Cruelty charges pending after neglected dogs, puppies apprehended in Surrey

From The Province Authorities have stepped in to apprehend 13 neglected and starving dogs and puppies in Surrey — and animal cruelty charges are pending.
The B.C. SPCA reported Friday that two adult pit-bull cross dogs, a sixth-month-old pit-bull cross, and 10 two-week-old pit-bull cross puppies are now in their care. The female dog was starving, with her spine and ribs protruding, and the puppies were dehydrated and underweight. The adult male dog was suffering from a large open wound on his front paw.
“In addition to our concerns about the health of the animals, the dogs were living in substandard conditions,” says Eileen Drever, senior animal protection officer for the BC SPCA.
“The female and her puppies were being kept inside the home in a dark room with no ventilation and an overwhelming smell of urine and feces. The two male dogs were outside with no adequate shelter, no access to potable water and surrounded by hazards and debris.”
The adult dogs and puppies are currently receiving veterinary treatment and care in SPCA custody. The investigation continues and charges of animal cruelty are pending.

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Dog thought dead and buried found alive

From Boston Herald

There were tears aplenty when Mark Dolph buried his brindle pit bull mix named Patch outside his mother’s home near Waymart on the morning of Oct. 7. The dog had disappeared about 36 hours earlier while Mr. Dolph and girlfriend, Penny Holland, visited from North Carolina. When one of mother Patricia Dolph’s neighbors called to say he had spotted Patch lying dead along a road, Mr. Dolph resigned himself to the painful reality that his beloved pet was gone.
"We already had in our heads that he was dead," Mr. Dolph said.
But in a quirky case of canine mistaken identity, the Dolph family buried the wrong dog.
It turned out Patch was very much alive, having taken refuge with Stacey and Bryan Struble, who that same day opened up their home on Belmont Turnpike - more than six miles from Mrs. Dolph’s Dutchman Hill house - to what they thought was a mere stray.
"I must have thanked them a thousand times," Mr. Dolph said Thursday in a telephone interview from his Monroe, N.C., home. "If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have Patch."
The strange tale started unfolding late on Oct. 5 when Patch was nowhere to be found when Mr. Dolph and Ms. Holland went outside that Tuesday night to bring inside their other dog, Jake. Patch had never run away before, and Mr. Dolph was concerned he might have been attacked and injured by a bobcat spotted near the home.
The family spent the next day scouring the area, alerting neighbors and leaving a description of the missing dog with the Dessin Animal Shelter in Honesdale, to no avail.
The following morning — Oct. 7 — a neighbor who was familiar with Patch called.
"He said he had bad news," Mr. Dolph said. "He found the dog, but he was dead on the side of the road, about three miles away."
Mr. Dolph drove to the area, wrapped the dead animal in Patch’s favorite blanket and brought him back to his mother’s home for burial.
"The whole house had tears in their eyes," he said.
In hindsight, Mr. Dolph said the clues were obvious. The dog on the road lacked Patch’s faded orange collar with paw prints on it, his nose appeared snubbier and, despite the identical white patch on his chest, his brindle coat seemed more uniform. In his grief, Mr. Dolph attributed the anomalies to the accident that killed the animal and the rain that had fallen overnight.
"Now, looking at my dog and at that dog, we should have known," he said. "But at the time, they looked enough alike."
Patricia Dolph said the shelter called the next day, Friday, Oct. 8, to say the Strubles had found a dog matching Patch’s description. The family was skeptical, she said, until they spoke by phone with Mr. Struble, who described Patch "to a T," right down to the faded collar.
"Now we were getting excited," she said.
But there would be one more disappointment. By the time the family got to the Struble home, Patch had gotten out and run away again. A search failed to locate him.
Around 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 9, Mrs. Struble called again to say Patch had returned overnight and would remain safely inside until Mr. Dolph came to retrieve him.
Mr. Dolph said the owners of the dead dog are still unknown. If they are ever identified, he said he hopes they will take comfort in the knowledge their pet received a loving, tearful burial.
Mrs. Dolph said Thursday she believes providence played a role in Patch’s return, and she told her son as much.
"I said that God must have seen you were so good to that dog," she said, "and that’s why he decided to give your dog back to you."

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Dog undergoes surgery for gunshot wound in Tampa

From Tampa Bay Online

Mercy is looking for a new home.
The dog, who was shot in the head, underwent surgery this morning to remove portions of a bullet from her skull.
Just who shot the pit bull mix and why remain mysteries. She was found wandering recently near Falkenburg Road and Progress Boulevard. She had a collar, but no tags or a microchip. And she was clearly injured.
That's where the Lost Angels Animal Rescue group and Tampa Veterinary Hospital come in to the picture.
Veterinarians at the hospital operated today on Mercy, and the animal rescue group is seeking a home for her.
"She's a wonderful dog," said Lily McCarty, who is with the Lost Angels group. Veterinarian Melissa Webster said she was concerned about the dog's eyesight and hearing, given the unknown nature of the impact of the gunshot.
"That's our biggest worry for her," Webster said.
For information on how to adopt Mercy, go to http://www.lostangelsanimalrescue.org/.

