pit bull Archives - Page 6 of 17

Jerk Ticketed for Transporting His Dog in a Ridiculously Dangerous Way

The dangerous ways in which some people choose to transport their pets is downright mind-boggling — inside the trunk of their car, for example (which is legal in California!), or chained to a flatbed on a busy freeway (which is legal in Texas!), or on the roof of a station wagon (as Mitt Romney famously enjoyed doing).

If a Darwin Award was handed out to people who cause their pets’ deaths due to their own stupidity, one of this year’s contenders would be a knucklehead from Flagler County, Fla. This person thought it was a good idea to put a kennel filled with dogs on a trailer attached to his SUV, tether a Pit Bull with one measly rope to the top of the kennel, and then go speeding 70 miles per hour down Highway 95 this week.

The poor dog, whose name is Zeus, can be seen crouching on top of the trailer in a video posted on Facebook by Brenna Cronin that’s been viewed over 1.7 million times.

“I was just completely outraged and appalled,” Cronin told ABC News. “I couldn’t believe it.” The dog, who has the letter “S” seared onto its leg, “stood up and was looking at me so sad,” she said. “I had to do something.”

When the dog saw her, Cronin told CNN he stood up and looked scared. “You know when dogs are happy, they have their tail wagging and a big smile. He was terrified,” she said.

On the other hand, when the driver of the Chevrolet Tahoe saw her recording the video, he flipped her off.

According to a Flagler County ordinance, dogs transported in the open beds of pickup trucks “should be in a pen or restrained by a minimum of two tethers or some other similar method,” KTVU reports. Zeus only had one tether.

Flagler County Animal Services has tracked down the dog’s owner, who — surprise, surprise — doesn’t want to be identified, and ticketed him, but would not indicate the charges.

The owner doesn’t think it’s any big deal. He told WTLV it was an “okay” way to transport dogs and “how everybody transports.”

“Everybody?” I’m 100 percent sure that no responsible dog owners or anyone in their right mind would transport their pets that way.

Here’s a photo of Zeus taken by another driver on the interstate. He looks miserable. Is there anything remotely “okay” about this?!

And what about the “S” on Zeus’ leg? Such branding is common for dogs forced to fight. The owner insisted Zeus is just a hunting dog who goes after hogs. He claimed the “S” was there when he got Zeus as a puppy.

Flagler County Animal Services is currently conducting a wellness check, according to WTLV, and will turn their findings over the the sheriff’s department. Here’s hoping Zeus is taken away from this jerk and rehomed with a much better owner — which shouldn’t be too difficult at all.

Photo via Facebook

LAPD Cop Shooting Dog at Busy Venice Beach Also Shoots Woman

On a summery day like yesterday in Los Angeles, crowds of tourists flock to popular Venice Beach. Despite putting these visitors at risk, an LAPD officer opened fire in the middle of the afternoon on a Pit Bull who he said bit his hand. The bullet passed through the dog and hit the leg of a woman who was riding by on a bicycle.

The woman was taken to UCLA Medical Center, where she was in stable condition yesterday. The dog did not survive.

The unidentified officer who somehow thought it was a good idea to use his gun on a crowded boardwalk has been assigned to non-field duties as this case is being investigated. He will “have to be able to articulate why they used the force they did, and why they did not use other options if they were applicable at the time,” Detective Meghan Aguilar told KTLA.

There’s currently no video available of the shooting incident. It happened after two mounted LAPD officers told a group of people who were blocking part of the bike path to move their belongings. A couple of people in the group became belligerent, and the dog became agitated. When the officers got off their horses, the dog allegedly bit an officer’s hand.

“I heard a struggle, and the next thing I knew, I heard a shot. And I saw the dog laying there,” Tara Borris, a witness, told KCBS. “I think the dog was just protecting his owner. I didn’t hear any growling.”

Terah Clark, a woman in the group, told KCBS the dog’s owner was holding the dog back by his collar when the officer fired.

This case was described by KCBS as “very unusual” because an innocent bystander was also shot — but these cases are not unusual at all. In June 2015 a 4-year-old girl was shot by a cop who was aiming for her family’s dog. Three months before that, a woman in Iowa was killed by an officer’s bullet intended for her dog.

