http://www.examiner.com/american-pit-bu ... d-missouri
Roxy’s story is a tragic tale of rescue gone wrong. Roxy was originally pulled from Liberty County Animal Control in Georgia. According to records, Roxy’s “rescuer was Debbie Lanier from Georgia’s Animal Haven.”
A deaf family, the Loufourrows, to adopt Roxy. According to reports, “Debbie lost her non-profit status, and so when approached by Mary Loufbourrow to adopt Roxy, she went through Save Our Souls Animal Rescue (Cynthia Simerson) in Claxton, GA.”
No home check was performed “due to distance and because SOS felt the references and the efforts of Mary to comply with all of the requests made by the rescue were sufficient and showed a true desire to adopt Roxy and give her a wonderful life. A part of SOS’s decision was based on the fact that Mary is deaf, as are other members of her family. SOS felt that a deaf home would be perfect for a deaf dog.”
“All communication was via email.Roxy was sent to MO via a big rig and spent 20 hours on the road. In a message sent to the Loufborrows from SOS, Roxy spent those 20 hours in a crate without food or water. Debbie sent along a 2 page letter to the Loufbourrows explaining Roxy’s quirks. She never had any pre-transport contact with the adoptive family.”
Within 24 hours after arriving at her ‘new home’, an announcement was sent out by Debbie Lanier that Roxy was dead.
Amazingly, one rescuer lived very close to the family who ‘adopted’ Roxy. Sadly, this rescuer heard of Roxy after Roxy’s unnecessary death. She began to make calls and investigate Roxy’s death.What she discovered were facts that should never have occurred and would have prevented a cruel and useless killing of an innocent animal.
Fearing Roxy had been ‘dumped’, this rescuer went to work. She posted on Craigslist, Facebook and called every animal control and vet in the area. She went through the Save Our Souls and Animal Haven emails and finally found the Loufbourrow’s contact information. She “contacted the ACO and he had not seen Roxy or had a call from theLoufbourrow's. I gave him the address for the Loufbourrow's and he went by the home. No one would answer the door and Roxy was not seen.”
She was contacted by “Mike Prevac of S.N. K9's and basically told to back off and to give up on Roxy because she was dead and they had emails to prove it.“
Ultimately, the rescuers trying to find out what happened to Roxy are left with heresay. There is no definite answer and no closure for the people who want to know what happened to Roxy.
This one rescuer who went the distance appears to have cared more for Roxy than anyone else. In her own words, “Deaf family automatically equals great family for a deaf dog?Terrible assumption, and in this case, a deadly one. Deaf people are no different than hearing people. As an owner of 2 deaf dogs and foster mom to 1, I can’t imagine how confused Roxy must have been when she entered that house. Being deaf, she would have been very visual in her take on the world.
In a home that used ASL for communication (the Loufbourrows are part of the Ozark Mountain Deaf Church), there would have been an exaggeration of body language and hand signs. Roxy came from a home that used hand signs but doubtless not with the exuberance that ASL is signed. Roxy traveled 20 hours in a big rig, was shoved into a home where she knew no one, a home that sounds to have been chaotic with several children and small dogs. Members of the home would have been gesticulating in anger (we did get word from Debbie or Cynthia that Mary’s mom was very angry at her for bringing the dog in). What happened at that point? If anyone knows, they aren’t talking.”
Had the involved people who made such foolhardy decisions about Roxy’s placement done one small thing, call this local rescuer to do a home check, Roxy would most assuredly be alive today. This rescuer would have seen at once the Loufbourrows were not an appropriate family by a long shot. Being hearing impaired does not meet the qualifications for handling a deaf dog.
What kind of family takes a rescue dog to be killed within 24 hours? Sadly, the people who truly care about Roxy will never know the answers to these questions. Roxy was never given a chance. Everything about this botched attempt at rescue was wrong and could have been corrected by following simple protocol.
Hopefully, others will take a minute to share Roxy’s story so that others will not meet the same fate as Roxy.
Rest in peace, little Roxy.
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