Desperate need for help – Gaston Shelter, NC

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.

Dog Starved To Death, Owner Charged, NE

Source: wowt.com, Feb 19, 2010

An Omaha woman is facing a felony charge of animal cruelty. The Nebraska Humane Society released the disturbing details Friday Morning.

NHS says 32-year-old Yolanda Y. Glover of 4040 Curtis Avenue was arrested Friday morning by the Metro Fugitive Task Force. Thursday afternoon a judge set her bond at $10,000 meaning she’ll have to come up with $1000 cash to get out of jail.

Mark Langan with the Nebraska Humane Society says, ” We had to dismantle the dog house to get the dog out.”

The German shepherd found frozen to the floor of his dog house. An examination showed the dog named ‘Tramp’ died of starvation and hypothermia.

“Obviously, the two weeks the dog was outside did not treat him well. Dogs need to be fed, given water and properly sheltered and this dog didn’t have any of those resulting in a very grisly death for this animal.”

A conviction for felony animal cruelty could put her in jail for five years but rarely does this charge lead to that. In the last five years, only one person in the metro, Anthony Schepis, has received substantial jail time for animal cruelty according to the Nebraska Humane Society. Schepis received two years in prison for beating to death his German shepherd puppy in 2006. He died in prison.

The Humane Society had seen the German shepherd before. It was back in November of 2009 and he was healthy. That’s when the same owner was ticketed for not having a license on either of her 2 dogs.

“She does have another dog,” says Langan. “It was checked today by Omaha Police who served warrants. The dog appears to be in good shape. It looks like an indoor dog so weather conditions don’t come into play with that dog.”

Investigators learned of the frozen dog from an anonymous tip on February 1.

95 Dogs Found At Mississippi Puppy Mill

Source: wreg.com,Feb 4, 2010

A tip led investigators to a rural home where they discovered one of the worst puppy mills they’ve ever seen.

A Mississippi couple faces dozens of misdemeanor counts of Animal Cruelty. Investigators with the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals found 95 dogs living in what they call “deplorable conditions” early Thursday. Animal experts say the type of matted hair found on some of the dogs took years to grow. It’s proof, they say, of neglect and abuse of 95 dogs found on the property. Investigators think the operation had gone on for a while, even though neighbors say they never suspected anything. It’s possible the couple took in animals, but then just had too many to care for. At some point, authorities say they started to breed more — for profit.

“I think she’s probably a very nice person and she’s trying to help these animals out,” says Mary Champlin who lives next door.

Neighbors watch in shock, as one by one the animals are tagged and evaluated. Most have disease and malnutrition. Marshall County Prosecutor Shirley Byers says she found carcasses all over the property, skeletal remains inside pens, and a pile of ash where she thinks the homeowners disposed of dead animals.

“It’s very difficult and very time consuming to take care of 100 animals. If you don’t have a staff… this is typically what you end up with,” says Tim Rickey with the ASPCA.

It’s possible they just had too many dogs to handle, but it’s the females that prove to investigators the problem goes beyond hoarding.

“She was a breeder,” says Kelley Wier with the American Humane Association as she holds an adult Chihuahua. “You can clearly see the teats, they’re elongated, so she’s been bred more than once.”

As the workers with the AHA trim lumps of matted hair from a shivering dog, they place it in bags that will entered into evidence that will eventually help charge the couple with animal abuse. The prosecutor says the Sheriff’s office knew of a problem back in 2008, but nothing happened. Byers says the woman responsible used to work at the Sheriff’s office, and her husband is the Assistant County Coroner. Charges could come in the next week.

In the meantime, the neglected dogs will stay at the Marshall County Humane Society Clinic in Byhalia. They are not up for adoption until the court process gets underway, however cash donations are needed to help care for the animals. Contact the Marshall County Humane Society Clinic, the American Humane Association at www.americanhumane.org or the ASPCA at www.aspca.org.

Teen charged with dog fighting; 19 canines seized, FL

Source: Gainesville.com, Jan 20, 2010

An investigation into alleged drug sales in Starke led to the discovery of an apparent handler for fighting dogs.

Luise Enrique Martinez, 19, was arrested Friday on charges of fighting or baiting animals, felony possession of marijuana and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. He was arrested by members of the Bradford Union Starke Task force to Eradicate Drugs, also known as BUSTED.

Task force member Richard M. Crews of the Starke Police Department said the animals were found while a search warrant was being served at Martinez’s home, at 408 Wall St. in Starke. After finding 176 grams of packaged marijuana in a bedroom, task force members found 19 dogs in the back of the home. Crews said the dogs were chained or tied, appeared underfed and bore scars and other signs indicative of dogs that had been used to fight each other.

Task force spokesman Capt. Brad Smith of the Bradford County Sheriff’s Office said the dogs were taken to a veterinarian for treatment and evaluation.

“Only the fighting pit-bulls were euthanized at this point due to being overly aggressive/unadoptable,” Smith told The Sun in an e-mail. “The others will be adopted out if they are cleared by the vet. Some have heart worms and genetic issues that may need to be euthanized.”

Smith provided the following update on the animals: five bulldogs apparently used for fighting were euthanized; four bulldogs need rehabilitation; a hound and cur mixed-breed dog that may have been used to bait other dogs needs rehabilitation; two bulldog puppies were placed in foster care and appear adoptable; two small, mixed breed dogs were considered adoptable; and five small dogs with special needs were still being evaluated.

Martinez posted bond and was released from the jail Sunday to await trail on the charges.

Animals suffer mysterious deaths beneath railroad bridge, TX

Source: hcnonline.com, Jan 10, 2010

A can of Alpo and a couple of Twizzler sticks, a farewell present from the children in Gus’ life, mark the spot where the black Labrador retriever is buried in a makeshift grave beneath a pile of rocks. The railroad tracks where Gus’ body was found, intact except for the bullet hole in its side, are within sight, only a few yards away.

About a quarter-mile down the tracks, the skeleton of what could be a medium-sized dog rises up from between the railroad ties. Lynn Haney, of Summerwood, believes the remains belong to Scrappy, her black German shepherd mix who, like Gus, escaped from her garage Dec. 7.

Scrappy’s collar was found nearby, along with her severed head in the ditch.

MENAGERIE OF DEATH

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