The KCBS report shows the owner sobbing as he holds his dead dog, who Clark said he’d had for 10 years. One person in the group was arrested for an outstanding warrant and another for resisting arrest, but the dog’s owner wasn’t one of them.

Preventing ‘Puppycide’

It’s a horrible statistic, but more than 10,000 pet dogs are shot by police officers in this country every year, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. There’s even a term for it: “puppycide.” To prevent this, some police departments are training their officers in non-lethal ways to deal with scared pets.

In response to the shocking, viral 2013 video of a Hawthorne, Calif., police officer shooting a Rottweiler named Max as his owner begged him not to, spcaLA began offering the class, “Dog Behavior for Law Enforcement” to all police departments in California. (The mounted LAPD officer patrolling Venice Beach yesterday may have skipped this class.)

In 2013, Colorado became the first state to pass a “Dog Protection Act,” which requires similar training for law enforcement officers. Two years later, Texas enacted a law that required the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement to establish a statewide comprehensive training program in dog encounters.

These programs are a good start, but as those sad statistics make clear, teaching law enforcement officers how to humanely deal with dogs should be required in every state.

Fortunately, many police officers inherently know the right way to handle frightened animals. Just last week, two deputies in Florida saw two scared, stray Pit Bulls in the middle of a street. While that LAPD officer would likely have shot both of them, Deputy Boggs and Deputy Reed with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office stayed with the dogs, comforting them until animal services arrived. Good cops, indeed.

Photo via YouTube

Good Cops! Florida Deputies Comfort Pit Bulls Abandoned in Street

It’s sad but true that in many cases, if police officers were to see two stray Pit Bulls in the street, they’d likely shoot them dead.

But that, very fortunately, is not what happened in Orlando, Fla., early Thursday morning. When two Orange County sheriff’s deputies saw two female Pit Bulls who’d apparently been dumped in the middle of a street, they got out of their patrol car and comforted the frightened but sweet-natured dogs. One of the dogs had a serious leg injury.

A passerby named Adam took photos of the kind deputies, who stayed with the dogs until animal services arrived.

“They even applied gauze to the injured dog’s leg to stop the heavy bleeding,” Adam wrote in a note to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. “These pictures I took depict a loving nature from our deputies and will tug at any animal lover’s heart strings. Thank you.”

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office posted Adam’s photos on its Facebook page. “Well done, Deputy Reed and Deputy Boggs,” says the caption. “#MakingADifference.”

The two Pit Bulls are doing well and are currently being cared for by Orange County Animal Services. They’ve been named Liberty and Justice.

Hopefully they will find a loving forever family soon — and hopefully Deputy Boggs and Deputy Reed will be honored for their compassion, and set a nationwide example for the humane way police officers can deal with dogs.

“One of those Deputies (Boggs) is my son! I’m very proud of him!” wrote Lisa Cichy on the Orange County Animal Services Facebook page. “He’s always been very intuitive with animals! I’m so happy for those two pups to saved by these wonderful men!”

Photo via Facebook

Monster Caught on Video Throwing Pit Bull off Cliff (The Dog Survived)

SEPTEMBER 2017 UPDATE: Andres Spancky Raya has been sentenced to only two years in state prison for felony animal cruelty.

The video is very difficult to watch, but has been viewed over 18 million times since Wednesday. A dog that appears to be a Pit Bull mix jumps through the passenger window into an Audi sedan parked on a street in City Terrace, near Los Angeles. A man gets out of the car, carrying the dog, and flings it over a cliff. The obese, bespectacled loser looks around as he walks back to his car, checking to see if anyone is watching.

Fortunately, someone living across the street witnessed this heinous act unfold two weeks ago via a surveillance camera on his house. The good Samaritan, who asked not to be identified, immediately began searching for the dog.

“I came out here with my flashlight looking around, I was making some noise trying to get her attention and sure enough I saw her behind a bush off the cliff,” he told FOX 11.

Amazingly, the poor dog not only survived the 15- to 20-foot fall without any injuries. A bush stopped her from falling farther.

