PERMISSION TO CROSS POST GRANTED
This is an open letter to Fresno County District Attorney Elizabeth A. Egan
My name is Brad Patterson, DVM.
I was the vet in charge of the four Standard Poodles that were received by Poodle Club of Southern California Rescue.
These dogs included 1 white female Standard Poodle, 2 black female Standard Poodles and 1 black 11-month-old male Standard Poodle.
I first examined these dogs in mid February, and all four were in my care for over a month.
At first glance it was obvious that the condition these dogs were in was some of the most deplorable that I have seen in my thirty plus years of practice.
Lab worked showed that all four dogs were infected with giardia and hookworm, each a serious parasite in its own right, let alone together. Both are highly contagious to both dogs and humans, and each is a major health problem causing severe diarrhea and dehydration and may even cause death in puppies, elderly dogs, or immune compromised dogs.
My initial exam showed severe ear infections in all four dogs and all had infected teeth and gums including the 11-month-old male Standard Poodle puppy.
All four had kennel cough and the young male was running a very high fever and his kennel cough had already become pneumonia.
One white Standard Poodle female was severely malnourished, her ribs and hipbones readily visible once her matted coat was shaved off.
This was the case for all four dogs.
After three weeks of proper nutrition, medication and extra feeding I spayed the white female and removed 7 mammary tumors and a growth from her leg.
The two black females still had milk from nursing recent litters. After three weeks of proper nutrition, medication and extra feeding, the two black females were spayed and mammary tumors were removed from one.
At this point in time the young black male, who after three weeks of care was still 20 pounds under weight, was still fighting for his life with a very resistant pneumonia
As a veterinarian who frequently works with a variety of dog and cat rescues, I would like to go on the record as stating that these dogs were in a very severe state of neglect. I am wondering why there have been no charges laid in relation to these four. Additionally why, if there is even one dog still in the possession of this person, let alone the 39 or more that have been reported, why have no charges been filed? Someone please explain this to me.
Respectfully,
Bradley Patterson DVM
C.C. Cathy Isom ABC
C.C. Marc Benjamin Fresno Bee
C.C. Phil Larson - District 1
C.C. Judy Case District 4
C.C. Bob Waterston District 5
C.C. Susan Anderson District 2
C.C. Henry Perea
C.C. Tom Sharp, VP of Compliance American Kennel Club (AKC)
C.C. Jack (John) White Executive Field Staff Representative American Kennel Club (AKC)
C.C. Stephanie Bell, PETA Cruelty Caseworker
"We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel,
but they do not suffer less because they have no words."
~Anna Sewell, Black Beauty, 1877
April 19th, 2007: Hi, my name is Parissa and I'm writing you from Montreal, Canada. 2 days ago I did what you guys at California Poodle Rescue asked us to do and wrote to the list of people on your website about the poodles that are living in horrible conditions and that nobody has taken any action to take them out of there. I've been checking your website since then to see if you have any new developments on the story, or if you've been able to do someting about it. Please keep us posted. I hope someone with enough power will finally listen and find it in their heart to help these poor dogs.
What I don't understand is when the inspectors went back to see if the situation had improved and saw 10 dead dogs who were shot by their owner, wasn't that enough to do something about it? I really don't understand.
Please as soon as you have any new developments, let us know. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Parissa
Parissa, first, thank you for writing or should I say - merci beaucoup!?
We don't understand either. What we do know is that the part of Fresno County where this "breeder" has these dogs is a part of the county where there are not any limits to the number of dogs that an individual may have.
The city of Fresno now has a population of 500,000. The Fresno County Animal Shelter also known as the Central California SPCA handles 50,000 pets per year. [Yes, that's right almost 1,000 pets per WEEK go through ONE animal shelter.] 35,000 of which are euthanized per year. [That's a conservative number because we have also been told that the "KILL RATE at that one shelter is 85%.]
We have also been told that it is considered a humane form of euthanasia to shoot your own dog even if it takes three bullets to kill each dog.
It's our humble opinon that the good citizens of Fresno County need to persuade their politicians to make some changes to their County ordinances.
I promise further updates soon, in the meantime please keep writing and ask your friends to do the same.
Again, merci beaucoup! -
Marie
Click here to take a CLOSER look for yourself at pictures of just some of the dogs relinquished by this "breeder".
Again we ask...
Do these look like well cared for dogs to you???
Why if these dogs were "so well cared for" did the shelter vet declare that these dogs were NOT healthy enough to be spayed and/or neutered before they were released?
We ask you, why did Animal Control Officers not immediately involve the Sheriff's Department and why has the Fresno County District Attorney, Elizabeth D. Egan, not yet filed charges?
For an inside look at WHY we at Poodle Rescue do what we do... please
click here.
As a nation, we claim to love cats and dogs. Millions of households have pets, and billions of dollars are spent yearly on pet supplies and food. But as a nation, we should take a hard, sobering look at a different annual statistic: the millions of dogs and cats given up to shelters or left to die on the streets. And the numbers tell only half the story.
In Fresno County California 50,000 pets go through the doors of the Central California SPCA annually, YES you read that correctly - almost 1,000 pets per week. 35,000 are euthanized per year. Yes, again you read that correctly! 35,000 are destroyed each year.
Every cat or dog who dies as a result of pet overpopulation—whether humanely in a shelter or by injury, disease, or neglect—is an animal who, more often than not, would have made a wonderful companion, if given the chance. Tremendous as the problem of pet overpopulation is, it can be solved if each of us takes just one small step, starting with not allowing our animals to breed. Here's information about this crisis and why spaying and neutering is the first step to a solution. -HSUS
Thank you to Robert Valentine, a vet tech at the Ventura County Animal Shelter in Camarillo for creating this presentation and for sharing it with us all.
