Stray dogs have it tough anywhere; homeless, foraging for food, often the brunt of abuse but now in LaSalle County, IL, they may have it even tougher as they plan to implement a ‘quick-kill’ solution to solve the problem of stray dogs and cats in the county. If you own a pet in LaSalle County, you better make sure it doesn’t get loose because you may never see it again!!

The La Salle County Board’s Animal Control Committee gave tacit approval Tuesday for the quick euthanasia of stray dogs and cats.

Unofficial approval of the quick-kill option was given after Dr. Dell Brodd, the veterinarian who serves as La Salle County’s animal control administrator, and La Salle County Animal Control Officer Gary Wind explained the diminishing availability of facilities for boarding strays.

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Dogs being burned in Tulsa Workers at the Tulsa Animal shelter are worried and want to issue a warning to dog owners as well as find out what pathetic excuse for a human being is deliberately burning dogs in Tulsa.

Since July 4th there have been 4 dogs found with, what vets believe, are caustic acid burns along their back, from neck to tail. The latest victim of this sadistic abuse is a 6 month old boxer puppy.

One of the other dogs didn’t survive its injuries and another, which had been tossed out of a moving truck, its companion that was thrown out as well was hit and killed, is now ready to be adopted into a loving home.

Lee Ann Mitten of Animal Control is urging you to make sure you know the whereabouts of your animals so you can keep them safe.

If you have any information on these cases, call the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office at (918) 596-5704.

When Richard Arendale stopped to check on his Memphis, TN, rental property, he didn’t expect what he found. His tenants, Jeremy Wolverton and Ruby Perkins had abandoned the property and the pile of junk they left behind at first glance was only the beginning.

Tied to a post in the yard, a very disturbing sight; an eight week old puppy, with an electrical cord wrapped around her little legs so tightly that she had actually chewed off one of her paws to try to free herself.

“When I turned her loose, she drank like she hadn’t had anything to drink in weeks,” said Arendale.

The puppy was taken to Northgate Animal Hospital Veterinarian where due to the severity of the injury, its leg had to be amputated at the hip. Named Spunky, the resilient little girl was also starved, dehydrated and full of hook worms.

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Now what kind of a person would brutally beat, strangle, punch and throw an innocent and defenseless little puppy like this little girl here? Just another of this world’s sickos at work!

Border Patrol rescued this 10-12 week old terrier mix puppy that was left for dead after viewing security tapes that caught an unidentified man throw the puppy over the fence at the US-Mexico border. The video shows the man first tossing the puppy into the U.S. from Mexico over the fence about a half mile east of the San Ysidro Port of Entry. He then jumps over the barrier and grabs the dog and begins to punch it in the head about 10 times with a closed fist, then tries to strangle her. He then picks up the struggling, tiny animal and slams it repeatedly against the fence.

“This is by far the most horrific video I have ever seen of an animal being abused,” said Dawn Danielsen, director of animal services.

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Michael Ray Howard, convicted of killing 13 puppies by tying them in a plastic bag and tossing them in a dumpster, among other crimes, has been sentenced to prison.

In December a bag containing 14 puppies was found in a dumpster outside a Salt Lake City, UT, Hancock Fabric store. Only one one of the puppies survived and has since been adopted by Rita Woodward, an employee of Hancock Fabrics and one of the women who found the puppies.

He was charged with 14 counts of animal cruelty and one third-degree felony. Initially, Howard pleaded not guilty even though he did admit he stuffed the tiny, 3-5 week old Jack Russell mix puppies, in a heavy trash bag to suffocate, left them outside overnight and the next day figuring he’d accomplished killing them all, threw the bag of puppies in a Riverdale dumpster. He changed his plea to guilty the following day.

Howard, also convicted of illegal possession of a controlled substance and an admitted methamphetamine user/addict was sentenced to serve to serve 13 years in prison for the class A misdemeanor counts of aggravated animal cruelty, six months in prison for a class B misdemeanor animal cruelty charge, and up to five years in prison for the drug charge. All sentence will run together which in reality means about a 5 year sentence and probably even less time will actually be served.

