In what police reports call an “accidental” shooting — as if a dog could actually grab a gun and shoot someone intentionally — a 7-month-old Yellow Lab puppy named Molly apparently shot a 44-year-old woman named Tina Springer in Oklahoma last Thursday.
Molly was in the backseat and Springer was in the front passenger seat in a pickup truck driven by Brent Parks, 79, that was stopped at a railroad crossing. Spooked by the passing train, Molly jumped onto the console between the two front seats, causing a loaded .22 caliber handgun tucked beneath it to fire. Springer was shot in the thigh.
Parks called 911. “The dog [expletive] stepped on [the gun] and it went off,” he calmly told the operator.
“The dog shot her?” the operator asked, understandably sounding a wee bit suspicious.
“Yeah,” Parks replied. He said Springer, who could be heard moaning, was “bleeding pretty bad.” He was told to use his belt as a tourniquet. The Enid Police Department and Life EMS soon arrived, and Springer was rushed to a nearby hospital.
The good news is that Springer had surgery and is expected to make a full recovery. No one else was hurt. Molly apparently will not be charged with attempted murder. But what’s scary is that according to KFOR, police found three shell casings inside the truck, and the serial number on the gun had been scratched off.
While this case is being investigated, Deans, who told authorities the gun isn’t usually loaded, should definitely put that firearm away in a safe place.
It’s also pretty disturbing that in the video below, Molly is on a chain attached to a tree. Let’s hope it was only temporary. According to the Humane Society of the United States, “An otherwise friendly and docile dog, when kept continuously chained or intensively confined in any way, becomes neurotic, unhappy, anxious and often aggressive.” …And we already know just what Molly is capable of, har har.
Molly’s family “vows to steer clear of trains” in the future, KFOR reports. Hopefully they’ll also steer clear of keeping loaded guns in dangerous places — and they won’t chain their young dog.
The good news: Disney has made a live-action version of its 1955 animated classic, “Lady and the Tramp” (affiliate link) that features a cast of rescue dogs.
The even better news: The highly coveted role of Tramp isn’t played by some fancy, purebred dog. The part went to a 2-year-old former shelter dog named Monte.
Somehow last year this adorably scruffy Terrier mix ended up in the Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley (ASCMV), a kill shelter in Las Cruces, N.M. ASCMV is an extremely high-intake shelter. According to its website, it received nearly 10,000 animals in 2016. The nonprofit HALO Animal Rescue partners with ASCMV and helps save lives by taking in plenty of the shelter’s overflow homeless pets.
ASCMV typically sends HALO about 50 dogs at a time. “Monte was a part of that lucky load on April 26, 2018,” HALO President and CEO Heather Allen told the Las Cruces Sun News.
Fortunately, Monte wasn’t homeless for long. Allen said the ASCMV shelter noted that he was “super friendly, greets people right away, gives kisses, loves attention, he knows how to sit, and walks well on a leash.” Along with all of those excellent qualities, he happens to have another special attribute. Monte has a strong resemblance to the animated version of Tramp, which is why he caught the eye of animal trainer Mark Forbes.
Monte was adopted and trained him for the role. But he’s not just a movie star — he’s a regular pet. “They send us photos of him from home,” Allen told the Sun News. “He has a great family.”
Monte won’t be doing his own barking in “Lady and the Tramp.” His voice will be provided by actor Justin Theroux, who in real life is the dog dad of Kuma, a Pit Bull who was rescued during Hurricane Harvey. A Cocker Spaniel named Rose is playing Lady, with her voice provided by Tessa Thomson. The voice cast also includes Janelle Monáe as Peg, Sam Elliott as Trusty the Bloodhound, Benedict Wong as Bull and Ashley Jensen as Jock.
Monte isn’t the first and hopefully won’t be the last shelter dog to find a loving home…and fame. Among these lucky pups is Bowdie, a Poodle mix rescued by animal trainers Bill and Dorothy Berloni. Bowdie pretty much stole the show as Nana in “Peter Pan Live” when it aired on NBC in December 2014. Even more impressive was the fact that it was the first time in a production of this musical that Nana was played by a real dog, not an actor in a dog costume.
Monte is the first dog taken in by HALO Animal Rescue to make it big.
