GEORGIA -- Betty Lamptey posted on Facebook March 16, 2018 ·
My Irish Terrier was attacked by a Pit bull today.
None of the men watching offered assistance, although I've seen them play and interact with this dog many times. One little boy ran outside with a bat ready to help. Luckily my son heard me yelling, so he ran downstairs and punched the dog in the face several times.
Those so-called men who heard me and saw the whole attack, only intervened when my son was helping by trying to put the pit to sleep..... Then the clouds came threw and it hailed for 5 minutes.
These men are not men. And have the nerve to keep asking for my phone number, and what Im doing on the weekend. Im baking brownies for the little boy who had guts to try to help.
Rico is ok, scared and a few puncture wounds but he will be fine. He has barricaded himself inside his crate..... But im so thankful it wasn't worse.
NEBRASKA -- A pit bull that attacked a woman at a north Lincoln home early Tuesday remains on the loose, a police spokeswoman said.
The dog became aggressive inside the home, in the 1700 block of North 31st Street, at 12:45 a.m., Officer Angela Sands said. A 25-year-old resident there grabbed a baseball bat and began hitting Zeus the pit bull in the head after it bit her hand and chest, Sands said.
The dog then latched onto her leg and wouldn't let go after she hit it about 30 times with the bat, Sands said.
The woman and her husband tried to get the dog out of the house as police arrived, she said. Zeus was still biting the woman’s leg, so officers stunned it with a Taser, and it ran off.
Hmm, if they'd simply shot it and killed it then it wouldn't have run off...
The woman was driven to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The 2-year-old white pit bull is believed to be injured and remains dangerous, Sands said. Police do not have a photo of the dog.
Police have notified Lincoln Public Schools officials.
Anyone who encounters the dog should call Animal Control at 402-441-7900 and should not approach it.
UPDATE: Pit Bull that attacked owner found by Lincoln Animal Control
Animal Control officers have found the 2-year-old pit bull that attacked his owner at her north Lincoln home early Tuesday.
Zeus was found near his home in the 1700 block of North 31st Street shortly after 10 a.m. Thursday, said Animal Control Manager Steve Beal.
His officers are investigating why the dog bit and latched on to one of his owners, who then hit the dog 30 times with a baseball bat.
The dog didn't let go until police arrived and stunned it with a Taser, Officer Angela Sands said.
Zeus did not appear injured from the incident when he was turned over to officers Thursday, Beal said. Officers took the dog to the Capital Humane Society, where it will undergo a 10-day bite quarantine to assess whether it shows symptoms of rabies.
Animal Control had no previous bite reports for Zeus.
PENNSYLVANIA -- A man has been charged with cruelty to animals after allegedly torturing a cat.
Huntingdon Borough Police Department officers arrested Kyler L. Kroecker on Tuesday, more than a month after the incident.
Kroecker, 20, had been living at a residence off 19th Street in the borough and was told repeatedly to leave the family’s cat alone.
What started as a nuisance — Kroecker would do things like urinate with the cat — allegedly turned into physically harming the pet.
Kroecker was told three times on Dec. 18 to not bother the cat, according to an affidavit. The third time he was told to leave the cat alone he had been alone with it in a bedroom.
He left the room, the family checked on the cat and discovered it laying in a pool of blood, police said.
The family confronted Kroeker who denied doing anything to the cat, but said the cat “pissed me off” after it sprayed him, according to an affidavit.
The cat was taken to Faithful Friends Veterinary Clinic and then to Metzger Animal Hospital for treatment, though its status is unknown.
Police responded to the scene after being notified of an animal cruelty incident by a veterinarian at Faithful Friends Veterinary Clinic.
The veterinarian told police the cat’s injuries were so severe that he initially thought it must have been hit by a vehicle. The cat had two puncture wounds to the back of its throat and an eyeball protruding from its socket.
The family showed officers a heavy plastic bat in the room where the cat had been found. The head of the bat had cat fur lodged in it.
The family also told police that each time Kroecker had been told to leave the cat alone that day he had the plastic bat with him.
Kroecker told police he did not know anything about the incident and declined to answer any questions.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. March 14.
MISSOURI -- Josiah David Wheat, 31, of Vanzant, charged Aug. 31 in the beating deaths of five puppies, has been ordered to undergo a mental evaluation by Douglas County Circuit Court Judge R. Craig Carter.
Wheat is facing five felony counts of animal abuse by torture and/or mutilation while the animal was alive.
He allegedly posted a video of himself beating the puppies to death with a baseball bat on Facebook. Officials with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department reported they received numerous calls from the United States and Canada regarding the video.
The video, dated Aug. 25, reportedly showed the dogs being hit 16 times over the course of one minute, with most of the injured, dying puppies still moving and making noises at the end of it.
