Petition: Neighbors Begged Someone to Help Rosie for 60 Days. By Then, Her Leg Couldn’t Be Saved.

Rosie was a year old when her leg was caught in a sawmill belt in the town of Hopkinton, New York, sometime in April. An injury like that is an emergency. Instead, according to the Potsdam Humane Society, she went more than two months — roughly sixty days — without veterinary care. At least two people reported her condition to an animal control officer, who went to the property twice; the shelter manager says the owner refused to let him see the dog. The owner reportedly told the officer that a veterinarian had looked at the injury and found it wasn’t life-threatening, and that he intended to breed Rosie before putting her down. He surrendered her only after being told that an animal cruelty conviction could carry a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. By then it was far too late to save the leg. Rosie was taken to Silver Birch Animal Hospital, where it was amputated; a shelter fundraiser covered the $4,000 cost. On July 1, the St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office arrested and charged 40-year-old Enus Yoder with animal cruelty. Please sign the petition asking for a lifetime ban on animal ownership and mandatory counseling if he is convicted.

✍  Sign the Petition

There is a further twist that makes this petition more urgent, not less. Local reporting says Rosie’s former owners want her back — and that the animal control officer who intervened has himself now been charged with coercion, following a complaint filed by the man accused in her case. The officer denies any wrongdoing, says he only explained the legal consequences of refusing to surrender an untreated dog, and is now lobbying for body cameras for animal control officers. Whatever a court makes of that dispute, the underlying question is simple: Rosie is recovering on three legs, a dozen families are already waiting to adopt her, and none of that should be undone. A lifetime ownership ban is the mechanism that settles it permanently. Counseling addresses whatever allowed a visibly suffering animal to go untreated for sixty days while neighbors pleaded. If you have ever wondered what to do when you see an animal in this condition, One Green Planet’s guide on what to do if you suspect animal abuse in your neighborhood walks through it — and in Rosie’s case, the neighbors who spoke up are the reason she is alive. The local reporting is available via WWNY 7 News.

✍  Sign the Petition Now

Sign These Urgent Petitions!

• Petition: Witnesses Heard Her Screaming From 200 Feet Away. Lola Didn’t Survive.
• Petition: 125 Dead Dogs Were Hidden in Trash Bags and Inside the Walls of This House
• Petition: He Died Chained in the Sun. The Thermometer Couldn’t Even Read How Hot He Got.