Thursday, August 31, 2006
By LaToya Thompson
Staff Writer
URBANA – Clark County Humane Society Director Ed Sisler said he describes the Champaign County dog warden as “bold” and “assertive.”
Sisler said he has a good working relationship with Mandy Randall, Champaign County dog warden, since 1997, when he became director.
But he didn’t agree with her decision to euthanize a St. Paris family’s dog, an incident which sparked a petition demanding Randall be fired and an investigation from the Ohio Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
The Hupp family dog Ditto was euthanized by Randall because she believed it to be a pit bull or pit bull mix.
Delbert and Tamara Hupp, of St. Paris, did not return phone calls Wednesday. According to the Urbana Daily Citizen, Delbert Hupp told Randall Ditto wasn’t a pit, and he had adoption papers proving it.
The Clark County Humane Society adoption records listed Ditto as a boxer mix, Sisler said adding the society doesn’t adopt out pit bulls or pit bull mix dogs as pets.
“I don’t understand the methodology of how this was handled,” he said about Randall.
Sisler said Randall talked Delbert and Tamara Hupp into releasing their dog into her custody after Ditto was found running loose at Kiser Lake State Park in late July and euthanized Ditto in less than 24 hours.
According to Ohio Revised Code, dog wardens should notify the registered pet owners or post a notice if a dog was impounded and allow three to 14 days for the animal to be claimed before selling or killing it.
Randall said as puppies it’s difficult to tell if a dog is a pit bull mix until it gets older, and Ditto appeared to have a pit-bull looking face and an Akita body. Ditto was not leashed, looked “big and scary” and wasn’t spayed or neutered, she said.
Randall said she had warned the Hupps in the past about allowing their dogs to run loose. The Hupps were told they could receive a citation or release the dog to be impounded.
Sisler said no state agency nor oversight committee exists to monitor dog warden behavior.
The Clark County Humane Society donated a beagle mix dog to the Hupps last week.
“For their children it wasn’t replacing in essence what was taken from them, but it was restoring the opportunity to have (animal) companionship,” he said.
SPCA Investigation
SPCA President Teresa Landon said the controversy surrounding Ditto’s death caused more Champaign County residents to complain to the organization leading it to investigate.
“I think people need to know what’s going on at their dog pound and county facility. People need to know the truth,” she said. “This is not the first Champaign County situation that has come through in an e-mail, but it seems to be building, and people are stepping forward.”
The investigation focuses on complaints about improper procedure, violations of Ohio Revised Code and threat tactics, Landon said.
The organization’s pro bono lawyer will look into Randall’s handling of pit bull and pit bull mixes.
Landon said pit bulls tend to be labeled as vicious, but there are good pit bulls.
Also, the organization will look into the dog shelter’s public hours, which are listed as 12 p.m. to 12:45 p.m. Monday through Friday and by appointment on Saturday and Sunday.
The hours limit availability to adopt or claim dogs, Landon said about reports that Randall sometimes isn’t present during the open hours.
Randall said she is busy as the sole dog warden for a county of about 39,000 people. Commissioners can’t afford an assistant, she said.
