I wish all animals were treated this humanely

NEW JERSEY -- A five-point buck that jumped off the Border Street bridge on Monday night and swam off had to be put down early Tuesday afternoon after the animal was pulled from the mud off Suppa Island in the Gulf River near Blackhorse Lane, police said.

Acting Cohasset Police Chief William Quigley said cars that were traveling both ways across the bridge came upon the buck about 10:30 p.m. where it had stopped and had become frozen in the headlights. The buck panicked and then jumped off the bridge toward the Gulf River.

Animal Control Officer Paul Murphy went to the scene but could not find the animal.

At 10 a.m. the next morning, police received a call about a deer stuck in the water at low tide.

The Cohasset Harbormaster located the deer by boat, which was across from the last house on Blackhorse Lane.

A landscaper who was working in the area provided police with a rope that was used to lasso its antlers.

Detective James McLean, Sergeant Garrett Hunt, and Officer Gregory Taylor pulled the deer to shore where it was clear the animal’s back legs were in bad shape, police said.

Police contacted Dr. Fawn Stevenson of Crazy Paws on Pleasant Street and the Animal Rescue League. Stevenson responded along with veterinary technicians Brian Michaels and Katia Stevenson.

Dr. Stevenson said the buck, which had a broken jaw, had also sustained a spinal injury paralyzing its hind legs and could not be salvaged. The deer was given morphine and a sedative so its injuries could be assessed, she said.

“Unfortunately, the deer had no ability to move so it was given a euthanasia solution,” she said.

Stevenson, who served as director of the New England Wildlife Center for a couple of years and worked in wildlife conservation before attending veterinary school, said the Animal Rescue League arrived and took the deer to Angel View Pet Crematory in Middleboro where it was cremated.

She said likely the deer did not break its back when it jumped into the water or it would have sunk. The injury probably occurred when the deer, full of adrenalin, was thrashing about so much in the mud overnight.

(The Patriot Ledger - Oct 1, 2013)

Washington: Kimberly Vasquez sentenced for pit bull attack, but did she turn over a different dog?

WASHINGTON -- A woman who pleaded guilty in a Longview dog attack case, which left a young boy with 40 stitches, will spend 90 days behind bars.

However, her sentence won't begin until authorities sort out whether Kimberly Vasquez actually turned over the correct dog to authorities.

The case began in August 2012. Police said a pit bull named Lexi, spelled Lex'Xee, attacked a 5-year-old boy, leaving a gruesome wound on his leg. It happened on Cypress Street.

The boy had to receive rabies shots, because police said the owner, Vasquez, 40, refused to turn over the dog to authorities.

According to court documents, between the day of the attack, Aug. 26, 2012, and Sept. 5, 2012, animal control officers made multiple attempts to take custody of the dog for a 10-day quarantine period for rabies observation.

A probable cause police statement from 2012 said Vasquez hid the dog.

Vasquez told Fox 12 in August 2012 that her son hid the dog.

"I honestly don't want to know where she is," she said.

Vasquez said the dog was often taunted by neighborhood kids and acted out of fear, not aggression, when it bit the boy.

"I had asked the kid three times to not ride the bike by the dog because I know how she is," Vasquez said last August.

[Yes, how dare this little boy ride his bicycle on a public street past your dumpy house?]

She later added, "I'm very sorry about the kid, I really am. You have no idea how bad I feel."

Police said Vasquez provided animal control officers with a supposed copy of her dog's rabies certification on Aug. 28, 2012. However, after officers checked with the Vancouver animal hospital listed on the certificate, they discovered it was fake.

The doctor listed on the form had never been a veterinarian at the hospital, there were no records of the client or the dog in the hospital's database and even the phone number for the clinic was incorrect.

In September 2013, Vasquez pleaded guilty to charges of dangerous dog attack and forgery. She was sentenced to 90 days in jail Monday, but investigators asked for the sentencing to be delayed until Oct. 14.

A hearing is scheduled that day to determine if Vasquez surrendered Lex'Xee for euthanization, or if it is a second dog not involved in the case.

Investigators believe the dog turned over by Vasquez is not the dog involved in the attack on the child. They said Lex'Xee may still be hidden somewhere, while Vasquez attempted to have a second dog put down in its place.

The October court hearing is scheduled to sort out the true identity of the dog in custody, according to investigators

(KPTV - Oct 1, 2013)

Earlier:

• Family refuses to turn over pit bull that bit 5-year-old boy

Although it crushed a family's beloved cat right in front of them, judge says this 'pittie' isn't dangerous.... of course it didn't help that the Animal Control Officer described the killer dog as 'playful'

NEW JERSEY -- A municipal court judge determined that Gio, a pit bull mix owned by Hilary Raines of Villas, should not be deemed a “potentially dangerous” dog in the eyes of the law.

