Dog Shelter Horror

Just heard on the news that the Gardner Mass. animal "rescue!!" shelter was closed last night with all dogs removed due to deplorable, horrifying conditions. The dogs, some dead, all starving, living in incredible filth of all description. So starved were these dogs that they were forced to resort to cannibalism. The animal control officer has been replaced and the dogs removed to warm, loving shelters. Still unknown whether animal cruelty charges will be filed against the officer who "ran" the shelter. Please!!! All are up for adoption, so if you live near this area, and know someone who is looking for a beautiful dog or puppy, you can call Channel 5 in Boston for details. The significance of and need for adhering to the sentiments stated in the prayer I posted under Dog General-"Poems" is so apparent after hearing of news like this.

Wow! Gardner is the town right next to Westminster, and I didn't even know we had a shelter there! That's so awful! I hope they brought the dogs to the shelter in Sterling, it's a great no-kill shelter. I check their page every day to see what dogs have been adopted. I'm going to try to find out some more information on this, I'm sure it will be in our local newspapers.

It's hard to believe there is such cruelty in this country, how can people like that be so uncaring. What ever happened to compassion?

We had a tragic case in my area as well.

I haven't talked about this before because it was just so hard, but in a town just to the west of mine on Nov. 24 they discovered in the home of a person who was well known as an animal trainer and breeder, they discovered 19 dead Golden Retreivers and 11 that were starving. Veterinarians estimated that the dogs had not been fed in two months. The 11 dogs were subsequently cared for in animal clinics and foster homes and just last Friday they were deemed healthy enough to be adopted. This woman is being charged with 60 misdemeanor counts alleging animal cruelty and one count of operating a kennel without a license.

Okay yup this has been in the newspapers like I said. There was only one dead dog found, a Rottweiler, and the other dogs had to eat him, they were so hungry! Poor things. The dog officer was fired, and the health agent says he didn't know the conditions were so bad. He had checked the shelter three weeks before but when he returned the other day, it looked as though the shelter hadn't been cleaned since his last visit. The twenty other dogs at the shelter are malnourished, diseased, and a few are injured, but all are expected to live and were sent to surrounding area shelters. A few were sent to the one in Sterling like I had hoped. Gardner is now trying to reopen a new shelter in a different location with a new dog officer. The health agent actually lives down the street from me. I'm glad he fired the dog officer. We had trouble with him before. Once there was a stray dog at my house with a broken hind leg. We called the dog officer repeatedly to please come take the dog, it needed veterinary care, but he never called back. This was during the summer when I was free to be home all day, and I started to get attached to the dog (who we named Bandit) and were even thinking about keeping her, when one day after about a month of calling him the dog officer just came unexpectedly and took her away. I was very sad and never got to say goodbye. He took too long to come get an injured dog! Anyway, he's gone now, and they are going to open a nice new shelter. So except for that poor Rottie, this story has a somewhat happy ending.

[This message has been edited by Daisy's Mom (edited February 07, 2001).]

Daisy's mom,

Do you know what ever happened to Bandit? That is just a horrible situation, but I'm glad to hear that the dogs have been removed and cared for http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/smile.gif

Nope, my Bandit was gone forever http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/frown.gif I just wish I could have said goodbye and found out where she's gone. She was such a sweet girl. I was only in 4th grade and the sudden loss of "my" dog was too much, I bawled for days! My cousin said he once saw an old man walking a dog looking just like Bandit. He lies quite a bit and is only 8, so who knows http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/smile.gif I just hope wherever she is, she is happy and healthy. As for the Gardner animal shelter, many of the dogs have already been adopted. At the Sterling shelter, three black lab mix puppies were adopted the day after they got there!