UPDATE 3/09/08 on the 19 Seeley Collies Rescued in Upstate NY
Statement by AWCA President Jean Levitt
The Triplets
They were adorable, and appeared happy to greet a visitor last fall. The three sable and white, smooth Collie girls greeted me with tail wags and invitations to rub their muzzles.
Very probably littermates, they were about five years old. Two were very thin, and one was about average weight. I made a mental note that because they were housed together in a small double cage on the main floor of the SPCA, one was probably dominating the food at feeding time, depriving the other two of a full ration.
At one end of the cage was a little bedding, and a few feet away at the other end was a layer of newspapers for toileting. A water pail hung on the cage door at the toileting end. The papers had been used recently and the girls were tracking moist fecal material and urine throughout their small space as they waded through their toilet area to get drinks from the water pail. The SPCA Executive Director seemed a little embarrassed by the fresh mess. I had an appointment with her to visit the Collies for the first time and bring her money and supplies. Undoubtedly the Collie areas were freshly cleaned before my arrival. The triplets were the first collies I met, and I just said "Poop happens!" and politely suggested that the water pail could be moved to the bedding end to prevent them from having to walk in their toilet area to drink water.
The Executive Director told me that a doctor had adopted all three of them and they would be gone in a few days.
I was then taken up a flight of narrow stairs without railings to meet all of the other Collies in the top floor storage room. That was when I saw big trouble for the Seeley Collies at the SPCA, because as you now know all of the Collies were and still are confined in crates. I silently wished that the SPCA were open to adopters more than just a very few hours a week.
Fast forward to January, nearly three months following the rescue of the Collies and Dachshunds from the Seeley home, and following many weeks of disturbing reports by the AWCA volunteers. I made the unannounced visit to the SPCA while the Executive Director was at PetSmart selling another truckload of puppies from the South.
The first Collies I saw were the triplets, still in the same double cage. This visit there was no bedding, no newspaper. The triplets were filthy. Filthy. They were covered in their own feces and urine. The smell was horrendous throughout the main floor. All of the dogs were wet.
When I approached, the triplets began screaming, even over the earsplitting din of the many other dogs housed in that room, and tried to climb like cats up the front of their cage. I was positively horrified at the sight of them. Their eyes bugged out in desperation. Two were still very thin.
An attendant was washing down the cement floor of all of the cages, splashing water everywhere. The fecal solids in the various cages were being broken up by the water and evenly distributed throughout the cages. A slurry of fecal matter, urine and water was flowing into the corners and along the edges, where it stayed. The cage fronts were coated in the stuff, as were the dogs.
When last we heard the triplets were still at the SPCA. It has been 145 days.
Who will help rescue the rescued?
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Folks, we have no further information to share about the condition of the old gentleman; however, we remain extremely worried about him.
What arguably may be tolerable accommodations for a week or even a month can be very cruel, in their physical and psychological effects, for the long term.
This old gentleman Collie has had to lie on his chest, in a crate, without room even to extend his legs fully to relieve his discomfort, since he was rescued --from a crate-- 145 days ago.
At his age, just as with elderly people, to avoid further deterioration in his condition he needs, at the very least, mild exercise, asssertive treatment for his painful arthritis and any other conditions, and a carefully considered diet for his needs as a senior. Without all these, and without loving care from an experienced adopter, he can look forward only to depression, heart and lung failure, continued pain, and a lonely bewildered death.
What is left for him? He has been denied adopters, rehabilitation, and even the freedom to move sufficiently to maintain heart and lungs.
It may be that the only mercy for him will come when his aching body at last yields to the neglect of his obvious needs.
Calmly,
Jean Levitt
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