Two Dogs Found Frozen Behind Abandoned Home
By: Linda Weller
TheTelegraph.com, Illinois
February 5, 2004, ALTON -- Sometime during the recent cold, icy, snowy
weather, a man moved out of his East End rental house, abandoning two,
chained emaciated pit bulls lying dead in the back yard.
On Wednesday morning, a police officer had to chip away at one of the
bone-skinny dogs’ frozen, ice-caked bodies to free it from the hard ground
on which he died. "I just don’t understand people doing this," said humane
investigator Carole Conley of Godfrey. "It hurts. It’s sickening, the
stupidity of people. I just don’t understand how people could do that."
Neither can police nor James Greer, assistant chief of Alton Animal Control.
"It’s a sickening thing to see when people do that to an animal," Greer
said. He said it was unusual to see animals left to die from starvation or
the harsh elements in Alton. He said he often will contact people when he
observes or learns their animals are not being cared for properly. "Not very
often do we see cases like this where they are left starving outside to
die," he said.
Greer said the animals appeared to have been dead for about four days. They
were chained to concrete blocks at the rear of an empty house at 2626 Yager
Ave. The male, a "blue" (black) pit bull, was lying on his side outside a
plywood doghouse, Conley said."There was no insulation," she said.
A red-brown female pit bull died "in a submissive position," covered with
sleet and crouched inside her plastic doghouse, which also had no insulation
or blankets.
There also was no sign of food for the dogs, she said. The male had a water
dish, but its contents were frozen. "Both of them were very skinny, to the
point of starvation," Conley said. "There was no sign of dog food, no dog
food bags or cans" either in the yard, among the trash or inside the house.
Greer telephoned Conley about 10:15 a.m. Wednesday so she could come to the
house and write a corroborating report about the incident. The authorities
sought Class 4 felony charges of animal cruelty Wednesday afternoon from the
Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office in Edwardsville. In the meantime,
Greer said he plans to cite the owner with two counts each of the following
misdemeanors: failure to have a city animal license, failure to display
animal license tags and inhumane treatment of animals.
Officials also were trying to verify the identity of the dogs’ owner
Wednesday, Alton Police Chief Chris Sullivan said.
A veterinarian at the Madison County Rabies Control office planned to
conduct autopsies on the dead animals to determine whether they died of
exposure, starvation or a combination of both. Greer took the dogs’ bodies
to the office before visiting the state’s attorney.
Greer said a neighbor of the dogs’ owner called him to report that one of
the animals was lying in the back yard, but he was not sure whether it was
sleeping or dead. Greer said the neighbor also said he saw the dogs’ owner
move out Tuesday, which likely would have been after the dogs died.
Besides Greer, Alton police and three representatives from the city’s
Building and Zoning Department also went to the house to investigate. Greer
said the landlord let investigators inside the house to look for any other
animals that might have been left behind but that none was found. Building
and Zoning officials did not cite the property for code violations but
assisted in providing information about who owns the house and who has an
occupancy permit for the house, said George Carter, Alton assistant
supervisor of building and zoning.
Conley, who is certified as a humane investigator by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, also is the 10-year president of the Alton Area Animal Aid
Association’s board of directors.
With more cold and snow predicted today, Conley urged people to bring their
animals inside, especially at night. If not, they should be provided with
adequate shelter to prevent more deaths. A doghouse should be draft-free,
large enough for the animal to sit upright but still small enough to contain
its body heat. The doghouse should have a floor up off the ground with hay
or wood shavings for insulation.
Humane officials say old or short-haired dogs should not be left outside;
they may need sweaters when they do go outdoors. Animals should have
adequate food, and their water should be checked to make sure it has not
frozen. They also say dogs’ footpads should be wiped off after being
outdoors, and they should not be walked where ice-melting chemicals have
been spread.
lnweller@hotmail.com
