Chinese poaching of rare mammal exposed by boating accident

Pangolins are long, lizard-like land mammals covered with scales, which make them look like pine cones when they roll themselves up for protection. (Jefri Tarigan / Associated Press / March 1, 2013)

By Barbara Demick – April 16, 2013, 7:22 a.m. – Los Angeles Times

A boating accident off the Philippines coast has exposed Chinese poaching of a protected species of scaly anteater, or pangolin, prized in traditional medicine.

A 500-ton Chinese fishing vessel, the Min Long Yu, crashed into a coral reef April 8. When the boat was inspected, authorities found more than 2,000 butchered pangolins rolled up and packed into 400 boxes. It is one of the largest hauls of the species, which is subject to an international trade ban.

Pangolins are long, lizard-like land mammals covered with scales, which make them look like pine cones when they roll themselves up for protection.

The meat of this strange animal is considered a delicacy in southern China, while the scales are thought to have medicinal properties to treat asthma and cancer and to induce lactation in new mothers.

Filipino authorities are holding 12 Chinese members of the ship’s crew on charges of poaching and attempted bribery, and they face further charges of damaging the coral reef, which is in a UNESCO-protected marine sanctuary, Tubbataha Reef. Earlier this year, a U.S. Navy ship got stuck on a coral reef in the same marine park and had to be dismantled.

The incident seems likely to add another element of contention between China and the Philippines, already in dispute over sovereignty of fishing waters.

"It is bad enough that these Chinese have illegally entered our seas, navigated without boat papers and crashed recklessly into a national marine park and World Heritage Site," Jose Maria Lorenzo Tan, the chief executive of World Wildlife Fund-Philippines, said in a statement. "However, it is simply deplorable that they appear to be posing as fishermen to trade in illegal wildlife.’ "

The environmental group said it wasn’t sure yet whether the pangolins came from Malaysia or the Philippines.

Technorati Tags: Pangolins,mammals,poaching,China,UNESCO,watch the other hand,Malaysia,Philippines,JOMP,Just One More Pet

Dog rescued after being tied to train tracks by ‘confused’ man

Rescued Banjo

Were it not for an eagle-eyed engineer, the world would be minus this very lucky dog. Earlier this month, an engineer driving a Union Pacific train through Mecca, Calif., saw a man stepping away from something he’d left behind: a 10-month-old doggy, tied to the tracks. The emergency braking system stopped the train, and Union Pacific Special Agent Sal Pina arrested the man, 78, who reportedly said his family did not want the dog. Pina said animal-cruelty charges wouldn’t be filed, as the man appeared to be confused or unaware of what he’d done. The rescued pup, who animal services worker named Banjo — slang for old railroad traffic signs — is happy, healthy and looking for a new home.

This ended up being a success story, but it could have been a horror story.  Sadly the numbers of elderly suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s as well as other people suffering from mental and emotional disorders are at an all time high, let alone the people who are innately cruel and animal abusers, plus the clueless who are just abandoning their animals because of monetary problems.  Be vigilant and intercede, report abuse and keep an eye on friends and family members experiencing mental, emotional or financial challenges.  Pets and children often become unintentional victims!!

Pets are fabulous companions for the elderly and those suffering from various illnesses and challenges and pet therapy has become very popular and useful treatment , but we must remember that those animals, who give their love and companionship selflessly, are God’s creatures as well and deserve love and compassion in return.

Cross-Posted at True Health Is True Wealth

Related:

Alzheimer’s patients follow different paths to a final debilitation

Pets Being Left Behind to Starve by Their Families

Pet Therapy

Technorati Tags: animal cruelty,dementia,Alzheimer’s,dogs,pets,success story

Two Horses Die at Grand Nationals… Aintree England

Sprinter Sacre’s victory on Friday was overshadowed by tragedy 

Originally Posted:  April 5, 2013

AINTREE, England (AP):  The Aintree Festival experienced more grief Friday following the death of another horse over the fences in the Grand National Steeplechase, overshadowing the latest victory by Sprinter Sacre.

