Hundreds offer to adopt trashed shih tzu


The South Carolina woman who put her live dog out with the trash, got caught, then did it again, has been found guilty of ill treatment of animals, officials in Spartanburg County say.

Nancy Smythe, 58, was fined $470 for ill treatment of animals, and fined another $80 because the dog was not vaccinated against rabies, according to GoUpstate.com.

An employee with a trash collection company found the dog inside a trash can outside of Smythe’s residence earlier this month. The worker took the dog to Smythe’s residence, where, after initially denying it, she identified the dog as her’s. The worker called animal control officers before leaving, and when they arrived they found the shih tzu in the trash can again, under two bags of garbage.

Smythe told officers that she “needed to get rid of the dog.”

The dog, named Oreo, is now at Greenville County Animal Care, where Susan Bufano said he’s not nearly as shy and reserved as she expected he’d be.

“He is just a love,” she said of the dog, believed to be about 8 years old.

Oreo was not neutered, was loaded with fleas and had other skin problems when he arrived, but he is being treated with antibiotics and improving, she said.

Bufano has received about 200 calls and emails — from people as far away as Arizona, New York and Texas — willing to provide Oreo a home. The pool of potential adoptees has been narrowed to about 20, she said.

Comments

Comment from smoketoomuch
Time February 24, 2012 at 11:16 am

Fines?! All she got was fines?!? That’s almost as disturbing as the original criminal act itself. Until the Judiciary gets serious with these Nimrods the message that it’s not OK to abuse your pet will never be heard& understood.

Comment from Yvonne
Time February 24, 2012 at 12:26 pm

Poor dog. Atleast people are wanting to give it a home. But people calling from different states could go to their local animal control or shelters and find dogs just as needy there too.

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