Outrage in Ohio

[Sonquest]

It is with a very heavy heart, sadness and shock that I send the links to what has happened at a breeding, training, boarding facility in Ohio.
I must warn you, the links and photos are sickening, gut wrencing and will be forever etched in your mind. The reason I am posting them is in hopes that all will go to the "Nitro Foundation" site and sign the petition and even go one step further and write a letter of outrage that this man may get off so easy.

Tina

.................................................. .................................................. .....................
Steve Croley, a former member of the United Schutzhund Clubs of America, should be disallowed to rejoin as a member to any of our organizations: USA, WDA, DVG, or as a member of any dog affiliated club - in light of the wonton neglect that led to the deaths of several dogs entrusted to his care for training and/or boarding.
His legal case is pending in Ohio courts and the final resolution of that legal matter will take some time.
It is prejudicial to the interests of any dog organization to have such an individual counted as a member. Unfortunately in the criminal case that is being investigated, some errors might have been made by the Animal Control agents in gaining access to the kennel facilities in a bona fide attempt to rescue the remaining live dogs, which may result in a reduction of the charges pressed against Mr. Croley. Nevertheless, the photographs and media coverage have brought to light the facts: several dogs that were entrusted to his care died with clear signs of starvation as the cause, and several other dogs that were rescued were found to be in an emaciated condition also consistent with starvation.
I have attached links to the news coverage of the raid of Mr. Croley’s kennels which include photographs taken of the emaciated and dead dogs, as well as statements made by investigating Animal Control officers describing the deplorable condition of the place as found during the raid. one couple who entrusted their Rottweiler to his care, one of the dogs that starved to death, is willing to sign a statement to attest that their dog was dropped off at Mr. Croley’s kennel at a healthy weight of 105 lbs in June 2008, but at this death weighed only 50 lbs.
Regardless of the outcome of the criminal charges being pressed against this man, this individual should not be accepted as a member of any dog affiliated club, he is a detriment to any clubs reputation, and an offense to the thousands of caring, responsible dog owners in the US. Furthermore, Mr. Croley has used his accomplishments in shows/trials to promote himself, his breedings, and his personal business, which I believe to be further justification to revoke any membership consideration now, or in the future.

Hyperlinks to local media coverage of the raid:

http://www.vindy.com/news/2008/oct/23/dogs-at-kennel-found-dead/

http://www.vindy.com/photos/galleries/2008/oct/24/deadly-kennel-vandalized/

http://www.vindy.com/news/2008/oct/28/out-of-state-dog-owners-claim-remains-of-their-pet/

http://www.wkbn.com/news/local/33416344.html

Web site dedicated to “Nitro,” one of the dogs that died of starvation at Steve Croley’s kennel:

http://www.nitrofoundation.com/index.html

[Elaine]

wow... thank you for letting us know about this horrible horrible situation... we didn't read all of the articles, I will go back later, at this point we couldn't get past the photos, which are very hard to look at... the situation is sickening, how could anyone allow this to happen?

[andyhilt27]

This has drug abuse written all over it. Tough economic times???? I could believe that if the dogs had at least water to drink. They didn't even get that!:mad:

[Sheila]

Thank you for bringing this to the list. Just absolutely revolting to let animals suffer this way. This subhuman Croley should receive the maximum penalty possible for this disgusting abuse of innocent animals. Of course if I had my way there are a number of things I would like to see happen to this man but I'm sure the moderator would rather I didn't mention them here.

Sheila

[Kissntell]

There is really no excuse for this other than the man was way too embarrased to ask for help for fear of what the "dog community" would say regarding his reputation. I do not know the full situation to further comment as to why dogs were allowed to remain dead in their pens.

That given, he was "found out" and now his reputation is forever ruiened. In fact he should never be allowed to own dogs. He demostrates very poor judgement.

But the problem really remains within the "real professional dog world" and that there is a "secretecy" of what, or where we all are in our life situations. Its sort of that way in all of life situations. This is embarrassment. Had the public known, he would have no business. True! He hid his problems of his business/life. The Asians call this "saving face."

I guess the social worker side of me is showing. I have seen many people from all walks of life endanger themselves and those they love because they do not wish to risk the position they are in, to be found out.

On the other side of that are the ramifications of being found out; and thus, the lack of creditability, and thus, further being taken advantage of. Everybody loves a "fire sale." There are all kinds of issues and things that happen when one asks for help. My dad always said, "They kick a dog when its down." I have seen that to be true in many people's misfortunes. Reposessions anyone?

I guess this is a bit off track. The point I am trying to make is that yes there is help; but, it also comes with a price. What this man did was weighed the price wrongly and thus many suffered. Poor judgement comes to play again.