Little Josh was destroyed after breaking a shoulder following a fall in the Topham Steeplechase, the fourth race of the day. He was the second horse to die at this year’s festival, after Battlefront on Thursday.

”This injury was not treatable and it was the necessary course of action,” said Prof. Chris Proudman, veterinary adviser at Aintree. 

It’s a major blow to organizers who made modifications to the course after four deaths in the past two Grand Nationals and complaints from animal-rights groups.

”We have made significant improvements in safety at the course, but we also recognize that jump racing carries risk you can never completely remove from the sport,” said John Baker, who runs the Aintree course in Liverpool.

Jockey Liam Treadwell was hospitalized after falling from Regal d’Estruval in the same race.

On Thursday, Katie Walsh pulled up Battlefront midway through the Fox Hunters’ Steeplechase. The 11-year-old horse collapsed and died shortly afterward from a suspected heart attack.

Aintree’s restyled fences have been softened by removing wooden stakes and replacing them with a more forgiving plastic material. Critics believe still more needs to be done, with 21 horses having died in races over Grand National fences since 2001.

”Sadly there is a statistical probability that horses will die at the Grand National meeting,” said Dr. Mark Kennedy, head of science at World Society for the Protection of Animals.

He said the risk horses are exposed to in a steeplechase at the three-day Aintree meeting is six deaths in 1,000 starts.

Nigel Twiston-Davies, the trainer of Little Josh, said the horse had ”gone out doing what he loved most.”

”It could happen anywhere, it could happen at home and it’s not the fences – it could have happened at a park course,” Twiston Davies said.

About 30 minutes before Little Josh fell, Sprinter Sacre sauntered to victory over a top-class field in the Melling Chase, taking his unbeaten run over fences to nine races.

Running his first race over the longer distance of 2 1/2 miles, the 1-3 favorite cruised along with jockey Barry Geraghty before taking the lead by jumping the next-to-last fence and accelerating clear of Cue Card to win by about five lengths.

”When you let him loose, like at the second-last, he does it too easily,” said Geraghty, who completed a double for the day by winning the Topham Steeplechase on 14-1 shot Triolo d’Alene. ”The two-and-a-half miles didn’t make any difference. He has plenty of pace and is very versatile.”

Sprinter Sacre has become the superstar of British horse racing since the retirement of the unbeaten Frankel last year.

”He’s got a huge amount of ability and knows how to use it,” trainer Nicky Henderson said. ”I don’t think anybody has taught him about jumping. It is sheer natural talent.”

Sprinter Sacre is unbeaten since switching from hurdles in 2011, and beat a field containing Cue Card, who won a big race at the Cheltenham Festival last month, last year’s champion Finian’s Rainbow and Irish hope Flemenstar.

He was the third straight favorite to win on Ladies’ Day – the second day of the festival – after My Tent Or Yours (4-11) in the Novices’ Hurdle and Dynaste (9-4) in the Novices’ Chase.

The 40-horse Grand National, which is the highlight of the festival, takes place on Saturday.

Accidents?  Drugging?  You be the judge….

Related:

66-1 long shot wins Grand National Steeplechase 

Frog Juice: Horse Racing’s New Doping Scandal | TIME.com 

Murder on the Backside: The Unseen World of the Kentucky Derby

StemPet and StemEquine – Stem Cell Enhancers for Pets

Technorati Tags: horses,horse racing,Grand National,England,you be the judge,next sport scandal,Kentrucky Derby,Sprinter Sacre

I Rescued a Kitten from the Trash, and She Saved Me in Return

After a heartbreaking tragedy, I swore off owning cats — my little trash-can kitty had other ideas…

Catster: Whoever came up with the phrase "never say never" was a genius. There have been so many moments in my life when I’ve had to eat my words because the thing I swore will never do again happened and made me feel like a total idiot.