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Some days there are just so many stories of neglect and cruelty that it just boggles the mind and rips at the heart. It’s difficult to read them all and even more difficult to pass them along to you because I know that so many of you reading feel the same way.

Today I’m going to bundle together a few of the stories for a ‘quick dose’ for you. This way you can read and get it over with, then move on to more pleasant things.

From Kodak, TN - Animal control officers investigated Jeffrey Cornett’s property at 5205 Hickory Woods Rd and found a dead terrier-mix dog on a chain, no food, water or shelter within reach.

They also found a kitten in a cage, sitting in direct sun, sweltering in the heat, no food or water as well as another dog, a Rottweiler, on a chain at the residence.

Cornett, obviously a real bright guy, admitted the dead dog was his but that he didn’t know it was dead. Hmmm…. I guess an animal laying in the sweltering heat and sun that is drawing flies, not moving or breathing, smelling of decay…. yeah, it would be tough to tell. Especially if you’re a brainless idiot who doesn’t give a damn or bother to care for your animals even to the most basic necessities of food and water.

All animals, including the dead dog, were removed and the idiot, Jeffrey Cornett, was arrested.

From Oldsmar, FL - This winner is Jack Q. Brown who for some reason must have thought it would be amusing to take a dog for a drag!

Yesterday, along Tampa Road, driving a white van, Brown tossed a 1 1/2 yr old bishon/yorkie mix named Riley, out of the moving van attached by a retractable leash. Then driving along at speeds up to 45 mph, the dog was bounced, dangled and dragged along.

A witness told deputies he saw the dog bouncing off the roadway, off the side of the van and at one point saw the dog go underneath the van between the two left tires. The suspect eventually let go of the leash and continued driving.

The witness got the small dog and contacted the owner whose name was on an ID tag, a 23 yr old woman living at the same address as Brown.

Brown is charged with animal cruelty. Riley, the little dog survived with some bruises, cuts and scrapes and is recovering with his owner.

From Petronila, TX - Help came too late for 5 of the almost dozen Weimeraners that were abandoned at a property on FM 655 in Petronila.

Animal control officers managed to remove four living dogs, two had to be picked up and carried and two others that were in somewhat better shape. All four were severely emaciated, covered in fleas. Officers say there are a couple of others still on the property that they were not able to catch at the time but they plan to return with trap so they too can be moved to safety.

No one seems to really know what happened to the residents. Neighbors believe they may have just packed up and moved to Peru, leaving the dogs they were breeding to the cruelties of fate.

I’m sure that is would have been terrible difficult to try to find homes of someone to care for these beautiful dogs, even to at least place a call to the local animal shelter. So the owners, in their heartless cruelty, leave them, many to die and lingering and painful death! If they ever come back to the US, I can offer some ideas as to what their punishment should be!

As to these stories and so many more, I want to quote a County Judge, “People who abuse animals are on the lowest rung of humanity,” said DuPage County Judge John Kinsella when sentencing Emanuel Lopez, a Plainfield man who stole a $1,500 Pomeranian puppy then smoked marijuana and blew the smoke at the two-pound pup until it collapsed.

Last week when the arrest warrant was issued for Helena-West Helena’s Mayor, James Valley, Phillips County Sheriff Ronnie White said that rather than arrest Valley, they would probably just let him know when his court date was. Well, looks like something changed since last Friday when the statement was issued and Tuesday because Valley was arrested.

Of course he was never in jail, he was immediately released on his own recognizance with no bond. He is facing misdemeanor animal cruelty charges, which carry up to one year in jail or a $1000 fine.

He says he’s not upset about the charges but about broken promises. Again, instead of accept responsibilty for his cruel and rash act of dumping almost a dozen shelter dogs near the St. Francis National Forest on June 11, he continues to throw blame at anyone he can, specifically Ruby Burton, the director of the Humane Society of Southeastern Arkansas.

