Cats found dead in Dare County dumpster had been shot to death

UPDATE: North Carolina: Manteo man Jordan Wallace charged with animal cruelty after dead cats found in dumpster

NORTH CAROLINA --  Investigators in Dare County are trying to find out what happened to three cats found dead in a dumpster. The animals appeared to have been shot, officials said.

“We would never have suspected in a million years that something like this would happen,” said Debbie Martin, with Friends of Felines – Cape Hatteras Island.

 

For the past 15 years, Martin has cared for more than a dozen spayed and neutered feral cats on the realty property facility where she is a manager, she said. She feeds them at night and a co-worker takes over in the morning. He could not find them Wednesday, until he checked the dumpster, Martin said.

“He had some very bad news for me, that he had found three bodies in the dumpster back behind me, and all the cats are gone. We don’t know what has happened to them.”

The Dare County Sheriff’s Office said they got the call Wednesday morning and started looking for clues. It appears someone shot the cats, but it’s not clear what weapon was used, investigators said.

“I think it’s very sad that there’s someone out there that’s harming animals. This is Hatteras Island. It’s a national seashore, and we protect our animals here,” Martin said.

 

The sheriff’s office has not released any information about suspects, but is investigating the deaths as felony animal cruelty.

Meanwhile, more than $1,000 has been set aside for a reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction through a Yadkin Bank account in Avon under the name of “Cat Lovers of Hatteras Island,” Martin said.

The Outer Banks SPCA said the cats were sent to the state laboratory in Raleigh to determine how they died. Citizens are allowed to trap feral cats and bring them to their facility, but are not allowed to harm them, Outer Banks SPCA director John Graves said.

If you know something about the case, call the Dare County Sheriff’s Office at 252-475-5980.

(WAVY - Dec 31, 2015)

East Haven man, James Carangelo, who shot his dog and burned his cat to death sentenced to 6 years

NEW HAMPSHIRE -- James Carangelo, who apparently tried to burn his own home while he was in it, shot his dog and allowed his cat to die, pleaded no contest Wednesday to first-degree arson and will be ordered to serve six years in prison.

Carangelo has been incarcerated since his arrest four days after the Jan. 3, 2011, fire at 220 Warner Road in East Haven, and so will have only about one more year to serve when he is sentenced March 3.

Under the plea arrangement, the state will nolle the animal cruelty charge as well as disorderly conduct and failure to comply with a fingerprint request.

The dog, a bull mastiff named Sasha, survived after being shot in the jaw. 

According to a source, Carangelo didn’t want the dog to be burned alive, so he tried to fatally shoot the animal.

The cat, who was locked in a closet, died of smoke inhalation.

Carangelo was not seriously injured because after his wife alerted police that he had called her to report he had set the house on fire and she noted she heard smoke detectors going off in the background, firefighters got to the house quickly and rescued him.

The firefighters entered the house, which was engulfed in flames, found Carangelo in his bed and pulled him out the window. Two firefighters sustained minor injuries.

Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Gary Nicholson told Superior Court Judge Patrick J. Clifford during Wednesday’s hearing that Carangelo and his wife “had been going through a rather heated divorce” at the time of the fire.

According to New Haven Superior Court records, Carangelo had filed for divorce three months earlier. Police said Carengelo was charged with disorderly conduct in a domestic incident between him and his wife on New Year’s Eve, several days before the fire.

Nicholson noted that during the daylight hours of Jan. 3, 2011, Carangelo’s wife, who then was separated from him and living elsewhere with their kids, called police to report a troubling phone conversation she had just had with him.

So she knew he was crazy. She took the kids with her and left, but left the animals behind? Nice.

“She said her husband was not in a right state of mind and had told her he was going to burn the house down,” Nicholson stated. “When police responded to the house, he was present and they found nothing out of the ordinary.”

But several hours later, Nicholson added, she again called police and reported the second phone call from her husband, with the sound of the smoke detector alarms.

