Tag: animal cruelty

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

Terrence Cody Gets 9-Month Jail Sentence in Animal Cruelty Case

Former Baltimore Ravens defensive tackle Terrence Cody, who was found guilty in November of five counts of animal neglect but acquitted of felony animal cruelty charges that he “intentionally tortured” and “cruelly killed” Taz, his Presa Canarios Mastiff, was sentenced today to nine months in the Baltimore County Detention Center.

Cody was facing more than two years in jail, but apparently Judge Judith C. Ensor decided to be kinder to him than Cody was to his dog.

“He was a guy that portrayed himself as knowledgeable about animals — he knew about animals, he’s trained animals, he owned animals,” Assistant State’s Attorney Adam Lippe told WJZ today, “but he turned on this one dog.”

Back in November, before Ensor charged Cody with the five counts of animal neglect, she said was aware that not every “morally reprehensible” action is against the law, the Baltimore Sun reported.

Caroline Griffin, former chairperson of the Baltimore Anti-Animal Abuse Commission, told WBFF this week she didn’t understand why Ensor dropped the felony animal cruelty charges Cody had been facing.

“I think the public believes and a jury very likely would have found this to be a felony,” she said. “I think people are scratching their heads as to why he was convicted only of several misdemeanors.”

According to the disturbing details in a February 2015 indictment, Cody and his girlfriend, Kourtney J. Kelley, inflicted unnecessary suffering or pain on Taz. They did not provide their dog with nutritious food or proper drink in sufficiency quantity, did not provide proper space for their dog, and did not provide necessary veterinary care.

Taz weighed only 50 pounds when he died in January. The average weight for a Presa Canarios Mastiff is about 100 pounds.

“The evidence in this case was that he directed all his attention or lack of attention to this one animal,” Lippe told WBFF. “He deliberately picked on one of his dogs. The other dogs were fat and happy. Taz he decided to kill.”

Cody was dropped from the Ravens after the February indictment was made public.

Last month, Kelley was sentenced to 60 days in jail for animal cruelty.

Cody was also sentenced today to probation for the illegal possession of an alligator and possession of drug paraphernalia. He cannot own or possess an animal during his 18 months of supervised probation (after which, apparently, he’s free to buy and starve another dog). Cody must also undergo mental health treatment.

Photo via Twitter

Snowmobiler Intentionally Strikes Iditarod Sleds, Killing One Dog

During the cruel and grueling Iditarod race held in Alaska every March, sled dogs are forced to run 1,100 miles in about 10 days. Since the first race in 1973, more than 140 dogs have died along the course. At least one dog has died in most of the races.

Tragically, this year is no different. But instead of dying from the usual awful causes like being strangled in towlines or internal hemorrhaging after being gouged by a sled, a 3-year-old dog named Nash was killed early this morning by someone on a snowmobile who intentionally drove into two sleds in the race. Several dogs were injured.

“Someone tried to kill me with a snowmachine,” musher Aliy Zirkle told a race judge.

“Zirkle had her dog sled hit on the side by a snow machine and the snow machine turned around multiple times and came back at her before driving off,” according to an Alaska State Troopers dispatch. One of her dogs was bruised.

“Another musher, Jeff King, was hit from behind by what appears to be the same snow machine,” the dispatch reports. “One of of his dogs was killed in the incident and five of his dogs were injured.”

This afternoon, 26-year-old Arnold Demoski of Nulato, Ak., was arrested and charged with assault, reckless endangerment, reckless driving and criminal mischief. He may face additional charges, including driving under the influence.

“I don’t care if people know if I was drinking and driving,” he told the Alaska Dispatch News. “I’m really glad (Zirkle) and (King) are OK and I really feel sorry for Nash. … They say I continuously attacked them, but I turned around because I was concerned.”

The village of Nulato is holding a fundraiser tonight to raise money for Zirkle and King’s kennels.

This was at least the second time in the race’s 43-year history that a dog has been killed by a snowmobile. In 2008, one dog was killed and another injured when a snowmobile struck the team late at night.

Earlier this week, 13 dogs broke loose from their sled and ran away, probably fed up with being forced to race. They were later found — fortunately unhurt — and had to continue the race.

As I wrote for Care2.com, it’s time to end the Iditarod, or as some animal welfare advocates refer to it, the “Ihurtadog.” The Iditarod is supposed to celebrate Alaskan history and culture — not animal cruelty. A humane alternative needs to replace this race.

Rest in peace, Nash.

Photo via Twitter

Puppy Shot 18 Times with BB Gun Adopted by Girl Who Lost Therapy Dog

Brody, a tiny, 6-week-old Lab mix who somehow managed to survive being shot with a BB gun 18 times by two loser teenagers, will soon be in a very loving forever home.

After Brody’s story gained international attention earlier this week, hundreds of adoption offers poured in to Project Safe Pet.

The “winners” of this sweet and very resilient puppy are Carla and her 10-year-old daughter, Kailey, of Rock Hill, S.C. Just last month, the family had to euthanize Kailey’s 15-year-old therapy dog, a Lab named Woodrow who Kailey had grown up with.

