Reply With QuoteFound this update on the Justice for Nyxxi Facebook page -
Animal Cruelty Prevention Month
Not only is April recognized as Child Abuse Prevention Month, it is also recognized as the Animal Cruelty Prevention Month. It is a month widely recognized by many national and local organizations as a time to renew awareness of the issue of animal cruelty.
If you have a furry friend they are almost certainly the light of your life; they would do anything for you and vice versa. But too often our best friends are mistreated. Our friends can’t speak up to stop the mistreatment or ask for help so it is up to us to help put an end to their mistreatment.
We have all seen heartbreaking videos or read reports of abandoned dogs and wondered how any pet owner could be so cruel to abandon a pet. How could anyone be so cruel to dump a dog or a litter of pups alongside a roadway – and often with the pets bed or favorite toys included.
There are organizations like the SPCA, municipal shelters, rescue shelters, etc. where such monsters can surrender unwanted pets, right? Not all pet owners who want to surrender their pets are monsters, but families no longer able to take care of their pets (for whatever reason) and are unable to find a rescue shelter if their pet is aged, disabled, or considered ineligible for adoption. by organizations / rescue shelters.
An individual once posted on Speakup that money was wasted by municipalities in building shelters because the SPCA is the wherewithal handling all county dog service needs. As dedicated as the SPCA staff is, the services provided by the organization is limited and where too often dogs are brought in from out-of-state and local animals and pet owners suffer for it.
During the pandemic too many dogs were adopted by irresponsible families having no concept of the cost to maintain a pet or the time, patience and effort required to make it a welcomed family member; rather looking at its adoption as something to fill a temporary void.
When we have monsters abusing babies and defenseless children, the elderly, spouses, etc., should we expect better treatment for animals.
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Found this update on the Justice for Nyxxi Facebook page -
Georgia L Schlager
According to the Justice for Nyxxi Facebook post -it was a pre-trial hearing on Tuesday and adjourned until May 16th at 11:30am.Originally Posted by gorja
Found this update on the Justice for Nyxxi Facebook page -
No charges have been dropped or dismissed
Georgia L Schlager
News4Buffalo
Lancaster woman pleads guilty to animal cruelty, injuring dog
By Emily Miller,
LANCASTER, N.Y. (WIVB) — A 47-year-old Lancaster woman pleaded guilty to animal cruelty after injuring a dog under her care, the Erie County District Attorney announced Tuesday.
Andrea White pleaded guilty to one count of overdriving, torturing, and injuring animals; failure to provide proper sustenance.
On July 18, 2022, White was hired to board a dog at her East Home Road residence. She agreed to care for the dog, a mixed breed tarrier named “Nyxxi,” until Aug. 1, 2022.
When the dog’s owner returned to pick Nyxxi up, authorities say White refused to return the dog to him.
On Aug. 5, the dog’s owner again attempted to pick his dog up from White’s home but, authorities say, White told him that Nyxxi had escaped from her vehicle during a collision in Orchard Park.
The dog’s owner reported the incident to police.
Lancaster police obtained a search warrant of White’s East Home Road residence where, they say, they found a total of nine dogs inside the home, including Nyxxi.
Nyxxi, who was injured, was taken to an emergency veterinarian’s office were she was treated for a fractured and dislocated forearm, a laceration on her neck, and missing teeth.
White is scheduled to return to court on Aug. 1. She faces a maximum of one year in jail and was released on her own recognizance.
Georgia L Schlager
It was satisfying to see that Andrea White pleaded guilty to one count of overdriving, torturing, and injuring animals, and failing to provide proper sustenance.
At the same time it is disturbing to hear how little care and attention is currently being provided by the Town of Lancaster regarding its kenneled dogs and staffing. Since DCO Jean Karn’s several-week absence, the Dog Control Department is staffed with only full-time DCO Elizabeth Bertozzi and two part-time staffers working in-house two days per week.
How Bertozzi is able to feed and care for the animals twice per day and run the other required daytime operations is beyond me. She currently has 5 dogs kenneled and in her care and is falling behind in answering complaints, paperwork, etc. Her petitions for help appear to be falling on deaf ears.
