Another victim of doctor's dogs
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20091223_Another_dog_attack_again_puts_N_J__doctor_in_spotlight__this_time__ear_of_3-year-old_was_severed.html
This time, ear of 3-year-old was severed
By JASON NARK
Philadelphia Daily News
narkj@phillynews.com
856-779-3231
You can apparently teach an orthopedic surgeon how to become a goat farmer, but you can't teach his old dogs new tricks.
A few months after a Camden County Superior Court judge ruled that one of Dr. Robert Taffet's Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Rocky, was "defending itself" when it bit a cardiologist in the affluent borough of Haddonfield, Taffet bought a farm for $829,400 in Alloway Township, Salem County.
Rocky's case wasn't the first time that Taffet's Ridgebacks - bred to hunt lions in Africa - had landed him in court, but he and wife, Michele, hoped it was the last.
"We're looking forward to going on with our lives, hopefully peacefully," Taffet told the Daily News in February, after leaving the courthouse.
Taffet told a Salem County newspaper that he planned to raise goats for their meat on his 143-acre farm.
But a peaceful life on the farm ended for Taffet on Nov. 18, when he found himself holding a little girl's bloody, severed ear.
Cindi McVeigh, of Pennsville, Salem County, said that she had no idea that any of the Ridgebacks had ever bitten anyone when she visited the Taffets' farm that evening.
She said that her 3-year-old daughter, Claire, and her 4-year-old son, Patrick, were in a barn there with Taffet and his daughter. Then she heard screaming.
"Claire fell on the ground in the barn and, as she was getting up, made eye contact with Duke. The dog then attacked her, ripping her ear off completely," McVeigh said in an e-mail.
According to McVeigh, Taffet handed the ear to EMTs when they arrived at the home. It took several surgeries and a week in the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children near Wilmington, Del., to reattach the ear, McVeigh said, and Claire will require more operations as she grows older.
New Jersey State Police said that no charges had been filed. A local animal-control officer said that he was awaiting word from the McVeighs before he took action against Duke, one of several adult Ridgebacks that McVeigh said were at the farm.
Taffet and his attorney declined to comment about the incident. McVeigh's attorney, John Brinkmann, said that the doctor had declined to disclose his dogs' history to McVeigh.
"It just seems odd that for whatever reason, the owner felt confident enough to say, 'Don't worry, the dog is friendly,' " he said. "If [McVeigh] had an idea about the dogs, she never would have put the child down."
Susanne LaFrankie Principato, a neighbor of the Taffets in Haddonfield, and who claims that her family was terrorized by the dogs, said that she was not surprised by the attack but only that the culprit wasn't Rocky.
"I'm outraged," the former 6ABC reporter said. "This is exactly what I wanted to prevent - another child from getting bitten."
Before Nov. 18, Rocky had been the Taffet's most notorious Ridgeback. Taffet owns at least three others.
In 2002, Dr. Michael Harkins said that Rocky and another Ridgeback, the late Pluto, pinned down his golden retriever in a Haddonfield park. When Harkins tried to intervene, he was bitten so badly he required 30 stitches. In 2004, Rocky allegedly left puncture wounds in the shoulder of a 14-year-old girl who had been in the Taffet home.
There were also reports that Rocky had bitten one of the Taffets' own children and a boy at a Haddonfield Little League game in 2003, said Mario Iavicoli, Haddonfield's solicitor.
The stream of complaints led a Haddonfield municipal judge to label Rocky as "potentially dangerous," which meant that the dog would have to wear a muzzle in public. The Taffets appealed and in February, Superior Court Judge John T. McNeil reversed the initial "potentially dangerous" decision, claiming that Harkins had "overreacted" and provoked the Ridgebacks.
The ruling baffled Haddonfield officials, and the borough immediately filed an appeal that will be heard in Trenton next month.
"He should be doing these things voluntarily, not fighting them," Iavicoli said. "He has to protect the public from his animals."
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Complaints against Joe Namath's Shepherd, Labrador and Weimeraner
Flags down on Namath dogs
http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/flags_down_on_namath_dogs_RMnltfkDINzMQ104dcI0KP
Last Updated: 11:09 AM, December 23, 2009
Posted: 1:18 AM, December 23, 2009
Jets Super Bowl legend Joe Namath is getting blitzed by a former UPS driver who claims he was attacked by the grid great's three dogs while making a delivery to Namath's Florida home.
