‘Abandoned’ Dog’s Owners Frequently Dump Her at Gas Station for Fun

It was a picture that broke a million hearts this week: A German Shepherd mix seen chasing her owner’s pickup truck on a busy Louisiana highway after he dumped her at a gas station.

To add to the heartache, the dog seen in the photo, snapped by Lorie Hollis on her cell phone Monday, then seemed to disappear.

“I saw a gentleman walking around the gas station with the dog following him, and I thought he was homeless,” Hollis told ABC News. “He then sat on the back of this pickup truck and talked to the dog, who seemed to be very in tune to what he was saying.”

She said another man came out and told the dog to go away. “He shut the tailgate, and the dog tries to put its paws up to climb, but he just enters the truck and they back up real fast, almost hitting the dog, and speed off.”

Hollis followed behind them, watching the dog weave around cars as he chased the pickup truck. “The truck crossed two lanes of traffic, and still the dog followed,” she said.

When Hollis lost sight of them, she returned to the Highway 11 Shell gas station in Slidell, where an employee told her the dog lived in the area and to “mind her own f-ing business.”

The dog’s owners were finally tracked down Thursday by the Humane Society of Louisiana. Its director, Jeff Dorson, told ABC News the dog, Butterbean, was uninjured and very sweet, but the discovery was “incredulous.”

“It’s not uncommon at all for this family to abandon the dog at the station and let it chase their truck,” Dorson said. “They’ve done this multiple times and apparently think it’s no big deal, and they don’t seem to care about the welfare of the dog.”

Butterbean, who had been dumped in the neighborhood as a puppy, is between 6 and 7 years old. “We are truly amazed that Butterbean has survived this many years,” Dorson told the Times-Picayune.

The dog is apparently co-owned by two families. She was found Thursday on the property of one of her pet parents, Lisa Pearson.

Dorson said the humane society would educate Pearson and the other owners about the dangers they’re posing to their dog, named Butterbean, and other drivers. “We’re hoping to get a citation issued through our local animal control against the owners for having their dog at large,” he said.

According to an update on the Humane Society of Louisiana’s Facebook page yesterday, the owners are refusing to rehome Butterbean. “They stated their intention is to now keep her tethered in their backyard, which of course is not an acceptable way to maintain a family dog in our view, apart from the history of extremely irresponsible pet ‘ownership,'” the humane society wrote.

Butterbean’s case has been escalated to St. Tammany Animal Services, which has the authority to directly intervene. Dorson told ABC News yesterday the humane society is currently “pursuing all avenues to gain legal custody of Butterbean to ensure she has the safe and happy life she deserves.”

Meanwhile, a Shell gas station employee named Sandra told an ABC News reporter on the phone, “Everyone is making a big deal, and it needs to stop.”

Many commenters on the Humane Society of Louisiana’s Facebook update support Butterbean’s owners. “All of you need to back away and leave these people and their pet alone!!” wrote Gregg NVicki Miller. “Has been happy until you decided that you are not happy with the way somebody else lives their lives. I don’t like the way you think its OK to step all over somebody.”

I wonder if Gregg NVicki Miller were driving down Highway 11 and struck and killed happy Butterbean, he’d feel the same way.

Photos via Facebook, Facebook

Judge and Brother Say ‘The Jinx’ Robert Durst Started Out Killing Dogs

It’s a known fact — and great argument for tougher animal cruelty laws — that many serial killers start out by killing dogs and cats.

Among them are Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy and “Boston Strangler” Albert DeSalvo. And now Robert Durst can apparently be added to this list.

As you’ve probably heard, the real estate tycoon and subject of the recently aired HBO documentary series, “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,” was arrested this week and charged in the 2000 death of his friend, Susan Berman. In the last episode of the series, Durst can be heard confessing to the murders of Berman as well as his wife, Kathie Durst, who disappeared in 1982. “I killed them all, of course,” he said.

Back in 2003, Susan Criss was the judge for Durst’s murder trial for shooting and dismembering a neighbor in Texas. The jury believed Durst’s story that he did it in self defense, and he was acquitted. Criss told “Inside Edition” today that after the trial ended, “a perfectly clean and preserved cat head, cut up by someone who knew what they were doing” was left on her porch.

She said she “strongly believes” it was Durst who did it.

Durst had seven Malamutes, all named Igor, upon whom he practiced dismemberment techniques, according to both Criss and Durst’s brother, Douglas Durst.

