Long Beach : Cited Dog Owner Fails to Appear for Court Hearing

A hearing over whether a woman must pay the city of Long Beach $7,000 for the care of more than 20 dogs seized from her home last summer has been postponed indefinitely and a bench warrant issued after the woman and her attorney failed to appear.

The case of Joan Morcom and her dogs has been complicated by the fact that the city recently destroyed four of the animals, prompting Morcom to countercharge the city with illegal conduct. The animals were seized last August after city officials bulldozed Morcom’s home in Alamitos Heights on the grounds that it was structurally unsound.

During a recent hearing, Morcom pleaded no contest to charges that she had maintained the dogs in a hazardous and unhealthy manner. In exchange, animal control officers assured her that the dogs would be held for adoption for at least 30 days.

But four were destroyed before the 30 days were up because diseases or behavioral problems made it unlikely they would ever be placed in new homes, said Wayne Besenty, the city’s senior animal control officer. Only 11 of the original dogs survived various diseases from which they were suffering when seized. Five of those have been placed in homes and two more remain in the city’s animal shelter, awaiting adoption.