Rhea was failed by the rescue system, and now she will pay for it with her life.
Somehow, Rhea and her brother Victor ended up at the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, a no-kill rescue. One might think that they would be safe, kept at the shelter until finding a loving and permanent home. That was not the case. The Humane Society of Tampa Bay transferred both dogs to the Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center (HCPRC) where Rhea is now on the kill list. Victor was adopted — hopefully by a responsible person (see “Convicted dog fighters can adopt dogs from county shelter with failed policies”).
I actually answered this tiny dog ad from the back of a comic book, when I was a kid. Sent them a photo, and all. Then waited for my tiny dog to arrive. Sadly, they sent me my photo back, with a nice letter explaining they could not use it. No doggy for me. Almost as good was my mom’s excuse why she opened a letter addressed to me: She told me she thought the little dog might be inside the envelope. I did not believe it, and pointed out that the dog would not have fit in the envelope, or gone through the postal system.
Interesting piece on how little we still know about wildlife, and how the Internet of Things is starting to change that, making better decisions possible and making us more aware of wild animals as individuals.
Maggie, a kelpie in Australia, has peacefully passed. She was thought to be 30 years old and may have been the oldest dog in the world. One of the owner’s sons is 34 and Maggie came to live with them when the son was 4 years old.
The trial has also been postponed from May 9th to August 22nd because of this. Upton will have to pay over $18,000 more to the city because the prosecution falsified records.
I’ve been trying to follow the Upton case. It’s such a mess.
And it should be a HUGE wakeup call for the pet owning community. Upton is “lucky” enough to have a significant paper trail showing that he’s complied with the law and all requirements. Your average pet owner does not. Admittedly Upton was likely targeted because he’s so visible in the community. But look at the struggle he’s dealing with to try to prove he’s innocent and keep his dogs. Now consider what the average pet owner would have to do, to prove their innocence in a similar situation.
The ACO who is facing charges for cutting the ears off puppies in her laundry room was the one leading the charge during his raid. But she is innocent until proven guilty according to the city government. Upton however is under a gag order and has to come up with over $6,000 a month for his dogs to be killed by the city or loose them forever.
Have you seen the “temperament tests” the ASPCA did on his dogs? They were obtained in a FOIA request and posted on a support page for Upton. They “tested” a dog in labor and couldn’t figure out why she was looking for a corner hide. They kept shoving a huge doll in all of the dogs faces. That was their attempt to see how they would react to a child. They also grabbed random dogs out of the other runs to see how they would react to strange dogs. One of those random dogs showed signs of being aggressive. But they didn’t care about that.
One of his adult dogs was put down in Febuary. She was healthy when she was taken. But two months later she had a large assess on her neck and was failing. She was taken to an outside vet and was showing improvement. But they still thought she had to be killed. Even though she was at a vet, they still sent in one of their people to kill her. Because no vet would preform a heart stick on a calm, fully altert dog without any setative.
Upton has already filed the paperwork to sue them, but it is on hold pending the outcome of his case. The city knows they are screwed if he wins. So they are doing whatever it takes to sink him. To hell with the dogs they claimed to be oh so concerned about.
While the City of Sacramento’s pound director, Gina Knepp, gives webinars as a No Kill expert, her agency isn’t even looking for a home for a dog they’ve given till 5 pm today. In the 5th year of a No Kill initiative, they still haven’t created robust foster, adoption, and behavior programs and are still killing 25-30% of all dogs. Boomer needs a home in the Sacramento area, and Front Street and Gina Knepp need to start acting like the shelter and director they claim they want to be. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1023686507668570&set=o.138009096298977&type=3&theater
Found this April 15 on the Examiner:
Rhea was failed by the rescue system, and now she will pay for it with her life.
Somehow, Rhea and her brother Victor ended up at the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, a no-kill rescue. One might think that they would be safe, kept at the shelter until finding a loving and permanent home. That was not the case. The Humane Society of Tampa Bay transferred both dogs to the Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center (HCPRC) where Rhea is now on the kill list. Victor was adopted — hopefully by a responsible person (see “Convicted dog fighters can adopt dogs from county shelter with failed policies”).