There really is far and few resources unless you are tied to the dog community to ask for help. Yet within this community is your reputation. So he chose wrongly when most of us would have chose different. But this man was protecting his reputation. He really got a reputation now!

So long story short, it seems to me that asking for help has to do with your own personal status within the community of which you operate. It should not be that way but it is.

I have seen this many times with many peoples' cultures, socio economic status and ethnicities.

Its not easy to ask for help for anyone. It comes with a price. The dogs paid it for this man.

Best he have no more animals to depend on him.

[Betty]

Embarrassment? I don't think so. It sounds like abject cruelty to me. This is a man who, from what I read, was given food and/or money for food from his clients for their dogs but apparently chose not to feed them. I suspect he had running water in his home, but chose not to give any to the poor dogs that were dying in the kennel. There are no excuses for his behavoir and he should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Let there be no mistake about this. This man was not the victim of anything. The victims, of course, were those poor babies that were left to die a miserable death and their owners who trusted this man to do right by them. I don't think we can blame this one on the "dog community".

Betty

[doberdogsfd]

I believe the word is "Choice".....the jack ass made a choice to be cruel to these animals.
I am not sure how one can push accountability and ownership off on anyone else???? He is clearly responsible, as we all are for the choices we make.

Cheryl

[Spartan]

It seems to me that he was not too embarrassed to allow members of these folk’s families to suffer a horrible death. I am not sure I could ever understand trying to "save face" and allow this kind of suffering. In Asian culture saving face has more to do with following the rules of engagement than allowing others to suffer. I am also confused as how the "dog community" can be blamed for an idiot's actions. Each human is or at the very least should be responsible for his/her own actions. This could have been avoided by turning down the client or calling them and telling them to pick the dogs up. I am also confused as to how it is the fault of the bank or repo man that someone did not pay their bills. I am perfect by no means, hell there are several things from my past I wish I could erase, but one cannot erase the past only learn from it and make the necessary adjustments for the future.
I see this as very simple this guy needs to take ownership and be punished for what he did. I am sure there people out there will say it's not Michael Vicks fault he was raised in an area where gangs were present and dogs were fought, so he learned it there. He was also given a brain and free will as was this Croley person, both are used to make choices, both made the wrong one. Both in my mind are on the same level of EVIL and should be dealt with accordingly. Trying to rationalize why or give an excuse in my mind is inexcusable plain and simple. Always blaming the Dog World, society, etc is a bunch of crap. I am confident that the dog world did not want all these animals to die, nor was there any pressure that would indicate that the Dog Community did want them to die. Sometimes there is no explanation for why and searching for it will make you nuts. This guy deserves everything that he gets and more. I shutter to think what I would do if one of his victims were one of my four legged kids. There might be a thread on here drumming up support for my legal defense. Or at the very one explaining why I am no longer on DSNN!
You will have to excuse me but I cannot abide the blame game on this one.

Bob

[Kissntell]

I'm not backin down on my thoughts. I have seen many people suffer for similiar situations.

There are no winners in this. The dogs lost and the man is now in a shambles. Neither should be in that state. The man will have to pay somehow either by law or emotionally.

Its sort of how the families of those in prison suffer. Society casts a bad thought for them, but they know not of the circumstance which got them there.

Both sides involved suffer. We the public also suffer when we hear of this.

[Ann Lanier]

There is always the chance the guy is mentally ill. Could it be something like a mini stroke that destroyed his judgement? Or he just became whacked out?

Who can imagine a sane person who makes his life with dogs doing this? I am of the opinion no dog lover in his right mind would do this or allow this.

Of course there is always the chance of drugs: meth or something....

I hope I have a leg to stand on... surely he didn't consciously let them starve? O please let mankind not sink so low...

a

[Elaine]

Of course there are reasons for why we do what we do… and there is some value in pondering those reasons… possibly we can avoid bad things in the future… but regardless of why we do what we do, we need to be held accountable. I don’t give a flying fig why this man starved these dogs to death. Someone other than me can hold his hand as he travels that journey of self reflection in the months and years to come. Frankly, I do not care if he finds forgiveness, redemption or some measure of emotional or spiritual growth from this situation. At this point in time I simply want him held accountable, I want his bloody entrails tacked to a wall.

