Source: TelegraphUK, Nov 19, 2009
A Lithuanian man who threw a dog off a bridge has been hunted down by animal lovers who watched a video of the crime that the man posted online.
Police in the Lithuanian town of Kaunas arrested 22-year-old Svajunas Beniukas on animal cruelty charges after internet users helped police identify him and the bridge from which the small brown dog was thrown.
The video shows a man holding the dog, called Pipiras, Lithuanian for pepper, and laughing as his friend records the event on his mobile phone.
Checking that the coast is clear, he makes a joke about dogs flying and then drops the animal off the bridge.
Crashing onto a farm track below, Pipiras yelps in pain, and lies twitching on the ground.
But despite falling over 20 feet and sustaining multiple fractures and internal injuries, vets said the dog would survive.
“He’s lived with me for four to five years,” Petras Dunskaitis, the dog’s 70-year-old owner told a Lithuanian newspaper. “He didn’t deserve such a fate.”
Originally posted on a Lithuanian website, outrage at the treatment of the dog snowballed as the 40 seconds of footage spread across the globe, even making it to Facebook through the efforts of a 3,000-strong group calling itself the “Lithuanian Dog Support Group”.
Lithuanian police said a key breakthrough was tracing the local website, www.15min.it, where the footage originally appeared. The website’s users identified the man as Beniukas.
Local media reported that Beniukas may have sought revenge on the dog after it was suspected of killing some of his mother’s chickens.
He has been charged wtih animal cruelty and faces up to a year in jail.
Source: Associated Press, Nov 19, 2009
A shelter’s decision to euthanize a dog that was thrown from the sixth-story roof of a Brooklyn building has inspired new state legislation.
State Assemblyman Micah Z. Kellner said on Thursday that he introduced a bill requiring shelters to release any animal they plan to kill to a legitimate rescue group that offers to take in the animal.
Animal activists were outraged last week when the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals put down the pit bull mix named Oreo. The ASPCA said it tried to rehabilitate Oreo, but she was too aggressive.
Before Oreo was euthanized, at least one upstate sanctuary had offered to take her in. The ASPCA said sanctuary was not appropriate in her case.
ASPCA attorney Debora Bresch says the agency is reviewing how the bill fits with existing law.
Source: TimesUnion.com, Nov 13, 2009
A Saratoga County man hunting on his property found something he was not looking for Sunday: A dog bound in duct tape and discarded in a trash bag.
The beagle, named Daisy, had been missing for two weeks. She is now recovering at home.
Her rescuer, Ed Dandaraw, 64, was hunting in a swampy area on his property when he spotted a small black bundle that he said at first looked like a bear cub.
Upon closer inspection, he thought it was just a black garbage bag — until it shifted and he saw two of the dog’s brown legs sticking out.
“When I pulled open the bag, she hardly moved,” said Dandaraw, who said the dog’s skin beneath the tape was hairless and appeared to be rotting. “I don’t think she had much time left.”
The dog’s entire head was wrapped in the tape as was the midsection of her body. Her two front paws were taped together, so that she couldn’t escape, Dandaraw said.
Saratoga County Undersheriff Michael Woodcock confirmed the dog had been found, but would not provide any details.
“(Whoever did this) was a very sick, deranged person,” Dandaraw said. “They left the nostrils open so she could breathe in the bag.”
He took the dog to an emergency veterinary clinic and using information from a microchip under her skin, Daisy was identified and returned to her owners.
The owners, who do not wish to be named, live about 5 miles away from where she was found. Dandaraw said the owner had been going around the town of about 1800 residents searching for Daisy.
Dandaraw said he spoke to the owners Wednesday night and they told him that Daisy, who lost about 20 pounds, is recovering well, though she can only eat very small meals and consequently is being fed six to seven times a day.
It was the first time in three years that Dandaraw walked into the swamps on the back of his property, a life-saving coincidence, he said. Now he wants justice brought to those responsible.
“I did my job in saving that dog,” Dandaraw said, “and now whoever can help to find out who can do this needs to stand up.”
Reach Humberto Martinez at 454-5057 or hmartinez@timesunion.com.
Source: Associated Press, Nov 12, 2009
A mother of seven is accused of running a house of horrors for pets at her suburban Long Island home, forcing her children to help torture them and burying at least 20 dogs in her backyard — animals neighbors now fear were beloved pets that mysteriously disappeared over the years.
Sharon McDonough pleaded not guilty last week to six counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty on suspicion of abusing five dogs and a cat found crammed into cages, covered in feces and urine, their coats matted with filth. A judge has taken away custody of the 43-year-old woman’s six young daughters.
McDonough’s neighbors began fearing their missing pets met a worse fate than the abused animals after her son led officials to a backyard filled with the shallow graves of 20 dogs.
Douglas McDonough, 21, who turned his mother in to authorities on Nov. 5, called the home “a concentration camp for the animals” in comments to reporters after the arrest.
“She would have the oldest kids hold down the dog while we duct-taped his mouth and she would hit him,” he said, adding that he and his sisters were all forced to take part in the abuse.
On Tuesday, a judge removed the six girls — ages 18 months to 13 years — from the custody of McDonough, who is widowed. Her court-appointed attorney, James D’Angelo, called the animal cruelty counts a “low-level offense.”
“She’s not charged with killing animals and is entitled to a presumption of innocence,” he said. No one answered the door at McDonough’s home this week.
Dozens of people have called the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals since the case broke, fearing their missing pets had been victimized, Suffolk County SPCA Chief Roy Gross said.
