Dog abandoned in mobile home
Phenix City, AL (US)Incident Date: Friday, Apr 1, 2005
County: Russell
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Christopher Newman
After seeing a 1-year-old pit bull trapped inside a mobile home and perched against the ledge of a window, Tammy Salm had to try to help.
Salm, a Salem, Ala., woman, received a call Friday from her brother, Ricky Wulff, who lives at the D&L Estates in Lee County, Ala. He said his neighbors, a young couple, had abandoned one of their female dogs nearly two weeks ago, leaving it starving and covered in its own feces. He didn't know how to help.
"You can see every bone in her body," said Salm, who is a self-proclaimed animal lover. "That's the first time I've seen something to that extent."
The Lee County Humane Society, along with the Lee County Sheriff's Office, rescued the dog Saturday and rushed it to the Animal Emergency Center in Columbus that night. But veterinarians' efforts were unsuccessful and the dog died Sunday, Humane Society Animal Cruelty Investigator Jama Singley said.
Singley said Humane Society and sheriff's officials arrived at the mobile home around 4 p.m. Saturday and when they brought the dog out, it was clearly suffering from starvation and dehydration and that her organs were failing as a result.
She said the dog was locked into a side bedroom and only the dog, a stripped-down bed and the dog's feces were in the room.
"It was like an oven," she said. A window was slightly cracked open, she said.
She estimated that the dog, which the Humane Society named Rose because she was red, had gone without food and water for nearly two weeks.
Humane Society Director Jack Fisher said the dog's condition was too bad to improve.
"They did everything they knew to do," Fisher said. "It was in very poor condition."
Lee County Sheriff's Capt. Van Jackson said a warrant is out for Christopher Newman, 26, for animal cruelty. Jackson said Newman also has an outstanding warrant for drug charges.
Animal cruelty is a Class A misdemeanor and carries a sentence up to one year and a $2,000 fine. A necropsy is being performed on the dog to determine if the dog was also physically abused, Singley said.
Singley said this is the first time in five years since she's been with the Humane Society that a dog has died as a result of animal cruelty. She said it's one of the worst cases she has seen. The dog constantly vomited and had a hookworm infection, which was likely taking away any food she received, she said.
Lee County Sheriff's Sgt. Billy Dingler said the sheriff's office runs into animal cruelty cases from time to time.
"It's getting to be a problem," he said. "We see it quite often."
Jackson said the department receives training to help deputies recognize signs of animal cruelty, while they're out on other calls or just while patrolling. He said the department averages about five cases per month.
"Unless you have the trained eye, you wouldn't know," Jackson said. "Those are some of the things we've tried to enhance in our deputies' training."
Fisher and Singley both said awareness is a key issue to deterring animal cruelty. Singley said she doesn't think most people know that they can drop off animals at the Humane Society free of charge. Fisher said people can call and report animal cruelty or stray animals anonymously.
Salm said she was just trying to help a dog, who neighbors said was named Dusty, that was abandoned with little hope of living.
"I love animals," she said. "She was just laying there -- it was too weak to even cry." References« AL State Animal Cruelty Map
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