Mountaintop Natural Pets

Source: Washington City Paper, July 20, 2010

When the temperature outside climbs above 100 degrees, we’re always bombarded with warnings that leaving pets and children inside cars will slowly cook them to death. This woman never got the message.

A woman in Frederick County, Maryland is accused of leaving her dog inside her sweltering car as she shopped in Costco July 6, ABC 7 reports. When she came back to the car, her yellow lab was dead. Authorities say the dog died from overheating as the car’s temperature likely hit 130 degrees and outside temperatures topped 104.

But the story only gets worse. When the woman discovered her dead dog, she allegedly turned back around and returned the pet supplies she just bought at Costco. Thrifty shopper or pure-evil?

A Costco employee called police, but the woman was gone before they arrived. Sure enough, a woman matching her description came into the Frederick County Animal Control Division with a dead dog shortly after the incident.

Source: Associated Press, July 7, 2010

YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, N.Y. — A New York City man has been charged with letting his dog die in a 140-degree car while he went out for a swim.

Source: theledger.com, May 27, 2010

Deputies took custody of 261 dogs Thursday – the largest seizure in Polk County history – and arrested the owners of a Polk City non-profit dog rescue organization on animal cruelty charges.

Chuck and Diane O’Malley, who operate Mid-Florida Retriever Rescue Inc. at 15195 Angus Road were booked into the Polk County Jail with bail set at $130,500 each. Each was charged with 261 counts of animal cruelty.

Sheriff’s deputies were called anonymously Wednesday by someone who complained about the condition of the dogs and the environment they were living in, Polk Sheriff Grady Judd said.

“What we found was absolutely startling,” he said.

When agricultural and animal control deputies arrived at the home Wednesday, they were greeted by a herd of emaciated dogs inside and outside the house, officials said.

Judd said the deputies asked to check on the well-being of the dogs, and the O’Malleys were “very reluctant” to let them into the home.

When deputies entered, they were met by the stench of urine and feces, officials said. The smell was so pungent, some officers chose to wear gas masks or other coverings over their faces.

Once inside, the dogs in the home stampeded the deputies, Judd said. And some were unfriendly, biting the deputies several times and forcing them back outside.

The O’Malleys agreed to bring the dogs out one at a time for inspection.

After viewing 117 dogs, the O’Malleys were advised by their lawyer, whose name was not immediately available, to make the deputies get a search warrant if they wanted to inspect more, the Sheriff’s Office said.

When they did, the deputies found a 3,000-square-foot home that appeared to have been severely damaged by the presence of so many dogs, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

The bed in the master bedroom was so tattered, springs in the mattress were exposed. Sheriff’s officials said furniture was piled up, along with numerous dog cages, and dirt and feces were on the walls and floors.

“If they wanted to live in that house that’s their business,” Judd said. “The house wasn’t fit for humans or dogs.”

According to its website, Mid-Florida Retriever Rescue is a nonprofit organization that places “purebred Labrador retrievers and other working dogs in loving, permanent homes.”

The dogs seized between Wednesday night and early Thursday were of a variety of breeds and were being examined by veterinarians. By Thursday afternoon, about 100 of the dogs had been examined. None were euthanized.

One dog died while deputies were seizing the animals.

Dr. Joseph Ertel said all the dogs were infested with fleas, and most had some form of dermatitis. Others were found to have hookworm or whipworm or were in need of dental care.

Many of the dogs appeared to be severely underfed and had lost significant muscle mass.

“We are treating everything we are finding,” Ertel said. “If this continued, they would lose their life.”

The case was shocking for animal control deputies, who knew the couple from their work with the rescue group and numerous adoptions of animals from the animal control facility.

A man who said in an e-mail to The Ledger that he has fostered dogs for the O’Malleys defended the couple.

David Lundeen said in the e-mail that while he was surprised at the number of dogs found at the home, the couple’s hearts were in the right place.

“These are good people, with good intentions, who have helped rescue and place hundreds of dogs a year throughout Central Florida,” Lundeen wrote.

He said the dogs he fostered had received veterinary care.

“I know they have worked tirelessly to care for and feed the dogs they had in their possession,” Lundeen’s e-mail said.

Judd said the seizure of 261 dogs is having an impact on the county animal control facility. Donations of blankets or food by the public can help.

Sheriff’s Office lawyers will prepare court documents to take possession of the animals.

Adoptions of the animals won’t happen until a judge rules on the custody of the dogs in the case. But Judd said there are many other dogs at the facility that can be adopted now and are in need of homes.

Source: Dallasnews.com, May 22, 2010

The man at the center of the disappearance of more than 80 dogs from the city of Ferris’ animal shelter was arrested Friday on animal-cruelty charges.

James “Soaring Eagle” Vonda was arrested at his home in Leonard, where witnesses described squalid conditions and 65 emaciated dogs, 10 cats and a horse at the property.

Melinda Pappa, 45, Yolanda Duke, 46, and Cody Sims, 22, also were arrested at the home in the 800 block of Flanagan Road in Fannin County and jailed on animal-cruelty charges.