David Gunter, in a lawsuit filed in West Palm Beach, says Broadway Joe's German shepherd, Weimaraner and Labrador retriever caused him to suffer "vicious and serious personal injuries" during the 2007 attack in Tequesta.
Gunter's lawyers say that he hasn't been able to work since then and that he needs four operations to repair his neck, back and a knee, The Post's Rich Calder reports.
Namath's lawyer didn't respond to e-mails and telephone messages.
Namath's dogs have caused trouble before. Other complaints were previously filed against two of them, and one, Leo the Labrador, was ordered last month to be muzzled and leashed full-time.
Before filing his suit, Gunter went before a special magistrate last month. "I was basically in fear of my life," the ex-delivery man said.
At the hearing, Namath, 66, tried to claim that his dogs aren't dangerous. "I have pictures at home of them with children," he said. But WPBF-TV in Florida reported Namath also conceded, "They may be aggressive at times," since "they're dogs."
Namath -- who famously led the Jets to a 16-7 victory over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in 1969 at Super Bowl III -- defended his pooches:
"You're talking about people aggressively attacking . . . I've had people come up to my kitchen window, up to my front door, and I don't know who they are," he said. "I say 'Go away.' I get fired up. My dogs infer that fired-up [attitude.]"
http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/flags_down_on_namath_dogs_RMnltfkDINzMQ104dcI0KP
Last Updated: 11:09 AM, December 23, 2009
Posted: 1:18 AM, December 23, 2009
Jets Super Bowl legend Joe Namath is getting blitzed by a former UPS driver who claims he was attacked by the grid great's three dogs while making a delivery to Namath's Florida home.
David Gunter, in a lawsuit filed in West Palm Beach, says Broadway Joe's German shepherd, Weimaraner and Labrador retriever caused him to suffer "vicious and serious personal injuries" during the 2007 attack in Tequesta.
Gunter's lawyers say that he hasn't been able to work since then and that he needs four operations to repair his neck, back and a knee, The Post's Rich Calder reports.
Namath's lawyer didn't respond to e-mails and telephone messages.
Namath's dogs have caused trouble before. Other complaints were previously filed against two of them, and one, Leo the Labrador, was ordered last month to be muzzled and leashed full-time.
Before filing his suit, Gunter went before a special magistrate last month. "I was basically in fear of my life," the ex-delivery man said.
At the hearing, Namath, 66, tried to claim that his dogs aren't dangerous. "I have pictures at home of them with children," he said. But WPBF-TV in Florida reported Namath also conceded, "They may be aggressive at times," since "they're dogs."
Namath -- who famously led the Jets to a 16-7 victory over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in 1969 at Super Bowl III -- defended his pooches:
"You're talking about people aggressively attacking . . . I've had people come up to my kitchen window, up to my front door, and I don't know who they are," he said. "I say 'Go away.' I get fired up. My dogs infer that fired-up [attitude.]"
Fatal Weimeraner attack on young boy (Cape Coral, FL)
Two year old boy dead from dog attack in Cape Coral, FL
http://btoellner.typepad.com/kcdogblog/2009/12/two-year-old-boy-dead-from-dog-attack-in-cape-coral-fl.html
A two year old boy, Liam Perk, died yesterday after being attacked by one of the family's two pet Weimaraners. The eight year old male, which by all reports was well cared for and an indoor dog, bit the young boy in the neck -- the boy died less than an hour later.
The AP Wire story, which unfortunately is what most newspapers ran, says the dog attacked the boy "without any apparent provocation". But that's really not how dogs work -- they almost never "just snap" and or bite for no reason.
The Cape Coral Daily Breeze at least provides a more rational explanation:
"Something apparently, obviously, startled the dog when the child walked by and the dog immediately snapped at the child and bit him in the neck area," said police spokesperson Connie Barron.
The Fort Myers News Press also has a valid look:
"Animals will react in a fight or flight response depending on the circumstances," said Adam Leath, Chief of Lee County Animal Services.
"Kids play with dogs and pull tails and ears and dogs don't like it," said Dr. Robert South, epidemiologist with the Lee County Health Department. "It really comes down to the ability of the owners to have a well-trained dog and to teach children to be appropriately cautious around animals."
