Charlotte, furmom to The Wee Beasties, barked in this terrible news from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and NWANews.com. Why can’t the Humane Society claim these animals and how are they being cared for now? Suely they haven’t just been left in the U-Haul!!!

Please let us all know what we can do to help change the Arkansas laws and help these poor animals.

Here’s what Carlotte barked:

I saw this in our local news today and thought you might be interested.

The couple faces 172 counts of animal cruelty charges after animal control employees found over 70 dogs, 11 birds and 4 cats in a U-Haul truck that had been broken down for at least 2 days. The truck had urine and feces leaking from it. The animals apparently had no food or water either.

As of yesterday, the Humane Society of Pulaski County had not been able to claim any of the animals. The case was to be reviewed by a judge today and they expect to get at least some of them later this week. If there’s anything that can be done to help, I’ll post something on the forums.

Unfortunately in Arkansas this kind of animal cruelty is still a misdemeanor. Two bills were introduced in recent legislative sessions that would make this a felony but both were defeated. I’ll be writing letters to everyone I can in our state government to address this issue further.

90 animals found packed in U-Haul ; pair charged
BY STACY HUDSON

Posted on Monday, September 17, 2007

An Arkadelphia couple faces 172 animal-cruelty charges after Little Rock Animal Services employees discovered more than 90 dogs, cats and birds in the back of a U-Haul truck Friday night.

Volunteers with the agency and the Humane Society of Pulaski County worked from 5 p. m. Friday until about 2 a. m. Saturday evaluating the conditions of “70-something dogs, 11 birds and four cats‿ outside the U-Haul store at 4809 W. 65 th St., said Tracy Roark, animal services manager.

The animals had been in the truck, which had broken down, for at least two days, authorities said. Most of them were small purebred dogs such as Chihuahuas, Pekingese, poodles and terriers.

“They were in pretty bad shape,” Roark said. “We’ve not seen anything in the city like this.”

Johnny Franklin Maynard, 42, and Sharon Ann Maynard, 54, both of 2460 Hasley Road in Arkadelphia, were to appear in Little Rock District Court today.

A Little Rock city ordinance allows for a fine of up to $ 500 for each violation, Roark said.

The Maynards were each charged with 92 counts of neglect and 80 counts of failure to provide medical aid.

“Cruelty includes physical abuse and abuse by neglect, which is failure to provide adequate shelter, food, water and medical care,” according to Little Rock’s Web site.

Six volunteers helped rescue the animals, which were in wire cages lined up in rows and stacked inside the unventilated truck, said Kay Jordan, executive director of the county Humane Society.

“The birds… there were a few in birdcages sitting around outside on the ground, and then there were some birds in little pet taxis” in a vehicle being towed by the U-Haul truck, Jordan said. “All the rest of ’em were piled up — it was either four or five layers… on each side of the inside of the truck. Then there were pet taxis that we figured… had some cats and dogs in them that they had set in the middle between the tiers of cages.”

Some of the cages had to be cut open to get the animals out, and the stench of the truck was “toxic,” Jordan said.

“There was urine and feces coming out of the back of the truck,” she said.

Desiree Bender, state director of the Humane Society of the United States, said she suspected the animals came from a puppy mill and were being sold to pet stores.

“Arkansas is one of the top nine puppy-mill states in the United States,” Bender said.

A phone number listed for the Maynards’ home in Arkadelphia went unanswered Saturday night.

Bender said she feared the animals had been kept in the cages for a while.

“Inside this U-Haul truck was the equivalent of a garage that had dogs in it for months and years,” she said. “These dogs, we had to yank them, pull them totally out of those crates. We had a hard time getting a lot of them out because they wouldn’t come out.”

As of Saturday night, all the animals were being cared for by the city and the Humane Society.

Animal-welfare advocates in Arkansas have been working to establish stiffer penalties for cruelty to animals.

Two bills that would have made animal cruelty a felony on either the first or second offense failed in the Legislature earlier this year.

Follow this link to read the rest of the article.

Share this entry with your pawple anywhere: