A Pennsylvania community is mourning the loss of Ricky, an 11-year-old German shepherd with an outstanding temperament and an even more impressive resume.
Among his accomplishments, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported:
Helping protect two presidents; assisting at ground zero after 9/11; apprehending numerous criminals; checking hundreds of potential bomb sites, four of which contained live material; locating two missing children, one of whom was autistic; and interacting with thousands of elementary-school students.
Ricky, who belonged to West Caln Township Police Chief Curt A. Martinez , began his career when he was less than a year old at the Coatesville Area School District, where Martinez worked at the time as a school district security officer.
In May 2002, a budget crisis led the district to put Ricky on the auction block, a decision that provoked public outrage and led to Ricky’s appearance in People magazine. The ensuing publicity helped raise the $4,000 needed for Martinez to buy Ricky.
When Martinez went to work in the West Caln police deparment in Chester County, he took Ricky went with him. Martinez has led the West Caln force for three years.
Martinez said Ricky began barking incessantly last week. After visits to the veterinarian and the animal hospital, Martinez learned the dog had a softball-size tumor in his spleen.
“He was clearly in pain,” Martinez said today. “We had to put him down.
“Everyone in the township is taking it pretty hard,” Martinez added. “It’s a loss to the community, too; he was a great police dog.”
A memorial service will be planned, but Martinez has not worked out the details.
They left the choppers at home (too cold), but members of Rescue Ink arrived in Pennsylvania Friday to help search for the killer of a Chester County family’s two dogs — and promote their TV show at the same time.
The tattooed stars of National Geographic’s TV show “Rescue Ink Unleashed” greeted fans at the Chester County SPCA, and later Friday night at a town hall meeting.
Then they set out to search for the killer of Emma and Luna, two dogs found slain in October.
The dogs were reported missing from a Pocopson Township farm on Oct. 25 and were found later that day several miles away in Pennsbury Township by a resident walking in the woods near railroad tracks along the Brandywine Creek, Britton said. The dogs were shot between the eyes and lined up tail to tail.
Rescue Ink had this message for the perpetrator: “Come find us before we find you.”
Joe Panz, one of the members, said the group plans to spend several days canvassing Chester County neighborhoods. “We’re street guys; we know how to get information from people,” he said.
Members of the New York-based group chatted with visitors at the SPCA Friday, many of them members of the animal-rescue community, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Anyone with information about Emma and Luna is asked to call the Chester County SPCA at 610-692-6113, Ext. 213. A $50,000 reward has been posted.
(Photo: Courtesy of National Geographic Channel)
The reward for information leading to the arrest of whoever shot and killed two dogs in Pennsylvania has reached $50,000, the Chester County SPCA said yesterday — and the gang at Rescue Ink has joined in the investigation.
The reward fund was established last October after the two family pets were found near the railroad tracks along Brandywine Creek in Pennsbury Township. Both had been shot between the eyes at close range.
Emma, a one-and-a-half-year-old German shorthaired pointer, and Luna, a two-year-old mix of the same breed, had been placed tail to tail, said Rich Britton, spokesman for the Chester County SPCA. The two dogs were reported missing from a Pocopson Township farm Oct. 25.
Today, the search for the killer will get an additional boost from Rescue Ink, a group of tattooed animal rescuers who appear on National Geographic Channel’s Rescue Ink Unleashed, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Rescue Ink, which targets animals in danger, will participate in a news conference today at 2 p.m. and meet with the public from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at the Chester County SPCA, 1212 Phoenixville Pike, West Chester. A town-hall meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the Chadds Ford Historical Society, 1736 Creek Rd.
A sweet stray beagle mix found wandering in Baltimore with a tumor the size of a baseball hanging from his neck is being taken in by a Pennsylvania rescue organization.
Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter (BARCS), which had been caring for the dog, sent out an email plea in hopes of finding a rescue organization to take custody of the dog, who will need surgery for the infected tumor.
All Things Pawssible in Lewiston, Pa. — living up to its name — offered to do so, and has a foster home already lined up.
They are accepting donations to help pay for the medical attention he will need.
The Petfinder website for the rescue organization is: http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/PA484.html
A Pennsylvania veterinarian has been convicted of animal cruelty after he removed part of a puppy’s tail without anesthesia while holding it under scalding water.
Tom Stevenson of Honey Brook in Chester County performed the procedure on the nine-week-old puppy last March in the washroom of a kennel in Lancaster County.
A prosecutor said Stevenson acted against all “reasonable veterinary judgment” when he used unsterilized scissors and failed to give the animal pain medication or proper treatment for the wound, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Stevenson, whose medical license was suspended by the state veterinary board in May as a result of the cruelty charge, testified that he was performing first aid on a previously injured dog and used the tools he had on hand. Stevenson’s attorney said he would appeal yesterday’s conviction.
