Dozens of dogs rescued from puppy mill

CANADA -- Sixty-four small dogs and puppies are being nursed back to health at a Lachute emergency shelter after animal rescue workers raided a puppy mill about an hour's drive east of Montreal in central Quebec on Friday morning.

Rebecca Aldworth, executive director of Humane Society International/Canada said the operation had been inspected many times, and the conditions the dogs were being kept in were among the worst she has seen.

"What we saw was truly horrifying," Aldworth said in an interview Saturday.

She said that the cages were substandard and "absolutely unsanitary" and many of the dogs and puppies are now being treated for health problems related to the conditions in which they were kept.

"It was like many of the puppy mills I have seen in Quebec, where the theme is generally to put profits above animal welfare.

"The breeding females are treated as machines, kept in filthy cages and their most basic needs are not met," she said, adding that the dogs were given no exercise or human contact.

The dogs are all small breeds, such as chihuahuas, shih tzus and Yorkshire terriers, and are mostly adult females. There are also some puppies, and several of the adult females are pregnant.

(Montreal Gazette - June 20, 2012)

93 Year Old Woman Bitten By Dog

KENTUCKY -- The Lexington Fire Department and police say a 93 year old woman was attacked by a dog early Saturday afternoon while working in her garden. It happened around 11:00am on Carterbrook Lane off Paris Pike.

Officials say the dog was leashed at a next-door neighbor's property. Police say the leash was long and the dog bit the woman's leg. She is expected to be okay.

As for the dog, officials say animal control will quarantine it for ten days. The dog is up-to-date with its shots. No charges are expected at this time.

(LEX18 - June 23, 2012)

Mom of 4-year-old dog bite victim warns other parents

LOUISIANA -- When kids and dogs get together, there's always a chance the child could get bitten. It happened to a four year old girl from Watson.

She told WAFB Medical Correspondent Phil Rainier, "I'm not scared of little dogs..."

But, Carolina won't go near big dogs. With good reason, she was attacked by one.  Her mother, Falone Cole remembers what happened.  The dog..."had her pinned to the ground with his mouth which is big as his head and just slinging her left and right."

A part of her nose and areas around the left eye were ripped in the attack and had to be stitched back together. Her mom says she was lucky. "The doctor said if the tooth would have been a millimeter closer her eye ball would have been severed and we would have lost her eye."

The dog that attacked Carolina was a family friend's pet. It had never bitten anyone. In fact, before it happened Carolina's mom says the two had been playing much of the day without a problem.

Provoked or unprovoked, experts say even the most well behaved dogs are capable of biting. They say children should never be allowed to play with one without adult supervision. 

Carolina's mom echoes that advice and adds, "I feel like if I go to someone's house and they have a dog it should be okay for me to ask them to put your dog away without being made to feel like I'm being rude."

Carolina still has to undergo cosmetic surgery to minimize scarring. By sharing her story, mom Falone hopes parents and dog owners will be even more aware of what can happen when dogs and kids are together...and do what's necessary to lower the risk of dog bites.  The physical scars may fade in time, but Carolina's fear of big dogs could last a lifetime. 

(WLOX - June 21, 2012)

Wayne man facing animal cruelty charges

OKLAHOMA -- McClain County Sheriff’s Deputies executed a search warrant at 8:30 Monday morning on a farming and ranching operation on the north end of Wayne on state Highway 77.

Detective Dana Guthrie said officers observed numerous animals on the property with no food or water.

Guthrie said land owner Jim Stinson, 66, of 14570 state Highway 77, was cooperative with authorities for most of the day before being booked into the McClain County Jail around 4:30 p.m.

Assisting the McClain County Sheriff’s Department were investigators from the Oklahoma Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, veterinarians from the Department of Agriculture, veterinarians from Riverbend Mobile Veterinary Clinic in Cleveland County and members of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) from Tulsa.

Investigators were on the scene from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday.

The livestock was being removed from the operation Monday.

The goats, pigs, chickens and rabbits went to the SPCA location in Tulsa, Guthrie said.
He said the cattle were taken to a location in Canadian County for rehabilitation.

“The mule went straight to a vet clinic,” Guthrie said. “It doesn’t look good for that animal.

“It’s pretty bad when you can count the ribs on the cows from the road,” Guthrie continued.

