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).]