The sobering tales coming out of SPCA Tampa Bay also include some narrow escapes for dogs who were fortunate enough to be rescued from this house of horrors. Volunteers and staff members, many of whom have been fired or have left because they could no longer be part of the dysfunctional system, shared these stories in their own words.
Susie and Grasshopper, a small breed mother and her 2-week-old puppy, were surrendered in a crate. When the medical staff tried to get the mother out of the crate, she snapped at them because she was protecting her puppy (a normal maternal response). The inexperienced trainer/evaluator said the mother must be killed because she’s aggressive, which would have left the puppy an orphan.
Donna, the veteran trainer who was later forced to leave for trying to save lives, intervened and suggested they give the mother some space. Mom came out and gave everyone kisses. Both have been adopted.
Rocket, a 3-year-old shepherd mix, was adopted from SPCA as a puppy and surrendered because the family was moving. He was dog-selective and showed poorly in his kennel, so he was kept in the real life room and everyone loved him. Thankfully he was adopted on a Saturday, because on Monday, Boden’s evaluator came down the hall looking for him. When a kennel worker asked why, she ran her finger across her throat, indicating that she was there to kill the dog.
Is that professional? The kennel worker was shocked. The volunteer who reported this is a friend of the family that adopted Rocket. They said he is one of the best dogs they’ve ever owned. When the volunteer told them what really happened, they were incredulous.
Elsa, a 5-year-old pit bull, was a stray who ended up at the shelter after being found wandering with a gunshot wound. The SPCA veterinarian refused to treat her until the volunteers did a complete evaluation on her. The dog was bleeding and surely in pain, but he wouldn’t treat her until he knew she was “worth it”.
In-D, a/k/a Luka, is a 4-month-old pit bull puppy that the novice evaluator said failed the food bowl test and was anti-social. The vet techs had written on his intake sheet to wait a few days before evaluating him because the dog was a little fearful.
The evaluator ignored the note and evaluated the dog anyway. During the food bowl test, a reliable source reported she struck the puppy in the nose with the assess-a-hand. When she didn’t get the reaction she hoped for, she struck him again, harder, until he snapped at the hand. She failed him.
The former kennel worker who ended up adopting In-D said the evaluator carried the dog out of her office like he was a piece of trash. In-D is neither food bowl aggressive nor anti-social, and now lives with other bully breed dogs.
A former volunteer who has been helping the ASPCA care for 367 pit bulls seized from a multi-state dog fighting ring, asked the ASPCA’s behaviorist if she ever heard of this type of food bowl test. The behaviorist was mortified. She couldn’t believe someone would actually do that.
Tank, a Labradoodle, was failed by the evaluator for dog aggression. Donna found him waiting to be killed, reevaluated him, and found him to be anything but dog aggressive. Four volunteers witnessed Tank being playful with four dogs he was introduced to, big and small.
Donna got in trouble for taking him to the groomer and putting him up for adoption. He was adopted, and his new family posted pictures on SPCA’s Facebook page saying what a wonderful dog he is. I wonder what they would think if they knew he was hours from being killed for no reason.
Olive Oil, a sweet little hound mix transferred from another shelter, was terrified at the shelter and was scheduled to be sent back. That’s the thing about transfers. If they fail, they are sent back so it does not reflect on SPCA’s stats.
It took so long to get her transferred back that she actually started coming out of her shell. She became a wonderfully sweet dog, yet they still wanted to send her back. Donna and volunteers advocated for her, and she did get adopted and lives happily with another dog.
Annie is a sweet little spaniel mix who was also transferred in and scared. Donna brought her into her office to see how she was, and by the end of the day Annie was sitting in Donna’s lap and looking for attention. She was also very housetrained!
Boden’s evaluator had marked this dog as anti-social. Donna had to convince the evaluator to put the dog into foster care. She reluctantly agreed and Annie was not anti-social at all, just frightened. She has since been adopted into a loving home.
Trixy is a 7-year-old toy poodle that the evaluator failed. When Boden learned of this, she pulled the desirable-breed dog from euthanasia and took her home.
Bainter’s courageous intervention in some of these situations cost her her job and the animals a desperately needed advocate.
How long will the SPCA/TB board look the other way?