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Chain Off 2009
Freedom for Chained Dogs the World Over

San Antonio , Texas
July 11, 2009

link to his article

Adam Moran is the S.A. representative for Dogs Deserve Better, an organization dedicated to educating pet owners and getting dogs off chains. He will write about his rescue efforts, share his success stories and offer tips for helping chained and neglected dogs.

At 6am on Saturday, July 11th, I chained myself to a tree in Brackenridge Park. It was dark, and I was alone in the park; which is how many dogs spend every night at the end of their chains. I chained myself with a chain that had a very special meaning; just 12 hours prior, it was attached to the neck of Ilya, a dog that was left in her backyard by her owner when she moved out. Ilya had no water, no food, no shelter, and was surrounded by fire ants, and I'm going to write all about her in my next blog. But for now, the Chain-Off.

It was already warm when I chained myself to what I THOUGHT was an oak tree. Once the sun rose, I realized it was a pecan tree... I'm allergic to tree nuts. Oh well, I was already there, fingers crossed! Around 6:30, I got my first visitors. It was a homeless couple that spent most of their time in the park, and they were there to collect the baby Cattle Egrets that had fallen out of the tree so they could be taken to another woman who raises them and releases them back in to the wild. I later found out these two people are homeless because of Hurricane Ike. I saw them throughout the day, and they spent quite a bit of time with me chatting.

Throughout the day, many passerbys either stopped to see what I was doing, tell me they thought it was great, or just try to figure out why a guy was chained to a tree. Some asked if I was with PETA (which I'm not); many wanted to know what I did about going to the bathroom (unchained myself and went to the bathrooms nearby, because I didn't want to get arrested). Many people made donations, shared stories of chained dogs in their neighborhood, or told me about their dogs at home. Only a handful of people I talked to knew about Dogs Deserve Better, so I definitely got the message out this way.

The best way to get the message out, though, started around 9:30am. WOAI sent a cameraman out to interview me, and I made it clear to them why I was doing it and what I hoped to accomplish. In the next few hours, I was also interviewed by KSAT, KABB, and Brian Chasnoff from the Express-News (and also a mysa.com blogger). Most of the questions were the same, but there was a little variety. Pictures of sweet Walter made it on two of the news clips quite clearly, and two of the three also mentioned the two dogs that died at the end of their chain. I haven't been able to find the clips online, so if anyone can find them, please send them my way! he temperature steadily rose throughout the day, as did my impatience with the Brackenridge train's whistle and the bells from the safety gates lowering. Boredom and frustration set in quickly, and my gallon jug of water went from ice cold to barely drinkable by 9am. My neck was sore from the collar rubbing, and I spent quite a bit of time looking at Walter's picture, trying to keep my sanity. Can you imagine being chained 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? It's no wonder dogs become very aggressive like that... I was ready to attack after just 12 hours!

About 10:30am, a Park Police Officer pulled up, lights flashing. I knew I wasn't doing anything illegal, so I was pretty curious. I walked over (as far as I could) and shook his hand, and he asked me what was going on. I explained the situation to him, and he said someone had called in because I had stapled a couple of posters to a tree. Didn't even occur to me that it might be a problem to do that, because I was using very small staples that barely penetrated the bark, and I was planning to take them out when I was done anyways. He told me it wasn't a problem at all, and he called his supervisor to let him know there wasn't a problem. He spent some time talking to me about dogs, about our anti-chaining law (he didn't know much about it, but was eager to learn), and then he joked with me that he was going to cite me for my chain being too short. I then explained to him that in fact, everything he saw was completely legal under Texas law.

At 6pm, after plenty of conversation, plenty of sweating, a monstrous headache, 2 gallons of water, 4 interviews, and about $500 in donations, the Chain-Off came to an end. I'd like to thank everyone that came out and wished me well, those who came out to interview me, and especially those who donated to our cause. Like I said before, every penny raised in the chain-off will go directly towards helping the dogs of San Antonio.