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Archived News April 08 PROBATION FOR NOISE USA August 31, 2008 Lilburn man with 25 dogs gets 2 years’ probation for noise Howl-elujiah. All 25 beagles and basset hounds belonging to Randy DeCarlo would have joined in that chorus Friday, had they understood a judge’s ruling allowing them to stay put in their home. DeCarlo had been facing stiff penalties — up to $24,000 in fines, 12 years in prison, and the possible seizure of the dogs — for 24 citations he was issued last year for violating Gwinnett’s nuisance noise ordinance. A few of Randy DeCarlo’s basset hounds and beagles, at his home Tuesday in Lilburn. The 55-year-old animal rescue activist faces 24-months on probation in court, charged with violating the county’s noise ordinance because of barking hounds.DeCarlo, a retiree who runs a state-licensed foster home for unwanted or abused basset hounds and beagles, was sentenced to two years on probation. An attorney for the Gwinnett County Solicitor’s Office had asked that DeCarlo be limited to 15 dogs at his home in a residential area on Oak Road in Lilburn. Recorder’s Court Judge Patricia Muise ruled that DeCarlo can keep the dogs as long as he finds a way to limit their barking within 45 days. DeCarlo was just pleased he won’t have to surrender any dogs, saying “I’m glad as long as they’re safe.” The judge cautioned DeCarlo that his probation could be revoked and he could wind up in jail if future complaints are filed about the barking. Should he choose to move out of Gwinnett, the sentence will be dropped, the judge said. DeCarlo’s Atlanta attorney, Anna Sumner, said she was “thrilled with the result” and added that DeCarlo will not hold grudges against neighbors who brought complaints against him. Several neighbors testified during the bench trial that the hounds commonly bark for 15 to 45 minutes at a stretch when they see, hear or smell someone in the vicinity. Susie Porter owns the house next door to DeCarlo and brought the initial complaint to Gwinnett County Animal Control last year. Porter told the judge that DeCarlo called her employer and threatened to ruin her career shortly after he was issued the citations. She testified that she has been subjected to personal attacks ever since the case made headlines. “For weeks I kept getting e-mails from people telling me they wanted me to be put down,” Porter said, her voice straining through tears. Porter stressed that she is not a “dog-hater,” in fact she owns a toy poodle. “We don’t want the animals put down, but I think it’s cruelty right there to have 25 dogs in a small area,” Porter said. About half a dozen animal activists attended the hearing in support of DeCarlo. They said there is a fear among their community that owners of numerous dogs could be forced out of the county with the threat of similar citations. “A lot of people, if government came knocking on their door, would shrivel up and go away. The dogs they rescued would die,” said Michael Babigian, who has also opened his Gwinnett home to foster dogs. “God bless Randy for being out there and standing up for what’s right.” STOP DOG ATTACKS SCOTLAND August 30, 2008 Stop dog attacks or I will sue you Chris Davies claims he can no longer enjoy the West End park with Murdo - because other selfish dog owners are allowing their pets to roam off their lead. Mr Davies, 30, of North Kelvinside, is furious the council has failed to enforce a bylaw that requires people to keep their animals under control. The charity service manager said: "My dog has been attacked three times in the last 18 months and there have also been a few near-misses. "On a few occasions I have ended up on the ground in a tussle between the dogs. "If a child was involved it could easily have been a lot worse." Mr Davies said on one occasion he injured his hand trying to save Murdo from an Alsatian. Last week, on Kelvin Walkway, a cross-breed sunk its teeth into Murdo's head, leaving a nasty wound that needed veterinary treatment. Mr Davies said Murdo, a Parson Jack Russell Terrier, is now terrified of other dogs. Mr Davies said the council admitted in a letter to him it cannot enforce park bylaws because it does have enough resources. But he said this was an infringement of his civil liberties and insisted he had the right to use public parks without worrying about his dog being attacked. He has contacted several legal firms to take his case further and is prepared to fund any legal action. He added: "As a tax payer, I should be able to walk in the park without fear." Kenny Boyle, the council's parks, transport and environment manager, said: "We are very keen to identify those responsible for these attacks. "People need to keep their dogs under control in any park. While most pet owners are sensible and abide by the rules we will not think twice about excluding those who do not. "We want to make sure parks are pleasant for everyone to enjoy." DOGS BRED FOR DRUGS Dogs 'bred to fund drugs trade' Rescue centres across the country are being swamped with Staffordshire Bull Terriers that have been sold to or bred by irresponsible owners. The Scottish SPCA is housing 57 of the dogs now and one group in Angus said more than half of the 70 dogs it had taken in this year were of that breed. Responsible buyers are often put off by the image that the dogs are violent. However the charities have said it is the way the dogs are raised which determines their nature. 'Wrong type' Ian Robb, from Help for Abandoned Animals near Arbroath, said: "The wrong type of people in society are breeding them for their own gains and then dogs are just being abandoned. "People who are abusing drugs are breeding the dogs to raise funds to buy the substances they're abusing and this just seems to be happening all over Britain at the moment." Mr Robb is concerned at the way many of the dogs are being reared. "Last year we had to give up on two young Staffies because they couldn't be trusted with people. They were vicious dogs. "Unfortunately we just had to give up on them and they had to be put to sleep." At the moment the group has Kyle at its centre, who was found tied to a tree near Montrose. Rescue centres say many of the dogs end up with them He is a Staffordshire Bull Terrier who finds it difficult to socialise with other dogs because he was kept inside his owner's house and not taken out for walks. Mr Robb believes it will be "very difficult" to find a home for Kyle but he is determined not to give up. At the SSPCA centre near Dundee they have Charlie and her five puppies. Charlie is only a puppy herself at seven months old. They were taken from their owners about three weeks ago because they could not look after them. Sharon Comrie from the centre said: "The people that are on drugs or are into dodgy dealings, they will buy them as a status symbol. "They're macho, hard, tough dogs and they buy them, they breed them, they can't get people to take them on or they're passing them on to other undesirable people and they're having more litters and the problem just escalates. "Undesirables, they're getting money for them. They're getting £700/800 pounds for them, so that's more drug money." DOG SWIMS FOR CHARITY BURTON ON TRENT ENGLAND August 28, 2008 Three-legged Reggie swims for charity Six-year-old Lakeland terrier Reggie lost his ear and leg at just 10 weeks old after a fight with his siblings but he has never let it stop him living life to the full. The courageous canine, who is cared for by Dave and Lyn Peach, from Horninglow, goes swimming every other Saturday at the Ashbourne Canine Hydrotherapy Unit. The swimathon has raised more than £400 for the Do it 4 Di team, which raises money for the Breast Care Clinic at Burton's Queen's Hospital, in Belvedere Road. The Do it 4 Di cancer charity was set up after former breast cancer sufferer Di Crump, along with friends Maureen Nicholson and Pam Milton, decided to give something back to the hospital that helped her fight the illness. Ms Crump said: "It was wonderful that he did it as he hurt his back the previous weekend but he recovered well. "Thank you to Lyn and Dave Peach because it is fantastic that they have donated the money to the Do it 4 Di team. "Maureen and Pam would also like to pass on their thanks." The charity's forthcoming fund-raisers include a Hallowe'en party on Friday, October 31, and a ladies' pampering evening on Thursday, November 27, both at the Henhurst Club, in Henhurst Hill. ASIANS DONT HATE DOGS UNITED KINGDOM August 27, 2008 Asian don't hate dogs - they're just rational about them Jessie is a Border collie. My housemate's dog. And the problem with dogs is that they bark, dribble, insist on being walked, smell, eat the Rufus Wainwright albums you order through the post and try to copulate with everything, even if it's 100 times or a tenth of their own size. Not even Calum Best does that. And after two months, Jessie and I remain distant. He still barks whenever I enter the house and in return, except for the times I'm tripping over him, I ignore him. However, this arrangement was disrupted the other week when a production company suggested that I present a short documentary for Channel 4 on the question: Why do Asians Hate Dogs? The cultural angle hadn't really struck me before. I'd put my aversion to canines down to having been bitten by a doberman as a child. But it's true. I don't know a single Asian family with a pet pooch and while Americans spent $15.2 billion (£8.2 billion) feeding their pets in 2007, the equivalent figure for India is, apparently, just $29 million. What's going on? To find out I spent a morning with Stan Rawlinson, a self-proclaimed “dog behaviourist”, and a whole day entertaining Jessie. The experience was illuminating, but before I proffer a hypothesis for why Asians are incapable of extending their enthusiasm for private number plates to dogs, let us eliminate some theories, the first of which is: religion. It is, of course, true that Islam has traditionally renounced dogs as impure. But - and here's a concept people seem to increasingly struggle with - not all Asians are Muslim. Animals are actually revered by Hindus and Sikhs. It has also been suggested that the Asian aversion to dogs is down to the 25 million stray dogs marauding the sub-continent. We are, it is argued, hardwired not to get close, to avoid becoming one of 35,000 people who die of rabies in India every year. Again, there is probably an element of truth to this, but I recently visited Ecuador, which has a similar problem with strays, but the people there are almost as keen on dogs as pets as they are on military coups. If the theory had (four) legs, then surely this wouldn't be the case. We can also, I think, safely reject the explanation put forward by Stan Rawlinson, the dog expert, who argues that Asians may hate dogs because dogs may not like ethnic minorities. He put it to me that, because dogs don't see colour in the way human beings do, they cannot understand expressions on darker faces. Leaving aside the science of what dogs do and don't see, and the odd implication that not being able to register a facial expression leads to hatred, in my experience it's not the hostility of dogs that's off-putting, but their overbearing affection. Indeed, unlike most Border collies, the issue is not black and white, and one of the first things I would stress is that Asians do not, necessarily, “hate” dogs. Admittedly, when I took Jessie for a walk through Southall, the Asian area of West London, and asked passers-by if they wanted to play with him, the reactions, with the exception of one woman who announced she had a pooch of her own called “Tony Singh”, were extreme. If I'd suggested eating a live pigeon, I doubt the yelps would have been more piercing. But fear of the unknown is not the same thing as loathing - and I would suggest that it is not that Asians hate dogs, but that they are rational about them, whereas the British are demented about their dogs. And while this irrationality comes in various forms, the most common is the absurd notion that dogs are clean animals. When I set off with Jessie in a taxi to Southall, my English housemate, who is sane in all other respects, warned: “He gets travel sick - but don't worry, it's not as bad as human sick.” Well, having cleared up after him, I can report that dog vomit is actually worse. To argue otherwise is lunacy, and the Asian aversion to it entirely sane. It is also entirely sane not to enjoy being slobbered over by a mutt. Many a Brit dog owner will let their pet lick their face in the sentimental belief that Fido is expressing affection. But as Rawlinson pointed out, dogs actually do this in the hope that the recipient will regurgitate their breakfast. It is behaviour they exhibit as puppies with their parents, when they are incapable of digesting raw meat, and, once again, I would argue it is rational that my people aren't enthusiastic about it. But, having spent some serious time with Jessie, and developed something resembling a bond with him, there is, I think, something else that drives a wedge between canines and Asians. It seems to me that the essential appeal of dogs is that they are relentlessly loyal and proffer extremes of emotion: they are either extremely pleased that you are taking them for a walk, or hugely disappointed that you are not. And frankly, given the neediness and emotional hysteria of the average Asian extended family, that's the last thing we need. GUIDE DOGS LEBANON USA August 26, 2008 S. Annville man guides dogs to help others But in a few months, Heisey will return his faithful companion to the dog’s original owner. The 74-year-old South Annville Township resident is raising Cocoa to eventually be a seeing-eye dog. Cocoa will live with Heisey for the first 12 to 15 months of the puppy’s life. Cocoa is the third dog Heisey has helped raise for Leader Dogs for the Blind, an organization based in Rochester, Mich., that provides dog guides to people who are blind and visually impaired. Heisey’s main mission is to socialize the dogs. “I train them for obedience as you would any dog,” he said. “I take them as many places as I can — restaurants, church, meetings. I try to get him used to everything that he will be doing when he becomes a guide for a blind person ... so that it’s not a surprise when a blind person finally gets them.” Heisey doesn’t do any of the what he calls “harness training,” the actual guide-dog training. They do that at Leader Dogs headquarters when Heisey returns the dogs. “There are things that I’m not supposed to do because you have to try to put yourself in the position of a person that’s blind, such as, obviously, no food off the table whatsoever. No human food at all,” he said. “No animal bones at all, because a blind person couldn’t tell if they’re chewing or choking.” When going to restaurants, Heisey always calls ahead to make sure it’s OK to bring the dog. “Everybody seems to be receptive to the idea,” he said. Each dog has a tag from Leader Dog verifying it is a guide dog in training, and Heisey also has a vest for the dogs identifying them as such. People often tell Heisey they wouldn’t be able to give the dog up after raising it for a year. But, he said, he doesn’t have a problem. “You’re training the dog to be something much better than what it is, and that’s enough for me,” he said. “The dog’s never mine. The dog belongs to Leader Dog. They only loan it to me.” When the dogs return to Leader Dogs for the Blind, they are thoroughly evaluated for medical soundness and personality traits. Dogs that pass this evaluation are trained one-on-one for the next four months by a professional instructor. The instructor then carefully matches each Leader Dog with an individual who is legally blind. The team trains together at Leader Dogs for the Blind for a month before leaving the facility. Heisey said he gets satisfaction out of raising the dogs, even though he has to pay for most of the costs associated with raising them. “All the expenses are mine — the costs going out (to Michigan) to get the dog, to take the dog back, veterinarians, food,” he said. “Anything I spend is my cost. I don’t get any financial help.” Heisey worked for 29 years as a welder for Cleaver Brooks before the plant closed and now works part-time in the supply section at Hershey Medical Center. He and his wife have three grown children. AMERICAN STAFFORDSHIRE TERRIER WELLINGTON NEW ZEALAND August 25, 2008 Chisel is no threat: dog owner If the classification is upheld, Chisel, a non-aggressive family pet, will have to be de-sexed, micro-chipped and muzzled in public, under 2006 amendments to the Dog Control Act. Mr Brinkworth hopes to use the dog, raised from a pup, for breeding. While american staffordshire terriers are an internationally recognised breed, for New Zealand's legislative purposes they are considered to be american pit bull terriers, which means they are automatically classed as menacing. Council animal control manager Nicole Collins told the hearing she did not dispute the fact Chisel was of good temperament or purebred, but under government legislation the council had no choice but to classify "according to schedule". Mr Brinkworth said "amstaffs" such as Chisel were a show dog, and completely harmless. "It is very unfair that you can classify a dog on its breed, and not its history," he said. "If we did this with people it would be called racism." Mr Brinkworth tabled a list of 19 councils which did not categorise the breed as pit bulls. Hearings sub-committee councillors Dynes Fulton and Graeme Tait have reserved their decision. MAN ACCUSED INDIANAPOLIS USA August 24, 2008 Man accused of mistreating dogs
The dogs were removed from the home and taken to animal care and control. "It was pretty bad. Two of the animals that were seized from the property had severe imbedded collars. It was like someone got a knife and sliced the whole neck of the animal. It was split open," said IMPD Lt. Jerry Bippus. Authorities said the animals were emaciated. Their ribs were showing and all of them had severe fly bites to the ears. The discovery was made Tuesday night at the home of 53-year-old Maxie Lambirth. Authorities said Lambirth kept the dogs tied to thick, heavy chains. The chains were heavy enough to be used to tow cars. "They were scared. They cowered down. They wouldn't move. They thought I was going to hit them and we were just trying to remove them from the chains and help them out," said Lt. Bippus. Police arrested Lambirth. He's in the Marion County Jail on a $10,000 bond. The dogs are recouping at animal care and control. Authorities said what Lambirth did was unacceptable. "I know I'll be pushing for him to not get these animals back due to the conditions they were living in," said Lt. Bippus. Some of Lambirth's neighbors called what he's accused of absolutely disgusting. MINI DOG CRAZE LONDON ENGLAND August 23, 2008 Paris Hilton and Britney Spears blamed for mini-dog craze Paris Hilton and Britney Spears have fuelled a craze for handbag dogs - with chihuahuas now the ultimate "fashion accessory". Paris is often pictured cuddling her chihuahua, Tinkerbell, Britney once owned three of the tiny mutts, and Geri Halliwell took her shih-tzu Harry to see Tony Blair at Chequers. Sainsbury's reported yesterday that the number of chihuahuas it insures has leapt 417 per cent since 2006. While the overall number of pint-sized pedigree breeds it insures has shot up 41.3 per cent. Neal Devine, the store's pet insurance manager, said: "The publicity around celebrities like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears and their small pedigree pets has fuelled the demand for handbag dogs." He added: "A pet should never be seen as an accessory. People should not be guided by fashion trends when buying a pet." DOGS STATUS SYMBLES HORSHAM ENGLAND August 22, 2008 Police warn 'status' dog owners Staffies are a typical status dog to some PROBLEMS with so called 'status dogs' in Newhaven have forced police to come up with a novel way of dealing with them. As a result Newhaven police have done some research and found owners could face prosecution under the 1988 Road Traffic Act for not keeping their dogs under control. Section 27 (1) of the Act says it is an offence to permit a dog not to be on a lead on a designated road. PC Holt said: 'We have had a number of complaints about status dogs being off the lead and wandering into shops. We did some digging and found this part of the Road Traffic Act. 'In the first instance, owners will get letters warning them of the Act. If they persist, then we will look to taking it further.' The RSPCA has expressed concerns about status dogs which are increasingly seen as a badge of honour – some end up in organised dog fights while others are used to intimidate people. Tim Wass, the charity's chief officer, said: 'There is widespread recognition that the agencies on the front line need to work better together in order to deal with irresponsible dog owners who use dogs as weapons or let them run amok.' CREDIT CRUNCH TO BLAME NORTHAMPTON ENGLAND August 21, 2008 Credit crunch blamed for rise in abandoned dogs The number of abandoned dogs in Northamptonshire is rising as the credit crunch bites, according to a county kennels. The kennels has gone over its limit following the increase, which saw 143 dogs handed over last month, up 21 on the same month last year Barbara Austin, who runs the centre with her husband, said the situation had become "horrendous" and believed the prospect of a recession would lead to more unwanted dogs. Some owners were abandoning their dogs and denying any knowledge of them, she said. Mrs Austin said: "It could be the credit crunch with people being unable to afford them or it could be that they have had to move home and can't take the dogs with them. "It could also be that people have taken on a dog on a whim without realising what's involved. "When we have called the owners of abandoned dogs which have been tagged you can't get through and if you do they claim to know nothing about the dog or say they have given it away." But she added: "I do have sympathy with people having financial problems. It's difficult. You get people that would give their last penny for a dog, but if you have got four children and you have lost your job and might lose your house, you have got to prioritise." She said there have been a large number of Staffordshire bull terriers taken in. The abandoned dogs section of the kennels takes a maximum of 40 but there are currently 47 dogs. Mrs Austin said: "We will have to just muddle through. We can use the overspill blocks which is what we use for out of hours." The kennels only puts down dogs with bad temperaments or illness. Mrs Austin called for dogs to be officially registered and to have licences, which she said would help put an end to so many people abandoning their pets. The full article contains 351 words and appears in Northampton Chron & Echo newspaper. A DOGS DINNER Gladstone Tavern dishes beef stew servings to 'your dog' Post a CommentRecommend Print this page E-mail this article Brady smelled the dish, circled it and then began eating the stew with tiny, aggressive bites. "He likes it," Siegel said. Siegel and Brady were among approximately 200 people and 100 dogs with reservations for the second annual Bring Your Dog to Dinner Day at Gladstone Tavern -- a sharp increase in reservations from the previous year. Sales of the beef stew will be donated to St. Hubert's Animal Welfare Center in Madison, as will the $10 per dog donation charges, Gladstone Tavern management said. The stew was described on the menu as, "Lean beef braised with vegetables until fork tender," under the heading, "For Man's Best Friend." The price was $5. Chef/Owner Tom Carlin said he seasoned the beef stew in veal stock and let it simmer for two hours as he would for humans. "He'll probably never have dog food again after having gourmet beef stew," Siegel said. She also went with her husband, Harvey, and son, Josh. They had crab and steak. Stephannie Siegel said they often dine at the tavern, saw advertisements for Bring Your Dog to Dinner Day while they were there and decided to bring Brady so he could meet people and other dogs. Canine reservations quadrupled from last year to this year, according to tavern manager Dave Donlon. He took a 2 p.m. seating with his 6-month-old Yorkiepoo, a Yorkshire terrier and miniature poodle mix, named Daisy. Also dining with him were his wife, Kerry, and daughter, Monika. The dogs were not allowed inside the tavern, but they dined on the front porch, on the terrace in back and on tables in the grass. At times, one dog would bark and the other dogs would chime in. Owners took pictures of their dogs. "People that love dogs love to bring them," service manager Rich McCurdy said. "It's a great way to get the community together." He said he had never heard of owners bringing their dogs to dinner in his 25 years in the restaurant industry until he started working at the tavern about a month ago. Carlin, who adopted his mixed-breed dog Roxy from a shelter, said some of his patrons would ask if they could bring their dogs when they were eating outside. He surmised that if he had a day when pets and their owners were invited, he could expect the day to be well-attended. Pat Licetti of Bridgewater brought her black, mixed-breed dog, Nico. "He likes to go places, so I wanted to bring him," she said. Her friend, Vicki Peterson, said, "I think it's great. ... Otherwise you always have to leave your dog at home." IN NEED OF HOMES CAMBRIDGSHIRE ENGLAND August 19, 2008 Council seek help for abandoned dogs THEY might be known to most as man's best friends, but every summer hundreds of dogs are found astray on the streets of Fenland. Up to 15 dogs are being abandoned every week and, with not as many dogs finding homes, Fenland District Council's contract kennels is struggling to cope with the epidemic. The council has now launched an appeal to find dog lovers, who can offer these pooches a loving new home. Councillor Peter Murphy meets one of Tejaycey’s smaller residents. 