Valley says the charges are not about the dogs, but about humans with “vendettas”. Valley says Ruby Burton, the director of the Humane Society of Southeastern Arkansas, was “down here busting over gates and climbing over fences or whatever she did. That’s why she’s called a renegade, cause she violated the law in doing that. She should be the person whose under arrest for trespassing, interfering with government operations and all the other stuff she’s done in the community.”

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Well, it took a ’special’ judge to do it but on Friday, Circuit Judge David Henry issued an arrest warrant for Helena-West Helena’s mayor, James Valley. Judge Henry found reasonable cause to arrest him over accusations that he obstructed the Humane Society of Southeastern Arkansas from caring for the animals.

The complaint, filed by Ruby Burton, director of the area Humane Society, sought Valley’s arrest on misdemeanor charges of animal abandonment, mistreatment and neglect.

This stems from Mayor Valley’s dumping of almost a dozen shelter dogs on June 11, near the St. Francis National Forest.

Since then about half the dogs have been found due to efforts of NAFA, Humane Society volunteers and residents in the Storm Creek Road area and sadly two or three were shot when a resident spotted them on their property.

Found so far are:

• Female Shepherd Mix - NAFA rescued June 14th from a yard on Storm Creek Road
• Young black female - NAFA rescued from campground area - June 18th
• Male Scruffy Black Dog - rescued by Helena Resident and surrendered to NAFA - June 22nd
• Male Pit Brown/White - Rescued by Helena Resident - June 11th
• Male White/Tan Pit - Rescued by Helena Resident at swimming area of St. Francis National Forest - June 17th

Mayor Valley has contended from the start that he’s done nothing wrong and now he says he looks forward to his day in court.

Well, obviously, for a lawyer and a mayor, he doesn’t know his laws too well because according to Arkansas state law, he certainly has done something wrong!

Arkansas State Law

5-62-101. Cruelty to animals

(a) A person commits the offense of cruelty to animals if, except as authorized by law, he knowingly:

(1) Abandons any animal;
(2) Subjects any animal to cruel mistreatment;
(3) Subjects any animal in his custody to cruel neglect; or
(4) Kills or injures any animal belonging to another without legal privilege or consent of the owner.

(b) Cruelty to animals is a Class A misdemeanor.

Well, I would definitely say that dumping almost a dozen dogs certainly constitutes abandonment. amazing that he doesn’t seem to be able to see that.

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In a horrific case of abandonment and starvation, Christine Abrams, left her beautiful 2 year old white German Shepherd, Ella, locked in a crate and just walked away. In January 2008, Abrams left the house and abandoned Ella to her cruel fate of a slow and painful death of starvation.

You can almost imagine Ella, sitting, waiting, hunger and thirst gnawing at her as painfully as the isolation and loneliness. She could see and smell food just a few feet away and pushed her paws through the wire door again and again to try to reach it without success. She must have wondered where her beloved master, Christine was, thinking that every sound was her returning to let her out of this prison. Days passed, her once hopeful eyes glazed with pain and hunger, her body pestered by flies and she weakened. Hope and strength continue to dwindle as Ella’s body begins to feed on itself until there is nothing more to give. Finally, mercifully, Ella’s body and heart give out, the hunger, the thirst, the pain, the loneliness too much for a living creature to take.

In her cruel careless abandonment, this is what Christine Abrams subject Ella, the dog she professed to love so much, to.

In March of 2008, a neighbor, worried that he hadn’t see Abrams or Ella for some time, looked in the house and saw Ella, dead in her crate. The neighbor, Robert Arishon, even more concerned for Abrams safety, called the police. When police arrived and investigated the house, seeing Ella dead locked in her crate, the flies and the smell, even outside, overwhelming, they too feared for Abrams. Worried that Ella was not the only body in the house, the police entered. No Christine, just the body of Ella, a once beautiful German Shepherd, dead and decomposed, just a few feet away from a bag of dog food.

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UPDATE - 6/30/080 - Please see the update below!

