UPDATE: From the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has positively identified the suspect in this case as Salvatore Ted Arena, age 42, of Freshwater. The three dogs, Angel, Becky and Ginger, had belonged to Arena’s brother who passed away suddenly in February of this year. Arena began trying to surrender the dogs to local rescues about one week ago stating that he was moving to the East Coast. Gail Holder of K-9 Angels Rescue had been in frequent contact with Arena and was working to try to get the dogs into foster care. She received a call from him on 08/21/13 just before the dogs were found abandoned in Fairhaven. Arena told her that he had to leave the following morning and that he could not put the dogs in his truck and take them across the country with him.
The Sheriff’s Office will be seeking a warrant for Arena’s arrest. At this time we have reason to believe that he has already left the area. Anyone having information to the contrary is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Animal Control Division, 707 840-9132, or the Crime Tip Line, 707-268-2539.
Original post:
Really? Someone just drives out to Fairhaven, lets his three dogs out of the truck, tells them “stay,” and drives away? Really? You, in your newer, black four-wheel drive truck, be advised that Animal Control is all over this.
Here’s the press release:
On 08/21/13 an Officer from the California Highway Patrol brought three dogs into the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Animal Shelter that were found running in the roadway on New Navy Base Road at Lincoln Avenue in Fairhaven. The dogs are a black Labrador retriever mix, approximately 12 years old, a brown German shepherd mix, approximately 10 years old, and a brown Airedale Terrier mix, approximately 10 years old. All three dogs are female.
On 08/21/13 Animal Shelter staff located a posting on Craigslist from 08/08/13 from an unidentified person in Freshwater who stated that their neighbor is/was moving to the East Coast and had three dogs that he could not keep. There were photos of the dogs on the Craigslist posting and they are the same dogs as those brought into the shelter. The back yard of a residence is clearly visible in one of the photographs.
On 08/22/13 Animal Shelter staff located a second posting on Craigslist about the dogs. This posting is from someone who saw a male subject abandon the dogs on New Navy Base Road and Bay St. The posting states that a male subject in his mid-30’s with short hair, driving a newer black 4 wheel drive truck left the dogs and was telling them to “stay” as he drove away. One of the dogs was nearly struck by a car while chasing the truck down the road. It is not clear if the person responsible for this Craigslist post was the person who reported the loose dogs to CHP. Animal Shelter staff has replied to both Craigslist postings but have not received any response.
Abandonment of an animal is a crime. The Sheriff’s Office Animal Control Division is asking for the public’s help to identify the owner of these dogs. Anyone who recognizes the dogs and/or the back yard of the residence in the photographs is asked to call Animal Control Officer Hale at 707-840-9132 or the Crime Tip Line, 707-268-2539
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This article appears in HSU: The Gateway Drug.
Wow. this is discustiing. I wish we could find him and do the same to him. strip his clothes take his posessions and dump him! just saying!!! Please lets find him…
While of course I agree that this was not a nice thing to do, I think the local media outlets are missing the bigger story here. Over the past several months I have repeatedly seen local campaigns on Facebook to hunt down someone who abandoned their animal(s) in some horrific way (remember the puppies dumped on the side of the freeway in the Rubbermaid container? or the mama dog thrown over the fence at Miranda’s Rescue?), and while I can identify with the righteous anger expressed by these posts, the problem runs deeper than irresponsible individuals, and we are doing our community a disservice by focusing on the surface result of a more fundamental problem.
The sad fact is that horrible things happen in peoples’ lives, and they are sometimes forced to give up their animals – perhaps due to severe economic hardship, mental/emotional issues, domestic abuse, divorce, problems with addiction, etc. – and while this is bad enough on its own, the problem is compounded (and I think we all become complicit) because there is no place in this community that will accept all owner-surrendered animals. For those of us with ‘enough’ – enough money, enough emotional resources, enough support from family and friends – it is impossible to imagine a scenario where we would abandon a beloved pet, and the knee-jerk response is an indignant ‘How could they?!?’ – but the sad fact is that these unfortunate situations will likely always exist, and it seems wrong to treat these people like the FBI’s most wanted when in reality there is not really a good option available to them. Most communities have at least one shelter that takes owner surrenders, and I believe we did at least up until some years ago – it seems hypocritical to get SO pissed off at these people when there is not a safe alternative presented.
Unfortunately, what we have set up here in our community is a system where the only way to find a place for your animal at a local shelter, in the sad event that you are forced to give them up, is through lying or a criminal act. We need a better safety net. Until one exists, let’s all redouble our efforts to support low-cost spay/neuter programs.
What Tamara McFarland said. Poor man lost his brother, cared for the animals as long as he could, reached out for help… Sad story all around.
I’m not excusing the act, but why wouldn’t the shelter accept the dogs? It should not be difficult to bring the pets in if the owner or guardian can’t take care of them. Maybe they told him that they could only shelter them if they were caught loose and left them where he was fairly certain they would be picked up.
Otherwise, the act makes no sense at all.
What I’m not getting, is why he didn’t put the dogs to the animal shelter, or post on craigslist of a few dogs needing a new home, in FEBRUARY; Why wait till AUGUST to start trying to get this shit straightened out?
Laziness is not an excuse for abandonment.