Do You Know Where That Dog is Going?w/Rhaya's Post

[pupresq]

Important reminder for everyone who re-homes animals and yet more evidence on the importance of home visits and reference checks.

Police Arrest Man In Cat Torture Case - Louisville News Story - WLKY Louisville

Very very sad.

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

I am going to lock this. Please take this discussion to another thread - start a new one on this topic if you wish. This thread has too much important information from the dogs' point of view to get into a back and forth.

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

Bumping this - know where dogs (and donations too) are going!

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

Bump!

Please do everything in Rhaya's post before sending a dog to anyone you internet know.

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

Should have done a home check:

ASHTABULA– Tammy Dondorfer can barely stand the sight.
Over the past couple months, she has helped rescue 30 dogs in a case of animal hoarding. The situation is only getting worse.
“We realize a lot of them were missing a lot of hair, so there was definitely disease running through there,” said Dondorfer, the animal welfare director at the Ashtabula County Animal Protective League. “There were a few that were thin. They were housed five to six per kennel.”
In December, the APL got a tip that a county resident was housing about 40 dogs outside of his home. She said the area breeder became overwhelmed with the responsibility.
While most of the dogs were well-fed, Dondorfer said their health was deteriorating.
“All the dogs are being treated for sarcoptic mange, which is a zoonotic disease,” she said. “That means it can transfer to humans, so we have to be careful when we’re bringing the animals in.”
Mange is a mite which often causes itching and skin infection, Dondorfer said. Many dogs had bloody and scabby bodies as a result.
The infections can take months to treat – time the APL cannot afford.
“We only have room for 80 dogs, and we’re already at capacity, so by bringing in more dogs, it’s straining the already tight resources that we have,” said Dr. Irene Fiala, Vice President of the Board of Directors at the APL.
The APL seized 15 dogs in December and another five last week.
Some animals have struggled to survive.
Dondorfer said one collie had such poor teeth, they will need to be removed. Another dog, named Isis, battled skin infections and has a hole in its leg.
Although many of the dogs are unhealthy, Dondorfer said the county has not pressed charges against the person responsible.
“He is cooperating,” she said. “We thought we would try to go in, get the worst case scenarios first and try to keep working out something that we just keep going back until we get everybody.”
Until then, Dondorfer said her goal is to rehabilitate the dogs that have been neglected and to help them – among the many others – find a home.
The Ashtabula County Animal Protective League is located at 5970 Green Road in Ashtabula.
The APL is open 1 to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It is also open 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

APL Rescues Hoarded Animals | FOX8.com ? Cleveland news & weather

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

Imagine sending your foster there and finding out after the fact:

ENGLEWOOD - 30 animals, including, dogs, cats, and birds have been rescued after living in squalor inside an Englewood home.
Volunteers with Englewood Animal Rescue Sanctuary (EARS) took the animals, which are now being prepared for foster families and adoptions. There are 20 cats, 7 dogs and 3 birds.
"This is one of the worst cases we have ever seen," said Bobbi Austin with EARS.
The pets were living inside the home on Kilborne Avenue. An elderly woman owns the house. Volunteers say the home is in deplorable shape. All of the animals were full of fleas when they were discovered. Also discovered were some dead animals, including a parrot, hamster, fish, and ferret.
"It was like her family. What I cannot understand is how she could let them starve to death," said Austin.
Volunteers found out about the case from one of the homeowner's friends. The friend did not want to be identified, but she told us something had to be done.
"Am I proud of what I did? In a way, yes. I want these animals to have a good life like her. I want them to be happy and healthy, just like I want her to be," said the homeowner's friend.
The homeowner is currently in the hospital suffering from a broken wrist and some respiratory problems, according to her friend. She is said to be upset over her pets being taken away.
"Right now, the pets are going to be put aside so we can evaluate them. Eventually, they will go up for adoption. Since we are a no kill, they will all be adopted one way or another," said Austin.
If you would like to learn how you can adopt one of the animals, or become a foster parent, please contact EARS at, (941) 475-0636. The Sanctuary is also looking for volunteers and funding to support the new additions.

Animals rescued from Englewood hoarding situation - Sarasota News | Mysuncoast.com and ABC 7: 7 South Newsroom

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

Former board member:

• animal rescue
• Dogs
• dog news
• animal abuse

In what seems to be a recurring issue across the nation, yet another dog "rescue" organization has been busted for issues involving neglect and abuse.
According to Friday's WPVI News, after several complaints were made to the mayor, officials in Marcus Hook, Pa., raided a woman's home and seized upwards of 30 dogs.
The woman, Terry Silva, who is a lawyer, is said to operate the Sixth Angels Shepherd Rescue Inc.
The information on the rescue organization's website states that the agency is a non–profit corporation in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
According to the news publication, the "rescue" is not licensed or certified by the state.
The Pennsylvania SPCA describes the woman running the fake rescue as a hoarder, and they allege that she has a history of hoarding.
Officials who worked to remove the dogs from the building, located on West 10th Street, describe filthy conditions - so much so that after the animals were removed, the unit was condemned.
Click here to watch video clip.

