Watch This CHP ‘High-Speed’ Pursuit…of a Chihuahua

APRIL 8, 2016 UPDATE: No one claimed Ponch, so he is now in a foster home and will be available for adoption soon. Stay tuned for details!

California Highway Patrol officers in San Francisco became involved in a chase this morning on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

But it wasn’t someone in a vehicle the CHPs were after. It was a little Chihuahua running at full speed across the bridge. The dash cam on a patrol car captured the exciting pursuit.

“High speed pursuit of [dog] this morning on the #BayBridge!” CHP San Francisco tweeted. “Suspect taken into custody. All are safe! #onlyinSF.”

Someone on Twitter asked if the Chihuahua got a ticket. “No, we just gave him a verbal warning,” CHP San Francisco responded. “It went something like this, ‘Woof, woof, WOOF!'”

The black Chihuahua was “jailed” at San Francisco Animal Care & Control, where he’s been named Ponch after the Erik Estrada character on the TV classic, “CHPs.”

His owners are asked to come bail him out.

“The little Bay Bridge dog is resting comfortably after his exciting morning and high-speed chase,” tweeted SF Animal Care this afternoon. “Thank you, CHP.”

Photos via Twitter

GRRR: PetSmart Employee Allegedly Threw Caustic Disinfectant on Dogs

Ezekiel Reynard Pitts, who worked at a PetSmart store in Houston, was apparently having a bad day in February.

To make it worse, he told police, a dog in the store nipped at him. Pitts said that when he threw cleaning disinfectant at the dog, named Tulip, she jumped up, causing him to spill the caustic chemicals on another dog, Nala.

But the surveillance video from a security camera tells a different story, KPRC reports. Pitts can be seen measuring out the disinfectant, which he knew to be caustic because he’d been burned with it himself. He then threw it on both the dogs.

Tulip died from her injuries.

“We are heartbroken by the loss of Tulip and injuries sustained by Nala. Nothing is more important than the health and safety of pets, and we take full responsibility for the pets in our care,” PetSmart said in a statement, according to KPRC.

After conducting an internal investigation, PetSmart fired Pitts and contacted local police, who are investigating the incident.

Pitts was charged with felony cruelty to animals. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.

“Any incident of animal cruelty goes against everything we believe as a company and as individual pet parents,” PetSmart stated. “No words can express our deep sorrow for the family.”

UPDATE: According to a June 2019 message from Angelina Pitts, “I would like you all to know Ezekiel’s trial is over and he has been found ‘NOT GUILTY.'” 

Photo credit: Anthony92931

RECALL ALERT: Smallbatchdog Duckbatch Sliders

One lot of frozen Smallbatchdog Duckback Sliders has been voluntarily recalled because it may be contaminated with Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes.

Smallbatch Pets Inc., which is based in Richmond, Calif., announced the recall March 26. The 80 cases in the affected lot were sold from Feb. 23 to March 10, 2016 in retail pet food stores in California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington.

“As the raw food market has grown and matured, so has the scrutiny and testing for pathogens,” the company wrote on its website. “Starting immediately, we will ramp up testing on our raw materials, finished products and processing environment in an effort to produce an even better and safer smallbatch pet food product. We will continue to adopt interventions and technologies to prevent the possibility of pathogens being found in our products. We will continue to source only the highest quality ingredients available to us like we have always done.”

Salmonella can affect animals as well as people who handle the contaminated food. The symptoms for both people and animals include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever.

Listeria monocytogenes can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. The symptoms for both people and dogs include high fever, stiffness, nausea and diarrhea.

If you or your dog have any of these symptoms after touching or eating the recalled products, see a doctor or veterinarian. No pet or consumer illnesses from this product have yet been reported.

The following products, all sold in 3-pound bags, are included in the recall.

Smallbatchdog Duckback Sliders

  • Lot # CO27
  • Best By Date: 01/27/17 (located on the back of the bag, below the seal)
  • UPC: 713757339001

If you purchased this product, dispose of it by following the Simple Handling Tips on the package. For a full refund, contact the store where  you purchased it or Smallbatch Inc.

