AR-News: (AL - US)Dead animal found in man's yard, 3 others neglected

[Snugglezzz at aol.com]

Saraland dog owner faces animal cruelty charges

Dead animal found in yard, three others said to be malnourished and flea infested 
Thursday, June 24, 2004
By KAREN TOLKKINEN 
Staff Reporter 

A Saraland man was charged with animal cruelty Wednesday, a month after police officers found a dead dog in his yard, and three other dogs malnourished, flea infested and without shelter, court records said. 

The man, A.C. Lawrence, 68, was charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty and is scheduled to appear in Saraland Municipal Court on Monday. 

He could not be reached for comment but his wife, Joyce Lawrence, said the allegations were not true and that her husband loved his dogs, which he used for hunting. 
       
"I don't really know what my husband's going to do about this," she said. "Saraland's done blown this out of proportion." 

In May, a neighbor complained about fleas and smells from Lawrence's yard, said police Sgt. Steve Stafford. An animal control officer discovered four dogs on chains. Stafford said he thought they were mixed-breed dogs. Lawrence said she thought one of them was a blue tick hound. One of them had been dead long enough to start to smell, Stafford said. One dog was malnourished and two others lacked shelter. All four dogs were infested with fleas, Stafford said. 

Police took two dogs, which looked sickly, to the Saraland Animal Shelter, where one later died, Stafford said. The other is still at the pound and doing well, he said. They left the last dog, which looked healthy, with the owners, he said. 

Lawrence said her husband did nothing wrong. One of the dogs had broken its neck the night before the officer arrived, possibly when it tried to jump the fence, she said. 

The dogs could take shelter under the pickup, she said, or sheets of plywood when it rained. The dogs didn't seem to like doghouses and had torn them up in the past, she said. 

Her husband feeds the dogs once a day, every day, a mixture of puppy chow and leftovers from their own meals, she said. One of them was a puppy that her husband had just given worm medicine, she said. 

Neighbor Melinda Hall said that not quite two months ago, she and her husband saw a skinny brown dog digging in their garbage. Her husband fed the dog, and they saw it go back to the Lawrences. 

Lawrence said it could have been one of her dogs but denied that it was skinny. 

Still in the neighborhood is an untied Dalmation whose ribs show. Hall gave it a can of food, which it gobbled. It belongs to another neighbor, she said. 

"There is no reason for ribs ever to show on one," said Elizabeth Flott, an animal rescue worker. 

Flott complimented Saraland and Chickasaw police departments for their handling of animal cruelty issues. 

"They have a whole new attitude," she said. "They're really serious about what is going on with these animals."