2943BP88 Under the Environmental Protection Act, the council has a duty to collect and detain all stray dogs. It also has the power to re-home the dogs if they remain unclaimed after seven days in the kennels. However, a dog may be put to sleep if ill-health or poor temperament makes it unsuitable to re-home. Genuinely lost dogs could also be returned to their owners, but many do not have a collar with their addresses on or micro-chip identification under the skin. In July alone more than 30 abandoned dogs, many with no form of identification, were picked up as strays by the council's dog warden. The contract kennels is currently looking after more than 40 dogs and is struggling to find homes for them before more stray dogs are brought in. Tejaycey Boarding Kennels, in Wisbech, the council's contract kennels, is currently home to all sorts of dogs including Staffordshire Bull Terriers, a spaniel and a German shepherd. Claire Palmer, of Tejaycey, said: "I have been here for six years and this is the worst year I have ever known for finding stray dogs. "We have only got space here for a few more dogs, so we urgently need to find some of these dogs a new home." GONE TO THE DOGS LONDON ENGLAND August 18, 2008 London greyhound landmark gone to the dogs For 75 years, sleek greyhounds have chased the mechanical 'hare' round the sandy track at Walthamstow Stadium in east London, roared on by hopeful punters standing just a few steps away. But a proud tradition has been snuffed out. On Saturday, the stadium closed its doors, almost certainly never to open again. In the late 1940s, Britain boasted 77 greyhound racing tracks and 50 million mainly working-class punters would stream into the stadiums each year. Walthamstow, deep in the densely populated East End, is one of the best known -- and even gave a young David Beckham his first pay packet collecting beer glasses at the track. But changing leisure habits and the rise of online betting have caused a near terminal decline in greyhound racing and just 30 tracks remain in Britain. The stadium was packed with 5,000 spectators on Thursday in a cruel reminder of what used to be, but most were only there for a last, and sometimes first, look. Dave Carter, 61, who works for a greyhound trainer, has seen Walthamstow in better days. "I've been coming down here since the '60s, two or three times a week," he said. "If all these people were here every night there would never have been a problem. But on a normal Thursday down here you might get no more than 200 in. "To be honest, I'd say greyhound racing is dying everywhere. "I used to work with a trainer in Sydney and when I went back to Australia recently there was only a tiny crowd there too. It's very sad." A night "at the dogs" is a unique occasion. Admission costs no more than six pounds (7.5 euros, 11 dollars) and there is little of the sartorial finery associated with horse racing -- most people wear jeans as they munch hot dogs and drink beer. The action is up close, with the dogs thundering after the prey they will never catch just the other side of a fence. The trackside bookmakers, or bookies, mainly elderly men in shiny but still smart suits, signal to their colleagues with a series of hand gestures that are incomprehensible to all but the aficionados. The names of the greyhounds -- Droopys Marylou and Sherbourne Ellie were just two of the dogs running on Thursday -- are also reminiscent of a bygone era. Walthamstow has played host to the stars over the years. The Kray brothers, infamous London gangsters of the 1960s, were regulars in their heyday and Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt was a more recent visitor. David Beckham grew up not far away and long before football brought him his millions he used to earn pocket money at the track. He said he was sad to see it close. "It's a real shame to see it go as it means so much to the area," Beckham told reporters from his home in California. "Even though I haven't lived in the East End for many years, I have great memories of Walthamstow and I know many people will miss it, including me." Andrew Neofitou, who was enjoying a last night out at what locals affectionately call the 'Stow, remembers Beckham well. "David was what we call a 'pot boy'," the 37-year-old recalls. "He was a quiet lad. I used to lock him in the lift for a laugh." Andrew's friend Steve Tatam, also 37, used to run along the roof of one of the stands at the stadium after climbing up from his parent's garden which backed onto the venue. He said: "I'm getting really quite emotional about the track, but they won't be able to save it. It's gone, I think. In a year's time it'll all be houses and flats here. "I'm a window fitter, so my only hope now is that I get the contract to fit out the houses!" The stadium's owners have sold the land to a housing association -- a builder of low-cost housing -- for a rumoured 22 million pounds. A spirited campaign to save the track has been launched, backed by a multi-millionaire businessman who wants to buy it from its new owners. For the moment, the housing association insists it will go ahead with its plans and most neutral observers believe the efforts to save the track are doomed. One element of the stadium that will be staying is its whitewashed front, complete with pink and green neon lettering, which has protected architectural status. But the future for many of the dogs seemed to be spelled out by a forlorn advertising hoarding in the track's infield. It reads: "Greyhounds make Great Pets." OWNERS WAIT FOR NEWS Devastated pet owners hope for news Julieann Derham brought her bulldog, Amelia, to live with her at the Riverwalk at Millennium apartments last week, she said through tears yesterday . "She's my baby," Derham, 25, said. "She's so sweet, and she wouldn't hurt anything," she sobbed, talking with SCPA workers at the Spring Mill Fire Company. Earlier yesterday, near an SPCA table at the Riverwalk complex, a woman dropped to the pavement, crying. "My cat is dead," she said between sobs to her male companion, who crouched facing her and massaged her shoulders. The day after the fire left 375 people displaced, dozens of owners scoured the grounds for any information about their pets. With only minor human injuries and no fatalities, the major loss of life appears to have been that of many cats and dogs. The apartments had a welcoming attitude that attracted pet owners, said Donnie Bielak, 24, who was reunited with his tabby yesterday morning. "It's very pet-friendly," he said. "Almost everybody there had a pet." Representatives of the SPCA were at the fire scene until midnight and returned yesterday to gather information from pet owners. As of yesterday afternoon SCPA workers had recovered four cats and one ferret. The Montgomery County Animal Response Team had also gathered three cats. The SPCA county shelter will house any animals that are found. For information about them, call 610-825-0111. Experts are unsure how many pets are lost to fires each year, as many owners don't report pet deaths and disappearances. "It's almost impossible to track," said Cindy Otto, an associate professor of critical care at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. "The big thing is, be prepared to evacuate. It's something that needs to be in place before any disaster happens." Families should keep carriers to transport pets and make sure their animals are clearly marked, preferrably with microchips, Otto said. Brad Helcoski, 31, came close to leaving his rat terrier, Reilly, in its crate when he heard the fire alarm on his way out to the gym. But when Helcoski saw ash in the sky and firefighters on the ground outside his building, he turned back. "I ran up the fire escape and grabbed my dog and my phone," he said. "That was it." Perhaps no one felt more fortunate than Bielak and his girlfriend, Natalie Walchuk, both 24, who were among the first to get their pet back. After the meeting, they heard that rescuers had found two orange cats yesterday morning. Walking over to an SPCA tent, they recognized their hamper and, inside, Nutmeg. "That's your cat? You're so lucky, you're so lucky," said someone in the crowd that had gathered around the 7-year-old tabby as though it were a celebrity. "We're so grateful," Bielak said. They had tried to go into their building to rescue the cat, but firefighters had turned them away, he said. "We're pretty sure we lost all our possessions," Bielak said. "But it doesn't matter because Nutmeg is OK." TALIBAN FIGHTERS CAUGHT BY DOGS AFGHANISTAN August 16, 2008 2 Taliban militants bitten by US coalition dogs KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. coalition dogs bit two fleeing suspected Taliban militants during an operation in eastern Afghanistan in which a total of eight insurgents were detained, the coalition said Friday. The raid Thursday in the Muslim country's Paktika province targeted a Taliban sub-commander wanted for kidnapping, killing Afghan soldiers and involvement in roadside attacks, it said. During the operation, "two militants attempted to flee and were pursued by coalition military working dogs," the coalition said in a statement. "Both militants received dog-bite injuries, one of which required treatment on scene by coalition medical personnel." 1st Lt. Nathan Perry, a coalition spokesman, would not say what kind of dogs were used in the raid, but said the troops will "use dogs when we need to." Perry did not know if the targeted Taliban sub-commander was among those detained and the statement did not specify. In Islamic tradition, dogs are shunned as unclean and dangerous. THIEVES TAKE PUPS LONDON ENGLAND August 15, 2008 Dognappers strike William James, manager of Strawberry Bubbles in Pembroke Road, Hornsey, discovered his family's six prized Staffordshire Bull Terrier puppies had been taken when he got to work on Saturday morning. William James with the pining parents of the puppies, Sky and Blue. He is offering a £1,000 reward for the safe return of the pups. The family fears the young and helpless pups will soon die if not given the round-the-clock care required. Mr James said: "I know that they are not in safe hands. They need their mum's warmth and milk. Otherwise they need special milk from the vet. It's going to be so difficult for them. By now they could already easily be dead." He added: "Our daughters have been in tears. They saw them being born and everything, one by one. They mean a lot, and we are so distraught." The burglary happened in the early hours of Saturday morning at the car wash, where the pups were unexpectedly born and being looked after. They would normally stay with the mother for 12 weeks. As Mr James' partner Elaine Boriel, 29, was moving house to Chafford Hundreds, Essex, the dogs were being looked after at the car wash. The intruder or intruders entered through a ground-floor window, sneaking past a sleeping employee who was looking after the litter, Mr James revealed. A PS3 games console and cash was also stolen. But Mr James ruled out an "inside job", saying "everybody" in the area knew the dogs and had seen her pregnant. The litter is distinctive, with blue eyes and four of them boasting "blue" coats - grey-silver in colour. Another is white and the last, called Lucky Fishbone, is light brown. He is the only one with a name, having been brought back to life with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation by a car wash worker after the mother, sat on him. The reward is being offered only for information that leads to the safe return of all the pups, said Mr James. FILTHY CONDITIONS SOUTHWEST MISSOURI USA August 14, 2008 More than 360 animals found at filthy Mo. property The owner of the property was charged with child endangerment because six children, ages 1 to 11, also had been living in what authorities described as an unbelievable scene: 12 to 15 house trailers stacked to the ceilings with junk, trash and debris, crawling with cockroaches. The only water source was a bunch of garden hoses strung together. "These homes are not fit for anyone to live in," human or animal, Polk County Sheriff Steve Bruce said. The 363 animals include more than 70 dogs and more than three dozen cats, plus donkeys, rabbits, ducks, chickens, and exotic fish. The Humane Society of Missouri and Polk County also found 12 to 15 dead rabbits, dogs, cats, and poultry. Authorities descended upon the property with warrants after the family who owns the land failed to heed warnings last month to begin providing proper care, said Tim Rickey, the Humane Society's director of rescues and investigations. In the days since those warnings, many of the animals had been released from their cages, prompting neighbors to complain. Authorities took a closer look and found that children also were on the 80-acre rural property near Pleasant Hope in southwest Missouri. Child-welfare workers removed the children were about a week ago, Bruce said. Property owner Virginia Gambriel, 61, was arrested and charged Tuesday with two counts of felony child endangerment over living conditions Bruce described as the worst he's seen in 16 years of public service. More charges are expected, against Gambriel and others, Bruce said. Gambriel is being held on $7,500 bond, and doesn't yet have an attorney, he said. Three families lived on the property, authorities said, but the total number of residents wasn't clear. The property, littered with 15 to 20 abandoned vehicles, was "in the brush in the middle of nowhere on a dead-end road" that deputies rarely visited, Bruce said. "We've known for a while they were a little strange, that they didn't want interference from the outside world, but unless we're down there on a call, it's not part of our routine patrol," Bruce said. The local Humane Society called the rescue the largest it ever had undertaken and said the people were "clearly hoarders" who were raising and breeding rabbits and dogs, but not necessarily for sale. The creatures were half friendly, half shy and almost all of them afraid. Many of the animals were running loose, Rickey said. Investigators said the animals had lived in filthy, deplorable conditions without adequate food, water and shelter. Many are underweight and suffering from poor skin and coat conditions and other maladies. Bruce said Gambriel told him most of the dogs were abandoned strays she picked up and brought home. A custody hearing for the animals was set for Sept. 2 in Bolivar. The horses and farm animals will be treated at the Humane Society's Longmeadow Rescue Ranch in Union, while others will be taken to the St. Louis headquarters. They will not be available immediately for adoption, but donations of money, bedding, food, cages, and toys are needed, along with volunteers, the Society said. St. Louis psychotherapist Alec Pollard said hoarding is a serious psychiatric disorder that impairs judgment. Pollard said typically an animal hoarder goes to court, evokes the judge's pity, and walks away with a warning but no mandated treatment. "Jail is inappropriate for these folks, but to go untreated is not the answer either," he said. EIGHT ATTACKS DOGS SEIZED VANCOUVER CANADA August 13, 2008 Dogs seized, suspected in eight attacks RCMP said they questioned the dog owner and subsequently released him. The dogs, three adult pit bulls and one puppy, were turned over to animal control officers. The matter is under investigation and negligence charges are being considered. News reports identify the man as Hal Harris, who lives in his van. Police acted after a man in Surrey was attacked by a pack of pit bulls while walking his dog Sunday. The man was bitten, and his dog was injured. A Metro Vancouver resident called police after spotting a van that matched the description of a vehicle linked to the Surrey attack. Don Brown, chief bylaw officer for the Capital Regional District, said his office has been in touch with animal control officers in Surrey and learned that lawyers there are working to obtain an order to have the dogs put down. Brown said charges are being considered against Harris for an incident in North Saanich. The dogs are believed to be responsible for at least eight pit bull pack attacks in Nanaimo, North Saanich and Surrey. "We are obviously relieved that they have finally got these dogs," he said. Brown said it has been difficult for animal control officers to confront the owner of the dogs believed responsible for the attacks since he and his dogs always seem to flee the scene. "In almost every case, he has rounded up his dogs and beetled off," Brown said. It's believed the dog owner might have family and friends with other dogs, since some reports have him in control of seven, eight even 10 or 12 dogs, he said. But "if you are being attacked, it probably looks like 10 or 12 dogs," Brown said. David Voss of Sidney wonders why the CRD and RCMP didn't move more forcefully last month when pit bulls attacked Sofi, his miniature American Eskimo dog in North Saanich. Voss said Sofi was so badly mauled a police officer shot her on the spot following the July 7 attack in woods near the Victoria International Airport. When Voss asked if anything was going to happen to the pit bulls or their owner, he was told "no." The pit bulls were all on a leash while Sofi was running free. Voss said the leash excuse for not taking action against the pit bulls was silly. After the July attack, the owner of the pit bulls was taken to hospital, where his injuries required 50 stitches. His dogs, Voss said, were left behind in a van, where they lunged barking and snarling at the windows when his neighbour went to check on them. But Sidney police and the CRD were given a false name and address. By the time the man's identity was determined, through his licence plate, he had left town. Victoria SPCA animal protection officer Erika Paul said walking a group of dogs, especially pit bulls, always calls for special care. "A pack of dogs is a pack of dogs," Paul said. No one should try to break up a pack attack. Even if it means sacrificing your own pet, it's safer to back away because the dogs might turn on you. "You need to know what you are doing to break up a pack attack," Paul said. DOG AND MAN BITE GREEN POINT SOUTH AFRICA August 12, 2008 Man and dog bite farmer Hennie Steyn, 50, a game farmer from Thabazimbi in Limpopo, claims Strydom bit him on the hand on June 20 2008, and his dog, a Staffordshire bull terrier, bit him on the face and the back of his leg. Strydom apparently also attacked Steyn's wife Sue, 49, and the dog also got hold of her leg and bit her. "I nearly bled to death," "Strydom assaulted us without any provocation after he caught some of my game. He got his dog to maul me and then sped off with the last of the buck that he caught without paying. He assaulted me while the dog bit me. "When I pushed him (Strydom) away, he bit me on the hand and then his dog bit me." 'Yes, I did nearly beat him to death' Strydom said he had hit Steyn because he was a racist. "Yes, I did nearly beat him to death," he said on Sunday. Steyn said during the attack, Strydom's exact words to his dog were: "Sa, vat hom. (Sa, take him)" He said Strydom wanted to hit his wife on the face, but she tried to block him with her hands. "He then hit her repeatedly on her hands. She had a terrible bruise on her hand and the dog bit her once on her back leg." Steyn said after Strydom had assaulted him and his wife, a friend who had caught game with Strydom, took him to task for hitting a woman. "But then he assaulted his friend too." According to Strydom, the man was an employee. Legal action Steyn laid charges of theft and assault with the intention of causing grievous bodily harm at Thabazimbi police station. "I am still awaiting feedback from the police." Steyn has also sued Strydom for R100 000 for pain and suffering and R118 000 for the antelope he had sped away with. Steyn's child was not bitten by the dog as was reported in Beeld on Saturday. On Tuesday, Strydom allegedly set his dog on three petrol attendants at a Pretoria fuel station. The dog bit one man and a second was injured when he tried to run from the dog. AND FOR MY NEXT TRICK August 11, 2008 DJ the terrier is a skydiving daredevil A terrier, named DJ, has his first skydiving jump under his belt collar. MEET DJ, the daredevil parachuting pooch who fell 1220m and lived to chase his tail another day. The Gold Coast Bulletin reports the 20-month-old tenterfield terrier joins an elite group of skydiving animals around the world after completing two tandem jumps with his owner Archie Jamieson, who is the manager of the Gold Coast Skydive Centre. DJ landed safely on all fours when the pair dived into the All Saints Anglican School fete at Merrimac on Saturday. The weekend’s jump followed a practice skydive on Thursday, which Mr Jamieson said was a complete success despite the fact the pair had never jumped together before. “We did the first jump at Kirra just to see if he liked it. Because if he didn’t, I wouldn’t pursue it,” he said. Mr Jamieson had a harness made especially for DJ so that he was attached to his chest. “It’s exactly the same as a tandem skydive with people,” he said. “He’s attached to me and he can’t get out of it.” This will not be the last time DJ dives from great heights, with Mr Jamieson planning to make his four-legged friend a big star. “It will be purely for skydiving displays,” he said. “Eventually, what I want to get him is a sponsor and that way they can cover the cost of display jumps.” The extent of the daredevil jumping around my house is when Archie & Lydia jump from the bed to the floor without touching the step-up cushion at the end of the bed! KILLED WITH A SCREWDRIVER NEWCASTLE Morpeth man killed dog with a screwdriver The dog died in agony from a series of injuries that included eight smashed teeth. Glass, 59, who has borderline learning difficulties and suffers from depression, admitted causing the cross-bred dog, called Rex, unnecessary suffering when he appeared before magistrates in Bedlington. Magistrates were told Glass launched the deadly attack after he became a target for torment by youngsters living near his home in Second Avenue, Stobhill, Morpeth. He had also stopped taking his antidepressant medicine, said Michelle Lamond, defending. In the days before he attacked the dog Glass had been subjected to verbal abuse, and his garden shed had been burgled and tools stolen, Ms Lamond added. Magistrates called for pre-sentence reports and adjourned the case until next month. Judith Curry, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said Glass had carried Rex into a vet’s surgery in Morpeth on December 17 last year and announced that he had killed his dog. When the dead animal was examined a vet found that it had eight broken or missing teeth, which the vet said had been caused by kicks or blows with a blunt instrument. But the dog had died as a result of bleeding from a puncture wound to its neck. When Glass was questioned about the dog’s death, he said he had felt as if he was inside a pressure cooker and added that the dog had done nothing to deserve what he did to it. Glass tried to get help for the animal, but Rex died in a taxi on the way to the vet’s. Shortly after the dog’s death, it was said, Glass was himself taken to a general hospital before being sent to a psychiatric hospital to stabilise his own mental state. TERRIER BADLY MAULED GRIMSBY ENGLAND August 9, 2008 TERRIER BADLY MAULED BY DOG IN A VICIOUS ATTACK A 10-year-old was left "traumatised" after the terrier she was walking was viciously attacked by another dog. Courteney Mortlock, of Grimsby Road, Cleethorpes, was walking Simba, the family's Yorkshire terrier, when they were set upon by a dog resembling either a Staffordshire or pit bull terrier. Simba was badly bitten in the attack - and remains in a serious condition - while Courteney was knocked to the ground and grazed her knee. A witness, who did not wish to be named, described the scene near the Rhythm and Booze shop on Grimsby Road, on Friday lunchtime, as "absolutely horrendous". It comes a month after a dog was mauled to death by a Staffordshire bull terrier while out walking with his owners through Immingham's Spring Street field. A witness to the latest attack said: "A dog threw the Yorkshire terrier all over the place and wouldn't let it go. "There was blood everywhere and the little girl was hysterical. "People were desperately trying to get the dog off, but it wasn't working - it was a complete free-for-all. "Lots of people were trying to help and somebody was kicking the dog off." The dog was not on a lead and no owner was seen. Courteney's mum, Mandy (41), said her daughter is unlikely to walk Simba again. She said: "She was in real shock and left totally traumatised. "She kept thinking it was her fault and she won't walk him now. "Simba is still being sick and shaking, and is in shock. "We took him to Cleethorpes vets and he has had to have lots of injections." Courteney said: "It was really scary and I panicked. "The dog came across the road and I tried to pick Simba up. "I fell over and hurt myself, but I'm a bit scared to go out with him again. "I just want to thank everybody who helped." Since the attack Simba's condition has deteriorated and Mrs Mortlock is concerned for his life. She said: "At the minute I think it is touch and go because he is struggling to breathe." A Humberside Police spokeswoman said: "All dog owners are reminded of their responsibility to keep their pets under control at all times and, when in public places, to ensure they are tethered." MORMON SEX CASE WOMAN CALIFORNIA USA August 8, 2008 Dog-cloner denies she was Mormon sex kidnapper Joyce McKinney Rumours have been circulating about the true identity of Bernann McKinney, who this week appeared in Seoul with her five cloned pit bull puppies. She and her dogs have featured in publications around the world since the ground-breaking procedure. Ms McKinney, who said that she lived in Hollywood, California, denied that she was actually Joyce McKinney, who was charged at Epsom Magistrates’ Court in 1977 with false imprisonment. The story of Joyce McKinney is nothing if it is not larger than life. She was accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting the 17-stone Kirk Anderson, a Mormon missionary, who had become the object of her passionate affections. Mormon missionary forced to have intercourse, court told During a subsequent court appearance Joyce McKinney, is reputed to have said: “I loved him so much that I would ski naked down Mount Everest with a carnation up my nose if he asked me to.” During another court hearing her counsel said of Mr Anderson: “Methinks the Mormon doth protest too much . . . you have seen the size of Mr Anderson and you have seen the size of my client.” After three months on remand in Holloway Prison she was released on bail because of failing mental health. She then fled the country using a false passport. True to fashion or the hyperbole of a remarkable story She seems to have disguised herself as a nun for several months and disappeared into the Appalachian Mountains. She was tracked down and appeared topless in glamour magazines before the authorities caught up with her. Britain never attempted to extradite her to stand trial. This morning from Seoul as she prepared for a television interview Bernann McKinney flatly denied that she was the mysterious Joyce McKinney. “That’s garbage, that’s rot,” she said. “If that is what you want to talk about then I don’t want to talk to you. If you print that rot I will sue you.” During the 1977-78 court case it was claimed that Joyce McKinney had, with the help of her friend, confronted Mr Anderson on the steps of Ewell’s Church of the Latter Day Saints and frogmarched him to a car where he was subdued with chloroform. They then appear to have driven him 200 miles to a rented 17th century cottage in Okehampton, Devon. To add further mystery and zing to the whole story, Mr Anderson was said to have been wearing a Mormon chastity belt at the time. Joyce McKinney is also said to have read him religious texts and played him romantic tapes before sexually stimulating him. In her defence, she claimed that it was a bondage game played with his full consent. Legend has it that after he eventually promised to marry her she loosened his chains and he then escaped. DOGS BEATEN BY THEIVES BATH ENGLAND August 7, 2008 Dogs injured during horse theft Esther Nash-Smith with one of her injured dogs. RUTHLESS thieves battered two guard dogs into submission before rounding up and stealing five horses from a Twineham stables. Distraught owner Esther Nash-Smith, whose horses are 'her life', said a substantial reward was now being offered for their return. She discovered the three mares and two foals missing and the sickening attack on her German Shepherds at her yard at Smiths Meadow the morning after. She said it appeared that the horse rustlers used a 6ft fencing stake to beat the dogs around their heads and used bolt-cutters to break a chain and padlock on the gate. They then switched off the electric fencing and lured the horses out of the fields on Sunday July 30. Her horse box used by the thieves to transport the horses was later found abandoned by police in Haxted in Surrey. The five horses were: one traditional Blagdon mare, one filly foal, one black thoroughbred mare, one coloured colt foal, one chestnut arab mare. MAYORS DOGS SHOT WASHINGTON USA August 6, 2008 Mayor’s dogs, family victims of insane War on Drugs “My government blew through my doors and killed my dogs,” Calvo said. “They thought we were drug dealers, and we were treated as such. I don’t think they really ever considered that we weren’t.” Calvo described a chaotic scene, in which he — wearing only underwear and socks — and his mother-in-law were handcuffed and interrogated for hours. They were surrounded by the dogs’ carcasses and pools of the dogs’ blood, Calvo said. Calvo said that he did not know how the drugs wound up on his doorstep. He works part time as the mayor and serves as director of expansion for the SEED Foundation, a well-known national nonprofit group that runs urban public boarding schools. Police shot the Mayor’s 7-year-old black Labrador retriever, Payton, near the front door and then his 4-year-old dog, Chase, also a black Lab, as the dog ran into a back room. Most of the citizens in Berwyn Heights were shocked to hear the news. The community of 3,000 is rallying around its mayor and forever fearing its abusive government and their ridiculous War on Drugs. WORK INSIDE OR OUT Dogs, handlers earn their keep inside, outside Vacaville prison CANINE OFFICER John Johnson and Shelby demonstrate their skills at California State Prison, Solano. The team at CSP is considered vital to day-to-day operations and the community as a whole, said Correctional Officer Jonathan Whitfield, who partners with 3-year-old Dutch shepherd Blue Zen. A 22-year-veteran with eight years as a canine officer, Whitfield is on his second canine partner and has worked with Blue Zen for about two years. John Johnson, a 20-year corrections veteran, is new to canine duty, with just five months under his belt. His partner is 4-year-old Shelby. The teams patrol every day, scouring every section of the institution for narcotics-related contraband. The dogs' keen sense of smell can pick up a mere whiff of myriad drugs, Whitfield said, and they'll bark or scratch like mad to let officers know what they've found. A brief demonstration revealed that Blue Zen and Shelby are quick-alerters with very different ways of doing things. "She'll go over the (6 foot) fence," said Whitfield of Shelby, who alerted on a cotton ball smeared with the scent of marijuana. "Blue will go "We're called 'Have dog, will travel,'" joked Whitfield, adding that they're literally always on call. At day's end, the service dogs go home with their handlers and spend time being ... well, dogs. Blue Zen likes to swim in Whitfield's pool, "lay around and catch flies," Whitfield added. Shelby, meanwhile, enjoys romping in Johnson's yard. "She's very playful," Johnson said. "She gets along with my wife and son very well." The dogs deserve the rest, the officers said, because they're "on" all the time and train at least three times a week. And their impact, the handlers said, is deeply felt. "It's a deterrent," Whitfield said. "We'll