I actually answered this tiny dog ad from the back of a comic book, when I was a kid. Sent them a photo, and all. Then waited for my tiny dog to arrive. Sadly, they sent me my photo back, with a nice letter explaining they could not use it. No doggy for me. Almost as good was my mom’s excuse why she opened a letter addressed to me: She told me she thought the little dog might be inside the envelope. I did not believe it, and pointed out that the dog would not have fit in the envelope, or gone through the postal system.
I am so excited to hear that someone I know sent away for this miniature dog. It makes me feel like I’m hobnobbing with the elite.
I never saw an ad for a tiny dog by mail. “Sea monkeys” were a thing, though.
Interesting piece on how little we still know about wildlife, and how the Internet of Things is starting to change that, making better decisions possible and making us more aware of wild animals as individuals.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-we-know-whether-a-swallow-is-frightened-in-a-storm-excerpt/
Terrible letter to the editor of the Chicago Tribune argues that making CACC no kill would be “inhumane” seriously misunderstands the concept: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/ct-chicago-s-plan-for-a-no-kill-animal-shelter-is-inhumane-20160415-story.html
Oops, terrible grammar on my part: I meant “and seriously misunderstands …” yeesh.
Maggie, a kelpie in Australia, has peacefully passed. She was thought to be 30 years old and may have been the oldest dog in the world. One of the owner’s sons is 34 and Maggie came to live with them when the son was 4 years old.
http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/news/national/maggie-the-kelpie-potentially-the-worlds-oldest-dog-dies-peacefully/news-story/a069fe99907fc3a4d7bf2ba6d1d62f46
Rowan County cat rescuer cleared of abandoment charges: http://www.salisburypost.com/2016/04/19/frasier-cleared-of-charges/
The former lead prosecutor for the Upton case admitted to falsifying documents, but the case shouldn’t be thrown out.
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/call-6-investigators/call-6-deputy-city-prosecutor-admits-to-doctoring-records
Oh, and he was only demoted for this. And he had to remove himself from the case. It wasn’t done automatically.
The trial has also been postponed from May 9th to August 22nd because of this. Upton will have to pay over $18,000 more to the city because the prosecution falsified records.
I’ve been trying to follow the Upton case. It’s such a mess.
And it should be a HUGE wakeup call for the pet owning community. Upton is “lucky” enough to have a significant paper trail showing that he’s complied with the law and all requirements. Your average pet owner does not. Admittedly Upton was likely targeted because he’s so visible in the community. But look at the struggle he’s dealing with to try to prove he’s innocent and keep his dogs. Now consider what the average pet owner would have to do, to prove their innocence in a similar situation.
The ACO who is facing charges for cutting the ears off puppies in her laundry room was the one leading the charge during his raid. But she is innocent until proven guilty according to the city government. Upton however is under a gag order and has to come up with over $6,000 a month for his dogs to be killed by the city or loose them forever.
Have you seen the “temperament tests” the ASPCA did on his dogs? They were obtained in a FOIA request and posted on a support page for Upton. They “tested” a dog in labor and couldn’t figure out why she was looking for a corner hide. They kept shoving a huge doll in all of the dogs faces. That was their attempt to see how they would react to a child. They also grabbed random dogs out of the other runs to see how they would react to strange dogs. One of those random dogs showed signs of being aggressive. But they didn’t care about that.
One of his adult dogs was put down in Febuary. She was healthy when she was taken. But two months later she had a large assess on her neck and was failing. She was taken to an outside vet and was showing improvement. But they still thought she had to be killed. Even though she was at a vet, they still sent in one of their people to kill her. Because no vet would preform a heart stick on a calm, fully altert dog without any setative.
Upton has already filed the paperwork to sue them, but it is on hold pending the outcome of his case. The city knows they are screwed if he wins. So they are doing whatever it takes to sink him. To hell with the dogs they claimed to be oh so concerned about.
While the City of Sacramento’s pound director, Gina Knepp, gives webinars as a No Kill expert, her agency isn’t even looking for a home for a dog they’ve given till 5 pm today. In the 5th year of a No Kill initiative, they still haven’t created robust foster, adoption, and behavior programs and are still killing 25-30% of all dogs. Boomer needs a home in the Sacramento area, and Front Street and Gina Knepp need to start acting like the shelter and director they claim they want to be.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1023686507668570&set=o.138009096298977&type=3&theater