Jan 12, 2009: Hobo
 

Hobo is a dog, a German Shepherd his owner Joy Battison starved and neglected until he was near death.

http://cellar.org/2009/hobo1.jpg

http://cellar.org/2009/hobo2.jpg

He's not only living with Peter and Val Butcher, he's also living with "an array of other animals including ten dogs, ten alpacas, seven goats, 17 ponies, and 240 parrots".
A happy ending... but although he looks pretty healthy, look at his eyes.
He has a look like he's been a POW, or through a concentration camp... traumatized.

Ms Battison? Alas, no kick in the...

link

Thats f@#$ed up.

They should put that biatch in a box and starve her to near death.

The other pic shows him much happy and not as scared looking. I wish him well

How can anybody do that? How can anybody look at that dog and not help him? Every day she must have seen him. Seen the state he was in. Had she forgotten he was still her little pup? Had she forgotten that he looked to her above all else?

Fucking bitch.

I had to fight the tears on this one.

I am at a loss for words.

God bless Butcher. God damn Battison.

I agree with Ducks. Put her in a box.

Fucking Bitch to the ninth circle of hell with her. Seems to me she got a slap on the wrist for her cruelty. She should be stripped, sprayed with scalding water and tased on a daily basis. Then spit on.

She can share a cell with Vick - they deserve each other.
Effin A**holes.

It takes special people to reach an animal in such a depressed, sickly condition and return them to mental and physical health - bless the Butchers and all like them who invest so much in these creatures. I've seen other dogs brought back from similar conditions and lead normal lives (one, a borzoi, moved onto an Arabian horse farm with other borzois and went for an lovely romp w/horse, owner, and dog friends every day - sweet life for him!), and it really annoys me that the animal's recovery is often longer than the former owner's punishment. :mad2:

Seriously, why have a pet/animal if you are going to treat it like shit. I don't get it. I have two cats and every time my daughter pulls them off the couch it bothers me...I understand some people get a control trip out of those types of things...but why? Why not just give the dog away? I will admit, banning the person from owning another animal is awesome! I never knew the gov't really did that. I knew they would remove neglected animals, but banning people - - - just thinking about it....they should start doing that with parents who abuse/neglect their children, too! We should also consider putting them in a cage and poking them :stickpoke

If you can't keep the dog, find it a good home. Or pay what's required to get it into a no-kill shelter.

Absolute worse comes to worst, and there is NO OTHER OPTION, you put the dog down humanely.

You don't starve it to death.
I hope this woman is shunned by society for years to come. She can die slowly knowing the world has judged her to be a monster.

How about a warning label on this one...
 

I once had an animal control officer tell me that some people shouldn't be allowed to keep stuffed toy animals. This is one thing I've stolen for. A neighbor had a white lab, about a year old and didn't care well for her. I would put food and water in the yard for her sometimes. When summer came I saw she was grey from fly specks and had two chewed on spots. She was also thin. I was only going to take her to my business and clean her up but when I saw how bad she was, I couldn't take her back.
with some food and attention she looked beautiful very quickly. I called a lab rescue organization and told them I found her and ran an ad for two weeks looking for the owner. They found a good home for her. My neighbor asked if I saw someone take her but of course I told him I didn't. Even though she chewed up some stuff here in the shop I am glad I did what I did.

This is terrible. I just recently got a young Shepherd/Collie mix that looks similar to the second picture of the dog, and seeing this makes me want to drive home and hug him.

Though I never fail to find it interesting that such stories always garner far stronger responses than do stories of abused humans.

This is the hardest IOTD to look at in a long time. After the first glance, I have been careful to scroll down before it opens. His recovery is just great.

In case no one told you: YOU are a hero for that.

I've thought about this a lot. I DO have strong responses to stories about abused humans, esp. young humans. The only reason I get so wrecked about animals is that they are so completely innocent...yea, babies are, too...I don't know. What is the answer?

Hillrick- you are my hero.

Some people deserve to die a horrible death. That bitch certainly does.

Hullo, Hurricane. Welcome to da Cellah.

Humans generally have the capacity to defend themselves from such barbarity. Most domesticated animals are at the mercy of their keeper. I said KEEPER. Nobody actually OWNS an animal IMO.:mad:

I think if we reintroduced the stocks, and put offenders like these on public display, letting anyone who wants have a go at them, this type of thing would be reduced.:mad2:

I like it, Grav. It's very much like having the guillitine erected right in front of the congressional building (AND SENATE)...makes for a nice, good visual.

..and reminder.

This picture has me in a state of shock. My blood pressure is up and I feel some rage coming on

Well done.

"Joy Battison, of Orchard Hill, Little Billing, Northants" There are a bunch of links about this, but this person is lucky she doesn't live around here. Any dwellars near this place?

I'm not sure that's true. For one, shocked silence is a pretty strong response. Just not one that is well shared on a bulletin board. That's pretty much how I react when I read horific abuse stories -human or animal. secondly I don't recall seeing a story of human abuse which did not generate more outrage than this, and thirdly if there are fewer suggestions as to what to do with the perps, perhaps it's because human abuse is generally strongly punished already, and if the miscreants do go back into society, they won't find it easy to fade into anonymity. Animal abuse seems absurdly minimally punished.

