As chair of the
Baltimore County Animal Services Advisory Commission, I want to address an
evolving issue involving Baltimore County Animal Services. The issue concerns the
recent death of a dog named Oscar.
This story began
swirling on social media around the New Year’s holiday after a Facebook post
about Oscar freezing to death in his owner’s back yard at 1135 Regina Drive.
The case is under
investigation by the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s office and a necropsy
has been performed. The results of the necropsy and investigation will provide
more complete answers as to what caused Oscar’s death and whether charges
against the owner are warranted.
Regardless of that
outcome, the Commission is concerned with a larger issue…whether Baltimore
County Animal Control responded properly after receiving a citizen’s call
concerning the dog’s welfare, whether Animal Control procedures and protocols
are adequate and appropriate, and, if not, whether changes will be made.
Fred Homan has sent
members of the Council a case summary about the events on Regina Drive. It
shows Animal Control had a long history of complaints (21 complaints from March
3, 2009 through December 13, 2017) concerning the welfare of Oscar and another
dog at the Regina Dr. address.
The case summary doesn’t indicate whether
these calls ever resulted in citations or whether the dog’s owner was required
to take any action.
But it does note
the property had a functional dog door, and that the two dogs appeared healthy
and had access to the home’s basement, where there was adequate food, water,
and bedding.
On Dec. 30, 2017
at 8:12 AM Animal Control received its 22nd call about the address,
complaining that a dog had been left outside, perhaps all night, in the extreme
cold. Temperatures were hovering in the teens, and there was snow on the
ground.
The call taker recognized
the address, and called the dog’s owner, Mr. Gnanakkan, who reportedly said he
would bring the dog in out of the cold.
Unfortunately, this
appears to have been impossible to accomplish, because, according to a
statement from Mr. Gnanakkan’s father in the police report, Mr. Gnanakkan had
left to go out of town on Dec. 28th and would not return to Baltimore
until Jan. 3rd.
The call taker apparently took Mr.
Gnanakkan’s word and did not dispatch an officer. If an officer had responded, it’s
difficult to know what he or she would have found. Might the dog door have been
frozen shut because of the extreme temperatures or was it blocked in some way? Might
Oscar have been so impaired by the cold that he could not get to the door?
What we do know
is that according to the police report, Mr. Gnanakkan’s father told police he
went to the address (many hours after that morning’s citizen complaint to
Animal Control) between 6 and 6:30 PM on Dec. 30th. and found the
dog in the yard, unable to stand. He told police his wife “was able to push”
Oscar into the basement “so he could be warm.” They then left the residence.
Upon returning
later, the dog had its mouth open and appeared to be suffocating. Some time
later the dog died.
As an advisory
commission, our task is not to conduct an investigation into Animal Control’s
response. But we are tasked with asking questions, receiving answers, and
acting in an advisory capacity. We believe we, and you, as members of the
County Council, need to learn the answers to numerous questions:
1)
Why did Animal Control not respond to the Regina
Drive address after receiving the complaint on the morning of Dec. 30th?
2)
Regardless of whether Oscar’s death was caused
by exposure to the cold, was he put in harm’s way by the decision not to
dispatch an officer?
3)
Did the call taker follow rules when determining
not to dispatch an officer?
4)
If not, what action is Animal Services taking to
ensure that officers and call takers respond properly in the future?
5)
If procedures were followed, do those procedures
need to be revised?
6)
Is Animal Control staffing adequate?
7)
Is Animal Control training adequate?
Unfortunately,
despite many months of close collaboration and trust between Animal Services
and the Commission, open communication between us has broken down.
The Commission’s liaison committee normally
meets with shelter representatives and Fred Homan each month, but when we asked
to schedule a time, we were told that no one was available for a meeting.
Through email, we
have requested specific information to help us better understand what took
place. Only some of that information has been provided.
Without open
communication, we are unable to fulfill the Commission’s advisory mission.
In the Commission’s
two annual reports, we’ve maintained the need for the county to be transparent
in its shelter operations. The handling of this issue is an indication that
transparency is still sorely lacking.
The county was
not open about what was happening in this case as it unfolded. Instead it
quickly issued a statement that “These allegations have been investigated by
Baltimore County Animal Services and the Police Department and there was no
evidence of animal mistreatment and no cause to charge anyone. It was
determined that the 15 year-old Chow-Chow died of natural causes and that a
family member was caring for the dog when it died. Upon the dog’s death, the
family member took the dog’s remains to an emergency veterinarian to be
cremated.”
In fact, at the
time that statement was issued
·
The
police investigation appeared incomplete, as the dog’s owner was out of town
and had not yet been interviewed in person. In phone conversations with police officers,
he had provided contradictory information.
·
A necropsy had not been conducted to determine
the cause of Oscar’s death.
·
The case summary says BCAS did not even know the
State’s Attorney’s office had opened an investigation, had taken the dog’s
body, and was waiting for necropsy results.
The Baltimore
County Animal Services Advisory Commission has been a loud and proud champion
for the county’s animal shelter over the last two years. There has been
enormous progress, as well as tremendous success in improving live release
rates.
In the last
quarter of 2017, those live release rates were above 90% for both dogs and
cats. This is a wonderful achievement.
This
latest incident does not un-do any of those accomplishments.
But there is
clearly a need for answers here. And again, it’s imperative that there is more
transparency with the Commission and the public.
When things are
hidden, it creates the appearance of wrongdoing. That perception quickly feeds
a storm of anger that then erupts on social media.
This, in turn,
can only hurt the shelter and its caring administrators and staff, who are working
so diligently to save lives.
We ask that you
move to address these issues, intervene on the Commission’s behalf in our
effort to work with the shelter and resurrect the relationship of cooperation
that previously existed, and obtain answers to the questions outlined above.
Sincerely,
Deborah Stone Hess
Chair, Baltimore County Animal Services Advisory Commission
Very happy to see this. Hopefully the Council will act and implement laws, very strong laws, to protect our animals. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI am beyond ecstatic about this report....Amazing report as usual Deb Stone.
ReplyDeleteThankyou for diving into this situation and requesting a more thorough look at what really happened that evening and weekend.
How do we allow a citizen to have over 20 calls to a property and we never seized the dog(s).
I hope our Coucil Members will take this issue seriously and not just think of Oscar as a dog.
He was a pet he was helpless animal that slipped through the system, not only by his neglectful owner(s) but by our County.
Council Members we are depending on you coming together on this one.
We will no longer accept animal negligence for our County.
RIP Oscar
We will continue to be your voice♡
I am extremely pleased to read this after the events that unfolded surrounding the death of Oscar and the total lack of transparency that took place during that event,
ReplyDeleteplastic tables
ReplyDeleteI guess this blog is perfectly incomparable.
I live in florida and we now have " ponces law" people will get tougher punishment for their acrions towards animals. Also were getting a registry so they will not be able to have a pet in the future.poor baby bless him. He is with ponce.
ReplyDelete