“They all came to some unnatural deaths. Some very bizarre, unnatural deaths,” Criss told “Inside Edition.” “He practiced on those dogs, and that’s where he got some of those skills at cutting people up.”

Douglas Durst told the New York Times in January about the seven Malamutes.

“They all died, mysteriously, of different things, within six months of his owning them,” he said. “We don’t know how they died, and what happened to their bodies. In retrospect, I now believe he was practicing killing and disposing his wife with those dogs.”

Criss and Douglas Durst said “Igor” was Robert’s code word for “murder.”

“When he was in jail in Pennsylvania, he was recorded saying, ‘I want to Igor Douglas,’” his brother told the New York Times.

Robert Durst is currently in an acute mental health facility in St. Gabriel, La., waiting extradition to Los Angeles.

Photo via Facebook

San Diego Cop Kills Pit Bull Therapy Dog ‘For No Reason’

Burberry, a 6-year-old Pit Bull, worked with children with Down syndrome as well as with his dog dad, Ian Anderson of Pacific Beach, Calif., to help them through rough times.

The therapy dog was always there “to put [his head] on your lap and you know everything is going to be okay. There’s just no way to explain the bond,” Anderson told NBC 7.

But Burberry is no longer around to work his magic. When two police officers responding to a domestic disturbance call knocked on Anderson’s door — apparently the wrong address — early Sunday morning, Burberry began barking. Anderson told NBC 7 he let Burberry outside, where he stopped barking.

In a surveillance video, one of the officers can even be seen patting Burberry’s head.

“The other officer yelled and screamed at the dog for no reason to get inside,” Anderson said. “It startled the dog.”

In the video, Burberry can be seen running and jumping at the other officer, who was running backwards. The officer shot Burberry in the head, instantly killing him.

“The preservation of life is our top priority and this includes the lives of animals,” the San Diego Police Department said in a statement. “This incident is currently being investigated as any Officer Involved Shooting would be to assure proper procedures were followed. Any further comments prior to the completion of the investigation would simply be premature.”

NBC 7 reporter Omari Fleming said he talked to several people in the neighborhood who knew Burberry. All of them said he was “such a cool dog.”

“I have known this dog since it was little … This dog would never hurt a fly!!!!” wrote Nicole Jacobs in a comment on the NBC 7 story. “My heart is broken. Burberry was amazing!”

Training Cops Not to Shoot Dogs

San Diego AWOL (Animals Worthy of Life) is a non-profit organization that trains police officers in an effort to reduce the number of dogs killed. “There seems to be no question here that this incident did not have to happen,” it wrote on its Facebook page today.

“Our organization has been in conversation with the San Diego Police Department for over 16 months to get them into our TOTALLY FREE Safe Dog Encounter Training. As yet they have not seen the importance of this training for their agency.”

In response to the shocking, viral 2013 video of a Hawthorne, Calif., police officer shooting a Rottweiler named Max as his owner begged him not to, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles (spcaLA) began offering the class “Dog Behavior for Law Enforcement” to all police departments in California. Hawthorne police officers took the class in January.

“When an officer shoots a pet dog, it is traumatic for the officer, the animal and the community — something we want to mitigate as much as is possible,” spcaLA President Madeline Bernstein said in a press release.

It is also, of course, extremely traumatic for the dog’s owner. Anderson is waiting for the San Diego Police Department to return Burberry’s body to him, so he can give his beloved dog a proper burial.

“He was the best dog in the entire world,” Anderson told NBC 7. “I would do anything to have him back right now. Absolutely anything.”

Anderson has created a “Justice for Burberry” Facebook page, and an online petition has been started that asks for nationwide police training in animal behavior.

Photo via Twitter

NJ Cop Investigated for Cold Comments About Dog Left to Die in River

Last Saturday night, non-brainiac Andrew Mayer of Toms River, N.J., thought it would be a great idea to drive his truck out to the middle of the town’s frozen river and do donuts (drive around in tight circles). He brought along his dog Rolo, a 2-year-old Boxer/Lab mix.

When his truck crashed through the ice, Mayer managed to get out, but could not get Rolo out of the cab. After local police, the New Jersey State Police and the U.S. Coast Guard spent 10 hours — and hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers’ money — searching for the truck, they finally found it Sunday morning, with Rolo’s body inside the cab.

