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JAMESTOWN – A Jamestown dog owner is facing a slew of animal neglect accusations by those in his neighborhood. And now, the Jamestown Police Department has launched a formal inquiry into the matter.
“We first noticed the dog last summer, he was very skinny then, and we tried contacting the owner but he would never respond. So we started sneaking food. Then we found out that there was an 80 something year old lady that was bringing water,” said concerned neighbor, Heather Hamilton.
According to concerned neighbors like Hamilton, pets at 328 Allen Street have spent months outside with no food or water.
“The only shelter he has is the picnic table he’s tied to, and before that he wasn’t even tied to that, he was tied to a tree towards the back,” explained Hamilton.
Concern for the animals, identified by their owner William Vanorden as Chewy and Bella, came to a head over the weekend when the Jamestown Police Department got involved.
“There’s no abuse because the cops only gave me a citation for not having the dogs registered, which I didn’t know they had to be registered,” said Vanorden.
“We look at a lot of different factors in the dog when we can observe them. Do they look like they’ve been eating? Some dogs look a little thinner than others, are they getting the medical care they need, is there food available, is there water available, is there shelter available, is there physical injuries that we can observe,” explained Jamestown Police Captain Scott Forster.
So far, Vanorden was issued tickets for unregistered animals, however police continue to investigate.
“We did have officers follow up, yesterday they went to do a follow up. It’s an ongoing investigation and I think a big part of it is educating. Educating what it is to care for an animal, or care for a dog in this situation,” said Forster.
Chewy was recently diagnosed with parvo, a possibly deadly disease, but the pup has since been treated. As a result of the condition, he has lost weight.
“They’re trying to say it has parvo, but the results were negative,” said Vanorden. “It was tied out because that’s where I tie it out at and it was never unfed or nothing.”
So what’s next for this case? Police tell us they will continue to monitor the dog’s health and work with their owner to rectify the situation. If nothing is done, officers then would consider action. While many in the neighborhood demand the dogs be taken away and adopted to a new home, officers tell us the process can be pretty complex and they can only forcefully remove the dogs if a clear and present danger exists.
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WNY News Now’s Justin Gould contributed to this report.
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