“Mr. Stinson said there was grass, but the grass is as short as a golf course.

“The animals have eaten the tree limbs as high as they can go, bark off trees and have eaten all the grass,” Guthrie said.

The detective also said there is no telling how long it’s been since the horse was tended to by a farrier.

“The hoofs are so long they are turning back up. I don’t know how they are walking.

“It’s sad,” Guthrie continued. “I understand hard times like last year when there was no hay, but these animals don’t have feed.”

Animals were transported so they could be fed and watered properly, Guthrie said.

“And, it’s a health issue,” he said. “There are dead carcasses all over the property. When an animal dies he just leaves them to rot. We will be digging holes to bury them.”

The entire property was covered with fleas and ticks, lawmen said as they continued their investigation.

“We have private veterinarians donating their time in addition to the state officials,” Guthrie said. “It’s really disturbing.”

There were three heifers, one yearling bovine, one mule, 20 goats and 42 chickens, one bull, one pig, one llama, eight rabbits and two dogs that were taken from the property at the time of the warrant execution.

Stinson faces 32 counts of improper disposal of animal carcasses and multiple counts of animal cruelty.

“When we complete our investigation those potential charges will be turned over to the district attorney,” Guthrie said.

The detective said investigators found in excess of 100 remains of dead animal carcasses on the property.

“State statue says you either have to burn a carcass or bury it at least six feet deep if they are within 1/4 mile of a public highway or roadway or an occupied dwelling.

“In this case both were true,” Guthrie said.

Also at the scene Monday were employees of McClain County District No. 1 that disposed of the carcasses.

“They were there for 3 1/2 hours,” Guthrie said.

(The Purcell Register - June 21, 2012)

Two arrested on 41 counts of animal cruelty in Lacombe

LOUISIANA -- For days, neighbors and residents weren’t sure why the St. Tammany Sherriff’s Office and the St. Tammany Department of Animal Services had crime lab vehicles and cargo vans parked alongside Berry Todd Road in Lacombe.

“I thought the old man might have died,” said Lacombe resident Robert “Redhead” Malanders, of Donald Francis, who lives at the property where sheriff’s office vehicles were parked.

According to St. Tammany Sherriff’s Office Sgt. Sean Beavers, Francis, 70, along with 36-year-old Becky Francis, were both arrested last Sunday and charged with 41 counts of cruelty to animals.

Donald Francis’ residence at 29110 Berry Todd Road, Lacombe, is heavily shaded by overgrown grass and hanging pine trees, but neighbors close by began to become concerned when they noticed several horses looking malnourished and possibly injured, said Beavers.

Around 4:30 p.m. last Saturday deputies paid a visit to Francis’ property and knocked on the front door. No one answered, but deputies did observe the scene.

“He noticed the horses were in poor health and that there were also other animals,” said Beavers.

St. Tammany Parish spokeswoman Suzanne Parsons said altogether there were 44 animals recovered from the property by the St. Tammany Department of Animal Services, including 17 horses, 10 dogs, two rabbits, seven cats, seven chickens and one duck.

“We removed them at the request of the sheriffs office who has the report of suspected animal cruelty, and beyond that it’s a criminal investigation,” said Parsons. “At this time we are reviewing the health of the animals, and if any of them need treatment, they will get it.”

Beavers said the charges came in based on what was provided to them through the Department of Animal Services. The sheriff’s office didn’t conduct a study on the animals, which is standard procedure in this type of case, he said.

“Man, he must have had something going on back there,” said Malanders, who said he had no idea Donald Francis had 44 animals on the property.

According to the sheriff’s office, Francis had a white house on the property along with a camper trailer, which is thought to be the place Francis lived.

“He built that house, and I don’t think he ever lived in it,” said Malanders of Francis.

Malanders also said Francis “usually kept to himself” and that he’d never actually had a conversation with the man, just friendly gestures and waves while driving down Berry Todd Road.

Malanders said his wife had mentioned she saw Francis doing yard work around his home on Friday, and next thing he knew multiple police cars showed up in the days following.

Parsons said the owners of the animals were given 15 days following notice to come up with funding to care for the animals for 30 days or else the parish would find them new homes.

