Boatfield is reported casualty of kill/no-kill clash in Toledo

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1999:

TOLEDO, Ohio– –Mary Pat
Boatfield, 49, a frequent instructor at
national animal care and control conferences,
said little to media about her
October 11 surprise resignation after 15
years as executive director of the Toledo
Humane Society, but Lucas County dog
warden Tom Skeldon told Toledo Blade
staff writer Lisa Abraham that he thought
she was ousted by the THS board for
refusing to move toward a no-kill policy.
On September 13 Lend-A-Paw
Feline Shelter and Lend-A-Paw Foundation
and Puppy Nursery founder Patty
Rood told a press conference that she
believed Boatfield brought neglect
charges against her in early September
from fear of “competition.” Rood surrendered
17 sickly cats to THS on
August 31, after which THS seized 135
more cats and two dogs in a series of
raids on the Lend-A-Paw Foundation
Puppy Nursery and a foster home. Rood
later surrendered another seven cats.

Rood was supported at her
press conference by Toledo-area residents
Opal Covey and Mary Barker,
who had prior convictions in similar
cases. Barker, convicted of neglect in
1991, 1993, and 1997, is currently facing
charges of failing to properly license
and confine a young Rottweiler who was
declared vicious in November after biting
or scratching three children.
But Boatfield’s departure did
not end Rood’s troubles. The present
management of the Lend-A-Paw Feline
Shelter, who voted Rood out as president
in December 1997, on October 19
sued her for using the name Lend-A-Paw
in connection with the Lend-A-Paw
Foundation, incorporated in April 1998.
According to Toledo Blade staff writer
Mark Zaborney, the Lend-A-Paw Feline
Shelter alleges that Rood used their mailing
list; used donated funds for repairs to
her home and car; is seeking $50,000 in
compensatory and punitive damages;
and is asking that the assets of the LendA-Paw
Foundation be placed in trust for
the use of the Lend-A-Paw Feline
Shelter.
Another Toledo-area no-kill
advocate, Planned Pethood Inc. founder
Ron Schmidt, 54, was reportedly
arraigned on October 25 for failure to
establish that eight of his dogs who
attacked a 5-year-old boy on October 5
were vaccinated against rabies.
“Schmidt, who has 17 dogs living with
him on 30 acres, has been heavily
involved in offering low-cost sterilization,”
reported Toledo Blade staff writer
Carl Ryan. “Founded in 1979, Planned
Pethood placed 325 dogs in homes last
year, and will do twice that number this
year, Schmidt said.”
Schmidt told Ryan that his
dogs didn’t have vaccination certificates
because he had vaccinated them himself
to save money.