Expenses mount as animals await appeal

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BANGOR – Nearly seven months after they were seized from their Topsfield owner in Washington County, 20 dogs and a cat remain in state custody at a Bangor shelter.

Norma Worley, director of Maine’s Animal Welfare Program, said this week that the animals could remain in state custody for another seven to nine months, which is how long it is expected to take before the owner’s appeal of the state’s action reaches the Maine supreme court.

In the meantime, most of the pets are being held at the Bangor Humane Society’s animal shelter on Mount Hope Avenue, where Executive Director Jeff Mitchell said the cost of caring for them is approaching $45,000.

Because the state reimburses the shelter only about 30 percent of the actual cost, the facility is seeking donations to help make up the difference.

“Basically, we’re over budget,” Mitchell said.

“We still have 12 [dogs and the cat] here,” and the others are with foster families, Mitchell said. One of the dogs is with a foster family in the Bangor area and the others are in homes in southern Maine, thanks to some help from animal welfare societies based in Westbrook and West Kennebunk.

“That’s taken quite a bit of the strain off,” Mitchell said. “We’re still appealing for help.”

The dogs now in custody were removed from the North Road home of Margo Malpher on Sept. 21 by authorities acting on a tip that the pets’ kennel was filthy.

In November, Judge John Romei of 4th District Court in Calais ruled that the animals had been “cruelly treated” and would be forfeited to the state.

Upon her first visit to Malpher’s home on Sept. 19, state animal welfare agent Chrissy Perry found no one home but learned Malpher frequently traveled to Massachusetts and often left the dogs alone, according to court documents related to the case.

Perry said she could hear dogs barking inside the house and in the nearby kennel.

“I could smell a strong odor of urine and feces coming from the area,” her report said. “A large dog inside the house was jumping up and appeared to be smearing a brown substance resembling fecal matter on the window.”

Perry left a notice and returned twice more but Malpher still was not home.

On Sept. 21, Perry went back to the Malpher residence with a state veterinarian and a trooper. This time the dog owner was home and the dogs were taken to the Bangor Humane Society.

Several of the dogs had a black discharge coming from their ears. It took six volunteer professional groomers and three Bangor shelter staff members nearly three days to shear, bathe and treat the dogs.

The groomers found that several of the dogs appeared to have skin problems related to severe matting. The heavy matting in some cases restricted the dogs’ movements and bodily functions, the groomers testified in court. Some of the dogs had urine scalding on their bodies, especially their feet, according to documents filed with the court. Some of the pads on their feet were bleeding.

Most of the dogs are black miniature poodles, though the group also included two Cavalier King Charles spaniel-poodle hybrids, one Cavalier King Charles spaniel and one white standard poodle.

Only a few of the dogs had been spayed or neutered, according to Mitchell.

Authorities believe Malpher was breeding the dogs for sale.

“That was our belief,” Worley said.

A Washington County prosecutor had sought to have Malpher post a bond or put up property worth $100,000 to cover the cost of her dogs’ care in the event that she lost the appeal of the state’s action. A judge eventually reduced the amount to $2,500.

Malpher’s Augusta attorney, Ronald Bourget, said he and his client are appealing the state’s action and that he does not expect his client to be financially liable for the Humane Society’s expenses for the dogs’ care. He said Malpher is concerned about the welfare of the animals.

“Because they’re breeding dogs we’re hopeful that nothing has been done to them,” he said Thursday.

Malpher is requesting a visit with the animals, Bourget said.

He added that Malpher’s veterinarian attempted to see the animals at the shelter, but was denied access.

No criminal charges have been filed against Malpher, and Bourget said he would seriously consider negotiating any conditions the government might want to set in order for the dogs to be returned to his client.

“We think we have really good grounds on the appeal and hope to get it before the supreme court as soon as possible,” Bourget said. “Hopefully, a local legislator will get their hands on that statute and fine-tune it a little better.”Meanwhile, some animal advocates such as Christopher Walsh, who works at a Bangor area boarding kennel, are upset that the dogs confiscated by the state have been stuck in the shelter for months.

Walsh said the dogs are “well cared for, but they’ve been there so long they’re depressed and despondent.”

A friend of Walsh’s who did not want to be identified because of her work in the animal care field agreed, adding, “Somebody needs to do something – and soon.”

Worley said appeals of animal seizures by the state are not unusual.

“We typically see one or two a year,” she said.

While such appeals are pending, the seized animals cannot be adopted out to new homes.

“It’s unfortunate because it keeps the shelters full,” she said. “It’s not good for the dogs, but it’s part of the process.”

In seizures involving large numbers, the animals often are brought to the Bangor shelter, typically on short notice.

“It’s one of the larger ones [in Maine] and they’re very good at it,” Worley said of the Bangor shelter, its staff and volunteers.

“They see it as part of their mission. They have just been a godsend to us,” Worley said.

Mitchell added that the Bangor shelter has an in-house veterinary clinic.

“We tend to be the first port in a storm,” he said.

The Bangor shelter typically takes in 5,000 animals in a given year, Mitchell said. Last year, the facility took in nearly 100 pets removed from their owners after allegations of abuse or neglect.

Its annual operating budget now amounts to about $900,000 – $600,000 of which must be raised and the rest funded through adoption fees and contracts with area municipalities.

“Right now [overcrowding] is not a problem, but the busy season’s coming,” he said. The shelter is designed to accommodate 45 dogs but often finds itself housing as many as 70.

“What we usually do is double-kennel them,” he said. Sometimes, he said, dogs have to be turned away until space is freed up.

For information about how to contribute to the cause, call the Bangor Humane Society at 942-8902 or visit its Web site at www.bangorhumanesociety.com.