A 6-month-old Husky puppy found in an SUV after a high-speed police pursuit last month is now available for adoption from the Riverside County Animal Services shelter in Jurupa Valley, Calif.
When the pursuit ended, the puppy’s former owner, John Garcia, shot California Highway Patrol (CHP) Officer Felix Serpas, who survived and is recovering. The puppy has been named “Chip” in honor of Serpas, according to a news release.
Garcia was taken into custody and charged with attempted murder.
As you can imagine, the shelter has received many offers to adopt Chip, who is energetic and should be with someone who enjoys an active lifestyle. In other words, couch potatoes — and apartment dwellers — need not apply.
For the special adoption price of only $1 instead of the usual $105 fee, Chip can be yours. However, animal services staff is requesting that his adopter donates at least $104 to the nonprofit California Highway Patrol 11-99 Foundation, which provides financial assistance to CHP employees and their families in times of crisis.
“We believed that this puppy offered us a unique opportunity to do something for a fallen officer,” said Animal Services Director Robert Miller. “This incident was a horrible act against a peace officer. We hope this small gesture on our part – and the prospective adopters’ part – helps raise awareness about the dangers all officers face.”
Potential adopters are welcome to visit Chip at the Western Riverside County/City Animal Shelter, and are also welcome to write a short, 500-word-or-less essay about why they want the Husky. Essays will be accepted through Sunday. They can be emailed to shelterinfo@rcdas.org or dropped off at the shelter, located at 6851 Van Buren Blvd. in Jurupa Valley.
Chip’s new pet parent(s) will be announced Monday, Oct. 5.
Jason Brown of Reno never had a problem finding victims for what he referred to as his “house of pain.” The clean-cut, 25-year-old former presidential scholar would simply answer ads for free dogs on Craigslist.
And then he would torture and kill them in a Super 8 motel room, while capturing the horrific acts on cell phone videos.
“Pugs, instead of barking, Pugs sound like humans, like little kids,” he tells a friend in one of the videos, ABC News reports. “They yell. Let me show you. You want me to get one tonight?”
At today’s sentencing hearing, only Washoe District Judge Elliott Sattler, lawyers and a detective could view the videos. But others in the courtroom, including the weeping former pet parents who’d given their dogs to Brown, could hear the clinking sounds of knives and the terrified squealing of the dogs.
“Those images I watched, I will never forget,” Sattler said. “The cruelty, the sadism you exhibited is simply shocking.”
He sentenced Brown to up to 28 years in Nevada state prison — a longer sentence than Brown would have gotten had he killed a human being and been charged with manslaughter.
“The part that frightened me most about the videos is that you produced them in the first place,” Sattler said. “That tells me you wanted to go back and watch them again — a trophy, if you will, of your behavior. You watched with friends and laughed.”
Brown was arrested in July 2014 after a maid found four dog heads in a mini-fridge, as well as dog limbs, two bloody kitchen knives and bloodstains in the motel room Brown had been renting.
Prosecutors said Brown tortured and killed five dogs in the motel room and a sixth at another location.
Even Brown’s own lawyer, John Oakes, said the videos and pictures in this case “take your breath away. Over 40 years, I’ve seen people killed in every way, shape or form. But this case is a first for me in a lot of ways.”
Brown claims he respects animals and doesn’t remember doing any of those horrible acts because he was high on heroin, meth and cocaine. He pleaded no contest to seven counts of willfully torturing and killing animals.
“I cannot explain the grief I felt for this horrible situation,” Brown said at the hearing.
He’ll have the next 28 years to figure it out — although he’ll be eligible for parole in 11 years.
Over the past couple of weeks, three women — who are apparently lacking in brains as well as compassion — have made disturbing Facebook posts regarding their dogs.
Fortunately, concerned Facebook users contacted authorities, and two of the women are now facing animal cruelty charges. All the dogs are safe. One of them is already in a loving new home, while another must stay with his loser owner.
Kimberly Ann Howell: Posted Pictures of Dog’s Snout Wrapped with Duct Tape
Kimberly Ann Howell of Salisbury, N.C., was tired of her dog’s incessant barking. So, did she bother trying to train the mixed-breed pup to stop this annoying habit? Nah, that would take too much effort.
Instead, this loser wrapped duct tape around the dog’s snout — and then posted pictures on Facebook.
“Hah, hah,” she wrote.
No one else thought it was funny. Authorities were contacted, and Howell was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor count of animal cruelty. She insisted she’d only done it as a joke, and had removed the duct tape after she took the pictures of the unhappy dog. Hah, hah.
Along with animal cruelty, Howell was charged with failing to appear in court on two previous traffic charges. She was jailed on $3,000 bail and has a court date of Nov. 4, according to the Charlotte Observer.
Fortunately the dog wasn’t injured, Ryan Barkely (ironic name, isn’t it?) of the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office, which investigated the case, said in a statement, USA TODAY reports.
Unfortunately, because the dog showed “no apparent injuries or signs of neglect or mistreatment,” according to Barkely, the poor pup will not be taken away from Howell.
DEC. 3, 2015 UPDATE: Howell was convicted today of animal cruelty, WBTV reports. She was sentenced to 18 months probation and assigned 36 hours of community service. Judge Kevin Eddinger, who called what Howell did a “callous act,” said he would prefer she performs her community service at animal control.