(St. Tammany News - June 24, 2012)

Newark man pleads guilty to kicking dog in head

NEW JERSEY -- A Newark man has pleaded guilty to kicking a Chihuahua in the head so hard the dog’s left eye had to be removed, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office said Friday.

Oswald Hall, 61, admitted to one count of third-degree animal cruelty in connection with the New Year’s Day incident in which he kicked the dog, Zoey, while wearing boots, the prosecutor’s office said. He will likely serve 364 days in jail in keeping with the plea agreement, and will be sentenced on Aug. 6 in Superior Court in Newark.

Zoey, who belongs to Hall’s girlfriend’s sister, survived the injury. The girlfriend and sister were living with Hall though both were out of the apartment at the time, authorities said.

A photograph the prosecutor’s office provided of Zoey shows the black and brown dog after its eye had been removed, with a plastic protective guard around its neck.

This was Hall’s second animal cruelty conviction. Last September, he struck his girlfriend’s dog in the head, causing trauma to that animal. He pleaded guilty to the charge in municipal court. Hall, of Park Avenue, has no other criminal history in New Jersey, court records show.

"This is a very, very sad case of a man who has a history of cruelty to animals," Assistant Prosecutor Dawn D’Amico said in a statement that accompanied the news release detailing the guilty plea. "We hope he and others will get the message that this kind of criminal conduct carries significant penalties."

Last week, an Essex County grand jury indicted a 25-year-old Newark woman on charges she threw a Shih Tzu into the street and threatened and assaulted its owner, allegedly because she was angry over a parking space. The dog was struck by an oncoming vehicle and killed.

(nj.com - June 22, 2012)

Charges filed in animal neglect case

MISSOURI --The Kennett Humane Department has said it is one of the worst cases of animal neglect it has ever seen, referring to a case in which a local Labrador Retriever had a chain embedded in its neck.

 According to a report from the KHD, at approximately 9:30 a.m., on Wednesday, June 20, Animal Control Officer, Tena Petix was dispatched to a residence on Leila Drive regarding a report that a dog was chained up without shelter, and a report that the collar on the dog was too tight.

According to Petix, when she arrived at the residence she made contact with two adult females and identified the resident and owner of the dog.

Petix asked the pet owner if she had a dog that was tied to a fence or if she had recently brought a dog into her home. The owner said that she did not know what Petix was talking about, and that she owned only one dog and that it was a pug. Petix advised the owner that the pug could not be without water and shelter if the dog was outside.

Afterwards, Petix made contact with the caller who reported the incident. The Caller told Petix that the dog was at the rear of the residence on Leila Drive, and she would meet Petix at the residence.

When Petix arrived, she saw two subjects at the back of the residence. As Petix started walking towards the two subjects, she could smell something that she reported smelled deceased. The caller started pointing at the ground, and when Petix whistled, out came a large black lab mix, that had dug a tunnel in the dirt for itself to stay out of the direct sunlight.

 The dog was also chained with a long metal chain to a tree with a pad lock. As Petix got closer to the dog she could see that the dog did not have a collar, but had the long chain pad locked to his neck with two large pad locks. Petix said she could see that the chain had been on the animal's neck so long that the flesh had begun to grow through the link of chain into a mass, the size of a ping pong ball.

Petix stated that the dog would have had to be like this for several months for the mass to have grown to this size. The chain had to be cut off of the dogs neck, because the owners did not have keys to any of the locks. Due to an open flesh wound on the neck of the dog, Petix had to cut the chain in two separate places, to keep the weight of the chain from pulling on the wound.

Petix said the only source of food the dog had was a large, dirty cooler with white beans and maggots inside of it. The dog also did not have water and when the dog was digging the "dry, concrete like dirt," for it's shelter, it's nails were worn down almost to the quick.

The dog was taken to Dr. Everett Mobley, of Kennett Veterinary Clinic, for immediate care. The dog will be under the care of Dr. Mobley for several more weeks, but will be housed at the Kennett Humane Department. Petix said she hopes to put the dog up for adoption after it's recovery.

According to the Humane Officer, the wounds to the neck of the dog required a one and a half hour long surgery to remove pieces of the chain that was embedded in its skin.

The owners of the animal, identified as Earl and Sheila Gerrolds, are each being charged with one count of animal neglect and one count of animal cruelty, according to Terry McVey, city attorney.

(Daily Dunklin Democrat - June 22, 2012)