“My daughter is still crying every day over her lost Chihuahua,” said neighbor Sharyn Padula of the family’s dog Bally, who disappeared just over a year ago. Two cats, Annabelle and Sylvester, also went missing.
After the dog disappeared, the family “posted pictures everywhere, Craigslist, and went doorbell to doorbell asking people if they’d seen him,” said Padula, who lives a few houses from McDonough. “I really hope they don’t find my pets there.”
McDonough’s two-story red brick house sits on a middle-class block of closely placed, well-kept homes buffered by manicured lawns and festooned with holiday decorations — except for McDonough’s, an unkempt structure with peeling paint, surrounded by fallen, matted leaves.
Since the dog carcasses were found, vandals have spray-painted “killer” on the garage and “guilty” on McDonough’s mailbox. Rotten eggs were splattered on the house and on an SUV parked outside. A New York tabloid has dubbed her the “Cruella De Vil of Long Island.”
Gross was summoned to the home after Douglas McDonough contacted Rescue Ink, a group of bikers who stage animal rescues in the New York metropolitan area for a television program of the same name on the National Geographic Channel. Efforts to reach the group, created several years ago by a former NYPD detective and ex-security guards and bouncers, were unsuccessful. Its messaging system was full and an e-mail seeking comment went unanswered.
Authorities found the animals — a shepherd mix, a beagle mix, an Italian greyhound, a cocker spaniel mix, a pug and a tabby cat — in wretched cages in the house. A “sickening” smell in the back yard nearly overcame animal control officers and firefighters, Gross said.
“This is one case I’m sure I will never forget out of the thousands and thousands I have seen,” said Gross, a 25-year veteran of abuse investigations. “It’s probably one of the most horrific cases of animal cruelty.”
After Douglas McDonough told investigators about the animals buried in his family’s backyard, SPCA authorities returned to the house with a search warrant and began digging. In all, 20 dogs were found in varying states of decomposition, suggesting they had died over a period of years.
Gross said necropsies were being conducted and veterinarians would search the bodies for implanted microchips that might help identify them. That could be the only way to determine whether any of the dead dogs had been stolen.
Upgraded larceny or grand larceny charges might be filed by the police if it can be proved any of the animals were stolen, Gross said.
It wasn’t clear why McDonough’s son waited until last week to alert authorities, and contact information for him could not be found.
A note from the Suffolk Division of Public Health was taped to McDonough’s front door Monday, saying the agency wanted to know about “bags of human feces in the backyard and garage.” A health department spokeswoman did not return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment.
Two of McDonough’s daughters have been placed with their older brother, two with neighbors and two in foster care. Suffolk County social services officials would not comment on the status of the child welfare case and whether charges were possible.
McDonough, whose husband, Darren, was killed in a car accident last year, faces up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine for each count of misdemeanor animal cruelty if convicted. If authorities upgrade the abuse charges to a felony, she could be sentenced to up to two years in prison on each count if convicted.
Padula said she hopes the necropsies do not turn up her Chihuahua or other pets.
“I’d rather think that they’re wandering around still,” she said. “I don’t even want to imagine.”
Source: Fox59.com, Nov 7, 2009
Police and animal control officers are investigating a gruesome case of dog fighting, after a pit bull was severely injured and left for dead on the northwest side of Indianapolis on Friday.
A man and woman found the dog limping toward their care near the intersection of 71st St. and Guion Rd. When they stepped out of the car they noticed the dog was suffering from multiple puncture wounds and bleeding heavily. They then wrapped it up in a sleeping bag and rushed it to the local Humane Society of Indianapolis.
“You want to think the best of people,” said Nina Gaither, who works with the Humane Society and serves on the board of the Indy Pit Crew, an advocacy group for the breed. “You want to think that maybe this was an accident.”
As a proud pit bull owner, Gaither says her heart sank when the dog named “Valor” came into the Humane Society Friday night.
“This is probably the worst it would get for a dog to come in the doors alive,” Gaither said.
Unfortunately, Gaither said, the pit bull didn’t live for long. Humane officers were forced to euthanize “Valor” after finding two severely broken legs, one which would have required amputation, along with more than 50 puncture wounds. Gaither says they quickly identified “Valor” as a victim of dog fighting, because his injuries were located on the front of his body, and his wounds were inflicted over a long period of time.
“There were wounds from 4-5 days ago,” Gaither said. “There were wounds from three weeks ago. There were wounds from 6 months ago from the varying degrees of healing. That’s when we realized this was nothing new for this dog.”
Gaither says illegal dog fighting isn’t a new problem in our area. The Pit Crew created an educational video in hopes of shedding light on the practice two years ago. The Humane Society receives dogs rescued from fights once every couple months. But Gaither says this latest case shows how previous efforts haven’t been able to target the underlying problem.
“I’m just reminded that this is a human problem,” Gaither said. “This isn’t a dog problem.”
Though it’s unclear exactly how widespread dog fighting has become in Indiana, in the past few months IMPD has joined forces with animal control to crack down on that human problem. The new task force investigates animal fighting complaints and handles cases like “Valor’s”.
“The only thing that ever happened to this dog that was humane was the peaceful end he was given,” Gaither said.
Now she says she hopes the increased effort brings justice to what she calls a cowardly act.
“The whole manner about it makes them a coward,” Gaither said. “The fact that they are engaged in this practice. The fact that they would just dump a dog, you know, out on the street to fend for itself and for the rest of the community to deal with.”
If you have any tips regarding this case or any other cases of dog fighting, please call CrimeStoppers at 262-TIPS.
