How terrible! My heart goes out to this family! And is this police force lying to cover up their own cowardice or laziness?
Please be warned that this is an upsetting article.
Thanks to the Daily Press for this article.
Adelanto seizes, destroys puppies
City allegedly seized and immediately destroyed puppies without warning or notification.BEATRIZ E. VALENZUELA Staff Writer
April 14, 2008ADELANTO When Michael Daniels returned from work Friday, he expected to be greeted at the door by his seven dogs.
Instead what he found was two o his dogs had been shot and killed by police. And Adelanto Animal Control officials seized and within hours euthanized his four other dogs.
While Daniels and his wife, Sherry, were devastated by the shooting death of two of their pit bulls, they are even more distraught over the fact that Adelanto Animal Control euthanized their remaining animals so quickly.
They took and killed our dogs all within a matter of a few hours, said Michael Daniels.
He said the dogs, three of which were puppies, were put down without any warning or notification Not even a note on our door.
Typically, unless animals have been previously deemed as vicious by the courts, most animals are held pending an investigation, said Chuck Miller, Animal Control supervisor for the city of Hesperia. He is quick to point out that cities have their own policies.
This is not what happened in Adelanto.
According to Deputy Travis James, who was on the scene, the dogs were taken in because they were not registered and they did not know who they belonged to.
The four dogs, including the terrier, were then deemed vicious by the animal control officer and a threat to public safety so were destroyed, according to Aaron Palmer acting director of animal control and human resource director for the city.
While there have been no reports of the dogs biting anyone during the incident, Palmer said he cannot comment on specifics of the case.
Our dogs were the sweetest animals and would never hurt anyone, cried Sherry.
According to the Daniels this was the first time animal control had been called out to their home.
The Daniels had a total of seven dogs, three pit bulls belonged to their daughter who moved back home about a month and a half ago and three pit bulls and a small terrier belonged to the couple.
At about 10:30 a.m., Friday, San Bernardino County Sheriffs Adelanto deputies responded to a call at a home on Tolliver Street from Animal Control.
The dogs had chewed through the neighbors fence and were acting very aggressively, said Johnson.
She added that the two dogs that were killed by deputies, were shot in the neighbors yard after deputies attempted to use non-lethal methods to control the animals.
The remaining four were taken because, James said, it was unknown who they belonged to.
However, Leah Roach, a neighbor of the Daniels, said she saw the police and animal control knock on the Daniels front door then break down the familys fence and enter the back yard to extricate the dogs.
If they didnt know they were their dogs, then why did they knock on their door? questioned Roach.