If more information becomes available on this story I will certainly post it....although the family has understandably requested privacy during their time of mourning.
My heart goes out to the family of Liam Perk -- and I hope others may be able to eventually learn from their tragedy.
http://btoellner.typepad.com/kcdogblog/2009/12/two-year-old-boy-dead-from-dog-attack-in-cape-coral-fl.html
A two year old boy, Liam Perk, died yesterday after being attacked by one of the family's two pet Weimaraners. The eight year old male, which by all reports was well cared for and an indoor dog, bit the young boy in the neck -- the boy died less than an hour later.
The AP Wire story, which unfortunately is what most newspapers ran, says the dog attacked the boy "without any apparent provocation". But that's really not how dogs work -- they almost never "just snap" and or bite for no reason.
The Cape Coral Daily Breeze at least provides a more rational explanation:
"Something apparently, obviously, startled the dog when the child walked by and the dog immediately snapped at the child and bit him in the neck area," said police spokesperson Connie Barron.
The Fort Myers News Press also has a valid look:
"Animals will react in a fight or flight response depending on the circumstances," said Adam Leath, Chief of Lee County Animal Services.
"Kids play with dogs and pull tails and ears and dogs don't like it," said Dr. Robert South, epidemiologist with the Lee County Health Department. "It really comes down to the ability of the owners to have a well-trained dog and to teach children to be appropriately cautious around animals."
If more information becomes available on this story I will certainly post it....although the family has understandably requested privacy during their time of mourning.
My heart goes out to the family of Liam Perk -- and I hope others may be able to eventually learn from their tragedy.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Belgian Malinois attacks girl (San Antonio, TX)
Little girl bitten on the face by stray dog family had tried to rescue
http://www.woai.com/news/local/story/Little-girl-bitten-on-the-face-by-stray-dog/XCd6d2UyhUq3QjHxisvRmw.cspx
Reported by: Demond Fernandez
Email: DemondFernandez@woaitv.com
Last Update: 11/19 6:08 pm
Little girl attacked and bitten by dog
Related Links
Follow up: Girl faces additional surgery after mauling by dog
SAN ANTONIO – Emergency workers rushed to a house on Irongate Oak to treat a 10-year-old girl who was bitten by a large dog Wednesday night. Deputies say the injured child was attacked while playing video games with her brother.
“The dog came up and started nudging the controller that the young man had in his hand,” said Lt. Phillip Dreyer. “The young lady reached up to shoo the dog away.”
Investigators say it was a Belgian Malinois that attacked the child. The dog bit the girl several times in the face.
“She’ll probably have to have a little bit of reconstructive or plastic surgery on some of the marks,” said Lt. Dreyer about the injured child.
Deputies say the 3-year-old dog is a stray the little girl’s family took in a few days ago. Animal Care Services has now placed the dog under quarantine and rabies observation.
The child was rushed to University Hospital. Emergency workers say they believe she will recover from her injuries.
http://www.woai.com/news/local/story/Little-girl-bitten-on-the-face-by-stray-dog/XCd6d2UyhUq3QjHxisvRmw.cspx
Reported by: Demond Fernandez
Email: DemondFernandez@woaitv.com
Last Update: 11/19 6:08 pm
Little girl attacked and bitten by dog
Related Links
Follow up: Girl faces additional surgery after mauling by dog
SAN ANTONIO – Emergency workers rushed to a house on Irongate Oak to treat a 10-year-old girl who was bitten by a large dog Wednesday night. Deputies say the injured child was attacked while playing video games with her brother.
“The dog came up and started nudging the controller that the young man had in his hand,” said Lt. Phillip Dreyer. “The young lady reached up to shoo the dog away.”
Investigators say it was a Belgian Malinois that attacked the child. The dog bit the girl several times in the face.
“She’ll probably have to have a little bit of reconstructive or plastic surgery on some of the marks,” said Lt. Dreyer about the injured child.
Deputies say the 3-year-old dog is a stray the little girl’s family took in a few days ago. Animal Care Services has now placed the dog under quarantine and rabies observation.
The child was rushed to University Hospital. Emergency workers say they believe she will recover from her injuries.
