WREG reports that last week, Memphis police arrested dog owner Migel Martinez and charged him with aggravated animal cruelty. Mr. Martinez allegedly neglected his pregnant female dog to the point where she became emaciated and was unable to produce milk for her 11 puppies after they were born. The newborn puppies starved to death and a neighbor filmed the mama dog attempting to bury them.
The neighbor also attempted to intervene by feeding and watering the mama dog and offering to take all the dogs himself. He called animal cruelty investigators and police, providing police with the video he took on his cellphone. MAS impounded the mama dog. The article doesn’t provide a definitive timeline regarding the neighbor’s actions other than a reference to “nearly three days” so its unclear to me why neither cruelty investigators nor police took action sooner.
Local advocates report the mama dog is being held as a court case animal and MAS is not allowing visitors. It would be logical to believe this dog is not only in physical pain from neglect and starvation but deep emotional pain due to the death of her pups and impoundment at a pet killing facility. MAS has a notorious track record on neglecting and starving dogs in their care, including court case dogs. I know many of us remember the mama dog whom MAS photographed with her dead puppy then posted the photo on PetHarbor.
It makes me shudder to think that this dog only has MAS staff to meet her physical and emotional needs at this time and for the foreseeable future. I’m glad she is no longer in the hands of an alleged animal abuser. I’m sorry she is now at MAS.
I wondered if she would end up at that hell hole when I saw the video. God help her.
So they…”saved” her from her abuser. Yeah.
While I was there yesterday, a man and his mother were there looking for their 16-year-old dog that had gotten out that morning. I told him to make sure to tell them to take him in the stray area. They did and, thankfully, their dog was in there. When he walked outside to smoke a cigarette, we were all talking and he was so appalled by the conditions these animals were in. He was so upset and shocked, every other word was the “f” word. He said one dog looked as if it had been set on fire and another looked as if it had literally been beaten almost to death. Since the general public isn’t allowed back there anymore, I couldn’t see for myself. I can only hope and pray that they are getting treatment and pain medicine so they are not suffering until their due out date is up and they are taken to the kill room.
Regarding pain meds – don’t bet on it. Dr. Coleman seems to not prescribe them even in severe cases.
Thank you Shirley. I wish I knew how go post this on Facebook. Idiots .
Sent from my iPhone
There is a Facebook share button at the bottom of the post. At least there is on my monitor. Hopefully it’s on everyone else’s too.
How do we get her out of MAS??????
This is so sad. You would think that a shelter is supposed to, you know, shelter and she would end up in better conditions in a shelter than in the abuser’s custody. It used to be that I could say “well thats what the shelter is for, until she can find other loving guardians/owners”. Now, not so much.
I got an email last night with an update about this dog. It said MAS was willing to let her go to a rescue or possibly even an adopter. MAS told a potential adopter that several rescues were interested but the rescues themselves said they weren’t trying to get the dog out. Not sure whether MAS was intentionally trying to mislead the potential adopter or just mixed up. At any rate–RESCUES, PLEASE HELP THIS DOG IF YOU CAN. DON’T LET HER DIE AT MAS. Thanks.
just my opinion, but I’d be leery of what they tell you.. they have lied so many times before about the conditions and where a bouts of dogs
Jeanne, I am glad to see you received an encouraging update. The one I got from local advocates, dated yesterday says “James Rogers will not respond to any of our pleas to see, vet, or release the starved mama dog that buried her 11 pups.” I hope the one you got is reflective of more current info.
IF there are people trying to step up to help her and they are being refused, I hope Jeanne and others will go to the media with this information. These kinds of things need to be kept in front of the public. My guess is that they are lying about being sent to foster/rescue/adopter.
@YesBiscuit, no, I don’t think so. What I got was a crossposted email from someone who was interested in adopting the dog and talked to Tracy Dunlap. All this is hearsay, obviously, but according to the email message, he told her several rescues were interested in the dog and she backed off, thinking they would be better prepared and better funded to handle the situation than she would be. No doubt Dunlap got what he wanted out of that conversation. It’s possible MAS could be pressured or embarrassed into releasing her to a rescue group, but somebody has to step up and make the commitment to taking her first. General pleas from advocates are going to get the usual stonewalling. MAS can’t be trusted on any level, ever. Still, I hope she gets out alive, somehow.
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Reblogged this on Sherlockian's Blog.
WHY??? if this place MAS is known to be a bad place, has Nothing been done to correct the problem. I am an outsider & don’t even know what MAS stands for, but after reading comments, I can not believe people JUST talk about it & DO nothing. The animals must be suffering, so go to your elected officials & demand an investigations on this MAS.
it stands for Memphis Animal Shelter.. but they don’t do any sheltering and the ones in charge don’t care. this blog site has so much info and evidence… Shirley.. can you post just a few examples? Please
I’ve got 5 YesBiscuit links included in the post – all about MAS and how they treat animals. Anyone up for reading more than those 5 can simply click on the “memphis animal shelter” tag at the end of the post or use the search bar on top left of the blog.
There is plenty that has been done to try to fix this hell hole. I believe 2 of the aco’s are in jail for animal abuse. Writing the law makers does no good. The Governor told me its a local problem so he will do nothing. YesBiscuit has exposed them in every way possible. Look into the archives.
I hope someone can get this mama out before she, too, is brutalized and killed. Thanks, Shirley, for keeping this in plain sight. It’s clear that those in charge don’t want that to happen. And I wonder if the woman who found her lost dog would be willing and able to contact someone – maybe the media, although this place and its people have seen a bit of media coverage, to little effect.
She is safe in rescue now.