Tag: pit bull

Loser Who Killed Dog with Firecracker Charged with… Property Damage?

NOV. 25, 2015 UPDATE: Nicholas Garcia pleaded guilty today to causing the death of his neighbor’s Pit Bull with a firecracker, the Herald-News reports. He was sentenced to three years in prison on a charge of criminal damage to property (not animal cruelty). He must then serve an additional year for reckless discharge of a firearm. He will be eligible for parole in August 2017.

 

The morning of July 7, Nicholas Garcia and a buddy had nothing useful to do with their lives, so they lit illegal firecrackers in a Joliet, Ill., alley.

When Garcia noticed a Pit Bull outside of a neighbor’s yard, he started throwing the firecrackers at him, Deputy Police Chief Ed Gregory told the Times Weekly.

As the neighbors watched in horror, their Pit Bull picked up one of the firecrackers in his mouth.

“It blew off the animal’s jaw,” Gregory told the Herald-News. The dog had to be euthanized.

On his Facebook page, Garcia didn’t express a whole lot of remorse about killing the dog, according to the Joliet Patch.

“Lightin off the rest of my fireworks n the rerarded neighbors that dont know how to put their dog on leash or keep it fenced in decides to chase a boom stick and lost its head…..NOW they care about their dog,” the loser wrote. His page has since been removed.

After being wanted on a $50,000 warrant — not for animal cruelty, but for felony damage to property and two misdemeanor counts — Garcia finally turned himself in yesterday.

Gregory told the Herald-News the case will be reviewed by the Will County state’s attorney’s office to see if felony aggravated animal cruelty charges can be filed against Garcia. If they can, the dog killer could face between three and six years in prison.

An online petition urging Garcia to be charged with animal cruelty has nearly 70,000 signatures as of Saturday morning. (Warning: There is a gruesome photo of the injured Pit Bull.)

Photos via Patch.com

Please keep your comments civil. Any comments with name calling and/or Pit Bull bashing will be removed.

Milwaukee Man Shoots ‘Mountain Lion’ That’s Really a Dog (He’s OK)

JULY 24, 2015 UPDATE: The owner of Simba — whose real name is Homie — has been found after he saw his dog on TV, Fox6 News reports. Homie had escaped from his leash during a walk Tuesday. He is still being treated by the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission (MADACC).

The bad news: Homie’s leg is not healing properly and he will need more surgery that his owner cannot afford. The good news: Donations are pouring in, and an animal clinic has offered to perform the surgery at a reduced rate. (It seems to me that the man who shot Homie should pay for the surgery.)

To make a donation to help MADACC help Homie, click here.

Since Monday, the Milwaukee Police Department has received dozens of calls from residents saying they’ve seen what looks like a mountain lion roaming a neighborhood on the north side of the city.

After a cell phone video of the alleged lion was posted on social media, the hashtags #LIONWATCH and #MKELion began trending in Milwaukee, according to WDJT.

“Do not approach it, do not panic,” Scott Diehl, with the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, told WDJT yesterday. “If the animal is close to you, maybe 50 yards or so, don’t take your eyes off it. Don’t turn your back on it. Remain facing it at all times. Make yourself look big.”

An unidentified man apparently thought he saw the mountain lion last night. Instead of doing what Diehl recommended, he shot it.

But the victim wasn’t a mountain lion. It was a stray, white Pit Bull who bears little resemblance to a mountain lion.

“The bullet went through his leg, fractured his bone,” Karen Sparapani, executive director of the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission (MADACC), told WDJT.

The dog, who’s been named Simba (ha!), must wear a cast for six weeks. Hopefully his owner will claim him, or he’ll find a new forever home with a secure yard.

And hopefully the man who shot him will get his vision checked pronto.

“Please do not discharge a firearm because often, besides from maybe not shooting the right animal, a human can be injured,” Sparapani told WDJT.

Another Pit Bull Mistaken for a Mountain Lion

In July 2014, residents became worried after a security camera captured what they believed to be a mountain lion roaming a Norwalk, Calif., street late one night.

After watching the video, even some animal experts were convinced the prowling animal was perhaps a jaguar or African lioness.

Nope. Just like Simba in Milwaukee, this creature was actually a Pit Bull named Buddy.

Buddy had escaped from his yard that night, and his dog dad recognized him in the video.

Unlike poor Simba, Buddy the non-lion was unharmed.

Man Thought Bears Were Dogs

Speaking of people with vision issues, it took two years for a man in China to figure out his two dogs were actually endangered Asian black bears.

Wang Kaiyu bought what he thought were two black puppies, but was surprised by how big they grew and by how much they ate.

When he saw a wildlife protection promotion about Asian black bears, Wang had what Oprah would call an “Ah-HA!” moment. He notified authorities, and his pets were taken to a wildlife rescue center.

Photos via Twitter; Facebook; Facebook

14-Year-Old Dog with Injured Leg Shot 4 Times by Cops

Disturbing details have emerged about the shooting of an injured dog Monday by two officers from the Alton, Ill., police department.

Buster, a 14-year-old Pit Bull who’d escaped from his yard, had apparently been hit by a car and was limping outside a Family Dollar store. Two women saw him and called animal control.

Unfortunately, due to budget constraints, the city of Alton let its one animal control officer go last week. Starting Monday, its police department took over those duties, even though the officers had no training in how to deal with animals.

The two police officers who arrived coaxed Baxter into their squad car using lunch meat, according to Susie Marburger and other witnesses. At a packed Alton city council meeting last night, Marburger said Buster limped to the car and curled up on the back seat.

The officers said they were taking Buster to animal control.

