Just minutes before it would hit a Pit Bull mix that had been shot and tied to the railroad tracks, Nick Wilson and Sgt. R. Mills (in the photo above) of the Tampa, Fla., police department were able to stop a train and free the dog.
The officers found the dog last night as they were responding to multiple 911 calls about a shooting in the area. They rushed her to the Tampa Bay Veterinary Emergency Center.
Despite being shot twice in her neck and once in her right shoulder, the dog, who’s believed to be a year or two old, is expected to survive. Her front right leg will need to be amputated, however.
Dr. Jamie Davidson treated the dog and named her Cabela. She told CNN Cabela’s rehabilitation will take only a week.
“Dogs rebound quick,” Dr. Davidson said. “Really, after everything that this dog has gone through … she’s the sweetest. I mean she’s not angry with people. She’s not growling. She’s been really, really good.”
According to the Tampa Police Department’s Facebook page, Cabela — who’s also being called “R&R” — is scheduled for surgery later today.
Tampa Bay Veterinary Emergency Center is covering the cost of Cabela’s care, which is expected to be several thousand dollars. To make a donation, contact the hospital.
Dr. Davidson said that once Cabela is healthy, spayed and vaccinated, she will be ready to be adopted by a “good family.”
The Tampa police department is asking anyone with information about this case to call 813-231-6130 or 800-873-TIPS, or submit a tip via Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay.
When a news crew in Corpus Christi, Texas, saw a dog hanging by his rear right leg from a chain link fence this morning, at first they feared the dog was dead.
But as they got closer, they saw the dog was still alive and wagging his tail. Using a pliers, an unidentified 3News photographer cut the dog loose.
The news crew notified Animal Care Services. When an officer arrived, he took the dog to a neighbor across the street who said she knew the owners.
It’s not known how the dog ended up on the fence or how long he was hanging from it (or why no one helped him until the news crew came along). Once he was freed, he was able to walk around, but didn’t put weight on his rear right leg.
An Animal Care Services spokesman told 3News the department had been in contact with the dog’s owners.
“The dog appeared to be medically okay. There was a little bit of damage to the paw,” the spokesman said. “So when we spoke to the owner, we educated them, told them they needed to go to their primary veterinarian for medical treatment. We’re going to be following up on that in the next couple of days to make sure they did provide that treatment for the animal.”
The owner will receive a citation if the dog is not examined by a vet.
According to 3News, there were several dogs running loose in the area where the dog was found. Animal Care Services said they would be sending additional officers to round up the dogs and locate their owners.
Hopefully the owners of the dog freed from the fence will keep a better eye on him, and the photographer who rescued him will be identified and rewarded.
If this story gives you a sense of déjà vu, a Missouri dog in a similar predicament was rescued in 2010 by Plattsburg police officer Nick Sheppard. This video of the rescue — and the dog’s reaction to being saved — went viral.
Millions of animal lovers around the world were outraged in 2013 after seeing the viral video of a Hawthorne, Calif., police officer shooting a Rottweiler as the dog’s owner, Leon Rosby, begged him not to.
The trial involving this case finally began yesterday — but it’s not the police officer who’s being tried. It’s Rosby, who’s charged with interfering with a police SWAT operation and intimidating a witness.
Rosby is being represented by Mark Geragos, whose name you may recognize from (in)famous cases involving Michael Jackson, Chris Brown, Winona Ryder, Scott Peterson and many others. In August 2013, Geragos told the Los Angeles Time the charges against Rosby were “one of the biggest perversions of the criminal justice system” he’d ever seen.
In his opening statement yesterday, Geragos accused Hawthorne police officers of working against Rosby because they thought he would sue them, according to the Daily Breeze.
“All of that was created so they could divert attention from the fact the Hawthorne police committed an inexcusable act of executing a dog for no reason,” Geragos said.
Deputy District Attorney Keri Modder said in her opening statement that the death of Rosby’s dog was “an unfortunate consequence of Rosby’s actions.”
