Virginia: Corruption in Appomattox. Judge bans concerned neighbor from taking any more photos of what he thinks are neglected dogs

VIRGINIA -- Two dogs in Appomattox have drawn international attention.

Photos of them chained to their doghouses during the January snowstorm created such an internet fuss, emergency dispatch calls have been been getting backed up.

Well this is not attention the dogs' owners want at all.

 

 

Nothing to drink, just a frozen block of ice

And it's created such a firestorm that the man who took those photos is now facing criminal charges.

He says the dogs deserve better, but that's not the way the owners or the law sees it.

"She can't even reach her water," says Terry Paxton, "I'm sorry, but this is about them."

Paxton is passionate about the dogs he calls "Girl" and "Daisy."

They live next door to his storage business and for years Paxton cared for them without issue from the dogs' owners John and Glenda Venable, that's until January when the weather grew bitterly cold.

"You can see there for yourself and the waters were still froze, no food, and so on," Paxton showed ABC 13, "and I called Micky back, and I said, 'Look you really need to do something about this.' He wouldn't return my calls."

Micky Martin is the Appomattox Animal Warden.

We went straight to Martin to see if there were laws being broken. In Appomattox, as in many Virginia counties, it's not illegal to chain your dogs up.

 

The law requires that they must have access to adequate shelter from the elements, fresh water, and food. That's where Paxton takes issue with the Venables.

"They haven't been mistreated and they have not missed any meals," says Martin (the dog warden), "when we had snow they can get water from the snow. We had a bird dog that would go and eat snow."

Hello, dog warden. Snow is NOT water. 

When asked by the reporter about complaints that the dogs would go "2 or 3 days without water", Martin said, "Well, you'd have to prove that." UM HELLO. YOU'RE THE DOG WARDEN. THAT'S YOUR JOB TO GO OUT THERE AND PROVE THAT THE DOGS DON'T HAVE WATER. 

When Paxton couldn't get Martin to act he says he took action on his own.

"And I talked to a friend of mine and they said, 'Send me some pictures.' I sent them some pictures of what I was talking about. And people started putting them on the internet," explained Paxton.

The photos went viral and soon calls began flooding the county's dispatch and even the ABC 13 newsroom from as far away as Australia.

That didn't go over well with the Venables; they got a protective order against Paxton and had him arrested for stalking. He's now prohibited from taking photos of the dogs, the property, and the Venables. He claims he's never made it about them, it's the dogs he's concerned about.

Maybe if the Venables took better care of their dogs, no one would
be complaining. Mrs. Venable should spend a day without having
anything to drink and just eat snow and see how she likes it.  

County Administrator Susan Adams says she is trying to ensure that the dogs are being looked after.

"If there's any evidence that at all of any kind of neglect on our part or on the homeowner's part that will be addressed immediately," Adams told ABC 13.

Susan Adams, why don't you ensure that your dog warden knows what he's doing. Saying a dog can eat snow is not acceptable. No one is saying to seize the dog and charge the owners criminally, but this is ridiculous. Martin clearly is lazy and incompetent. These lazy owners need to haul their butts outside on a regular basis and provide these dogs with water. It's their choice to own them and their responsibility to provide for them. 

Meantime, Glenda Venable maintains her dogs are cared for and that they are guard dogs not intended to be inside.

But an emotional Paxton sees these dogs as companion animals. "These animals deserve better," he says, "I was just trying to make it better for them."

Paxton's court date is set for February 24th.

(WSET - Feb 19, 2016)