This time it applied to cats. I had lost my two kitties to poison — given to them by my hope-he’s-being-attacked-by-lions-in-hell neighbor who decided to kill every feline that walked through his garden, stray or not. The fact that the truth came out after weeks of posting flyers and patrolling the area looking for them made it worse. Not knowing what happened was the worst feeling ever. When I finally found out, I was not just sad, I was exhausted and heartbroken.

It was after that ordeal that a decision was made: I needed a break from cats. No more sweet purring. No more meowing in full sentences. No more litter boxes. Of course all of that is easier said than done. Being cat-less for the first time in 20 years was no picnic. I felt like a drug addict going cold turkey. But it was "for my own good," I kept telling myself.

Here’s another stray kitten I saw by the trash receptacles.

And so it goes that one night after a fun dinner with friends, I was on my way home when I almost stepped on a weird lump on the sidewalk. The next day was trash pick-up day and there was garbage in, around, and above the trash cans, so I thought it was either a discarded plastic wrap or dog poop … when suddenly, the poop moved!

I leaned closer and found out it was actually a very small, smelly kitten. Out of habit, I picked her up. She was probably around three months old. She didn’t meow or try to escape. I couldn’t just leave her there, so of course I brought her home. The plan was to give her a safe place to spend the night and then the next day take her to the vet. I wasn’t violating my new life code, I was helping an animal in need.

I lost count of how many times I woke up during the night to check on her. She looked so sick. Oh, I was soooo not ready for this. I convinced myself that she was probably going to meet my other cats up in heaven soon.

I took her to the vet the next day and explained the plan. They would check her and call me later with details, so I could make the decision. In the meantime, I walked to the office thinking of cat names.

My beautiful Marisol.

Four hours later, I received the call. Kitty was actually six months old, but very malnourished, which is why she looked younger. She did have asthma and pneumonia. But, good news, no life threatening illnesses like feline leukemia.

"What do you want to do?" said the vet.

"Wait a minute. So she’s going to be OK?" Before he gave me the answer, I yelled, "Save her please!"

Never say never? Yeah, right.

That afternoon, I picked up Marisol (her new name) and took her home. I’m not even going to tell you how much it cost me to bring her back from trash-can death. Or how many times I had to run with her to the emergency clinic with an asthma attack. It didn’t matter. I had a new cat in the house. A quiet and sweet kitty. My heart was slowly mending.

With her health returned, her real personality made its long-awaited appearance … and it was a very mischievous personality. No amount of bottle spraying or loud noises could shut down her insane desire to destroy everything dear to me. Using double-stick tape became the only way to save my belongings. She finally learned to meow by hanging out with other cats in the building. So now she had a voice to go with her rambunctious energy, but she was also incredibly loving. She knew just the right moment to come and purr on my lap.

So whenever I feel like my patience is taking a dive out of the balcony, I remember that little, smelly lump on the sidewalk. With my heart full of cat love again, I pick up the broken dishes and smile.

Technorati Tags: cats,love,until you have loved a pet,until you have loved an animal,for the love of an animal,for the love of a pet,adopt just one more pet,JOMP,Just One More Pet,pet love and friendship

Unreal: Family Pet Survives 30 YEARS Living in a Record Player Box Inside Filthy Storage Room

(Foto: Perla Rodrigues/ TV Globo)

TheBlaze: Many might say it is impossible for a tortoise to survive three decades living in a record player box inside a filthy storage room. Those people would also be wrong.

One fateful day 30 years ago, a pleasant Brazilian family lost their tortoise named Manuela. Little did they know he never even left. As Gizmodo humorously puts it, “Manuela got condemned to three decades of solitude in a dark dusty place full of crap.”

The tortoise apparently got lost while the family’s home was being renovated in the 1980s. Sueli Almeida said he thought “she had fled because the mason who did the work of the house leaving the gate open.”

