Why Does Portland Murder Dogs When There Are Rescue/Adoption Options?

Remembering Ozzie, a homeless man’s loved dog,

MCAS 520553, killed at MCAS as soon as MCAS could claim him as their property

 

To the public:

 

 Seek an immediate investigation of MCAS (Multnomah County’s animal control) including closure and investigation of its management and employees responsible for this travesty. 

 

Ozzie, a little brindle pit bull dog, who belonged to a homeless person, is one case among many, part of a long documented history of this county’s needless killing of companion animals under the guise of “keeping he community safe”.   

 

Those in charge of policy and its execution are: Michael Oswald, Officer Michelle Luckey and Officer Charles Poetz.  David Blankfeld, County Attorney, is responsible for his complete indifference and failure to seek or mediate humane solutions, silently endorsing whatever the agency wants to do no matter the available humane options. 

 

County Counsel Blankfeld  gives “legal opinions” without considering ethical moral  boundaries or considerations,  noting only when an animal becomes “county “ property that  the agency can “dispose” of that animal at will, meaning so it can be destroyed.

 

Almost always the “offenses” are correctable offenses that do not require killing: they simply require training and management  and sometimes help getting that assistance. But even when public safety concerns can be met and humane options exist , MCAS prefers to retaliate against owners by killing their companion animals.  

 

Multnomah County, particularly targets companion animals belonging to the less fortunate in our community including the homeless; those without means.

 

 It is the grim task that Multnomah County does best. 

 

They seek no humane options preferring death as the best way to protect the public’s safety because they view animals as disposable pests, nuisances and liabilities in a town and a county known for its animal lovers.  

 

 Most impounded animals (those not on the adoption floor and that is the overwhelming majority) are held in solitary confinement, not allowed any personal contact or exercise until they are “tested”.

 

 Most staff is forbidden from entering Intake or Security to engage the animals on Intake or Security in any way. In those areas, Michael Oswald has enforced staff rules forbidding all normal social contact with animals including happy talk or visual contact; no treats as part of his prison for homeless animals; the only philosophy he holds. It explains the fear one sees in public records descriptions of homeless animals and their relief when those released, the lucky ones, are allowed to leave the agency.

 

Ozzie, a friendly brindle pit bull, belonging to a homeless man Michael Holter, (who in addition   suffers from depression, Ozzie was his service dog,) did have a humane option:  places to go. He could have lived with Michael’s mother in her new home with a fenced yard out of county (MCAS permits banishment from the county as an alternative).

 

 He could have gone to a rescue or just a safe home. But in its haste to kill, as soon as MCAS director Michael Oswald found an advantage, when David Blankfeld noted the county could take custody of Ozzie as their property ( because Michael Holter did not have the $500 out of pocket for the writ to proceed, although we would have raised that sum) the county took immediate advantage. MCAS killed Ozzie on September 17, the day after David Blankfeld noted to MCAS “it is OK to proceed with the disposition of Ozzie as he is the property of the county”.

 

 Seizing Ozzie as county property was all that mattered.  At that time no one notified Robert Babcock, the attorney for Ozzie’s family, or Ozzie’s family, as we had begun to raise the necessary $500, knowing  full well that we had and always seek humane options and that we were doing so for Ozzie. Better to go around those potential options and win, killing a helpless dog by killing swiftly in the dark, making it a moot point.  That too is documented county habit, to “win” at all costs the taking of the life of a young animal.

 

Why not outwit a homeless suffering from depression and his mother knowing the family didn’t have the additional $500 required to permit the writ to move forward?  

 

 Why not just decide not to tell the lawyer involved?

 

 Why let me know when MCAS knows I work to find humane options. 

 

Certainly David Blankfeld knows this as do the personnel at MCAS. But we only learned of Ozzie’s planned death after he was already destroyed. What did Multnomah County’s inhumane clever government manipulation “win”? The right to be cruel and get away with it?

 

There is no justice for the poor and homeless in Multnomah County, certainly not at MCAS the end destination for many of the animals of vulnerable populations.  The homeless and poverty stricken are not provided justice in Multnomah County simply because they are poor.  

 

 Justice is “unaffordable”. Ozzie died for lack of $500 and this agency’s intransigence. The county’s government refused to waive the fee. Neither mercy nor justice should come with an attached price tag marked “unaffordable”...

 

Using poverty and a citizen’ inability to pay  is how MCAS “wind” permission to kill helpless animals in Multnomah county along with phony behavior tests that testify only to the fear and sometimes terror of frightened lost animals in an unfamiliar jail set up for the county’s lost and homeless animals.