As firefighters pulled up to the house, two vehicles in the driveway also were in flames as well as the residence, Nicholson said.

“Accelerant had been poured throughout the house,” Nicholson told Clifford. “He admitted he’d set the fire.”

Carangelo, who has been held in lieu of $500,000 bail, came into the courtroom Wednesday in a wheelchair because he sustained a severe back injury in a work-related fall about 10 years ago. He was not in a wheelchair at the time of the fire.

When the court clerk asked Carangelo to state his age, the defendant first said he was 46, then stammered, “No, 48. I haven’t celebrated a birthday recently.”

Clifford asked Carangelo, as he always does when accepting a plea, if he is taking any medication. Carangelo said he is taking pain medication. But he added, “It’s very minimal. It takes the edge off.” Carangelo also said it helps prevent him from getting “upset.”

He told Clifford the medication does not keep him from understanding the legal proceedings and that he was voluntarily entering the plea.

Clifford told Carangelo first-degree arson is a felony, with a sentencing range of 10-25 years in prison. Clifford also explained the nolo contendere plea: “You’re not pleading guilty. It means you’re not contesting it.”

Clifford also said the agreement calls for a 12-year prison sentence, to be suspended after serving six years, with five years of probation.

Carangelo asked Clifford how a felony conviction would affect his ability to hold onto a license to practice air-conditioning and heating installation. Clifford said he could not offer any information on that.

Clifford then accepted the plea and noted, “A finding of guilty is entered.”

 

 

Under the plea agreement, the firearms seized from the house, which included handguns and assault rifles, will be sold and Carangelo will not be allowed to have such weapons. New Haven Chief Public Defender Thomas Ullmann, who represents Carangelo, previously said they were legally purchased. Carangelo used a handgun to shoot his dog.

During a previous court hearing, Nicholson said, “We got information from the Fire Department that when they went into the house, they discovered a long gun on the defendant’s bed.”

Ullmann noted Carangelo had no previous criminal record.

After the fire, East Haven’s Lesley Simoni Animal Shelter and the Central Hospital for Veterinary Medicine accepted donations to help defray an estimated $8,000 bill for Sasha. The dog, who also suffered smoke inhalation, was placed in a new home.

(NH Register - Dec 30, 2015)

Pit bull rescue group tried to keep pit bull which bit its new owner from being quarantined at the shelter

OHIO -- The Lucas County Pit Crew is preparing for a legal battle after a dog from the rescue group was seized from a foster home Wednesday by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office.

A gray-and-white “pit bull” named Bosco is in the center of the turmoil after a biting incident Saturday.

Jean Keating, executive director of the Pit Crew, said Bosco was adopted Dec. 23 by Gwen and Matthew Boughton of Wauseon. She said Bosco bit Mr. Boughton on Saturday morning, and the couple asked the rescue group to take him back.

Mrs. Boughton “asked us to come and get him because she was not comfortable having him in their house with the kids,” Ms. Keating said.

When reached by The Blade, Mrs. Boughton referred all questions to the county sheriff’s office. Neither the sheriff’s office nor Scott Haselman, Fulton County prosecutor, returned messages from The Blade.

The Boughtons on Saturday had taken Bosco to a relative’s house where he was “jumping on the counter,” according to a Wauseon police report.

The report was taken Monday at the request of Brian Banister, Fulton County dog warden.

Mr. Boughton “told the dog to get down” and “grabbed the dog’s collar, and the dog bit” his wrist, the report states. Mr. Boughton went to the hospital with a minor injury and received two stitches.

Bosco was originally a stray picked up by the Lucas County Canine Care & Control on Oct. 18 from Maher Street in Toledo. He was vaccinated for rabies at the shelter and transferred to the Pit Crew after being neutered Oct. 29.

Ms. Keating said the dog had been nothing but friendly and loving toward shelter staff and rescue volunteers.

“Everybody loved him,” Ms. Keating said. “Bosco was good with everybody, including kids and other dogs. His only issue was he was a little jumpy when he gets excited.”

