NC: Owner Tries to Redeem Pets, Animal Control Shrugs

Two family pets got out of their yard through a hole in the fence last week in North Carolina. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Care and Control picked them up and told the owner he needed to fix the fence before he could take his dogs home. Since it was raining, it took the owner a couple of days to get the repairs done. Once completed, the owner showed up to redeem his Pitbulls but the shelter had killed them. AC characterizes killing the dogs as "a mistake".

Make that two mistakes.

Mistakes happen. When you're in the business of killing pets, your mistakes are going to involve oops killings. This is one of the many reasons I oppose kill shelters. At any rate, here is the thing that pushed me over the edge: AC staff reportedly said to the owner by way of explanation, "No one knows what happened". Now I am willing to grant that killing the first dog was a mistake. And even that killing the second dog was a mistake. But no one knows what happened? That's no mistake. And it's inexcusable.

I think even an outsider such as a myself can put together a reasonable start to determining what happened in about 30 seconds. I would think the paid staff at AC could do at least a little better than what I can come up with but here goes:

• How many people are authorized at your shelter to kill dogs?
• Of those, who was working on the days the dogs were being held?
• Who, if anyone, normally assists in killing dogs at your shelter and of those, who was at work on the days in question?

So right there we've got a short list of people to talk to. I'm assuming the individuals on that short list were at work at the time it was discovered the dogs had been mistakenly killed. If not, I further assume AC has their contact information and could reach them. After a few brief interviews, the basics of how these mistakes occurred should have been clear. Fleshing out the details, probably including locating paperwork on the dogs, would take a little more time. But to my mind, at least the basics of what happened could have and should have been determined quickly.

Now, [Will] Harlee [the dogs' owner] says Animal Care and Control needs to be held accountable for its mistake, and he still has questions without answers.

"I need to know why and who," he said. "I want somebody to lose their job over this. I need an impression that this can't happen to anybody else."

I would take it a step further and say the community needs to be reassured that in fact, the shelter knows what is going on under its own roof. Otherwise, what are taxpayers paying for?

Animal Care and Control says it's working on better communication.

Are we talking smoke signals and carrier pigeons or what? It really isn't that hard to find out how these two dogs were killed. If nothing else, the AC supervisor could jump up on the counter and yell out, "Raise your hand if you killed 2 Pitbulls recently!". That should get the ball rolling.

Mississippi, Misdemeanors & Miscreants

Alonzo Esco, the MS animal control officer who was fired after it was discovered he was shooting pets and dumping them in a creek instead of taking them to the shelter, will not be getting a slap on the wrist from the judicial system. Because he'll be whistling dixie instead:

Canton Police Chief Vickie McNeill, however, said she will not authorize her investigator to file the paperwork [to bring charges] because no one saw any crimes occurring.

Mr. Esco was the sole animal control officer in Canton for 3 years. It is believed he shot pets and dumped them in multiple sites, including a creek near a shooting range where over 100 carcasses were found. These crimes would only be misdemeanors in MS and as such, require witnesses:

"There are standards regarding a felony, and there are standards regarding a misdemeanor," McNeill said. "By the standards of a misdemeanor, you must actually see the crime in action to file an affidavit.

The message to anyone collecting a paycheck off MS taxpayers to shelter the communities' pets is this: Feel free to not only ignore your duties but to cruelly and illegally kill the pets you are being paid to shelter. Because in MS, we just don't give a flying fuck about our communities' pets.

Slap on Wrist for AC Officer Who Pleaded Guilty to Killing Dogs

Hoosick, New York: [Note: one click only for free, after that subscription required]

As animal control officer, [Matthew] Beck should have taken loose or stray dogs that he picked up to a local animal shelter. Instead, Beck killed the dogs, disposed of their remains and then forged state documents and filed false reports to cover up.

And to be specific, he picked up dogs, shot them & tossed their bleeding bodies in a manure pile on his farm.

