NORTH CAROLINA -- A stray pit bull that was trapped late last month for supposedly killing barnyard animals in Gaston County is now enjoying a quiet domestic life in upstate New York.
Officials with Gaston County Animal Control said the male, brown and white pit bull would likely be euthanized after it was captured Nov. 17. No owner came forward to claim the animal, and its suspected history made it unlikely that adoption would be allowed — even by a licensed rescue group, said Animal Control Sgt. Jim Phil.
But the pit bull was consistently docile around both humans and other animals during the several days it spent at the Gaston County Animal Shelter in Dallas. So before it was scheduled to be killed Nov. 23, Pit City Rescue of Watertown, N.Y., was allowed to pull the dog and save it.
Eric Yager, whose family is now fostering the dog in Watertown until a permanent home can be found, has named the pit bull Ronan. And he’s far from the teeth-gnashing, bloodthirsty beast he’s been made out to be, Yager said.
“He’s actually quite a good dog,” said Yager, whose wife is the vice president of Pet City Rescue. “He lays around all day. He’s very unexcitable.”
John Simonds, who owns a 35-acre farm at 453 Cramerton Road, told Animal Control last month that a stray pit bull had been terrorizing a number of his animals. He said he had seen the dog from afar, which typically attacked at night and killed a pony and six goats, while injuring several cows and a donkey of late.
Animal Control officials set a dog trap nearby and captured the brown and white pit bull, which had no collar or tags. Phil let Simonds have a look at the pooch.
“He said he was 95 percent sure that was the dog,” Phil said.
Had an owner come forward to claim the pit bull, they likely would have had to meet expensive safety conditions to get the unlicensed dog back, Phil said. But over several days, the dog was unfailingly friendly, he said. A volunteer rescue worker skilled in animal temperament testing conducted an evaluation and found the dog showed no indications of being aggressive toward people or other animals, Phil said.
“So we did allow it to be rescued,” he said.
[Funny how after this dog was captured, incidents of livestock animals with their insides torn out stopped. Incidents of livestock animals with their faces chewed off immediately stopped.]
Yager’s group is like many others in the northeast that routinely rescue dogs from kill shelters in the southeast, where an overpopulation of stray dogs and cats is a more rampant problem. They made contact with a rescue worker here who pulled and boarded the pit bull until he could be transported up to New York.
Ronan is living with the Yagers and their seven other inside dogs for the time being. They’ll continue to evaluate his behavior before possibly finding a permanent home for him. But whether his future lies there or elsewhere, it looks much brighter than it once did.
“My wife falls in love with dogs pretty quickly when she sees them,” Yager said. “In my opinion, anyone who passed judgment that this dog is violent or unadoptable does not know what he or she is talking about.”
Phil said Simonds has been told to let Animal Control know if his problem pops up again.
“We hope we got the right dog, as far as Mr. Simonds is concerned,” said Phil. “But hopefully he can be reformed and make someone a good pet.”
[Animal Control Sgt Phil, I would like to direct your attention to the FORGOTTEN VICTIMS in this whole story.
Think about it for a minute. What does it take to KILL a pony with only teeth? How long did this pony fight and suffer terrorizing fear until finally getting exhausted and going down, only to feel these dogs ripping and tearing at it until death finally comes? Now repeat this story for a goat, and another, and another, and another, and another and another. Six goats mauled to death. Are we done yet? No. Let's repeat for a cow, and another and another and a donkey -- the only difference with the cows and donkey is that they were large enough to fight back and survive with possibly horrific wounds and trauma.]
(Gaston Gazette - December 06, 2011)
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