HELP: The Animal Tour Bus from Hell

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The Animal Tour Bus from Hell

 

Commentary by Margery Glickman

Animals In Print

(Published: September 22, 2002)

 

Beyond the borders of Alaska's large cities, acts of barbarism against

animals can easily happen. Alaska, without a statewide humane officer to

enforce animal cruelty laws, leaves animal control up to over-burdened state

troopers who do not adequately understand the animal cruelty laws. The saga

of how the Alaska SPCA saved 66 animals from brutal treatment in Sterling,

Alaska shows why a statewide humane officer, with an adequate support staff,

is desperately needed to prevent atrocities in the future.

 

Here's what happened. With each advancing step, Alaska SPCA volunteer Nancy

Wall's flashlight illuminated scenes of devastation and misery on a dark

bitterly cold winter afternoon in Sterling when she went to check on Carolyn

Boughton's animals. " The snow was littered with the bodies of Boughton's dead

cats. There were legs and skulls from cats who had been torn apart and

eaten, " Wall said.

 

Each time Wall moved her flashlight along the ground she found more horrors.

" I tripped over dead dogs, " she said. One Bouvier des Flandres, a large

black herding and guard dog, died tethered to a tree on a short chain when

his legs became entangled in the wire from a fallen tarp. Two other dogs

choked to death trying to free themselves from their tethers, their collars

pulled back on their eyes. A pinch collar (a collar with blunt prongs that

pinch the dog's skin when the collar is tightened) dug deep into one dog's

neck.

 

In the dark, Wall could smell the stench long before she saw its source--an

old Greyhound tour bus. " I looked in the window and nausea almost overwhelmed

me, " Wall said. Through the windows she could hear the plaintive cries of the

animals Boughton kept captive inside.

 

Wall brought in state troopers, who instead of removing Boughton's animals

from their hellish conditions, told Boughton she had several days to make

improvements. Determined to help the animals, Wall convinced Broughton to

transfer their ownership to the Alaska SPCA. Diane Zarfoss and her team of

one veterinarian and six Alaska SPCA rescuers then drove 2 1/2 hours from

Anchorage to save the remaining dogs from their agony.

 

" The situation was devastating, " Zarfoss said. " We had to wear gas masks to

go inside, because the smell of urine and feces was so strong. " The bus was

stripped on the inside and plywood boxes with dogs were stacked along the

walls. Each box had two to four holes the size of a quarter, but otherwise

the dogs were enclosed in solid plywood. Some boxes held two dogs.

 

Zarfoss explained that the boxes were filled with urine and feces piled six

to eight inches thick and that the dogs' fur was matted with excrement. Their

eyes were weepy from living in their own feces and urine, and with the -20

degree temperature, their eyes froze shut. One Kerry blue terrier's eye was

so damaged that it was later removed and all the dogs received eye

medication. "

 

Food bowls weren't placed in the wooden crates, Zarfoss said. The dogs were

on the brink of starvation and dehydration. Some Kerry Blue Terriers tried to

chew their way out but died when their legs were wedged into the cracks in

the plywood. " Other dogs froze to death. With their food bowls just out of

reach, " Zarfoss said, " the dogs tethered outside died lunging to get at them.

In desperation, some had dug holes to get at tree roots to eat. "

 

 

Domestic animals get little protection from abuse

 

The Alaska SPCA warned state troopers about the animals' steadily

deteriorating situation months before, but the troopers would not intervene.

Alaska has more protection for wild animals than for domestic ones,

particularly dogs, cats and horses. " It is a disgrace that the laws and big

budgets for domestic animals are frowned upon by the politicians, " Alaska

SPCA Executive Director Ethel Christensen said.

 

Christensen says that for decades the Alaska SPCA has had complaints from

tourists and others asking it to do something about the atrocities in the

areas of the State where there are no local laws. The Alaska SPCA has begged

for help from the State to tighten laws and for a statewide humane officer to

enforce them. Now is an ideal time to create this position.

 

 

Animals get a new start in life

 

The Alaska SPCA rescued 66 dogs including Bouvier des Flandres, Kerry blue

terriers, malamutes and Australian shepherd-husky mix dogs and brought them

to Anchorage in airline kennels which the people of Anchorage had donated.

There the Alaska SPCA set up triage for the dogs in a rented warehouse where

the dogs were medicated, groomed and fed. A group of Alaska SPCA volunteers

worked long and hard to give these dogs a new start in life. A malemute named

Stormy was the last of the 66 dogs to be adopted; he left for a new home

several weeks ago with a wagging tail and a bounce in his step.

