A Letter from Leslie: Rusty Update

I wanted to take a moment to let our supporters know that Rusty is doing as well as we could possibly expect given the circumstances. Unfortunately, we have not seen any movement within the court system in months, which, I know, can be frustrating. I’m right there with all of you, wondering why we can’t do more to speed up this process, but I’ve learned (with help from our legal team) that patience and remaining positive is the best course of action.

Currently, we are waiting for the Court of Appeals to either set the cases for oral argument or submission on the briefs. Rusty’s case is 100 percent in the hands of the court system now and we want to make sure that our supporters understand this. It’s hard to remain patient and although it might be tempting to take action and communicate on Rusty’s behalf to the court or other judicial personnel, doing so would harm our case.

If you are wondering how you can help and remain active on his behalf without potentially harming his case, please continue to send donations of large bones and tough chew toys for Rusty to enjoy and keep him entertained while at the shelter. He is getting play time each day and is doing well considering the circumstances. We would also like to encourage you to honor Rusty by adopting or fostering through Dallas Pets Alive, Dallas Animal Services or your local shelter. Although Rusty cannot go home right now, we hope we can get others just like him into a warm, loving foster or forever homes.

I would personally like thank the staff at Dallas Animal Services for caring for Rusty for almost eight months now. They have taken steps to make sure he is getting exercise and have even moved him to a larger kennel to help him be more comfortable and I am so grateful for everything they are doing for him.

We are doing everything in our power to continue to fight for Rusty to live out the rest of his life in a sanctuary.  Our passionate legal team has worked tirelessly on his case for almost a year now and they are ready to fight for Rusty in court as soon as we are given the opportunity to do so. Again, we believe the December 2017 incident was very unfortunate and we immediately made permanent changes and implemented new procedures to reduce the chance of it ever happening again.

If you would like to provide toys or treats for Rusty please send them to:

Dallas Pets Alive
11700 Preston Rd.
Suite 660 #263
Dallas, TX 75230

Thank you for your unwavering support and inquiries about Rusty, its heartwarming to say the least. I know we can all agree that we would have loved to have seen this case resolved in a much more efficient way, but ultimately its out of our control. What we can control is continuing to remain positive, sending him our love and a few bones to keep his spirits up, and when the time comes to be ready to stand up for him in court!

Again, thank you for your love and support for Rusty and Dallas Pets Alive!

— Leslie Sans, Executive Director

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