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.
Source: AJC.com, Nov 7, 2009
The Atlanta Humane Society added $5,000 to the reward fund for information that leads to the arrest of the person who shot and killed a Griffin Police Department German Shepherd and then dumped the dog in a ditch beside a Lamar County Road.
The dog’s handler, Griffin police Cpl. Chad Moxon, and his family had already put up $1,000 so the reward now stands at $6,000 with the Humane Society’s offering.
After getting home from the firing range on Monday, Moxon discovered Jimi and his dog Yeager missing from their kennel at his house on a dirt road in Lamar County.
“The gate looked like it had been tampered with, and there were tire tracks leading up to the gate, going across my back yard,” Moxon said Friday. “I can’t say for 100 percent that someone came in there and took the dogs, but I do believe that’s what happened. ”
Moxon said he searched all Monday night and most of Tuesday night for the German Shepherds. He handed out about 300 flyers and followed up on several false alarms from people who thought they had spotted them.
Moxon got a call Wednesday morning that Jimi may have been found in a ditch on Rock Quarry Road near the Monroe County line. Moxon said there was little blood at the scene so he suspects the 3-year-old dog was dumped there after he was shot in the side. The vet found buckshot in the wound.
“I just sat down in the ditch for the next 30 minutes. I didn’t have the energy to get him out,” Moxon said.
Shortly after he got home a neighbor called with the news that Yeager was in his yard.
“I almost didn’t recognize him,” Moxon said. “He was badly beaten.
“Hes still at home recovering,” Moxon said of his 2-year-old dog, also a German Shepherd. ” I’m hoping he’ll recover in the next few days.”
Jimi was a “multi purpose” dog, trained at detecting drugs and explosives and tracking people. It’s a common practice for police handlers to take their assigned dogs home even though they belong to the departments.
“This is the first time I’ve come to work without him in two years,” Moxon said.
Anyone with information should call Lamar County Sheriff’s Office at 770-358-5159 or 770-358-8881.
Source: wset.com, Nov 6, 2009
A dog has been rescued after being stuck in the mud for more than 24 hours. Danville Humane Society officials found him on the Riverwalk trail near Dan Daniels Park after walkers reported hearing the dog whimpering.
The humane society knows this dog. They say a woman came to the shelter on Wednesday to drop off the dog, but when she took him out of the car, he got scared and ran away.
Meko Purdue was out walking on the Riverwalk trail with family, when she heard something strange.
“I heard the whimpering and the crying and we looked over we saw the dog,” Meko said.
She and her sister, Chablee, called 911.
“I looked over the ledge and I saw his face, and I was like it’s sitting there and I kept hearing it and hearing it and then that’s when everyone came over police and everything and they were like ‘we don’t see it at all’ and I’m like ‘it’s still under there’,” Chablee said.
Animal Control and Humane Society officials found the dog down a steep bank.
“You could just see his head through the branches and leaves and everything stuck in there, he was hiding underneath the tree,” Linda Cottrell with Animal Control said.
Rescuers were able to get him out. Paulette Dean with the Humane Society is sure he was out there overnight. She says a woman tried to bring this dog to the shelter on Wednesday.
“When she got him out of the car he got scared and he ran and she let go of the leash so she told us that this dog was now running towards the river,” Dean said.
If it hadn’t been for Meko’s call, they might not have found him.
“I’m glad we walked back through here, because a lot of people have been walking back and forth and I can’t believe no one heard him. It was pretty loud. I just feel like we were in the right place at the right time,” Meko said.
He really is a sweet dog. He was taken to the vet and expected to make a full recovery, and he’s available for adoption immediately. If you live in Danville or Pittsylvania County, call the Humane Society.
Source: PittsburgPostGazzette.com, Nov 3, 2009
A domesticated mutt is acting as the surrogate mom for nine newborn African painted dog pups at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, a ground-breaking arrangement for the rearing of the wild dogs, whose mother died shortly after they were born.