His verdict was made at a trial Sept. 26 in Lower Township Municipal Court. Gio had wandered into Kim Davis’ yard on Aug. 16 and killed her cat Maximus while Davis and her daughter watched, helpless to stop it.



Maxiumus' death means nothing to Judge F. Thomas Hillegass

Judge F. Thomas Hillegass fined Raines $500 for a loose dog causing injury and $100 for having an unlicensed pet. The third and most serious ticket, for owning a potentially dangerous dog, was thrown out.

In a case such as this, the state bears the burden of proof. Municipal Court Prosecutor Ronald Gelzunas cited state statute 4:19-23 “Dog declared potentially dangerous; conditions” when presenting the state’s case against Raines. The statute reads:

“The municipal court shall declare a dog to be potentially dangerous if it finds by clear and convincing evidence that the dog:

Caused bodily injury as defined in N.J.S.2C:11-1(a) to a person during an unprovoked attack, and poses a serious threat of bodily injury or death to a person or

Severely injured or killed another domestic animal, and either poses a threat of serious bodily injury or death to a person; or poses a threat of death to another domestic animal, or has been trained, tormented, badgered, baited or encouraged to engage in unprovoked attacks upon persons or domestic animals.”

Davis was the first to take the witness stand. She described an ordinary day that quickly turned tragic. On the morning of Aug. 16, Davis’ daughter spotted an unfamiliar white dog in their backyard. Davis went outside on the deck to check it out.

According to Davis, Gio spotted Maximus, who was sleeping on the ground by the back deck, and pounced on him. Before Maximus could escape, Gio grabbed the cat by the neck and violently shook him side to side. “The dog just didn’t stop,” said Davis. “I was screaming and hollering.”

The 'playful' killer pit bull.

Once Gio dropped Maximus’ lifeless body, he proceeded to wander around the backyard, even as a concerned neighbor attempted to shoo him from the area with a broom.

When Animal Control Officer Zachary Magnavita arrived he witnessed Gio jumping on a rabbit hutch in Davis’ yard. He also saw Maximus on the ground with puncture wounds to his neck. “You could definitely tell the cat was dead,” said Magnavita. He continued to tell the court that Gio appeared to be jumping on the cage in a “playful” manner. He said he then called the dog to him and Gio obeyed. At that time Magnavita slid a leash around Gio’s neck and led the dog back to his truck.

At first Magnavita could not determine Gio’s owner. It was only when he was back in his vehicle that he received a call from dispatch saying the dog belonged next door to Davis, a home owned by Michael Mattera. Magnavita met Mattera at his home and spoke with Raines on the phone before returning Gio to Mattera.

After Raines failed to submit the proper vaccination records, Gio was seized by Animal Control Officer Don Montgomery Sept. 1 and held at the Cape May County Animal Shelter until Sept. 12, the date Raines pled “not guilty” to the charges.

When rendering his decision, Hillegass said that part one of state statute 4:19-23 did not apply. Part two, however, did apply to Gio because he did, in fact, kill another domestic animal. But in order to be considered a “potentially dangerous” dog, the court must also be convinced that the dog poses a serious threat to persons or other domestic animals. On that section Hillegass sided with Gio. “It is clear that Giovanni caused it,” said Hillegass. “But I don’t think that Giovanni is, or should be declared, a potentially dangerous dog.”

The pittie owner blamed the victims for the attack
saying Maximus provoked her dog and that the victim
shouldn't have left their gate open which enabled
her killer dog to enter their yard.

In his ruling Hillegass said that according to the testimonies, the dog did not appear to act in an aggressive manner toward any of the individuals involved on the day of the attack.

Hillegass expressed his condolences to Davis and her daughter. “I understand. Your pets become like children,” he said. “And when they pass away it’s like losing a family member.”

Following the judge’s ruling, Raines said she felt relieved. “I feel awful for what happened to Maximus and it’s very tragic,” she said. “However, all animals are just that, animals. We spoke the truth and just tried to tell our side of the story. The judge and prosecutor ruled on the state law and Gio is not a threat by any means...

"People need to realize that pit bulls are loving family members too and prejudice is why they're targeted.”

Davis was disappointed in the judge’s decision and when asked for comment, she simply stated, “Maximus was playfully murdered.”

(Cape May County Herald - Sept 30, 2013)

Earlier:

• Beloved Family Cat Mauled To Death By Neighbor’s Pit Bull
• Pit bull owner wants you to believe cat, which was mauled to death, was the aggressor

Woman thinks German shepherd that hurt Bella attacked her dachshund twice

CANADA -- A Glebe woman believes the German shepherd that attacked Bella the Snorkie at the Experimental Farm last Friday is the same one that has twice attacked her pet dachshund Clementine.

