|
|
|
NEWSPAPER STORY OF SEIZURE FROM LONGVIEW TX Please click here to see pictures Thirteen Shar-Pei dogs removed from a Longview residence on June 29 were permanently awarded to the Northeast Texas Humane Society on Thursday. Municipal Court Judge Lawrence Merriman, after listening to four witnesses during a Thursday afternoon hearing on the seizure of the animals, made the temporary seizure of the animals a permanent one. The defendant, Wesley Windsor of Longview, defended himself in the hearing. The Longview Animal Control Department now will decide whether animal cruelty charges will be filed against Windsor. For now, 13 wrinkled dogs, eight adults and four pups, are being cared for in air-conditioned homes by four women who showed up in court to testify to the previous living conditions for Windsor's Shar-Pei dogs. Three of the women are fostering the animals in their homes. The fourth was Animal Control Officer Jacque Lynch, who found the animals June 27. She told the court that she found the animals to be in what she described as "deplorable conditions." She described the pups and adults as suffering from serious skin, eye and mange problems, covered by feces and urine, some suffering from staph infections. She said they were underfed and there was no proof that any of them had been vaccinated for rabies. Assistant City Attorney Terry Jackson produced numerous pictures of the pens covered with feces, as were some of the dogs. He called it "a script for a horror movie." One of the Shar-Pei puppies' eyes were matted shut with an infection, causing the left side of its face to swell. When the puppies' eyes opened a few days later at the shelter, the left eye had to be removed in an effort to save the right eye. All of the witnesses reported that the dogs were lethargic and that the female adults were in such poor condition they were unable to provide milk for their pups. Pictures taken four days after the removal also were entered into evidence to show the contrast of the animals' conditions after they were taken to new environments. Billie Smith of Houston, representing the North America Shar-Pei Rescue group, told the judge she had seen such "rescues" before, but this one was the worst she had witnessed. Velma Wiggins and Virginia Ballert-Savoldi, representing Partnership for Pets, also testified on behalf of the animals. Sandra Acker, a nurse, testifying as a defense witness in front of her boyfriend, said she believed he cared for the animals and loved them. As for the all the feces, urine and smelly conditions, she said animals who eat and drink are going to produce feces. "This just shows that they were being fed and watered. They had a lot of food," she said. Windsor tried repeatedly to get his own pictures admitted and finally managed to get a flier, one left with him by Lynch, admitted. He was making the point that he had seven days to show proof that his animals had been vaccinated for rabies, yet they were picked up only a few days after Lynch's original visit to his home. But Jackson used that evidence against Windsor, pointing out that in the middle of the page were Lynch's instructions to have veterinarian papers to her within 24 hours. Both Lynch and Windsor had signed the paper.
|
|
Home
|
