Around midnight on May 19, 2021, a man was caught on a security camera removing a puppy from the Glynn County Animal Control facility in Georgia. Shelter manager Tiffani Hill told the Brunswick News that she believes the man is the puppy’s owner:
The Catahoula pup, another dog and three cats were found after firefighters extinguished a house fire recently on Copeland Road, Hill said. No one was home at the time of the fire, which was extinguished by county firefighters, she said.
Animal control officers took the dogs and the cats to the shelter for safekeeping, Hill said.
All incoming dogs are dewormed and vaccinated for their safety and that of all animals inside the shelter, Hill said. Hill said the owners did not wish to pay the release fee, which helps offset the costs of holding an animal.
Hill offered to let the owner wait until the seven-day hold is up then retrieve their pets through the adoption process. Adoption presently is discounted to $25. She suspects the owner did not want the dog spayed or neutered.
“We know they lost a lot (in the fire) so we gave him the option of waiting a couple of days and paying $25 for the adoption,” Hill said. “However, we suspect he would not like his dogs fixed by us, which is a requirement for adoption here.”
Hill said he returned and allegedly stole the puppy in the dark of night.
How is this not theft on the part of the county?
I don’t know this owner – maybe he’s a good guy, maybe not. I do know, courtesy of the shelter manager, that he “lost a lot” in a house fire, including his five pets, whom he apparently tried to reclaim. He was either unable or unwilling to pay the fees when the shelter tried to sell him his own pets. Shelters, don’t do this. Here you have an easy live outcome for potentially five animals – take it. When someone has just suffered a house fire, be kind. The victim may be suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, their medications may have been lost and they are scrambling to get new ones, family heirlooms may be damaged or lost, and possibly their sole source of comfort at the moment is the return of their pets.
I understand that shelters struggle with funding and that caring for displaced pets, even temporarily, has a financial cost. To be clear, I have no problem with a shelter asking for a donation to help offset costs in a case like this. But if a house fire victim says he doesn’t have the money, believe him. Send his animals home with him along with a donation request envelope for future, once he gets back on his feet financially. Advertise your good deed on social media, in your shelter newsletter, and with local news outlets asking donors to help offset these costs. It’s a win-win. Victim gets his pets back, hero shelter saves the day. But this whole “you can buy them back for this price or leave them here for a week, have us put them through surgery then apply to buy them back at a lesser price” is just a garbage policy.
In an unrelated case, three additional dogs were taken from the shelter that same week. The shelter manager had harsh words for all the alleged suspects:
“They committed burglary and they will be arrested and prosecuted,” she said.
Well bully for you. I wonder what the chances of educating any owners on the benefits of neutering their pets will be once you’ve pressed criminal charges against them. Maybe you can visit them in jail and hold a Spay-Neuter is Good pamphlet up to the glass.
Glynn County should end this policy and focus on the good that can be done supporting and educating local pet owners, not prosecuting them for the crime of wanting their pets back.
WTF??!! Making someone pay to get their own pets back? Rethink this policy, Glynn County.
This is just the tip of the iceberg regarding what some of these “shelters” do taking, and then holding people’s animals hostage until/unless ransom is paid. Some people get some power and control over others and they abuse it even when owners are abused, and animals are stressed, hurt, or killed.
Clyde, you are so right! I have been exposing a “horse rescue” that targeted me: The United States Equine Rescue League, headquartered in NC but operating in multiple contiguous states. I am in Virginia. They FAILED to get my horses, although they sure tried! They have a scam with local gov’t officials, Animal Controls, and law enforcement: they target a PRIVATE stable, then rush in with a raid, without a warrant of course; they put the owners in handcuffs and jail, while they load up the horses AND TACK. They take the horses to a “secret location” and perform a triage: 10% of “worthless” horses are killed outright; 10% “valuable” horses are shipped to ot-of-state “foster homes”; and the rest are secretly shipped to slaughter. The owners are charged hundreds of thousands of dollars in “board bills,” and the courts seize the real estate as a “surety bond” and “civil asset forfeiture.” The land is then awarded to the local gov’t for disposal to hand-picked developers. Horses are GONE forever, the land is gone forever, and the owners are 100% found guilty of some sort of “neglect,” such as tangled manes or mud in the paddock. As I said, they FAILED with us. Multiple people in multiple states investigated them and physically tracked them and the stolen horses, and literally WATCHED what happened to the horses! It’s not over, folks! Our investigation and exposure continue!
This ($helter Pet $tores stealing and $elling owned pets) is becoming more and more common.
As breeders stop breeding due to pressure from animal rights extremists, as healthy dogs, puppies and other animals are less available, the value of these animals increases.
More animal control businesses are using ANY excuse to take your animals.
Muddy yard/padfock/field because it’s rained for 3 days? Animal cruelty
Find a couple fleas/ticks on a dog or cat? Animal cruelty
Geriatric dog or cat that is no longer in prime “2 year old” condition? Animal cruelty.
And just like that your pets are gone, to be sold off to some stranger. And most of the time you are charged and fined.
If you save an animal from a fire/flood etc then you must return it to its owner… not hold it for ransom as this “$helter” did. That’s theft.
How is taking your property back theft? They have it backwards. They are the thieves. and to think they would “let him have his property back ” after surgically destroying it is disgusting
Glad to see you’re back at it Shirley. You’re needed, as I know too well, and as the comments above reflect. I have a story, too, but I’m currently suing in federal court, so not sure how much I can say. There are certain things already publicly available, though, as part of the suit, which pretty much tell the story. Reach out, if you like. I can point you to what’s available.
Our shelter housed some of the animals during and after a little incident called the Camp Fire. We NEVER charged anyone to get their pets back, and even held them longer while people got their lives back together. We held them long past the legal stray hold (some for months) because we knew people were scattered all over the place after the fire, had so much to deal with after losing so much, and we wanted to give them every possible chance of getting their pets back. We even sent letters to the address where the animals were found and – surprise! people showed up, letter in hand to claim their pets, who they thought had perished.
Well done. This should be the standard. Thank you.