And she wonders why city bylaw officers don’t seem willing to do anything to stop it.

After reading about the attack on Bella — a miniature schnauzer-Yorkshire terrier mix — in Monday’s Citizen, Hoda Shawki said she’s convinced the aggressive dog is the same one that went after Clementine in August 2012 and attacked her again this past August, inflicting serious injuries.

As with Bella, who required $4,000 worth of surgical repairs, both attacks on Clementine occurred on Central Experimental Farm property, and the German shepherd’s owner, a middle-aged white woman, did not have her dog on a leash.

“It’s an aggressive dog,” said Shawki, a senior policy analyst with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

Though no one seems to know the female owner’s name, “I would find it very difficult to believe that it’s just a coincidence that there are two aggressive dogs going (to the Experimental Farm) regularly with a female owner and attacking small dogs. It’s very unlikely.”

Shawki and her husband, Matthew Redding, first encountered the woman at the Experimental Farm in July 2012, shortly after adopting Clementine from a shelter in Navan. She approached them with her German shepherd on a leash.

“She said, ‘By the way, I just want to let you know, my dog is a big hunter, and he goes after small dogs,’” Shawki recalled.

“Basically, what she was telling us was, ‘Don’t be here.’ We didn’t take her seriously. This is federal property, it’s open to the public. Anybody can go there. Why should it be any more dangerous that any other park?”

But the following month, while they were walking Clementine off leash at the Experimental Farm, the same German shepherd suddenly appeared. “We didn’t see it coming. It went after our dog,” Shawki said.

“Everyone screamed at the dog. Finally, he let go, but he had already bitten our dog.”

Clementine, who weighs about 15 pounds, required surgery to repair the wounds.

Then, a few weeks ago, it happened again. Redding was walking Clementine and his mother’s dog at the Experimental Farm when the same German shepherd, again off leash, went after Clementine a second time.

“He attacked more aggressively this time,” said Shawki. According to her husband, the large dog grabbed Clementine in his jaws, lifted her and swung her around. “Then he let go of her and went after my mother-in-law’s dog. But they managed to stop him.”

“It looked really, really bad,” Shawki said. The surgical bill was $1,550, and Clementine looked a lot like Bella does now, with drainage tubes protruding from various parts of her body.

After the second attack, Shawki filed a report with the City of Ottawa’s bylaw enforcement department.

“They said unless you can give us the name of the owner or an address or something, nobody can do anything,” she said.

“I told her this has happened to us before. It might be happening to other people. Can’t anybody at least say something publicly?” Shawki said. But the bylaw official told her dog-on-dog attacks happen all the time. “Nobody cares.”

In response to Citizen questions, Christine Hartig, a strategic initiatives program officer at the city, said bylaw and regulatory services does “from time to time as circumstances warrant, employ other investigative measures to determine the identity of alleged bylaw violators.

“In some instances, such as this particular one, members of the public may be of assistance by providing to bylaw and regulatory services a detailed description of both the dog and the dog handler,” Hartig said in an email.

According to Shawki, the woman walks her German shepherd at the Experimental Farm regularly. As recently as Sunday — two days after the vicious attack on Bella — her brother-in-law spotted her and her dog, running loose, at the farm.

“She has this expectation that she should be able to take this dog there, no matter how dangerous he is,” she said.

“It’s really ridiculous when you know that your dog could hurt other dogs, and you still let it happen.”

The same dog might have been involved in an attack Monday on a Shih Tzu behind St. Paul’s University on Main Street.

Johanne Bertrand, a pensioner and Humane Society volunteer, was walking her dog, Zeus, on a leash when a German shepherd came bounding at them.

Bertrand yanked on the leash to pull her dog toward her. Just as she was about to take him in her arms, the big dog grabbed Zeus. Bertrand managed to pull him free, but not before the attacker had torn a hole in one of Zeus’s hind legs.

“I’m told that this dog is known to everyone there and it often attacks,” Bertrand said. The owner is an older woman, who’s there every day at 10 a.m., she said.

Zeus required sutures to close his wounds, said Bertand’s husband, Mander Gardiner. The medical bill will likely be more than $500. “We’re pensioners,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of cash.”

Bylaw enforcement needs to be more proactive, Gardiner said.

“If they know this is going on all the time, why wouldn’t they get their little butt over there first thing in the morning and watch out for this person?”

(Ottawa Citizen - Sept 30, 2013)

Earlier:

• Yet another owner flees with her dog after attack

Off-duty sheriff's deputy who killed pet dog resigns, may face charges

COLORADO -- A sheriff’s deputy who killed a Park County family’s dog has resigned from his job, the Park County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday.