The good news: He was charged by authorities for his crimes and pleaded guilty. The bad news: Apparently he wasn't cruel enough to warrant any felony charges so he's getting off with two weekends in jail for misdemeanor offenses. So we're straight, I want to clarify that this man was paid to pick up loose dogs and take them to the shelter so they could be reunited with their owners or adopted by new owners if they had none. He was their only chance at life. Instead of doing his job, he shot these pets to death and tossed them in a shitpile. They never had a chance. I think I could have argued for the felony charges.

He ended up getting caught because one of the owners whose dogs he picked up complained to authorities:

The investigation of Beck began after Hoosick resident April Stevens accused him of stealing her dogs, two four-year old Golden Retriever-Rottweiller mixes, Abby and Ginger. Her dogs were never found.

[...]

Stevens said that Beck had told her he had picked up two dogs after a woman reported finding them but that they were of a different breed than hers and that he had returned them to their owner. The woman said that she had found the dogs in her barn where they had apparently sought shelter but that they had no collars or identification. She called the police who in turn called Beck. He picked up the dogs.

Beck’s story fell apart when the woman who had found the dogs saw a flyer with the dog’s pictures that Stevens was circulating in her efforts to find her dogs.

As part of their ongoing investigation, State Police executed a search warrant at Beck’s Eagle Bridge property and found the remains of dogs.

I'm sure Mr. Beck thinks it's totally stupid that he has to give up two weekends for shooting the pets he was paid to protect. Sadly, Ms. Stevens has to give up every weekend - and every weekday - with April and Ginger, who themselves had to give up everything.

To the Animal Control Officer Who Said No - Thank You

The ironically named Animal Protection and Safety Shelter in Houston, Alaska had 4 dogs and 4 cats in need of homes, until this week:

Some of the four dogs and four cats had been unclaimed at the facility since November, and the city wasn't prepared to keep them forever, said department head Sgt. Charlie Seidl, who shot them.
"We stretched out as long as we could," Seidl said. [...] "And like I said, we can't hang on to them indefinitely."

Right. You stretched it out as long as you could, maybe you should get a medal.

No one at the Houston city offices seemed prepared to take credit for directing the action. Several involved parties, including Seidl, said Mayor Roger Purcell ordered the animals put down.
[...]
The chain of events recounted by [Evelyn] Rohr [a shelter volunteer] also included an order from the mayor to police to kill the animals after an officer at the shelter -- who could not be reached for comment Tuesday -- refused to do it.

Amidst the horror of this betrayal and brutal killing of helpless shelter pets, I want to say one thing that might otherwise be overlooked. Someone whose job it was to care for the shelter's residents was told to shoot them all. That person said no. He or she might be at risk for losing his or her job over this, I don't know. But I know it's easy to flap our gums and type our blogs about how we would all do the right thing if faced with similar circumstances. It's not so easy to actually stand up and do that thing. In this economy. In a small town. In a remote state. But this person did it. Whoever you are, I say thank you.

When Sadistic Freaks Get to be Their Own Boss

An Animal Control officer in Canton, Mississippi has been fired after authorities were led by a citizen tip to the remains of more than 100 dead pets in a creek. Alonzo Esco collected paychecks from the city for 3 years while he allegedly shot pets to death and dumped them:

Esco has not been charged with any crime as authorities consider their options for prosecution, Madison County District Attorney Michael Guest said Thursday.

The most Esco likely would face is multiple counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty, which is punishable by up to six months in jail, Guest said.
[...]
[Canton Alderman Charles] Weems said Esco was the only person in animal control, a division within the Canton Police Department. As an animal control officer, Esco could kill animals, but only if they were maimed or a threat to the community, Weems said.

Let me guess what the defense will be. Or maybe, since it's just a misdemeanor, he won't bother. If the MS justice system doesn't take animal cruelty seriously, why should a murdering AC officer?

Esco also provided animal control duties for Madison County until the county's contract with the city expired at the end of 2008, Board of Supervisors President Tim Johnson said.

Attention Madison County: Check your creeks.

Canton police opened the investigation when a woman filed a complaint after a pet she wanted to adopt never turned up at the Mississippi Animal Rescue League.

Yeah, I bet.