Ms. Keating said she was surprised to hear Bosco had bitten Mr. Boughton, and Mrs. Boughton told her that he touched the dog on the back before reaching for the dog’s collar.

Bosco was picked up from the Boughton’s home by a Pit Crew volunteer within an hour, Ms. Keating said, and taken to a foster home with Kevin Bauer in Pike Township. The rescue intended to quarantine Bosco there for 10 days as required by Ohio law and scheduled a veterinary checkup at the end of the quarantine.

Ms. Keating said she was contacted by the Fulton County Health Department via email Monday morning, asking for the specific address where the dog was being held and indicating the dog needed to be quarantined at the county pound.

Ohio law requires a dog must stay in the county where a bite occurs during quarantine, but Ms. Keating contends there is no state or local law requiring a dog to be quarantined at the pound or any other specific location.

Ms. Keating said she feared Bosco would be “killed out of spite” if taken to the pound. Fulton County officials have been under fire from area advocates for more than a year regarding the operations of the county pound and its policies related to “pit bulls.” Ms. Keating and the two organizations she leads, the Pit Crew and the Ohio Coalition of Dog Advocates, have been involved in grassroots efforts to investigate the operations of the pound and advocate for change.

“We have pending litigation with Banister in another situation,” Ms. Keating said. “We’ve shown the public that he doesn’t do his job. He saw an opportunity to take it out on this poor dog.”

Mr. Banister refused to comment to The Blade.

“Is every other dog bite in Fulton County quarantined at the pound? No,” Ms. Keating said. “It’s a personal vendetta.”

Ms. Keating initially refused to provide the address of Bosco’s foster home and directed authorities to the Pit Crew’s attorney, Dale Emch. After much back-and-forth, Mr. Emch gave authorities the address Tuesday morning.

“In less than two hours, they were on the property,” Ms. Keating said.

Mr. Bauer and his wife were not home, so the sheriff’s office left a notice. The sheriff’s office returned Wednesday morning with the dog warden and a representative of the health department, requesting the dog be turned over. Ms. Keating said Bosco’s fosters refused, and the county obtained a warrant and seized the dog that afternoon.

“It’s a bunch of nonsense,” Ms. Keating said. “We’re talking about a minor dog bite.”

Ms. Keating provided a copy of the warrant to The Blade. It does not give any background or cite any legal code.

A clerk with the Fulton County Western District Court did not have any information about the case.

Judge Jeffrey Robinson, who signed the warrant, did not return a message from The Blade.

Mr. Banister refused to verbally confirm if Bosco is being held at the county pound. A written public records request subsequently emailed to him by The Blade was not immediately answered.

Ms. Keating said she and her attorney are examining the possibility of filing an ethics complaint with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office as a result of what she believes is inappropriate and direct targeting and discrimination by Mr. Banister.

“It’s misuse of your public office to target an individual or a specific organization because you’re angry,” she said.

(Toledo Blade - Dec 30, 2015)

Former solider, Shane Van Duren, who neglected his last dog so badly it had to be euthanized, assaults and threatens officers who take another neglected dog from him

AUSTRALIA -- An Army veteran who allegedly broke into an RSPCA shelter to take back his dog later assaulted officials who went to his home looking for the animal, a court has heard.

Shane Van Duren, 41, from Canberra, broke into the RSPCA centre in Weston on Tuesday to claim his black Belgian shepherd Denzel, the court was told.

The dog, which he uses as an assistance animal for post-traumatic stress disorder, had been removed from his care due to neglect concerns.

He allegedly cut through three fences to get to the dog.

On Wednesday, police and an RSPCA inspector went to Van Duren's home in Deakin where they found the animal.

Van Duren allegedly refused to hand over the animal and ran out of the back door with the dog.

"You're not getting the dog," he told them, according to court documents.

When police tried to arrest him, Van Duren allegedly punched Constable Daniel Neit twice in the jaw, after which the pair wrestled on the ground.

