Complaint over dog’s treatment backfires

Woman jailed after harassment allegations made

It’s been two weeks since Amber Cammack noticed a dog that she said had its mouth tied shut and never seemed to leave a neighboring balcony at her northwest Harris County condominium.

After Cammack posted photos of the dog on Facebook, concern over its welfare went viral. She ended up getting arrested when the Harris County Sheriff ’s Office received complaints of harassment from other residents.

She spent a night in the Harris County Jail at 1200 Baker St., triggering a protest Thursday afternoon in front of that lock-up. Cammack was joined by her attorney, Randall Kallinen, and about 25 supporters carrying placards decrying animal cruelty and supporting “porch pooch.”

Authorities, however, say a veterinarian and an animal protection investigator have examined the pit bull mix named June, which reportedly is in good health and is now back with her owner, rather than the condo dweller who had been caring for her.

No cruelty charges

Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson, acknowledging that the photos on Facebook painted an unhappy picture, said during a news conference that the story had a happy ending. No charges of animal cruelty would be filed in the case, she said, because there was no evidence to support it.

“The pictures are bad,” Anderson said. “I’m a dog owner. You’ll never see my dog with a muzzle, or stuck on a porch with a diaper. Nobody in this office condones that or thinks that person was properly caring for that dog.”

Anderson’s office also declined to file formal charges against Cammack, who on Thursday disputed the story’s happy ending and called for an apology from Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman for her arrest. She said the reason she posted photos on Facebook was because she tried every other avenue to report what she thought was inhumane treatment but got no response.

Once the posts got widely distributed, Cammack said, she got a call from the sheriff on Monday, advising her that she would be arrested if she didn’t remove the posts.

‘Right to freedom’

“When the sheriff himself calls you and threatens you with arrest, that is an extreme chill on your right to freedom of expression,” Kallinen said.

Ryan Sullivan, a spokesman for the sheriff ’s office, said deputies responded to a complaint Monday from the Villas of Westador condominium regarding “continuous harassment of the residents.”

Sullivan said deputies took multiple statements alleging that Cammack “had repeatedly published allegations of animal abuse on social media sites, including their personal information, their physical locations, security access information, personal vehicle information, and more.”

Deputies contacted the District Attorney’s Office, which it says initially accepted the misdemeanor charges for repeated electronic harassment. Cammack spoke with the sheriff and other members of the command staff, Sullivan said.

“After a lengthy discussion, Sheriff Hickman advised Ms. Cammack that repeated posting of personal information to social media could result in arrest should the District Attorney move to file charges,” the statement said.

Cammack wasn’t satisfied with the outcome Thursday. She questioned whether an investigator with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals had examined the dog.

Christina Paaske, a representative of the rescue group Pitbulls of Houston, who also spoke at the news conference, said she had examined the dog in a private meeting with the owner at the suggestion of sheriff ’s deputies.

Paaske said the dog couldn’t apply pressure to her rear left leg, but Anderson said the veterinarian’s report attributed that to a limp from an old injury.

Paaske also said the dog was “emaciated” but, in spite of her condition, was “kissing everyone and wagging her tail.”