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Video at SLO County shelter angers animals rights activists

November 1, 2016

Video footage of a San Luis Obispo County Animal Services volunteer swinging a plastic chair at a pit bull has prompted outrage from animal rights activists. SLO County Animal Services officials are investigating the incident, though they do not suspect any wrongdoing and are defending the actions of the volunteer.

Last Tuesday, a Ventura County woman whose first name is Jen was assessing a dog at SLO County Animal Services. While filming the dog, she noticed that a couple kennels over a man was swinging a plastic lawn chair at a pit bull. Jen briefly filmed the volunteer who was saying,”knock it off,” while swinging the chair at the dog.

The chair does not make contact with the dog during the video. But during the clip, a woman can be heard saying the man is hitting the dog.

“The guy over there is acting like a dick. He is hitting a dog with a chair,” the woman said.

Animal rights groups have since posted synopses of the incident in which they quote Jen as saying the man was hitting the dog.

“I kept hearing this guy yell (he was not yelling commands like a trainer might; he was yelling as if he was involved in a bar fight), and I finally looked up with my camera and caught him doing this with a chair,” Jen stated. “He hit the dog with a plastic chair. He seemed to be trying to block him, which was totally unnecessary because, as I said, the dog was not with any other dogs, and he was only barking through the chain link, not aggressively in my opinion. After he did this, he placed a slip leash on the dog and yanked him off the ground, still yelling and took him out of the play yard.”

Eric Anderson, the division manager of SLO County Animal Services, said an investigation into the incident is ongoing. But, Anderson did not see anything in the video that would qualify as abuse or warrant filing charges, he said. [KSBY]

Animal services officials are still looking to see that there was not anything that was physically abusive or truly harmful, Anderson said.

The pit bull had arrived at the shelter two days prior to the incident, and the animal was known to have aggressive interactions with other dogs and people. The pit bull showed dominant and reactive behavior toward other dogs across the fence lines, Anderson said.

Additionally, Anderson said the volunteer may have used the chair so that he would not be put in danger. The volunteer has been donating time to SLO County Animal Services for 15 years, Anderson said.

The investigation is expected to be completed in the next two days.

pit-bull-chair


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I have volunteered and fostered at AS for the past 10 years off and on. I know Larry and I think he is an amazing man. I wanted him to volunteer for me and he was needed too much at AS. He does a wonderful job with these animals, he’s great at matching dogs with adopters. I own 2 rescues, a malamute mix and Great Dane who both fence fight. Anybody who works with dogs knows you divert their attention. If you’d like to keep your fingers, you have to use something to get that dog out of that situation. The dog wasn’t hurt by Larry. This woman doesn’t understand training. Surprising that she claims to be in rescue. She’s out of line and she should apologize to Larry, one of the best volunteers I have ever known. His dedication has resulted in so many successful adoptions. AS needs more vols like Larry.


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This is a huge Nothing Burger. Occasionally even a well-meaning journalist can be too hasty and make a mistake. The best medicine is a clear, unequivocal apology. The faster the better!


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There is an allegation and a investigation, which was first reported by KSBY – http://www.ksby.com/story/33541771/slo-county-animal-services-investigating-video-of-dog-and-volunteer


While Dave is angry because his friend is involved, the friend was outed by Dave as being the subject of the investigation. Neither KSBY nor CCN used the man’s name. And while Dave claims there is no investigation, county officials say otherwise.


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I tried to call them for several hours on Friday morning. No answer / No answering machine. Then I remembered:


– If you find a pet don’t snitch ’em out to AC. Take ’em to a vet. –


The vet will scan for contact info if there ain’t no tag. Then they will call AC if the owner can’t be determined or found.


Really! I hate for any of my beasts to wind up in their care.


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Interesting post. Perhaps, ConfedOfDunces, you could elaborate on how you care for your “beasts”.


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I live in Paso and I keep my current 11 yo rescue dog fenced in with a doggie door so he can come & go at will. I’ve had him 5 years. I use a leash and pick up after him when I take him for his daily walks.


I take him to the vet and I learned, in June, that he has lymphoma. So I also clean up his barf while he goes through treatment. If he barfs on my bed I do the laundry. My bed is a mattress on the floor so he has access in spite of the leg injury for which he had surgery. They repaired what they could but it was never the same. I recently noticed his difficulty jumping into the bed, in spite of a launching step I built for him. Hence I lowered my sleeping elevation. (Very good for leg strength health, especially for a 60+ yo.)


Last Friday I tried to scoop up a mini-Terrier in the Smart & Final parking lot. After chasing him and then jogging with him following, he ran into a yard and began barking at me. I assumed it was his home so I closed him in by securing the gates.


Out of curiosity, and so I would be better informed in the future I called the police. They told me to call AC and gave me the number. I never got an answer, Then I called my vet who told me all the vets he knows would follow the procedure in my preceding post.


But I do recall an incident where a deer impaled itself on a neighbor’s metal fence. The police came, humanly put it out, and dragged it to the curb. They called AC, I called AC and other neighbors called AC. Five days later AC showed up to remove a smelly, bloated, maggot covered carcass which had cooked for days in the summer. heat.


I hope this answers your question.


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Where did they take you?


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Got it, thanks. Guess I should have put a winking-face at the end of my post.


I often call our two dogs “monsters”. It’s a term of endearment. They’re treated like royalty.


And thanks for your efforts of caring for animals.


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No worries,


Cheers!


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This story could go either way, Everybody is jumping to conclusions about the article running. Is it possible he was more aggressive for her to start filming in the first place? Notice she stopped filming. Maybe because he was more passive at the end? At the start of the filming the chair seems to be at the end of a swing. Maybe. Not for sure, maybe. If this was Adam Hill with the chair he would be roasted for not using better training. Agree it’s a non story but not worthy of all the crybabies.


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Oh sezlittle1! “Everybody is jumping to conclusions about the article running.” Was not everybody posting their opinion of this event actually there? Hmmm.


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Jen’s a nutjob.


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I would use the chair to keep Jen away from me.


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It is clear on the video the dog was not harmed. How long does it take Erik Anderson to look at the video and say case closed. The bigger question is, why is a dog known to be aggressive with people and animals in that situation?


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