According to the police report, Buster was driven to Alton’s public works building, where the animal control office is located. One of the officers shot Buster two times with a 12-gauge shotgun. The officers claimed Buster was “still vicious and charged him while growling,” so the other officer shot Buster two times with a Glock 23 40-caliber pistol.

The Illinois Animal Control Act stipulates that an injured dog should be taken to a veterinarian. The vet can check for a microchip and notify the dog’s owner before taking any further action.

Buster had a microchip.

“After reading the police report, I am speechless,” Jackie Spiker, co-founder of Hope Animal Rescues, wrote on the nonprofit’s Facebook page late Tuesday.

Spiker had not yet seen the report when she was interviewed by KMOV.com earlier that day and had expressed some empathy for the two officers due to their lack of training in handling animals.

“I do not understand how they were able to coax the dog into their car without getting bit, then coax the dog out of their car without getting bit to kill the poor thing,” Spiker wrote later.

At last night’s city council meeting, Marburger said she did not see Buster show any aggressive behavior, although others said he had been “nippy” due to the pain from his injury.

“He was anxious due to his injured leg,” Marburger said, according to the Alton Telegraph. “I couldn’t believe a limping dog could be put down.”

City council members unanimously voted to reinstate an animal control officer.

Justice for Buster

Before the Alton city council meeting last night, about 150 people peacefully protested outside city hall, chanting “Justice for Buster” and holding signs saying, “Animal Lives Matter” and “Paws Up, Don’t Shoot.”

The Alton Police Department‘s Facebook page is filled with comments from people outraged by the shooting.

“We are very aware that many of our followers are angry with the events involving a dog at Family Dollar on Monday,” the department wrote in a status update late yesterday.

“The decision to use a weapon on an animal is never one made lightly. The officers in this instance felt they had exhausted all available options with an injured dog that was showing aggression to multiple people prior to reaching the conclusion that was reached. … This is a sad situation that will hopefully be used to improve the practices of the police department.”

Spiker and others met with Alton Police Chief Jason A. Simmons Tuesday afternoon to discuss humane ways for officers to deal with animals. Simmons told her the officers had made a mistake and accepted Spiker’s offer to provide training.

However, Simmons did not, as Spiker requested, apologize for the killing of Buster.

Photo via Facebook

Rescued Pit Bulls Save 3-Year-Old Girl from Bear

As a 3-year-old girl played in her Long Valley, N.J., backyard yesterday morning with Chief, one of her family’s four rescued Pit Bulls, a 400-pound bear that was well known in the neighborhood climbed over a fence.

“Usually the dogs will chase him off and he’ll climb over the fence and wait (for the dogs) to come inside,” the girl’s mom, Emily Wagner, told the Long Valley Patch. “He’s very smart.”

However, the bear wasn’t so smart yesterday.

“I looked up and the bear was about 15 feet from her and walking right toward her,” Wagner said. “The bear was between us. Chief heard her scream and immediately grabbed the bear’s back leg, at which point the bear turned and bit Chief’s face and leg.”

Wagner ran and grabbed her daughter, while the other three Pit Bulls helped Chief chase the bear away.

By the time police arrived, the bear had disappeared into the nearby woods.

Chief is okay, Wagner wrote on the Long Valley Patch Facebook page this morning.

“Fish and Game informed me that it’s mating season for bears, and they’re more active during the day,” she wrote. “Just a heads up to be vigilant with children and pets outside.”

According to the Patch, local police advised residents to call their non-emergency line to report bears coming too closely to their properties, and to call 911 in case of emergencies.

Photo via Facebook (from left: Chief, Chloe, Mack and Idget)

Rescued Pit Bull Rescues Unresponsive Dog Dad

There’s nothing quite like a story about a rescued dog who pays it forward by saving the life of its new pet parent. Fortunately, there seem to be plenty of these stories.

Most recently, a 6-year-old Pit Bull named Sweet Dee found her dog dad, Elliot Nerland, unresponsive on a couch in their Boston home.

Sweet Dee, who’d been adopted from the MSPCA five years ago by Nerland and his wife, Erin Daly, had sensed something was wrong. She left the bedroom where she was sleeping with Daly and approached Nerland on the couch. When her dog dad didn’t respond, Sweet Dee started barking. She ran back to the bedroom and nudged Daly with her nose until she awoke.

Nerland, who has a rare heart condition, was in full cardiac arrest. Daly called 911 and performed CPR on her husband.

“At this stage, Elliott’s heart had stopped and he was not breathing,” Daly said in a press release. “I credit Sweet Dee with making it very clear that something was terribly wrong. Had I made it there even one minute later, Elliott may not be with us today.”

After being rushed to the hospital and put in a medically induced coma for two days, Nerland was sent home.

“It’s just astounding how Sweet Dee knew that something was very wrong and that it was clear to her that I wasn’t sleeping,” Nerland said. “She’s a beloved member of our family, but I never realized just how deep our bond is. Both Dee and my wife were there for me when I needed them most, and I’m forever humbled and profoundly grateful.”

Dr. Terri Bright, director of the MSPCA’s Behavior Services department, said Sweet Dee’s heroic act illustrates the incredible bond shared by dogs and their pet parents.

“I think Sweet Dee knew something was horribly wrong and that she should sound the alarm, and she did so without fear of punishment for barking loudly,” Dr. Bright said. “She barked and woke Erin up, so in her own dog way, made it clear that Elliott needed help. She’s a hero — and so is Erin for administering life-saving CPR.”

CBS Boston reports that when Nerland got home from the hospital, Sweet Dee was rewarded with a “big, juicy steak.”

Sweet, Dee!

Photo credit: Elliot Nerland

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