LETTER: Please Speak Out For The Dogs

HOPKINTON, MA—The following letter was submitted.

As the town of Hopkinton considers what to do about the many complaints it has received about animal care at Greyhound Friends (GHF), I’d like to share my experience rescuing a dog from there. As a volunteer with the foster-based rescue PittieLove Rescue, we were asked to help find a home for a pit bull named Emma, who had been at GHF for roughly two months. A GHF volunteer had quietly reached out to see if we could help Emma, because she felt the dog was not getting the care she needed there.

Were were surprised to find that GHF had no record of Emma being tested for heartworm disease prior to being brought into the state or during the nearly 60 days she was at their kennel. It is a very bad idea to skip a test like that, since heartworm disease can be spread from dog to dog. The disease can be fatal. PittieLove asked that the test be done prior to Emma being moved into our care. We then learned that Emma was suffering from heartworm disease, as well as a tick-borne illness.

We were fortunate to be able to find an amazing foster home where Emma could live while she received treatment for her disease. When I arrived at GHF to pick her up, I found that all of their kennels were full and Emma was stuck in a back room with three hound dogs, and they were all in crates that were far too small for them.

I got Emma out of there and brought her to her foster home. She arrived dirty, too skinny, embedded with engorged ticks, and scratching at her ears from an infection. These are things that we expect when a dog is rescued from living on the streets, or from being in a bad home. Those are not things you expect when you get a dog that has been in a rescue for two months.

Emma also had an awful cough — which is a symptom of heartworm disease. PittieLove immediately scheduled an appointment with a veterinarian, who found that Emma showed signs of permanent heart damage.

The Massachusetts Department of Agriculture recently wrote about Emma (formerly named Diamond) as part of an extensive report about the conditions at the GHF kennel. Emma’s tests revealed “an enlarged and misshapen heart, indicative of prolonged heartworm infection” and that the disease “appears to have been unnoticed, undiagnosed, and untreated while she was at GHF.”

Although heartworm disease can occur in any shelter, responsible rescues take steps to minimize these cases through testing and preventative medication. These are critical steps that help save lives. It seems apparent that GHF did not take steps to protect her from this serious disease – and did not get her the medical help she needed when she was began showing symptoms. GHF’s defense is that Emma came to them from an emergency situation. However, that does not make it acceptable to not provide her with necessary medical care.

Emma’s story is not an isolated case. There have been many disturbing reports from other rescue groups that have helped take dogs from GHF.

I am sure that GHF has successfully placed dogs into homes in the past, but at some point, some of the dogs in their care were not being treated appropriately. On behalf of Emma and those before her, I felt it was important to share this story with the Hopkinton Board of Selectmen.

I hope you will read the reportand learn what has been happening in this Hopkinton kennel. Please join me in reaching out to the selectmen (selectmen@hopkintonma.gov) and speaking out on behalf of the dogs.

Thank you,

Stephen A. Bassignani

Franklin, MA

Send letters to the editor to charlene.arsenault@patch.com.