Texas Vet Charged with Animal Cruelty After Bulldog Kept in Horrible Conditions Must Be Put Down
When pet owners planning a trip have to find care arrangements for their pets, there are several options — each one fraught with potential pitfalls.
They can have someone care for their pets in their own home, but unless that person is a close relative or friend, you never know how they might act.
They might opt for a doggy daycare sort of situation, but when staff isn’t trained correctly or dogs aren’t divided into size groups, tragedy can strike.
So some take the route that seems safest: Board the dog at the vet’s. If anything goes wrong, they’re already in a place where they can receive medical attention.
Unless that vet’s office is Wellness Veterinary Hospital, owned by Dr. Dana R. Boehm, whose kennels were cleaned out by the Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter in Texas after animals were found in deplorable conditions.
The alarm was sounded after the owners of Jax, a 5-year-old English bulldog, came back from their trip to find their previously healthy dog in a very sorry state.
They’d been out for a week in March, and somehow within that span of time, the dog had developed numerous coin-sized sores and wounds where his bone, ligaments and tendons were visible, according to KTBC-TV. He was unable to walk and smelled like urine.
Jax’s owners quickly took him to a different veterinarian but came to the sad realization that his condition was so poor that he needed to be euthanized.
After a search warrant was obtained, detectives found horrifying conditions behind the scenes at the vet hospital. The smell was intense, animal waste was everywhere and there were dirty clothes, scattered medications and uncapped, used syringes.
Dogs being boarded in the facility were found without food and water in filthy cages.
The Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter picked up the animals that owners were not able to collect immediately, and all of them eventually went home.
A warrant was issued for the doctor, and on June 16 she turned herself in. Boehm was arrested and charged with animal cruelty, a Class A Misdemeanor. The following day, she bonded out, according to KXAN-TV.
This was not Boehm’s first run-in with the law. According to The Austin Chronicle, in 2007 she was charged with felony theft for cashing in a tax return check for $3,270 addressed to her former employer, a veterinarian.
Many are now calling for Boehm to lose her license, but they’ll have to wait for the case to play itself out. In the meantime, dog owners are using this as a warning to be vigilant about inspecting a boarding facility before making a reservation.
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