Poor dog.

Theres a lady out here in NM who actively seeks and captures mistreated animals and sets them up for better lives. I have two of her dogs and theyre mega cuddlers. Apparently both of my dogs came from underneath cars on blocks. She gets shot at alot too. Thats the cool part.

That is totally un-fucking believable! 12 months of supervision for that!?!? That makes me want to puke! I have a black German Shepherd and saw him when I looked at that photo.

I'd probably get banned or investigated if I said what should happen to this Joy Battison. So...I will stick to "I hope that fucking c*nt dies a slow, painful and miserable death". That is all.

I'd like to know if there was an intervention angel, or a guilty conscience... maybe just a convenient disposal?

There may be more to this than we know.
Maybe the original owner of the dog developed a mental illness that made her unable to cope and she took refuge in denial of reality. Remember those really filthy rooms we saw images of a while back? It might be something like that, which would make the light sentence more fitting.
Of course, if she wasn't mentally ill, then I'll gladly join the old-fashioned-justice mob.

This woman's Karma is going to be coming after her for many lives to come. Anyone who abuses an animal should be locked up for their lives and starved in the process.
My Darby is a pound puppy, and I just can't imagine why his owner wasn't looking for him, he is absolutely wonderful. Their loss our gain.

he does have a point.....

Yes he does, but it's really a stretch.
I think she looks mean.
http://cellar.org/2009/battison.jpg

And look, she's wearing fur... get her, get her... :headbag:

In a related story:

http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/con...91208cats.html

The lawyer, on local news, was all like "she LOVES animals. She's an animal LOVER." Including the dead ones in the garbage bags?

Definitely has a screw loose. I'm sorry, but come on.

(OH, read the comment from Big Greg M...too funny! Not unlike our running 9/11 jokes)

Finding out that she was an animal hoarder puts this in some context.

Doesn't make it better, but it becomes more understandable.

I worked with a lady who turned out to be an animal hoarder in The Northeast. It was a little weird to be watching the news at work and turn to the guy sitting next to me, "Hey, do you remember her, she was the ex-nun with the cats?"

I also had a friend who took a dog from an animal hoarder after animal control busted her. The dog, a pure bred Visla was in awful condition when he first came to her, but was one of the coolest and most loving dogs.

I doubt it would make a difference.
These people do not flaunt their cruelty, they just think they will get away with it. Or as Zen says, there is something missing in their world view that prevents them from acting in the way the rest of us would.
Yup. Pretty much the next county for me. I can't say I'm interested in vigilante action though. I'm not sure if anything would move me to that.

RE: post 33: As a humane officer I saw this sort of situation (FAR TOO) often, and yet I managed to find enough breath to argue for the defendants. Animal hoarders define themselves as animal lovers and so will not turn away the dogs and cats left by others, and often cannot afford to alter them. It's not long before they are overwhelmed, desperate, and unable to seek help lest their animals be 'condemned to death' by a shelter. Humane society folk are often accused of loving animals over humans, but it was the public that screamed for blood. Banning those people from owning animals (or more than 2, subject to unannounced inspections by H.S. officers) is a better cure than jail, especially for the elderly who are the usual hoarders. It's sad all around, really - and as terrible as it was, it was good to be able to intervene on behalf of all the living creatures.

I agree sweetwater. Thing is...a lot of people were aware of the situation. It's just too bad something couldn't be done earlier.

Though my post is without compassion, I am not, and I feel badly for the woman.

Someone wanted to know why we do not seem as outraged over human abuse as we seem over animal abuse. I think this story points to the fact that if children were living in those conditions and even an inkling of it got around the neighborhood, action would have been taken almost immediately. Cats and children...same thing? Of course not, but it's an interesting point for contention.

"She's a crazy cat lady" is too easy as a dismissive response.

Although, several years ago they took 5 or so kids and a bunch of animals out of a house in philly, they had all been sharing the same food and shitting on the floor... Apparently the neighbors called CPS a bunch of times and got no response, so they finally called the police and said it was a crack house. That worked.
Sad.

Sad, but true - at least at the time I was an officer, we required no warrant whereas CPS, cops, and other law enforcement agents did, so we had legal access when often they could not get it. Kids could be in much worse shape but the parents had a perceived 'right' to raise their kids as they saw fit, whereas animals had very limited but legally well defined rights [to food, potable water, access to shelter]. The Hobo story kills me because German shepherds are my favorite breed, and I know he would still go to his owner when called--- if he was able. Too bad mistreated dogs and kids aren't allowed one good bite, huh?

Amen, sweet.

My ex and I used to dogsit Minga, a female German Shepherd, for friends. She was one of the sweetest most loveable dogs I ever knew, and I've known some good ones. She passed away a couple years ago.

I really liked her, and due to her put GSs on the list of dog breeds I will consider if I am ever in the situation where I could have a dog (situation being a few things: I like big dogs, must have freedom to run through the woods and by the creek etc.)

Some warning next time mmm'kay?

Mother****.