St. Joseph County police were dispatched at 6:18 p.m. to Quality Inn hotel at 215 S. Dixie Way in Roseland. Upon hearing multiple dogs might have died at the scene, the Humane Society was called to assist the investigation, according to Lt. William Redman.
Police and the Humane Society found a box-style truck belonging to Lakesyde Kennels and Handling of Wellington, Ohio, parked alongside the hotel, and 14 dogs dead inside, Redman said.
The sad event contrasted with the show at the fairgrounds, a bright, lively scene with people in suits and dresses escorting perfectly manicured dogs inside of two dry, cool buildings, both of them air conditioned. Several people primped their pooches in booths where they waited, dogs both tiny and tall, with fur that ranged from a wiry hair to big balls of sculpted wool.
The tragedy left organizers of the show “sad and torn up,” said Cheryl Crompton, of Mishawaka, who served as chairwoman for the Friday portion of events.
Redman offered the following account of the events leading to the deaths.
Cortney Corral Morris of Lakesyde Kennels had arrived in town Wednesday for the annual dog show hosted by three AKC clubs: Michiana, LaPorte and Berrien Springs. All but one of the dogs was a golden retriever, and three were puppies. Corral owned some of the dogs, but eight other owners from around the country — who were not in town — owned some of the dogs, too.
The Lakesyde truck was equipped with air conditioning in the cargo area, where the dogs were kept. An extension cord was plugged into the side of the hotel's exterior wall, providing power to the truck's air conditioning. That setup had worked without incident Wednesday and Thursday.
Did she have permission from the Quality Inn to stick an extension cord into the side of their hotel and run this AC on their dime? Also, an outdoor outlet may not have provided enough juice to power this big box truck for 12+ hours straight. I don't believe she intended for this to happen, but I imagine these were high-dollar dogs that could have produced tens of thousands of dollars worth of puppies and if owners are looking to sue the person responsible, these questions need to be answered.
After Corral fed, watered and exercised the dogs Friday afternoon, though, and she returned the dogs to the truck and went into the hotel to nap for about two hours, a circuit breaker in the truck was thrown, cutting power to the air conditioning. When Corral returned to check on the dogs again, they had died.
Redman checked the external outlet and found it still had power. Police do not know what sort of malfunction might have triggered the circuit breaker. Police also could not determine any criminal act or intent, Redman said.
"I felt it was just a tragic accident," he said.
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| Was this the same truck or did she have a newer one since this posting? |
The dogs and the investigation were turned over to the Humane Society. Executive Director Genny Carlson accompanied Corral, the dogs' bodies, and county officers back to the Humane Society.
National officers with the American Kennel Club will do their own investigation, too.
“They do more than what the police do,” Crompton said. “The AKC is very proactive about making sure all the people and dogs at the AKC shows are safe and happy.”
She said she heard of just one or two tragedies involving show dogs in her 40 years of shows. About 600 dogs are competing daily in this show, many from the Midwest but also coming from as far away as San Francisco and Houston.
“These are our extended family,” she said while at the show, holding her little Swedish-born dog that she named Bug: an affenpincher, which is similar to a terrier and also known as a monkey dog. “Our show dogs are part of our family. These people don’t do it for the money. They do it for love of the sport.”
Corral notified the other eight dog owners Friday night, and Carlson was touching base with those owners Saturday, said Carlson, who did not want to express an opinion on the case either way until the investigation is complete.
"She certainly didn't intend for this to happen," Carlson said. "Still, in cases like this, we work with a police detective and rely on them to decide whether it goes before the prosecutor or not."
The Humane Society generally deals with Det. David Wagnerowski, she said. Wagnerowski has specialized training for investigating animal-related cases, Redman said.
Several box trucks and large vans were parked outside at the fairgrounds with air conditioning units on top and at least a couple of small, tinted windows.
Kim Booth, who travels the country to photograph dogs at shows like this across the country, said these box trucks often come with generators and sensors that send a beeping signal to the owner — via a remote device — if the electricity fails on the air conditioner. They are always ventilated, he said.
How often has he heard of this sort of tragedy?
“It does happen, but it’s rare and usually a catastrophe,” said Booth, whose grandfather, the late Elkhart veterinarian Dr. Frank Booth, was a founding member of the Michiana Kennel Club in the 1940s. Booth said his dad, a breeder, started the photography business that he took over in 1965.
Most of the people showing the dogs are their owners, Booth said, but some are professional handlers who transport and show the dogs because their owners can’t afford to travel.
“Dog shows are constantly announcing not to leave dogs in the car and to bring them inside,” said Booth, whose business covers almost 200 shows.
Regardless of the circumstances surrounding Friday's incident, Carlson hopes it serves as a reminder for pet owners to exercise extreme caution during times of extreme temperatures.
"I hope we can get across to everybody that, especially in heat like this, we have to take special precautions," she said. "Children and the elderly are at risk, and so are animals. Even if an animal lives outside all of the time, no one is used to this kind of heat.
"You should never leave a child or an animal in the car in weather like this.”
The dogs at Saturday’s show kept the mood up. But, for some, there was heartbreak underneath.
“How could that happen?” said Mary Jo Roberts as she gently held a large, woolly black Portuguese water dog. She has three of this breed at home in Bloomington, and was here to help a friend who’s showing dogs. “It made me sick. All I could think about was those poor dogs. I hope they didn’t suffer.”
The show, which began Thursday, continues from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. today at the fairgrounds. It costs $5 per car for the public to watch.
(Clarification: Cheryl Crompton said the American Kennel Club’s probe into the 14 dogs who died Friday in a box truck in Roseland will, by nature, take additional steps further than what police typically investigate. In the Tribune story about the tragedy, she said, she wasn’t saying police do a poor job. Crompton, who served as one of the chairs of this weekend’s American Kennel Club dog show at the St. Joseph County Fairgrounds, also clarified that everyone at the show was upset by the deaths, not just organizers.)
(South Bend Tribune - July 25 2016)