walk through a building or on a tier and you'll hear toilets flushing. ... You know it's dope being flushed." Johnson agreed, emphasizing the satisfaction of a job that allows him "to keep the prison as safe as possible and combat drug use" at the same time. Both men attributed the team's success to the prison administration and fellow staff. The unit's job, the men said, is to merely find the presence of drugs. Other officers have to actually find them and, without the support of the warden and assistant warden, there would be no resources to do so. "We're all a big team," Johnson said. "A family, really." VET STRUCK OFF MERSEYSIDE ENGLAND August 4, 2008 Vet struck off after owner finds pet dead Les Higgott was removed from the veterinary register at a hearing of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) The Wallasey vet’s conduct was described as “almost as far distant from the standards properly to be expected of a competent veterinarian as it is possible to conceive”. The RCVS committee heard that while treating Patricia Cook’s dog Fliss in June last year, her pet was kept in a urine-soaked, faeces-encrusted box. When she complained, Higgott told her: “I’ve never certified a cause of death as dog s*** and wee.” The committee heard how on one occasion when Mrs Cook visited the Poulton Road practice, Higgott refused to let her in, saying: “For f***’s sake, you were only here yesterday.” When she went to the back of the premises to check on Fliss, she found she was dead. Mrs Cook told Higgott, but he argued she was mistaken, until he checked the body. The hearing found Higgott guilty of “disgraceful conduct in a professional respect”. In a written verdict, the committee said: “The circumstances prevailing in this case resulted in the dog Fliss suffering in conditions of absolute squalor. “The committee was of the view that the respondent’s conduct was likely to undermine public confidence in the veterinary profession and did bring the profession into disrepute. “It is for those reasons, and not without a heavy heart, the committee concluded the only proper sanction to impose in this case is the ultimate sanction of removal of the respondent’s name from the register. “It is aware of the very significant, if not devastating, effect this will have upon the respondent’s ability to sell his practice and of the other financial consequences that may follow.” Higgott had denied a string of charges relating to his record-keeping, professional development, and treatment of Fliss and Mrs Cook. The RCVS acknowledged it had heard descriptions of “a generous and caring man, who had sought to care for animals all of his working life and often did not charge for work that he undertook for clients”. ‘A good vet and real gentleman’ DESPITE the evidence against him, Les Higgott received massive backing from people using his practice, including a petition on his behalf. His supporters included the mayor of Wirral, Cllr Adrian Jones, who gave evidence that Higgott regularly waived fees for clients. He also said his removal from his practice would have a severely detrimental effect on a deprived area. Other people contacted terrierworld.co.uk Cath Hollywood, 56, said: “Les is important here because not only is he a good vet, he is an affordable vet. “He has cared for my dogs excellently. He is a good vet and a real gentleman.” Yvonne Tomlinson said: “We have known Les for 25 years. Our first meeting was when our cat was hit by a bus and his hip was broken. “Les rebuilt his hip and put a pin and plate in. The cat was then six weeks old - he lasted 15 years. “Other vets told us to have him put down.” DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION Busta barking mad after storms tHe has been on anti-depressants since last year's tornadoes left him shell-shocked - but nothing seems to be helping six-year-old fox terrier Busta Cleary recover from his fear of storms. His owners have borne the brunt of Busta's blubbering, winding up in bed with a hairy, hyperventilating, dribbling, shivering wee mess until well after the weather has cleared. Busta's mum Heidy Cleary said Busta didn't bat an eyelid over anything blustery before last July but they were now paying $50 a month to keep him on Chlomacalm, a canine version of Prozac. "He was never a scaredy-cat before, he didn't give a stuff," Mrs Cleary said. "The hardest thing is he is really petrified. All you want to do is give him a big cuddle and say, `It's alright'. But you're not allowed to do that." While Busta whines and sweats, the rest of the family have to pretend there is nothing wrong. Otherwise Busta may think he is being rewarded for his "naughty" behaviour. There are CDs designed to train dogs who have irrational fears and Mrs Cleary and her family will look in to them once the Chlomacalm has kicked in. For now, however, poor Busta has to get through the turbulent winter - fingers crossed the drugs will soon have him back to his old tricks. SUSPECTED DOG TORTURER CAPTURED BOULDER CREEK USA August 2, 2008 Suspected Boulder Creek dog torturer arrested A man suspected of abusing or neglecting more than three dozen dogs at his home in Boulder Creek (Santa Cruz County) where dogs' heads were found was arrested Thursday on animal-cruelty charges, authorities said. Robert Brunette, 45, was arrested as he was walking near Los Gatos High School about 6:25 a.m., authorities said. There was no sign of his car or personal effects nearby, and Brunette has no apparent connection to the school, said Sgt. Randy Rimple of the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno police. "He looked just kind of neutral," Rimple said. "He was just kind of blank." Brunette made no statements and was picked up by Santa Cruz County sheriff's deputies shortly before noon. Sheriff's officials had called Los Gatos police to report that Brunette was in their town, Rimple said. It was not immediately known how the sheriff's office knew where he was. Brunette faces numerous felony and misdemeanor charges of animal cruelty, said Santa Cruz County animal services coordinator Tricia Geisreiter. On Saturday, animal control officers found and rescued 38 dogs - including puppies a few days old - from Brunette's property on Hartman Creek Road. His home was littered with crates that contained feces and urine, she said. A search of the property uncovered a decapitated dog's head, five canine skulls and a dead dog next to a lawn chair on a deck atop the home, Geisreiter said. When authorities returned to the home Tuesday, they found two dog paws and a sixth dog skull, raising the possibility that Brunette had returned to his property to deposit the items. Two more live dogs were found Tuesday and are being treated along with the 38 others. An additional eight dogs are believed to be somewhere on the 3-acre property. Sheriff's deputies and animal control officers raided the home a day after Brunette refused to grant access to authorities investigating reports of animals crying in pain, Geisreiter said. When officers returned Saturday with a search warrant, Brunette ran away, authorities said. The dogs that are being treated by the county include cane corsos, also known as Italian mastiffs, rottweilers and Labrador retrievers. Brunette had been selling dogs in the Bay Area, authorities said. The dogs are not yet adoptable, Geisreiter said. Some are scared of humans and are unsocial, and animal control officers hope to nurse them back to health before deciding whether to put them up for adoption. LOST DOG RETURNS FIFE SCOTLAND August 1, 2008 Long-lost dog returns to Rosyth family after 15 months! A LONG-LOST dog has made an amazing homecoming to his Rosyth family – 15 months after going walkabout. James Paul (51), of Hilton Road, couldn’t believe it when his family hound, Spud, started barking to get into the house last week. The last James had seen of the labrador/Staffordshire bull terrier cross was when he was playing in the back garden last April. But it seems that, wherever Spud disappeared to, there was no place like home and he decided to come back. “He’s been well looked after and well fed,” said bus driver James, who has owned the pooch for 13 years. “I can’t say for sure where he’s been but he seems happy.” James, along with wife Moira (49), son Steven (25) and daughter Sara (23), had been left devastated when Spud vanished. The family feared the worst for his life and even kept his lead as a memento of their missing pet. “He’d run away before and either came back within an hour or twice we had to pay to get him out of the kennels,” continued grandad James. “This time we thought he was gone for good. “To turn up on the doorstep 15 months after going missing is unbelievable.” Describing the first few moments of the prodigal pet’s return, James told the Press, “I was still in my bed and my daughter shouted through, ‘Spud’s back’, and then he jumped on top of me. “It was like he had never been away. He’s got a new dog bone and my wife’s going to get him a new bed. I’m chuffed to have him back.” And James reckons Spud must have a homing device to rival a GPS system that was able to guide him home from his secret holiday location. “I think he must have been a distance away because a lot of people around here know him,” he said. “If he was nearby, somebody would have said to us that they had seen him. “He might have been in Inverkeithing or somewhere in the area but he’s not been near us.” The trip, however long or short it may have been, has obviously taken its toll on Spud though. “He still looks pretty knackered,” James said. “He’s a lot slower than he used to be. “I used to take him for big long walks but now he can only go about half a mile. He just lies and sleeps a lot. “He won’t be going back out there again (the back garden), he’ll be on the lead from now on,” James laughed. “He’s had his last chance!” |
On Tuesday 19th August The BBC Showed An Hour Long Documentary 'Pedigree Dogs Exposed' ONE DOG RULE A neighbourhood in the Peruvian capital of Lima has banned families living in apartments from having more than one dog. Pet owners have been quick to protest People living in houses, however, are allowed to keep two dogs. According to an order published in the country's official gazette on Thursday, residents have said that there are just too many dogs - and too much noisy barking. "Neighbours have complained they cannot live in peace, harmony, or good physical and mental health because ... noisy dogs disturb the peace," the order read. Families found with more than the permitted number of dogs will now face fines of up to 700 soles ($237), and could have their furry friends disposed of. However pet-owning residents were quick to protest the new law. Maria Solano, 70, said she would never let that happen to her two dogs, Boni and Fiama, who she adopted off the street 5 years ago. "My dogs are my children," said Solano, who lives in an apartment in Jesus Maria. "They aren't hurting anyone. I'd move to another neighbourhood before giving them up." The law does not apply to cats or any other animals besides dogs. POODLE GETS TO THE WHITE HOUSE Americans elect poodle to White House Americans have elected a poodle to the White House, the American Kennel Club (AKC) said Thursday. After reports that Democratic Party candidate Barack Obama and his wife Michelle promised their young daughters that they could have a dog after the presidential election, the AKC polled the US public to find out what kind of canine would be most suitable for the possible first family. More than 42,000 people voted over seven weeks to choose America's top dog, and, love them or hate them, the poodle won by a wet nose after a dogfight with the little-known soft-coated Wheaten terrier. "In a race almost as tight as Hillary Clinton and Obama's run for the Democratic nomination for president, the poodle won by a (dog) hair, with just a few hundred votes separating the top two contenders," the AKC said in a statement posted on its website. Described by the AKC as "exceptionally smart and athletic," the choice of the poodle as the ideal White House dog was no surprise, said AKC spokeswoman Lisa Peterson. "Poodles are currently the eighth most popular breed in the US, according to 2007 AKC registrations statistics, and spent more than two decades in the top spot - a true testament to their suitability as a family pet," Peterson said. Other dogs in the running were the miniature schnauzer, bichon frise, and Chinese crested. No similar vote was held for John McCain, who is poised next week to be named the Republican Party candidate for the White House. That's because, according to the AKC, McCain already has 24 pets, including four dogs. THE KENNEL CLUB ANSWERS BACK The Kennel Club Answers Back View Video Join Caroline Kisko and Dr Jeff Sampson from the Kennel Club as they answer your questions and dispel concerns over pedigree dog breeding
Following the recent BBC programme Pedigree Dogs Exposed, the Kennel Club would like to clear up negative impressions of pedigree dog breeding and suggestions that the dog community is doing little or nothing to improve the health of pedigree dogs. The Kennel Club assisted the production company with the programme and hoped that what would be portrayed would be a balanced view of the work the Kennel Club is doing and what needs to be done within the dog world to ensure that pedigree dogs lead long and healthy lives. Unfortunately the Kennel Club and the dog community have been left feeling that the programme was very one sided and so would like to address some of the issues the programme raised and answer some of the questions that viewers are concerned about by taking part in an online webchat. If you are a dog lover and have any concerns or questions following the programme, then view our webchat to find out how Kennel Club health initiatives such as the introduction of the Accredited Breeder Scheme and research funding can help promote healthy breeding of pedigree breeds. BLIND DOG USA August 28, 2008 Blind dog finds home with Kentucky family From left, Libby, Michael and Eric Canter meet their new dog, Prince Keller. "We've had a lot of adoptions take place but this one really touched my heart," said Brenda Goodrich, of Bedford County Animal Control. "He didn't have to be put down just because he was blind." The 1- or 2-year-old terrier, a stray from Bell Buckle, came into the hands of BCAC July 14. Goodrich asked Dr. Andrea Anderson, of the Shelbyville Animal Hospital, to take a look at the brown and white terrier that had touched her heart. "I had never asked Dr. Anderson to do this before," said Goodrich. "She said that he has been blind since birth." The otherwise healthy dog had been at BCAC for almost a month, however, and time was running out. In the meantime, Libby Canter, a legal assistant in Lexington, Ky., received an e-mail at work from Birchwood Farm, a pet rescue farm in Georgetown, Ky., about the blind terrier in Shelbyville. "They received word from (BCAC) and sent out e-mails to everyone," said Canter, whose law firm was included in the e-mail blast. Canter read the e-mail to her husband and son, who agreed that they couldn't let the terrier, whose time was running out, be put down. They decided it was time for a new addition to the family, which already included a 2-year-old Jack Russell/rat terrier mix named Sophia. The Canters adopted the terrier and named it Keller, after renowned author and lecturer Helen Keller, the first deaf and blind person to graduate from college. "We cannot imagine how anyone can put down an animal," Canter said. "These animals just want love. Keller is an attention hog just like Sophia. He follows her around and when we take walks you can't tell that he is blind." Hawgs for the Dawgs Because more than 10 million animals enter local shelters across the country each year, October has been named "Adopt a Shelter Dog Month," to draw attention to the country's pet population problem. In honor of this, and in conjunction with Bedford County Humane Association and Shelbyville Animal Control, BCAC is holding a poker run ride, "Hawgs for the Dawgs," Oct. 4, with an Oct. 11 rain date. This approximately 80-mile ride begins at the BCAC parking lot on Lane Parkway and ends at Bedford County Courthouse. Registration is from 8 to 9:45 a.m. and bikes will leave at approximately 10 a.m. The cost is $20 (plus $5 for an extra rider) and proceeds benefit a spay/neuter committee, sanctioned by BCAC, the Humane Association and Shelbyville Animal Control. Following the ride, a lunch, open to non-riders, will be held on the square. Volunteers are needed and donations are being accepted. "We are close to making the dream come true for a spay and neuter clinic," Goodrich wrote in an e-mail. This clinic will benefit stray and abandoned cats and dogs, as well as elderly and low-income families. DAY CAMPS FOR DOGS USA August 27, 2008 While people are away, dogs play at day camps By the way, they're dogs, specifically pudgy, adorable pugs with some basset hound thrown in (Guinness has, on occasion, been mistaken for a pot-bellied pig). The Popp pups and their doggy day camp experience at the newly opened Camp Bow Wow in Commerce Township are part of a national trend, and one that appears to be growing, even in Michigan's dicey economy. The Commerce Township camp opened in late July and is the second Bow Wow facility for owners Ann and Bob Roth; they also operate Camp Bow Wow in Troy, where as many as 40 or 50 dogs come to play each day. On Monday, the Commerce camp had 20 dogs. There are four other Bow Wow franchises in the state, and one is scheduled to open in Brighton later this year. The Roths charge $25 a day, but package deals are available. They charge $40 per night for overnight stays. "We have a lot of dual-income families, with people working longer hours in this economy," said Ann Roth, as 15-year-old Nick, a long-haired dachshund, followed her about the main office. He is a "special needs" dog because of his age so he's been given the run of the office. "People love their dogs, and they see them as part of the family and want to treat them that way." Roth, a former software designer, said customers who are putting off having children sometimes see their pets as temporary substitutes and are willing to spend extra money for their comfort. Amy Popp, 31, lives in Warren but works in Novi as a marketing expert, and she worries that her four-legged children will be bored or lonely without her. She admits the camps might sound overly indulgent. She also uses a webcam the camp provides to keep an eye on her dogs during the day, when she is at her desk. "Before I got my first dog, I would have said, 'Are you kidding me?' " she said. But in the three years she has been using Camp Bow Wow, first in Troy and now in Commerce, "I have never second-guessed my decision. They will be coming here as long as they are able." Pet day camps were scarce five years ago but have turned into a booming industry nationwide. And with 70 million pet dogs in the nation, that number could grow. "It's a recent phenomenon, and it's grown so quickly that we're just beginning to track it," said Joe Lyman, chief executive officer of Pet Care Services Association, formerly known as the American Boarding Kennel Association in Colorado Springs, Colo. The recent name change came about because even the term "kennel" has gone out of fashion. More pet owners seek lodging that comes with more amenities. At Pet Ritz Lakeshore Resort in Roseville, dogs are housed in luxury suites with classical music playing and flat-screen televisions. "This is a place for people who just love their dogs to death," said Pet Ritz owner James Coates. "Even people who might not have a lot of money will spend money on their dogs." DOGS PROVIDE THERAPY FLORIDA USA August 26, 2008 Jailhouse dogs provide therapy while they are trained Puppies that will one day work as service dogs for disabled people spend the first year of their training in jail. The Palm Beach County Jail inmates give the puppies basic training and in return, learn responsibility and caring. "Working with an animal like that brings out the best in people," Sheriff's Col. Michael Gauger said. The inmates cuddle the puppies, attend to their yelps, brush their teeth, bathe and train them. Dogs Photo Sheriff's officials say it's therapeutic for the inmates. The yellow and black Labradors live in the dormitory cells and the inmates look after the dogs like parents. "The same way I train him, he trains me for when I go back into life," said Frank Alexander, 38, who is doing time on drug charges. The father of four said the dog he's working with, Conrad III, has taught him the parenting skill of patience. The inmates, at the Stockade west of West Palm Beach, have been training the puppies for Canine Companions for Independence since 2005. A California breeder sends the Labradors to the jail when they are 8 weeks old. Training dogs behind bars is part of a growing trend around the country, having inmates socialize and train them.The dogs, in turn, bring renewed hope to the incarcerated. "She gives me a lot of confidence," said Jessica Daniels, 25, convicted of burglary. She gushed as she watched Yanna perform during a training session. "You have to earn a dog's respect like you have to earn a child's respect. It raises your self-worth. It proves you can accomplish something." Mentors from Canine Companions teach the inmates, who must have no history of violence, how to train the dogs. The puppies spend about a year in the jail learning basic commands like "heel," when to bark, and other house manners. Mentors go to the jail once a week to monitor the training. The dogs graduate from the jail to a two-week course with professional trainers at Canine Companions' Southeast Regional Center in Orlando. That prepares them to be service dog companions to people with autism, cerebral palsy and other physical disabilities. The dogs, which are donated, are trained to open drawers, turn on lights and pick up items for their owners. Canine Companions has 24 dogs being trained in Florida at the Stockade and two state prisons in Panama City and Quincy. The Stockade inmates have a history of drug abuse and do their time in a yearlong military style program. The day begins at 5 a.m. with exercise under the command of fatigues-wearing drill instructor Sgt. Robert Harris. The inmatesalso attend therapy sessions and multidenominational religious services. The idea to incorporate the Labradors, which sleep in cages in the cells, came from Palm Beach County Public Defender Carey Haughwout, whose mother had a service dog that was partially trained in a prison. "I saw firsthand what a wonderful assistance it was to her," Haughwout said, "and how important it became to the quality of her life." Tash, one of the first two Labradors trained in the jail, returned to South Florida last year. He's the sidekick of Jared Main, 9, of Coconut Creek, who has cerebral palsy. "Jared is never alone," said his mother, Amy Main. "When his friends come up and play, Tash is right there. When his friends are not there, Tash is right there." Tash makes Jared want to walk more. "Who doesn't want to walk their dog?" Main said. She likes that dogs such as Tash not only help her son, but also people in jail who are trying to improve their lives. "They had gone astray," she said, "and they ended up in a bad situation turned into this positive." UPDATED NEWS CONVICTION REINSTATED SAN FRANCISCO August 25, 2008 Murder conviction reinstated in S.F. dog mauling The 140-pound Presa Canario, Bane, bolted away from Knoller and attacked Diane Whipple, 33, who bled to death from at least 77 wounds. The dog's 100-pound mate, Hera, charged out of Knoller's apartment and may have joined in the attack. Knoller "knew her conduct endangered life" and thus was guilty of murder, not merely manslaughter, Woolard said in rejecting a defense request for a new trial. Prosecutors had appealed a decision by the trial judge, who is now retired, to reduce the jury's second-degree murder verdict to involuntary manslaughter. Woolard scheduled sentencing for Sept. 22. Knoller had been sentenced to four years for manslaughter and was paroled in January 2004, with time off for good behavior. She has been living in Florida, where she takes care of her elderly mother, her lawyer said. The ruling brought smiles and tears from a group of Whipple's friends in the courtroom. Her former partner, Sharon Smith, said afterward that she was grateful for the decision, frustrated that it had taken so long, and wanted Knoller "to be treated like any other criminal who's committed murder." Knoller's lawyer, Dennis Riordan, promised an extensive appeal in both state and federal court. He said Woolard's ruling "stretched the definition of murder" to reach a result "that may be popular, perhaps, in San Francisco" but is on shaky legal ground. Whipple, the women's lacrosse coach at St. Mary's College in Moraga, was attacked in a sixth-floor hallway of the Pacific Heights apartment building Jan. 26, 2001. Knoller had been walking Bane on the roof of the building and had returned with him to the corridor when he broke away and jumped at Whipple. Woolard, at Friday's hearing, recounted descriptions by neighbors, who heard Whipple's screams turn to whimpers before police found her trying to crawl back to her apartment. Knoller emerged from her apartment shortly afterward, bearing some scratches, and didn't ask anyone about Whipple, the judge said, citing trial testimony. A jury in Los Angeles, where the trial was moved because of extensive publicity in the Bay Area, convicted Knoller of second-degree murder in 2002. The panel found her then-husband and law partner, Robert Noel, guilty of involuntary manslaughter for leaving the dogs with his wife while knowing she couldn't control them. He was paroled in September 2003. Trial judge believed her Knoller's case wound up back in Superior Court after the state Supreme Court ruled last year that Warren had used the wrong legal standard in reducing Knoller's conviction. The court said prosecutors seeking a murder conviction in a mauling case don't have to prove the owner knew the dog was likely to kill, only that the owner was aware the animal was potentially lethal and exposed others to the danger. The court returned the case to Superior Court to decide whether to reinstate Knoller's murder conviction and 15-to-life sentence, or order a new trial on the murder charge. Warren willing to take case Riordan argued that Woolard was bound by Warren's finding that Knoller hadn't known the dog could kill someone. That means she wasn't guilty of murder even under the state Supreme Court's new standard, Riordan said. He noted that Warren had heard Knoller testify in person, while Woolard was merely reviewing the written record. Deputy Attorney General Amy Haddix countered that the jury's murder verdict was amply supported by evidence that Knoller had been warned the dogs were dangerous, had seen them repeatedly attack and threaten other dogs and people, and had taken no steps to protect Whipple. Woolard agreed in a ruling that took her nearly a half hour to read from the bench. When Knoller and Noel took custody of the dogs in 2000 from prison inmates at Pelican Bay, the judge said, a veterinarian warned them in a letter that the animals were huge, untrained and "a liability in any household." Woolard cited trial testimony about 30 incidents in which one or both Presa Canarios lunged at, chased or bit other dogs and people, with one or both owners looking on and seemingly unable to control the animals. She noted that Knoller had appeared on ABC-TV's "Good Morning America" shortly after the fatal attack, accused witnesses of fabricating, and suggested Whipple was to blame for her own death. Despite Warren's conclusion that Knoller hadn't known Bane could kill, Woolard said, the evidence showed that she had known that both dogs "singularly or together were capable of killing a person and, if not properly restrained, would kill a person." CITY KNEW ABOUT DOGS STATIN ISLAND USA August 25, 2008 City knew about vicious dogs that killed Staten Island man Henry Piotrowski of Port Richmond will be buried this morning, but questions remain about how the animals were allowed to run riot despite the repeated complaints. "The first time we called, they (the police) never even showed up," said Frank Webb, 51, who has lived next door to Piotrowski's John Street home for 25 years. Piotrowski, a World War II veteran and retired crane operator, was in his backyard at around 11 a.m. July 1 when he was "eaten alive" by Popeye and Brutus, according to a witness. Doctors had to amputate his leg, and he died of his injuries Sunday in Richmond University Medical Center. The animals were put down after the attack. DIFFERENT STORIES Assistant Police Chief Michael Collins said in a brief statement that the department takes all calls for service seriously, but residents who were chased by the dogs in the weeks leading to the attack tell a different story. When police did show up, residents said, most often a marked radio car would drive up the dead-end street looking for the animals, which were by that time long gone. "They just drive up