In the past several weeks, ads were posted for hirings, and the applicants were few, unqualified, or not interested in DCO work for $16/ hr. Easy money right? Anyone can handle dogs under stress, right?
The dogs housed are staying longer than normal because the SPCA and rescue shelters are also filled-up – sometimes taking in dogs from out-of-state.
The Nyxxi case cost the town tens of thousands of dollars, the town has yet to close out the new shelter project, the place still smells from lack of ventilation, and all we hear in committee reports at town board meetings is ‘crickets’. Supervisor Ruffino rails that the department spends too much and is mismanaged, when in fact, by all appearances it is not being provided with the resources to act in the best interest of animals, staff, or the public.
Thank God some people understand the stress dogs go through kenneled in shelters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfu3dt7uFTw
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Along with jail time, I hope Andrea White is made to reimburse the owner for veterinarian expenses
Georgia L Schlager
Lancaster DCO Elizabeth Bertozzi resigns
Elizabeth Bertozzi acting Lancaster DCO officially submitted her resignation papers today. Her last day will be May 31. She has been hired by the Orchard Park Dog Control Department.
In a recent post I wrote: How Bertozzi is able to feed and care for the animals twice per day and run the other required daytime operations is beyond me. She currently has 5 dogs kenneled and in her care and is falling behind in answering complaints, paperwork, etc. Her petitions for help appear to be falling on deaf ears.
Apparently, she was struggling more than some of us knew. For months ads to hire help have been fruitless, applicants unqualified for the position or refusals because of inadequate compensation for the work involved. Where Bertozzi is going the caseload involves 20% of the dogs taken in by Lancaster in a year.
Bertozzi has been the lone full-time DCO since Jean Karn has been out on sick leave. Her pleas for help have fallen on the deaf ears of Doc Control Committee Members Chair Mark Burkard, Supervisor Ron Ruffino, and councilmember Dave Mazur.
In the past several weeks, ads were posted for hirings, and the applicants were few, unqualified, or not interested in DCO work for $16/ hr. Easy money right? Anyone can handle dogs under stress, right? Wrong, but apparently not everyone understands that. The dogs housed are staying longer than normal because the SPCA and rescue shelters are also filled-up – sometimes taking in dogs from out-of-state.
If replacement(s) are not found by May 31, the department will be staffed by only 2 part-time assistant DCO’S, unqualified for fieldwork. There are currently 6 dogs being kenneled and Bertozzi was not getting off shift help as was stated by Burkard at a recent town board meeting.
The new dog shelter was officially opened in June 2022, still needs tasks to be completed and the project has not been closed out allowing Lancaster to get the Animal Companion grant money it was awarded a few years ago.
Supervisor Ruffino (overseer of the department) complained numerous times during taking office that the dog control department was spending too much money and mismanaged. DCO Jean Karn was never officially appointed department head – always told to check with the police administrator. We shall now find out who really runs this department.
There have been 6 resignations this year. 4 in the Supervisor’s office, one in the Town Attorney’s office, and several in the dog control department.
The dogs and residents of Lancaster deserve better.
I see in the communications that 2 more dog control officers are resigning effective June 5th along with Ms Bertozzi's resignation effective yesterday.
Georgia L Schlager
Somehow, someway all those department resignations are Leary's fault, right? You fault him for everything else that is mismanaged. And Leary is not even on the Dog Control Committee. Burkard is the Chair and Supervisor Ruffino and Councilmember Mazur are the other members on the committee.
Do you think we will get a report Monday night on how the town is able to feed and care for the four dogs in custody every 12 hours with only one part-time employee -something we were told has been taking place and was not true.
I understand the light-duty police officer put in temporary administrative charge is doing an excellent job. Let's hope he is on the interviewing and hiring committee as he seems to have sense that some of the applications received are from applicants that are unqualified in managing dogs - especially when said dogs have been abused and/or under stress.
