We’ve been closely following events at SPCA Tampa Bay in Pinellas County, Florida, where former Humane Society of Indianapolis CEO Martha Boden now holds life-and-death control over the shelter’s unfortunate residents. Current and former volunteers and staff members have shared these stories of dogs who fell victim to the new CEO’s policies.
These stories are only a tip of the iceberg.
Elvira, a 6-month-old puppy who was killed because she ate her food too fast.
Oscar. Oscar was being fostered in a home with one of the first volunteers to leave shortly after the current CEO, Martha Boden, arrived and instituted the killing policy. Oscar showed signs of ringworm and was brought back to the SPCA for evaluation and medication for treatment. Instead of receiving treatment that the volunteer was told Oscar would receive (and the volunteer was willing to pay for this at his own DVM at no cost to the SPCA/TB), Oscar was killed.
It took three days for the volunteer to learn what happened to Oscar. Why? “Nobody cared”.
Charles and Trick, 5-month-old brother and sister hound mixes transferred from another shelter. Trick was terrified, and Charles protected her. Boden’s inexperienced trainer/evaluator decided she would be a fear biter, even though she never attempted to bite volunteers despite all the handling given her. A foster parent offered to foster Trick, but the request was denied and Trick was killed.
A volunteer was allowed to foster Charles, who turned out to be a wonderful dog and has been adopted. Little doubt his sister would have been a wonderful dog too if given the chance.
Silk and the pug. Silk, a purebred Weimaraner, failed her food bowl test miserably but was sent to rescue. A purebred pug failed same food bowl test. Although Pug Rescue was willing to take him, the pug was killed.
A 6-month-old boxer puppy passed his evaluation, but was returned due to a possible bite. The evaluator admitted that it was probably just puppy mouthing, but killed the puppy anyway.
Red had a card on his kennel marked “aggressive dog, do not walk!” A volunteer went to the kennel and spent about 15 minutes with Red, giving him treats and talking to him. By the end of that time, Red was resting his head on her shoulder. He wasn’t aggressive; he was scared.
The volunteer emailed the foster coordinator about fostering Red, but it was too late. He was already dead.
Two 8-week-old Chihuahua puppies, killed over resource-guarding.
Chocolate and Whitey, two purebred Mastiffs who were surrendered because their owner could no longer afford to care for them. They failed their evaluations, but the staff was trying to get them into rescue. Rescue was full, so they were killed.
Santana. Amy Ulrich provides a deeply disturbing description of the callous treatment of pregnant Santana, who was spayed, her puppies aborted, and subsequently died after receiving no followup care:
Tomorrow, we’ll share some first-hand accounts of narrow escapes from SPCA Tampa Bay policies.