and turn around and leave," said Ismael Bonano, 20, who told of having been chased by the dogs. The majority of neighbors' 911 complaints came in June. Twice complaints were made with the city's 311 line -- one in late June about the animals running wild, and another around the same time complaining that 911 didn't take a dangerous animal call seriously. "It's inexcusable. This is a tragedy that did not have to happen," said City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Queens), who has been a longtime foe of pit bull ownership in the city. "The city has no system in place to protect us from dangerous dogs. It's not their priority and they haven't made it their priority." Vallone and others, like City Councilman Michael McMahon (D-North Shore), want a ban on new pit bull ownership in the city, something that failed in 1989 and is unlikely to be reconsidered anytime soon. At the least, a "dangerous dog" board should be convened to devise ways of making the city more responsive to complaints, Vallone said. The police and Animal Care and Control respond to emergency calls, while the Department of Mental Health and Hygiene investigates dog-bite cases, responds to unsecured animal complaints and makes sure animals are licensed. The Health Department can levy fines against owners who habitually let their dogs run wild. Fines can escalate to $2,000, but the process can take weeks, proceeding from an initial written warning. Dog owners James McNair, 28, and Kim DiPrima, 37, have been indicted on charges of second-degree assault, and could face manslaughter or more serious charges now that Piotrowski has died of his injuries. A man who answered the door at DiPrima's Newark Avenue apartment declined to comment. Police did respond to the apartment at lest once to warn the owners to keep the dogs locked up. Residents who called 911 said officers told them that their hands were tied, that police would have to witness the dogs acting aggressively to take more substantive action. A spokesman for District Attorney Dan Donovan said that prosecutors will present new evidence to the same grand jury that indicted the pair. That evidence will include a ruling from the medical examiner confirming that Piotrowski died of "multiple complications of animal bites." Webb, the neighbor, said he called 911 three times since the beginning of June after encountering the dogs roaming wild, and each time their behavior was more aggressive. The dogs went from being chased away with a word to growling and, finally, in one instance just before the attack, they "ran right up to the window and were jumping and snapping" after he yelled at them to leave his yard. The police response did not escalate, he said. "I don't buy the argument that these were just dog complaints," Webb said. "For the past decade, people have been getting chewed up by pit bulls. When (dispatchers) hear 'pit bull,' that should ring a bell." RIGHT FROM WRONG UNITED KINGDOM August 24, 2008 Dogs have a sense of right and wrong Although still controversial, recent research is beginning to support the view that an owner is perfectly correct when they pat their pet and coo "who's a clever boy then?" Because of the way owners have selected smarter and more empathic dogs down the generations, these pets now appear to have a limited "theory of mind", the capacity that enables us to understand the desires, motivations and intentions of others, New Scientist reports today. A decade ago, most scientists would dismiss the claims of dog owners that their precious pets could experience pain, excitement and other "human emotions" as sentimental claptrap that anthropomorphises the abilities of animals. Now that dismissive view has been challenged by studies presented a few weeks ago at the first Canine Science Forum in Budapest, Hungary, which back the idea that the 10,000 years that the descendants of grey wolves have spent evolving alongside humans have had a remarkable effect on dog cognition. In a remarkable experiment to probe canine cognition, Prof Ludwig Huber and colleagues at the University of Vienna put dogs through a classic experiment done with children in which an instructor demonstrates to a toddler how to turn off a light using her forehead, once with her hands clearly visible and once when wrapped in a shawl, so that she can't use them. When invited to turn the light off for themselves, toddlers who were shown the first version use their heads, but those shown the second use their hands. The standard interpretation is that the first group conclude that there must be a good but non-obvious reason for using the forehead method, as otherwise the instructor would have used her hands. Dogs do the same thing in Prof Huber's experiments, where they had to pull a lever to obtain a reward, lending support to the idea that dogs have a rudimentary "theory of mind." They possess a moral compass too, in order to negotiate the complex social world of people, adds Prof Marc Bekoff from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He argues that the fact that rough-and-tumble dog play rarely escalates into full-blown fighting shows that the animals abide by rules and expect others to do the same. In other words, they know right from wrong. Dr Friederike Range from the University of Vienna, Austria, has found in experiments where one pooch was given a treat and another denied it that dogs possess a sense of fairness too, though she stresses that the data are not yet published. "Dogs show some aversion to inequity," she says. "I prefer not to call it a sense of fairness, but others might." Barking is rare among feral dogs, suggesting that it evolved during domestication to allow dogs to communicate with us, says Prof Péter Pongrácz from Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest. His team has even found a way to use a computer program to understand what dogs are trying to tell us, and can disern whether a pet is barking at a ball, or wants to play with greater accuracy than their owners. Akiko Takaoka from Kyoto University, Japan, played dogs recordings of unfamiliar voices - both male and female - with each voice followed by a photo of a human face on a screen. If the gender of the face did not match that of the voice, the dogs stared longer, a sign that the image did not match their expectations and yet more evidence that they have been honed to communicate with people. Meanwhile, Dr Juliane Kaminski at the University of Cambridge has examined how dogs can use human gestures such as pointing and gazing to find hidden food or toys and concludes that dogs do understand that we are trying to tell them something. "Domestication seems to have shaped dogs in a way which enables them to use these gestures from as early as six weeks," she tells New Scientist. BEST BEHAVED FRIEND Trevor Grove: why a dog is a man's best behaved friend Does your dog know the difference between good and bad? It hung there like a climber on a rock face. Jasper benignly impersonated the rock face, wagging his tail patiently until the creature let go, then remained quite still while it raced around attacking his tail, ears and other extremities. The little Westie was plainly a puppy, not much bigger than a guinea pig and full of fearless exuberance. Still, Jasper's tolerance would have seemed remarkable to anyone unfamiliar with dogs. Is this primeval instinct a canine trait going back to wolfish ancestors? Or is it a sign that dogs actually have a sense of right and wrong, as scientists have been claiming this week at a canine symposium in Budapest? Professor Marc Bekoff, from the University of Colorado, for example, argues that 10,000 years of selective breeding by man has inculcated in dogs a strong understanding of good and bad behaviour. He says that the rarity of dog-play escalating into full-blown fighting shows that dogs abide by rules and expect others to do the same. I'm sure Prof Bekoff is broadly right, so far as it applies to domesticated dogs. The semi-wild scavengers of India or South America may not be quite so morally advanced, but wherever man's best friend lives cheek by jowl with humans, it would indeed be strange if he hadn't picked up a few tips about the dos and don'ts of life in mixed company. The essential point is that a dog's chief purpose is to please his owner. As my friend Dima Yeremenko, the dog whisperer of north London, puts it, you are to your dog both pack leader and provider. A young dog, and even an older one, will very quickly learn what kind of behaviour earns praise and what doesn't. Dima says punishment is unnecessary. Failure to please is punishment enough. Soon after Jasper arrived in our house as a rescue dog, our third Dalmatian, he was confronted with the arrival of a pair of kittens. They went berserk at the sight of this large spotted dog, hissing and scratching like furies. He, likewise, was full of murderous intent. Over the next few days, I made all three of them eat their meals next to each other, feeding them by hand. The closer they got to each other, the more generously I fed them. Within a week they were best friends, sleeping in a heap in the same basket. I can't speak for the psychology of cats (who can?), but what Jasper had learnt was that being friends with these hairy little creatures was pleasing to his human owners - so much so that when one of his frantic, but usually futile, squirrel hunts on the heath actually ended in success one day, he held the little beast in his jaws for only a second before letting it scamper away. All the same, I think there's more to a dog's sense of good and bad than merely a desire to win praise. Having owned three dogs and encountered thousands of others, I like to think that most are essentially good-natured. There's a nasty trend for certain kinds of people to regard certain kinds of dogs - especially Staffordshire bull terriers and pitbull lookalikes - as potential weapons. Obviously, a few of these animals are indeed goaded into viciousness. But far more end up in the dogs' home, having exasperated their horrible owners by their good temper. There are few more pleasing moments than encountering some young thug with a Staffie in a brass-spiked collar straining at the lead, furious at seeing his dog wag its tail when Jasper goes up to say hello. Watching dogs socialise is another clue to their mannerliness, and I can't see that this has anything to do with us humans. So long as they are not on leads, they usually approach each other with friendly curiosity: a tentative tail wag, a polite bottom sniff and, if the advance is a bit pushy, a quiet growl. With complete assurance, a tiny Yorkie will go up to an Irish wolfhound who could gobble him up like a canapé. That they recognise each other as members of the same species is a wonder in itself. That they treat each other with such respect is a lesson a good many of their owners might learn. Even in human company, a dog's eagerness to please is not solely governed by its reverence for its owners. Dalmatians in the show ring are grouped as working dogs. Once, when their job was to knock down highwaymen, I suppose this was a fair description. But the only work our Dalmatians have done is as meeters and greeters. Like his predecessors, Jasper's greatest joy is to run to the front door and welcome whoever's on the doorstep. Naturally, his most furious wags are reserved for members of the family, but he is almost as happy when it is a stranger. It might be pushing the point too far to claim that dogs are sensitive to human feelings. But at the end of a book I wrote about our last Dalmatian, called One Dog and His Man, my wife Valerie added a postscript. "The Man," she said, "does not mention the superiority of The Dog over The Child. The Dog will not reproach or defy you, wear absurd clothes found in charity shops or criticise you for all your human failings. He is always there when you come home, manifestly thrilled to see you even if you have only been out to empty the dustbin; and he stands patiently wagging while you search for your gloves, glasses, phone, before going out…" Quite so. Even at his gloomiest, as when he notices we are packing our suitcases, Jasper demonstrates his Eeyore-ishness as discreetly as possible, lying with his face to the wall. Earlier this week, Jasper spent two days and a night at the vet's. He had catheters in his paw, a general anaesthetic, an unfamiliar kennel. He must have been unhappy and bewildered. Yet the vet was full of praise for his patience and good humour. He was such a gentleman, she said. Well, perhaps that had something to do with his sense of good and bad behaviour, as learnt from man. But I think it had just as much to do with his own inexhaustible good nature. BEECH FOR DOGS AYIA NAPA CYPRUS August 22, 2008 Dogs get beach of their own in Cyprus Ayia Napa's mayor, Antonis Tsokkos, said: "It's a place primarily for dogs, not people, and we hope they have a nice time there." Cyprus is the only state in Europe to formally ban pet dogs from beaches. Mr Tsokkos said: "We had to meet an urgent request from the government to find an area for animals, councillors all agreed on a location last month and are very happy with it." Local residents have been blamed for a spate of dog poisonings that have seen eight dogs die on the small island this year. In June a 50-year-old man and his dog were killed in Paphos after arguing with another resident who was angry at the dog's presence on the beach. As the man was walking away with his dog, the second man jumped into his car and ran them over, killing both instantly. George Perdikis of Cyprus' Green party said: "There is a lot of hostility towards dogs on this island and it's part of a mentality that goes back years. Very often you'll see fights erupt between people who take their little dogs to beaches and other residents who just can't stand them being there." SPECIAL TRAINING Dogs get special treatment, training at Brother of the Wolf Watson, 57, of Voorhees, has been a dog trainer for more than 20 years. Recently, she started Brother of the Wolf, specializing in techniques and courses that offer different weekly adventures, fitness training and even swimming lessons for man's best friend. A Native American of Cherokee, Chickamauga and Shawnee heritage, the certified animal behaviorist grew up in the Connecticut woods with an ear attuned to the call of the wild. "I grew up with wolves and coyotes. Culturally, certain animals can define you," said Watson in her new facility, converted from an old garage in Winslow's Albion section. "My understanding of dogs is all encompassing. When you get into a dog's head, you can understand why and how they behave a certain way." Watson and two other trainers offer a variety of classes. Some are just for fun, some increase the human-animal bond, and others focus on behavior modification. All emphasize the ancestral link to the wolf through pack-related hierarchical strategies. Multisession courses run $100 to $160, while intensified individualized training can run higher. Mini-modification training runs $20 per half-hour for each behavior needing change. Her Wolfpack Swim Club will help train dogs that are not natural swimmers, such as bulldogs, to do the doggy paddle and climb out of a pool or lake. The key to any training, Watson said, is to let dogs know they are in a completely safe environment. She sometimes speaks to them in Cherokee, a melodic language that calms them. "Dogs don't speak human. They "speak' tonal inflection. They have to understand you mean them no harm. Then, they will respect you as the pack leader. If dogs are taught to react out of fear, it can escalate into aggression," she said. Jackie Pantaliano of Voorhees brought her first puppy, a 5-month-old Cavalier King Charles spaniel named Sparky, for basic training and socialization. She appreciated Watson's empathetic nature, particularly toward her special-needs son Steven, 14. Brother of the Wolf trainer Connie Wilson and her husband, Kenny, of Browns Mills, sometimes bring their own dogs in for a half-hour massage that includes a calming aromatherapy spritzer and a gentle rubdown with fur butter to moisturize the skin and detangle the fur. "Massage really calms the dogs quite a bit," said Kenny Wilson, who brought 7-year-old wire-haired fox terrier V'ger and 2-year-old border collie Katie for rubdowns recently. Dave Church, 25, of Sicklerville, one of seven students being trained by Watson, brings 2-year-old Napoleon, a Maltese, for basic obedience classes. "He has learned how to respect humans as more than just providers," said Church, who is earning his certification from the California-based Animal Behavior College. Watson considers what she does a calling. "People who come to me need help. I'm a part of their lives. I feel like I'm saving the world, one dog at a time." INDIA'S DOGS OF WAR INDIA August 20, 2008 Indian bomb squad lets slip the street dogs of war against Naxalite threat
The elite Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College (CTJWC) last year picked four mongrel puppies from the streets with the hope of transforming them into a unit of explosive-detecting sniffer dogs. The mongrels — Lily, Sally, Teja and Kareena — have just passed an intensive nine-month training course with flying colours. After they were found to be “tougher, harder and sharper in battle” than their pampered pedigree peers, there are plans to collect more for similar work. Brigadier B.K. Ponwar, the head of the college, told The Times: “They may have been a little temperamental at times, but they hardly ever require a vet, they never fall asleep on duty and their endurance over jungle terrain is formidable. They are, after all, locals. They won't let you down.” Dogs to sniff out war devices Particularly deadly has been the group's use of improvised exploding devices (IEDs) — home-made bombs, usually buried under the surface of a road. With IEDs accounting for up to 95 per cent of security force fatalities in some Naxalite strongholds, canine conscripts are being called up to combat the threat. The street dog project was begun partly to save money — a trained sniffer costs between 85,000 and 125,000 rupees (£1,000-£1,600) to buy, while packs of semi-feral mongrels are a fixture of India's cities and villages. Packs of stray dogs are often nurtured by Indian Army garrisons so that they can act as an alarm system — especially at night, when they bark at intruders. But the mongrels, picked from streets in Chhattisgarh, a hotbed of Maoist insurgency and where the CTJWC is based, have exceeded all expectations. One drill found that three of the four original street dogs out-sniffed the two pedigree labradors they had been trained alongside. The former strays recently discovered their first IEDs while on a real-life mission. On the strength of the initial batch's performance, two more street puppies — Rambo and Millie — were recently recruited. The Naxalite rebel movement, which claims that poor Indians are being exploited and should revolt, was born in 1967 in a peasant uprising in the village of Naxalbari in the state of West Bengal. Since then it has claimed about 7,000 lives and grown into a force of 40,000 permanent armed cadres and 100,000 militia members, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, a research centre based in Delhi. Naxalites dominate the so-called Red Corridor, a broad swath of territory from West Bengal to the border of Nepal, and are active in 16 of India's 28 states. Security chiefs say that they are closing the military gap with the Naxalites after being badly outmanoeuvred in recent years. However, they admit that public sympathy for the movement is growing and that canine recruits alone will not tackle the threat. CRUELTY- MAN BANNED WILTSHIRE ENGLAND August 19, 2008 Man’s ban after dog cruelty Jamie Edwards, 19, of Islington Road, beat his dog, a Staffordshire bull terrier named Snoop after a night of drinking on October 13 last year. He has now been banned from owning an animal for 10 years. Edwards told police that Snoop, pictured, had been fine before he had gone out on the lash' that evening but when he woke up to let the dog out it collapsed. He also confessed to the police that sometimes you just give a dog a clout'. Edwards took Snoop, who has since been re-homed, to Garston Veterinary Surgery in Wingfield Road between 9am and 9.30am on October 14, where it was treated for liver and head injuries. Edwards' lawyer Andrew Watts-Jones described the defendant as a "19-year-old idiot". He said: "His maturity levels are considerably below his years." Although Edwards denied the charge, magistrate Michael Pearce found him guilty and the teenager was ordered to 250 hours of community service, disqualified from owning an animal for 10 years and told to pay £388.80 towards veterinary fees and £260 as a contribution to the RSPCA's legal costs. Mr Pearce said: "This is a very serious matter because that dog was damaged so badly and so seriously and it hurts the bench to think that someone would inflict that damage on an animal." Edwards is still serving a 200-hour community sentence after he was found guilty of producing cannabis and possessing the drug with intent to supply at Swindon Crown Court earlier this year. He still has 70 hours left to serve for that offence. Phil Wilson, RSPCA prosecutions manager, said: "The RSPCA welcomes the 10-year disqualification order coupled with the significant community punishment as this shows how seriously the court has taken the traumatic injuries which this dog suffered. "Clearly Mr Edwards represents a danger to animals and hopefully this order should protect them in the future." CALL FOR TOUGHER LAWS PHILADELPHIA USA August 18, 2008 Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell is pushing for stricter dog laws that would have prevented two Berks County kennel owners from shooting and killing 80 of their dogs two weeks ago.
"What made that incident so horrible was the fact that these kennels were cited by our dog wardens cited for maintenance and cleanliness. 39 dogs were ordered to receive vet care for flea and fly bites," said Gov. Rendell. Instead, kennel owners, Elmer and Ammon Zimmerman of Kutztown shot their dogs which are within their rights. "One of the kennels that shot the dogs could now reapply for kennel license and we have no grounds to refuse them because shooting 80 dogs in Pa is not a crime," said Gov. Rendell. But House Bill 2525 would make it illegal for anyone but a veterinarian to euthanize dogs in commercial breeding kennels. It would also double the minimum floor space for cages, require outdoor exercise and require solid flooring. Currently, many dogs spend the duration of their lives in wire cages which damage their feet. HB 2525 would also prohibit the stacking of cages and require annual vet checks or during each pregnancy. The Governor, speaking at Schuylkill River Dog Park Saturday, brought his own rescue dog, a golden retriever named Maggie. "She had been kept a little more than 2 years in a rabbit hutch, a wire rabbit hutch," he said. Maggie provided her owner two litters of puppies. Her third was stillborn and so her owner sold her to a rescue for $75. That rescue then placed her with the Rendells. Bill Smith of Mainline Animal Rescue brought along a Pomeranian that he rescued several weeks ago. He named him HB "for House Bill 2525" in the hopes that other dogs would never have to suffer HB's fate. HB is missing a leg. "We rescued from a puppy mill in Lancaster County. His front right leg was cut off by a farmer. He was stacked in a cage. The dog below mauled it and it got swollen. The farmer just removed the leg with tin snips." Since 2006, Governor Rendell says he's been trying to pass tougher dog laws. He says he's been thwarted by certain legislators catering to special interests. House Bill 2525 was introduced in May and several Republican legislators filed amendments to the bill in order to stall the vote. Gov. Rendell hopes that when the General Assembly convenes in September, that they will pass the bill. DOG LIKES TESCO SUPERMARKET Youngsters track down their dog at Tesco after he went missing WHEN her one-year old dog went missing for three hours, Sarah Mould and her four children thought they would never see him again. But they were amazed to discover the Jack Russell Terrier named Rusty had turned up a mile and a half from their home at Tesco supermarket in March. Mrs Mould said: "We never let Rusty out of the garden. He must have seen a hole in the fence and gone for it." Mrs Mould and her four children Jordan, 10; Rhys, seven; Charlotte, five; and Sophie, two, searched around the area close to their home in Peyton Avenue, March. She said: "I thought after a couple of hours we'd never see him again. All of the children were crying. They were so upset because they love that dog so much. "But Jordan asked an elderly stranger if he'd seen a dog wandering around and he told him he saw it near Tesco." When Mrs Mould arrived at the Hostmoor Avenue supermarket she was told that a member of staff had seen it running around in the car park and thought it would be killed. The dog had been taken into the store and was being held at the customer service desk. Mrs Mould said: "As soon as we saw Rusty, he came running into Jordan's arms. "I can't believe that the dog had wondered so far. He must have just gone off exploring. "We were all so upset because we thought we'd lost him and we're delighted to have found him. "I'm so grateful to the staff at Tesco. WILD DOGS ARGUMENT Coalition MP savages colleagues over wild dogs In 2004-05 he chaired a parliamentary inquiry into the impact of pest animals on agriculture. The inquiry relied on estimates that exotic pest animals cost the Australian economy $720 million a year, with wild dogs accounting for $66.3 million of that sum. Mr Schultz said the inquiry took compelling evidence and produced 47 recommendations that were tabled in Parliament but, as with many similar reports, they were ignored. ''The ministers of the Crown do nothing with them. They leave them sitting in the archives and very rarely pick up any of the recommendations,'' he said. ''That's one of the reasons why, despite the issue of wild dogs being continually raised, year in and year out, here we are in 2008 talking about the same problem I was talking about to my constituents in the high country in 1998.'' Mr Schultz said ''governments of all political persuasions have got a lot to answer for''. Still, agriculture ministers were ''doing nothing'' . He added, ''We need to have a national approach to this. The Federal Government should be putting more money into the states so they can take control of our pest animals. There is $720million wasted in this country each year because governments are sitting on their hands.'' NSW Farmers Association spokesman Rod Young said farmers adjoining Namadgi were feeling increasingly desperate about losing hundreds of head of stock a year to wild dog attacks. ''We're finding that wild dogs are being allowed to breed up in unsustainable numbers in Namadgi National Park and, as a result, they're dispersing into Kosciuszko National Park and surrounding areas, and adding to a wild dog population explosion.'' Representatives from ACT Parks, Conservation and Lands also attended the meeting. The farmers want the agency to work with them to tackle the problem. Mr Young said, ''The purpose of the day is to diplomatically ask ACT Parks to come on board with us. We've got to have a coordinated effort. ''[The dogs] need to be kept to a sustainable level so the dingoes that are remaining can live sustainably on their natural food chain, on the biodiversity in the park, rather than having to come out on private land and live off domestic livestock. That's the key to it.'' NIPPER ATTACKED COVENTRY ENGLAND August 15, 2008 Dog attack horror in Earlsdon Nipper, a three-year-old Jack Russell, suffered horrific injuries to his legs and stomach during the attack at a Coventry beauty spot. Brenda Adkins hugs Jack Russell Nipper after three Staffordshire bull terrriers attacked him. Volunteer dog walker Brenda Adkins, aged 75, of Earlsdon, was walking Nipper at Canley Ford when three Staffordshire Bull Terriers "appeared out of nowhere" and mauled the little dog. Brenda, who was exercising Nipper because his owner recently died, said: "They tore into him and nearly ripped him to pieces. "They whipped the lead out of my hand, bowled him over and dragged him into the bushes. "The owner appeared and managed to get them off quite quickly otherwise they would have killed him. "I was screaming and shouting at him to get them off. It was very upsetting and I was in shock. "The man said if he'd known there was someone in the field he wouldn't have let them off the lead which makes me think he knew they were vicious. "I had to carry him home in my arms covered in blood which dripped all over my coat and trousers. "Fortunately I bumped into a young man who helped me to carry him back." Brenda called a friend who took the wounded Jack Russell to the vet for emergency treatment. The dog was so distraught he was given tranquilisers to calm him and needed staples for wounds to his stomach and legs which had been badly torn.
