"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be determined by the way its animals are treated." -- Mahatma Gandhi

This rescued Katrina dog died from neglect alone in his cage
IS THIS CONSIDERED "SAVED"?!!!

 

On October 2, 2005, I was contacted to see if I could take the remaining 200 pit bulls at Lamar Dixon that had been rescued in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. When I said I did not have the facilities to house and care for the dogs, I was offered a significant amount of money to build a sanctuary. I informed them that due to the myths and misconceptions regarding the breed, that it is difficult to adopt out the dogs and I would most likely need to care for a large portion of them for the remainder of their lives. I then told them it would take awhile to find property and to build the type of facility to properly handle such an undertaking. It would be best if they let me contact colleagues of mine in the pit bull rescue world and we would find already established rescues that would use the money to add on to their existing facilities to house and care for the dogs. I told them I would get back to them in 48 hours. The next day, they called me back and said they found a woman in Arkansas who is considered an expert in pit bull rescue that would take all 200....and the million dollars to care for them. I asked who it was because I was familiar with most of the large pit bull rescues. She said, "Tammy Hanson of Every Dog Needs A Home in Gamaliel, Arkansas". I had never heard of her and asked that I be given 24 hours to get more information about her and whether or not the dogs would really be properly cared for. They said OK.

So I began my investigation. Never in my wildest dreams could I have envisioned what I was about to uncover!

I called Ms. Hanson and identified myself and my organization and told her that I had heard she was offering to take ALL 200 pit bulls from Lamar Dixon. I told her I would like to offer my services but said that I had never heard of her and asked if she could give me some references. To which she replied, "I don't give a f... who you are, I'm getting a million dollars to take these dogs so I don't have to answer to you or anyone." Click--she hung up.

I know of no legitimate rescue that gets angry when asked for references so that immediately sent up a red flag to me. I started calling around to get more information about her. I called her local Humane Society who told me they had been trying to shut her down for years. I then called and emailed everyone I knew in the dog world and law enforcement across the country and told them to get me as much information as they could...and fast! The pit bull and other breed rescue networks got to work and sent me all sorts of information about Ms. Hanson.

Some of the things we uncovered were that Tammy Hanson was previously charged with animal cruelty in Missouri and was convicted of impersonating a medical doctor in Illinois in 1993. I passed this information on and it was enough to stop the shipment of the remaining 200 rescued pit bulls at Lamar Dixon from being sent to her.

I was so relieved! But that was short lived.

During my investigation, I learned that several rescues and shelters who rescued Katrina dogs had already sent dogs to her! I also learned that a well known animal rescue organization was about to place the 50 pit bulls they rescued from Hurricane Katrina with her.!!

It only took me a few minutes to gather basic information about this rescue; a magnitude of complaints, no references, no staff to care for these already traumatized animals, and that the North Central Arkansas Humane Society was in the process of trying to get them shut down. You would think that organizations who were responsible for the well-being of animals they rescued would at least do a preliminary check to make sure the animals would be cared for properly BEFORE sending them! But it was easier to dump the rescued dogs in an unregulated sanctuary and to walk away than to care for them.

With dogged determination and the help of numerous other reputable rescue organizations and individuals, our investigation continued, despite the threats now coming from Ms. Hanson, two rescue organizations (made very popular by the media for rescuing Katrina dogs) and others. Slowly more and more reasons to be uncomfortable surfaced.

Several members of the team I put together to assist me with the investigation spoke to Ms. Hanson herself, only to be verbally abused and threatened for asking questions. The same thing happened when we questioned the organizations who were planning on sending her more dogs.

These organizations made a commitment to send their rescued Katrina dogs to Ms. Hanson without ever so much as looking at the site! We found this very, very troubling! The number one rule in pit bull rescue (any rescue, as far as we are concerned) is to do a home check.  A home check keeps animals safe. We know of NO legitimate rescue group which places one animal, let alone 50, without a home check!!

All we asked of these organizations was to do a simple home check PRIOR to sending the dogs to Ms. Hanson. This was NOT an unreasonable request! Again, it only took me a matter of minutes to get information regarding EDNAH. Why couldn't these organizations do some reference and fact checking especially since the lives of these animals were in their hands?!!

Our simple request went ignored and we were threatened even more. But we were determined to make sure the well-being of these dogs would become a priority. It is NOT okay to exploit these rescued animals, profit from the publicity, and then dump them into an unregulated "sanctuary" where they will disappear and their fate will never be known!

"Rescuing"
means a commitment to care of the animals

But small rescues and individuals are no match for the hundreds of thousands of dollars these well known rescues had pulled in for "rescuing" these dogs. They made it clear that the dogs were going...despite everyone's concern, and threats were issued to stop questioning or lawsuits would follow. The following day we read a press release that talked about their dogs being sent to a wonderful sanctuary in Arkansas.

