Malnourished Great Dane was close to death

By Cyndi Wright
Editor

The dispatcher answered the call that came into the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office on Friday, Nov. 11. The caller reported an injured dog in the street on Greasy Bend Road in Smithville.
Animal control officer Blake Koenig responded to the call, but, upon arriving, found no dog in the road. She patrolled up and down the road a few times, before parking and getting out. According to her supervisor, shelter director Troy Walters, Koenig, as usual, was going to go above and beyond to help out a possibly injured animal.
Although Koenig did not find an injured animal in the road, what she did find after talking to people in the neighborhood was a case of possible animal abuse so serious it has sparked an international mail campaign, a Facebook sensation, a petition with more than 3,000 signatures on it and a story on at least one Austin television station’s news report.
“Once our officer found (the dog known as Claire), I was called because of the severity of the dog’s condition,” Walters said.
Koenig found Claire laying on a front porch. The approximately four-year-old Great Dane was skin and bones. Her body was covered with demodectic mange. And that was just what observers saw at first glance. Koenig thought, at first, the dog was dead.
Once Koenig made contact with the dog’s owner, Priscilla Bledsoe, Koenig quizzed her about medical treatment and feeding.
“She claimed she was feeding the dog twice a day, but she couldn’t produce any food,” Walters said. “She said the dog was so skinny because it was very active.”

The owner also claimed the dog was being treated for the mange, but could not produce any medicine to support the claim.
When Koenig determined there was no food or medicine for the dog, and the owner did not intend to take the dog to the veterinarian for treatment, she asked if Bledsoe would willingly surrender the dog, which the owner agreed to do.
“That same day, we called Big Dog Rescue (an Austin-based rescue group) and we stayed late for them to come and get Claire,” Walters said. “The urgency was to pick the dog up and get help. I think our animal control people did an excellent job.”
According to Lorraine Joy, vice president of Big Dog Rescue, Claire was in bad shape when she took her to the veterinarian.
“I couldn’t even touch her,” she said. “If I touched her, she bled. She was shaking and flakes were flying off. They told me she was close to death and might not recover.”
The letter writing and Facebook campaigns began as a way to bring justice to an owner that would allow their dog to live in such a condition, Joy said, although she was quick to praise the work of the county animal shelter and the people who work and volunteer there.
“If it wasn’t for them, this would not have had a positive ending,” she said. “They work hard and they care.”
Bledsoe was arrested on Thursday, Dec. 1 and charged with cruelty to non-livestock animals and failure to provide, a class A misdemeanor.
The medical report from the veterinarian that first saw Claire was heartbreaking, Joy said. Besides being extremely malnourished, Claire has not only demodectic mange, but also sarcoptic mange, secondary skin infections, heartworms, a yeast infection and is deaf and partially blind – possible consequences of malnourishment.
Walters said Claire’s owner also has two other dogs and two cats that, except for reportedly not being current on state-mandated rabies shots, seem to be in good health. The owner has since brought the two cats in for the rabies vaccinations and reportedly plans to bring the other two dogs in next week.
The rescuers named the dog Claire, which means “bright.” Since Claire has been in their care, roughly 20 days, they say she has gained 20 pounds.
“She definitely wanted to eat,” Joy said.
According to Bastrop County Sheriff Terry Pickering, his investigators have been working to build a case against Bledsoe since Claire was found.
“What people don’t understand is we have to prepare a case for the district attorney that they can actually take to court,” Pickering said. “We just obtained the medical records from the veterinarian that treated her. We wanted to make sure there was no underlying condition wrong with the dog that would have caused this.”
He pointed out that the justice system has to prove that Bledsoe intentionally and knowingly committed a criminal act.
“It doesn’t boil down to ignorance,” he said. “When you go to present a criminal case, you have to have evidence of criminal culpability.”
One difference – at least in the eyes of the law – is that Bledsoe voluntarily surrendered the animal, rather than having it removed after a court order.
Walters said animal abuse and neglect cases can go one of two ways.
“They take care of the animal or surrender it,” he said. “Or we come back with a warrant. It’s always painful for them and us, either way.”
Joy wants people to know that there are resources available for people who find themselves unable to care for a pet.
“This is a tragic situation,” she said. “We hope that by bringing awareness to this, other owners that find themselves in a situation like this will realize there are resources out there. Also, if you see something going on in your neighborhood, please report it.”

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