Online records show the dogs' owner, Alton John Manley, was charged with animal cruelty on Friday.
The dogs were discovered on the back porch of a home at in rural McCormick County Tuesday morning. Deputies removed the tape and made sure they weren't severely injured Tuesday night but they didn't take the dogs because they couldn't find a shelter with room to take them.
The Humane Society of the United States on Wednesday helped find them a place at the SCPA Albrecht Center, a no-kill center in Aiken that agreed to make room for the dogs. But first officials needed the owner to sign over control of the dogs, which he did Thursday.
The owner told WJBF in Augusta that he wanted to make it clear that he never abused the dogs.
The dogs were found Tuesday morning on the back porch of a home at Plum Branch Yacht Club, an old fishing village located in the western part of the state near the Georgia line. A frequent visitor who said she was walking by to check out a nearby fish hatchery said she was spooked by a strange sound.
“I heard this very strange, muffled, growl-bark,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified. “I jumped and I screamed.”
She took a closer look at the back porch and saw three dogs -- a German shepherd and two blue tick hounds -- with their muzzles taped shut -- one can be see with even its eyes taped shut. They were chained to the wall, surrounded by feces. There was no food or water, she said.
“What made it even worse is I saw their eyes were duct taped shut,” she said.
She took a picture of the dogs and contacted the McCormick County Sheriff's Office.
Two deputies responded to the home and talked to the owner. Sheriff's officials did not return multiple calls from ABC News 4 Tuesday but Jan Burttram, vice president of the Humane Society of McCormick County, said she talked to one of the deputies who was trying to find a place to house the dogs.
The deputy told Burttram that the owner, who said he muzzled the dogs because neighbors complained about their barking, agreed to sign the dogs over but deputies needed a place for them. Burttram said their shelter, built about a year ago, couldn't take the dogs because it only holds 12 dogs. McCormick County has about 10,000 residents.
"We’re so small and we’ve got 10 dogs on a waiting list to get in," she said. "But we’ve been working to find a place to take them."
Burttram said their shelter is run entirely by volunteers and funded through donations without any public funds. "We're very resourceful," she said.
She gave the deputy numbers for shelters in neighboring Greenwood and Abbeville counties but shelters in those counties are faced with the same problem -- limited space.
Burttram told WJBF Thursday that she's relieved the dogs are in a good place now.
"It is such a sense of relief to know that these animals are safe now and that they're going someplace where they will have an opportunity to get a good home," she said.
Barbara Nelson, CEO of the Albrecht Center in Aiken, said they weren't contacted Tuesday but agreed to take the dogs when approached by the Humane Society on Wednesday. She said their no-kill shelter is less than three years old and is one of the finest in the nation.
"The dogs live in rooms with views to the outside and the cats live in colonies," she said.
The dogs will be evaluated for their mental and physical health. At first glance the dogs seemed to be in good health, just a little frightened, officials said Thursday.
Nelson said the dogs will also undergo the shelter's Fido University program, which helps teach self-calming techniques and helps them relate to human beings. Anyone who wants to make a donation to the Albrecht Center may do so on their website.
The Charleston County Animal Society recently handled a similar case when a dog later named Caitlyn was severely injured after someone taped her muzzle shut. Caitlyn's story went worldwide almost immediately.
Charleston County Animal Society CEO Joe Elmore said they have been in contact with the Humane Society in case their services are needed.
"We're ready to help in any way that we can," Elmore said.
The woman who took the picture of the three dogs Tuesday said she hopes help comes soon.
"I wish I could unsee the picture but I can't," she said. "It was just horrifying to me."
(ABC4 - Aug 4, 2015)
Since these aren't pit bulls, there won't be the same international pit freak outrage festival there was for pit bull Caitlyn. The freaks don't care about normal dogs. They also don't care that it's the flood of pit bull type dogs that meant there was no room at the shelter for these (and other) normal dogs.
ReplyDeleteThese private shelters, worse yet our public shelters, are basically only holding cells for the pit freaks' hobby. It gets more and more appalling every day that legislators are allowing this to continue.