Honey, a mixed-breed dog from the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society’s North Side shelter, is nursing the black and white puppies that were born at the zoo Oct. 25, and zoo officials say all are gaining weight and doing well.
It’s the first time such a domestic surrogate has been used to mother and feed new-born painted dogs. The pups’ natural mother, 10-year-old Vega, died of a ruptured uterus.
The mortality rate for African painted dog pups, even with a healthy mother, is 50 percent in the first 30 days, in the wild or in captivity.
Source: ToldedoBlade.com, October 25, 2009
Troy Teneyck’s voice choked with emotion Saturday night as he stood before a candlelit crowd of more than 120 people outside the Lucas County Dog Warden’s animal pound on Erie Street. Two months earlier, the Teneyck family dog, a 6-year-old chow named Bear, disappeared from their East Toledo home. And two days after Bear’s disappearance, the family learned over the phone that their pet had met a fiery fate in the dog pound’s incinerator.
Mr. Teneyck shared the story of his family’s loss during a candlelight vigil in memory of all the dogs that have died at the county pound. The vigil, though planned months in advance, fell on the same week as an Oct. 20 presentation by an oversight committee for the Lucas County dog warden that said too many dogs were euthanized and not enough adopted out to new homes.
Stephen Serchuk, chairman of the dog warden advisory committee, told the county commissioners that the dog warden’s agency, headed since 1987 by Tom Skeldon, lacks standard procedures for its daily operations, including protocols for euthanasia and the use of tranquilizer darts to subdue mangy dogs. Members of the 11-person committee issued four recommendations for improving the agency, including the reinstatement of controversial door-to-door dog license checks.
“They took my dog from me,” Mr. Teneyck said, his voice heavy with emotion. “At first it was a shock to me. As the shock wore off, it turned into anger. And as the anger left, it turned into sadness.”
Anger seemed to mix with sadness during the hour-long vigil, organized by the Ohio Coalition of Dog Advocates. “We want to raise the public’s awareness of what goes on down here at the dog pound,” said Jean Keating, the coalition’s co-founder, who gave the opening remarks at the vigil. She spoke from a podium near a board marking every dog euthanized this year at the shelter.
Many in the crowd said they were disgusted by the high kill rate at the county’s pound, said to be one of the highest in the state with 2,483 dogs euthanized last year, or 80 percent of all dogs taken in. “This reign of terror needs to stop right now,” speaker Sarra Beam said.
“We could save a lot of dogs but they won’t let us,” said Rita Bonnell of Rossford, who operates a rescue shelter and disagrees with the warden’s policy against transferring animals to “all-breed” operations other than the Toledo Area Humane Society.
The evening included a moment of silence for the departed dogs and those animals currently in the kennel, and the playing of the Sarah McLachlan song, “I Will Remember You”. The event also paid respect to the memory of Princess, a 10-pound Pomeranian-beagle mix who died in February after being shot with a tranquilizer gun by a deputy dog warden.
Cheers and applause broke out when speaker Dan Grove called for the removal of Mr. Skeldon, who has served as dog warden since 1987. An assistant to Mr. Skeldon on Friday said he was aware of the planned vigil but would not comment on it or the group’s claims.
Mr. Teneyck said his dog Bear got loose on Aug. 16 and was observed being hit by a silver or gray car. He said his family scoured the neighborhood looking for the dog and visited the county pound on two separate days to see if he was there. Although Bear was not licensed, his name was put on a missing dog list, Mr. Teneyck.
Mr. Teneyck said he then received a phone call from the dog warden’s office the morning of Aug. 18. He said he was told that they had found his dog with a broken leg. However, in the next breath he was told that they had euthanized the animal that morning. According to Mr. Teneyck, his injured dog was picked up by warden deputies just steps away from his home at about 7 a.m. that morning. “It’s pretty sad that stuff like this happens,” Mr. Teneyck said.
