Dawn Wike - Adams County SPCA
Family dog put down by the SPCA on these grounds? This SPCA needs an audit and a real shake up or needs to be shut down.
Family Dog Put Down
Right from the beginning, the little Norwegian elkhound/yellow Labrador mix puppy became part of the Seymore family. That was back in the spring of 2003, when Dale and Kathy Seymore purchased the dog for their young children. The playful and affectionate dog that they named Max had a cozy, insulated kennel on the deck and enjoyed the Seymores’ 11-acre farm in Mount Pleasant Township. Despite the dog’s healthy size, he was afraid of loud noises and rain. “My kids were attached to this dog from the start,” said Dale Seymore, noting that his children picked him out of a litter at a local pet store. “When you have a dog for that many years, it’s part of the family.” Which makes what happened over the Fourth of July holiday so much more traumatic for the Seymores. The couple claim the dog was unnecessarily, and too quickly, euthanized (put down) by the Adams County SPCA after it ran away from home and was picked up by shelter manager Dawn Wike, whom they say abused her power. And last week, the Seymores convinced the Conewago Township supervisors to scratch their previously approved $2,500 contribution to the SPCA to be written into the 2012 budget. “We don’t believe in making trouble but this ain’t right,” Dale Seymore said. “We’ll go to any township meeting that we can until they get this situation corrected.” For her part, Wike disputes the Seymores’ claims and said she was forced to euthanize the dog because it bit her and a nearby homeowner, and posed a risk to the public. According to the Seymores, they were on vacation in Minnesota over the Fourth of July weekend and their 22-year-old daughter and her husband were caring for the animals at the farm. Dale Seymore said Max got loose during a thunderstorm on the evening of July 2 and made his way to a house about a mile away where a party was going on. He said the dog did not scare or bother anyone at the party, but the homeowner called State Police out of concern for the dog, because it was getting late. The police notified the SPCA and Wike picked up the dog early the next morning and euthanized it shortly thereafter, Dale Seymore said. “I talked to the State Police and I read their report,” Dale Seymore said. “They (the homeowners) weren’t worried that the dog was a danger to anyone, they were worried about the dog. “The officer said he never would have left that site if he thought that dog posed a threat,” Seymore said. But Wike said the dog bit a person when it showed up at the other house and bit her slightly on the ankle when she tried to load it into the SPCA van. Wike said when she arrived on the scene around 6 a.m. on July 3, the dog was on the front porch of a house across the street from where he was reported and some residents assisted her in rounding up the animal. She said the dog had a collar but no tags or microchip to identify it. She said neither the State Police nor the animal shelter had received a call reporting the dog missing. Under state law, Wike said, she is permitted to euthanize an animal if it’s determined to pose a threat to public health and safety. Read more
