During three days of testimony last week, county shelter workers as well as Via said that shelter workers often telephoned Via, asking her to take in dogs they were unable to place due to health or behavioral issues.
Via estimated that she accepted, fostered, and re-homed approximately 239 animals from County of San Diego Animal Services (DAS) over a ten-year period of a “good working relationship” with shelter workers. She said DAS usually asked her to take or "exit" dogs who had demodectic mange, tumors, and/or aggression issues. Via and some of her volunteers described details of the routine they followed in caring for the large number of animals. The volunteers and other visitors to her home testified that they never observed neglectful, malodorous, or unsanitary conditions at Boxer Rescue San Diego.
Shelter workers contended that they would not have asked Via to take in dogs if she had told them she was over the legal limit of six dogs at her residence. Animal control officers stated that she kept the animals in airline crates stacked atop one another in her two-bedroom El Cajon home--"like cordwood," in the words of one prosecutor--that some had mange and other health issues, and that during their raid on the home last March, officers found urine and feces in some of the animals’ crates.
The case is notable for several reasons, including its relevance to animal shelter laws such as a shelter access bill recently proposed in New York state.
Animal Beat (AB) has been attending the trial and will report on its outcome.
Please see AB’s previous articles about the Via case.
|
