Lora Peckham, who heads the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office Animal Control, said the 80-year-old woman has a breeding license but had exceeded the maximum number allowed by more than twice.
Authorities chose to not arrest the woman for violating the license, although they did give her a written warning. Instead, she kept seven dogs and released the remaining dogs to the county’s care.
Most of the dogs, rat terriers, are in good shape and being reviewed by a veterinarian at the Citrus County Animal Shelter. The county expects to be able to adopt out the dogs after this week, once they are medically evaluated, Community Services Director Tobey Phillips said.
According to Peckham, this is what happened:
The woman called paramedics on Friday for her husband. Fire department personnel also arrived, and notified Peckham after seeing a number of dogs living in less than ideal conditions.
Peckham said firefighters told her they had seen worse conditions for animals, but many of the dogs were in crates that had not been cleaned.
Animal Control knew of the woman. She’s had a breeder’s license the last two years for 19 to 31 dogs. Officers conducted spot checks but the woman would not allow them in her house, Peckham said.
“We cannot demand entry without a warrant,” she said.
Peckham said she arrived at the house Friday after an ambulance had taken the woman’s husband to a hospital for treatment.
“She wasn’t honest with us about the number of animals,” Peckham said. “We thought it was 30. It was closer to 70.”
Peckham said most of the dogs were in good condition and she didn’t want to bring them to the shelter late on a Friday. So, she gave the woman some conditions to meet over the weekend, such as cleaning the crates, before returning to the home Monday.
“She told me she wants to give up the dogs,” Peckham said.
Peckham said three of the dogs, each more than 16 years old, were euthanized. Peckham attributed poor health to their age, combined with neglect and lack of medical care.
Peckham met Friday with Animal Services Director Morgan Woodward to prepare a plan for the county to accept the dogs, which pushed the number of dogs at the shelter to 177 — well beyond capacity.
On Monday, officials with Animal Control and Animal Services transported dogs from the house to the shelter in Inverness.
“It was phenomenal teamwork and effort,” she said. “It could not have gone any smoother.”
Peckham said rat terriers, Jack Russell-types, are popular with the public. And the seized dogs include four litters of puppies.
The dogs’ seizure came up during Tuesday’s county commission meeting during a discussion led by Commissioner Jimmie T. Smith, who asked that the board appoint a committee to review animal shelter policies.
Smith said Woodward has been on the job for a year and now is a good time to see if policies are working or not.
Smith found no support. Commissioners said if Woodward believes there are policy changes needed, he will bring them to the county’s attention.
(Chronicle Online - Oct 24, 2017)
No comments:
Post a Comment