So, this is Chesapeake Virginia….

I had all but given up on writing Blog posts any longer but then I came across an article in the Virginian Pilot and just had to write something about it. This is a blog about dogs and dog adoption but this post is about the City of Chesapeake and a woman who is trying to help the stray cat problem at one of Chesapeake's malls.

 As reported in the June 17, 2015 edition of the Pilot (http://bit.ly/1GnFaMN), “Last September, Debbie Manzione was leaving Chesapeake Square Mall when a cat crossed her path in the parking lot.
The devoted cat lover retrieved some dry cat food from her car, and followed the animal to nearby shrubbery where she saw other felines. She set out the food and headed home.

Since then, Manzione said she has returned several times to feed them. Other people were doing the same, she said - some every week.
About two weeks ago, as she has done before, she captured a few of the strays, had them neutered and paid for their shots. The pair are now in what she calls "foster care" to determine whether they can be domesticated or sent to a farm. Previously she's taken away seven cats, including a female who later gave birth to four kittens.

The Suffolk resident was happy to help the animals. At least until last week, when she came home from work to find a Chesapeake police officer and an animal control officer waiting for her.

They gave her a court summons to appear in General District Court”

Chief Kelvin L. Wright (http://bit.ly/1GkmX2F) continues to do a stellar job running the Police Department. You can't report a traffic accident at Chesapeake Square mall because it’s considered Private property but you sure as hell can give someone a ticket for someone who captured some of the MANY stray cats, had them neutered and paid for their shots. So why is it left up to citizens to help with this problem to begin with? Why isn’t or hasn’t Animal Control done anything about it, after all Animal Control comes under the Police Department and Chief Wright. Oh yeah…because it’s PRIVATE property and since the property owners never called to make a complaint, why does Chesapeake Police have any business giving her a summons to appear in court? 

Maybe Chief Wright and his department can give her the summons and charge her because the wonderful mayor of Chesapeake, Alan P. Krasnoff (http://bit.ly/1JYjKwU) doesn’t give a damn about the animals in Chesapeake. That’s been made pretty clear time and time again until a bunch of Chesapeake residents got together (http://bit.ly/1K1de6N and http://bit.ly/1QFBwJe) to demand changes to the way the city shelter dealt with animals and the way they euthanized those they didn’t like, such as Pits, Rottweilers or just about anything bigger than the kennel manager Tracy Stevens. And if you know who Tracy is, just about every dog that ends up at the shelter is bigger than her. We’ll get back to the shelter a little later.

Maybe Chief Wright can do as he pleases when it comes to doing next to nothing to help Chesapeake animals because, along with Mayor Krasnoff, he has the city council who doesn’t do much of anything at all when it comes to trying to make things better for the animals. You have the wonderful S.Z. “Debbie” Ritter (http://bit.ly/1JYjXQL) who has made it clear time and time again that she fully supports euthanizing animals of Chesapeake and does nothing to try and make things better. Actually, she goes out of her way to make things even more difficult and if anyone says anything about her, Mayor Krasnoff is quick to jump up and put an end to it. Meeting with Ms Ritter is next to impossible as she is one of the rudest most obnoxious members of the city council, but why not, she’s not going anywhere. She and the rest of the city council are part of the “Good Ol Boys” club. 

But there is one saving Grace in Chesapeake and that is City Council Member Robert C. Ike, Jr (http://bit.ly/1H1Sxsq). He’ll meet with you, even make you feel as he cares and empathizes with the plight of the animals in Chesapeake. But, that’s as far as it goes. He’s would make a damn good actor if he ever wanted to change careers.

 

Oh yeah, I said I would get back to the shelter. Kathy Strouse is the Superintendent of the shelter. “Superintendent” the title alone tells you how archaic and stuck in the dark ages Chesapeake Animal Control is. The only way I can describe Kathy is bitter. To this day she is still bitter about the fact that she did not get to kill a St. Bernard named Alchemy. And try she did. 

But she lost in court and he was awarded to an 

organization that takes very good care of him. To this day he is doing wonderful. Kathy comes down from her office and looks for reasons to euthanize a dog, especially if it’s a Pit. She has made it pretty clear that she doesn’t like them, doesn’t trust them and doesn’t find any reason for them to exist. Oddly enough though, she was quick to write a book about the Michael Vick dog fighting ring of a few years ago now. Before you say, she wrote a book about Pits and can’t be all that bad. The book was from a legal standpoint where she said in the book that the dogs should all be euthanized, even though many of them went on to be wonderful ambassadors for their breed. So Kathy released her book, trying to make money off of the Pits, just like a backyard breeder would make money off of them. For years and years Kathy kicked and screamed about opening the shelter on Sunday (the second biggest adoption day of the week) but in June 2014 the shelter hours for Sunday were changed to noon – 4:00pm. I just have to wonder if it had to do with all the noise that Chesapeake citizens were making. Maybe it was a way to give them something and shut them up?

So, what does a woman being served a summons for feeding stray cats on private property have to do with the Mayor, Police Chief, City Council and Head of the shelter? They are the ones who are supposed to be protecting Chesapeake’s animals but as long as each of them holds their current position that is not going to happen. And exactly why was a CHESAPEAKE Police Officer and Animal Control officer waiting at Debbie Manzione’s home in SUFFOLK? As usual, Chesapeake police spokeswoman Kelly O'Sullivan offered few details. And what in the world was a Chesapeake Animal Control officer doing on PRIVATE property if the property owner never called to make a complaint? At some point Animal Control Officer set up live-capture traps baited with food - but because they say other people were feeding the cats, the traps were unsuccessful. So Debbie Manzione was being part of the solution by taking the cats she could to a vet to have them spayed/neutered and vaccinated. But instead of getting a thank you by anyone from the city of Chesapeake, she now gets to go to court and answer for the charges.

In closing, I want to make sure that you understand that there are some Animal Control Officers who truly care about the animals and do everything they can to help them. Unfortunately, many times it results in them hitting a brick wall.

This is Chesapeake, Virginia.