Well that was my mistake. I was trying to get it to show as a quote and bolded it instead. I did not mean for it to appear hostile. I would love for us to have Animal Police, like other large cities do, as seen on animal planet. Believe me, there have been at least two cases-one with starved horses, in my opinion near death and another with a suspected dog-fighting ring, that I did initially call the police, or sheriff’s department rather since both of these were in the county. Both times I was referred to the SPCA. With the horses the SPCA did investigate, and I was told they were well aware of this person, they had been in the system for years. They were supposed to do weekly follow-ups, etc. However, when I called for a weekly update, I either got the run around or was told things that were obviously not true, such as the horses were on pasture, when in fact they were not because I was also checking on them myself at least weekly. I was that concerned about the situation and I lived on the other side of town, a good 40 minutes away. I even offered to file charges against the person myself, but was told by the DA’s office that all that had to come from the SPCA. The DA’s office was less than happy about the pictures of these animals and even worse, pictures taken 3 weeks after the initial report to the SPCA where they had obviously deteriorated further. Needless to say, they were moved to pasture that weekend and they did begin to receive vet care. Yes, I have documentation of everything I did, who I talked to, what was said, etc. There were plenty of people in the community, even outside of Mobile who were willing to take these horses to see them saved. I am glad to say the horses look better and do seem to be taken care of now. But I truly feel if it had not been for the diligence of concerned citizens, or as we have been called by the investigator “every nosy person in Mobile County,” those horses would have perished. For goodness sake, the person already had a boneyard in their field with large animal bones present-yes I have pictures. Neighbors had already witnessed them shooting their animals, including horses. Yet they still own animals. Sad.
With the dog-fighting, I believe I already told that story in another post. How I became involved was that the gentleman who initially reported it was frustrated that he had gotten the run-around and lies about the investigation from the SPCA. He was told they believed the dog-fighting paraphenalia was in the portable behind the owners house, but they would have to have a warrant. This person owned 20-30 pitbulls and had people coming by all the time, some bringing other dogs. A search was never done. The gentleman called me because he heard that there were people wanting to change the way the system currently works. I did go by the place, there were barrels and tubs in the front and no trespassing signs everywhere. Another person involved with our group, also went by and saw a pitbull chained in the front that was either dead or injured. There was no response from the dog when she tried calling it. She called the SPCA (the day after they were on the news about stopping dog-fighting and how they handled that), and she was told “we don’t handle that.” She was given a disconnected number to the animal shelter, and finally after an hour was able to file a complaint through Prichard Police Department. I too filed a complaint with Prichard Animal Control. But it was like pulling teeth, just to get someone to actually investigate. They did investigate, and I have been in contact with people in the area-after the investigation, all but 2 or 3 of the dogs were moved. Perhaps to a location in Chunchula or Citronelle, as this person apparently has some land up that way-but I cannot prove that, and believe me I have searched it every way I could think of, through tax records and all to see if there was a location in that area that this person owns. It is way too suspicious that there were all these dogs, all this traffic in and out of that house, the barrels, a portable classroom, no trespassing signs everywhere- and now all but 2 or 3 of the dogs are gone. Come on!
But the point is, this is just two cases that show the current system is lacking. I have several pages worth of contacts from people who called me in response to a letter to the editor wanting to change the system. Yes some of the calls were about wanting something done about the strays, or cats in flowerbeds, but the majority of calls were from people who have the same concerns we do and just want to see action taken. We want the system to work. We don’t want to take over anyone’s job or agency. We just want to find a solution to the problem, because there is one, and see it resolved. If the system can be effective, cases investigated and prosecuted, abandoned animals cared for, the public educated and whatever else needs to be done-then we all win. But most importantly the animals are cared for.
