(Note: Here is a link to the Wiki entry on canine reproduction. It includes a brief explanation of the tie that occurs during mating.)
What happens when you have people who do not understand canine reproduction managing the dog pound? First, officers from the Eldon police department apparently put a bitch in season in a cage with a male dog. Then when officers found the pair tied, they allegedly forcibly separated them, causing such severe injury to both dogs that euthanasia was necessary. On January 7, a local news station reported:
Eldon Mayor Ronald Bly refused to go on camera Monday afternoon because he said the incident was under investigation, but did call the claims false and “ridiculous.” Bly told KOMU 8 News that he was aware the incident happened and two dogs were injured at the shelter that had to be euthanized, but police officers did not abuse the animals. Bly said there would be a report on the alleged abuses during the Eldon City Council meeting on Tuesday.
The day after that meeting, the Mayor had little to add regarding the allegations:
“I have hundreds of emails on this,” said Bly. “And some of them make threats to our police officers.”
He said the Highway Patrol will not investigate the incident since animal shelters fall under the Department of Agriculture’s jurisdiction, but the Highway Patrol might get involved in the investigation if it feels the officers are in danger.
The police department is the division responsible for the pound. Police officers are the ones accused of abusing the dogs in this case, not the Department of Ag. Another news outlet got a different story:
The police chief did not return a reporter’s calls on Wednesday. This week, though, he did tell a lake-area newspaper reporter that he was unaware there had been an incident at the pound, and it’s now being investigated by the Highway Patrol. He did not identify the officers involved.
Local rescuers and volunteers report being shut out of the pound in recent months and a reporter who tried to visit the facility during its normal hours last week found it locked down. There had been a proposal to change the pound’s pet killing policy that animal advocates feared would result in more killing but in light of the advocates’ concerns and the abuse allegations, the city decided at the public meeting to stop killing temporarily until things get sorted.
(Thank you Clarice for sending me these links.)
Another day, another unbelievable story about abuse in our antiquated shelter system. Even more scary is reading the “City Animal Ordinance”.
“Under 210.110, it shall be unlawful for the owner of any dog, cat or other animal to fail to restrain said dog, cat or other animal from running at large at any time within the corporate limits of the City of Eldon.”
“Under 210.200, It shall be unlawful for any person to own, keep or harbor any dog which by loud, continual or frequent barking or howling disturbs the neighborhood or any person, or which habitually barks, threatens or chases pedestrians or vehicles, provided however, that this Section shall not apply to the City Animal Shelter.”
Welcome to animal paradise!
I read that too and laughed. “Loud” barking is illegal. But the pound, where they allegedly abuse dogs, is exempt.
Unbelievable . . . Don’t know what to say.
I’m with you.. just imaging this act has turned my stomach and broke my heart. They are idiots
Haven’t these animals been through enough? They get dumped at a place that is supposed to take care of them and end up sometimes worse than they were. Not all shelters are bad but the bad ones are giving the whole shelter system a bad name.
Just goes to show that stupid and cruelty are everywhere. What an unnecessary tragedy. I’m so sorry that those poor dogs’ last days on earth were so brutal.
Hope that something good comes from their deaths.
RIP – you deserved better
And the point of brutally separating the tied dogs was what? To prevent an already ocurring pregnancy? What idiots.
In a place where they have locked out the rescuers in which case I imagine the only thing awaiting either of those dogs anyway was a blue needle.
It looks like the locals are handling this one pretty well as opposed to most of the others we see on here.
The Department of Agriculture’s investigation concluded that there was no evidence that two dogs were beaten before being euthanized in November.
However, the male dog suffered injury to his genitalia prior to being put down. The veterinarian who euthanized the two dogs said this injury is consistant with being forcibly separated while mating, according to the investigation.
http://www.connectmidmissouri.com/news/story.aspx?id=860265