The owner of an animal shelter has been charged with cruelty after inspectors reportedly found frozen dogs wrapped in plastic bags. More than 40 other dogs were allegedly found running around in cages in sub-freezing temperatures.
Brother Victorian Mattison, 74, owner of the Lazarian Society on Pine Wood Road, was cited on Jan 14, 2005 with two counts of failing to provide adequate shelter, Sullivan SPCA President Bonnie Swack said. Other charges are pending.
The SPCA photographed 10 frozen dogs wrapped in plastic bags near piles of other garbage at the back of the property. The dogs most likely died of exposure, Swack said. On Jan 11, 2004, Mattison allowed the SPCA to remove eight adult dogs, 10 puppies, three adult cats and four kittens. However, he has refused to surrender 47 other dogs and one pig.
"We're trying to get a warrant and get them out of there, so they can get better," Swack said. "The older dogs don't do well in the weather."
The SPCA has put down four of the adult dogs, and will have to destroy up to half the animals, Swack said. SPCA volunteers have moved older dogs into a covered area.
On Sunday, a dog led an inspector to the pile of frozen dogs, and began chewing on the carcasses, Swack said. Rats have infested the piles of garbage, a barn and living quarters. Inspectors also found the jawbone of another dog and a dead cat behind the building.
Yesterday, several breeds were running around in the large, chain-link cages. Each kennel had a dog house and fresh hay had been spread. Some of the dogs' bowls had ice and snow mixed in with the food. The water in the plastic buckets in each cage was frozen into blocks.
Mattison, who has run his "no-kill" shelter for more than two decades, denied that any of the dogs died of exposure on his property.
"Sure, it's cold, but they will survive," Mattison said, standing near a kennel where dogs circled and jumped in the cages. "You can come over here tomorrow, and every dog will be alive."
Mattison said the SPCA only found five dead dogs on the property. He said three died of old age; one had been dumped outside his property; and one of his staff members had picked up a dead dog along the side of the road and planned to bury it.
"This isn't an old man with a bunch of dogs," Mattison said. "We are a legitimate nonprofit."
But Mattison doesn't have a permit from the town to run the kennel. He has also been cited several times for dogs running loose, Town Attorney John Keating said.
He was scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 26 on the code and animal complaint violations.
April 22, 2004: Sitting outside the motel building last week, he said he would push the case to a jury trial, insisting the prosecution must find him personally guilty of animal cruelty. The proceedings began Tuesday night after this issue of TRR went to press.
�I had every right to expect my employee to do the work [of managing a shelter],� Mattison said. He blames any alleged neglect on an employee he said was paid $7.50 per hour but failed to complete assigned duties.
His attorney will submit a report from Highland Physicians, Ltd. describing Mattison�s congestive heart failure, peripheral vascular disease and osteoarthritis, among other conditions, in an effort to clear personal culpability. Case UpdatesBrother Victorian Mattison, who ran an animal shelter at his property, has been ordered to move out of his Pine Wood Road home by Sunday.
"I think we're being more than generous," said Supervisor Sal Indelicato of the Town Board's decision last week to give Mattison 10 days to leave the place he has called home for decades.
Mattison incurred the wrath of many locals in January 2004 when inspectors came to his property and found 10 frozen dogs wrapped in plastic bags, near piles of garbage and 47 dogs running around in cages in subfreezing temperatures.
Mattison has promoted his home as the Lazarian Society, a "no-kill" animal shelter.
On Sunday, local excavation contractor Gary Myers will begin demolishing the buildings and disposing of the debris under the terms of a bid approved by the board. Myers, who does business under the name John C. Deck, was the sole bidder on the demolition of the buildings, which have been declared unsafe. He will be paid $60,010.
Mattison said he is the victim of "selective enforcement" of local building codes. "There are 14 buildings in Cochecton in worse condition than mine," he said.
But he says he is ready to move out all the same.
"All I want is an extension," he said, adding that he is "negotiating to buy a place just over the river in Pennsylvania."
Mattison, who is under court order not to keep dogs, says he has "two dogs that belong to my employee � he brings them here to keep me company. They're going with us wherever I go."
Asked if he would shelter dogs at his next home, Mattison, who turns 76 next month, answered in the negative. "I'm too old for that stuff," he said. | Source: Times-Herald Record - May 18, 2005
Update posted on May 26, 2005 - 3:03PM |
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