As Rosby drove home from a dog park with Max, his 3-year-old Rottweiler, on June 30, 2013, he stopped to check out a police barricade situation. With Max on a leash and music blaring from his car, he walked over to make a cellphone video. According to the Hawthorne Police Department, he got too close and officers told him to leave.
Rosby returned to his car and put Max inside. When two officers following Rosby put him in handcuffs, Max leaped out of an open window and ran at the officers, barking at them. As Max jumped toward an officer, he was shot four times.
A few days after the first shocking video of the incident was posted on YouTube, another video surfaced, taken by a witness from a different angle. The Hawthorne Police Department said the second video proved the officer had good reason to shoot Max. Rosby is accused of intimidating witness Kathy Brown after she told police that Rosby had threatened the man who recorded the second video.
According to the Daily Breeze, Hawthorne police officers are expected to testify that Rosby and the loud music from his car interfered with them. Brown recanted her story about being intimidated by Rosby and did not want to testify, but earlier this week, Judge Lauren Weis Birnstein ordered her to be arrested and brought to court.
The video of Max being shot was not shown to jurors on the first day of the trial.
To avoid future incidents like this, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles (spcaLA) offered the class “Dog Behavior for Law Enforcement” to Hawthorne police officers last month. The course is available for all law enforcement officers in California.
“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. “Training materials on the market until now did not give officers the tools necessary to determine when and if force is necessary, how to correctly read dog behavior or how to diffuse a difficult situation involving family dogs.”
Here’s the original video of Max’s shooting, which has now been viewed more than 6.8 million times. It is very difficult to watch.
Here’s the other video, which shows the shooting from a different angle. It, too, is very difficult to watch.
Leonard Nimoy, who died today at age 83, will be fondly remembered for his portrayal of Mr. Spock on the beloved “Star Trek” TV series and movie franchise.
What he will be less remembered for is Leonard Nimoy’s Pet Pad, a store he opened in Canoga Park, Calif., in 1969. It apparently only stayed in business for a year or two. (The property, next door to a theater on Sherman Way, is currently a beauty salon.)
“Leonard decided to realize a long-time dream. To open a pet shop … with all the kinds of animals available that he often wished he see in other shops he frequented,” wrote Michele Jacques in the 1970 article, “His New World.”
Along with dogs and cats (“not just the ordinary variety we find anywhere — they are all sorts of exotic and rare types”), the store sold monkeys, boa constrictors, chipmunks, South American otters and even crocodiles.
Remember, this was 46 years ago, long before most people knew about puppy mills. And apparently before people were aware that having pets like crocodiles was dangerous for both the animal and owner.
“Nimoy would have liked Mr. Spock to have a cat or dog on board the ‘Enterprise,’” reads the caption for a photo of the store in a German publication.
“Well, l’ve aIways had a thing for animals and I once worked in [a pet store] to support myself between roles,” Nimoy told Jacques.
“And I like the kind of people that shop in pet stores.”
As usual for the past 24 years, the Labrador Retriever is the most popular breed in the United States, the American Kennel Club (AKC) reported today.
And in second and third places, just as they were last year, are the German Shepherd and Golden Retriever.
But the big news is that for the first time in a century — sacré bull! — the French Bulldog cracked the 2014 top 10.
Also gaining in popularity is the Bulldog, which reached its highest rank (No.4) in its breed history.
“The Lab truly is America’s dog,” said AKC Vice President Gina DiNardo, “but the lovable Bulldog breeds are clamoring to dominate. Watch out for an upset next year.” Ruh roh!
Among other breeds becoming more popular over the last decade are the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, which jumped from 112th place in 2004 to 74th last year; Havanese (52nd to 25th place); Border Collie (60th to 39th); Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (118th to 96th) and the Black and Tan Coonhound (140th to 120th).
For the first time in 30 years, the Dachshund was not in the top 10, but oh-so-close to it at No. 11.
These were the 10 most popular breeds of 2014, with their 2013 ranking in parentheses. I’ve also included helpful links to national rescue organizations for these breeds. Adopt, don’t shop!
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