CALGARY – The Alberta Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) said a dog found with two casts on its front legs in southern Alberta has been transferred to an undisclosed adoption agency.
“The owner surrendered the dog to us on Tuesday,” said ASPCA spokesperson Roland Lines. “Later on Tuesday, it was transferred to an adoption group; it is not the group that had it before.”
Dog behaviourist Rory O’Neill with Rocky Mountain Animal Rescue (RMAR)—which first received the dog—said it was found on Aug. 9 by a man from Morley, Alta., which is a First Nations community about 60 km west of Calgary. The rescue centre staff affectionately named the dog “Afro Man” since his “long, unruly fur looks like an afro.”
READ MORE: Dog with casts on front legs left on Alberta road with bag of food
A Tuesday Facebook post from O’Neill’s rescue centre claimed Afro Man was “confiscated” from the Fish Creek Emergency Pet Clinic, where he’d been receiving care.
“With no prior communication, an officer in uniform arrived with the ASPCA and presented a warrant to seize Afro Man,” said the post from Rocky Mountain Animal Rescue.
A Wednesday post from RMAR said the centre was “more than happy to work with the ASPCA to proceed with an investigation to see this happen, but at this point we have no idea where we stand.”
“We were taking great care and had many of our staff fall in love with Afro, and for him to be removed to a jail-cell type shelter, cold, impersonal, and cement and metal bars, without even letting us know the outcome of his overnight observation for his post-surgery, is incredibly upsetting and painful,” said the post. “At this point, we still want Afro Man to be returned to us and for his ongoing vet care where we had take him in for checkups. He is our responsibility and concern, as well as us contributing the vast amount of information to who the person was that abandoned Afro in the first place, what the procession of the story is, and what had happened to his legs.”
For its part, the ASPCA said when they took the dog from the pet hospital, the group wasn’t “confiscating” it from Rocky Mountain Rescue.
“Despite everything that’s happened, Rocky Mountain Animal Rescue had no legal claim to this animal,” said Lines. “The previous owner surrendered it to us.”
READ MORE: Dog with casts on front legs found on Alberta road seized by ASPCA
Lines said the dog had orthopedic surgery on its broken legs, and would need ongoing checkups and specialized care from veterinarians.
“It needs a group with facilities that can provide it specialized care, so we placed it with a group we were confident had those abilities,” he said.
Lines said the investigation was ongoing and it hasn’t been determined if any charges will be laid against the dog’s original owner.
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