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CONVICTED: Was justice served?
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1 severely emaciated dog, 1 dead
Gautier, MS (US)Incident Date: Wednesday, Dec 4, 2002
County: Jackson
Disposition: Convicted
Case Images: 3 files available
Defendant/Suspect: Tramena Miskel
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
Animal control officers were called to the home of Tramena Miskel of 2409 Linwood Drive on Dec. 4, 2002, after complaints from neighbors. There they made a gruesome discovery. Two Doberman Pinschers were confined to a kennel- one dead and the other emaciated.
After being taken to the Jackson County Animal Shelter, the live dog, a female Doberman named Hope, was turned over to the care of Gulf Coast Doberman Rescue Association.Association Director Lindsey Grissom described what animal control officers found at the scene.
Hope's food dish was filled only with dirt. She had been eating her own feces and drinking her own urine. Her ribs, skull, spine and tailbone were all clearly visible. "We definitely feel that this was intentional," Grissom said. "Dogs enclosed in such a way could not seek shelter, food or water." An examination by a veterinarian showed that Hope was anemic due in part to a severe hookworm infestation. She also tested positive for heart worms.
Miskel was convicted on January 13, 2003, of animal cruelty. Miskel was fined $1000, sentenced to ten days in jail, pay restitution for care of animals, ordered to forfeit ownership of surviving dog, permanently banned from animal ownership in the city of Gautier. 1 year probation. $500 of the fine, and jail time, was suspended providing Miskel adheres to a court payment plan for remaining amount, and commits no other cruelty offenses during probation.
Case UpdatesFour years have passed since a Doberman pinscher named Hope was found emaciated and near death in one of the worst cases of animal cruelty in the region. She was within 24 hours of death, her new owner Ralph Marshall said, and had all kinds of worms.
"You could count each one of her ribs," Marshall said. "Even though she was so thin, she kept on fighting. Now she's great. I still can't understand how people can be so cruel. It's just crazy. I've been all over the world and I've just never seen the amount of (animal) abuse I've seen here."
Gautier police found Hope on Dec. 4, 2002, while responding to a complaint of a foul odor coming from a home. Hope was chained in a pen outside, standing next to the badly decomposed body of a male Doberman.
The dogs had no food or water, only a bowl filled with dirt. Hope's former owner, a special education instructor at Ed Mayo Junior High School in Moss Point, was later convicted of misdemeanor animal cruelty and received a 10-day suspended sentence, a $1,000 fine, a year of probation and a permanent ban from owning another pet.
The executive director of Gulf Coast Doberman Rescue at the time defined Hope's condition as one of the most severe states of starvation that she'd seen in her 13 years of working with dogs.
That changed when Marshall adopted her in March 2003. Since then, she's rebuilt her strength and has gone on to serve in a pet therapy program at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Gulfport.
Hurricane Katrina destroyed the home last year and now Marshall and his wife, along with Hope and three other Dobermans the family rescued from abuse, are moving to Atlanta, where Marshall has a new job.
Marshall wanted to share Hope's story and those of his other three dogs after reading about the latest cases of animal cruelty in Jackson County.
"It just keeps happening over and over again," Marshall said. "Whether it is beating them, abandoning them, starving them or putting Super Glue on their ears, it's all abuse in my eyes. It's just crazy."
Marshall said he's going to continue to combat the problems by helping those animals who, in some cases, end up suffering horrendous torture. When he talks about his latest adoption of Dolly, an 18-month-old Doberman with stunted growth, he still becomes emotional.
Dolly was rescued from St. Louis, where her owner was feeding her and other Doberman puppies little food so it would stunt their growth until it came time for them to take on a fight for their lives. The fight came when the puppies were thrown into a ring with young pit bulls who were being taught to fight and kill.
The way it worked, Marshall said, was the Doberman puppies like Dolly ended up serving as bait. The Doberman puppies, he said, didn't stand a chance because their owners had cut the tendons in the puppies' back legs before throwing them into the ring.
"They were teaching the pit bulls how to kill," Marshall said. "Once they cut the tendons, all they could do was pull themselves forward with their front legs. They couldn't defend themselves."
Dolly was rescued shortly before her turn in the ring. At first, Marshall agreed to serve as a foster parent to the dog.
"I fell in love with her," he said.
Animal cruelty is a misdemeanor offense in Mississippi despite ongoing attempts by animal-rights groups and others to make the crime a felony punishable by jail time and stiffer penalties. Animal cruelty is punishable by up to $1,000 in fines or up to six months in jail.
Ralph Marshall, the Gautier man who rescued a Doberman in 2003 after she was found near death, said he is particularly outraged by the latest reports of animal cruelty. In July, a mixed-breed puppy named Buddy was euthanized shortly after he was found dumped in a garbage can with his eyes, ears and mouth glued shut with PVC pipe glue. Police are still chasing leads in that case.
In the latest report, a 3-year-old Siberian husky named Sugar was shot three times and beaten so severely that her head was bashed in when she was found dead on U.S. 90. Gautier police are looking for suspects in the unrelated cases. | Source: WLOX - Nov 26, 2006
Update posted on Nov 27, 2006 - 1:55AM |
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