“She was with him when he was put to sleep. “Right there, laying beside him on the bed, holding him the whole time,” Carla, who asked that their last name not be used, told The Herald.

“He was her best friend. She looked forward to coming home every day. Every day, he was at the school bus stop.”

Alicia Schwartz, vice president of Project Safe Pet, told The Herald the selection process was difficult. The connection between Kailey and Brody was “really cool,” she said.

Brody was found by a maintenance worker who saw a group of about 20 teenagers playing with the puppy outside the Wildwood Springs Apartments complex in Rock Hill. When he saw the puppy was bleeding heavily, he notified the police, who were told that someone who lived in the complex had shot Brody and had also thrown a knife at the puppy.

The police took Brody to Ebenezer Animal Hospital, where he was treated for his wounds. Fortunately the thugs who shot Brody had really bad aim, and missed his major organs.

“There is no doubt here, this is one of the worst acts I’ve ever seen and it’s hard to think that someone could be capable of doing something to an animal this young and defenseless,” Dr. Jay Hreiz told WSOC.

Brody is too young to have the 18 BBs surgically removed. Since they’re not lodged near any vital organs, they may stay in Brody’s body for the rest of his life.

“He’s really young, so he has a remarkable ability to heal at his age,” Hreiz told WSOC. “Brody may be able to live a healthy, normal life with all those BBs in him.”

Brody and his littermates had been given away by someone in a Wal-mart parking lot, The Herald reports.

Two arrests were made Tuesday in connection with the shooting. De’Monte Ty’Juan Douglas, 17, and an unidentified 14-year-old are facing animal cruelty charges. As of Tuesday afternoon, Douglas remained without bond in the Rock City jail, the News & Observer reported, while the other loser was released to one of his parents pending a court appearance.

Animal cruelty is a felony in South Carolina. If found guilty, Brody’s two torturers face up to five years in prison.

Despite everything his poor young pup went through, Brody is “so trusting of people, which amazes me,” Carla told The Herald. “You would think he would be fearful of people or younger kids. It was amazing how he took to the kids.”

Kailey told her mom that when she looks in Brody’s eyes, she sees her beloved Woodrow.

“I see the same eyes,” she said. “I feel like he sent him to me.”

Photo via Twitter

Oklahoma Shelter (Legally) Euthanizes Dogs with a Pistol

“We probably should have handled this with the vets involved, you know, instead of taking actions the way we had done,” Leonard Washington, mayor of Bristow, Okla., told Mashable today.

Just two days ago, the much less contrite mayor told The Daily Beast, “I don’t know why it’s a controversy … why such outrage now?”

In both cases, he’s referring to the shooting deaths of dogs in the Bristow Animal Shelter by its one animal control officer, George Moore. Over the past two weeks, Moore has taken three dogs to a pit behind the shelter, pushed them in and then shot them in the head. And these weren’t the only dogs at the shelter who have died in this cruel manner.

“This is something that’s been a practice for 40 years,” Washington told The Daily Beast. “I don’t know why it’s a controversy … why such outrage now?”

Why? Well, for one thing, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals recommends that killing an animal by shooting it should only be done in extreme circumstances, such as if the animal is attacking people, or is in extreme pain and a veterinarian is not available. In those cases, the shooting “should only be performed by highly skilled personnel trained in the use of firearms,” the AVMA states.

Moore has had no such training. The dogs had not been attacking people or in pain.

While Oklahoma law allows municipalities with fewer than 10,000 people to use “any humane method” to euthanize animals (Bristow’s population is about 4,000), it doesn’t define what those humane methods are. Therefore, Moore was not actually doing something illegal.

“We need to eliminate the practice of shooting these dogs in the head. It’s barbaric. It’s not up to the times. People are outraged,” local activist Beth Roberts told The Daily Beast.

Because the shelter is located on the property of a water treatment facility, it is not accessible to the public. Roberts only found out about the shootings after a shelter volunteer wrote about them in a private Facebook group. A city employee provided Roberts with more disturbing details, telling her he “was always the one to dig the holes and cover up the bodies when needed,” she told The Daily Beast.

Moore used a small, .22-caliber pistol to kill the dogs. Many of them were Pit Bulls, which he allegedly dislikes and would keep in the shelter for only a day or two before dragging them to the pit. The pistol is “not something that ends their life quickly,” Roberts added.

Washington blamed the shootings on the large number of strays entering the small shelter. “We’re trying to make sure we don’t have an overabundance of dogs in our dog pound because we can only have 10 at one time, so that’s a problem,” he told Mashable.

But Roberts and other local residents told The Daily Beast they’ve been trying for years to help get the dogs adopted, only to be turned away. One woman was banned from the shelter after she complained to the mayor that the dogs were being deprived of food and water.

The Oklahoma Alliance for Animals has created an online petition asking the Bristow Animal Shelter to only use a veterinarian for euthanizing animals, and to open the shelter to the public. It has more than 9,000 signatures as of Friday afternoon.

For now, euthanizations have been suspended at the shelter “so we can make sure that we do the process the way it’s supposed to be,” Washington told Mashable. Residents can adopt pets free of charge to clear more space in the shelter.

Photo credit: chrismetcalfTV

 

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