Cruelty investigators meet horrific, unfortunate cases

Animal Cruelty Specialist Audra Houghton informs the owners of this German Shepherd, which has been chained to a tree in their yard, that water and shelter need to be available to the dog at all times, and that once she goes into heat, city ordinances stipulate that she can't be chained to a tree at all. less Animal Cruelty Specialist Audra Houghton informs the owners of this German Shepherd, which has been chained to a tree in their yard, that water and shelter need to be available to the dog at all times, and that ... more Photo: Sarah Tressler Photo: Sarah Tressler Image 1 of / 20 Caption Close Cruelty investigators meet horrific, unfortunate cases 1 / 20 Back to Gallery

Investigators with San Antonio Animal Care Services will be at a trial Wednesday for a cruelty case involving nine turtles that were found in a bakery, living in squalid water with decomposing, dead turtles.

Investigators suspect that the turtles would be used for food, or for sacrifice.

“One of the men that was involved with the bakery and the vacant suite next door to the bakery was a practitioner of a religion that's similar to Santeria,” says Audra Houghton, an animal cruelty specialist for ACS.

Cruelty to animals is punishable by up to two years in jail. Just this week, a San Antonio man who severely beat and neglected his wife's 4-year-old female Labrador retriever was sentenced Monday to 18 months in a state jail facility.

As an animal cruelty investigator, you can count on uncovering some unfortunate circumstances. And with that, you can also count on some unusual justifications.

Take Tuesday, for instance. At 9:30 a.m. ACS animal cruelty specialist Audra Houghton receives a call for a dog chained to a tree. The anonymous caller says that the dog isn't moving, and has been there like that for days.

It's a high-priority call, but upon arrival, Houghton finds the dog, a 2-year-old female German Shepherd, lively. She runs circles around the tree to which she's chained. She jumps and barks at the sight of her owners. It's hot already — about 90 degrees — and her metal water pail has tipped over, so the dog has no water. But she's far from dead.

Houghton, fair-skinned with dyed cherry-red hair and crystal-blue eyes, remarks that feuding neighbors will report animal cruelty cases on each other, as retaliation. This, Houghton says, seems to be the case here.

Nevertheless, Houghton informs the owners that they are in violation of a few things: the chain used to keep the dog attached to the tree is too heavy; she has no water; and she can't reach her shelter, a wooden dog house with a small hole for a door.

The owners have their reasons: she keeps breaking smaller chains; she tips the pail of water over every time they put it out; she doesn't like the dog house because it's too small. But, they assert, “We take care of her.”

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ACS investigators have heard it all before.

“When you get caught, most people do feel some level of guilt, and as a human, your natural instinct is to rationalize it for self-preservation,” ACS spokeswoman Lisa Norwood says later.

But a defensive stance and rationalizing for self-preservation doesn't help the dozens of animals that suffer abuse in San Antonio every year.

In one recent case, a man suspected that his girlfriend's 2-month-old puppy was giving him mange, so he used a fence post to beat it. His girlfriend later found the pup crying in the yard with a broken jaw and head injuries. Cruelty investigators rescued the dog, dubbed Lily, and she is recovering at ACS.

In other cases, the owners have good intentions, but bad outcomes. The owners of a Sheltie who was suffering from sarcoptic mange treated the dog by slathering motor oil and lime powder on the dog's face, causing a secondary infection and a thick fungus to form on the dog's face.

“If your animal has something that's that severe, just get it checked out by a veterinarian,” Houghton says.

Case in point: Frank, a Dachshund mix who came home one day with a gash in his side. His owners took matters into their own hands and sewed the wound up with cooking twine so thick the investigators thought it was a shoelace. Then the wound was covered with gauze and bound with duct tape. Someone spotted the dog, whose muzzle also was bound shut with duct tape, and called 311.

“If you look at it, and it's something you would go to the doctor for,” Houghton says, “then you should take your pet to the vet.”

Cruelty investigators' work is sometimes horrific or hard, but their optimistic about San Antonio's progress.

“Even though you see some really terrible things, you know that there are some animals that you can save, and that ultimately, you're helping change things in the city,” Houghton says. “While I don't think we'll ever see a day where there's no animal cruelty, I think we'll see our community being more educated about pet care, and I think we will continue to hold people responsible when they neglect or abuse their pets.”

stressler@express-news.net