Such was the case with Lawrence Police Chief John Romero and Lt. Shawn Conway announcing that the city dog pound is under a ten day quarantine, abusing their power and the confidence of Mr. Patten.

Reading the article while knowing the background of the case, I had to laugh at the Chief and Lieutenant for their weak effort at trying to protect themselves of the embarrassment they face in the wake of the unnecessary death of Destiny, a wonderful, playful pit bull taken from Alicia Lugo in July.

Those familiar with that case know that Destiny and Tyson were taken from Alicia Lugo and her son Jonathan De La Rosa pending the outcome of their case for dog fighting and animal cruelty charges. The case continues next week, December 13th.

Animal Control Officer Keith Stramaglia, is the officer who reported that Alicia Lugo’s Pit Bulls, Destiny and Tyson, were being used for dog fighting and who were being abused by Lugo and De La Rosa. Wonder how he got his job? I regress.

It is true that a dog who is believed to be the source of the Parvo Virus was picked up, except, the dog was picked up on Prospect Street, not Ferry Street as the Eagle-Tribune article said. Keith was the officer who picked him up. Unfortunately, the report has mysteriously disappeared, but I was told that that was on a Tuesday and the dog was placed in a cage next to Destiny and Tyson. The dog was found dead on Thursday, November 16th and Keith brought him up to the MSPCA telling them that he believed the dog had a tumor.

Parvo virus is a highly contagious virus that attacks the intestines and causes sloughing of the inner layers of the intestine. Parvovirus is resistant to extremes of temperature (i.e., it survives freezing and extreme heat) and is unharmed by detergents, alcohol, and common disinfectants. Direct transmission occurs when an infected dog comes in contact with a healthy dog. The virus is found in heavy concentration in the infected dog’s stool. Because dogs will usually sniff where another dog has eliminated, this fecal-oral transmission is the most common method of transmission. The virus particles can be easily spread by hands, shoes, clothing, or other inanimate objects (fomites)—this is an indirect source of transmission.
Taken from http://www.cpvh.com/Articles/39.html )

This can only mean that the cages were not cleaned out properly and dogs were shuffled from cage to cage, thus the spread of this virus.

It was said in the Eagle-Tribune Article, “Lt. Shawn Conway, supervisor of the city pound, said animal control officer Keith Stramaglia found Destiny and Tyson were sick on Nov. 29.”
That can’t be true because I walked into the pound the evening of November 29th to pick up a couple of small dogs and I asked why there was such a strong bleach odor. I was told that one of the dogs had Parvo. At that time Destiny and Tyson were in the back cages.

I immediately said that I could not take any dogs that were there in the event that they came in contact with the virus in any way. I explained what I knew of the virus and advised them to quarantine and have the dogs tested.

Because I have dogs of my own, I immediately took off my clothes when I arrived home, bagged them and showered for fear that the virus could have got on my clothes.

The next day I received a call that Destiny and Tyson tested positive for Parvo and were in the hospital. That was Thursday, November 30th, almost two weeks after the infected dog was found dead in his cage. Please note that Lt. Conway allowed “Officer” Stramaglia to go home to tend to his nephew’s dog instead of decontaminating the pound that day.

I immediately called Dalia Diaz and told her what was happening and asked her to check out the situation. Thus the calls to Chief Romero began.

Throughout all this time, not once did anyone from the Lawrence Police Department contact Alicia Lugo to inform her that her dogs were hospitalized, nor did they try to find out any health information from them. Ms. Lugo was informed through Dalia Diaz that her dogs were in the hospital.

Destiny passed away at Bulger Animal Hospital on Friday, December 1st, yet Ms. Lugo was not informed about her death until Dalia Diaz contacted her on Monday, December 4th, after I was told that the dog had died.

The only thing mentioned about Ms. Lugo and Destiny was from Lt. Conway who said that Ms. Lugo would be responsible for the hospital bill. When Ms. Lugo called the hospital on Monday, she was told by hospital staff that they were under orders by the police department not to release any information to her.

During this whole time the Lawrence Police Department, who are supposed to be trained professionals failed to let the Sheriff’s Department know that their building, which is also used by Sheriff’s K9 Unit was contaminated.

The only people they manage to notify were the Eagle-Tribune with a one-sided version. Were they just too busy to notify everyone else and they were just hoping that the newspaper would do that for them? Or maybe it was that they just couldn’t be bothered. We obviously know that it can’t be that it’s because they’re spending all their time cleaning the building with the recommended (by the Department of Agriculture) solution of water with 10% bleach. Animal Control Officer Keith Stramaglia, Police Chief John Romero’s maybe one day brother in-law, Sharon Birchall’s brother, is responsible for that lack of cleanliness that caused this mess and the life of a dog.

On Monday Chief Romero did tell Dalia Diaz that Ms. Lugo could go pick up Tyson. I have to wonder why, after six months and a still pending case, Chief Romero would just all of sudden say she could have her dog back. You think he’s afraid that another dog will die? Maybe now after an innocent dog dying he’s ready to put his nepotism aside to do the right thing?

For the sake of the dogs, I hope so.