What I see in this case in Ohio is a whooping dose of “I don’t give a fuck.” The dogs starved to death over an extended period of time. This guy knew for an extended period of time that his funds for dog food were running low, then that he was out of food, and subsequently that the dogs were not being fed… this went on, 24/7, for weeks. He did not make “a” bad decision… he made 1001 bad, selfish, ugly decisions and as a result dogs suffered and died of starvation. Their suffering and deaths were entirely unnecessary. Help was available, at the very least, the dog’s owners could have been contacted. And I wonder, was this guy starving too, or was he sitting in his heated living room in front of the T.V. watching a ball game while dogs in his kennel were starving to death.

Personally, I do not give a rat’s ass why this man did what he did… I think that on some level he knew that the consequences for his horrendous decisions would be easy to deal with. He made choices and I simply want him held accountable. I want the next guy in his position weighing alternatives to have to factor in stronger deterrents (like heavy fines and substantial jail time). We need to come together as a society and send a loud clear message that this kind of abject cruelty is intolerable. It is in society’s best interest that we have strongly delineated lines of what is right and what is wrong. This guy was wrong and others suffered because of it. For people as disconnected from common humanity and decency as this guy obviously is/was, strong punishment… i.e. substantial consequences for allowing dogs to starve to death, might make a difference. And had one of my dogs been involved, I’d be in the same situation as Bob, you’d be putting on yard sales for my legal defense fund.

[Spartan]

Elaine,

I could not agree with you more. I do not think this guy was suffering from much since when the owners called he gave them positive feedback about how the dogs were doing. In my mind that is premeditated. He obviously knew they were not eating and never told Nitro's owners when they asked. I like you do not care why, nor do I have sympathy, I want Justice for the families and the Dogs.

I feel that all too often as a society we are far too quick to look for reason to make actions like this "O.K." and find a reason to make it not so bad. Humans have not sunk to a new level; this type of thing has been going on since the dawn of time. This is just another chapter in book of things humans should not be proud of as a species. It is right up there with abusing children and battered women in my opinion.

Love your passion on this!!!! I am with you!!!

Bob

[Kissntell]

But whenever there is tradgity there are always many facets of that tradigity that few are aware of.

I have seen circumstances where animals were suppose to be taken care of when they were not. I use to be involved somewhat with the humane society in younger years.

Often, somone had went back East and the other person who was suppose to come and take care of the animals just didn't show up. So the horses were thin. On another, the animals were suppose to be taken care of by the neighbor kid as the owner was down in bed fighting cancer. The kid didn't show up all the time.

There are aways sides to these stories that we don't know all the details. That is because when you work in them, that information is confidential and cannot be shared with the public. Often the media is looking for a good story as well. These pictures of course do not lie. I am talking of my experience in general.

There all aways many pieces to these puzzles. And, many pieces suffer in many ways. How about kids that have been locked away and starved to death as well?

Yes people do get mentally ill. Or so drug dependent that the drugs take first place in their life. This is a disease in itself. Of which I admit I have little tolerance for.

In our Country we have so many privacy laws that it is difficult to find these case occurances until it is too late. Does that mean that we change the privacy laws and have unlawful search? The Country would be outraged too.

There are really no good solutions or answers for this.

Have you heard the saying: "There's no such thing as a free lunch."

So when people ask for help, if they ask for help, it aways comes with consequences and a price. That stops many from asking.

I made my living working in this tradigity stuff and it anin't no picinic. How about the social worker who now goes home with nightmares for what they felt and saw? This too is another affected by the trauma. Even trauma workers have to go through a debriefing.

For me I am so glad I'm not currently in that work anymore. Its wonderful to not have to deal with the human loss and sacrafice (sp) everyday.

Just my thoughts.

In the old days of the early West we had viglante groups who took matters in their own hands. But, many times the groups were so inflamed, that they made wrong decisions, had they had more information and clamed down they wouldn't have made. Insocent lives were lost.

If you really look into these matters they are much too hard to solve. They are just fragments of the puzzle we try to pick back up and put together.

[katdobemom]

This situation, no matter what the reasons, is just hard to even think about let alone speculate all the what if's.
The bottom line is these dogs suffered greatly and no doubt had a slow agonizing death.
The owners of these dogs will live with the nightmare of this tragedy the rest of their lives.
They entrusted the care of their "family" and were expecting a service from this man.
The owners called about their pets and were given answers we all would want to hear, no doubt. That our pets were fine, not to worry, and all was well.
I am sure with this many dogs in this facility and folks calling, how many chances did this man have to say to someone "I need help"? At the very least I am sure this man could have picked up the phone and asked these pet owners to come and get their beloved pets.
He chose not to.
He obviously chose to watch these poor dogs die, one by one.
I have never boarded my dogs because I have not had a need to do so.
I have to admit that I wouldn't be so patient to wait for a court, or this man's lawyer to come up with an excuse for his actions.