents right after parents lost their child minutes away from where she sits?
I know some people in Galesburg decided they didn't want their pit bull anymore. The following picture shows two things. One, this boy's parents did not want their pit bull back after it ran away after Ryan's death. Two, Ellis reveals yet another pit bull imported by her into the Galesburg area from elsewhere.
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| (Flame was indeed another pit bull offered by PAWC) |
And if you look at oodle, you can clearly see that the major purveyor of pit bulls is Liz at the Knox County Humane Society (PAWC).
On April 23,
Oodle market place had listings for a 24 individual dogs, 3 litters of puppies, and a listing from a puppy miller that offered several breeds in a 25 mile radius of Galesburg, IL. Of the 24 individual dogs listed, 13 were not pit bulls and 11 were pit bulls or pit bull mixes. Of the 11 pit bulls listed, all but one were being offered by Liz Ellis of the Knox County Humane society.
Collie - 1
yorkshire terrier - 1
english bulldog - 2
Boston Terrier - 1 litter
Pit bull terrier - 3 (contact Liz)
labrador retriever 2, 1 litter
staffordshire bull terrier (pit bull) 3 (contact Liz)
American Staffordshire Terrier (pit bull) 5 (contact Liz)
Siberian Husky - 1 litter
Jack Russell Terrier - 1
pit bull mix 2 (contact Liz)
Pug/beagle mix 1
Shepherd mix 1
Great Dane 1
mixed breed 1
Plott Hound 1
Jack Russell Terrier/Corgi mix 1
pit bull mix 1 - not liz
American Eskimos - puppy mill
Pomeranians - puppy mill
Mini Dachshunds - puppy mill
Norwegian Elkhounds - puppy mill
Galesburg does not seem to have a problem with pit bull backyard breeders in their area. How many of those pit bulls offered by the Humane Society have been imported into the area by Liz Ellis? It seems that Galesburg and Knox County are borrowing trouble when they don't have a problem with local back yard pit bull breeders. The priorities and goals of the Humane Society must be reevaluated. Put people first.
The time for action is now because if pit bull ownership and breeding becomes prevalent in Galesburg, the days of being able to adopt out all the local strays and owner surrenders are over. Along with rising bite and mauling statistics, Galesburg will experience a dog population explosion. Soon Galesburg's shelter will look like other shelters and city leaders will get regular reports from animal control begging for more money citing an "urgent need."
And for heaven's sake, the city of Galesburg should not take the word of pit bull advocates at face value that a ban cannot be put in place. Galesburg is a home rule city and they must seriously research their local power to ban or regulate pit bulls before taking that option off the table.
Read more:
Houston dogfighting
Houston area serious and fatal pit bull maulings
WHBF-TV
Towns all over Illinois are struggling with a dangerous dog problem that always amounts to a pit bull problem:
Apr 11, 2013 Bloomington pit bull attack prompts change in dangerous, vicious dog ordinance
Jan 30, 2013 Lake County defines "animal aggressive" as new category of dangerous dogs
It is Time, Elgin
Jul 13, 2012 Talk of the County Waukegan outlaw pit bulls
Jul 10, 2012 Waukegan woman’s canine companion killed by pit bull
Jun 23, 2012 Cary will look into dog bites
May 25, 2012 Carmi citizens want pit bull ban
May 21, 2012 Skokie considers stricter law after 3 pit bull-on-dog attacks
May 16, 2012 Bloomington may review pet registration law after pit bull attack
May 09, 2012 Waukegan approves pet ordinance
Feb 07, 2012 Family’s pet mauled by pit-bull type dog
Dec 20, 2011 Arlington Hgts. toughens penalties for dangerous animals following pit bull attack
Aug 08, 2011 Police want more teeth to proposed dangerous dog ordinance
Nov 16, 2010 Pit bull that inspired Machesney Park law faces euthanasia