 

 

Cost of rescue puts Alaska SPCA in dire financial straits

 

The cost of the rescue exceeded $30,000, forcing the Alaska SPCA to take out

a mortgage on its shelter property. The Alaska SPCA is maxed out financially

as it has never received help from any governmental source. " These are the

very people that support the sled dogs for economic reasons, " Christensen

said. " And, little do they realize the picture they have painted to those

outside Alaska. "

 

The Alaska SPCA is a non-profit, privately funded organization with no

affiliation with the government or any other organization. The organization's

founder and Executive Director, Ethel Christensen, has not taken a salary

since she began the organization in 1966.

 

How you can help:

 

Please send your tax-deductible donations to the Alaska SPCA:

 

Alaska SPCA

549 W. International Airport Road, Ste B2

Anchorage, AK 99518

 

Write to Alaska Governor Tony Knowles to ask that a statewide humane officer,

with an adequate support staff, be hired immediately. Email:

http://www.gov.state.ak.us/emailform.html.

 

Visit the Alaska SPCA website page www.alaskaspca.org/gmshelter.html to view

pictures of Boughton's property and to see the welcome the dogs received in

Anchorage.

 

Margery Glickman is the director of the Sled Dog Action Coalition.

To to Animals In Print, a free online newsletter, email:

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(Animals In Print has given permission for this article to be reprinted.)

 

Ask Alaska legislators for a statewide humane officer and staff. If you are

going to boycott travel to Alaska, please say so:

 

Representative_Ethan_Berkowitz,Representative_Harry_Crawford@l\

egis.state.ak.us,Representative_Richard_Foster,Representative_\

Joe_Hayes,Representative_Beth_Kerttula,Repre\

sentative_Beverly_Masek,Representative_Eldon_Mulder\

e.ak.us,Representative_Drew_Scalzi,Representative_Con_Bunde@le\

gis.state.ak.us,Representative_Eric_Croft,Representative_Joe_G\

reen,Representative_Bill_Hudson,Representati\

ve_Vic_Kohring,Representative_Lesil_McGuire,\

Representative_Lisa_Murkowski,Representative_Gary_Stevens@legi\

s.state.ak.us,Representative_Mike_Chenault,Representative_John\

_Davies,Representative_Gretchen_Guess,Repres\

entative_Jeannette_James,Representative_Albert_Kookesh\

tate.ak.us,Representative_Kevin_Meyer,Representative_Scott_Oga\

n,Representative_Jim_Whitaker,Representative\

_Sharon_Cissna,Representative_Fred_Dyson,Rep\

resentative_Andrew_Halcro,Representative_Reggie_Joule\

ate.ak.us,Representative_Pete_Kott,Representative_Carl_Morgan@\

legis.state.ak.us,Representative_Brian_Porter,Representative_B\

ill_Williams,Representative_John_Coghill,Rep\

resentative_Hugh_Fate,Representative_John_Harris\

k.us,Representative_Mary_Kapsner,Representative_Ken_Lancaster@\

legis.state.ak.us,Representative_Carl_Moses,Representative_Nor\

man_Rokeberg,Representative_Peggy_Wilson,Sen\

ator_Rick_Halford,Senator_Loren_Leman,Senato\

r_Johnny_Ellis,Senator_Alan_Austerman,Senato\

r_Kim_Elton,Senator_Robin_Taylor,Senator_Joh\

n_Cowdery,Senator_Lyda_Green,Senator_Georgia\

nna_Lincoln,Senator_Gene_Therriault,Senator_\

Bettye_Davis,Senator_Donny_Olson,Senator_Joh\

n_Torgerson,Senator_Dave_Donley,Senator_Lyma\

n_Hoffman,Senator_Randy_Phillips,Senator_Jer\

ry_Ward,Senator_Pete_Kelly,Senator_Ben_Steve\

ns,Senator_Gary_Wilken

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

hi. I read your email with great horror and I will be sending a donation and

contacting the appropriate officials. One question though: Is there to be no

criminal prosecution for the person who caused these cats and dogs such enormous

suffering?

Thanks for posting this.

Stephanie Falcone

El Cerrito, CA

P.S. Have you already contacted In Defense of Animals (www.ida.org) and

the Animal Legal Defense Fund (www.aldf.org)? I believe that they would want to

know about this and could be of assistance.