“In 25 years of helping animals move on, we haven’t had a movie star,” Erin Denmark, the organization’s outreach manager, told 3TV/CBS5. “So we’re getting goosebumps constantly when we hear the phone ring and people wanting to hear more about Monte and his life in Hollywood.”
The live-action “Lady and the Tramp” debuts Nov. 12 exclusively on the new Disney+ streaming service.
Nov. 11, 2019 Update:Yvette Nicole Brown has adopted one of her “Lady and the Tramp” co-stars, “doggie double” Mister Harley Brown, People reports. Mister Harley Brown has an Instagram account that currently has almost 3,000 followers.
In response to a growing number of passengers bringing aboard questionable emotional support animals, last year several major U.S. airlines changed their policies regarding these and service animals allowed on flights.
American Airlines, for example, prohibited hedgehogs, chickens, ferrets, snakes and some other rather unusual critters. JetBlue only allows dogs, cats and miniature horses aboard as emotional support animals. Southwest Airlines allows emotional support dogs and cats on leashes.
Unlike any other major airline, in June 2018 Delta Airlines banned all “Pit Bull-type” service and emotional support dogs from flights.
This controversial ban was “the direct result of growing safety concerns following recent incidents in which several employees were bitten,” according to a statement at the time from Delta. In one of those incidents, two flight attendants were bitten by a dog identified as a Pit Bull.
What’s interesting is that a Delta passenger was mauled in 2017 by an emotional support dog identified as a Labrador/Pointer mix — yet the airline banned neither of those breeds.
So instead of doing the sensible thing and taking action against the owner of the dog in the most recent biting incident, Delta decided to punish hundreds of dogs and their responsible owners. Breed bans and breed-specific legislation (BSL) unfairly single out dogs, usually Pit Bulls, based on their looks instead of their behavior. It’s sometimes referred to as “breedism.”
Because BSL is so unfair and has proven to be ineffective in increasing public safety, it’s opposed by almost every major animal welfare organization. The heads of both the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) quickly released statements condemning Delta Airlines’ new policy.
Prohibiting Pit Bulls only serves to spread “false and life-threatening stereotypes,” said Matt Bershadker, CEO of the ASPCA. “Every dog is unique, even dogs within the same breed, and their behavior is influenced by many factors.”
Kitty Block, president and CEO of the HSUS, agreed, pointing out that Delta’s ban also discriminates against passengers who need these dogs.
“People across the country and the world rely on their pets for their physical and emotional well-being,” she stated, “and this discriminatory policy hurts them without providing any associated safety benefits. … Federal laws in place to protect emotional support and service animals do not discriminate based on breed, but instead base exclusions solely on the behavior of the individual animal in question.”
Delta Airlines’ ban did, in fact, break those federal laws.
Banning Pit Bulls as service dogs violates both the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA). Under the ACAA, airlines may exclude service animals that are too large or heavy, pose a direct threat to the health and safety of others, cause a disruption of cabin service or are not allowed in a foreign country. Nothing in these regulations “permits the airline to deny ‘Pit Bull’ dogs (or whatever label someone subjectively wants to assign to them) as service dogs,” notes the Animal Farm Foundation (AFF), which provides service animals, including pit bull type dogs, to people with disabilities.
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), which oversees the ACAA, confirmed this in June 2018, stating that “a limitation based exclusively on breed of the service animal is not allowed,” according to the Washington Post.
Fourteen months after enstating its Pit Bull ban, Delta Airlines will have to end it — but not because it wants to.
“The Department’s Enforcement Office views a limitation based exclusively on breed of the service animal to not be allowed under its service animal regulation,” the Final Statement says. “The Enforcement Office intends to use available resources to ensure that dogs as a species are accepted for transport. Airlines are permitted to find that any specific animal, regardless of breed, poses a direct threat.”
The DOT’s Final Statement also includes new rules that allow airline employees to ask passengers “reasonable” questions about a service animal’s vaccinations, training and behavior. Airlines can still require advance notice if passengers are bringing emotional support animals on flights. Any animal perceived by an airline to pose a threat to the health or safety of other airlines can be prohibited from a flight.
The new rules will go into effect after the Final Statement is published next week in the Federal Register. Airlines will have one month to start following them.
Many thanks to the DOT for this decision that will help save the lives of Pit Bulls and the people they support. As for Delta Airlines, I strongly recommend that all dog lovers take their business to an airline that doesn’t unfairly and illegally discriminate against certain dog breeds.
