Eastport investigates alleged cruelty case

EASTPORT – One dog was dead in a bathroom, a blanket thrown over its body.

A dead kitten was on a living-room couch.

Six other dogs and a cat, described as mere skin and bones, were ravenous before an animal control officer gave them food.

Police said Monday they are investigating what appears to be a case of animal cruelty at a trailer in Quoddy Village just west of the city. The owner of the animals has not been charged, and police did not immediately identify the person.

But the animals were seized Sunday and taken at first to Calais’ no-kill shelter, PAWS Inc.

“There were no dog dishes around that we could see. There was no water on the floors for the dogs,” said Eastport animal control officer Peter Small. “There was a back bedroom that had a bag of dog food that was ripped open. But it had a half-door in front of it and it was closed so the dogs couldn’t get in to get anything to eat.”

Eastport police Officer Bill Lindsay said the dogs appeared aggressive until they were given the food. “They ate the food greedily. Almost like piranhas going at it,” he said.

Around 8:30 a.m. Sunday a neighbor notified the animal control officer that there might be a problem. “She was concerned that she had not seen anybody around in three or four days,” Small said.

Small notified police.

He and Lindsay knocked on the door, but no one answered. He said the door had a large window. “The front window was just held on with duct tape. Half of it was pushed out. So I had some dog food with me and I threw it up over the top,” Small said. The officers could see a very thin cat sitting on the couch, a dead kitten behind it.

The door to the trailer was unlocked, and when the officers went inside they had to step around animal feces. “On most of the dogs you could see all their ribs. Their skin was just hanging,” Small said.

Small said there was no heat in the trailer except for a space heater in one of the back bedrooms. The door to that room was closed. It was 8 degrees Fahrenheit at midnight Sunday at the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge, but the temperature had dropped to minus 2 degrees Fahrenheit by 4 a.m. Monday. Winds in the area were gusting, exacerbating the cold.

Pleasant Point police Officer Tom Chambers found the dead dog in the bathroom.

The officers removed seven mixed-breed dogs and one cat. The dead cat and dog were taken to the Calais Veterinary Clinic, where a necropsy was performed Monday.

PAWS spokeswoman Ronda Cobb said all dogs were taken to the Calais Veterinary Clinic. Sores were found all over their bodies. “The vet thought they looked like old fighting wounds – nothing that needed immediate attention,” she said.

Cobb said three beagles, including one named Thumbalina who had tumors on her body, were later taken to the Beagle Rescue League in Orrington. A Chihuahua was in bad shape.

“His little butt bones are sticking out. That’s how bad he is,” she said.