 

Ozzie

 

Ozzie was held in solitary confinement from February 15, the day after Valentine’s Day, until September 17, the day he was destroyed by MCAS. 

 

He was alone continuously for 215 days, all spent in solitary confinement in a concrete block isolated kennel: no social contact or exercise allowed by MCAS.  No one who advocated for Ozzie, his attorney, those of us in the animal welfare community, or his family, was notified or given the option of seeking an alternative. 

 

He was killed swiftly for what is in fact an easily manageable behavior. No one was given a chance. Killing swiftly, the agency’s habit is done to force its will, render the point moot (“too late)...

 

Ozzie’s crime, the dog who loved all people, was occasional aggression towards some small animals some times (a common behavior with some dogs; but civilized societies don’t kill live beings to “end” the problem; they/we fix the problem through management and training; it is what civilized people do)

 

 On this occasion Michael Holter’s mother exited the car with Ozzie after asking the owner of the small dog in front of the car to step back (he did not).  No serious injures ensued. (The injury was minor; broken skin). The incident was an easily solved management problem but MCAS only believes in harsh punishments, killing, escalating fines, banishment and coerced surrender.

 

Ozzie was impounded; as it was a repeat offense and ownership suspension was sought .MCAS refused all problem solving solutions. MCAS does not have nor cares about training and education prevention: just muzzles, kennels, (doggy jails for one) and escalating fines leading to forcing owner surrender. Once impounded on Security, Ozzie lived day after day in a concrete block cell, no toys, no attention, no exercise, and no eye contact, nothing per Michael Oswald’s rules for kenneling on Security and much of Intake at MCAS.

 

Michael Oswald also discourages visitors from coming to see their impounded animals. His rules for visitors make it as stressful, sad and difficult an experience as possible to deter the public from visiting.   MCAS made visiting Ozzie, (friendly to all humans, just some dysfunctional behaviors around some small dogs), literally impossible for his owners.

 

 The restrictions were: call ahead, appointment only, when it is almost impossible to get telephone service,   restricted to 15 minutes, divided into 5 minute segments, 5 minutes each since there were three persons: Michael, his sister, and mother; no treats; not allowed to get out and exercise. All visits are monitored by staff to see that no rules are broken. The restrictions border on sadism. There is no public safety reason for them at all, just cruelty. And they are commonplace at this agency. .

 

All that prevented the writ of review for Ozzie, moving forward was Michael Holter and his mother's poverty.  They did not have money for the $500 writ of review.

 

The county refused to consider his poverty a mitigating circumstance and reduce or lower the fee. Michael Holter’s homelessness and diagnosis of depression were in effect held against him. Neither he nor his mother had $500 for the writ of review to move forward/proceed. MCAS exploited that fact and declined to consider humane alternative solutions when Ozzie became their “property”.

 

But there were many humane solutions from management training to allowing Michael Holter’s mother who lives out of county and has a duplex with a securely fenced yard who wanted to have Ozzie come live with her. She would have been happy to build a kennel if that were a requirement or condition.

 

Instead, MCAS took gross advantage of their alleged granting of final “custody” and exploited the family’s impoverished means, as they do with all impoverished clients. They use it to leverage control. 

 

They never called the attorney, Robert Babcock or the family before killing him because there were options. Killing is all they care about at this maximum security prison for stray animals: “winning” the right to take a life when options clearly existed.

 

Had anyone  known about the  monetary restriction, $500,  that prevented Ozzie’s writ of review case from moving forward , had any of us known in the world of animal welfare,  we would have  raised the  money immediately.

 

 In fact we were doing so yesterday when we learned that was the stumbling block and didn’t know Ozzie was already dead.  Justice shouldn’t be denied homeless persons or those with limited income because they can’t meet exorbitant fees.

 

Instead we were kept in the dark.  I offered to raise the money as soon as I learned from public records provided September 24 2013 that money was the only reason the writ of review could not proceed. But by the time I received the follow  public  records on Tuesday September 24, (ordering expensive public records is the only permitted way we or any member of the public is  permitted information about impounded animals  on Intake or Security) Ozzie was dead. 

 

There was no warning or advance notice at all from records. It was deliberately hidden. The previous week’s entry in agency public records entered on September 11, 2013 was “DO NOT PTS A WRIT OF REVIEW HAS BEEN FILED”.   

 

The following week on September 16 apparently as David Blankfeld, Multnomah county attorney, headed off on vacation he advised the agency, noted in records: “Per David Blankfled it is ok to proceed with disposition on Ozzie as he is the property of the county (Officer Michelle Luckey)”. 