But that wasn’t the case. Manuela apparently got trapped in the storage room where the man of the house, Leonel Almedia, stored a variety of worthless junk, including electronic devices. Inside an old box of a record player is where Manuela the tortoise would call home for 30 years.

Gizmodo tells us how Manuela was ultimately found:

Fast forward to right now, 30 years after that renovation. Sueli’s father died at the beginning of 2013, so it was time to clean the room where Leonel had been storing all this filthy stuff for all these years:

According to Sueli, the dad was obsessed about collecting crap that he thought may be used in the future: “he picked from the street everything he thought he could. If he saw an old television, he would get it, thinking that he could use some part to fix another gadget in the future. That’s how he kept accumulating things.”

But, in all this time of collecting electronic trash, he never noticed the poor trapped tortoise. Only when they cleaned the room and they were putting all this garbage outside, someone noticed it. It was a neighbor who told them, said Leandro de Almeida, Leonel’s son: “I put the bag of trash on the floor and the neighbor asked me if I was going to throw the turtle away too. I couldn’t believe my eyes.”

A Brazilian news channel talked with veterinary professor Jeferson Pires to figure out exactly how the animal could have survived all that time inside the storage room. The professor said turtles are very resilient and can “live long without eating much” despite unfavorable conditions.

The family says Manuela probably lived off of termites and other insects in the house, but they don’t really care. They are thrilled to have the family pet back in the house.

And they lived happily ever after. It’s unclear if the tortoise still has some unresolved resentment towards his family.

(Source: Gizmodo)

Technorati Tags: stop animal abuse,tortoise,Brazil,stupidity,hoarders,animal abuse,irresponsibility,pets,We are all God’s creatures,reptiles

CANADA: Another Case of Dog Jihad?

Bare Naked Islam:

YORK: Dog found critically injured and near death with the number ’191′ chemically branded onto his sides. Not rushing to judgment here, but consider this: the York region has a large population of Muslims. Muslims consider dogs filthy. Recently, countless dogs in Muslim areas of the UK and Europe have been found poisoned to death.

Below is a passage from the Quran commonly associated with the number 191:

QURAN 2:191 And kill them wherever you overtake them and expel them from wherever they have expelled you, and fitnah is worse than killing. And do not fight them at al-Masjid al- Haram until they fight you there. But if they fight you, then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers.

York Region (h/t Susan K) When she found it, it was skin and bones, bleeding from the top of its skull, blind in its right eye, on the verge of death with 191 bleached into both sides of its torso with some sort of chemical. Rarely, if ever, had York Regional Police Const. Netashia McLellan’s heartstrings been tugged so violently.

Since Sunday, when she found him, the Ontario SPCA nursed “Lucky 191″ back to health. The police officer kept tabs on it, as she had previously worked as an animal control officer with the organization.

While the hound has made an “astonishing” recovery and remains comfortable with humans, it has often been seen with its tail between its hind legs. Despite the dog’s injuries, the Ontario SPCA is yet to classify the case as animal abuse. (Exactly what DOES constitute ‘animal abuse’ up there?) Instead, its investigators and police are working to find the dog’s owners.

So far, the theories on how it ended up this way range from being victimized by a twisted individual (You’re getting warmer) to being a former hunting dog that could have escaped and been hit by a car. (Back to freezing your ass off)

As for Const. McLellan, she said she said, “When I found him curled up in a ball, his breathing was erratic. I knew he was struggling,” she said. “This is very upsetting.”

Her theory is the dog could have been used for fox hunting and the numbers used to identify its owner.The hound could have also competed in trials, where dogs are put through a series of obstacles. (Fox hunting dogs are some of the best cared-for dogs on the planet and they don’t brand them like that) Const. McLellan said she is considering adopting the dog, to go along with her three others.

