Though they display an intimidating, tough-as-nails exterior, that is just the old age prejudice of judging a book by its cover. The truth is the courageous, tattooed men of rescue Ink are willing to do anything and everything in order to stop the abuse and abandonment of animals, even if it means taking matters into their own hands. Move over Hell’s Angles, these men are the real life angels on a quest to protect the lives of innocent animal at any costs – within the boundaries of law, of course!
As they promote their new show, Rescue Ink Unleashed, on the National Geographic Channel and their book, Rescue Ink: How Ten Guys Saved Countless Dogs And Cats, Twelve Horses, Five Pigs, One Duck And A Few Turtles, Wendy Diamond, sans leather, sits down with the heroes and rescuers of Rescue Ink to have one of their infamous in-your-face “talks”.
WD: How in the world did Rescue Ink begin?
Big Ant & Joe: We met through hot rod shows, tattoo conventions, this person knows this person, we’d go to the bar and on motorcycle rides. We are just a bunch of guys that used to go out and help everybody out. A lot of these rescue groups are made up of women and they get themselves in situation that they can’t always handle. If you have a problem, you come to us, and we’d help you solve it our way. We spoke to a few of the abusers and the rest of the [rescue] groups heard about how we dealt with them. Pretty soon we were getting calls from China, England, Japan, all over the world! Whatever it was, we were there.
WD: When you were sitting there at the hot rod shows, did you say, “We’re going to start Rescue Ink?”
Joe: We never really thought of a name until one person said: “You guys are fantastic, what do you call yourselves?” We thought “Well, we rescue animals and we like ink, so why not Rescue Ink?”
WD: What was the moment when you guys decided to help innocent animals?
Big Ant: It as when we decided that every animal counts and deserves help. Even if it’s just helping one animal, that’s good enough for us. There were some rescues that we went on and if we were outnumbered – that’s when we would go as a group. We actually found out that going in as an army works better.
Joe: They’ll see when they watch the show. They’ll see.
WD: Do you ever get into a situation with dog fights à la Michael Vick?
Big Ant: Wherever there’s an animal in danger. We do everything. You’ll see.
WD: Have you ever had to go Tony Soprano on anyone?
Batso: It’s usually pretty civil. I hope it never comes to that because I’d flip out and you’d see the real Tony Soprano.
WD: Tell me about the Rescue Ink Club?
Joe: Sometimes people come, sometimes people go. Sometimes, when you go into situations where you’re tested, some people fail and some people shine. You never know, until you know. When we go into a situation, we all know what we’re doing. We’re a very tight group. So to go and start another organization somewhere without knowing who the people are and what they’re doing, we don’t feel comfortable with that. Trust is a very important part of Rescue Ink. We don’t want anyone tarnishing our good name on these animals.
WD: There’s no denying that you guys are a real-life Justice League.
Batso: I don’t mess around. I’m 76 years old, born in 1933. I worked in a circus when I was 10 years old, taking care of lions and tigers. That’s before you were born. Then I worked on a tobacco farm. We were in the dirt picking up tobacco with guns on our shoulders.
WD: How does helping animals compare to that?
Batso: I love animals and I’d do anything for them. That’s my job. Sometimes when I go out, I even cry when I see them. As I got older, I got weaker inside. But on the outside, I’m still a fighter and a pretty good one too!
WD: Tell us about your own pets, Batso. Do you have any?
Batso: Yeah, I got Maika. She’s my sweetie. We rescued her out of Brooklyn and it was love at first bite. She’s a Pit-Bull and a Labrador. She’s the best. When I brought her home, my wife and I argued all the time over the dog. Now, she loves the dog. The dog did the best thing for my wife because when she’s stressed Maika helps her mellow out.
WD: What has been the most difficult rescue for you so far?
Big Ant: It had to be those 180 cats running all over this one lady’s house. Trying to catch 180 cats is not a fun thing to do. They scratched the hell out of us.
WD: So; who’s more difficult, the animals or the people?
Batso: I’d say the people. The animals are the victims. They can’t defend themselves. The people are usually bigger jerks. The animals are ecstatic when we get there. It’s a great feeling. The animals appreciate what you do for them more. And it’s not really that hard to deal with the people either because after we’re done talking to them, they usually see things our way.
WD: Are any women ever going to get involved in Rescue Ink?
Joe: Mary is the women behind the scenes that makes everything click. She runs the whole back of the show. Without Mary, Rescue Ink would have a very difficult time doing a lot of things.
WD: And if Mary was a dog, what breed would she be?
Joe: Whatever breed she wants to be.
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