Illinois – In April, a dog named Onyx reportedly bit someone and was impounded by Winnebago Co AC for a 2 week period. Her owner said that Onyx had never bitten anyone before and expressed concern over what would happen to Onyx at the pound.
The owner went to pick the dog up in May and found Onyx covered in bloody lesions. In addition, the dog was emaciated, needed leg surgery and a toe had fallen off. The pound’s records indicate Onyx was examined by a vet 4 times during the 2 week period and notes were made indicating “the dog was covered in blood clots and dried blood”. But it’s all good:
Animal control says they don’t think they did anything wrong.
[…]
They say they will investigate whether the dog was mistreated if they need to, but at this point they feel all actions were appropriate.
[…]
Sometimes dogs just hurt themselves when they are caged, and their veterinarian didn’t see anything wrong with the dog.
Yeah, nothing wrong and everything’s appropriate but the pound did kick in $1700 toward Onyx’s vet bills and they dropped the dangerous dog investigation.
(Thanks Arlene for sending me this link.)
OMG. Please follow up on this one! WHO is their veterinarian? How often is that person actually physically present? Does Onyx’s owner need financial help? When local Animal Control raided a rescue facility in North Pole, the owner spent more than $35K on her own legal defense before they *dropped charges* (Oh, and her beloved little dog was killed within hours of the raid even though she didn’t find out for days, a couple of cats died, a couple others were double vaccinated, and Animal Control adopted out a few of her cats before they finally decided to give the rest of her animals back to her.) She was supposed to pay a bunch of fines and boarding fees too, but I think she got it cut back to community service and a donation to the Shelter Fund instead.
Gotta wonder if some Winnebago Co. ACO doesn’t do a little dog fighting on the side.
It sounds like they put a dog in with Onyx that attacked him. Why would they put him (supposedly dangerous dog) in with another dog? Lesions or bites? $1700 vet bill says something *wrong* happened at the pound, and whoever was *negligent* should be held accountable. Has the media been notified of this or is the $1700 part of a settlement with a gag order? Unfortunately, that is often the case, so you don’t hear about these situations. Reminds me of the man (Pang) in Hawaii where H$U$ and the local HS unlawfully raided him and he got a settlement after suing all involved–but who knows how much because part of the settlement was a gag order not to discuss anything, and of course, a settlement means no finding of guilt on the part of the raiding entities–truly sucks, big time, that these wrongdoers get away with some cash outlay to cover their misdeeds. Far too many *victims* of these outrageous seizures can’t afford to fight, so they lose animals, get stuck with a big fine, and are smeared by the media and harassed by animal rights brainwashed groupies.
Poor dog, poor family. Is the shelter (if make to investigate) doing to do the investigation of themselves?
My assumption is yes – if they deem it necessary – which it appears they don’t at this time.
mdwyer@wifr.com
I wrote the reporter at the link and urged her to investigate further. Perhaps if others do the same, it won’t be swept under the rug of secrecy.
I’m just glad that the dog is home, but wonder about all the others who end up there.
I just got an email from the reporter. She’s heard from others who have had problems, but is not having any luck with AC (surprise!). Please email her and urge her to not let this one slide off the radar. I do think that she is willing. (I suggested that she contact Onyx’s owners considering there should be records with such a huge vet bill.)
The veterinarian needs to be reported to the state vet board! I hope there are pictures and documentation of what care was needed to get this dog well.
Wow this is awful! I didnt even know an animals toe could just fall off anyway! LOL Sounds like he was put in with another dog or something, the person above is right.
My opinion is they abused the dog, cause dogs do get accustomed to being in cages and think of same as their own private dens where they feel safe… $1700 is not going to make up for tha anguish cause this dog and only hope no psychological maladies prevail afterward… I’d still be suing them, dangerous dog case dropped or not… No excuse for this…
But thankful they dropped the dangerous dog issue…
A question concerning that lady in “The North Pole”? Did they consider her animals neglected and in danger to have taken them away?
This bothers me greatly when an animal control does such stupid manuevers to get money, which, I might add, does not even help the caged animals in their posession cause I cannot call it care… Why would they do this, perhaps because she did not dole out funds to be declred a kennel?
How dare counties and states pull that ruse if someone is tending to animals abandoned that no one wants, but animal control wants only to kill!!!!
THESE ABUSIVE SHELTERS(?) BETTER GET A GRIP BECAUSE WE’RE NOT GIVING UP AND IN THE END DOGS WILL BE SAFE!