I didn't say it was anyone's fault. i was just posting that a couple more DCOs had their resignations in.Originally posted by Lee Chowaniec:
Somehow, someway all those department resignations are Leary's fault, right? You fault him for everything else that is mismanaged. And Leary is not even on the Dog Control Committee. Burkard is the Chair and Supervisor Ruffino and Councilmember Mazur are the other members on the committee.
I would hope they would considering the circumstances.Posted by Lee:
Do you think we will get a report Monday night on how the town is able to feed and care for the four dogs in custody every 12 hours with only one part-time employee -something we were told has been taking place and was not true.
I'm happy to hear that they do have a temporary replacement that is doing a good job. I'm surprised that someone on light duty could handle some of the dogs you speak of. Any ETA for Mrs Karn? It would be nice if her department was somewhat staffed prior to her returnPosted by Lee:
I understand the light-duty police officer put in temporary administrative charge is doing an excellent job especially after seeing the other two resignations. Let's hope he is on the interviewing and hiring committee as he seems to have sense that some of the applications received are from applicants that are unqualified in managing dogs - especially when said dogs have been abused and/or under stress.
Georgia L Schlager
Georgia L Schlager
Dog Control Update
The following dog control reports were presented at Monday evening’s town board work session.
Ed Schiller (Town Engineer): The state has closed out the dog control grant. They have signed off and sent a check to the town.
Council Member Mark Burkard (Dog Control Committee Chair): Elizabeth (Bertozzi) left, and Jean Karn is out so we lost both our full timers. Thanks to Chief Gummo and officer Major…officer Major went in there to start looking at processes and we had help also from some of the officers. Thank you Bruce (Stutz) and the Recreation Department for stepping up and helping out, to go over the dog control and help out in filling some of those shifts we have.
We have many, I mean a lot of great candidates. When are those interviews going to be held, because I didn’t see another email?
Supervisor Ronald Ruffino: Somebody cancelled the interviews.
Burkard: So I will send an email out to see when we can have the interviews this week. Councilman Leary is going to sit in for me this week as I have other obligations with work. Officer Major and Chie Gummo will also sit in on the interviews. I will email Cind1 and see if we can get individuals on. Hopefully, the way we are looking at setting dog control up…if these individuals that we have, we could actually put that plan on place and move forward.
Bruce Stutz (Recreation Crew Chief): We helped out back up dog control. Besides the cleaning, we are reinforcing the kennels outside. Some of the design was flawed. We are looking at pouring concrete there in the future. We are getting the word out on social media for donations and also for adoptions. We have flyers for all the buildings. Building that partnership with the police.
Public Comment Session
Resident Greg Sojka: Mr. Ruffino, could you tell me a little bit about…
Supervisor Ruffino: Stop right there. We are not answering questions.
Sojka: The Youth Bureau Tutors, I heard you say are paid $16 - $19 per hour. They are part-time and don’t get any benefits. I was wondering why everyone was leaving Dog Control, and what they are paid.
Supervisor Ruffino: This is a comment period. You can comment.
Sojka: Well, I just don’t understand being a fiscal conservative if you are going to pay the Youth Bureau tutors…and what are their requirements. Are they certified teachers? Are they high school kids with…
Supervisor Ruffino: You can call the Youth Bureau tomorrow and find out. The Executive Director will give you everything you want.
Sojka: I am just asking you as a fiscal conservative you figure out $16 to $19 an hour for tutors in the Youth Bureau and at Dog Control it seems no one wants to work there and they are resigning. So, are they underpaid, because it seems to me dog control is a much more difficult job than tutoring and you are paying tutors $16 - $19 per hour – and $16 per hour at dog control.
According to the town website, tutors must be certified teachers or education majors in college.Originally posted by Lee Chowaniec:
Sojka: Well, I just don’t understand being a fiscal conservative if you are going to pay the Youth Bureau tutors…and what are their requirements. Are they certified teachers? Are they high school kids with…
Last edited by gorja; June 6th, 2023 at 04:15 PM.
Georgia L Schlager
Yes, and Supervisor Ruffino could have simply told that to Sojka instead of telling him questions would not be answered, which is not true, then directs him to call the Youth Bureau for answers. Or possibly Ruffino does not know the requirements of the position. Kind of like dog control.
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