Hoarding - 30 dogs seized
Sydney, NS (CA)Incident Date: Tuesday, Sep 1, 2009
Disposition: Not Charged
Abuser names unreleased
The SPCA has seized more than 30 dogs in two connected incidents in Sydney, but no charges are expected because it was a case of hoarding where the dogs were in good condition.
Patsy Rose, manager of Cape Breton SPCA said they received a call about an apartment building in the central Sydney area. On Sept. 1, when inspectors entered the apartment, they donned masks for their own protection, due to the odour of feces and urine, and seized 13 dogs. They subsequently returned two days later to a nearby dwelling, part of the same property, removing another 20 dogs. The same people were involved in both cases, Rose said.
She declined to say on what street the seizures occurred.
The dogs were in good condition, she said, although one dog was euthanized due to health conditions associated with its advanced age.
“It was just that the people had way too many dogs,” she said. “A lot of people, we call them hoarders, they get these animals then they get overwhelmed with them and then they don’t know what to do with them ... If (the dogs) had been in bad conditions, they were thin and there were problems with them, they would have been charged with cruelty to animals.”
Rose said she doesn’t know how long the situation had been ongoing. She added the people involved are not facing charges.
Seventeen dogs were transported to the Halifax SPCA to be put up for adoption, while a number remain at the local location also available for adoption.
“We’ve found homes for a few of them, right now we have a couple still left, most of them were smaller breeds,” Rose said.
The people involved were co-operative and agreed to release the animals.
If they hadn’t co-operated, the SPCA would have had to obtain a search warrant in order to seize the animals.
They were given a letter of compliance indicating that an SPCA inspector will visit them weekly to ensure they have no other animals in their possession.
“If they get any more animals they will be charged and they will have to go to court,” Rose said.
Rose said the regular visits to the people who had owned the dogs will continue indefinitely.
The issue of animal hoarding has been in the news recently, with significant seizures in the past two years including at the Celtic Pets Rescue outside Port Hawkesbury and more recently at two homes in Port Felix, Guysborough County.
“People are tending to call us more, and in the past people wouldn’t do that,” Rose said. “You’d hear about it but nobody would call. You have to have a valid complaint, you just can’t go by hearsay.”
She added complaints received by the SPCA are confidential, and she encouraged anyone who may be aware of a case of animal hoarding or mistreatment of animals to contact the agency. References
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