Rottweiler bites man (Santa Cruz, California)
Santa Cruz Man Severely Injured in Dog Bite
http://www.robertreeveslaw.com/injuryblog/2009/12/21/santa-cruz-man-severely-injured-in-dog-bite/
December 21st, 2009
A Live Oak man has been seriously injured in a dog bite attack involving a large and aggressive dog in Santa Cruz. The man suffered serious injuries with portions of his mouth ripped out. What’s worse, is that animal service officers are warning that the dog has not been found, and that there is a possibility of another attack.
According to Mercury News, the man was walking on a deserted street in the late evening when the dog attacked him and knocked him to the ground. The man says he did nothing to provoke the dog. He was severely mauled on his face, including his left eye and nose. His lips were torn off, and had to be sewn back on. According to the animal control officers, they often deal with minor dog bite attacks, but don’t frequently come across unprovoked attacks by aggressive dogs, where the dog severally injured a person before running off.
According to Mercury News, the owner of this particular dog, if it is found, is likely to face misdemeanor charges for his or her negligence in allowing a vicious dog to roam around. However, it’s most important right now for animal control officers to find the dog. They have determined that the dog is a Rottwellier-type breed weighing between 80 to 100 pounds, with black and brown fur. Animal control officers are asking anyone who has seen such a dog, or might have witnessed the attack to call them. Officers are especially worried because they have no information about the dog’s vaccination history or if it has a history of dog bite attacks.
California dog bite lawyers are familiar with the kind of fear that dog bite victims can be left with for a long time after the attack. In case of an animal attack or a dog bite, as serious as the physical scars are, they are always accompanied by severe emotional trauma. Victims who have had a ferocious dog pouncing on them, biting and mauling at them for even a few seconds, can be left with severe trauma that they may take months to recover from.
Besides, there is the substantial physical toll that such attacks take on a victim. Facial injuries are very common in dog bite attacks. Besides these, there may be bite marks to the hands, arms, legs, scalp and neck. These injuries can be extremely serious. In Virginia last week, a 42-year-old woman died when she was bitten on the neck by a friend’s dog. All accounts say that the dog did not maul the woman, but bit her at least once on the neck. Within an hour, the woman was experiencing breathing difficulties. She was rushed to the hospital where she died. Such incidents although not common, simply highlight the fact that dog bites can be much more serious than we know.
California dog bite attorneys will be hoping that animal control officers in Santa Cruz are able to find this aggressive dog before there are other serious attacks.
The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of dog bites. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.
The Reeves Law Group is not acting as legal counsel for any party in the matters discussed in this posting.
http://www.robertreeveslaw.com/injuryblog/2009/12/21/santa-cruz-man-severely-injured-in-dog-bite/
December 21st, 2009
A Live Oak man has been seriously injured in a dog bite attack involving a large and aggressive dog in Santa Cruz. The man suffered serious injuries with portions of his mouth ripped out. What’s worse, is that animal service officers are warning that the dog has not been found, and that there is a possibility of another attack.
According to Mercury News, the man was walking on a deserted street in the late evening when the dog attacked him and knocked him to the ground. The man says he did nothing to provoke the dog. He was severely mauled on his face, including his left eye and nose. His lips were torn off, and had to be sewn back on. According to the animal control officers, they often deal with minor dog bite attacks, but don’t frequently come across unprovoked attacks by aggressive dogs, where the dog severally injured a person before running off.
According to Mercury News, the owner of this particular dog, if it is found, is likely to face misdemeanor charges for his or her negligence in allowing a vicious dog to roam around. However, it’s most important right now for animal control officers to find the dog. They have determined that the dog is a Rottwellier-type breed weighing between 80 to 100 pounds, with black and brown fur. Animal control officers are asking anyone who has seen such a dog, or might have witnessed the attack to call them. Officers are especially worried because they have no information about the dog’s vaccination history or if it has a history of dog bite attacks.
California dog bite lawyers are familiar with the kind of fear that dog bite victims can be left with for a long time after the attack. In case of an animal attack or a dog bite, as serious as the physical scars are, they are always accompanied by severe emotional trauma. Victims who have had a ferocious dog pouncing on them, biting and mauling at them for even a few seconds, can be left with severe trauma that they may take months to recover from.
