Bloomingdale animal shelter gets license back before hearing
By Christy Gutowski | Daily Herald Staff
In a victory for Pet Rescue, the Bloomingdale animal shelter had its license reinstated Thursday pending a hearing to protest alleged violations.
Pet Rescue lost its license Oct. 16 after state agriculture officials cited it for a fourth allegation.
Attorney Rick Schoenfield filed an emergency motion to lift the suspension, arguing the shelter was denied a fair chance to respond. An administrative law judge overseeing the state agriculture department suspension agreed.
A date for the administrative hearing has not been set yet. If the suspension is enforced, Pet Rescue may apply for a new license in one year.
"We expect that the claims will be rejected at the next hearing," Schoenfield said. "This will allow Pet Rescue to focus on caring for its animals."
The private no-kill shelter has been a subject of controversy for years as former volunteers, workers and clients criticized it for providing improper care to the animals.
The shelter's owner, Dale Armon, 74, and its director, Penny Horak, 69, are facing misdemeanor charges alleging animal cruelty and the violation of their duties for several sick cats and dogs, some of whom had to be euthanized.
Both women deny the charges and are due back in court Nov. 24.
Prosecutors also will ask a judge to force shelter officials to allow an independent official such as a DuPage County animal control officer to come in with a licensed veterinarian to check on the animals, mostly cats and dogs.
The state agriculture violations allege Pet Rescue lacked a pressurized water source or handwashing facility in its annex building. Earlier violations involved two adopted cats that had conjunctivitis, severe upper respiratory infections, pus coming out of their ears and a 104-degree temperature. A third sick cat named Mia had to be euthanized.
Friday, November 7, 2008
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2 comments:
This is the response I received 2 days ago from the IDOA in response to my email telling them the animals are DYING in there and they need to move the animals to safety:
"As a follow up to your email, I wanted to update you on the Department of Agriculture’s efforts regarding Pet Rescue, Inc.
The Department field investigator continues to make frequent unannounced inspections of the facility. The most recent inspection was October 15th. We continue to receive and investigate complaints lodged against Pet Rescue. On October 16th, IDOA issued two additional citations/notices to Pet Rescue, documenting their third and fourth violations of the Animal Welfare Act. Pursuant to Section 20.5 of the Animal Welfare Act, the facility’s license is now automatically suspended and is no longer able to accept or adopt out animals. All evidence of these violations have been forwarded to the DuPage County State ’s Attorney’s office with the requests that criminal proceeding (in addition to those already requested) be initiated. The State’s Attorney’s Office has already initiated criminal proceedings for violations of the Animal Welfare Act and Humane Care for Animals Act against the manager of Pet Rescue, and the charges include matters we have brought to their attention. In addition, we continue to review Department procedures related to animal welfare and humane care investigations, taking into account recent changes in law. Our ongoing goal is to act as consistently and diligently as possible in these matters.
The Department is also working with the Attorney General’s Office to verify that Pet Rescue is complying with the Consent Decree signed on July 21, 2004. The Consent Decree addressed the issue of whether there were any financial improprieties associated with the operation of Pet Rescue. If there are any violations of that Consent Decree, we will ask the Attorney General to fulfill their role in enforcing the terms and seeking appropriate penalties. The Department will continue frequent visits to the facility to assure that the animals are cared for properly as required by law.
Very truly yours,
ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Thomas E. Jennings
Director"
Shame on Rick Schoenfield! He needs to spend time in that hell-hole "shelter" and maybe he would decide to represent the abused animals instead of those greedy horrible women! When I saw the pictures of the animals I can't imagine anyone wanting to adopt such sick and diseased cats. Why don't they have to present actual vets in court who will say that that is the care THEY provide for Pet Rescue. DuPage County needs to close them down and then sue them.
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