A week later, on Friday October 21, 2005, based on the information uncovered in our investigation, Every Dog Needs A Home (EDNAH) was raided by the Baxter County Sheriff and the North Central Arkansas Humane Society. Tammy Hanson and her husband were arrested for animal cruelty.

Over 500 dogs were on the property. Most of them, still in the shipping crates they arrived in, were covered in feces and urine. Many had burns covering their paws and bodies from standing and sleeping in their urine for days, even weeks. Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery said, "I've never seen anything like this before." The dogs had no shelter from the weather, heat of the day or the cold of the night.

What the investigating officers witnessed first-hand in a ground inspection is the kind of stuff that keeps you awake at night--literally. Several of the officers on scene that day said they did not sleep that night, or the one after, as the scene replayed, again and again, in their minds.

One of our rescuers on the scene said, "We found two dogs dead, in trash bags and two dogs that have died since they were "rescued" from the Katrina disaster area, that died alone and in their own filth inside the crate donated by the organizations that 'saved' them!"

No distinction is there between allowing
something that could be saved to die
and killing them outright

Two more Katrina dogs that were "saved" - one on the top left, the other in the bag

Click HERE to view more photos

Due to the magnitude of what was found, I knew I needed even more help. There was no permanent shelter nor bathroom facilities on the property. There were swarms of flies every where and a rising stench rolled off of the grounds. The Baxter County Sheriff's Office had never dealt with anything like this...nor had anyone dealt with a hoarding case of this size! I called all the rental facilities near Gamaliel, AK and was able to get tents and heaters sent to the grounds to get the animals out of the cold and rain, I called several dog food vendors and Iams was generous enough to send food for the animals. I made several calls to the HSUS, the ASPCA and others, only to be told "it couldn't possibly be that bad". But I kept calling until finally someone from the HSUS Southwest Regional Office listened and agreed to go to Arkansas and see for herself. When she arrived the following day she couldn't believe what she was seeing...it WAS that bad! I put her in contact with Sheriff Montgomery and she called the HSUS headquarters and they took over the operation and the care of the animals. United Animal Nations Emergency Animal Rescue Service (EARS) also was called to help.

Because the dogs were considered evidence in the cruelty case against the Hansons they were not allowed to leave the property. Volunteers provided critical care on site, built exercies pens and kennels for the dogs, gave them blankets and chew toys...but just as important, they gave them attention and love.

What started out as me thinking I was just doing a basic home check to ensure the dogs would be cared for ended up with us shutting down one of the country's largest animal hoarding cases in history! I have to say though, that I laid awake every night during our investigation and prayed that I was wrong. Believe me, there was no glory in being right.

When the trial was over Tammy Hanson and her husband were convicted of 20 counts of animal cruelty and all of the animals were either re-united with their families or adopted by loving homes around the country.

The storm was finally over.

 

Pet Abuse and Cruelty Database; Tammy Hanson - Click HERE

10/22/05 Sanctuary Owners Arrested For Animal Abuse Scandal - Click HERE

10/22/05 Two Arkansans Arrested For Animal Abuse Scandal - Click HERE

11/01/05 Katrina Dogs Rescued From Second "Storm" in AK - Click HERE

11/11/05 Fate of 100's of Dogs Hangs on Outcome of Cruelty Case - Click HERE

11/15/05 ABCNEWS-Hundreds of Homeless Katrina Dogs Found Suffering - Click HERE

11/30/05 The Last Dogs Leave EDNAH!

 

UPDATE: Tammy Hanson failed to show up for her sentencing and a warrant was issued for her arrest. There is a $5,000 Reward for information leading to her arrest. Tammy Hanson is listed on the Baxter County Sheriff's Most Wanted List.

 

Diane Jessup's page regarding this incident- Click HERE

For more information regarding Animal Hoarding - Click HERE

 

 

"We call them dumb animals for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words."
--Anna Sewell, Black Beauty, 1877

~~~~~~~~~

A Special Thank You To:

Desiree Bender of Where Angels Run who stuck with me from the very beginning of our investigation and stayed on scene for weeks to ensure these animals were taken care of.

 

Judy Bishop, Diane Jessup, Leisa Boysen and the many people who assisted in gathering information so we could put this case together.

 

Holly Bukes of Pit Bull Rescue Central who handled every logistical task I needed help with.

 

Tammy Hawley of the HSUS for listening, when no one else would, when I called for help after finding out the magnitude of this incident. The HSUS spent several thousands of dollars to improve the conditions for these dogs.

 

IAMS for their generous donation of food for these animals.

 

 

Mountain Home Pets for their hard work and efforts.