Besides, there is the substantial physical toll that such attacks take on a victim. Facial injuries are very common in dog bite attacks. Besides these, there may be bite marks to the hands, arms, legs, scalp and neck. These injuries can be extremely serious. In Virginia last week, a 42-year-old woman died when she was bitten on the neck by a friend’s dog. All accounts say that the dog did not maul the woman, but bit her at least once on the neck. Within an hour, the woman was experiencing breathing difficulties. She was rushed to the hospital where she died. Such incidents although not common, simply highlight the fact that dog bites can be much more serious than we know.
California dog bite attorneys will be hoping that animal control officers in Santa Cruz are able to find this aggressive dog before there are other serious attacks.
The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of dog bites. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.
The Reeves Law Group is not acting as legal counsel for any party in the matters discussed in this posting.
Celebrity German Shepherd bites (Los Angeles, CA)
Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony settle dog attack lawsuit.
http://rpulse.com/jennifer-lopez-and-marc-anthony-settle-dog-attack-lawsuit/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=jennifer-lopez-and-marc-anthony-settle-dog-attack-lawsuit
By rPulse, December 22, 2009, 10:25 am
Jennifer Lopez and her husband Marc Anthony have settled the court case with the woman who alleges she was injured by their dog.
The stars were sued last month by flight attendant Lisa Wilson, who claims she suffered serious back problems after the couple’s German Shepherd, Floyd, knocked her over on the pair’s private jet in 2006. They reached a confidential statement on Monday, after Wilson’s lawyer presented testimonies from two of the couple’s former employees who were also allegedly attacked.
A year after Wilson’s incident, Floyd is said to have bitten the arm of the couple’s personal assistant and bruised a housekeeper by headbutting her.
Wilson’s attorney William Cafaro maintains both unnamed workers were forced to seek medical help after the incidents.
“Both employees testified (in depositions) that the attacks were not reported to authorities.”
The personal assistant alleged the couple got rid of the canine after the attack, although Marc Anthony testified he got rid of the dog because it was “high maintenance”.
http://rpulse.com/jennifer-lopez-and-marc-anthony-settle-dog-attack-lawsuit/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=jennifer-lopez-and-marc-anthony-settle-dog-attack-lawsuit
By rPulse, December 22, 2009, 10:25 am
Jennifer Lopez and her husband Marc Anthony have settled the court case with the woman who alleges she was injured by their dog.
The stars were sued last month by flight attendant Lisa Wilson, who claims she suffered serious back problems after the couple’s German Shepherd, Floyd, knocked her over on the pair’s private jet in 2006. They reached a confidential statement on Monday, after Wilson’s lawyer presented testimonies from two of the couple’s former employees who were also allegedly attacked.
A year after Wilson’s incident, Floyd is said to have bitten the arm of the couple’s personal assistant and bruised a housekeeper by headbutting her.
Wilson’s attorney William Cafaro maintains both unnamed workers were forced to seek medical help after the incidents.
“Both employees testified (in depositions) that the attacks were not reported to authorities.”
The personal assistant alleged the couple got rid of the canine after the attack, although Marc Anthony testified he got rid of the dog because it was “high maintenance”.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Abused and neglected pit bull mom and puppies (Nanaimo, BC)
http://www2.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=b3dbc98b-7a6d-401c-8cc9-851975b1dbdc&k=47758
Backyard breeders busted with ailing Christmas pups
Investigators seize puppies that were 'hours from death'
Danielle Bell, The Daily News
Published: Friday, December 18, 2009
An emaciated pitbull and her eight neglected puppies, whose teenage owners advertised them for sale on craigslist.org, are recovering at the Nanaimo SPCA.
Some of the underweight, dirty and dehydrated six-week-old pups were only hours from death when they were surrendered to cruelty investigator Julie Hitchcock this week. The smallest was nearly comatose and not expected to survive. All of the puppies suffered from massive parasite infections and required emergency veterinary care, with two needing IV fluids to treat their dehydration.
The two-year-old adult female dog, also severely underweight and with parasites, was to undergo emergency surgery last night.
SPCA officials say it is a classic case of the backyard breeder, referring to people who often lack the knowledge and finances to properly care for the dogs they breed and instead are on a mission to make money.
It is the third case in two weeks for Nanaimo SPCA officials and an alarmingly common problem that has for years had B.C. SPCA officials lobbying to force breeders to register.
