Hearts for Hounds Pair Give Up the Dogs

Bonnie Sheehan and Pamela King-McCracken will be returning to the Long Beach area, where they feel they have support to help defend themselves next month against animal cruelty charges in Tennessee.

Friends of the two said that, having posted $10,000 each in cash or property to secure their $100,000 bail, the state leaves to bail bonds firms the decision on whether out-of-state defendants can leave Tennessee.

The two Hearts for Hounds women, arrested in Fayette County on Jan. 17 for animal cruelty, agreed in court Tuesday afternoon to relinquish 148 dogs they were carrying in a U-Haul truck and minivan. They were bound for Roanoke, Va., intending to set up an adoption shelter. But the judge in the case, which has stirred up emotions in those states and here, postponed the matter until Feb. 21.

Sheehan's defense attorney submitted to the court numerous affidavits, including at least two from volunteers who said under oath that Long Beach Animal Care Services staff was present Jan. 15, a Sunday, and helped load crated dogs into the U-Haul (where the majority were transported) and a minivan. (Patch first reported this Monday.)

KCBS in Los Angeles reported that the judge continued the hearing until February to learn more about how Sheehan might have been advised to transport the dogs. Her friends have said she was planning to take 60 dogs but that the city shelter worker said all the dogs at the facility would need to be taken, so Sheehan had to buy more crates and rent a bigger truck.

The city of Long Beach released a to the press Tuesday on the Hearts for Hounds case and some of its visits to the Long Beach rescue shelter and kennel on Obispo Avenue. In the pdf attached, the city says Long Beach police were called and an animal services staffer responded at some point during the loading; they'd been called by a neighbor reporting the U-Haul and a dead dog. The city said there was no dead dog and there were only 10 dog crates in the U-Haul truck. were not released because the city has enlisted a private firm to investigate the animal care department's role in recent weeks to ensure proper procedures were followed. 

A neighbor told the Los Angeles Times that she watched the loading and grew concerned about the dogs' safety and photographed the loading.

The U-Haul pulled away from Long Beach on the night of Jan. 15. The LBACS officers were to return the next Tuesday, Jan. 17, for a prior inspection. By then, a Tennessee state trooper had made the traffic stop and reported in court that the dogs were "in a horrible environment," and appeared to have no food or water in the truck.

Sheehan's friend and rescue volunteer Jay Williams didn't believe it. He and people like local veterinarian Dr. Sam Schenouda have rallied support for the two women. Schenouda has reportedly raced around to gather all medical records for those among the 148 who need medical treatment. He is gathering all the medical records for the the majority of the dogs.

 "Some of these animals were their personal pets," said Williams, a paralegal who has spoken on Sheehan's behalf. "She and Pamela's dogs were also crated among the rescued animals they were transporting to Virginia.  So they've lost their own dogs now."

 Sheehan's attorney. Douglas Davis, told WMC-TV: "I think she was following through on what she was told is the right way to do things."

"Ultimately, we want accountability from the defendants for their actions in the state of Tennessee," District Attorney Mike Dunavant told media outside court. Dunavant said he plans to put it before the March session of the grand jury.