For more information about this recall, call 888-507-2712 Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. PDT, or email info@smallbatchpets.com.

Photo via Instagram

There’s Apparently No Serial Dog Killer on the Loose in Los Angeles

In what appeared to be a particularly heinous act of animal cruelty, a dead dog was found near the shore of a Marina del Rey, Calif., beach March 16 with its collar wrapped around the handle of a shovel that had been inserted deep into the sand. The poor pup had seemingly been left there to slowly drown as the tide came in.

A couple days later, what was described as a decapitated dog was found in Ballona Creek, not far from Marina del Rey.

PETA and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors offered a total of $20,000 in reward money for whoever committed these horrible acts. Fears arose that a serial dog killer was on the loose in the area.

But the decapitated dog turned out to be a bloated raccoon, whose head was still attached.

And today the Los Angeles Times reports that the dog found on the beach had actually been killed by a car, not by drowning.

Last night a homeless man showed up at the Marina del Rey police station, asking about his missing dead dog, Sheriff’s Sgt. Larry Ramage told the Times.

The man said after the dog was hit by a car, he took the body to the beach to wash it in the ocean, because he wanted to have it stuffed. He attached the collar to the shovel handle so the dog’s body wouldn’t float away while he left to get some of his belongings.

“You can’t make this stuff up,” Ramage told the Times. Yep.

Meanwhile, PETA President Ingrid Newkirk doesn’t want this case closed. “It’s possible that this dog’s death was a tragic accident, but a necropsy will show whether this dog drowned or was hit by a car,” she said in a statement.

The homeless man’s story, however, seems weird enough to be true. In either case, rest in peace, poor pup.

Photo credit: Dylan

Cop Drives Pit Bull to Home Nearly 800 Miles from Crash Site

While returning from spring break in Florida to the University of Arkansas, where she was a student, 19-year-old McKenzie Catron crashed her car into a utility pole in Dothan, Ala., last weekend. Catron, who was from Bentonville, Ark., was killed. Her 19-year-old passenger and her Pit Bull, Kai, survived.

But, spooked by the crash, Kai ran off.

Sgt. Jonathon Whaley and another sergeant were the first to arrive at the scene of the accident. “We felt we needed to find the dog,” Whaley told FOX 5. “We were going to do whatever we needed to do to reunite this dog with this family.”

Whaley and other officers, along with firefighters and dozens of other community members, volunteered their time to search for Kai. A local law firm offered a $1,000 reward for Kai’s safe return. A “Help Find Kai” Facebook community was created.

Two days after the crash, Benjamin Irwin — the attorney who had offered the reward — and another volunteer found Kai, but the dog ran off. Irwin’s wife and other volunteers pursued him “for over a mile and up and down too many city streets,” Irwin wrote on Facebook, “and made multiple attempts to catch Kai, until we finally created a loving wall when she went inside a person’s shelter in their backyard. … We apologize to all the cars and other people we cut off or just plain ignored while we focused solely on recovering Kai.”

A veterinarian who examined Kai said that except for being dehydrated and fatigued, the dog was in good shape.

The next step — and it was a big one — was to reunite Kai with her family in Arkansas, 770 miles away.

Whaley quickly volunteered to make the trip with his family. “I felt God impressing on me that we needed to make this trip,” he told FOX 5.

Kai returned home Tuesday night. “For us, [Kai] was just a part of her. And we found it. And now we can kind of start healing,” Catron’s mother, Kendra Mulherin, told KHBS.

The name of the “Help Find Kai” Facebook page has been changed to “We Found Kai.” Irwin said he’s donating the reward money to the Rogers Animal Shelter, from which Kai was adopted.

“Dotham, Alabama, you guys are God’s gift to Earth,” Catron’s family wrote on Facebook. “You will always have a special place in our hearts.”

According to her obituary, Catron worked as a lifeguard and did volunteer work to help make the world a better place. While her death is tragic, it’s heartening to know her spirit of giving continues to live on.

Photos via Facebook

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