How brutal bikers created an animal rescue team and what came of it

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

What can you think when you see a dozen two-meter bikers, tattooed from neck to toes, come to your neighbor's house, although you know for sure that a neighbor cannot have anything to do with such tough guys? And what would you think if five minutes later these same bikers come out and one of them is carrying a frightened puppy in his arms? Such pictures are not uncommon on Long Island, where the most unusual animal protection team - Rescue Ink - operates.

Initially, Rescue Ink consisted of 10 people. Mike Tatu - shaved head, former bodybuilding champion; Big Ant - a huge man-mountain weighing 140 kg; Joe Pants, whose neck looks more like the trunk of a massive oak; Johnny Oh, who used to guard celebrities, and now has become a real expert in combat. Six more people, including 75-year-old Batso, are the backbone of the Rescue Ink team, which was formed in 2006 in New York.

Batso realized the value of animal companionship after his son died at the age of 47. His dog - a mixed pit bull and a Labrador retriever - was with him and his wife all the time, helping to cope with grief. Batso went to church with the dog, and with her he visited his son's grave. And while the neighbors even sold their house, just to stay away from this "strange and scary biker", Batso was the dog's best friend, and for her the main thing was what he felt, not how he looked.

They rented a house on the shore for their animals, until a hurricane destroyed it in 2011. Since then, Rescue Ink has been housed in a hangar. They answer calls for help and come to help out animals in trouble. For example, the Telegraph newspaper told about a case when a girl called bikers and shared her suspicion that her teacher keeps a dog in his bathroom, which, apparently, never lets out, so much so that there is a terrible smell from there. When the bikers arrived at the address, they heard this disgusting smell even through the closed doors of the house.

Not having permission and the opportunity to enter the house, the guys contacted the animal welfare service, who brought up the necessary permission, as well as with the owner of the house, from whom the teacher rented a house - he brought the keys to the premises. And going inside, they found a dog locked in the bathroom - a French Bulldog. The dog was obviously kept for breeding - puppies of this breed can be sold in the city for one and a half thousand dollars apiece. The dog was so weak that it barely breathed and barely reacted to people.

Bikers come for any occasions when animals need help. Be it cruel treatment of dogs, as in the case described above, or if you find wild kittens hiding somewhere in a barn, bikers believe that there are no more or less worthy animals to save, everyone should help.

Although a documentary was later filmed about Rescue Ink, they did not originally plan to be famous. Many of the team have a criminal record, some do not want people to know where they are. But love for animals is what unites them all. “When I had no one to turn to and whom to rely on, I knew that I could only trust my dog,” says Joe Pants of his Rottweiler Blackjack. Joe can show bullet marks on his body: one on his chest, four more on his back. So he knows exactly what danger is and what support and trust are.

If you see a biker on the streets of New York, who carries trays for cats in the back seat of his Harley Davidson, and artificial mice on strings are tied to them, then this is most likely Al Chernov, better known as ElliCat. Al was born in New York, but became an orphan early. He spent most of his life in the army, and all this time his family consisted of 8 cats. So when "Rescue Ink" needed the help of "cat daddy", ElliCat joined the team without any problems.

Each of the team members has their own job, and they do not have the opportunity to constantly be in the "Rescue Ink". Therefore, at some point they had a coordinator who accepts all calls and messages and coordinates the group, sending requests for help to those who are geographically located near the scene of the incident and those who are currently free.

Rescue Ink is a charitable organization. The bikers themselves work in it for free, and the money that caring residents send to their account is spent on the maintenance and treatment of animals. In 2009, a small 6-episode documentary about the group "Rescue Ink Unleashed" was released, which told about the everyday life of bikers and how they save animals. This has helped raise awareness of Rescue Ink and donations have become more regular.

“Of course we use our looks as a lever of pressure,” says Mike Tatu. - Usually people think: it's better not to joke with these guys. In fact, we are very careful not to be accused of lynching. We act logically, within the framework of the law. We always give people options for what they can do. But in any case, we want to resolve the situation for the benefit of the animal."

How an ordinary guy was able to single-handedly help more than 700 dogs, we talk about in our article. "Keeper of the Dogs".