Cherica Winston: ‘Imma keep shooting her with this tazer and bb gun’
Don’t hire Cherica Winston of Aurora, Colo., as a dog sitter.
“$50 bucks and you can have this damn pitt,” she posted on her Facebook page over the weekend. “Imma keep shooting her with this tazer and bb gun till she’s gone…”
Travis Smith, a friend of Winston’s, contacted the Aurora Police Dept., and officers were sent to her home to investigate. Although they didn’t find a taser or BB gun, they did find a small dog locked in a crate with no water or food.
“There was an awful smell,” Sgt. Chris Amsler told FOX31. “The animal had been peeing in the crate and was soaked in the urine.”
Winston was charged with animal cruelty, but faces no charges for her Facebook post because there was no evidence the dog had been shot.
Smith told FOX31 that when he saw Winston’s disturbing Facebook post, “My immediate reaction is, ‘Oh, my God!’ I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
When Smith confronted Winston her about her post, she “mouthed off” to him, he said.
“This is a great example of how a group of people saw something that concerned them, told us and we were able to get successful resolution,” Amsler told FOX31.
The dog — who may or may not be a Pit Bull, a breed that’s banned in Aurora — is being cared for by the Aurora Animal Shelter. Winston is due in court Oct. 27.
Unidentified Texas Woman: ‘I need someone to come shoot my dog’
“I need someone to come shoot my dog,” wrote an unidentified woman from Troup, Texas, on her Facebook page Sept. 17.
“No one here has the heart to do it. We will provide the gun.”
The woman later told authorities she wanted Cinnamon, her 3-year-old Saint Bernard/English Bulldog mix, killed because the dog kept getting into the garbage.
“It’s devastating,” Nanette Moss of Smith County Animal Control, the shelter to which Cinnamon was taken, told KHOU. “I work with these dogs every day. They are my life, and when she walked through my door it just broke my heart. She’s a sweet dog and how can somebody shoot a sweet dog?”
The woman is facing no charges because she surrendered Cinnamon to animal control.
As for Cinnamon, she is now in a loving forever home, according to KYTX. She was officially adopted Sept. 21 by Theresa Vail, who had originally planned just to foster her.
Salix Animal Health is voluntarily recalling one lot of Good ‘n’ Fun Beefhide Chicken Sticks because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.
The recalled treats were distributed nationwide to Dollar General and Dollar Tree retail stores.
According to a news release, the potential for contamination was discovered after routine testing by the Georgia Dept. of Agriculture revealed the presence of Salmonella. No other products were affected.
The recalled product is packaged in a 2.8-ounce bag with the following information stamped on the back:
Lot # AO15010
Expiration date: 03/2018
The UPC code is 0 91093 82247 1.
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. If you or your pet experiences these symptoms after handling or eating the recalled product, see a doctor or veterinarian.
If you bought the recalled product, dispose of it or return it to the place of purchase for a full refund.
“We take our responsibility to pets and their owners seriously and as a result we are investigating the cause of this problem so that we can prevent it from occurring in the future,” Salix Animal Health, which is based in Deerfield, Fla., said in the news release.
For more information about the recall, call Salix Animal Health’s consumer affairs team at 800-338-4896, Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. EDT.
Karma, a 4-year-old Siberian Husky who Orange County Animal Care Director Jennifer Hawkins insists is a wolf-dog hybrid, was given a reprieve today from his death sentence.
Hawkins wanted Karma to be euthanized because the dog killed a cat in 2012 and was therefore “vicious.” When a DNA test showed he was part wolf (as are all Siberian Huskies…and all dogs), Hawkins said the “wolf-dog” could not be vaccinated against rabies.
“Ultimately, it was determined that euthanasia is necessary to ensure public safety,” Hawkins said in a statement, according to ABC7.
Karma had been impounded by Orange County Animal Care in Orange, Calif., after his owners, Joshua and Tiffany Ogle, were arrested for domestic violence May 24. The Ogles appealed Hawkins’ decision, but Orange County Superior Court Judge Corey Cramin initially upheld it.
As Karma’s plight became known on social media, more than 350,000 outraged animal lovers signed an online petition urging his life to be spared.
Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer was also opposed to Karma’s death sentence. Yesterday he successfully convinced the Orange County Board of Supervisors to vote 3-2 in favor of asking Cramin to reconsider his ruling.
“You have to convince me personally that there is more aggressive behavior before I’m going to end the life of a beautiful dog,” Spitzer told ABC7.
This morning, Cramin overturned his original ruling. Karma will spend the rest of his life at the Full Moon Farm wolf-dog sanctuary in Black Mountain, N.C.
When Nancy Brown, who owns the sanctuary, found out yesterday that Karma’s life could be spared, she told the OC Register she was “so joyful.”
“I agreed to the terms, as absurd as they are,” Brown said.
Christina Garcia, the Ogles’ attorney, said she had papers proving Karma is a purebred Siberian Husky.
“We would hope in a best-case scenario Karma returns home to his guardians, but if that’s not possible we would like the dog to live out the rest of his life happy in a sanctuary,” she told CBS Los Angeles.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. You can opt-out if you wish.Got it!RejectPrivacy Policy
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