The Ontario SPCA said it has already spent a “couple of thousand dollars” to nurse Lucky back to health. If you have information about this case, call police on 1-888-668-7722, ext. 392. (Not to worry, BNI Canadian reader, Susan K, has already contacted them)

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Muslims in Spain Declare Jihad on Dogs

Man’s Best Friend in Shariah’s Cruel Crosshairs

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The Latest Enemies of Iran: Dogs and Their Owners

Iran Cleric Says Dogs “Unclean” and Not to be Kept as Pets

1 Million Stray Dogs in Iraq to be Culled

Department of Islamic Justice Bows Down to Muslims Irrational Hatred of Dogs……. SHEER INSANITY !!!!

Pakistani Blogger Slams Islamic Feast of EID

Operation Bagdad Pups – No Buddy Gets Left Behind

First the Greenies Want Us to Eat Our Dogs… Now the Academics Say it is Insulting to Call Them Pets

Shocking Report… Gov’t to Decide What Pets You Can Own

Help Save USMC Sergeant Rex – Updated

PAKISTANI BLOGGER SLAMS ISLAMIC FEAST OF EID: ‘CALL ME AN INFIDEL’ BUT I CAN‘T ’MAKE MERRY‘ AT ’MASS-MURDERING’ CUTE ANIMALS

Pets Being Left Behind to Starve by Their Families

By AskMarion

Many or us have pets that have lives like the one above.

But far too many have sad, horrible and unthinkable lives.

First there is the group of crazies and sickos, the abusers, who abuse animals, children, their mates, the elderly and anyone who comes in contact with them.  That group, in my opinion, should never be allowed to own an animal and should receive punishment equal to the crime(s) they commit.  And offenses committed against animals should get the same punishment as like crimes against humans.  Abuse is abuse and abuses know now bounds or limits.  If you suspect abuse, please report it or intercede.  Better to be wrong than look the other way and find out you were right later.

And then we come to the less obvious abusers, equally cruel and growing in number!  They are the selfish, often young people, who think animals are toys and fashion accessories; the owners you give their pets up because they no longer fit their needs or into their lifestyle; and finally the worst who are those who leave their pets and animals behind to starve and die a cruel death… without food, water and in all alone. (In my perfect world the last group would left to die in the same manner that they left the helpless creatures that were in their charge… should have been part of their family.)  And many of these heartless people leave their family pets behind, rather than finding them a new home or least taking them to a rescue or shelter or calling animal control and allow their children to see (or realize) their parent’s cruelty.

We are all God’s creatures and you can bet that these people will pay later, but it is each or our responsibilities to help prevent these situations and report and abuse or potential abuse.

There are three types of people:  Those who love animals and take care of them until their natural passing as if they were part of their family, family members; those who like animals, treat them well but not like family members, but always to at least the right thing for the pets and animals in their charge; and then there are the abusers which include the ‘emotionally disabled’ who leave their pets and animals to die instead of finding them a new home or help.

Why not advertise or ask around for people to adopt your pet?  Why not take them to a shelter or a rescue?  Why not call Animal Control?  And worst of all why leave them tied up or locked in a house where the can’t leave or escape without food or water. (BTW that is illegal, inhumane and surely will guarantee you a spot in Hell!?!)

Please join the fight to prevent, stop and intercede in all types of cruelty and abuse and better yet if it is suspected and can be prevented in advance, sound the alert.

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Where there is a will…

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The “ex”-Middle & Upper Class Homeless

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American Humane: Help us continue to offer Foreclosure Pets Grants.

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Judge Rules: NYC Must Create More Animal Shelters

Doomed Dogs Get On The Rescue Wagon to Other Shelters

Homeless California Chihuahuas Being Flown Out of State

 

 

Rachal Ray donated $500.000 to help animals affected by hurricane Sandy and 4 tons of Nutritious food for them.

North Dakota voters reject animal cruelty law

Voters struck down a law to make animal cruelty a felony

One of the weakest states for anti-cruelty laws is North Dakota, and unfortunately, it appears that it will stay that way for the time being.

Despite an effort to change the status quo in North Dakota, on Tuesday, voters defeated a measure which would have made animal cruelty a felony.