A photo of the dead puppies was also allegedly posted, along with the statement “these pups were illegitimate forced upon a beagle at residence while I was away and began too make a mess, in my experience such mess if not handled is latched upon by downgrading individual(s) who want too tear others down, so in essence killing these pups is similar too aborting rape impregnation.” [sic]
According to records, during a search of Wheat’s residence, items matching those seen in the video were found and an area of the home matched a view shown on the video.
The bodies of the puppies were never found, but officers reported there was a female beagle at the residence that appeared to have been nursing puppies. No live puppies were found on the property.
Authorities have arrested Josiah David Wheat for posting a graphic video of himself on Facebook, beating a litter of puppies to death.
Investigators at the Douglas County Sheriff's Office first saw the graphic video on Tuesday, and they've been working on this case ever since.
The video posted on a rural Douglas county man's Facebook page outraged many, including his friend, Becky Parker.
Parker says, "I got through about 3 seconds of the video. And then I immediately contacted him, and he kept rejecting my calls, and finally he messaged me back and said it was none of my business; I was blowing it out of proportion."
The video shows the puppies being beaten to death with a baseball bat. Parker and others reported it to law enforcement.
Douglas County Sheriff Chris Degase says, "A lot of the evidence is there. The ball bat; we're able to match up the baseball bat; you could read the writing on the video."
Degase says a bat matching the one in the video was seized from the man's car when Mountain Grove officers arrested him this morning. They planned the arrest in a traffic stop to avoid a situation like another with the same man in the past.
"He was combative; he had a 22. We ended up, I believe 96 hour committing him for a mental evaluation, and then really haven't had any contact with him since then. But that incident there was tense. I believe he was tased twice," says Degase.
Parker is shocked by the deadly beating, but also concerned for the man.
"He confided in me; he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, he says, and he never took his medications, ever," Parker says.
"My opinion, I do believe he has some type of mental disorder," says Degase.
"He has no remorse, which kind of unnerved me a little bit. I just want him to get some help. For his safety, I'm glad he's in custody, and for our safety, and all the animals out there," says Parker.
The man accused of making that video is now being held in the Douglas County jail; the sheriff expects charges by tomorrow.
The sheriff says the man gave consent for investigators to search his property, and the Douglas County Sheriff and the Humane Society of Missouri arrived at his home Thursday afternoon in eastern Douglas County.
The man's Facebook page shows an adult female dog with a caption including, "This female canine doesn't have the stress of the vagrant impregnation that was the five pup litter."
It's unclear if he has any other animals. The Facebook page also included recent posts of links about pet euthanasia.
MASSACHUSETTS -- The trial of an illegal immigrant who faces 12 counts of animal abuse against the dog who has come to be known as Puppy Doe has been delayed once again.
An 11th-hour request has pushed back the Tuesday trial date of Radoslaw Czerkawski, 36, in Dedham, Massachusetts, in a case that has received widespread attention due to the extremity of the abuse involved.
A new trial date of January 9 has been tentatively set following a defense request 'based on a medical condition of the defendant', prosecutors told the Boston Globe in a statement.
The trial had already been delayed once for a prosecutor's medical procedure.
In August of 2013, a one-year old pit bull mix was found starving and emaciated in a park in the south suburbs of Boston.
Puppy Doe had fractures, a stab wound to her eye and a split tongue, and was euthanized on the advice of veterinarians.
Czerkawski, a Polish national who was living in the US on an expired tourist visa, is already serving six to ten years in prison for stealing $130,000 from an elderly woman in his care, and stealing another $4,500 from the St. Lawrence Martyr Parish church in New Bedford.
He was working in Quincy as Janina Stock's caretaker when she died at the age of 95 of natural causes on August 31, 2013.
Puppy Doe was found the same day cowering in terror in a nearby park.
Investigators said they found Puppy Doe's blood in the second-floor Quincy residence where Czerkawski was living.
Police say Czerkaswki left Puppy Doe in the park a day after his client passed away. Her death certificate stated that the woman died from 'failure to thrive' caused by her illness.
Authorities do not believe that Czerkaswki had anything to do with the woman’s passing.
Czerkawski has pleaded not guilty to the animal abuse charges, saying that youths drinking in the park were to blame for the horrific crime. His attorney has questioned the DNA evidence against him.
The case generated massive outrage as it wended through the courts, with Czerkawski standing trial for the two theft cases before facing the animal cruelty charges.
Last week, Norfolk County Superior Court Judge Kenneth J. Fishman issued strict rules for animal rights protesters attending the trial, prohibiting them from bringing buttons, signs or shirts into court denigrating Czerkawski or supporting Puppy Doe.
