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Old June 27th, 2010, 10:44 AM
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Owner Jailed for Abandoning Pet

A 45-year-old Hamilton woman who left a tied-up dog to starve to death after being evicted from her Barton Street East apartment was sentenced yesterday to 30 days in jail and placed on probation for two years.

The property manager entered the premises on Sept. 9, 2008, one month after the apartment had been vacated by Theresa Fletcher, and found the decomposed remains of an adult terrier dog.

The man called the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which sent a cruelty investigator and arranged for the dead animal to be removed from the empty unit.

Ontario Court Justice Richard Jennis told the convicted mother of five children, one of whom still resides with her, that a jail sentence was warranted because of the callousness of her actions and to deter other people from treating defenceless animals with such cruelty.

He prohibited Fletcher from living in the same residence with another domestic animal for the next 20 years.

Fletcher, who is employed as a personal support worker at Bayshore Home Health, is permitted to serve her jail term on weekends.

Jennis ordered her to pay $300 in restitution to the SPCA to cover the cost of an animal autopsy.

Defence lawyer Robert Gee said Fletcher left in a hurry for Nova Scotia because her father was ill and failed to make provisions for the family pet. Except for this "extraordinary lack of judgment," said Gee, she previously had not run afoul of the law.

"She didn't jump into the criminal justice system on the shallow end, but on the deep end of the pool," said the lawyer. "One can only imagine the dog there for an extended period of time with nobody coming ... It must have been a slow and painful death."

Vivian LaFlamme, a cruelty investigator with the Hamilton-Burlington SPCA, said she was encouraged by the sentence handed down, calling it the strongest statement in this community since animal-cruelty provisions of the Criminal Code and the Ontario SPCA Act were amended last year. The changes introduced stiffer penalties -- including jail terms of up to two years, fines of up to $60,000 and a potential lifetime ownership ban -- for causing harm or distress to any animal. The amendments mark the most significant changes to animal legislation in the province since 1919.
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Old June 27th, 2010, 02:16 PM
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She left in a hurry so she decided to leave her dog in her apartment tied up? There's no excuse for that. Heck, even if she'd have just let him lose out on the street it would have been better than having the poor dog starve to death!
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Old June 27th, 2010, 03:31 PM
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wth...and where were the neighbours all that time???? the dog must have barked in the beginning... I mean good on the judge for actually punishing her (not severly enough in my books but better than the slap on the wrist).... but my god, how that poor baby must have suffered

Doggie...I'm so sorry that was the sorry excuse for a human you ended up with.

Oh and she's a PSW....lovely, I hope her patients families find out about this and refuse to let her work with their loved ones...I mean if she could do that to a dog, imagine what she could do to someones grandmother....
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Old June 27th, 2010, 03:54 PM
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OMG,that poor dog
That heartless b...tch,would get a life-sentence if I was the judge,I am surprised she actually got prison-time.
Poor pup
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Old June 27th, 2010, 05:19 PM
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I am cranky already and now that B1tch has added fuel to the fire. Week ends my a$$. She should be in there for the full 30 days and more.
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Old June 27th, 2010, 05:42 PM
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I am cranky already and now that B1tch has added fuel to the fire. Week ends my a$$. She should be in there for the full 30 days and more.
Exactly what I said to DH. And she is a health care worker??? WTF, how empathetic is she?
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Old June 27th, 2010, 06:29 PM
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She left in a hurry so she decided to leave her dog in her apartment tied up? There's no excuse for that.
Nope, and why judges still listen to lame-duck nonsense like this is beyond me. Like, she couldn't pick up a phone once in Nova Scotia, or go to a computer and email somebody? She just couldn't be bothered and didn't give a damn.

30 days on weekends is nothing. kr - that -was- the proverbial slap on the wrist. The law allows up to 2 years and a lifetime ban from pet ownership, and she got neither.

