Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 31, 1994 TAG: 9403310042
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
David Shoup, 75, and a woman identified as Ruby Boone, who a neighbor said is around 90, shuffled out of General District Court on Wednesday morning, both on walkers, after Shoup promised a judge he would not acquire any more pets.
The couple was found living in a mobile home with 15 dogs - 10 of them puppies - with feces 3 inches deep on the floor in spots and another eight dogs in pens out back without food or clean water. A woman answering an ad for free puppies reported them to Animal Control.
"We haven't had anything of this magnitude in four or five years," Chief Animal Control Officer Ken Hogan said, describing the dogs' condition as "pitiful."
Rather than press charges, animal control officials asked the judge to turn the dogs over to the SPCA, which will put as many as possible up for adoption, and Shoup agreed. The dogs - chows, toy poodles and an English sheepdog - have been at the shelter since last week, when they were confiscated by animal control officials.
"The poodles - we can't get the poodles?" Boone asked as they left.
One of her favorite poodles sits in a cage at the SPCA shelter, shaking uncontrollably, its right front leg a raw stump. The dog apparently was never groomed; its leg got caught up in badly matted fur and grew in the wrong direction. The leg likely will be amputated if the shelter can find a sponsor for the surgery.
"Too much trouble," Shoup said of his dogs. "I'd like to have kept them, but I couldn't do it. They cost too much, too."
The home was so filthy that an animal control officer said he got sick after going inside. Some of the dogs penned out back hadn't had human contact in years beyond being fed, Hogan said.
The English sheepdog, which is not used to people, probably will have to be euthanized; it has huge clumps of hanging matted fur, dirt and excrement. A couple of the chows also have bad temperaments, but the chow and poodle puppies probably will be adopted, said Al Alexander, executive director of the SPCA shelter.
"We'll clean up as many as can be adopted and that we can afford to," he said. "I'm going to hope for half or better."
Hogan said most of the dogs were in fairly good health, although their living conditions were "atrocious."
Shoup was charged with violating a county ordinance allowing only two dogs and with keeping dogs in unsanitary conditions, a state cruelty charge. The state charge is punishable by up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine.
"We're not concerned whether he's fined or [gets jail time]," Hogan said. "He's not a threat to anyone. He's a threat to the animal world."
A neighbor told Hogan he's been feeding the dogs for a while because Shoup wasn't able to.
Hogan reported the couple's living conditions to the Department of Social Services. Director Betty McCrary wouldn't say whether an investigation is under way.
In general in such cases, she said, the department can offer services or make decisions for people who aren't able, but "there's not a great deal we can do for them."
A neighbor who drove them to court Wednesday, Thomas Victory, said the couple isn't capable of living alone anymore. He helps the couple out occasionally, but said he couldn't stand to go in the trailer in recent months.
"Something ought to be done about getting them out of there," he said.
by CNB