“(The deputy) exercised extremely poor judgment in this case. He has submitted his resignation, which was accepted,” the Park County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “This case has been submitted to the District Attorney’s Office for review and to determine if charges should be brought forward.”

Deputy Matthew Jackmond shot his neighbors’ 16-year-old German Shepherd in late August near Bailey, while the family was attending a wedding in Denver, owner Laura Brown said. Jackmond was off-duty at the time, and dumped the dog’s body in a ditch before the family arrived home.

Jackmond reportedly told neighbors that he had mistaken the dog for a coyote, but another neighbor claimed to have seen the deputy jabbing the dog with a stick before walking into his house to get his gun and calmly shooting the dog in the head. Neither version of events could be confirmed.

“The neighbor had come over and told him if we seen blood in the driveway not to be alarmed because there was a coyote that he had shot,” Brown said.

 

She slowly realized he was actually talking about their dog, Shiva.

“That’s not a coyote, that’s my dog!” she told him.

The incident happened just days after a mandatory task force was formed in Colorado to train law enforcement on less-violent methods of dealing with pets.

(kwgn.com - Sept 20, 2013)

Earlier:

• Family says off-duty sheriff’s deputy killed their 16-year-old dog

Pit bull that mauled Baker City boy to death to be killed

Very few details released regarding this little boy's death

OREGON -- The prosecutor in Baker County says a pit bull that fatally mauled a 5-year-old boy will be put to death.

The animal was impounded Friday shortly after the attack on Jordan Ryan. The attack happened at the home of a friend, authorities said.

An autopsy determined that the kindergartner "suffered extensive injuries, which caused him to bleed to death" in the attack, District Attorney Matt Shirtcliff said in a statement.

Police are conducting an investigation.

"Once the investigation is complete I will review the case for potential criminal charges, or determine whether the case needs to be presented to the grand jury," Shirtcliff said.

Friends and family members gathered Sunday night for a memorial outside the kindergarten the boy attended.

In the cold and rain, they released balloons.

"Bye, Jordan," many said.

Once the balloons disappeared into the dark, someone started singing "Amazing Grace," and the assemblage of about 150 people joined in.

The rain kept extinguishing their candles, and they kept relighting them.

"We have the memories," Hank King, Jordan's great-grandfather, told the audience.

The boy's mother and father and other close relatives then took shelter in a tent where a table held a photo of the boy and mementoes.

Cassie Glerup, one of the organizers, of the service, said she couldn't imagine the family's pain.

"It kind of hit home," she said.

Grief counselors were scheduled to be at the school Monday to speak with children troubled by the death, School Superintendent Walt Wegener said.

(KATU - Sept 30, 2013)

Earlier:

• Kindergartner dies after attack by pit bull

Women in plea after dog attack in Corby

UNITED KINGDOM -- A Corby woman is calling on dog owners to keep pets which are difficult to control on a lead after her jack russell was attacked by two great Danes on the Danesholme estate.

Heather Seymour was walking from Minden Close to Brunswick Gardens at about 11.30pm on Wednesday, September 25, with her dog Sparky and spaniel Spike when the attack happened.

She let her dogs off their leads in at the recreation area near Danesholme school when 11-year-old Sparky was attacked by both great Danes, leaving the animal with injuries to its neck.

Heather, 46, of Minden Close, took Sparky to the vet and was told the attack has caused muscle damage and that the wound could not be stitched.

The dog has been prescribed antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs.

She said: “It was very frightening. The owners of the great Danes called them but they didn’t respond. They had Sparky pinned to the ground but eventually he got away.

“These things can happen with dogs and usually there is a lot of noise but very little damage.

“If people have dogs which are difficult to control they should keep them on the lead, or muzzled. They owe it to other people to be responsible.”

Heather was walking her mother home after a night out to celebrate her birthday.

She said: “I wish now I hadn’t let my dogs off their leads. Sparky is a lovely old boy and not at all feisty. I dread to think what might have happened if I’d had my six-month-old puppy with me.”

A police spokesman said: “Although they can be very distressing for owners, dog attacks on other dogs are not necessarily a criminal issue.

“If a person is injured by a dog that is dangerously out of control in a public place, then an offence is likely to have been committed, however, this does not extend to other animals.

“Decisions have been made in the past by courts and other authorities suggesting that it is the nature of a dog to kill and wound small animals. Therefore, in the event of your pet being wounded or killed by a dog, it is not a certainty that the police would be able to take any action.

“Deliberate attacks or dog fighting are offences and are taken seriously by both the police and RSPCA.

“It may be possible to take civil action under the Dogs Act 1871 but this would depend on the circumstances.”
(NorthantTelegraph - Sept 26, 2013)