 

  No one at the county notified Robert Babcock, the pro bono attorney for Ozzie and for Ozzie’s family or Ozzie’s family of this change in disposition status. Why not?   

 

Ozzie was immediately killed the following morning after Mr. Blankfeld’s pre- vacation announcement. He was killed September 17, not a minute wasted, a rush to just get the killing done. No one advised us (a normal courtesy extended to and by most attorneys and government). The county government “won” in a manipulated race to kill an innocent animal that had options. What does that make you?  

 

Multnomah county animal control works to kill with full Multnomah County approval. 

 

They dummy up reasons to buttress their preferences in order to “clear house”, shove out citizens who offer humane options to killing, and refuse alternatives considered questioning their will and “authority”.   

 

The phony subjective and biased  temperament “assessments” by kennel care staff lead by kennel care technician   Stephanie Collingsworth (who has no formal certification in assessment) are used to rationalize preferences and  useful false conclusions. 

 

This was kennel care technician Stephanie Collingsworth’s “behavior” assessment of Ozzie after months of solitary confinement: that she:  “easily entered the kennel, dog readily took hand fed treats and sat.when treats were withheld dog again began to arouse with hard jumping on me … (no doubt after months of solitary confinement he wanted more treats)”; “avoidance and discomfort noted when reached for and patted (lip licking, ears pinned”. 

 

 In short he was afraid. Ms. Collingsworth then as one would predict dutifully decided he should be killed because of the above noted behavior; offering no life saving options. She did her job. Ms. Collingsworth has no certification or credentials to assess behavior; she keeps her own counsel and the agency’s goals in mind. That is her job: to “back up” agency decisions regardless of merit as a cheerleader for agency preferences. There is no qualified or certified behaviorist employed at MCAS for good reason.

 

At the same time Ozzie was killed, MCAS just released a dog that had killed a dog to an organization stating they wanted to give the dog a “second chance”; that was laudable, but Ozzie has no political connections .Ozzie belonged to a homeless person whom he last saw almost a year ago so he is soft prey. Ozzie was a loving dog, noted to extraordinarily love towards people, held for nearly a year in solitary confinement. He did very well under the circumstances. However the agency goal was always to kill him. Ms. Collingsworth knows the agency’s agenda.

 

There was no reason to kill Ozzie or to deny him humane life saving options. He is gone now. The crime is that he died alone, away from family or familiar faces,  just one more  incinerated animal statistic at animal control where he was injected with fatal plus before dying following almost a year of solitary confinement.

 

What greater cruelty is there than government sponsored animal cruelty?

 

 He will be, no doubt, classified by Stephanie Collingsworth “unhealthy/untreatable” because MCAS is trying for Maddies’s Funds monies again and the “prize” this year for no treatable/rehabilitatable animals killed in a year is their goal. So just chose a label of convenience: make it up as you go along. 

 

Ozzie never saw his family or those he loved him again, or sunlight or green grass, No staff is allowed to talk or engage with animals on security or intake. Was death a relief from loneliness?

 

 He was a good dog with a correctable problem. He died alone and uncared for at an agency that deceives the public and masquerades as a “shelter”. No one called: easier to kill in the dark behind deliberately closed doors.

 

Remembering Ozzie: I remember Ozzie from our visit on April 04 of this year when we went to evaluate options for another dog belonging to a homeless owner, Harley; a blue heeler pit bull at MCAS designated level 4. His owner had signed him over to us for disposition, the only reason he is alive now.

 

 He is our family dog now and a wonderful one he is. We gave Ozzie cookies under the baleful disapproving watch of the young staff person there to ensure we followed the rules (no eye contact with other dogs, no happy talk, no engagement, and no treats. 15 minutes).  I didn’t know we weren’t allowed to give other dogs including Ozzie any treats. So I did. It seemed the kind thing to do. He loved them. I told him we would be back for him soon.

 

But I was wrong. It is an anguishing thought that I trusted this government at all. I didn’t count on MCAS zealous desire to kill whenever it can. That is their elected mission, one that echoes a remark made on Television channel two over a decade ago by a senior staff person still employed at MCAS:  “We can’t kill the owners so we kill their dogs.”  

 

And they do: with full county government approval.

 

Ozzie is gone now. May God comfort his soul and heal his unnecessary suffering brought to him and delivered by the hands of this appalling inhumane county endorsed government agency.  And may he live forever in the hearts of all who knew or met him including me that one day in April when I gave him a treat. May God bless Ozzie and take his suffering away. He was a good boy. He didn’t deserve to die like this.

 

Gail O'Connell-Babcock, PhD

Citizens for Humane Animal Legislation/Watchdog

Telephone: 503.625.4563