Specifically, the measure would have made it a class C felony “to maliciously and intentionally harm a living dog, cat or horse.”

According to Wednesday’s Associated Press, had the measure passed, individuals convicted of animal cruelty would have faced up to five years in prison and fines of $5,000.

Efforts to defeat the proposed law were headed up by two sizable farm groups in the state who claimed that the law was "poorly worded and vague."

Technorati Tags: animal cruelty laws,animal cruelty,Election 2012,2012 Election,North Dakota,JOMP,Just One More Pet,stop animal abuse

Cop blows away dog ‘for no good reason’… again – Why does this keep happening?

‘I can’t live in this town. What is wrong with you?’  I agree but have now lived in supposed pet/animal friendly Austin where the police has killed a least 4-dogs this past year in questionable situations… and it is happening in other areas.  Why are we putting up with it?

Time to demand that the penalty for the unwarranted killing or harming of pets (animals) by anyone become much tougher… MUCH!!

WND:

Scout the dog was shot and killed by police in St. Louis, Michigan

Residents in the small town of St. Louis, Mich., are in an uproar after a local police officer shot a dog on its own property on Sunday afternoon.

The 8-year-old golden retriever named Scout was owned by Brian and Hillary Goetzinger, who were inside their home when the incident took place.

“I heard a pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, and I was like, ‘What is going on?’” Brian Goetzinger told WNEM-TV. “So I stood up and looked out this window right here out of my house, and I see the St. Louis Police Department standing over my dog, and that’s all bloody, laying right here.”

According to a police report filed by Officer Matt Vanhall, the officer was on patrol in the neighborhood when the dog darted out in front of his cruiser.

“I had to hit the brakes very hard to avoid hitting the dog,” he said in the report.

Vanhall got out of his car and followed the dog to its own yard.

“I could see the dog standing in the yard of the residence about six feet in front of the open gate,” Vanhall said.

He approached the gate without entering and whistled to Scout, saying, “Come here pup,” and the dog “jumped off the deck and ran at me. I began backing away as fast as I could in a backward direction. I immediately noticed the dog was showing its teeth and I could hear the dog growling very loudly.”

According to the Morning Sun newspaper, Vanhall kicked at the dog a couple of times as the dog tried to bite his leg, he claimed in the report. He repeated the action and the dog continued to try to bite his leg.

“At this point the dog was within three feet of me and I was running a backwards circular motion so as not to turn my back on the dog,” he wrote. “At this time I pulled my service weapon and rapidly fired seven shots while backing away from the dog as quickly as I could.”

He says most of the shots missed, but he thought the canine had been shot in its hind legs and mouth, and thus was no longer a threat.

But a neighbor who witnessed the entire incident has a very different account of the shooting.

“It wasn’t provoked. It wasn’t warranted,” said Lori Lynne Walmsley. “He just started shooting him. He just kept shooting him in the head, and I saw it like six or eight times. And I just couldn’t believe it. I can’t live in this town. What is wrong with you?”

On Monday, Walmsley said she had seen the bullets enter the dog and became traumatized.

In her statement to police, she says before the shooting, Officer Vanhall had asked her if the dog was hers.

“And I said, “No, but it is my new friend.”

The dog then scampered back to his yard and got behind the gate.

The policeman, she wrote, “tried to force the dog out. The dog made a low, mild growl declaring his displeasure at being forced from his ‘safe’ haven (and at the same time assumed he needed to protect his property,)” she wrote.

“The dog never attacked the cop. He never jumped, tried to bite or threaten him, but the cop drew his gun as if in a panicked frenzy,” she wrote. “He shot the dog like it was ‘Cujo’ at least six or eight times.”

The dog was still alive after being shot, and despite being rushed to a veterinarian, it died of its injuries.