The judge also created a 500-foot buffer zone around the courthouse where demonstrations about the trial are prohibited, in an effort to preserve decorum and prevent jurors from being unduly swayed.
Both prosecutors and Czerkawski's attorneys had agreed the decorum rules were necessary.
The case has gripped the local community and animal lovers nationwide ever since the one-year-old dog was found near a play park with signs that she had been beaten, burned, starved and stabbed in the eyes in what was described as 'medieval' torture.
Animal rescue workers described the injuries inflicted on the pit bull, including a crude split to give it a forked serpent tongue, as the worst they had ever seen.
She had also been burned on the nose, stabbed in the eye, and beaten so severely that she could barely walk.
Veterinarians at the Animal Rescue League of Boston who treated the dog said that she was emaciated and weighed half of what would be expected for her age.
When she was first found it was thought that she had been hit by a car, but the true nature of her injuries soon came to light.
Vet Martha Smith-Blackmore was so shocked by the extent of the abuse that she had to walk away and give herself a break as she examined the dog's body.
'Her joints were pulled apart like medieval times,' she said at the time. 'She was beaten, stabbed, burned over weeks to months and maybe her whole life. And could not walk.'
The vet added: 'When I saw how vulnerable she was and I understood immediately the duration of her suffering, my heart collapsed.'
As well as the burn and stab marks, the dog's vertebrae had been smashed from being hit by a baseball bat or board.
Although there was no evidence of sexual interference, which the vet said can be seen in such abuse cases, the dog's joints had been separated from being pulled apart repeatedly.
Smith-Blackmore said that the dog's injuries were so severe she would have been in constant pain for the rest of her life if she hadn't been put down.
Despite the pain and suffering Puppy Doe had clearly experienced in her short life, staff at the rescue center said she was sweet natured.
'Within hours of being found she had pain medication, food and love,' said Smith-Blackmore. 'She experienced some tenderness and some care at the end of her life.'
SOUTH CAROLINA -- Two adults and two teenagers are facing misdemeanor charges after a “disturbing” video was posted on Snapchat that showed an opossum being hung by its tail dangling over a dog and beaten with a baseball bat.
However, animal activists groups are pushing for further charges in an online petition, saying that the misdemeanor charges “in no way cover(s) the actions of these defendants.”
Bethany Polutta, 18, of Summerville, South Carolina and Austin Kizer, 19, of St. George, South Carolina, along with two people under age 18, have been charged with ill treatment of an animal, according to David Lucas, of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.
Lucas said the two adults will appear in magistrate’s court, while the juveniles’ cases will be handled in family court.
Authorities began investigating the incident in September when a video was posted on Snapchat that appeared to show several teenagers beating an opossum with a baseball bat in a garage.
People who saw the Snapchat video took screenshots of the incident and turned them over to the Department of Natural Resources, Lucas said.
“I think anyone who saw (the screenshots) would think it’s disturbing,” Lucas said.
The video sparked anger and uproar on social media. Renate Hartland, a wildlife volunteer in Seattle, launched an online petition to Dorchester County Solicitor David Pascoe demanding harsh punishment for the abusers in the video.
Hartland, along with other animal activists, named the opossum “Hope” and started the Facebook page “In Light of Hope” for the animal’s supporters. The Change.org petition has more than 33,000 signatures and the Facebook page has more than 1,400 followers.
The petition requests more serious punishment than the misdemeanor abuse charge, which carries a maximum punishment of 90 days in jail or a fine of up to $1,000 on the first offense.
Instead, petitioners are asking for the offenders to face felony charges for torture, torment, or cruel killing, with a minimum punishment of 180 days in jail.
“The animal suffered repeated, persistent, merciless pain,” the petition reads. “The pain and suffering inflicted upon the opossum goes far beyond anything tolerable in a decent society. This is not ‘generic’ animal suffering, this is specific torture and torment.”
Lucas said Monday that further charges from his department are not expected.
“The case on our end is closed, but the solicitor might further investigate the incident,” he said.
This is the second time in six months the state’s Department of Natural Resources has investigated teenagers abusing an animal on Snapchat.
In May, two Ridgeland, South Carolina men were charged with animal abuse after investigation into photos of a group of men pouring beer down an alligator’s throat.
In response to the opossum incident, PETA has sent letters to schools in the area urging them to implement humane education.
“We’re facing a bullying epidemic, and these boys allegedly beat an opossum to death with a baseball bat and bragged about it on social media,” said PETA spokesperson Marta Holmberg in an online press release. “TeachKind is urging schools to implement humane education and adopt an official policy against cruelty to animals that will help prevent a shocking crime like this one from occurring again.”