In the latest incident, an anonymous couple complained to the Nanaimo SPCA on Saturday about the poor condition of the animals they visited after seeing an advertisement on craigslist for $600 Christmas pitbull pups.
Hitchcock visited the Cedar house on Tuesday, where the homeowner allowed her to view five of the puppies. The teenage owners, an 18-year-old man and his 16-year-old girlfriend, did not live in the house.
The five puppies were surrendered and Hitchcock returned the next day to track down the owners. The 18-year-old called Hitchcock late Wednesday, becoming "very emotional" on the phone and stating he did not know he was doing anything wrong. The remaining pups and the mother were surrendered that night.
"They were doing this as a moneymaking venture," said Hitchcock on Thursday. "When you are breeding dogs and you have no knowledge of how to do it properly, you end up with a sick mom and sick puppies."
The teenagers will not face animal cruelty charges, said Hitchcock, since they were co-operative and remorseful.
A veterinary examination suggested it may have been only the first litter for the mother pitbull. She and the puppies are on special diets and medication as they recover at the shelter. It will likely be more than a month before the animals will be healthy enough to be considered for adoption.
In the past two weeks, Nanaimo SPCA officials have taken over care of another pitbull and her 10 puppies and a lab/shepherd cross-breed and her six puppies, which were all surrendered in poor condition from similar situations.
SPCA officials encourage people to report suspicious conditions of any animals they see and insist on viewing the parents of dogs bred to ensure their healthy condition. Breeders who suggest meeting in parking lots or other areas not at a home can be also be a red flag, say shelter staff.
Backyard breeders busted with ailing Christmas pups
Investigators seize puppies that were 'hours from death'
Danielle Bell, The Daily News
Published: Friday, December 18, 2009
An emaciated pitbull and her eight neglected puppies, whose teenage owners advertised them for sale on craigslist.org, are recovering at the Nanaimo SPCA.
Some of the underweight, dirty and dehydrated six-week-old pups were only hours from death when they were surrendered to cruelty investigator Julie Hitchcock this week. The smallest was nearly comatose and not expected to survive. All of the puppies suffered from massive parasite infections and required emergency veterinary care, with two needing IV fluids to treat their dehydration.
The two-year-old adult female dog, also severely underweight and with parasites, was to undergo emergency surgery last night.
SPCA officials say it is a classic case of the backyard breeder, referring to people who often lack the knowledge and finances to properly care for the dogs they breed and instead are on a mission to make money.
It is the third case in two weeks for Nanaimo SPCA officials and an alarmingly common problem that has for years had B.C. SPCA officials lobbying to force breeders to register.
In the latest incident, an anonymous couple complained to the Nanaimo SPCA on Saturday about the poor condition of the animals they visited after seeing an advertisement on craigslist for $600 Christmas pitbull pups.
Hitchcock visited the Cedar house on Tuesday, where the homeowner allowed her to view five of the puppies. The teenage owners, an 18-year-old man and his 16-year-old girlfriend, did not live in the house.
The five puppies were surrendered and Hitchcock returned the next day to track down the owners. The 18-year-old called Hitchcock late Wednesday, becoming "very emotional" on the phone and stating he did not know he was doing anything wrong. The remaining pups and the mother were surrendered that night.
"They were doing this as a moneymaking venture," said Hitchcock on Thursday. "When you are breeding dogs and you have no knowledge of how to do it properly, you end up with a sick mom and sick puppies."
The teenagers will not face animal cruelty charges, said Hitchcock, since they were co-operative and remorseful.
A veterinary examination suggested it may have been only the first litter for the mother pitbull. She and the puppies are on special diets and medication as they recover at the shelter. It will likely be more than a month before the animals will be healthy enough to be considered for adoption.
In the past two weeks, Nanaimo SPCA officials have taken over care of another pitbull and her 10 puppies and a lab/shepherd cross-breed and her six puppies, which were all surrendered in poor condition from similar situations.
SPCA officials encourage people to report suspicious conditions of any animals they see and insist on viewing the parents of dogs bred to ensure their healthy condition. Breeders who suggest meeting in parking lots or other areas not at a home can be also be a red flag, say shelter staff.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Malamute kills woman (Norfolk, VA)
http://ow.ly/MseL
Death of woman bitten by dog ruled accidental
Posted to: News Norfolk
By Meghan Hoyer
The Virginian-Pilot
© December 15, 2009
NORFOLK
A woman bitten by a dog early Saturday died of the injuries she received, medical examiners said Monday.