Hee-larious? Sgt. Thomas Yannacone of the Seaside Heights Police Dept., about seven miles east of Toms River, apparently thought so.

“Why didn’t the dog do the Doggie Paddle?” the police officer wrote in a Facebook comment. “And was he listening to Van Halen’s ‘Diver Down’ just before going thru the ice? These are the questions I want answered !!!”

Wait, there’s more:

“Truck plunging thru the ice with a dog inside brings a whole new meaning to FROZEN WEINER or DIRTY WATER DOG,” Yannacone wrote in another post. “What, to [sic] soon, calm down u animal loving freaks…just be glad it wasn’t a cat because that would have been one WET PU….!!!!!!”

Sgt. Thomas Yannacone, ladies and gentlemen!

Because of these comments, Yaccacone is now being investigated — not for his unfunny, offensive jokes, but for violating the department’s policy regarding social media posts.

“In accordance with our procedure for handling citizen complaints, we have opened an administrative internal affairs investigation,” Chief Thomas Boyd said in a statement today, according to NJ.com. “We are required to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation and we anticipate that it will take the next few weeks to do so.”

The policy stipulates that “while employees have a right to maintain personal web pages and websites, their status as a member of the Seaside Heights Police Department requires that the content of those web pages and websites not be in violation of existing agency policy or directives or create a potential conflict of interest.”

Yaccacone will remain on duty during the investigation.

Mayer, who until now has held the title of Loser of the Week, insists he did his best to get Rolo out of the truck.

“He did almost kill himself trying to save his dog,” his cousin’s fiancée, Helecia Morris, told NJ.com yesterday. “He’s completely devastated. His truck, his dog — everything is in this bay.”

Rolo was one of a litter of puppies Mayer’s cousin’s dog gave birth to shortly before Hurricane Sandy in 2012. (Apparently smarts don’t run in this family — spay and neuter your pets, people!)

Mayer was charged yesterday with criminal mischief, careless driving and pollution, according to NJ.com. The New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NJSPCA) is currently investigating Rolo’s death, and animal cruelty charges are pending.

Photo via Facebook

Petco Dog Groomer Fired After Disturbing Video Goes Viral

After a video went viral this week that shows a Petco groomer repeatedly yanking a terrified dog’s leg, the company announced today it has fired the unidentified man.

Hanna Marie Pellissier was in her car outside the Atlanta Petco late Sunday afternoon when, through a store window, she witnessed the groomer’s abusive handling of the dog.

“He was trying to cut his nails and the dog pulled his paw away,” Pellissier wrote in a description of the cellphone video she took and then posted on Facebook.

“The employee then started smacking the table and then pulling hard on the dog’s leg. The poor dog was panicking and trying to get away. The employee just kept pulling on him.”

She notified the store’s manager, who told her, “I’ll try to say something to him.” She also called Petco’s customer service to complain.

Three days later, thanks to Pellissier’s diligence and the power of social media, Petco terminated the employee.

“There are strict grooming protocols in place to ensure the safety and well-being of pets, and we are very concerned by the conduct of the groomer in this video,” the company said in a statement sent today to 11Alive. “As such, after a thorough investigation, this employee is no longer at Petco.”

The dog is in good health and back at home, Petco stated.

No Statewide Regulation for Dog Groomers

Surprisingly, dog groomers are not required to be licensed or certified in any U.S. state. (New York City and Miami-Dade County, Fla., do regulate them; however, this is not done statewide.)

Thousands of dogs have been injured or died in the hands of incompetent groomers. Although laws have been proposed in some states to regulate grooming businesses, none of them have passed.

“Bijou’s Bill” is currently making its way through the New Jersey legislature. It’s named in memory of a Shih Tzu who died during a routine grooming session at PetSmart. “Lucy’s Law,” a similar bill in California that was named after a Yorkshire Terrier mix who was severely injured by a groomer, failed to pass in 2012. Petco and PetSmart strongly opposed the bill and lobbied against it.

Until statewide laws are passed, when you take your dog to a groomer (especially at a large chain store, where many of the deaths and injuries occurred), it could be a life-or-death matter to ask some important questions.

“It would behoove you to find out who your groomer is, how long they’ve been grooming, what kind of track record they have — you need to do this kind of work,” Rosemary Marchetto, Bijou’s dog mom, told CBS New York in December.

“I thought it was safe. I thought it was a licensed profession.”

Here’s the video Pellissier took, which is difficult to watch.

Photo via Facebook