Fine levied in dog abuse

Myra McDonald, of Weeki Wachee, will have to pay $6,400 but won't face criminal charges

By JAMIE MALERNEE

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 15, 2000

But she will have to pay a hefty fine and will never be allowed to run such an operation again in Hernando County, said Jim Varn, the county's supervisor of Animal Services.

"I'd like to make it so people like this could never own animals again, though that's not going to happen," Varn said Friday. "But I feel like we've come out of this ahead, that we've handed out as much punishment as the courts could have."

Myra Beardsley McDonald, 27, of 13009 Manistee Road of Weeki Wachee, will have to pay $6,400 for leaving 24 large-breed dogs without food and water for between five and 10 days at the G-Force K9 Academy, a business located at the same address. The dogs were found in June after a neighbor complained that a hungry puppy had followed her son home and, a few days later, she saw another puppy dead on the property.

When inspectors arrived, they found two dogs locked in a mobile home covered with diarrhea. More dogs were found in kennels, with algae growing in their water bowls. Officials said half of the dogs are American bulldogs, half Italian mastiffs.

Varn said the abandonment occurred because of a "divorce situation" between Ms. McDonald and her husband, Garrick W. McDonald, 28, who also owned and ran the property. Apparently, McDonald had left the kennel in his wife's care while he flew to Ohio to get medical treatment. While he was gone, Ms. McDonald decided to leave her husband -- and his dogs -- Varn said.

Varn said he cited Ms. McDonald with abandonment instead pursuing criminal charges because of the difficulty of proving such charges and the likelihood that a plea deal would have resulted in a lower fine.

"Unfortunately, animal issues do not come as a priority (in our criminal system)," Varn said. "The criminal charges would have been harder to do and with less punishment."

Of the 24 animalsseized from the kennel, three were euthanized because they were infected with the deadly parvovirus one puppy died; four have been turned over to an animal rescue service, and two were returned to a woman who had been boarding them at the kennel. The remaining dogs are being handed over to Harry DePietro of Punta Gorda, who owns some of the abandoned dogs.

Although still angry at Ms. McDonald, whom he says he paid nearly $1,700 to care for his animals, DePietro said he was content with the outcome of the situation.

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