“The animal conditions here are very sad,” said Maura Davies, a spokeswoman for the SPCA.

Dogs nursing open wounds were left tethered, and sickly cats were running loose or cramped into pet carriers.

Piles of charred animal carcasses were found in burn barrels throughout the 6.5-acre property.

“In one you can see the top half of a cat. In one, there’s kittens,” Davies said.

The site is believed to be the headquarters of Vonda’s Domestic Animal Rescue Emergency Shelter Services, as well as a domestic violence shelter called Safe Harbor Foundation.

The animals seized Friday were taken to the SPCA’s McKinney facility.

Beginning in November, Vonda, 54, had operated a nonprofit no-kill animal shelter under a contract with the city of Ferris. In April, the city canceled its contract after learning that the dogs and cats kept there were underfed and living in crowded, filthy kennels.

Vonda, the manager of the nonprofit, said that when the contract with the city expired, he took 80 animals to an undisclosed Native American reservation in Oklahoma. He declined to give the exact location because he said he didn’t want to jeopardize the safety of clients at the domestic violence shelter.

Animal advocates grew concerned about the animals because of Vonda’s secrecy surrounding their whereabouts.

“They all are in very good health right now,” Vonda said in an April interview with The Dallas Morning News. “Every Native American wants to have a dog and a cat because it relates to their spirit guide.”

When authorities questioned Vonda about the animals found Friday, he said that about 40 of the dogs were once kept at the Ferris shelter, Davies said.

Alex Fender, the man who reported the Fannin County situation to authorities Friday morning, said he was horrified by the conditions he saw when he visited the property Thursday night.

“Several of the dogs I was able to get close to, they were severely aggressive, but you could see the wounds on their necks for being tied to the chains for so long,” Fender said.

When Fender looked inside the dilapidated ranch-style house, he saw it was no more than a kennel. He said the carpet had been stripped away to the concrete slab and the sheetrock had absorbed animal urine like a sponge.

“I walked into the house for just a second,” he said. “I couldn’t believe the smell.”

Fannin County Sheriff’s Lt. Daryl Parker said the house was so unlivable that residents were living out of one of three large camping tents.

It’s unclear whether anyone besides the four arrested were living at the property.

Fender said he had placed a horse trailer for sale on Craigslist and received a response from a woman representing Safe Harbor earlier that day.

The woman told him she was the animal caretaker for a private domestic violence shelter and safe house. She said in the e-mail that she needed to transport a mare from Leonard to Deming, N.M.

“She is not only a well-loved pet to our facility, but she also a plays a major role in therapy sessions for our residents who have suffered some of the severest cases of abuse,” the e-mail stated. “Because our secret location has been compromised, we need to move her ASAP.

“We have another facility in New Mexico where we will be relocating all the residents and the animals to and we are in need of a fast, discreet and speedy relocation to that location, but we have run into a problem and could use your kind generosity in this urgent matter.”

Fender said the woman told him the nonprofit had only $200.

“This is a very touchy situation, and we need your help urgently,” the e-mail continued.

When Fender went to the home, he spent about 45 minutes on the property taking mental inventory of the animals’ conditions for the report he’d later file with authorities.

“I drove out there to do a good deed for this lady,” Fender said. “There’s some crazy stuff going on over there.”

Source: Heraldonline.com, May 7, 2010

Chester County authorities seized 87 dogs from a woman’s house after finding the animals among mice, cockroaches and an overwhelming stench.

The 76-year-old owner, charged with ill treatment to animals according to an incident report, said she had been sick and in anguish over the loss of her daughter.

Officers on Wednesday found cages and playpens stacked inside the house. In the backyard, dogs were kept in three sheds and six kennels.

Authorities were tipped off by a woman who went to the house to buy a Chihuahua for her granddaughter. Jerry Shepherd said the odor almost knocked her over.

The smell of urine was so strong that officers had to wear masks, reports stated. One of the sheds had to be ventilated for several hours before authorities could go inside.

The dogs — Chihuahuas, poodles, Yorkies and mixed-breeds — appeared to have no food and water, and their cages were covered in feces, authorities reported.

When officers told owner Melissa Elizabeth Lyles they would have to seize the dogs, she asked for one more day to clean up the property, according to an incident report.

“I advised her that there was absolutely no way that we could leave these animals,” the commanding officer noted in a report.

Source: decaturdaily.com, April 4, 2010

Limestone County authorities found 42 dead dogs wrapped in plastic in a woman’s freezer Friday, an investigator said.

“They were in the freezer of the fridge where her food is stored,” Sheriff’s Department investigator Eric King said. “We (also) found one dead dog in a kennel.”

Authorities charged Nan Johnson, 63, of 25779 Putman Circle, Elkmont, with 43 counts of cruelty to animals. Sheriff Mike Blakely said Johnson was running a puppy mill.

“We took the ones we found alive to the shelter,” Blakely said.