RSPCA senior inspector Catherine Croatto then stepped in, but Van Duren allegedly put his arm around her neck and put her in a choke hold, saying he would kill her.

"I'm going to fucking kill you," he said. "You're dead bitch ... dead inside a year."

Outburst an 'explosive loss of self control'
The prosecutor said Ms Croatto's face "turned dark red".

Another police officer tried unsuccessfully to subdue Van Duren with spray, before using a baton on his lower leg.

Van Duren has been charged with trespass, damaging Commonwealth property, making a threats to kill, attempting to escape and two counts of assault.

The court heard he served in the Australian Army until 2001, and that he now used the dog to help cope with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Van Duren's lawyer said his client thought the dog was lost and he did not know the RSPCA had taken it.But the prosecutor said a letter from the RSPCA had been sent to him, saying Denzel had been seized.

The prosecutor said Van Duren was on the RSPCA's radar after his last dog was put down due to neglect.

Magistrate Beth Campbell described Van Duren's alleged actions as an "explosive loss of self control".

"Something is wrong for this man to act with so much aggression," she said.

Magistrate Campbell refused to grant him bail, finding there was a need to protect the safety of RSCPA staff.

She also asked for a forensic mental health report.

Van Duren will appear in court again in February.

(ABC Net AU - Dec 30, 2015)

Canada: Pit bulls invade home, kill cat and maul residents inside

CANADA -- A Fort St. John man is undergoing multiple surgeries in an Edmonton hospital to save his arms and hands following a vicious dog attack on Christmas Day, but he remains in positive spirits, friends and family say.

Robin Elgie and his girlfriend Wendy Lee Baker were attacked by a pair of stray pit bulls in the evening at their home in the Southridge Mobile Home Park.

Victim: Robin Elgie

According to their GoFundMe page, "On Dec 25, Christmas day, two  large dogs crashed through Robin Elgie &  Wendy Lee Baker’s home. They ripped their cat to pieces, they chased Lee around inside the laundry room and bedroom biting her multiple times.  They then proceeded to attack Robin. The dogs chewed both  of Robin’s arms to shreds."

Both sustained significant wounds from the attack, forcing Elgie, 66, to be transported to the University of Alberta Hospital for emergency surgery. Baker, 51, was treated at the hospital in Fort St. John.

Elgie was undergoing his fourth surgery Wednesday morning, his daughter Sheryl Elgie told the Alaska Highway News in an interview from Edmonton.

"(Doctors are) continually to having to remove the dead flesh and clean up the infection," she said.

"Until that is done and some healing starts to begin, they won't be able to tell if they have to amputate. They're trying to save his hands at this point, but they can't do any skin grafts and move forward until all of the dead tissue is removed and all of the infection is completely gone."

BC Emergency Health Services confirmed the attack, saying emergency crews were called to the home around 7 p.m.

Fort St. John RCMP have not responded to multiple requests for comments.

Sheryl Elgie said Baker had opened the door to the couple's home to let their dog inside when the two dogs came charging in and "immediately went for their cat."

Both Robin and Baker tried to stop the dogs only to be attacked themselves.

Baker managed to lock herself in a bedroom to call 911, while Robin continued to try to fend off the dogs. The cat was killed and their dog was unharmed.

Both Robin and Baker sustained multiple bites, though Robin sustained the worst of the injuries, including punctures to his legs, torso, hands, forearms and biceps, Elgie said.

"They literally tore his arms apart," she said.

"Robin was flown to Edmonton hospital in critical condition where he remains there in ICU. He has undergone two surgeries already to clean up the injuries and attempt to reattach some tendons and save his arms. His arms were extremely damaged in the attack don’t have a lot of anything left from the elbows down." -- GoFundMe page

Police officers arrived at the home and both dogs were reportedly shot, while Robin was quickly airlifted to Edmonton, Elgie said. It's unclear who owned the dogs, and RCMP have not followed up with Robin in the hospital, Elgie said.

