Clayton County animal control officer refuses to pick up abused dog

GEORGIA -- When property owner Robby Caban came to a home she rents out in Riverdale, she found a pit bull that was in such bad condition that she immediately called police.

"She was limping, she had scars all over her, she had clearly been used to breed, she was obviously in a fight," Caban said. "She had old scars and new scars. And she was a very sweet dog."

Both a Riverdale police officer and a Clayton County animal control officer came to the home last week. Clayton County assists with animal control issues because the city of Riverdale does not have its own animal control unit.

Caban recorded cell phone video, and an unidentified officer can be heard saying, "She isn't going to starve to death but she is underweight, though, I know it."

But Caban told CBS Atlanta that the Clayton County animal control officer refused to pick up the dog, even though she was possibly being abused.

"Matter of fact, I can't even pick the dog up. You've got to bring it to animal control, I'm not allowed to pick up owners' dogs," the unidentified officer can be heard saying on the cell phone video.

CBS Atlanta's Sonia Moghe went by that home to see who owned the dog, but residents there told her the man who owned the dog was a relative who wasn't there.

"They wasn't fighting the dog," said one man, who didn't want to give his name. "They had two dogs and the one dog that they had got nasty and they got rid of the dog. They don't fight the dogs or anything, they're dog lovers."

When Moghe contacted Clayton County police and showed video of the animal control response, Deputy Chief Gina Hawkins said she is investigating why that dog was not picked up by that animal control officer.

"We are not denying that dog should have been picked up immediately," Hawkins said. "We are glad the dog got medical attention on that day. We are also addressing the issue of nothing being done by both parties."

Hawkins said that while Clayton County's animal control unit responds to animal control issues across the county, because that dog was found in the city of Riverdale, it is up to Riverdale police to press charges against someone for the dog's condition.

No one has been charged for that animal's condition, which baffles Caban.

"I think that's why these horrible things keep happening to animals, because there is no investigation on the local level," Caban said.

When Moghe contacted Riverdale police Chief Samuel Patterson, she was repeatedly told that the matter was an animal control issue and that Patterson would not respond.

The dog is recovering at an animal hospital in Atlanta after Caban got permission from the animal control officer to take the dog herself to Fulton County Animal Services.

(WGCL Atlanta - Sep 15, 2013)