Portions of this story were originally published on Care2.com in July 2018.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced they were investigating a link between pig ear treats for dogs and an outbreak of Salmonella infections in humans who had handled the treats.
Four weeks later, the FDA and CDC have made another alarming announcement: They are recommending that pet owners do not give their dogs any pig ear treats and that stores should stop selling them.
In early July, 45 cases of human infectionlinked to exposure to pig ear treats tainted with Salmonella enterica had been reported in a handful of states. As of today, that number has jumped to 127 cases in 33 states. Twenty-six of those people had to be hospitalized.
Although the FDA has not yet recalled any brands, two companies have voluntarily recalled their pig ear products. Pet Supplies Plus announced on July 3 that it is voluntarily recalling bulk pig ear products supplied to all of its stores by several different vendors. On July 26, Lennox Intl Inc announced that it is voluntarily recalling its Natural Pig ears products that were shipped to distributors and retail stores across the country from May 1 to July 3, 2019.
The FDA said in today’s announcement that it’s working with impacted firms to remove pig ear treats from the marketplace and to identify places where they may have been distributed. Some of the pig ear treats associated with the human Salmonella infections have been traced to sources in Argentina and Brazil.
Salmonella Infections Can Be Deadly
In most cases, Salmonella infections will clear up on their own, but as those 26 people can tell you, you might end up in a hospital. In the worst cases, it can spread from the intestines to the bloodstream and other body parts. Salmonella infections can be deadly for very young and very old people, as well as for people with weakened immune systems.
The most common signs of a Salmonella infection in humans are diarrhea, nausea, fever and abdominal cramps. If you’re giving your dog pig ear treats and are experiencing any of these symptoms, be sure to see your doctor.
Dogs can also get Salmonella infections. The symptoms are the same as those for humans, but infected dogs may have no symptoms at all. The problem is that dogs can easily pass the infection along to humans. “Once Salmonella gets established in the pet’s gastrointestinal tract, the animal can shed the bacteria, and the contamination will continue to spread,” the FDA notes. See your veterinarian if your dog shows the symptoms of a Salmonella infection.
If you think you or your dog has been sickened by a pig ears treat or any other pet product, you can report it on the FDA’s Safety Reporting Portal.
Years ago, I gave my dog Larry pig ear treats to munch on because I heard they were safe for pets. But the stench and the fact that they were actual pig ears were a big turn-off for me, so I soon found a better alternative: odorless, nearly indestructible Kong toys (affiliate link).
Now there’s another reason why you might want to think twice before giving your dog pig ear treats. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today that it’s investigating a link between these treats and Salmonella infections in humans.
Forty-five human cases of Salmonellaenterica serotype have been reported in several states, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is working with the FDA on the investigation. Twelve people had to be hospitalized. Many of the people who got sick had been exposed to pig ear treats.
Samples of pig ears taken from bulk bins in retail stores by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development tested positive for several strains of Salmonella, the FDA reports, although not for Salmonellaenterica serotype. Still, the test results are pretty alarming.
Salmonella infections can be deadly for very young and very old people, as well as people with weakened immune systems. In most cases, the infection will clear up on its own, but as those 12 people can tell you, you might end up in a hospital. In the worst cases, it can spread from the intestines to the bloodstream and other body parts.
The most common signs of a Salmonella infection are diarrhea, nausea, fever and abdominal cramps. If you’re giving your dog pig ear treats and are experiencing any of these symptoms, be sure to see your doctor.
Dogs can also get Salmonella infections. The symptoms are the same as those for humans, but infected dogs may have no symptoms at all. The problem is that dogs can easily pass the infection along to humans. “Once Salmonella gets established in the pet’s gastrointestinal tract, the animal can shed the bacteria, and the contamination will continue to spread,” the FDA notes.
If you still want to give your dog pig ear treats, the FDA warns that you should be sure to pick up the ears when your dog’s not chewing them, keep them away from small children, clean all areas that came into contact with them, wash your hands after touching them, and don’t let your dog lick anyone or any surfaces in your home. (Good luck with that.)
The FDA is not yet recalling any brand of pig ear treats. Two years ago, four brands were recalled due to possible Salmonella contamination.
If you think you or your dog has been sickened by a pig ears treat or any other pet product, you can report it on the FDA’s Safety Reporting Portal.
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