The death was ruled accidental, said Donna Price, administrator of the Tidewater district office of the chief medical examiner.
Theresa Ann Ellerman, 49, of Jacksonville, N.C., was visiting friends in Norfolk when she was bitten by the dog, an Alaskan malamute, Saturday morning.
When paramedics arrived at the 8200 block of Tabor Court, they found Ellerman having difficulty breathing. She was taken to a hospital, where she died about 3:45 a.m. The cause of death was ruled to be a dog bite to the neck, Price said. Police said the animal did not maul Ellerman.
The dog was quarantined by Animal Control, and city officials late Monday could not say what its fate would be.
Officers did not identify the dog's owner.
"We're not looking to charge the owners with anything," police spokesman Chris Amos said. "It's just an accidental, freak incident."
An estimated 4.7 million Americans are bitten by dogs each year, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Most of them are children. About a dozen deaths are attributed to dog attacks annually, the association says.
Meghan Hoyer, (757) 446-2293, meghan.hoyer@pilotonline.com
Death of woman bitten by dog ruled accidental
Posted to: News Norfolk
By Meghan Hoyer
The Virginian-Pilot
© December 15, 2009
NORFOLK
A woman bitten by a dog early Saturday died of the injuries she received, medical examiners said Monday.
The death was ruled accidental, said Donna Price, administrator of the Tidewater district office of the chief medical examiner.
Theresa Ann Ellerman, 49, of Jacksonville, N.C., was visiting friends in Norfolk when she was bitten by the dog, an Alaskan malamute, Saturday morning.
When paramedics arrived at the 8200 block of Tabor Court, they found Ellerman having difficulty breathing. She was taken to a hospital, where she died about 3:45 a.m. The cause of death was ruled to be a dog bite to the neck, Price said. Police said the animal did not maul Ellerman.
The dog was quarantined by Animal Control, and city officials late Monday could not say what its fate would be.
Officers did not identify the dog's owner.
"We're not looking to charge the owners with anything," police spokesman Chris Amos said. "It's just an accidental, freak incident."
An estimated 4.7 million Americans are bitten by dogs each year, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Most of them are children. About a dozen deaths are attributed to dog attacks annually, the association says.
Meghan Hoyer, (757) 446-2293, meghan.hoyer@pilotonline.com
The trouble with visual breed IDs - Denver, CO
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14005785#ixzz0ZrV7pBJI
Johnson: If experts cannot ID dog breeds, how can cities?
By Bill Johnson
Denver Post Columnist
Posted: 12/16/2009 01:00:00 AM MST
Updated: 12/16/2009 02:22:00 AM MST
So you think you know about dogs?
Sorry, you do not.
I break this news to you only because I got put to such a test Tuesday, along with about two dozen animal-shelter directors, volunteers, dog trainers and others who make a dog-related living.
The task was simple: View 20 dogs on a videotape and identify each one. Is it purebred or mixed? If believed a mix, what is the mixture of each?
How hard could it be?
All I know about dogs, I quickly learned, is that one lives with me. Of the 20 dogs shown, I got the breed correct one time, but only because it looked like Lupe, my mutt.
I did only slightly worse than the professionals.
"I was completely wrong. I probably got three to four out of the 20," claimed Laurie Buffington, a Berthoud dog trainer, as we left a classroom at the Longmont Humane Society.
"Think you can tell just by looking?" was the teaser for the breed identification study we participated in. It was run by Victoria L. Voith, a professor of animal behavior in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Western University in Pomona, Calif.
What I and the others ultimately learned is you cannot simply look at a dog and know what it is.
Shelter workers, she explained, are generally 75 percent wrong when they list or tell you the breed of a dog. The only sure-fire way of knowing, she said, is DNA testing.
"I started this study," Voith said, "because I am a lover of German shepherds and was appalled that every short-haired breed with brown hair was called a German shepherd. It simply isn't so."
Outside of the Lupe-looking Chihuahua-mix, I thought every dog looked like a pit bull or a shepherd-mix.
"So what in the hell is Lupe?" I jotted in frustration in my notebook about halfway through the session. I was not getting even remotely close.