30 dogs found alive

King said about 30 dogs and puppies were found alive in kennels and cages but most were malnourished and dirty, so more charges are pending. Those dogs and puppies went to veterinarian Dr. Thomas Pitman, who serves as the county’s animal shelter provider.

King said some kennels were in good shape but others were unclean and full of feces. The types of dogs found included Yorkie, dachshund and Chihuahua mixes. Johnson had buildings, kennels and kennel runs for the dogs, King said.

“We have no idea how long she has been running this, but it had to have been for a while because it was a pretty big setup,” King said. “We got a complaint that something was going on out there.”

Deputy Johnny Morell responded, saw mistreated dogs and called King in to investigate.

Authorities were interviewing Johnson on Friday night, and it was not immediately known why she kept the dead dogs’ remains, King said.

Source: BostonHerald.com, Mar 25, 2010

After a Pekinese died ensnared in its own matted, ungroomed, overgrown fur, authorities are looking for the person who allowed the poor pooch to end up in that deadly state.

The dog was found at the end of a driveway in Waltham, unable to see or move because its coat was so severely matted. Vets say the unlucky dog had not been groomed in more than two years.

“It’s hard to imagine what his life was like,” said Dr. Susan Rosenblatt, chief of staff at Kindness Animal Hospital in Waltham.

“When he arrived, I thought he was dead until I picked him up. He was covered in feces and urine. He died of pneumonia, but that was probably because of the matts. He was breathing in feces and bacteria for years,” Rosenblatt said.

It took a team more than an hour to groom and shave the dog – which the staff named Matt after his condition. His claws had grown so painfully long that they curled and dug into his paws. More than 3 pounds of snarled fur was shaved off the dog. An X-ray revealed an open safety pin stuck in the dog’s coat.

Matt died a few days after he was brought to Kindness.

“It’s a sad ending to a tragic life,” Rosenblatt said.

Waltham Animal Control and the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals are investigating the apparent abandonment and neglect case.

Animal control officer Ann Campobasso said she is following several leads. A $1,000 reward is being offered for information.

This post is quite old but the situation at Gaston AC has NOT improved.

Permission granted to forward and cross-post!!

There is an immediate need for a rescue coordinator volunteer at the Gaston County Animal Shelter. Unfortunately, all dogs/cats lives coming into the shelter DEPEND on this non-paid position as shelter management does not have the foresight to see or care about saving dogs/cats lives; it is not now nor has it ever been a priority at this shelter to see that the dogs/cats make it out alive. Shelter management sees the overpopulation of pets as a nuisance to deal with, not as living beings that should be shown compassion and love. It is the animals who are punished, not the uncaring people that continue to allow their animals to breed.

The shelter is only open from 11-5 weekdays (no extended hours for people to come before or after work to see the animals) and only open one Saturday per month. They euthanize EVERY day, sometimes twice depending on how crowded it is. Rescues pulling these animals are usually the only chance they have as many are deemed unadoptable by the judgment of shelter workers without a thorough or repeatable evaluation process. They are proclaimed adoptable or “other” as soon as they are dragged through the door into a building that reeks of urine/feces/death and where dogs are barking and pleading for their lives. It’s truly a traumatic environment that causes all but the very confident animals to retreat and cower into their death sentence of being proclaimed unadoptable. It is especially traumatic for the cats as they are thrown into a pen at the end of the run, so they have to be walked down the loud/echoing aisle past all the barking/shrieking dogs before they are tossed (literally) into a pen with a 5 -10 other cats. When it rains the entire pen gets flooded. There is no heat or air conditioning in the cement/concrete building.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE is there someone who has time to devote to try to get the word out about the dogs/cats coming into this shelter and try to find them a rescue??

It is a HUGE undertaking, but these poor animals have no one else to depend on – the kennel workers and animal control officers at the shelter do not care about these enough to devote any time to this effort at all. They don’t care that they get gassed at the end of the day – plain and simple. It’s so very sad for these animals and the conditions that they have to endure for the 3-5 days that they are there. It is truly a jail for animals and they need our help.

If you or someone you know can help, please have them contact:
Leah at lepodz@yahoo.com or Marcie at buckeyepetlover@gmail.com

It doesn’t matter where you are, as long as you can use a computer and telephone during the day. Rescues from out-of-state and the surrounding tri-state area need to be able to speak to someone during the day via email and telephone to coordinate getting the pets pulled from the shelter, taken to foster homes or boarding kennels, and make arrangements for transport. The Rescue Coordinator does not have to physically do these things, but they must be able to communicate freely with people who can.

The few of us trying to do this have been shut down from emailing and taking calls at work, so we are trying to find a person who is either retired, semi-retired, out-of-work, or who works from home that has some time to spare during the day to help the pets in need.

We can give you all the contact information you need: rescue names, emails, phone numbers; names and numbers of people who transport, pull from the shelter, foster, etc.

Please forward this to anyone you know who might be in a position to help. We are DESPERATE to find someone IMMEDIATELY, as we currently have no one able to freely correspond throughout the day.

Animals will die, for lack of being able to communicate in time, if we can’t find someone to help.