Nipper's wounds inflicted by the three bull terriers. "Luckily the bites didn't go deep enough to rip his vital organs which is what the vet was worried about, even though they were still bleeding the day after the attack. "I am a member of the Cinnamon Trust which finds volunteers to look after pets for people who have passed away, gone into hospital, or the elderly who struggle to look after them. "The vets bill has come to £180 which the Cinnamon Trust has agreed to pay. "But they are a charity so I think the man should pay because the little dog has really suffered. "It is also worrying that those dogs are out there and I really hope nothing like this happens again. "The dog's owner has died so he will need to be adopted now, but I am thinking of keeping him myself because he has been through such a traumatic time." A spokesman from the RSPCA, said of the Sunday morning attack: "This must have been a disturbing incident to witness and any dog owner should have charge and control of their dog in a public place. "Anyone who has a dog that doesn't like other animals or has shown a tendency to be aggressive should have it on a lead." REWARD OFFERED SAN FRANSISCO USA August 14, 2008 Information needed on person who shot dogs A $1,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever shot two dogs - killing one of them - before throwing them out of a car on an East Oakland street. When officers arrived, they found a female miniature pinscher dead and a small male mixed-breed dog lying on the street, severely injured and in pain, authorities said. Neighbors reported hearing several gunshots, a car door open, a dog yelping and the sound of car racing off. One resident said she went outside after hearing the noises and found the two dogs in the gutter. The female dog was examined by a shelter veterinarian, who determined that animal died from a gunshot wound to the neck. The dog's back, leg and spine had also been shattered, officials said. The male dog is being treated at the shelter for a broken back and pelvis and a possible gunshot wound to the neck. The dog will need further surgery to wire his broken bones back together and a foster home in which to recuperate, Parascandola said. Officials have raised $2,500 of the $7,800 needed to care for the dog, which has been named Little Lance. "The attack on these dogs was extremely vicious," he said. "Not only were these dogs shot and thrown from a car, but the massive trauma to both dog's spines and legs leads me to question if they were also previously beaten. It is clear that whoever is responsible for this crime is capable of extraordinary violence." DOG FIGHTING RING PITTSBURGH USA August 13, 2008 Dog-fighting ring alleged in Fayette County In a criminal complaint, Trooper Timothy C. Knapp said the Fayette County Drug Task Force discovered the dogs and a fighting pit while executing a search warrant for drugs Feb. 19 at Holcomb's residence. Police summoned humane officers from the Fayette Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, who noticed one of the dogs had scarring on its face, legs, shoulders and neck. According to the affidavit, a cell phone owned by Wells was found to contain video footage from Feb. 7 of two pit bulls fighting. The footage depicts the dogs being "lured together in a kitchen area with what appears to be potato chips," police said. "Upon the dogs getting near each other, they proceed to fight," Knapp wrote in the affidavit. "At no time did the actors involved separate the dogs by any means." Two pit bulls that were removed from Holcomb's house are in the custody of the Fayette SPCA. Humane officer Elizabeth Davidson said the dogs, Stress and Laylo, will be euthanized because fighting dogs cannot be adopted out. The cell-phone video did not show the faces of any people who were in the room, but Knapp indicated he determined they were black males after viewing their arms and listening to their voices. During an interview with Holcomb at the Fayette County Prison in February, police said Holcomb told them the cell phone belonged to Wells and that the dogfight took place in Johnson's kitchen. Holcomb was in the county jail that month on an unrelated offense, but was later released. He identified one of the dogs in the video as belonging to Wells. Holcomb told police the other dog belonged to a black male who is a student at Brownsville Area High School. Holcomb told police that Wells, Johnson, Holcomb and the student were present at the fight. Johnson was arraigned yesterday before Senior District Judge Michael Rubish at the office of Brownsville District Judge Michael DeFino. He was placed in the Fayette County Prison in lieu of $15,000 bond. ONE BIG FAMILY Orphan deer treats fox hounds as his family 10-week-old Bam Bam the deer with the pack of Fox Hounds The pack immediately accepted the fallow deer when they found him shivering by the Thompsons' front gate just an hour after he had been born. Mr Thompson said: "Now Bam Bam thinks he's a Fox Hound because they all treat him like one of their own. He won't be going on any hunts though - he doesn't have the stamina for it. "It's a fantastic sight to see although we know it's a strange one and Bam Bam certainly gets a lot of funny looks from passers-by. People shake their heads in astonishment when they spot Bam Bam in among all the hounds as if they can't believe what they're seeing." The fawn now joins the hounds, from the Chiddingfold, Leconfield and Cowdray hunt, on their daily walk. Mr Thompson's wife, Karen, 41, said: "Bam Bam seems most content when he's ambling along with the hounds. He's about the same size as them now so he fits in perfectly and walks along with the pack like they're his brothers and sisters." Although the Fox Hounds have come to accept Bam Bam as one of their own, Mr Thompson's other dogs are rather less tolerant. He said: "A pack of domestic dogs would most certainly kill a deer that came across it's path - I also have two terriers and they would certainly kill anything that came into the garden. They're only just starting to accept little Bam Bam but I still wouldn't leave them alone with him. "My Fox Hounds are very different though - the image of them as savage killers is completely wrong. They can be very placid animals and are very accepting of other animals - especially deer." After Bam Bam was discovered by the dogs earlier this summer he was brought into the family home in Petworth Park, West Sussex by Mr Thompson's 12-year-old son, Tommy. When Mrs Thompson came down for breakfast that morning she was stunned to see the pair sitting happily on the living room floor. She said: "It was such a surprise, the deer wasn't afraid at all. "He seemed to think that Tommy was his mum because he followed him around the room, and would hide behind the furniture if Tommy ever left." It was uncertain whether Bam Bam would survive without the care and attention of his mother who had deserted him just yards from the Thompsons' home, possibly scared off by the dogs. Mrs Thompson said: "It was touch and go for the first few days. We had to feed him half an ounce of lamb's milk every hour - this had to be done 24 hours a day and was quite draining. "Now he wanders around the garden and comes to play with us. We've had a few garden parties and he is such a favourite with the guests - he's so friendly and is adored by everyone who meets him." Bam Bam will stay with the family until they rehome him at some point next year in a private park where he will be able to join a herd and finally learn how to be a deer. THREE DOGS ATTACK FLORIDA USA August 11, 2008 Dogs attack Apopka woman Paramedics arrived to find the victim with severe dog bites to her legs. She was rushed to the Orlando Regional Medical center and into surgery. Her condition is unknown. Four animal control officers responded to Orange St. and started rounding up the dogs. Eventually, a man who was supposed to be taking care for the animals for their out-of-town owner helped to capture them. Officers had to give the caretaker a collar for at least one of the dogs. All three were taken into county custody where they will be quarantined and tested for rabies. During the quarantine, officials will determine what will happen to the Rottweilers. Animal Control Officer Charles Griffin says one of the dogs named Griffin says the owner of the dogs left them in the care of a friend and as a result of the attack that man will be fined for the dogs not being leashed, acting aggressively and the attack. The fine for those violations comes to around $1,500. RAT TERRIER RESCUED Beloved rat terrier rescued, returned Although Jack nearly met his maker - he'd been mauled by wild animals - he was actually very much alive, living under his new name, "Monty," in a foster home in Lodi, more than 200 miles away. The Thommarsons learned of their beloved pet's survival a week ago, and he's now with them in their home in San Miguel. Jack's adventure began June 15 when he showed up at a California Department of Fire Protection and Forestry station in Lockwood, where the Thommarsons had lived for four years. The day before, Pat and Wendell Thommarson had taken a drive to Paso Robles, and had left Jack and the pooch's sister and mother outside to roam on their 10-acre lot in Lockwood. "When we got home that night, he was not there with the other two, so we walked the road and called out for him," Pat Thommarson said. "When we couldn't find him, of course, we were both just sick." While posting fliers around Lockwood on June 16, she dropped by the same fire station where Jack had appeared, she said. But because the firefighters had been called away to help fight the Indians Fire that burned in the Arroyo Seco area, no one was there. Thommarson said she found out later that the flier she slipped under the station door had not been noticed by firefighters until nearly a month later. Not knowing whom Jack belonged to, the firefighters - after feeding him some scrambled eggs - had taken him to an animal shelter. After repeated calls to the agency, she said, she and her husband were finally told by a representative that Jack had been attacked by a wild animal and euthanized due to the severity of his injuries. Nearly a month later, on July 11, the Thommarsons moved to their new home in San Miguel, but Pat Thommarson said she continued to seek answers about what had happened to her dog. Followed her instinct On Aug. 1, the Thommarsons received a breakthrough when they learned from an animal clinic in Salinas that Jack had not been euthanized. Instead, following medical treatment, the shelter had released him to Ratbone Rescues, a national nonprofit that specializes in rescuing rat terriers. Catherine Lambert, California state coordinator for Ratbone Rescues, said she spotted the dog on June 18 on the shelter's Web site. Knowing of the shelter's three-day policy for euthanizing pets that are not able to go up for adoption, Lambert said, she quickly placed the call to save his life. She said she knew by the extent of his wounds that he would not be adopted out. "When I got there to pick him up, they brought out this friendly little dog that was covered in scabs that had a damaged eye that was blue and weepy," Lambert said. "I knew right then and there, we had done the right thing." Found on the Web Cosentini, who did not hesitate one moment in taking in Jack, said she now finds herself missing the dog's affecting presence - even though she still has four rat terriers - three of which she fosters - at her home. She said she'd been calling him Monty, a name he picked up when he was found in Monterey County. Now that he's settling in at the Thommarsons' home in San Miguel, Pat and Wendell are searching for a veterinarian to perform surgery on his eyes, which were damaged by the wild animals, she said. "We're just very thankful for Ratbone," Thommarson said. "(Lambert) came on June 28 and got him out of death row. If not for Ratbone, we wouldn't have a dog." NEGLECTED DOG FINDS HOME FLORIDA USA August 9, 2008 Neglected dog finds a home, a family and a calling, of sorts His short, sleek fur was all white then, like it is today. An inky black patch is splashed over his left eye and ear, a little like Petey in the “Little Rascals.” But this dog’s hipbones poked out of his spare frame and his ribs created peaks and deep gullies in the fur. And in just about every picture taken at the time, his pointy ears are folded against his head, defeated, as if he thinks he’s being punished. His owners neglected him, said Ria Brown, spokeswoman for Lee County Animal Services. They kept him chained without enough food for so long that he nearly died. Lee County Animal Services rescued him when he was just about a year old. It took three months for the shelter to rehabilitate him. Then they put him up for adoption. He was called “Outlaw” for that first year, but his new owners decided he needed a new name for his new life. They called him Tugboat. Today, Tugboat is a different dog. He has more titles after his name than most humans — for obedience and agility training — and this spring he won third place in an agility competition at the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge. “He’s a loving, well-behaved dog,” says Tugboat’s new owner, Bob Gale. “He is a laid-back couch potato at home, but when it comes to time to run, he’s all business. He loves it.” Tugboat curls up on a plaid doggie pillow in the back of the Gale’s Fort Myers dentist office. It’s his weekday hangout spot. People course around him, working on dentures and mouth pieces with whining, grinding machines. It doesn’t bother Tugboat. His brown eyes follow their activity and every once in a while he lifts his head to monitor a particular person or sound. When Bob Gale walks toward his spot in the back of the room, Tugboat’s pointy ears perk up. Marie Gale is a dentist, and Gale manages the office. They bring Tugboat and Brooke, their black and brown Canaan dog, to work every day. “Hey Tuggy, come on over here. Wanna go outside?” says Gale, squeezing a squeaky tennis ball. The ears lift higher, and Tugboat stands up quickly, his long and skinny straight tail bouncing. “Wanna go outside T-Boat? Yes, of course you do. Let’s go outside.” Tugboat follows Gale to the back door and, when it opens, he bounds out onto the grass. But he doesn’t go far — in a few seconds, he circles back to Gale. “Sit,” says Gale, 54, voice firm. The dog sits. No hesitation. No half crouches. He just sits. Gale pats him, eliciting a tail wag, and then walks about 10 feet away. Tugboat waits, eyes on his owner like a soldier standing at attention. “Down,” Gale says and Tugboat lies down. Next comes sit up and stay. Then, Gale says, “Heel.” Tugboat bounds across the 10 feet separating them, circles behind Gale and sits at his left side, looking up expectantly. He looks happy, and, if a dog could, fulfilled. “Good boy, Tuggy,” Gale says. “See his pointy ears? Normally, Staffordshire bull terriers’ ears are like this,” Gale reaches down and flips the points forward. “But I like his the way they are.” One day about five years ago, the Gales were at a pet store buying supplies for Brooke. That’s when they saw Tugboat at an adoption event. “He was really cute and he was real friendly,” Gale remembers. “He just was a special dog.” They weren’t looking for another dog, but that day, they decided to take Tugboat home. Tugboat’s training started with a simple obedience class, and when there was an agility demonstration one day, Gale thought it looked like fun. So they signed up for the first of many agility classes. The terrier seemed to like the obedience classes, but when they started agility classes, Gale noticed that Tugboat really shined. He’s often the only dog of his breed at the competitions, Gale says, because they’re not that common in the U.S. Staffordshire bull terriers were developed in England by crossing bulldogs and terriers, and they were originally bred for dogfighting. Now they’re known in England as “nanny dogs” because they are good with children, Gale says. “He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body,” Gale says. “He loves people.” Gale and Tugboat competed for the first time in 2004, and since then, have competed so many times that Gale has lost count. They travel the country together, and Tugboat loves to compete, Gale says. He runs fast when they practice, but he runs even faster when it’s showtime. He doesn’t always win, but Gale doesn’t mind. “It’s a team sport,” Gale explains. “You get on the course with the dog and you direct him. ...The dogs get really excited and, for the handlers, when you’re able to complete a difficult course, it’s a sense of accomplishment.” In April, the pair travelled to Orlando to compete in the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge and Tugboat won third place in the small dog agility class. Back at the dentist office, Gale pops a DVD into his computer. It’s a recording of an American Kennel Club agility competition held in Long Beach, Calif., in December 2007. It was one of Tugboat’s biggest competitions. When Gale thinks about where Tugboat came from, it makes him even more proud of the terrier’s accomplishments. The camera focuses on Tugboat as he waits for his run to start. His eyes are fixed on his first jump. Gale stands next to him, hand on the dog’s collar. They’re both poised to start. The cavernous room is noisy with dogs barking and yipping and people talking. But Gale and Tugboat are in their own world. This is their moment on the floor. Then, Gale lets go of Tugboat’s collar and they’re off. Gale jogs around the course, right arm extended and index finger pointed to the next obstacle to guide Tugboat. The dog leaps and bounds over jumps, through tunnels and across a teeter-totter, tail always bouncing. After navigating the course in under a minute, it’s over. Tugboat leaps into the air, excited, and when he lands, Gale bends down to pet and praise him. Watching that performance on the computer screen months later, Gale smiles. “It’s a lot of fun,” he says. “For both of us.” LUCKY TO BE ALIVE NEW ZEALAND August 8, 2008 SKELETAL: Wellington SPCA is seeking information on an emaciated white and brindle english bull terrier crossbreed found on a street in Petone.
An emaciated dog found in Petone yesterday is lucky to have survived recent cold weather, the SPCA says. Mr Lakomy said the dog, named Toby by SPCA staff, shyly approached a member of the public in Halford Place at the end of Jackson Street shortly after 6.30pm yesterday. "I have seen many skinny dogs in my three years as an inspector, but Toby's condition is on a whole new level, this is very disappointing to see," Mr Lakomy said. "When I placed Toby in our 24-hour animal ambulance he was so weak he just curled up and sat in a corner." Veterinarian Robert Bird said that Toby weighed only 12kg and had a very poor body condition score with a very dull coat. "Toby is emaciated, his ribs, lumbar vertebrae, pelvic bones and all bony prominences are evident from a distance, and there is a loss of muscle mass," said Dr Bird. "In addition Toby has many small wounds over his body, suggesting he has spent a lot of time on concrete." Toby will now need to be on a carefully monitored diet to ensure a healthy weight gain, but he was expected to make a full recovery. So far, Wellington SPCA has not been able to locate an owner for the dog. He was not wearing a collar and was not microchipped. "We are very interested in speaking with the owner of this dog, we need to establish what has happened and take it from there," Mr Lakomy said. DOG TIRED UNITED KINGDOM August 7, 2008 Can you give your dog an attack of the yawns?
Scrutiny of 29 dogs placed in a room with a yawning man found that 21 – or 72 per cent – also started to yawn. CLONED DOGS USA August 6, 2008 These three dogs are said to be clones of a family pet named Missy. They were produced between December and April
1 2 next Bernann McKinney couldn't wait to see her dog again. Understanding why is easy: Booger was a pit bull she rescued from the street. Two months later, when McKinney was attacked by another dog, Booger rescued her, charging out of the house, jumping on the larger dog and diverting his attention long enough so that McKinney, who all but lost one arm in the attack and had the other damaged, could escape, steering her pickup truck with her elbows to the home of a neighbor. After her fingers and arms were repaired - at least cosmetically - in a series of 12 surgeries, Booger became McKinney's service dog. He helped her tug off her shoes and socks. He brought her soda from the refrigerator. He got her clothes out of the dryer. And he kept her going emotionally, as well. Given all that, why she'd want him back is obvious. How she's getting him back is slightly more complex: Booger died two years ago. This week in Seoul, South Korea, though, McKinney's far-fetched dream is to come somewhere in the vicinity of true when she meets the puppies, all named Booger, created by the cloning of McKinney's original dog. They are the first dogs to be cloned for a private individual, and the first whose births are unaffiliated with scientific research, government requests or corporate interests. Three years after the first dog was cloned in the name of science - an Afghan named Snuppy, created at Seoul National University - the marketing of cloned pets to the general public, once relegated to science fiction, has become a reality. "We are ready to receive cloning orders," said Jin Han Hong, director of strategic planning for RNL BioStar, a Seoul biotech company that, working with the Seoul National University research team, agreed to clone McKinney's dog for $150,000. RNL BioStar, which has cloned other dogs for government agencies, is one of two companies making dog cloning available to the general public. A second company, U.S.-based BioArts International, auctioned off five dog clonings online last month, with each slot drawing bids of $140,000 or more, and it plans to carry out a free cloning for the winner of a clone-my-dog essay contest - former Nova Scotia police officer James Symington, who says his search and rescue dog, Trakr, helped find the last survivor in the rubble of the World Trade Center after Sept. 11. Lou Hawthorne, chief executive officer of BioArts, says he hopes to produce the clone or clones of Symington's aging German shepherd by the end of the year. BioArts is working with Hwang Woo-suk, a former Seoul National University scientist who, after helping lead the effort to create the first cloned dog in the world, was fired for falsifying data related to his experiments with cloning human embryos. He went on to establish his own biotech foundation in South Korea, and this year partnered with BioArts to produce cloned dogs commercially. The two companies both maintain they have the sole right to clone dogs worldwide, have accused each other of infringing on cloning patents and licenses, and have threatened to take legal action against one another. Hawthorne also disagrees with RNL's assertion that the Booger clones would be the world's first "commercially cloned" dogs. He has three clones of his mother's dog, Missy, all created by Hwang at the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation, where the stem-cell scientist took his research after being fired from the university. "The first commercial dog clone has been delivered. It's sitting right here at my feet," Hawthorne said in a telephone interview. The first of the Missy clones was born late last year; two more were born in February. He says he considers the Missy clones the first commercial clonings - as opposed to a business venture - because they were produced before he went into partnership with Hwang, and because he paid for them with family money. Hawthorne called RNL's quest to clone Booger "a publicity stunt." RNL, meanwhile, points out that Hawthorne's company "doesn't have a cloning facility, and his subcontractor is led by a discredited scientist." "Five cloning auctions and a cloning giveaway?" Jin, the RNL spokesman, asked. "Who is performing the publicity stunt?" 'Help me, Booger' A longtime animal rescuer, she knew that the dog, being a pit bull type, would likely be euthanized if she brought him to a shelter. "So I said, 'Get in the car, buddy, you're going home.' We forged a fast friendship," McKinney said. "Little did I know that 30 days later this dog was going to save my life." At the suggestion of a relative who expressed concerns about a single woman living alone in an isolated area, McKinney agreed to take on another dog, as well, a large mixed breed, trained as a guard dog and named Tuff Guy, or Tuffy for short. "He was a wonderful dog, but he got stung by a bee," McKinney said. Because of a mistake made in the prescription, the dog was given Prednisone in an amount 10 times the prescribed dose. "I don't really fault the dog. It happened because of the overdose," she said. McKinney said Tuffy attacked her outside the farmhouse, shredding her left arm up to the elbow, tearing into one of her legs, and nearly ripping the fingers off her right hand. He was chewing into her midsection when she said she called out, "Help me, God. Help me, Jesus. Help me, Booger." Booger, about a third of the other dog's size, bounded from the house and jumped on him, allowing McKinney to stumble to her pickup truck and get a neighbor to drive her to the local clinic. McKinney, a one-time beauty queen, was transported from there by ambulance to a hospital in the closest city, where, she said, "my arms and hands were reattached and reconstructed into something that looked semi-human." At first, Booger, also injured in the fight, and McKinney recovered together. Then, as McKinney spent months confined to bed and a wheelchair, Booger became her service dog. She said he would bring her clothes from the dryer and learned to distinguish between towels, shirts and jeans. He would bring her soda from the refrigerator and use his mouth to help her turn doorknobs. When she fell, he would back into her so that she could grab on to his harness and help herself get up. Once she was mobile, she and Booger worked as a therapy dog team, going to homes for the elderly and hospitals. "Everywhere Booger went, he'd spread his special brand of magic," McKinney said. When Booger was diagnosed with cancer, shortly after the successful cloning of Snuppy had been publicized, McKinney began looking for someone to clone him. She contacted Genetic Savings & Clone, which is now defunct, but at the time was owned by BioArts CEO Hawthorne, who formed the gene bank in 2000 to allow pet owners to store their animal's tissue, in hopes that it could someday be used to clone their pets. GS&C, along with billionaire adult education mogul John Sperling, funded research, about $20 million worth, into dog cloning at Texas A&M University. While several cats were cloned by GS&C, it was never successful in cloning a dog. In 2006, Hawthorne notified his more than 1,000 clients, McKinney among them, that GS&C was shutting down, and that for a fee their pets' tissue could be sent to another facility. Booger's tissue samples were then sent to Sioux City, Iowa, for storage. McKinney got on the Internet in search of someone else to clone her dog, and ended up corresponding with Seoul National University scientist Lee Byeong-cheon, another member of the team that cloned Snuppy. Lee, who is associated with RNL Bio, agreed to clone Booger, and the Korean company sent representatives to the U.S. to transport Booger's tissue back to Seoul. The fee for Booger's cloning is $150,000, but RNL has agreed to cut it by more than half in exchange for McKinney's cooperation in its effort to publicize the birth of the "first commercially cloned" pups. Since Snuppy Hwang, the fired scientist, produced three Missy clones, with three more on the way. He also says he has produced 17 clones of Tibetan Mastiffs, a rare Chinese breed, for the Chinese Academy of Sciences. At Seoul National University, Lee's team has gone on to clone a wolf, and in 2006, it created three clones from the cloned dog Snuppy. In 2006, the RNL team produced seven clones of Toppie, a drug-sniffing dog, and in 2007, four clones of a famous cancer-sniffing dog from Japan named Marine. Both companies claim they hold the exclusive rights to clone dogs worldwide. While early dog-cloning research was justified by scientists on the grounds it would lead to medical advances that could benefit humans, critics of cloning say that doesn't appear to have been the case. Instead, critics say, with little oversight, especially when research is privately funded, science marches on - and into places it might not ought to be treading. "When Koreans announced they could make transgenic cats that would glow under fluorescent light, their public rationale was that it was for scientific purposes," said Autumn Fiester, director of graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics. "I would like to see what the first use is of those glowing cats. "In a world where there is no biotechnology agenda decided by federal strategy or citizens, I find it hard to believe that the only motives are scientific progress and medical research. ... Let's not pretend it's noble and beneficial to humanity." McKinney's motivation appears simpler: "I want my friend back again," she said. She remembers watching earlier this year as the tissue of Booger was carried aboard a Korean Air jet in a "biobox." She watched until the plane disappeared from view. This week, McKinney heads to Korea, not to bring the dogs home - it will be months before they are ready for that - but to see the laboratory-conceived descendants of the dog that saved her life, then supported her during her recovery. "Booger taught me I could do anything I could do before the accident," she said. "I just had to figure out a different way to do it." TOURISTS ATTACKED BY GUARD DOGS Alpine tourists attacked by Pyrenean dogs brought in to save the sheep Jean-Luc Renaud was on a mountain-walking holiday when he saw a bloodstained Belgian tourist staggering towards him. “His shorts were torn and he had been bitten badly in both buttocks,” Mr Renaud told The Times. “He was in a state of complete shock.” The Belgian had fallen victim to a notoriously ferocious breed of mountain dog brought into the French Alps to defend sheep from wolves. The attacks are driving holidaymakers away and are splitting the community against a backdrop of controversy over the reintroduction of the wolf in France. To add to the row, shepherds have been taken to court by wounded holidaymakers and 17 dogs have been poisoned in the Maurienne region of the Alps. At the centre of the debate is Le Chien de Montagne des Pyrénées (Pyrenean mountain dog) - known commonly as the patou. White and fluffy, the breed looks like a cuddly family pet; it is anything but. Fearless, ferocious, weighing up to 60kg (132lb) and nicknamed the Prince of Shadows, it will fight to the death against wolves and bears to save a flock.