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Elderly pastor mauled to death in dog kennel filled with 17 pit bulls

From Daily Mail An elderly Missouri pastor has been found mauled to death in a pit bull pen belonging to his son.
Rev. John Reynolds, 84, was found dead last week with injuries consistent with those from an animal attack in Callaway County near Williamsburg.
Reynolds son, John E. Reynolds, 52, says he doesn't believe any of his 17 pit bulls killed his father.
He said the dogs were his dad's 'best buddies' and wouldn't have harmed him.
Lt. Tim Osburn from the Callaway County Sheriff's Department says the son came home at 7.37pm on October 13 and found his dad lying dead in the kennel.
Osburn said: 'The dogs were loose and there were obvious injuries to the body that appeared to be bite marks. We know that the victim had a medical history'.
He added that an autopsy has shown that some of the bites occurred before Reynold's death and some were inflicted after he died.
'The medical examiner has not issued a cause of death. For this reason the death is still under investigation', Osburn said.
'There is a possibility that some of the tests that are done after the initial autopsy may show something. It's too early for me to say that the cause of death was being mauled by those dogs.
'I know what the scene was like. It has the appearance of that. But when you step back, take your time and do a thorough investigation, sometimes things aren't exactly the way they appear.'
Osburn added that the victim fed the dogs frequently and was in the house with the pit bulls on numerous occasions.
Authorities say no charges will be filed and the dogs will not be seized because the county doesn't have enough resources to handle all 17 dogs.
'We will continue to investigate the case. It's an unusual circumstance because the victim is a co-owner of the animals.
'Obviously that's why there will not be criminal charges. If your own dog bites you, a dog can't be charged with a crime.'
Osburn confirmed that there were six adult pit bull dogs and 11 pit bull puppies in the kennel.
Reynolds' son says he believes that a mountain lion or even stray dogs were responsible for the attack that took his father's life.
But a field program specialist with the Missouri Department of Conservation said he doesn't believe a mountain lion was responsible.
'It's his opinion that there is no way that those bite marks and injuries to the victim were caused by a mountain lion', Osburn said of the specialist's view.
Authorities are continuing their investigation pending results of the autopsy and toxicology reports.

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Former Kent resident faces animal-cruelty charge following discovery of starving dogs

By Laura Pierce, Kent Reporter

A former Kent resident has been charged with first-degree animal cruelty, following the discovery of three emaciated, thirsty dogs in a Kent home she reportedly abandoned.
Kydey Hok is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 21.
The King County Prosecutor's office claims that Hok, between Aug. 11 through Sept. 11, left three dogs without food or water in at a home she apparently abandoned on the 1700 block of 212th Street. Hok now lives in Seattle, according to records filed in King County Superior Court.
The dogs were two pitbulls and a daschund - all of whom were found to be severely undernourished. The dachshund weighed 3.12 pounds and had to be given fluids when it was evaluated in early September by a veterinarian, after animal-control officers executed a search warrant and removed the dogs from the home.
According to David Morris, a sergeant with Regional Animal Services of King County, who filed the report, the conditions in the home were extremely bad when officers responded. They were alerted to the issue after a property inspector was sent by a mortgage company to the home, to determine if it was still occupied.
"The garage floor was covered in dog feces and the strong odor of garbage, feces and filth made the police officers gag, a statement from Morris' report reads. The statement is part of the paperwork filed in court by the prosecutor's office.
"There was no water in the toilets or bath tubs," the statement went on to read. "There was no food present anywhere in the house."
Morris concluded in his report, "Hok was criminally negligent when she did not provide adequate food or water for her three dogs and as a result, the dogs suffered substantial and unjustifiable pain caused by severe starvation and dehydration."

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Four-year-old recovering after dogs attack

By Janis Demarest, from KLTV

A family member tells us that a four-year-old is hospitalized after being attacked by two pit bulls. The girl's uncle says the child was playing with the dogs when they attacked.
Longview Police were called to the home on Sydney Street around 7 Monday night in response to the attack.
The four-year-old is being treated for a broken leg.
The two dogs are now in the custody of the Humane Society of Northeast Texas.

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IA town considers pit bull ban

From WHBF One QCA town looks into a possible pit bull ban, and it has folks in Camanche, Iowa all fired up.
This is not the first time city leaders have considered the ban. It failed two years ago and folks are still torn on the issue.
It is a recent attack in one neighborhood that has banning pit bulls back on the table in Camanche. A local lab was bitten.
"We had neighbors who were frightened," said City Administrator Tom Roth, "We had neighbors who told us they had armed themselves in case these dogs came around. If you think about that, that's not a fair situation for somebody to be in."
City Administrator Roth is one of the advocates for banning the dogs. He said since the city talked about it years ago, there have been two attacks. Thankfully, neither of them were on humans.
"If a dog is determined to be vicious, if it attacks or has the propensity to attack we can have it removed from the community," said Roth.
Neighbors said that is what happened to the two dogs in last week's attack thanks to the city's vicious dog ordinance, but City Administrator Roth said it is not enough.
"There has to be an incident before that ordinance became effective. If it happens it may be too late," said Roth.
He said the city seems to be waiting for a real tragedy, like a child to be bitten, to move on the issue. And neighbors said they just want to feel safe in their own backyards.
"The last thing you need to worry about is a pit bull attacking you, your kids, or your family pet," said neighbor Samuel Moore.
"I've had some good experiences with them and some scary experiences. They come running up to you and they are intimidating," said neighbor Todd Johnson.
Some neighbors did tell me they never had any problems with the pit bulls. The city will discuss the possible ban at the October 26th planning meeting.

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