Two dogs are dead this week because of the gross indifference and incompetence of the pound staff in Hillsborough County, Florida. Clyde died in what was described by a local veterinarian as a “very painful event.” Clyde ate a blanket, but for six days, pound staff did nothing while the blanket worked its way into the dog’s intestines. “It had tore his intestines apart.”
Similarly, Lola dog bled to death because staff once again ignored her suffering. According to a local news report, the pound,
performed what it called a ‘complicated spay’ on Lola, a 10-year-old chocolate lab… After the procedure, the dog was not kept in veterinary services overnight for monitoring. ‘Instead she was put in a kennel and two days later she was found dead… The autopsy states she bled to death.’
They are not the only ones. A local veterinarian also reports that she rescued a cat that had a dislocated leg from the Hillsborough pound:
The cat had bone sticking out the bottom of its leg and was walking on exposed bone, no bandaging, no attempt to give this cat basic first aid.” The leg was “damaged so badly, Dr. Alence was forced to amputate it.
Prior reports found that other animals have been needlessly and cruelly killed and that animal outcome records were doctored to make it appear the pound was doing a better job than it was.
All of this occurred under the neglectful supervision of Scott Trebatoski, who is a frequent speaker at the Best Friends Animal Society Conference and is a founding member of Maddie’s Fund Pet Forum team even though allegations of this nature about Trebatoski have existed for years.
As long as this movement fails to hold incompetent, uncaring, and failing pound directors accountable but instead celebrates them, as long as it continues to create cult of personalities, rather than focusing on accomplishments, and as long as it continues to claim victory before victory is achieved, governments will likewise feel emboldened to look the other way, and animals will continue to suffer horribly.
Once again, had any of this conduct occurred in a private home, the “owners” would have been prosecuted for abuse. Tragically, the first time many Hillsborough animals experience such neglect or abuse is at the very agency that is supposed to protect them from it and an agency run by an individual who “animal protection” groups continue to celebrate.
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