In an attempt to pacify the shepherds the EU embarked on a €5 million (£4 million) programme four years ago to subsidise fencing and guard dogs. The plan appeared to be working. The arrival of about 1,000 patous in the Alps coincided with a fall in the number of sheep deaths - down from 3,700 in 2005 to 2,500 in 2006. It has also brought an alarming rise in attacks on holidaymakers - as Mr Renaud, 55, discovered when he tried to recover the jacket that had been ripped off the back of the attacked Belgian. He found himself surrounded by four patous. “I am not afraid of dogs and so I stopped to let the female come up to sniff me,” the biology teacher, from central France, said. “She not only smelt me, she bit me in the calf.” Mr Renaud used his backpack to protect his face and head after he was knocked to the ground, as the dogs bit his legs and upper body. He suffered eight wounds and filed a lawsuit against the shepherd. France Info, the French state radio, said that holidaymakers were staying away from parts of the Alps amid concern over the patou packs. Damien Soyard, a mountain guide, said: “There are certain places we don't take our customers to any more to avoid any problems. We've had several cases in the last two weeks alone of holidaymakers telling us about tremendous scares with patous.” The problem has been exacerbated by the death of 17 dogs, mostly patous, that ate pork poisoned with anti-freeze or slug-repellent. Some shepherds believe that the dogs were killed by extremist ecologists in a violent pro-wolf campaign. Another theory is that they may have fallen victim to a feud involving locals whose revenue has been hit after attacks on tourists. MORE SNIFFER DOGS INDIA August 4, 2008 Western Railway to expand its sniffer dog squad WR currently has 17 sniffer dogs in Mumbai — five (Lara, Rosy, Viju, Big Bom and Page) are owned by the railway while the remaining 12 are on a rent-contract. Keen to ensure a proactive approach to security, General Manager A K Jhingron initiated the hiring of 12 sniffer dogs last year after the Western Railway found that too much money was spent on buying puppies, nurturing them and training them. Earlier, WR had its own sniffer dogs which were reared at Mahalaxmi and also sent to New Delhi for training. Since October 1 last year, however, 12 trained dogs reported for duty after a contract was awarded to Dogs Kennel of India for renting trained dogs. AUSTRALIA'S FERAL DOGS Dogs' breakfast in Namadgi And it's an image that has resurfaced as the debate continues around whether too many wild dogs are being allowed to breed up in Namadgi National Park. Canberra man Ray Vran took this dramatic photograph of wild dogs in a tree north-west of Berridale in NSW en route to a skiing trip last week. The dogs were shot by third-generation Snowy Mountains trapper Mick Hedger and put in the tree by his father Harley close to the family property. The most recently shot dogs had killed five sheep on the Hedger farm, most likely coming out of Kosciuszko National Park. ''The only dogs in those trees are killing dogs,'' Mick Hedger said. Snowy Mountains sheep graziers Jan and Brian Mitchell, who campaigned for aerial baiting to be returned to Kosciuszko to reduce wild dog attacks, said the dogs-in-the-tree image sent a clear message. ''It's a signpost, a warning to say, 'This is the problem. These dogs are about. These are the size of them. These are the range of colours they come in','' Jan Mitchell said. ''And depending on whose property the tree is on, it can be a means of demonstrating taking responsibility for the problem.'' Brian Mitchell said some farmers put up the dogs as a silent protest. ''Sometimes farmers who are pushed to the limit do it. They've been working with other groups and land managers and they feel those people haven't been pulling their weight, so they kind of make it more public,'' he said. ACT Parks, Conservation and Lands director Russell Watkinson said it was something the agency did not condone. ''It's been past practice for some farmers to do that sort of thing and we suspect most people frown on it these days,'' he said. But it is a stark statement amid an ongoing debate, one in which farmers are feeling increasingly distraught at the slaughter of their stock.
Farmers bordering Namadgi National Park say they have lost hundreds of sheep to wild dogs coming out of the park in the past year, putting some on the brink of abandoning their properties. Parks, Conservation and Lands support wild dogs being in Namadgi. They are regarded as part of the ecosystem to help keep kangaroo numbers in check. Director Russell Watkinson says the wild dogs are also not classified as feral. He maintains they have a high percentage of dingo genes. Farmers such as Kelvin Curtis at Top Naas and Peter Luton at Shannons Flat disagree. They say the dogs are more wolf-like and estimate there are hundreds in Namadgi. They believe the ACT Government is essentially providing a sanctuary for the wild dogs. Others seem to agree. A poll at www.canberratimes.com.au asked the question, ''Should feral dogs in Namadgi be culled?'' To yesterday, 584 votes had been cast 89.7 per cent ''yes'' and 10.3 per cent ''no''. Curtis believes it is only a matter of time before someone is hurt by the dogs. Long-time Canberra observer Gary Trounson saw wild dogs stalk a bushwalker in Namadgi about a year ago. He has seen packs of up to 23 dogs. Hall man Damian De Marco holds similar fears about wild dogs in Kosciuszko. He saw a wild dog at Yaouk at the edge of the park six years ago that had ''the build of a German shepherd and the size of a Great Dane''. ''It's pretty scary when you're on your own and you see that,'' he said. One full-time trapper works in the Namadgi, trapping and ground-baiting on the fringes next to grazing land. The meat baits are laced with 1080 poison and buried. Parks, Conservation and Lands was not able to provide any figures on how many dogs have been caught. The farmers respect the trapper but say he is working with ''one arm tied behind his back''. The park area was too huge for one person to cover. The trapper was also not allowed into the dog breeding areas such as the Gudgenby and Orroral valleys. The farmers are campaigning for aerial baiting using meat laced with 1080 poison to take place in Namadgi, to attack the core breeding areas. They also want trappers allowed deeper into the park. Peter Luton says there should even be a fence around Namadgi. ''I don't care if they're dingoes or dogs, they're doing the damage. If they want to keep them in the park, make sure they don't come on to our place,'' he said. Kelvin Curtis said another four sheep had been killed on his property in the past couple of days; bringing the total lost over the past two years to close to 500. Peter Luton has had 160 sheep killed since April. His family in the drought has also spent $30,000 on corn to feed their sheep which are just feeding the dogs. ''After a while it starts to get you down, makes you wonder what you're doing here, because it never stops,'' Luton said. The start of the lambing season in less than a month will bring new stress. ''The lambs are just so vulnerable,'' Curtis said. ''A grown sheep can put up a bit of a fight but a lamb hasn't got a hope.'' The attacks on the sheep are the stuff of nightmares. Curtis says wild dogs have been known to eat only the kidneys of a lamb. They rip the haunches off grown sheep, leaving them to die. The farmers say the killing is about sport, not survival. Cooma Rural Lands Protection Board director Alan Wilson said while animal activists were up in arms over mulesing when skin on the sheep's rear was cut off to prevent flystrike they were silent on the wild dog attacks. ''These sheep are being mulesed from the neck down [by the dogs],'' he said. ''The bit we take off [for mulesing] is prevention and we hate doing it. We're not cruel people. We're only trying to make a living. The wild dog attacks are cruel.'' Greens MLA Deb Foskey said she wanted to see more statistics on wild dog numbers in Namadgi but she agreed they did help control kangaroo numbers. She was against aerial baiting, saying it was ''too indiscriminate'' and could endanger birds and other wildlife. Watkinson said the ACT was not keen on aerial baiting because of its potential impact on quoll numbers and the likelihood of ''quite a strong community reaction against it''. A wild dog management plan was being drafted with the Cooma Rural Lands Protection Board. ''The main thing is we need an agreed plan that brings everyone together,'' he said. Aerial baiting is done in Kosciuszko National Park in May and October, while ground baiting and trapping goes year-round. The NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change says field experiments in northern NSW in 2004 and 2005 and in southern NSW in 2005 indicated that aerial baiting ''had a minimal impact on the quoll populations studied'' and could be used as a wild dog control. Mick Hedger has shot about 395 wild dogs in 12 years. He says since aerial baiting restarted in Kosciuszko three years ago, numbers have dropped. ''I'm down to about 15 or 18 a year. That's a huge improvement,'' he said. But National Parks Association of the ACT president Christine Goonrey said it was ''about time some landowners just got used'' to having Namadgi as a neighbour. ''We're celebrating the 25th anniversary of its declaration next year and I think it's time to accept its reality and stop blaming it for everything that goes wrong around it,'' he said. ''I think the national park, Namadgi in particular, makes an excellent neighbour to local landowners. ''The management put a lot of time and resources into working with their neighbours and attempting to meet their needs and deal with any problems that arise. I really don't know any other local landowner that would employ a full-time dog trapper.'' Goonrey said dingoes were present in Namadgi and ''they actually belong there''. ''Without those dingoes in the heart of the park, we would have a huge problem with the kangaroos,'' she said. ''There are between 7000 and 9000 kangaroos in Gudgenby Valley alone, in the middle of a drought. They are preventing the reforestation of that valley. They are a nuisance on the roads. The only known predator are the dingoes.'' A bigger problem was dogs released into the park by illegal pig shooters. ''Some of the dogs these people are complaining about are dogs that have escaped from landowners surrounding the area,'' she said. ''There's no doubt there are some dogs that are wild and dangerous in the park but they are not the animals who are living in the heart of the park in social groupings, which is what we call dingoes.'' She scoffed at any idea the dingoes were dangerous. ''The dingoes have 7000 to 9000 kangaroos to eat. They're not interested in humans. However, should I meet a pig shooter I would be terrified and I would be terrified of their pig dogs,'' she said. Goonrey believed the wild dog problem could be addressed. ''There is nothing worse than a sheep that has been attacked by a dog. It is just awful and they have our very deep sympathy for the problems they are facing but it really does call for cooperation, not blame-shifting,'' she said. SUPER FOSTER MOTHER KANSAS USA August 2, 2008 Orphaned Family Is Going To The Dogs On Sunday, the tiger cubs were born at the Safari Zoological Park near Caney, Kansas but for some reason, the mother tiger had problems with the cubs and rejected the entire litter. The babies wandered around looking for their mother. That is when park owner Tom Harvey took them to Isabella. "The timing couldn't have been any better," he said. She nurses, cleans and cares for the cubs as if they were her own pups. Like any good mommy, Isabella is giving the big cats the nurturing and nutrients their little bodies require to become big and strong. It is rare but not unknown for a canine mother to care for another species of animal. There have been reports of dogs nursing pigs and tigers and Harvey said in the news report that "he actually got the golden retriever after his wife saw television accounts of dogs caring for tiger cubs." A good thing, as human nurturing can never replace that of another animal. The park has been in operation for almost twenty years and currently houses seven white tigers and two orange tigers. A member of his last litter born in April is now at a private zoo in Oklahoma. White tigers are not a sub-species of tigers nor are they an endangered species separate of the tiger in general. They are a mutation that, although rare in the wild, is typically bred for their popularity in Zoos. As for Isabella, her motherly instincts will be necessary for about 8-weeks, when they tiger cubs will be ready to wean. I hope she gets an extra treat for being such a good dog! FERAL DOGS KILL MAN THE family of a mentally disabled South Australian man believed to have been killed by feral dogs near Alice Springs says authorities must act before someone else is killed.
The body of Michael Hardy, 26, was found near the entrance to the Hidden Valley town camp in Alice Springs about 8am last Thursday. The NT Coroner's Office said yesterday it had not confirmed any detail of how the man died and their investigation was still under way. But locals say they believe Mr Hardy was killed by the dogs. His cousin, Tabatha Dellar, said Mr Hardy had visited his brother Peter in Darwin and was on his way back to Adelaide when he was "eaten by dogs". Ms Dellar – who said she was a spokeswoman for the family because Mr Hardy's mother, Brenda, is also mentally disabled – was angry police had not acted immediately to find the dogs responsible for her cousin's death. "The (NT police) told us they can't cull the dogs because they belong to indigenous people," she said. "Now my cousin is dead. He was quite a strong man and he was able to defend himself, but these dogs could kill again and next time it could be a child. "All we want is for someone to say that they're sorry and for something to be done about the dogs." Brian Lockyer, who reported the death to police, was also concerned about the feral dogs that roamed the town. He was visiting relatives in Hidden Valley when his son and grandchildren came to tell him about a dead body on the road. "My eldest lad came in with my grandchildren and they were all crying," he said. "This man was there on the road and all his clothes had been ripped off in the attack. It's the most horrible thing to happen and my grandchildren saw his body there." Mr Lockyer said Mr Hardy had suffered horrific injuries to his leg and right arm. He said he had complained to the council about the feral dogs repeatedly over the past five years. "Nothing's been done," he said. "I told everybody that one day someone was going to be killed and now they have." The attack was not an isolated incident according to Mr Lockyer. "Two months ago, a lady here had her ear bitten off by these dogs," he said. "And a month ago I was driving along the road when I saw a woman being attacked by about seven or eight of these big yellow dogs. We had to scare them off and call her an ambulance." Mr Hardy's family is receiving assistance from Families SA to return his body to Adelaide.
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BULL TERRIER OWNER JAILED Bull terrier owner jailed for terror in Leeds city centre A DOG owner was jailed after his bull terrier attacked police during an affray in Leeds city centre. Batons A stranger headbutts Mark Morris before running off. NO PLACE LIKE HOME NEW ZEALAND August 30, 2008 Olly ready to ride again Olly the jack russell terrier is back with his owner after going missing in Christchurch. A truck driver and her pet passenger have been reunited after Olly the jack russell terrier went walkabout in Christchurch. Many people in Christchurch and Kaikoura are used to seeing Olly accompanying Marriott on her rounds. "He's sort of an icon. All the customers love him. He hangs out the window and everyone has a smile and a laugh," said the Kaikoura driver. The Zippy Freight driver said she believed Olly escaped at traffic lights at the intersection of Curletts Road and Blenheim Road, where he was found yesterday morning by a woman who rang the Christchurch City Council. The council contacted Marriott, who had reported the terrier missing. "I am extremely grateful to her," she said of the dog's rescuer. "He is very, very pleased to be back home again. He was jumping up and down all over me." From now on, Olly would be on a tight rein. "I let him go in the back because it was cooler, but I think he can cook up in the cab with me from now on," she said. ITS NOT THAT BAD I was brought up like a dog! (It's not as ruff as you'd think), says Rory Knight Bruce At last, the experts in the canine world have come to a view which I have held for a lifetime. No, she is not demanding that we should scream commands at them like 'Sit!' or 'Down!' - although I know parents made hoarse after repeatedly bellowing those two words in combination at their children. More... During holidays, I would be left for days on end with the hounds and my terrier. We would often sleep on their straw beds, although the hounds were much bigger than both of us. The lessons I learnt in the kennels about discipline, companionship, respect for others (even if they were dogs), self-sufficiency and contentment are with me today. DOG KILLERS SOUGHT OREGAN USA August 28, 2008 Dog killers sought Three dogs snatched from the kennels were found wandering near the shelter at 1420 Brookside Blvd., near the Grants Pass Airport, and four others are still missing, shelter workers reported. Unleashed: Find a positive response to shelter killings, not more negative "It's unfathomable to me that someone would do this," animal control supervisor Brad Tally said. Sheriff Gil Gilbertson said four dead dogs were found laid out on Pleasant Valley Road at about 11:30 p.m. Friday. A shelter worker discovered the break-in Saturday morning when he came to tend the animals at the shelter, Tally said. Tally said the shelter has been broken into six times this year. The perpetrators typically are pet owners who want to reclaim their animals without paying fees or fines. The Sheriff's Department had a report Friday of an owner who had taken a dog from the shelter without proper processing. The severity of this burglary and theft and the cruelty of the killings were a shocking departure from the type of break-in that usually hits the shelter, Tally said. Evidence indicated that someone sneaked in through the back of the shelter after it closed Friday evening and cut triangular holes in the chain-link fencing of the dog kennels. Tally said 15 dogs were held at the shelter Friday, including some strays hoping owners would reclaim them and some adoptable dogs awaiting new homes. The 11 dogs taken appeared to be a random selection of some adoptable dogs and some waiting strays, Tally said. The dogs found dead were all younger than 6 months, he said. Three were border collie-lab mixes, all from the same litter, and one was a merle heeler-collie mix from another abandoned litter of pups. Authorities said all four appeared to have been killed with a blow to the head. They were then placed on Pleasant Valley Road, carefully spaced out down the center of the road, which starts more than two miles from the shelter. "I thought it could be the message of a demented mind," Gilbertson said. At the shelter Saturday morning, workers also found two young lab mix pups who had escaped from kennels that were cut open wandering the shelter grounds. Just outside, a golden retriever-shepherd cross from the shelter tagged along with some joggers on Brookside Boulevard and was returned safely, Tally said. Four other dogs are still missing — a 2-year-old female chocolate Labrador, an older female red and gray dachshund, who both were picked up as strays recently, and a pair of spotted blue heeler pups awaiting adoption. "We really want people to keep an eye out for the ones that are still missing," Josephine County Public Health Director Belle Shepherd said. "We just hope they are OK." Employees and volunteers concerned about the safety of the dogs who remained at the shelter took the animals home with them Saturday night. An employee decided to adopt a merle heeler-collie mix pup, sibling of the one killed, Shepherd said. One more dog from that litter remains up for adoption. "A little extra love came out of this and one of them found a home," she said. The community has stepped in to help the shelter and investigators. Umpqua Bank, the Dollar Tree store on Northwest Sixth Street, and the Merlin Moose Lodge have set up a fund to collect money for a reward for anyone who can provide information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the suspects. Donations to that fund, the Josephine County Animal Shelter Fund, can be made at Umpqua Bank at 100 N.E. Midland Ave., Grants Pass. The shelter is also accepting donations to cover repairs and possible security enhancements, Tally said. Monday he was still awaiting an estimate on the cost of repairs to be made by county crews and Quality Fencing. He said the county's lean budget hasn't had funds for additional security at the shelter in recent years. Donations can be made to Josephine County Public Health and mailed to the public health office at 715 N.W. Dimmick St., Grants Pass, or dropped off at the shelter. DOGS AND SNORING August 27, 2008
If babies have allergies or are genetically-prone to So before parents panic and get rid of their extra kids and dogs, here's the flip side to that story that will give dog lovers something to brag about. If children are predisposed genetically to allergies, getting a dog won't help. But for other kids, exposure to dogs early in life may actually reduce snoring and protect them from developing airborne allergies altogether. And here are four studies that back up that claim. In an article a few years ago in Respiratory Research, another study revealed: "Passive smoking increases the risk of snoring in children but pet ownership may decrease the risk." Researchers at the University of Manchester in Manchester, England, revealed endotoxins, a protein released from dogs, may actually steer a child’s immune system away from potential allergic reactions. At the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio, researchers reported that exposure to multiple dogs may “reduce an infants risk for developing wheezing in the first year of life.” So it would seem in some instances, two dogs might actually be better than one -- or none. CONDEMNED CANINE Protesters trying to protect canine from euthanasia Azelea Bullock of Denver, left, and Chris McGahey, of Commerce City, hold signs at Alameda Avenue and Jason Street on Sunday. Holding signs imploring the city of Denver to save Forrest from euthanasia, a dozen or so animal lovers wave to motorists, many of whom honk in support of a cause that has generated a nationwide reaction. "The furthest out we've heard from people has been Canada," said Chris McGahey, 25, a construction worker who refers to Forrest as his son. The city, however, has labeled the dog as a violator of the 2005 ban on pit bulls, and has ordered his execution. Despite the city's claims, McGahey and his allies insist that Forrest is not a pit bull. In fact, the dog's owner isn't sure what mix of breeds the animal is. "I got him when he was 4 weeks old," McGahey said of Forrest, now 19 months old and residing at the Denver Municipal Animal Shelter. "He's never hurt anyone." The dog is named for mild- mannered Forrest Gump. Though not a purebred, the animal bears enough of a resemblance to a pit bull to send it to death row, according to the city's interpretation of the ordinance. That fine line is only one of several reasons that dog lovers have rallied to Forrest's defense. Some have come from out of state, including Idaho resident Jeramie Dreyfuss. The former wife of actor Richard Dreyfuss flew in to join the protest. Aside from his bloodline, a point of contention is that the dog and his owner are not even residents of Denver. "Chris lives in Adams County," said Paula Terifaj, a California-based supporter who stood at the entrance to the shelter. She was waving a placard for ROVERlution.org, which is fighting breed-specific legislation. According to Terifaj, Forrest left his Commerce City home twice - the second infraction resulting in a death sentence. She and others have offered to take the dog with them to safety beyond Colorado's borders. McGahey said he has plans to move to Fort Collins. Determined to save the dog, "even if it has to go to the Supreme Court," McGahey hired two lawyers. His side was stung by a ruling on Friday by hearing officer Ann Cisneros, confirming Forrest's genetic roots. Euthanizing the dog could be carried out any time. Terifaj remains optimistic. "They haven't killed the dog yet. They don't want to back down, but they're feeling the heat." McGahey plans to file an appeal this week. Attorney Karen Breslin said on Sunday that she aims to confirm her reading of the City Charter that Cisneros' decision is appealable. "This is a pretty extreme use of government power - to be able to knock on someone's door, take their dog away and kill it, just because of its breed," Breslin said. "The chances (of success) are 99 to 1," McGahey admitted. "But in my mind, it's 50-50. Whatever I have to do to save my son." Should the city's ruling be reversed, he suggested he might consider leaving Colorado. "I'm too scared to have Forrest anywhere in this state," he said. NEW TRIAL DENIED SAN FRANCISCO USA August 25, 2008 New trial denied in fatal SF dog mauling case A woman whose dog mauled her neighbor to death could go back to prison for several years after a superior court judge on Friday reinstated the jury's original second-degree murder conviction. "The defendant acted with conscious disregard for human life," said Judge Charlotte Woolard, after listing some of more than 30 incidents in which Marjorie Knoller's dogs bit or lunged at other people, and quoting from a veterinarian's letter warning the dogs were dangerous. Woolard then reinstated the jury's conviction of second-degree murder for Knoller in connection to the death of Dianne Whipple in 2001. The presiding judge had thrown out that charge and convicted Knoller of involuntary manslaughter in March 2002. Knoller was sentenced to four years in prison, and was paroled in 2004 after serving about half her sentence. Whipple was attacked by at least one of two huge Presa Canarios cared for by Knoller in the hallway of the San Francisco apartment building where they all lived. Knoller and her husband, Robert Noel, who were both lawyers, were keeping the dogs for a state prison inmate whom the couple eventually adopted. An appeals court reinstated the second-degree murder conviction but last year the state Supreme Court said the trial judge and appeals court were both wrong and sent the case back down for reconsideration. Knoller now faces 15 years to life in prison when she's sentenced on Sept. 22. Noel, who also was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, wasn't at home during the grisly attack that tore all of Whipple's clothes from her body and left her with 73 different bites, including the fatal bites on the neck. The couple outraged San Francisco residents in the days following the attack, when during a TV interview they seemed to blame the victim for her death. The judge on Friday ruled Knoller should be held in custody until her sentencing, without bail, because she faces a possible life sentence, has no community ties and can be considered a flight risk. Defense attorney Dennis Riordan said the judge's decision lowered the bar on the definition of murder. Knoller had testified that she never thought her dogs could kill someone, and her demeanor during the trial convinced the judge who heard the case, Riordan said. "The murder charge in this case never made sense," he said. SIZE MATTERS IN CHINA BEIJING CHINA August 24, 2008 Chinese more