“She’s a very nice dog and very kind,” another nearby resident, Ruben Roque, told FOX 11. “I don’t know how somebody can do that to this dog.”

Roque fostered the dog, who he calls “Girl,” until she was taken by the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control as evidence in its animal cruelty investigation. Roque, who’s a combat veteran, hopes to adopt her and show her what a loving forever home is like. In a nice gesture, L.A. Animal Control said they’ll drop the adoption fees for Roque when his Girl is ready to go home. [Happy Update: Roque officially adopted Girl on Oct. 19 and has renamed her Hera, after the Greek goddess.]

According to FOX 11, neighbors believe Girl had belonged to the man who tried to kill her. After he drove off, he returned to the neighborhood to look for her.

“I told him to pound sand, get out of here the cops, are on the way,” the neighbor told FOX 11. Wait, what? Why not ask him — or force him, if necessary — to stick around so he could be arrested and charged with animal cruelty?

Roque, on the other hand, wants the loser prosecuted. The first day it was posted, Oct. 12, the video was viewed over 5 million times. As of now, two days later, it has been viewed xx times.

Hopefully at least one of those millions of viewers will recognize this monster and do something about it..

“The Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control was shocked and horrified to see this video,” its director, Marcia Mayeda, said in a statement to FOX 11. “Animal cruelty is a serious crime, and the department is thoroughly investigating this case to identify the perpetrator and identify which criminal charges may be referred to the District Attorney’s office. We hope this individual will be identified by a FOX 11 viewer so we can complete our investigation and find justice for the beautiful, sweet dog.”

If you recognize this piece of garbage, please contact the East Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department at 323-264-4151 or the L.A. County Department of Animal Care and Control at 562-728-4882.

Montreal SPCA Takes a Stand Against Proposed Pit Bull Ban

Breed-specific legislation (BSL), which includes Pit Bull bans, is very expensive to enforce and has not proven to increase public safety anywhere it’s been enacted. Yet for some reason, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre thinks it’s a great idea and wants to enforce it in the city, starting in January 2017.

Almost all major animal welfare organizations, including the RSPCA, SPCA, Humane Society of the United States and more, are opposed to BSL because it punishes dogs based on their looks instead of placing responsibility where it belongs: on the dog’s owner.

The Montreal SPCA, which is the leading organization for animal welfare in Canada, also opposes BSL — so much so that it announced it will no longer provide dog-control services to the city if officials vote this month to ban Pit Bulls.

“We hope that the proposed animal control bylaw will not be adopted on Sept. 26 and that we will not have to alter the contracts we currently have with boroughs,” Alanna Devine, the Montreal SPCA’s director of animal advocacy, said in a statement.

“We’ll be forced eventually to euthanize hundreds of dogs in good health,” said Benoit Tremblay, the SPCA’s executive director.

Despite the Montreal SPCA’s stance, and the fact that more than 1,500 people have shown up at protests and over 21,000 people have signed a petition opposing it, the ban will likely be passed.

“The Coderre administration is moving forward with its balanced bylaw on animal control,” Anie Samson, the vice-chair of Montreal’s executive committee, told CBC News. “The safety of all our citizens is a priority for our administration.”

There is nothing “balanced” about an unfair bylaw that only punishes dogs because of the breed they happen to be.

Better Alternatives to BSL

The Montreal SPCA has a very helpful infographic on its website that should be reviewed closely by city officials (and anyone who thinks Pit Bulls are inherently dangerous). Instead of a breed ban, offficials should consider more effectively preventing dog bites by using these suggested alternatives instead:

Enforce existing laws requiring dogs to be on leash in public places
Enforce existing laws relating to the mandatory licensing and identification of dogs
Adopt laws that prohibit aversive training methods
Adopt laws that prohibit the use of guard dogs
Adopt laws that prohibit the permanent chaining of dogs
Adopt laws to regulate the breeding and sale of dogs

“Our mission is to save animals, to care for them, protect them from cruelty, and find them homes for life,” the Montreal SPCA wrote on its Facebook page. “We will not, due to biased criteria, euthanize dogs in perfect health who present no danger to the community.”

Merci beaucoup, Montreal SPCA.

Photo via Facebook