Despite the attack, Robin remains in positive spirits.

"He's more worried about everyone else going out of their way for him than himself the last few days," Elgie said.

"He's talking to people, he's able to have conversations on the phone, he's more coherent. He's in better spirits.

"He's obviously upset that it happened, he just doesn't understand how it happened or why it happened," she added. "His big worry is what if it happened to somebody else with children?"

Baker is recovering in Fort St. John and has not yet been able to travel to Edmonton.

Fundraising campaign launched
A GoFundMe has been launched online to raise $10,000 for the couple as they recover. About $1,200 has been donated so far.

Family friend Kim Babcock, who launched the campaign, said she was shocked when she heard the news. Elgie has worked as an equipment operator for her and her husband Ken's company, Wild Creek Contracting, for 14 years.

"I just couldn't believe it.  What a nightmare. Whenever you think about it, you're horrified. I can't imagine," Babcock told the Alaska Highway News.

Babcock wants to raise the money to help the couple cover their expenses, from rent to travel costs.

"They have a pretty long road ahead of them," she said. "Robin, he's just an amazing guy. He knows he could lose his arm… and he's not angry at anybody or anything.

"I just think wow what a big person he is. The community should be coming together to help him."

As of Jan 1, more than $15,000 has been raised by more than 200 people.

Elgie said Robin will likely need many more surgeries. She unsure how long he will be in the hospital for.

"It could be quite awhile. It's depends on a lot of different factors. It could be weeks, it could be a couple months," she said, adding her thanks to the hospital staff and friends in the community.

"The support he's gotten has been amazing. It's been really wonderful."

For more, visit gofundme.com/mcgrvpbs.

UPDATE:
Fort St. John RCMP say they are still piecing together the events that led to the attack, and are asking anyone with information to contact the detachment.

In a statement, police say they received a call from Baker about the attack around 7:55 p.m. on Dec. 25. Officers responded to the home and found Baker suffering from bites, and Elgie unresponsive and his body in shock from the injuries, the dogs still attacking him.

Officers shot both dogs in the home, killing one while the other escaped with serious injuries. The dog was found and "humanely put down," police say.

(alaskahighwaynews.ca - Dec 30, 2015)

Massachusetts: Southwick man faces charges after firing shotgun at neighbor's loose chicken

MASSACHUSETTS -- A roaming chicken, a shotgun blast and Massachusetts firearms laws have led to legal trouble for a Southwick man who, as he tells it, was simply trying to protect his garden.

Keith Hebig, 56, is facing firearms charges after he took a potshot at a neighbor's chicken that had made a habit of digging under his fence and entering his yard.

On Oct. 10, his neighbor told police that Hebig had "shot at the bird with a very loud and powerful firearm" after it left its enclosure and wandered to Hebig's yard. The bird escaped injury, the neighbor told police, according to Southwick Police Officer Thomas Krutka's statement of fact.

Krutka and another officer walked over to Hebig's home and spoke to him as he and his wife were sitting down for dinner, according to the report. Hebig admitted shooting at the chicken, but first claimed he used a BB gun, Krutka wrote.

"I asked him why he would do that and he stated that he is sick and tired of those birds coming into his yard and getting into his garden," the report said.

In an interview, Hebig said that the problem was not just one chicken, but a flock of 30 to 40 birds who would regularly leave their enclosure, deposit manure in his yard and dig up the plots where he and his wife planted corn, lettuce, tomatoes and broccoli. The intrusions had slowed down before this summer, he said, but when he and his wife went on vacation for two months the birds returned.

"There was so much chicken manure in the pool it turned green," he said.

Hebig and his wife returned from vacation on Sept. 28, and on Oct. 10 the dispute boiled over. Hebig said he fired a warning shot at the birds, but his neighbor saw things differently -- she told police she was afraid for her life when she saw him raise the shotgun, according to a victim statement reviewed by MassLive.

"I'll show you fricking free range -- I came in, I got my shotgun and I went down to where they were coming through the fence," Hebig said. "I shot one shot."