likely to own dogs than eat them China, as we all know, is subject to a large measure of bureaucracy. But did you know that the Chinese have a special law limiting the size of dogs in Beijing? This wonderful piece of lunacy was revealed to me when I was walking back to the yachting venue in Qingdao recently, got a bit hot, bought a bottle of water and sat on a park bench to drink it and watch the world go by. I say park bench. It was set into a little slab of green off the main road - which meant the diesel fumes had just a little further to travel before penetrating my respiratory system. So, looking for something to distract me from this slow death, I spied on the bench opposite me a Chinese guy in his 50s and with a handsome golden Labrador. I am fond of these animals so nodded at him, waved my water bottle at his dog and said: "Nice dog". To my surprise, he spoke good English - he'd lived in Hong Kong for a long spell - and we chatted away about dogs for a while until he told me that he wouldn't have been allowed to have his labrador in Beijing Why not, I asked, full of wonderment. Because the Labrador would contravene the height regulations for dogs in Beijing, he said. This didn't sound right to me and I had to get to the yachting so I said goodbye and wandered off. But I later did some research and discovered that he was absolutely correct. There is a law in Beijing which stipulates that no dog can be over 35cm. If such a dog is discovered, it can be 'intercepted' and sent to the big kennel in the sky. And I thought all those Pekinese I've seen were just because this was the ancient home of the little dog with the face that looks like it ran into the back of a bus. My gran had a Pekinese. Stupid thing, had a problem with snot and breathing, as I recall - a reminder that some dog breeders should be taken out the back and their heads rammed into a concrete wall until their face resembles a Pekinese. Still, they are better than spaniels (the Pekinese, not the breeders...) which, in spite of their wonderfully mournful expression, are monumentally brainless dogs... But, I digress. It turns out there is a little counter-culture group of dog owners in Beijing who flout the 35cm rule - but who have to exercise their large dogs at night so as to avoid the attention of the dogcatchers who would doubtless take the dog, make them fill in eleventy-nine forms and then their file would be marked as 'Possible Enemy Of The State'. Actually, I just made that last bit up but I must say...I have never heard of anything so goddamn silly in all my life. In spite of all the media stories about people eating dog in China - and you can get it here but it's nowhere near as prevalent as we media would have you believe - there is a pet boom going on in this huge land. People are far, far more likely to own dogs than eat them. There's a sentence you don't write every day. Apparently, however, the prejudice against big dogs stems from Mao Tse-Tung days when the great man scorned people who kept pets as bourgeois time-wasters. Now I have examined this from every angle and I cannot see why a dog of more than 35cm is more bourgeois than a dog of less than 35cm. Conspicuous consumption, maybe? And I say that without intending a play on words at all. And, in the wonderful way of bureaucrats everywhere, there are exceptions. Foreign diplomats are allowed to have any size dog at all and can apparently be seen parading all manner of large beasts through the streets of Beijing while the locals cower inside with their tape measures, fearfully ensuring that Pongo The Pekinese hasn't had a growth spurt. Now, I ask you - is this nutso or what? There is talk that there will be a crackdown on large and unregistered dogs after we foreign devils have all gone home. If you ask me, they should round up all the bureaucrats who maintain and enforce such loony laws and give them something useful to do - like cleaning Beijing's roads with a toothbrush. But, as for now, I can sleep safe in my bed tonight knowing that I will not be attacked by a vicious dog of over 35cm. Sniffer dogs may be allowed to break the rules. INSURANCE FOR DOGS UNITED KINGDOM August 23, 2008 Pet insurance outsells health insurance UK pets are the second most insured in the world, Tesco said, after Sweden. Last year, 23 per cent of pets were insured whereas only 12.2 per cent of the UK human population had private medical insurance. Allan Burns, head of Tesco Pet Insurance said: "I'm not surprised by this finding. We have known for a long time that us Brits are pet mad. "Tesco Pet Insurance continually finds ways to make pet cover more affordable for our customers, helping them through tougher times. This is why we are the second largest pet insurer in the UK." Sainsbury's, which also offers pet insurance, said celebrity dog owners are influencing the type of pets people are buying – with an emphasis on smaller, more expensive animals. The demand for 'handbag dogs' has increased by 41.3 per cent, according to the insurer. This includes a 417 per cent increase in the number of Chihuahuas it now insures and a 248 per cent increase in the number of West Highland White Terriers. However, Neal Devine, pet insurance manager for Sainsbury's, has warned: "Generally speaking, the cost of looking after a pedigree animal is more expensive than for a cross breed. Indeed, the most frequent claim for a small pedigree dog is for cardiac disease, which can run into thousands of pounds." VETS COMENTS HIS PERSONAL OPINION However, the RSPCA is keen to clarify that it is concerned about the ‘unacceptably high levels of disability’ affecting many pedigree dogs. The RSPCA was asked for clarifcation on whether it would be continuing to patronage Crufts dog show as a major trade exhibitor in the wake of chief vet Mark Evans’ hard hitting comments about the state of pedigree dogs in this morning’s media. The charity, which is the UK’s largest animal welfare organisation, explained: The ‘parade of mutants’ comment is Mark’s personal view. The RSPCA is, however, concerned about the unacceptably high levels of disability, deformity and disease affecting pedigree dogs - and this includes animals entered into ‘best of breed’ classes in dog shows like Crufts. We believe dog shows that are judged only according to breed standards encourage selective breeding for appearance and the intensive breeding of closely related dogs. The RSPCA isn’t against all dog shows - in fact we want to help ensure a positive future for the pedigree dog by working with everyone involved. We would like to see the emphasis shifted away from appearance, so that health, welfare and temperament are considered first and foremost. Dog shows have the potential to be incredibly beneficial in terms of promoting dog welfare and are also ideal opportunities for the RSPCA to meet dog owners and breeders, let people know about our work and help spread animal welfare messages about responsible pet ownership. DOGS FED ON CORPSE AUSTRALIA August 21, 2008
It is the second body witnesses say they have found being eaten by dogs in Hidden Valley town camp in the past thtree weeks, the Northern Territory News reports. An Alice Springs man told the paper he was visiting his cousins at the camp when he came across the scene on Saturday morning. "I saw three brown dogs having a feed of this bloke. They were down on the inside of his legs," said the man, who did not want to be named. "He was there lying on the ground. I hunted those dogs. I threw rocks at them and yelled at them to get away from the man." He said he ran over and checked the body for a pulse but the 48-year-old man was dead. Police said today that a man had died at the camp at the weekend. They could not confirm whether he had been attacked by feral dogs, saying an autopsy had been carried out and the information passed to the coroner. Three weeks ago, a family claimed an Adelaide man visiting the Northern Territory was eaten alive by wild dogs near the entrance to the camp. Their claim was not confirmed by either the coroner or police. PEDIGREES PLAGUED BBC DOCUMENTARY LONDON ENGLAND August 20, 2008 Pedigree dogs plagued by disease The problems faced by one cavalier King Charles spaniel Pedigree dogs are suffering from genetic diseases following years of inbreeding, an investigation has found. A BBC documentary says they are suffering acute problems because looks are emphasised over health when breeding dogs for shows. The programme shows spaniels with brains too big for their skulls and boxers suffering from epilepsy. The Kennel Club says it works tirelessly to improve the health of pedigree dogs. Poor health The programme, Pedigree Dogs Exposed, says dogs suffering from genetic illness are not prevented from competing in dog shows and have gone on to win "best in breed", despite their poor health. It says physical traits required by the Kennel Club's breed standards, such as short faces, wrinkling, screw-tails and dwarfism, have inherent health problems. Other problems occur because of exaggerations bred into dogs by breeders trying to win rosettes, it adds. The programme shows a prize-winning cavalier King Charles spaniel suffering from syringomyelia, a condition which occurs when a dog's skull is too small for its brain. People are carrying out breeding which would be first of all entirely illegal in humans and secondly is absolutely insane from the point of view of the health of the animals Professor Steve Jones It also features boxers suffering from epilepsy, pugs with breathing problems and bulldogs who are unable to mate or give birth unassisted. It says deliberate mating of dogs which are close relatives is common practice and the Kennel Club registers dogs bred from mother-to-son and brother-to-sister matings. HAVE YOUR SAY There are some breeds of dogs which are "abominations" Steve Jones, professor of genetics at University College London, said: "People are carrying out breeding which would be first of all entirely illegal in humans and secondly is absolutely insane from the point of view of the health of the animals. "In some breeds they are paying a terrible price in genetic disease." Breeding practices RSPCA chief vet Mark Evans was interviewed for the programme. He said: "The welfare and quality of life of many pedigree dogs is seriously compromised by established breeding practices for appearance, driven primarily by the rules and requirements of competitive dog showing and pedigree dog registration." The Kennel Club's Bill Lambert and RSPCA chief vet Mark Evans "Any dog may be shown but it is up to the judge to decide if it fits the breed standard," she said. "It is when characteristics become exaggerated that health problems can occur. "This is something that the Kennel Club does not encourage and actively educates people, including judges, against doing as part of its Fit For Function, Fit For Life campaign." TEENAGER ATTACKED Wrexham teenager attacked by bull terriers Daniel O’Keefe shows his clothes, which were torn in the attack. A TEENAGER from Wrexham has spoken of his horrific ordeal after he was mauled by two dogs. Daniel had just left his girlfriend, Cat Devlin's house, near his own home in Lawson Road, Acton, when the attack took place in nearby Chestnut Avenue. He was about to get into the car when the dogs ran towards him. At first he thought that the dogs were going to be friendly but he soon realised that they were anything but. "They started jumping up at my face and snapping at me," he said. "I didn't know what to do so I tried to run but they were too fast and they caught up to me every time. Then I tripped and fell over." One of the dogs then attacked him. "I was trying to shield my face but it was biting me everywhere," said Daniel. "It has pierced the skin on my back, front, arms and legs. I was in a lot of pain and I was confused by the speed of everything that was happening." His girlfriend, who was in the car, could only watch the events in terror. "Daniel had already told me to stay in the car when he first saw the dogs because he knows that I am terrified of them," she said. "I didn't see them until they started jumping up at him. He shouted at me to stay in the car – I didn't know what to do. I tried to open the windows but they were electric and he had the keys. I was crying and screaming to try to get somebody's attention." A number of residents of the normally quiet street heard the commotion and ran out to try to help. Cat said: "They were trying everything to get the dog off him. They started to hit it with something but the dog seemed oblivious to it all. It was horrible." Daniel eventually managed to get free and one of the neighbours held open the door for him to run inside. Even then, the dog didn't stop. Daniel explained: "I ran into the house and the neighbour tried to shut the door behind me. The dog had chased me though and it's head was stuck in the door. It kept trying to get in but we eventually managed to close it." Daniel's clothes were ripped to shreds during the attack and he was taken to hospital where his wounds were dressed and he was given anti-biotics to prevent infection. Daniel, a bricklayer, is currently off work and at home recovering. A spokesman for North Wales Police confirmed the incident had been reported to them at 6.19pm on Wednesday and that officers were due to start an investigation. SECOND CHANCE CENTER MISSOURI USA August 18, 2008 Dog wash benefits Second Chance animal rescue center Rita Flórez holds her one-and-a-half-year-old toy rat terrier, "Puppy," after he was washed and his toenails cut at a dog wash benefiting the Second Chance animal rescue foundation on Saturday. The fundraiser was an invitation for local pet owners to bring their furry friends in for a bath, support the organization and tour Second Chance's first public adoption center, which celebrated its first anniversary this month. Carolyn Sullivan comforts her dog Jessie, who is being brushed at the dog wash on Saturday. "For us to have the most adoptable animals actually saves the most lives," she said. This year alone, the Humane Society euthanized 9,000 animals, which is up more than a thousand from last year, Kasmann said. Second Chance saves 500 animals every year. The new Second Chance facility, located at 205 E. Ash St., serves as a meet-and-greet point for the animals and potential owners and also facilitates adoptions for the organization, which houses a majority of animals at private facilities or in foster care. "This is a facility that Second Chance has dreamed about for some time," Kasmann said. "It has increased awareness that we're here, that there are other rescue groups out there besides the Humane Society." People who are interested in adopting can check Second Chance's Web site, www.columbia2ndchance.org, which has a list of all animals up for adoption. Animals that aren't at the downtown facility can be brought in upon request for visitation during regular hours of operation, Wednesday through Sunday. Proceeds from Saturday's dog wash will go to support the general rescue operation, and a larger fundraiser will be held next month to reach a goal of $12,000 needed for next year's rent payments. The fifth annual "Paws in the Park" fundraiser will be held Saturday, September 27 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dog wash attendee Porsche, a Yorkshire Terrier, and her owner Vicki Juengermann are sure to be there. "I think it's fun to go out and see the different dogs and socialize them," Juengermann said. She and Porsche will participate in the 5k walk, though Porsche will want to be carried most of the way, Juengermann said. The fundraiser will include other activities, such as games and demonstrations, as well as a host of adoptable cats and dogs. SICK DOG ABANDONED DUNDEE SCOTLAND August 17, 2008 Ill dog abandoned in city street Buddie - as he has been named by vets and Scottish SPCA staff - has medical ailments including a painful skin condition and tumours. His claws were so overgrown that they had turned over and were piercing the pads of his feet - showing that he had not been walked for some time. He was found on Happyhillock Road at about 1830 BST on Monday. 'Tail's wagging' Sharon Comrie, manager of the Petterden SSPCA centre, said Buddie seemed to be in good spirits now. "He's quite a strong-willed wee guy and he's very very strong," she said. "He's been eating fine, his tail's wagging. "I don't know what he's like with other dogs yet, we haven't really got him that far. "He hears them barking and he puts the stance on so we'll just have to take that slowly and muzzle him at first." Ms Comrie appealed for anyone who knows the owner of the dog, who is about eight years old, to come forward. She said: "If someone's done this to one dog, there's nothing to stop them going out and getting another one and that ending up in the same condition. "They're quite uncommon in Dundee, there isn't a lot of English bulldogs going about, so people must know or suspect that someone's had one." MORE COYOTE ATTACKS Coyote attacks surprise Incline Village dog owners Only this time she wasn’t able to return with both of them, as her male dog, Pierce, was killed in an attack by a pack of wild coyotes. Meanwhile, later that night across the basin in Incline Village, resident Lora Rogers lost her 2-year old Jack Russell terrier, Zena, to a pack of coyotes just outside of her Peepsight Court home. Both attacks aren’t out of the ordinary, said California Department of Fish and Game Biologist Doug Updike. “This happens everywhere from the Mexican border to Oregon and is now happening a lot in Southern California, it’s not out of the ordinary at all,” Updike said. “A smaller dog can be an attractive food item for them.” Rhodes, who allowed her two dogs to run in front of her on the busy trails in Kings Beach, uses a GPS tracking system to keep tabs on them. She was doing the same around 10:30 a.m. last Friday, when Pierce was about 50 yards in front of her on the trail when she called him back to her. “He was just far enough ahead of me where I couldn’t see him — all I heard was one bark, then my GPS told me he was down,” Rhodes said. When she came up on Pierce, Rhodes said about eight coyotes were swarming around her dog, who lay motionless on the ground. Pierce weighed about 35 pounds, Rhodes said. “That’s a little larger than usual prey for them,” Updike said. “But, it’s not totally unusual, and in a big pack like that they would be more likely to attack than an individual would.” Rhodes said she quickly leashed her female dog and was attempting to scare the coyotes away with a storm whistle she carries. “I was making a lot of noise and they weren’t backing off,” Rhodes said. “They didn’t want to give up their kill.” Rhodes said she never will walk her dogs in the woods around Lake Tahoe again. Rogers’ story is a bit different, as she was spending time in her Peepsight home near the Mountain Golf Course when a pack of about six coyotes started antagonizing her dogs in what she said is a fairly regular occurrence. Rogers said at that point the dogs disappeared from sight into an area where she thinks the coyotes have a den. Rogers said she heard some squabbling, and then her rottweiler came back, but Zena didn’t. “I just loved that little dog, I had her since she was born,” Rogers said. While she assumes Zena fell victim to the pack, Rogers said she is still putting up signs in hopes the terrier is lost and someone took her in as a stray. Updike said the best way to ward off coyotes who get a little too close to a pet is to throw things and make loud noises. “If a coyote gets hurt or has a hard time getting a meal, it won’t try that again. It’s the type of animal that’s an opportunist, and if something is too hard to catch, it’ll just go back to eating berries,” Updike said. He said humans sometimes unknowingly support coyote populations by leaving out food, leading them to a feeling of comfort in areas where they interact with people. In response to Rhodes’ blog, Becky Goodman, director of the Pet Network, posted some helpful tips for ways to avoid coyotes in her Pets and Wildlife blog. Rhodes encouraged other people who have suffered wildlife attacks to post blog entries to alert people in the area to trouble spots. HELPLESS MAN CRITICAL PARKLAND USA August 15, 2008 Man assaulted by dogs in Parkland, Wash. Pierce County sheriff's Detective Ed Troyer said Michael Warner's daughter and another woman were arrested last weekend for investigation of criminal mistreatment. The two women have not been charged, and both have been released from the Pierce County Jail. Troyer said the women were apparently unofficial caretakers for the man and dogs, but had left them unattended for several days. "We believe some animals were left behind that were not fed and some of the puppies got to him - not intentionally attacked him, but used him as a food source," Troyer said, adding the victim was on the floor, incapacitated for a couple of days. "We know it was the puppies," Troyer told The Seattle Times. "We're just not releasing any of the gruesome details." As many as 27 dogs of various types, including 18 puppies, were taken from the home on Saturday and impounded. The 55-year-old man's daughter had dropped him off last Friday at Tacoma General Hospital, where doctors discovered injuries indicating dogs had fed on him. Warner was in critical condition Tuesday and has not been able to communicate with investigators. Neither woman was being paid by the state to take care of him, said Kathy Spears, spokeswoman for the state Department of Social and Health Services. A neighbor, Anna Bruun, said she had complained about the dogs several times to animal control after a woman was bitten a few months ago. She also said Warner had been left alone at the home in the past, and had stumbled over to her house for help. "Once I had to call 911 because he came over and collapsed in our front yard and so they came and took him away. And there was nobody there (at the home)," Mauled man's caretaker had drug, assault convictions The caretaker of a terminal cancer patient who was mauled by hungry puppies in a Pierce County home last weekend had previous drug and assault convictions and had been investigated for a dog-bite incident, officials say. Pierce County Animal Control received a complaint in May that a woman walking through the neighborhood had been bitten by a dog from the same Parkland home, said animal-control officer Tim Anderson. When animal-control officers contacted the residents, they said the dog was in someone else's possession, Anderson said. Officers were unable to track down the dog, he said. Some neighbors said the seven older dogs at the residence were intimidating. "They were very aggressive," said one neighbor who asked not to be named. "They would go in a pack of five, six, seven of them." Michael Warner, 55, was in critical condition Tuesday at Tacoma General Hospital after he was mauled by an unknown number of the puppies. The 27 dogs living at his home have been quarantined. The caretaker and a relative of Warner's were arrested Saturday on suspicion of criminal mistreatment and obstruction of justice after they brought Warner to the hospital's emergency room suffering from dog bites. The caretaker brought two pit-bull puppies, which she said were responsible for the bites, Anderson said. Those dogs have been quarantined by the Sheriff's Office. The two women have not been charged, and both have been released from Pierce County Jail pending charges. The caretaker had previous drug and assault convictions, as well as two citations for failing to license her animals, according to court records. Neither she nor Warner's relative was being paid by the state to take care of him, said Kathy Spears, spokeswoman for the state Department of Social and Health Services. Deputies also are investigating large amounts of missing prescription medication, said Pierce County Sheriff's Office Detective Ed Troyer. The unfed puppies didn't attack Warner, but rather used the frail man as a food source after he had been left lying on the floor of the house, Troyer said. "We know it was the puppies," Troyer said. "We're just not releasing any of the gruesome details." One neighbor said Tuesday that she had seen the adult dogs barking at and chasing other neighbors. She said the dogs once chased her to her front door. Another neighbor, who lives next door to Warner, said the dogs didn't scare him. "Every now and then, they'd get out and bark at me, but I'd just tell them to behave," said Dennis Selby. In addition to the two dogs seized by the Sheriff's Office, Pierce County Animal Control seized 25 dogs from the home, Anderson said. The animals are in quarantine at the Humane Society For Tacoma and "in fine shape," said Denise McVicker, deputy director. Dog owners need a permit to keep more than five dogs in one household, and the Parkland residents did not have one, said Anderson, the animal-control officer. MAYOR DEMANDS INVESTIGATION PRINCE GEORGE USA August 14, 2008 Cleared mayor demands investigation
Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo and his wife, Trinity Tomsic. One day after Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo called on the U.S. Justice Department to launch a civil rights investigation into the Prince George's County Sheriff's Department's forced entry into his home, Prince George's County Police Chief Melvin High announced Friday that he called Calvo and told him he and his wife Trinity Tomsic were innocent victims of drug traffickers. "The Calvo family members were the apparent victims of a local drug ring," High said. He said he called Calvo "to express my sorrow and regret for that and for the loss of the family's beloved dogs." High issued the statement after the county police department announced two arrests in a drug parcel delivery scheme. An investigation is underway. The raid happened July 29 when Calvo brought in a box allegedly containing 32 pounds of marijuana into his home in the 8500 block of Edmonston Road. The box was addressed to Calvo's wife Trinity Tomsic. Members of the Prince George's County Sheriff's Department's SWAT team stormed into the house and shot Payton and Chase, Calvo's two dogs. According to published accounts, the Prince George's County Police Department believed they had a no-knock warrant. However, later reports indicated they did not have such a warrant. Berwyn Heights Police Chief Patrick Murphy, a 35-year veteran, said the 2003 case of State v. Lee "decided that the law considered breaking the door to be such a violent act" that it is only allowed under specific circumstances. He said the circumstances were: A judge's order, an urgent situation where announcing a search would put police in danger or a reasonable belief that would lead to suspicion. "The general rule is they must announce," Murphy said. He said under most circumstances, the police must knock, announce their presence and be denied entry before they can break down the front door. Several elected officials, including state Sens. Jennie Forehand (D-Dist. 17) and Paul Pinsky (D-Dist.22), Dels. Tawanna Gaines (D-Dist. 22) and Alfred Carr, Jr. (D-Dist. 18) and fellow mayors Adam Ortiz of Edmonston, Judith "J" Davis of Greenbelt and Malinda Miles of Mt. Rainier attended the press conference to support Calvo. Calvo said he was relieved that he and Tomsic were cleared of wrongdoing, but he was still fuming over the incident. "It is a great relief to us to be removed from the glare of suspicion," Calvo said. "We knew we were not involved. Our friends, neighbors and community knew we were not involved. But people who didn't know us did not really know what to think." Calvo accused the police department of not doing appropriate reconnaissance into his family before forcing their way into his home. He blasted the police department and the sheriff's department, saying they didn't move quickly enough to exonerate him and Tomsic. "Now that the truth has come out, the leadership of our two county law enforcement agencies have made things worse," Calvo said. Pinsky said he and other lawmakers wanted to "lend their voices and ask about this debacle. "We're here not so much to point fingers, but to make corrections," Pinsky said. "This just can't be acceptable." Tomsic briefly addressed the press and political figures, sobbing as she recalled a comment from a small child who visited the house after the raid. "A little girl came to our house," Tomsic said. She said the little girl asked her, "if the police shoots your dogs dead, how can I trust them?" Calvo's and Tomsick's attorney Timothy Maloney issued a statement Aug. 6 blasting the county police for "illegally" invading Calvo's house, tying up Calvo and Tomsic's mother Georgia and killing Payton and Chase. "The suggestion that Mayor Calvo's mother-in-law's reaction to seeing a SWAT team in her front yard justified an illegal no-knock entry is outrageous," Maloney said. "The statement that the Calvo family dogs were threatening law enforcement is demonstrably false." Calvo sent a letter Thursday to Grace Becker, the acting assistant attorney general for civil rights. He asked the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division to investigate the county's sheriff's and police department's search warrant policies and procedures. "Since 2005, Maryland law has required a no-knock warrant," Calvo wrote. "Last Saturday, [Aug. 2], the spokesperson for the county police stated that the court had issued a no-knock warrant. This is untrue." Prince George's County Police Cpl. Stephen Pacheco in the department's press information office said the department would not answer questions about the case. POLICE ATTACKED WICHITA FALLS USA August 13, 2008 Dogs attack police As police officers looked into a hit-and-run accident and went to talk with a man, he bolted into a house and went out the back, according to a police report. Officers soon found themselves facing more than just the man when two pit bulls — spurred on by the man — attacked, police said. Police had to shoot the dogs to stop the threat, an affidavit reported. William George Harlin, 42, was charged with one count of aggravated assault, one count of aggravated assault/public servant and one misdemeanor count of resisting arrest, search, or transport, all in connection with a series of events Saturday evening, according to Wichita County court records. Harlin’s total bond was set at $41,000, and he was in the Wichita County Jail Monday evening. A couple minutes after 7 p.m. Saturday, officers went to the 1200 block of 21st Street, said Officer Harold McClure, a public information officer for the Wichita Falls Police Department. They were investigating a report of a hit-and-run collision, and were looking for the suspect in that, he said. The affidavits gave this account: A woman told police she had been waiting at the traffic light in the 1400 block of Galveston when another vehicle bumped hers. She got out to see if her vehicle had any damage, and she saw a tan pickup back up. The truck picked up speed quickly and came toward her, and she dove out of the way, fearing for her life. The pickup backed up again and rushed toward her once more. The woman yelled at the driver, asking if he was drunk, and then saw him speed away. She went to a relative’s house in the 1200 block of 21st Street to call the police, and that’s when she saw the suspect and the suspect’s vehicle in a nearby driveway. The victim pointed him out to police. When the man ran through the house, police followed, McClure said. They caught up to him and ordered him to the ground, but he refused, he said. Police at the scene said officers went to the back yard of that house to talk with the man, and when they arrived, “he picked up a cinder block that the dogs were attached to by a chain, and moved it closer to the officers,” the affidavit reads. The man “then commanded the dogs to attack by saying ‘Get ‘em, get ‘em,’ “ the document continued. At one point, an officer had a brown-and-white dog on each leg, and they were biting him, McClure cited in the police report. Police had to shoot the dogs to stop the threat, he said. The officer suffered several dog bites. According to the affidavit, Harlin kept fighting even after he was handcuffed, and he was moving around and kicking. Police used a Taser to bring him under control, according to the document. He still tried to pull away as officers took him to a patrol car, and once in the vehicle, he started kicking and hitting his head on the back window. An officer described finding a bottle of whiskey that was more than half empty, a can of beer that was three-fourths of the way empty, and another can that was almost empty, inside Harlin’s truck, the paperwork detailed. DOGS USED AS WEAPONS BOURNEMOUTH August 12, 2008 Did terrier owner ‘smirk’ at attack? Rachel Targett of Ridley Road, Winton, was walking on Winton Rec with five-year-old Toya when the bull terrier attacked. The man called off his dog but stood there smirking as Toya's shoulder poured with blood, said Rachel. Finally fellow dog walker Dawn Griffiths, came to her aid and alerted husband Roger who drove them to Companion Care veterinary surgery in Winton. Toya underwent an emergency operation and received between ten and 12 stitches for a four-inch-long wound. Later Toya went into shock and received emergency treatment from the out-of-hours veterinary service leaving her with a total bill of almost £500, said Rachel. Although police were called, the man and his dog had gone by the time they arrived, said Rachel. She said: "I was walking the dog and I saw a young chap with his dog. It was off the lead, saw Toya and automatically ran over to her and attacked her. "He was smirking as though he thought it was funny. I was hysterical. Tara is really sweet and gentle. She never goes for other dogs." Rachel asked a nearby group of teenagers if they had a mobile phone she could use but they also laughed at her, she said. "Blood was pouring out of her chest and shoulder. I think Toya would have died if Dawn and David hadn't helped me. I am very grateful to them. "What if it had been an old dog or a child?" she added. Roger Griffiths, 48, said: "I could hear this dog screaming. When I saw how much blood there was I thought it was going to die. The back seat of the car is covered with blood." Katy Geary, RSPCA spokesperson, said: "If a dog is dangerously out of control in a public place there are means for prosecution. Dog owners do have a responsibility to make sure their dogs are under control. "There is a small minority who see a dog as an extension of their image and we are seeing a lot of cases where, instead of carrying knives, people have a dog as a weapon." PENNY ATTACKED ENGLAND August 11, 2008 Pet injured after savage dog attack VICIOUS: Nora Richardson with her dog Penny which is recovering after being attacked. A FAMILY pet was savaged by another dog in the care of a young boy. The bull terrier was with a young boy of around 10 years old, who didn't have hold of the dog's lead which was trailing on the floor. Nora said: "She had tooth marks on either side of her tail and had to have internal and external stitches at the vets. "Her tail is broken and she may have to have it amputated. "She's not the same dog, she doesn't deserve this. It was a horrible incident and I'm just glad I didn't have my grandkids with me, because they could have been attacked as well." The attack dog may have been adopted from Animal Care, Mrs Richardson believes. A spokesperson from the rescue centre said: "In cases like this, we would have to liaise with the dog warden. "The dog would have to come back to the kennels if we believed it wasn't being looked after properly." A spokesperson for Lancaster City Council said: "We received a complaint, which we are in the process of investigating, on July 29. "Once we have obtained the facts we will make a decision as to the most appropriate action to take." ON VACATION Slew of dog runs make 'staycations' for dogs a walk in the park Pooches try out one of cool pools at newly renovated dog run in Tompkins Square Park in the East Village. Nine-month project to spruce up city's first dog park cost $325,000. If the skyrocketing price of gas put a damper on you and your pooch's summer travel plans, one fun option to consider is a "staycation." After all, with miles of sandy beaches, nature trails and upwards of 50 dog parks around the city to choose from, there are plenty of canine adventures to be had right here in our urban backyard. A chance to check out the newly renovated Tompkins Square Park dog run, the city's first pooch park, is a good reason to head with Fido to the East Village. After a nine-month face-lift, the 18,500-square-foot oasis reopened two weeks ago to much fanfare - and tail wagging. It's every urban dog's dream, boasting three bone-shaped doggy pools, a water fountain and a deck surface made from a paw- and eco-friendly decomposed granite called brownstone screening, designed to facilitate draining. "I never thought it would come out so great," said the dog park's volunteer manager, Garrett Rosso. The $325,000 renovation, a collaborative effort between the city's Parks Department and the local Friends of First Run, which contributed $50,000 to the renovation, was more than four years in the making. Other parks where dogs can make a splash include Washington Square Park, with a dog run especially for large breeds, and the DeWitt Clinton Park at W. 52nd St. and 11th Ave. for small dogs. The Hudson River Park (Greenwich Village) dog run on Leroy St. at Pier 40 boasts two pools and a cement surface to slide on. The Chelsea Waterside Park at 22nd St. and 11th St. has a maze of hills and boulders for your dog to play on, a faux fallen tree to navigate and a man-made stream that runs into a small pool. Kowsky Plaza in Battery Park City has mounds for dogs to jump over and a cement water fountain for them to splash in or drink from. Still, for canines that really want to practice their doggy paddle, few would argue that the dog beach in Brooklyn's Prospect Park is the place to go. To get there, enter the park at Prospect Park West and Ninth St., then follow the path past the tennis house. For dogs that don't fancy swimming, the park offers the city's longest off-leash hours plus the monthly Coffee Bark. In summer, the sand is off-limits for canines at all beaches run by the Parks Department. (www.nycparks.org). However, leashed dogs are allowed on the Boardwalk/promenade at Coney Island, Brighton and Manhattan beaches in Brooklyn and Midland and South beaches in Staten Island. One pristine beach open year-round to canines is Great Kills Park on Staten Island, which offers a 5-mile stretch facing Raritan Bay. On Monday, dogs of all shapes and sizes are invited to cheer on the Brooklyn Cyclones as they take on - who else - the Batavia Muckdogs. The dog-friendly event, sponsored by the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals, will also feature an adoption center and a microchipping station to make sure you never lose your new best friend! FOGGY SHOT UNITED KINGDOM August 9, 2008
At approximately 0700 BST on August 1, 2008, our beautiful Bedlington terrier, Foggy, aged just 7, entered our enclosed garden and began his daily ritual of exploring, relieving himself and preparing for a longer walk before breakfast. Minutes later, at around 0710, he yelped after being shot in his flank. The Bedlington terrier is a distinctive breed, known for its gentle, loving nature, originating from Northumberland. Foggy was brought to us through the Sevray line. He is pictured on the home page of the website, on the left of the photo. He leaves behind Kookie, another Bedlington (aged an impressive 15), his two owners, Sue and Simon, and their two sons, Andrew and Paul. As everyone will attest, he was an extremely affectionate and playful character who brought immense joy to those around him. PURPOSE OF THE PETITION This petition aims to express the strength of public feeling about Foggy's death, not only in the immediate region but also across the UK and indeed abroad. The signatures will be submitted to the magistrates of the respective County Court in due course. The international community of Bedlington owners and breeders, as well as other pet lovers from around the world, are united in their abhorrence of this tragic incident. The commemorative website has elicited an unprecedented response from people in many countries. On the basis of the general facts stated above, we, the undersigned, strongly implore the Court officers to recognize the following points in their review of this distressing case: (1) This is not a simple case of criminal damage to private property. Foggy was an emotional keystone within the affected family; a fact that can be clearly witnessed at his commemorative website and the accompanying video and pictures. (2) The horrendous nature of the crime to this special and gentle dog breed, combined with the extreme pain and suffering experienced by Foggy after the shooting, provide, in our view, a strong justification for a maximum penalty and sentence. (3) The direct and deliberate discharge of a firearm into a private property (and within close proximity to other gardens, as well as a public highway) posed a clear danger to the safety of local residents, walkers, children, pets and wild animals. A paper petition will also be circulated in the local area. Please do not duplicate signatures. Thank you for your support and please share widely. SOLDIER SHOOTS DOG USA August 8, 2008 CUMBERLAND COUNTY (WTVD) -- Residents dash and take cover thinking it's a drive-by shooting - but when the smoke clears, a dog is dead and a Fort Bragg soldier just back from Iraq is left holding a gun. The dog's owner is outraged. DOG FOUND HANGED A DOG lies dead and abandoned in woodland after being HANGED. The bull terrier cross was found dangling from a tree – leaving the RSPCA in disgust. Furious RSPCA staff today pleaded with the public to help them "discover the truth" behind the slaughter. A dog walker made the sickening discovery only yards away from a children’s playground. Blood was also seeping from the dog’s nose and mouth. RSPCA inspector Selina Chan said: “I simply can’t comprehend what has happened to this young animal and how it was found in such appalling circumstances. “We need the public to help us piece together the information so we can discover the truth.” The dog was found hanging by blue bail twine last Friday at 10am near a footpath running from Dare Valley Country Park to Cwmaman. Vets examined the male dog and described it as a medium sized cross - thought to be a bull terrier type - between nine and 18-months-old. Insp Chan made a heartfelt plea for public help to catch the dog’s killer. She said: “The dog has very distinctive markings so I believe someone will recognise his description. “The dog was heavy and it would have taken a very strong person or possibly more that one person to have hung the dog. “When I attended the dog had been cut down from the tree but the twine was so tight around his neck I could not get my fingers underneath it.” CANADA MAN ATTACKED Ottawa man attacked by pit bull; councillor wants changes to law The man underwent surgery after the dog tore at both his arms early Saturday near Caldwell Avenue and Medford Street, said an Ottawa police news release. The dog, described as a pit bull mix, attacked the man after he called to it to try to distract it from lunging at his girlfriend, who had been encouraged to pet the dog by the woman who owned it, the release said. The owner was unable to hold on to the dog's leash. The man tried to fight the dog off, but it did not release him until police arrived and struck it with a baton. The dog then lunged at the officer, who shot it in the face and the shoulder, causing it to run away, the release said. The animal was later captured and put down by a veterinarian, it said. 'If you muzzle a dog, it's telling the dog there's something wrong with it.' He had earlier called on the province to amend a law that bans people from owning pit bulls, and requires anyone who already owns such a dog to keep it leashed and muzzled outdoors. Under Ontario law, a pit bull is: A pit bull terrier But Monette said owners should be hit with smaller fines of around $200 for not leashing or muzzling their dogs, even if no attack has taken place. Attacks typically result in the dog being put down, which Monette called a "pretty drastic" measure. "Really, it's the fault of irresponsible owners and [the dogs] don't get a second chance," he said. Monette said he has forwarded his suggestion to the province. Owner won't muzzle bull terrier "If you muzzle a dog, it's telling the dog there's something wrong with it," said Mercier, who is trying to fight the law. She is working with a group of animal rights activists who have hired a lawyer to meet with provincial officials in September. Ontario's pit bull ban was introduced in 2004. COUPLE STARVE PET NEWCASTLE House of squalor couple found guilty of starving pet BEER cans litter the floor of this house of shame where a couple mistreated their pet dog. Every room in Peter Quinn’s Tyneside semi is filled with rubbish. What was meant to be a living room lies buried under a pile of hundreds of empty beer cans and wine bottles. Elsewhere, a bucket filled with vomit has been left for the dog to lick at. But the hell hole doesn’t seem to bother Quinn, 53, and his partner Angela Flowers. The 38-year-old officially lives two doors further along in Monkton, High Heworth, Gateshead, but she still chooses to spend her time at Quinn’s. In one picture, the flicker of a TV in the background shows how the couple, undeterred by the mess, would sit among the rubbish and watch the box. The only part of the house untouched by the muck is a seemingly unused iron. Plastic bags, faeces, and old tins of dog food litter the kitchen and boxes of washing powder sit pushed to the back of the mess. Even the bathroom is cluttered with beer cans. The state of the house is all the more surprising as wheelchair-bound Quinn is suffering from stomach cancer. While the couple are free to choose a life of grime, the RSPCA have decided the disgraceful dump is unsuitable for an animal. Both Quinn and Flowers have been convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to his Staffordshire terrier Zeus. The animal was described as a bag of skin and bones, ribs protruding, when he was discovered by the RSPCA’s Insp Lindsay Avery. Quinn had already pleaded guilty to the charges laid against him. On Friday Flowers, who had assumed responsibility for caring for the dog, while Quinn was sick, was found guilty, following a trial at Blaydon Magistrates’ Court. She said that although she had been concerned about the state of the Staffordshire terrier, she wasn’t worried about its eating habits and she fed and walked it regularly. Prosecuting, Clive McKeag said the RSPCA had been notified about the dog after they were alerted by a local police officer, visiting the property for another matter. “When Insp Avery visited the property she saw an underweight Staffordshire terrier,” Mr McKeag said. “Insp Avery cautioned Mr Quinn and when she asked him if he understood he said, ‘What for? He’s been drinking my sick’.” The court heard the dog was seized by the officer and taken to a vet on November 21 last year. He revealed its weight was 14.4kg, when it should have been 25kg. Despite being told by her lawyer the law applied to those caring for the dog, Flowers tried to argue her innocence by pleading she did not own the dog. When Quinn’s mobile phone went off during proceedings, his reaction of “Go away and die” brought condemnation from the bench. The chairman of the bench, said: “You thought the dog was behaving normally. “You assumed the dog’s weight loss was down to consuming vomit and bile, rather than actual starvation. “We believe a reasonable person would have known to take the dog to a vet. We find the case proved, that means we find you guilty.” As the dog’s owner, Quinn could now face jail. Reports being prepared by probation could affect the court’s decision on whether to allow either of the pair to keep animals again. The prosecution has also applied for total costs of almost £3000. Both Quinn and Flowers have been released on unconditional bail and banned from having pets until they are sentenced later this month. Insp Avery said: “This is a successful outcome for us and we’re pleased the magistrates have taken the matter seriously. “The dog was in an appalling condition when we found it and the house it was being kept in was in a disgusting condition.” Plastic bags, faeces, and old tins of dog food litter the kitchen and boxes of washing powder sit pushed to the back of the mess. MICROCHIP LEADS TO ARREST IOWA USA August 4, 2008 Iowa woman arrested in dogs’ deaths Denise Withee, 45, of Mapleton, Iowa, was arrested and placed in the Hall County Jail. A press release issued by the Sheriff's Department said a microchip implanted in one of the dead dogs led the department to Withee. The new release said Withee reportedly is in the business of buying and selling dogs in and around the state of Iowa. At the time of her arrest, an additional 13 dogs were seized. Those dogs are being cared for by the Central Nebraska Humane Society. The Sheriff's Department said it cited Withee for three counts of animal abandonment in that serious injuries to the animals resulted after the act. The potential charges are Class IV felonies. The press release said it will be up to the Hall County attorney's office to decide what charges to file against Withee. It said the county attorney's office very well could file additional charges against Withee after it has an opportunity to review all the Sheriff's Department reports on the incident. The press release said it may be possible for other people to be arrested and face charges in connection with the case. The news release said both the Hall County Sheriff's Department and the Central Nebraska Humane Society are continuing to investigate. The case began when a dog was spotted Thursday afternoon near the corner of a cornfield north of Prairie Road by two people who were driving by the field. When those people stopped to investigate, they saw more dogs, which resulted in the Central Nebraska Humane Society and Hall County Sheriff's Department responding to the scene. Eventually, 23 dogs were discovered in the cornfield. Three dogs were alive, but two of them died while people were still working at the scene. A third dog, which was pregnant, died en route to the Grand Island Veterinary Hospital. The veterinary at the clinic took tissue samples to try to determine the dog's cause of death. A syringe without a needle was found in the cornfield. It was confiscated to see if it has any connection to the dogs' deaths. The animals, none of which were puppies, were a variety of breeds: pugs, Yorkies, terriers, terrier mixes, dachshunds and labradoodles None of the dogs had identification tags, but authorities said in their initial follow-up report on Friday that one of the dogs had an implanted microchip. Although the chip wasn't registered, Jane Kuehn of the Central Nebraska Humane Society said on Friday that officials might have a lead on where the device IS THIS THE END E-nose will equal smelling capabilities of canine nose, say researchers
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Sniffer dogs have long been a useful tool in the search for hidden drugs and explosives, but the future looks bleak for man's best friend as scientists seek to develop a new ultra-sensitive electronic nose device. The electronic nose will be able to identify tiny amounts of explosives in high-traffic, high-risk areas, like airports or shipping terminals, according to researchers. Yushan Yan, a chemical and environmental engineering professor at the University of California, Riverside, and his team are in charge of the project. They have just been awarded nearly $1 million in grants by the National Science Foundation to develop the nose, which they claim will work just as well, if not better, than sniffer dog snouts. "The sensor we are developing certainly has many possible applications," Yan told CNN. "There are many other scenarios you can imagine." These include using the hand-held device for military operations to detect hazardous materials or even land mines, he said. They could also be particularly useful in baggage x-ray machines or placed near passenger metal detectors in screening areas, quickly "breathing" in samples of air as people and luggage pass through. And unlike its animal counterpart, the device won't get tired, need bathroom breaks or require food and water, Yan argues. "[A dog] takes a lot of training and a person has to be with them all of the time. A dog doesn't work 7 days a week and maybe will get into a bad mood," he added. They say the device will be able to pick up a smell at extremely low concentrations ranging from parts per billion to parts per trillion and will be able to detect dozens of different odors. It will consist of an ultra-thin film made out of zeolite, a porous substance commonly used to refine petroleum. The special film will capture certain gas molecules, like those found in the explosive vapors of TNT. The molecules that are trapped on the membrane will interface with an ultra sensitive sensor array made of carbon nanotubes. Each sensor will generate a specific signal in the presence of different compounds. The signals will combine to form a unique pattern, or fingerprint, that will be identified by computer software as a specific scent -- just as a human nose can differentiate between the smell of an apple and an orange, the electronic one will recognize ammonia gas from that of benzene, said Yan. Over the past decade, "electronic sensing" or "e-sensing" technologies, that mimic human senses, have grown significantly, especially from a commercial perspective. They are used by companies to "smell" everything from beer and wine to spoiled food and medicine. The technology behind reproducing human sense will grow even further in coming years. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are currently creating a tiny electronic nose made out of a ceramic material that could also detect a range of gases, including hazardous ones like carbon monoxide. While scientists at Tufts University in Massachusetts are working on a smelling machine that uses strands of dried DNA to identity different scents. Coca-Cola has a smelling machine to analyze corn syrup, while scientists at Nestlé have designed one to sniff coffee aromas. Some cosmetic companies have even used them to smell flower fragrances for their perfumes. However, so far no one has developed an electronic snout that can quite compete with the complex and highly sensitive canine olfactory system. But former dog handler, Bill Heiser is not convinced. Heiser, from Florida, has a faithful black Labrador, Max, who worked in drug detection for years. For him nothing beats working with man's best friend. "You get attached," Heiser told CNN. The most rewarding is you get a dog that literally sometimes has no name," "The end result is he is happy go out and work because of his loyalty to you. Each dog has a different personality." NOT THE HANDSOMEST DOG NORWICH ENGLAND August 2, 2008 Presenter bitten by dog at show The terrier became annoyed while having its teeth and coat inspected during the show at a garden centre in Norwich. Purves was taken to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital for treatment to the gash on his hand. Lynn Morris, from Notcutts garden centre, said Purves had to have stitches. He had been judging a handsome dogs contest when the dog bit. Ms Morris said: "Peter was looking at one of the dogs to judge him. "He was handling the teeth, the body and coat when the dog took exception to this and the next thing that happened - he bit his hand." STAFFORD IN THE DRINK AGAIN BLACKPOOL A miracle escape for an old sea dog Kelly the wonder dog.
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