Rapid City Cruelty Case in South Dakota

On November 21, 2007, twenty-four Alaskan Malamutes were confiscated from Chad Cooper of Rapid City, South Dakota. Cooper has been charged with animal cruelty. The dogs were pitifully underweight and frightened. There were reportedly dead Malamutes and puppies found on the property as well. The twenty-four surviving Malamutes were taken to the Humane Society of the Black Hills. Almost immediately, one of the bitches whelped a litter of seven pups. Five survived. This brought the total number of Malamutes in the shelter to thirty. There were, of course, many other dogs already there.

AMAL has one person, Lise Tesch, coordinating rescue in South Dakota. Fortunately she is very dog savvy and calm, and coincidentally has had the experience of dealing with a somewhat similar situation in the eastern part of South Dakota some years earlier. She contacted us immediately and offered any help she could give to the shelter. This woman is a gem! She took pictures of the dogs, helped to assess temperament, came every day after work to groom and start to socialize the dogs. An added benefit of her intense attention was that the shelter manager began to trust her and, by extension, our organization. AMAL immediately provided money to the shelter to help purchase good kibble for these starving dogs, and some private donations went directly to this shelter as well.

Nyssa's Pup in South Dakota ShelterWhen the court permanently removed the dogs from Chad Cooper, the shelter decided to keep and place a few young, adoptable dogs and to turn over the others to AMAL, mainly because those dogs would need more time in rehab than the shelter could provide. Slowly, the number of dogs AMAL was to take increased. We got Flopsy after she had a confrontation with two other Malamute two bitches; Lise described the incident as a minor squabble, but it was daunting to the non-Malamute people at the shelter. Next, the shelter's foster home for the bitch and five pups, now 4 weeks old, failed, and we were asked to take the mother and her litter. Frantic to get the puppies out of the shelter, we asked on RealMals and the AMHotline for a  foster home that would hold the mother and puppies for about a month, until the pups were old enough to be flown to other parts of the country. AMAL, of course, offered to pay all vet and food expenses for these dogs. No one responded. Just as I was about to drive up and get those pups out of the shelter myself, Lise Tesch located and screened a local volunteer foster home.

Lise was also able to secure the services of a vet who would travel to the shelter to see the dogs and who gave us a 10 percent discount. For financial reasons, it made sense to handle the spays and neuters in South Dakota, where costs are much lower than in many other parts of the country. For example, an uncomplicated neuter is $85, and uncomplicated spay is $120. To date, we have altered eight Malamutes, at a cost of approximately $900. Some of the dogs are still too debilitated to withstand surgery. We spent an additional $1000 on the initial vet exams for the dogs. Thank God, they are all heartworm free. As of now, each dog has been wormed, heartworm tested, and fully immunized. (Shelters usually only do minimal immunizations and spay/neuters, and they do so only when a direct adoption is pending; shelters do not spend money on dogs that may be euthanized.)

Flopsy in South Dakota ShelterAs is always true in purebred rescue, our primary problem has been and continues to be the challenge of finding foster care. To date, rescue has been able to remove thirteen of the Malamutes from the shelter. South Dakota Rescue has taken a total of eleven, including the mom and five puppies now in foster care. Lise herself has adopted one dog, Mukluk; and another, Myst, has been adopted by a friend of Lise’s. Two others, Remus & Jethro, went to adoptive homes in South Dakota and another, Togo, went to a family willing to foster him.  Two, Sugar and Spice, have gone to Moonsong Malamute Rescue in Idaho.  Offers from other AMAL affiliates are as follows:

Finally, one will go back to her non-AMCA breeder, who immediately contacted us to identify her dog from pictures on the Coopers’ Web site and to offer to rehome her. This spayed bitch will be flown home at her breeder's expense. Believe me, we are grateful to this breeder and to our affiliate rescues, all of which were strained before the South Dakota crisis and have nonetheless responded with extraordinary generosity.

So, twenty-two dogs are "spoken for" by AMAL-affiliated rescues and that one breeder.

This leaves three dogs still in need of foster homes. Some of these dogs will be flown, and some will be moved by car. Winter weather makes it likely that transportation will be a logistical nightmare. We don't yet have an estimate on the cost of crates and airfare, and, of course, we'll bargain — and plead. We will have to be very cautious in moving these dogs because many of them are skittish: not aggressive, but traumatized and frightened. They need Mal-sophisticated transporters, not folks who usually move Pomeranians.

Any help you can scare up for us will be greatly appreciated. At some point, we may need volunteers to drive dogs through their areas or to provide overnight stays for dogs being moved a long distance.  Experienced foster homes are desperately needed, with the understanding that a nearby rescue will take the dog once a space opens up. Finally, AMAL will continue to need to fund these dogs for months, so donations are earnestly solicited.  Referrals of potential adopters may be sent to Ronajamals [at] gmail.com  Photos of all these malamutes may be seen at http://tvamal.com/WMindex.html    [Web Note: see South Dakota section]

Dan Anderson

AMAL President

Alaskan Malamute Assistance League
801 Coventry Street, Boca Raton, FL 33487

Please make funds payable to Alaskan Malamute Assistance League (no abbreviations),
state "US dollars" on all International Money Orders and checks, and note your AMAL donation is for the "Rapid City Mals".
All donations go to helping the dogs and are fully tax deductable as allowed by law.

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This page last updated: 31 December 2007
© 2000 Alaskan Malamute Assistance League