Hebig's neighbor declined to comment for this story.

The officers walked with Hebig to the spot in his yard from where he said he shot at the chicken, according to Krutka's police report. Hebig pointed out a section of the fence that was bent up, with dirt dug out underneath it, telling the officers it was the rogue chickens' normal escape route.

When Krutka noted a blast mark about a foot removed from the dig spot, he told Hebig that it appeared to be from a shotgun loaded with bird shot -- not a BB gun as originally claimed. Hebig then admitted to using a shotgun, according to Krutka's report.

Krutka advised Hebig to call the police next time the neighbor's livestock crosses his property line, and told the neighbor to repair the fence, according to his report. Hebig was charged with possession of a gun without a valid Firearms Identification Card and of discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling.

Hebig still has two BB guns hung up over the mantle in his dining room, but police confiscated his firearms after they discovered his FID card was expired. Since the Oct. 10 incident, he has called police rather than engage with his neighbor, who has a no-contact order against him, he said.

(MassLive - Dec 31, 2015)

Pennsylvania: Eight animals found dead in 'deplorable' conditions in Delaware Township. Robert Hites and Austin Langdon facing charges

PENNSYLVANIA -- The situation discovered by Mercer County Humane Society agents on a leased farm property in Delaware Township Tuesday afternoon was “probably the worst we’ve had in a year,” according to Sandi Drabick, executive director.

About five volunteers spent upwards of six hours assisting the Humane Society in rescuing two horses, two pigs, several chickens, two dogs and other live animals at 35 District Road from conditions described as “deplorable.”

“This is not normal for the pigs to be lying around dead. It’s not normal for calves to be in feed sacks dead. It’s just the lack of compassion,” said Humane Society volunteer Shana Ditosto, who was out at the farm on Tuesday.

 

Humane agents say eight animals — three piglets, one pig, three calves and a rabbit — were found dead on the property, and others were living in deplorable conditions.

“There’s no bedding, no food, no water, knee-deep mud for some of the animals and a lack of proper shelter,” she explained. “It’s been a long day, but whether rain, snow, sleet or hail, we’re here for the animals.”

Drabick emphasized the property owner, a “distraught” woman who asked to remain anonymous, was “in no way responsible,” as she was in poor health and wasn’t aware of the situation.

UPDATE: Pennsylvania: Robert Hites and Austin Langdon charged with animal cruelty after dead and starving animals found on farm

 

Officials told WKBN that they plan to cite the animals’ owners with animal cruelty, which is a misdemeanor and could result in a fine. (Most likely probation and surrender of the animals - that what most states to do animal abusers) The animals are owned by two men who are leasing the property but who live in Greenville.

Mercer County Humane Officer Renee Dorogy said there have been efforts in Pennsylvania to toughen the animal cruelty laws, but she said those efforts have made little progress. She called the punishment for the offenses similar to that for a traffic violation.

The Humane Society was notified of the conditions Monday by a neighbor who had been on the property and brought food for the animals over the weekend and Tuesday, Dorogy said.

 

 

“We had to get people lined up to remove these animals and do what needs to be done,” Drabick said, noting live animals have been placed on another farm and in veterinary care.

Once the animals have been assessed medically, the Humane Society can get a better idea of how long the animals were left in these conditions, according to Dorogy.

“It hasn’t just been a day or two,” she said. “We know it’s been a while. And the weather’s been pretty nice (for) this time of year. We usually don’t get calls like this until much later in the winter or early spring.”

 

A few remaining free-range chickens and cats, which couldn’t be caught Tuesday, will have to be rounded up at a later date, she added.

“If anybody would like to donate for the care of the ones we saved, they can sure do that,” Drabick said. “They need vet care and nutrition. As you can imagine, these vet bills do rise for this.”

Donations can be made to Humane Society of Mercer County, Box 1046, Hermitage, PA 16148.

(The Herald - Dec 30, 2015)