Can't imagine what that poor dog had to go through. Sad.
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Old June 27th, 2010, 07:27 PM
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I hope they forget to feed the cow while she's behind bars....let her feel the pain!!!
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Old June 27th, 2010, 07:41 PM
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This poor dog wouldn't have died of starvation--it would have died of thirst. How could anyone have done that without a backward glance...
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Old June 27th, 2010, 07:46 PM
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sweet pup
She and the from THS should get together. They can teach people how to forget about animals left behind and in traps.
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Old June 27th, 2010, 08:16 PM
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What a horror story that is. Poor dog. And a far too lenient sentence. There is something wrong if she doesn't lost her job I think.
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Old June 28th, 2010, 08:29 AM
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Originally Posted by hazelrunpack View Post
This poor dog wouldn't have died of starvation--it would have died of thirst. How could anyone have done that without a backward glance...
I am so with you tie her in her cell for 30 days with no food or water. Let her suffer it may have more of an effect on the cow. He should have given her more time and make her do community service at a pet rescue. But at least he did try and do the right thing
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Old June 28th, 2010, 08:37 AM
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Originally Posted by Love4himies View Post
And she is a health care worker???
that's freaking scary !



Quote:
Originally Posted by hazelrunpack View Post
This poor dog wouldn't have died of starvation--it would have died of thirst. How could anyone have done that without a backward glance...
I watch those cops shows on Animal Planet and I'm always amaze on how people can look the other way , sometimes someone will wake up and call the humane society but it's always when the dogs are skin and bones

people suck.
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Old June 28th, 2010, 08:41 AM
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the sentence is a joke as far as i'm concerned,,,and the fact she looks after the elderly scares me to no end...

something is off tho,,,i've never heard of a super not checking an apt right after the tenant leaves,,and why didn't the neighbours hear the poor dog..

hopefully she gets sum big bulldyke as a weekend cellmate.
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Old June 28th, 2010, 08:48 AM
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the sentence is a joke as far as i'm concerned,,,and the fact she looks after the elderly scares me to no end...

something is off tho,,,i've never heard of a super not checking an apt right after the tenant leaves,,and why didn't the neighbours hear the poor dog..

hopefully she gets sum big bulldyke as a weekend cellmate.

Yeah, what's the point of being arrested if you are only there for weekends? That's ridiculous! The whole point of going to jail is to be punished and learn a lesson.

I watch a lot of true crime shows, and you hear cops on those shows sometimes say there are two kinds of people who are always seen by the rest of the prison population as scum deserving of a good lashing now and then. The first are pedophiles, and the second are those that abuse animals. I hope she gets an animal lover as a cellmate and gets taught a nice lesson.
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Old June 28th, 2010, 08:54 AM
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I watch a lot of true crime shows, and you hear cops on those shows sometimes say there are two kinds of people who are always seen by the rest of the prison population as scum deserving of a good lashing now and then. The first are pedophiles, and the second are those that abuse animals. I hope she gets an animal lover as a cellmate and gets taught a nice lesson.
I knew about pedophiles but , animal abusers too ?
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Old June 28th, 2010, 09:18 AM
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Our animal cruelty laws dictate how we really feel and what we think of animals. very sad
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Old June 29th, 2010, 08:38 AM
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I can't emagine how that poor dog felt waiting for someone to come home, lying there dying on the floor alone waiting for its family a psw not suitable to look after a dog never mind a human wonder what she does to them her lack of care is a reflection on herself.
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Old June 29th, 2010, 12:21 PM
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This was intentional and she deserved much more than this. Believe this or not, our rescue has been called upon on more than one occasion to get animals left behind after moves. Though reported, very little is done here but hopefully the future will be brighter for all animals left like this.

This is not an isolated incident but happens very often. Left tied in the woods, shot, maimed, starved, thrown from cars, thrown in crates and then thrown in the river....we have seen it all. The laws must be changed to enforce that maximum and not a minimum.

RIP little soul and know that if she did not care...we do.
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Old June 29th, 2010, 09:55 PM
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RIP little soul and know that if she did not care...we do.
Anybody know the name/age...can post on the bridge maybe?
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