Neglected dogs seized from hoarder posing as a rescuer - National Dogs | Examiner.com

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

More - dogs were sent there:

Delco bust highlights fake rescue issue

POSTED: Sunday, February 24, 2013, 11:13 AM
Amy Worden, Inquirer Staff Writer

UPDATE - We have learned that in November 2010 a property used by Silva to house dogs was raided by the PSPCA after complaints of unsanitary conditions and sick dogs and a caretaker was charged. Also, Silva was issued a state kennel license in 2009 and it was renewed through 2012, despite numerous violations, including poor record keeping and failure to possess health certificates from dogs transported from other states. It is unknown if her license was renewed for 2013. The address listed for Silva's kennel was 1617 JFK Blvd., Philadelphia, which is the Suburban Station building.
When humane society officials raided the Delaware County law office of Terry Silva on a grungy block in Marcus Hook on Friday, they pulled out 28 malnourished German Shepherds and shepherd mixes, including a puppy, a pregnant female and one dog so old and sick it had to be euthanized.
"They were very, very thin," said Wendy Marano, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania SPCA. The good news: Silva surrendered the dogs and they will be available for foster and adoption, she said.
The building
Nine years ago Silva was on top of the world, winning a $317,000 settlement in a dispute involving the Chichester School district where she was solicitor. Then 43, she was described in an Inquirer profile as tenacious and detail-oriented.
The media attention the Villanova-trained attorney has gotten ever since has been far from laudatory.
In April 2010 Silva was cited in connection with an illegal dog transport bringing dogs from a North Carolina shelter to her organization, Sixth Angel Shepherd Rescue. Silva was charged with purchasing dogs in a public place. The driver of the transport van was cited for housing animals in filthy cages and 17 dogs were seized by humane officers.
In a second case that year, PSPCA officers raided and cited a caretaker, Steve Alston, who was operating a kennel for Sixth Angel. An investigation began after complaints of unsanitary living conditions and dogs not receiving vet care. entered into a consent decree in which he agreed that the animals at the property were living in unsanitary conditions and were being denied veterinary care.
Silva sued the Pennsylvania SPCA and the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement in both cases. At least one lawsuit is still pending in federal court, Bengal said.
Silva's website says she started her animal rescue to honor the 9/11 search dogs who worked at the World Trade Center, and says her rescue was licensed by the state.
Since then Silva has been cited multiple times by local authorities for barking dogs and operating rental properties without a permit.
Now she faces multiple counts of animal cruelty. Her Petfinder page, that on Friday showed eight healthy-looking dogs for adoption, was swiftly taken offline.
The ABC news story of the Friday raid below shows dogs being removed from the two-story building where Silva had her law offices. Zoning inspectors immediately condemned as unfit for human habitation.
"Every place in the building was covered with urine and feces," said George Bengal, the PSPCA's director of humane law enforcement. He said some dogs were found crammed in crates and others locked in different rooms.
In the ABC news report, the anchor and reporter express amazement that an animal hoarder could masquerade as a rescue.
Truth is, it happens all the time. In the last week alone, four hoarders pretending to be rescues have been exposed in the region and animals removed, said Libby Williams, whose website PetWatchNJ tracks fake rescues.
Driving the fake rescue business is desperation among shelter operators in the South and Appalachia where cash-starved dog pounds are forced to euthanize large numbers of animals, there is little access to spay/neuter services and pet owners allow their unaltered animals to roam.
In the past several years in Pennsylvania and South Jersey, authorities have busted numerous pseudo "rescues" many claiming to help save animals facing death in southern shelters.
Authorities in multiple states have removed hundreds of sick and injured animals from so-called rescues among them, Faithful but Forgotten in Fayette County and Tiger Ranch, one of the nation's worst cat hoarding cases, near Pittsburgh. Just last month Dawn Scheld, who ran SOS CanineRescue and Rehabilitation in Cape May County NJ, was sentenced for animal cruelty two years after authorities removed 60 sick and injured dogs and other animals.
Terry Silva told her website readers that the mission of her rescue was to help address the "plight of the southern dog" and to promote the German Shepherd as a family dog. She writes:
We believe that God will judge a man by that which he chooses in his life to treat as trash

Delco bust highlights fake rescue issue

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

Why do a home check?

Good Samaritan Discovers Dog Hoarding in Marfa Neighborhood, 3 Dogs Dead 2/26/13


Felicia Bolton
fbolton@cbs7.com
CBS 7 News Reporter
February 26, 2013

MARFA, TX - Today Marfa residents are speaking out on nearly two dozen dogs barricaded inside tight quarters with unsanitary living conditions.

A good deed turned into a nightmare, once a samaritan found dead dogs inside the home and more than 20 animals locked in rooms.

Tyler Spurgin says he was helping a neighbor going out of town. But when he arrived to feed his neighbor's dogs; he was left in shock after what he found.

“He let me know that I was going to need to go in through the window in order to get inside his trailer. Because he has all the doors barricaded. I did that and I found the condition inside really horrible," said Marfa resident Tyler Spurgin.

Spurgin discovered 20 dogs living in their own feces, trapped in cages and without any food or water.

“We kind of always knew he kept a lot of dogs. When Tyler came home on Friday night, after coming here, he was visibly shaken by what he found when he came into the property,” said Surgin’s wife Lena Hill.

Among the mess, the couple says they discovered three dead dogs. It’s a tragedy they immediately informed police about.

“The next Saturday morning, I went directly to the sheriff’s department to file the complaint,” said Spurgin.

The Presidio County Sheriff's Department says there is little they can do about the situation now, because they are waiting for their animal services officers to return from vacation.

Until then the couple says they will be caring for the pets and trying to keep them alive.

We tried contacting the owner of the dogs; however he did not answer our phone calls. Tyler and Lena say they've been out of contact with the owner for 2 days now.

CBS 7 - Your Eye on West Texas

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

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