Save Tovan the Great Dane!

Information came from this link: http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-567997 (just copy and paste links into your browser!)

you can also follow Tovan's fight on his facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-Tovan-the-Great-Dane/103416456406618#!/pages/Save-Tovan-the-Great-Dane/103416456406618?sk=wall

This is Tovan, the beautiful great Dane who found his way into my front yard. This dog did not walk here- he staggered, stumbled and wobbled his way to my driveway, where he then collapsed.

It was immediately obvious this dog needed some serious help. He was so emaciated, you could see every bone in his body. He could not walk, could barely stand.

Our first instinct was to give him something to eat. Unfortunately in his condition, this just made him vomit.

We rushed him to an emergency veterinary clinic in town, where they gave us the option to either hand him over to Sarasota Animal Services, where he would not receive emergency treatment (From our understanding of what we were told, he would receive miminal treatment, just enough to get him strong enough to be taken to the Animal Services shelter), or to take responsibility for him personally and get him immediate care. We chose the latter. In our understanding, of what we were told at the Emergency Clinic, he would only receive minimal care unless we assumed financial responsibility- which we gladly did. We did this to get him extensive care including x-rays, parisite tests and oncology tests. We also paid for his prescriptions.



Upon examination from the vet, he was found to be 30lbs underweight. He had open, bleeding sores on his legs. The vet said that these were "pressure sores" indicative of possible confinement or laying on cement all day and night. He also had calluses from more sores that had healed over, showing this could be long-term neglect.

He was also found to have arthritis, hip dysplasia, a heart murmur, parisites, and possibly cancer (the oncology reports are still pending).



We agreed to take care of him. We paid for all of his medical bills. We set up a cozy room in our house for him, gave him his medication, took him out for frequent bathroom runs because he has to go very often. We were, and are, very willing and capable to take care of him. To give him all the care he needs and let him live the rest of his life in a home where there is someone home 24/7 to care for him.



Fast forward 2 days, and an owner came forward to claim him. We offered to help the owner care for him if she was unable. We offered to pay for his medical expenses and care for him while she wasn't home. She wanted no part in it. We then contacted Sarasota Animal Services and asked them to do an investigation to ensure the safety of the dog before returning him.(Note: We became highly concerned when the vet told us that the owner had told them that the dog was only missing for about 24hrs; which means the emaciated state was not due to a long time missing in the wild... this information suggested that the emaciated condition emerged from care in his original home environment- and that is when we asked them to please investigate before returning him to the owners.)



To our amazement, they said no. They told us to return the dog as he was "stolen property". This dog came to us on the brink of death, and the authorities would do nothing to help him.



I called both the local Humane Society and SPCA, only to discover that in this county, Animal Services, HS and SPCA are all one organization. They still refused to help this poor dog.



I called our local news station. I spoke with a man on the tipline who said he would "see what he could do" to get Animal Services to open an investigation.

When I called back to follow-up, I was told by a woman that there was nothing they could do.



I called the National Humane Society in Washington, D.C. They were heartbroken, but could not do anything for him because there are no federal animal cruelty laws, and how these things are handled is at the discretion of local authorities.



Meanwhile, the woman was demanding her dog back, yet she would not give us an address to take him to. We received a call later in the day that they would be coming to get the dog with a sheriffs deputy because we "refused" to give him back. Again, she never gave us an address to take him to, or even her last name.



We printed off the photos of his condition, and got a copy of his medical records from the vet, and took this down to Sarasota Animal services in the hopes that they would reconsider opening an investigation.



They would not even look at the photos.



They continued to insist we must give the dog back.

Why? Because the vet put on his record that he was a "lost dog", not an "possibly neglected orabused dog" (which the people at the clinic said was a possibility). At the time, the vet could not determine if he had been neglected because we had no idea how long he had been on the street. Only when the owner revealed he had only been missing one day, could we confirm he had gotten into this state at their hands.



Animal services returned the dog to his owners, with no investigation in the conditions he will be living in, or the other dogs at the residence. They will not help him.



We will be returning to Animal Services in the morning.

We will not give up the fight for this dog's life.



Local law enforcement has failed this beautiful animal, with the excuse of a trivial detail. We need to save Tovan.



Tovan's life lies in the hands of Sarasota Animal Services. These are the people who returned him to his owner without even inspecting his living conditions or reviewing his medical records. Hopefully we can convince them to open a case.

SAS

8451 Bee Ridge Rd

Sarasota, FL

(941) 861 9500



For anyone making calls to SAS, this is all the info I have to identify this story:

He is a 10yr old grey harlequin great dane. Or so the owner says, the vet thought he was about 5.

His owner's names are Mike and Angie. They would not give us a last name.

They provided a Bradenton, FL address, though this is very suspicious as that is 30 miles from us.

There is no case number as of yet, because they refused to even open a case to FIND OUT what happened to him.

If we get them to open a case, I will share that info ASAP.



I'm now hearing that SAS claims they know nothing about this dog. We went in there IN PERSON twice yesterday! The first time with photos and vet records, and the second time with the dog himself! What is wrong with these people?!?!

UPDATE as of around 5pm on March 9th: SAS, of Sarasota, Fl decided to open up an investigation on Tovan and his "owners." This is a pending investigation and we won't know the outcome until they are done investigating, but it's progress and with this petition it could be more progress. Maybe we can make places where officials don't take these animal abuse cases so seriously, even more serious then ever. There needs to be a national animal abuse law in place instead of city or state laws. This is a national crisis that needs to be taken seriously. These animals need to be seen as individuals instead of just someones property. Anyways Thank you for signing Tovan's petition and please spread his story and this petition!