My favorite of all was the 20th dog, a three-legged cutie that had been thrown from a car. She was not the English sheepdog I suspected, but a shih-tzu. Everyone else misidentified her too.
Through her work, Voith hopes to put to the lie two things: studies on which dogs bite the most, and the wisdom of municipal breed-specific bans, such as Denver's, where hundreds of suspected pit bulls have been put to death.
"Visual identification simply is not in high agreement with DNA analysis," she said when I protested that a dog I had falsely, dead-to-rights identified as a pit bull turned out through DNA testing to be mostly Dalmatian. "Dogs in Denver may be dying needlessly," she said.
She hopes that her work, which she expects to be published in a year, will better inform cities and statistics gatherers on breeds most likely to bite.
"We really don't know yet. I don't think we have ever really known," she said.
The professionals all walked out scratching their heads, each mumbling something akin to "that was very informative!"
"I always thought I was really good at identifying breeds," a chastened Shantel Southwick, another Berthoud trainer, moaned. "And cities are killing dogs based on uninformed visual identification? That's pretty scary. It's heartbreaking, really."
Bill Johnson writes Mondays, Wednes- days and Fridays. Reach him at 303- 954-2763 or wjohnson@denverpost.com
Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14005785#ixzz0ZsXI7pIm
Johnson: If experts cannot ID dog breeds, how can cities?
By Bill Johnson
Denver Post Columnist
Posted: 12/16/2009 01:00:00 AM MST
Updated: 12/16/2009 02:22:00 AM MST
So you think you know about dogs?
Sorry, you do not.
I break this news to you only because I got put to such a test Tuesday, along with about two dozen animal-shelter directors, volunteers, dog trainers and others who make a dog-related living.
The task was simple: View 20 dogs on a videotape and identify each one. Is it purebred or mixed? If believed a mix, what is the mixture of each?
How hard could it be?
All I know about dogs, I quickly learned, is that one lives with me. Of the 20 dogs shown, I got the breed correct one time, but only because it looked like Lupe, my mutt.
I did only slightly worse than the professionals.
"I was completely wrong. I probably got three to four out of the 20," claimed Laurie Buffington, a Berthoud dog trainer, as we left a classroom at the Longmont Humane Society.
"Think you can tell just by looking?" was the teaser for the breed identification study we participated in. It was run by Victoria L. Voith, a professor of animal behavior in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Western University in Pomona, Calif.
What I and the others ultimately learned is you cannot simply look at a dog and know what it is.
Shelter workers, she explained, are generally 75 percent wrong when they list or tell you the breed of a dog. The only sure-fire way of knowing, she said, is DNA testing.
"I started this study," Voith said, "because I am a lover of German shepherds and was appalled that every short-haired breed with brown hair was called a German shepherd. It simply isn't so."
Outside of the Lupe-looking Chihuahua-mix, I thought every dog looked like a pit bull or a shepherd-mix.
"So what in the hell is Lupe?" I jotted in frustration in my notebook about halfway through the session. I was not getting even remotely close.
My favorite of all was the 20th dog, a three-legged cutie that had been thrown from a car. She was not the English sheepdog I suspected, but a shih-tzu. Everyone else misidentified her too.
Through her work, Voith hopes to put to the lie two things: studies on which dogs bite the most, and the wisdom of municipal breed-specific bans, such as Denver's, where hundreds of suspected pit bulls have been put to death.
"Visual identification simply is not in high agreement with DNA analysis," she said when I protested that a dog I had falsely, dead-to-rights identified as a pit bull turned out through DNA testing to be mostly Dalmatian. "Dogs in Denver may be dying needlessly," she said.
She hopes that her work, which she expects to be published in a year, will better inform cities and statistics gatherers on breeds most likely to bite.
"We really don't know yet. I don't think we have ever really known," she said.
The professionals all walked out scratching their heads, each mumbling something akin to "that was very informative!"
"I always thought I was really good at identifying breeds," a chastened Shantel Southwick, another Berthoud trainer, moaned. "And cities are killing dogs based on uninformed visual identification? That's pretty scary. It's heartbreaking, really."
Bill Johnson writes Mondays, Wednes- days and Fridays. Reach him at 303- 954-2763 or wjohnson@denverpost.com
Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14005785#ixzz0ZsXI7pIm
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