Who could be so cruel to just leave their dog after it jumped or fell out of their vehicle, just abandon it to death on a busy interstate?? Would have to be some pretty cruel and heartless ‘people’ if I can even call them that!

This is just what happened to this sweet little border collie this past Sunday. She was in a horse trailer as her Canadian owners traveled along Interstate 71near Grove City in Ohio and she either jumped or fell out.

“The first car that stopped to check on the dog, found the owner’s name and cell number on the dog’s tag,” Wendy Brill said. “But when they called, the owners told them they had no plans to come back for the dog.”

Choking back tears, Wendy said, “She was in a horse trailer and they saw her jump from the horse trailer and just kept going.”

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Mayor James Valley of Helen-West Helena, AR, is still getting bashed for the fiasco he started earlier this month when he abandoned almost a dozen shelter dogs to the wild.

The Humane Society of Southeast Arkansas has filed a criminal complaint asking to have Valley arrested for charges of abandonment. The issue is still before a circuit judge.

As far as I’ve been able to follow, two of the released dogs have been found and were placed in foster homes, a female shepherd mix and a male pitbull.

Mayor Valley drafted a public apology which, to me, doesn’t sound like much of an apology except for the fact that he’s sorry he is in the middle of a major controversy.

Letter from Helena-West Helena Mayor James Valley:

Let me begin by apologizing to the good wholesome reasonable and sound minded people of this community who have been dragged into this mess about our animal shelter. I am sincerely sorry that a decision made by me, in the run of the hundreds of decisions I make every day, has brought the wrath of the animal loving world to your front door. Please accept my apology to my friends and neighbors for that. This saga has lasted too long and is a distraction to the good work that had been and is being done in Helena-West Helena, Arkansas. We are a community that has made a major turn-around. We consolidated two (2) cities about two and one-half years ago and that effort has been marvelous. We have gone from perhaps dim aspirations and dark days to glimmering hopes and glowing dreams.

We are on the cusp of an economic jolt in the arm. We have several opportunities being developed which will have a very positive economic impact locally and regionally.

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This is one of the most unbelievable, thoughtless and cruel things I’ve ever heard!

Mayor James Valley of Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, who says he has no problem with dogs, decided the shelter dog would be better off fending for themselves, so he ordered them dumped in the St. Francis National Forest.

I was stunned when I read this. What kind of an idiot would take dogs from the city animal shelter and just abandon them then to the wild? These are domesticated companion animals, not wildlife!

He just believes that strays in his east Arkansas town are better off in the nearby national forest than the local animal shelter. The mayor says the city’s animal shelter was so run down a regional humane society worker cut the locks last winter and released all the dogs.

The city then moved the operation to a temporary fenced-in area outdoors at the city sanitation department. Still, people complained that the animals were not properly cared for at the temporary shelter, so the mayor decided the dogs would be better off fending for themselves in the St. Francis National Forest.

Valley says the city street director released nearly a dozen dogs into the forest Wednesday after the animals were fed and watered.

LETTER FROM MAYOR JAMES VALLEY

Ladies and Gentlemen:

This morning we began the process of dealing with our animal shelter problem. I have met, today, with Ms. Gloria Higginbotham. She is heading up a committee to create a county-wide animal shelter and perhaps with the participation of all governmental units, we can provide the kind of facility that will be deemed appropriate.

In the mean time, we are or have released all but a few our those animals heretofore housed at the sanitation shop. We fed and watered them and took them to the St. Francis National Forest and released them to freedom. We are disassembling the pens or fences and will not any longer house or keep any of these animals. This problem is dogging us and taking away from our ability to focus on the greater good for the community as a whole. One of our animal control officers has been to the hospital three times in as many months. Twice for bites and once for a severally sprain ankle growing out of incidents with these animals.

When Ms. Higginbotham’s full plan is revealed, I plan to support it and assist her and the group in caring for our animals.

I just wanted to let you know.

Sincerely,
James F. Valley

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