“I just couldn’t believe that, let alone the police were in my yard shooting anything, let alone my dog, who was sweet,” Goetzinger told WNEM. “He’s been our family pet for at least eight years. We’ve had him since he was a puppy. My daughter sleeps with him periodically, and he’s just the nicest dog. He’s never attacked anyone ever. So I just couldn’t understand why someone would shoot him.”

Police Chief Patrick Herblet told the station his officer was “absolutely” justified in shooting Scout.

“He felt threatened,” Herblet said. “The dog came at him. It growled. It showed its teeth. He backed away. He tried to kick it away a couple times and it kept at him. And he felt the only thing he could do was pull his service revolver, and he shot.”

The city of St. Louis has a leash law aimed at keeping dogs from running through the streets.

Police reports have been turned over to the local prosecutor.

“The matter is under review,” Gratiot County Prosecutor Keith Kushion told the Morning Sun. “I have the initial reports and the dog owner showed up at the office and said that there were inaccuracies in the report.”

Meanwhile, incensed citizens in the region are expressing their outrage online:

• Heather Morse: “He called the dog, then felt threatened when the dog came towards him? Why didn’t he go to the door first? What is wrong with this cop?”

• Kevin Blackhurst: “Time to cut this Barney Fife from the force and the chief who protects him.”

• Grace Rooks McCormick: “Hmmm maybe he could have called animal control, the big wus!”

• Sam Snyder: “This is appalling! If an officer came to my home, provoked our family pet and killed it, I would have attacked that pathetic excuse for a cop myself. Everyone should call their station at (989) 681-5285  or email the chief at pherblet@stlouismi.com and let them know that this kind of brutality will not be tolerated by public officials. This ‘officer’ needs to be held accountable for this crime.”

K-9 dies after being left in hot patrol car

Zak… Killed by his human partner… You notice his vest says Sheriff…  Not Dog

Zak was left in their hot cruiser to suffer and then found dead

NEWS TALK RADIO WHI0.com – h/t to MJ

Staff Report:

MERCER COUNTY, Ohio —

Authorities in Mercer County said a county K-9 unit died Wednesday after his handler left him in a patrol car, prompting the sheriff to suspend the program during the investigation.

Mercer County Sheriff Jeff Grey said Deputy Chad Fortkamp left his K-9 unit, Zak, (Here is the problem right here… they consider their K9 Officers as units instead of living creatures and their partners…) in his patrol car while he completed the reconstruction of a traffic crash at the office around 1:00 p.m.

“When at the office, the car is either left running with air conditioning on or Zak comes into the building,” said Grey. “The car was not running and it appears that Zak was overcome by the heat.”

After an autopsy, Zak, who suffered from a pre-existing heart condition, is believed to have died after being aggravated by the temperature of the car. The K-9 Unit’s Veterinarian stated that even a perfectly healthy dog may have not survived the heat.

A thorough investigation into why the dog was in the car and why the car did not have the air conditioning running will be completed, said Grey.

The results of the investigation will be released upon its completion when a decision for disciplinary action against Fortkamp will be determined.

“I am deeply disappointed and apologize to the members of the Moose Lodge, the Eagles of Celina and others who helped fund the K-9 program,” said Grey.

In 2010 the Moose Lodge donated $5,000 to the program in addition to the $1,500 from the Eagles of Celina for the purchase of Zak.

The Sheriff’s Office plans to suspend the K-9 program until further notice after losing two dogs within the last three years.

Really… I’m sorry?!?  The officer is a trained dog handler… and he leaves his dog out in the car in the heat in the middle of the summer?  The guy just killed his partner… I believe they called that man… uh, dog slaughter as well as dereliction of duty and cruelty to animals… to start with.  And this department has lost K9 Officers in 3-years. K9 officers, all dogs, deserve better.

I say jail time, lost of his shield, and fines plus supervised volunteer work with animals indefinitely after he gets out!!

Please contact the State of Ohio, Mercer County and the Sheriff’s department as well as the local humane society and insist they prosecute Deputy Chad Fortkamp and the Officer involved in the former lost/killed dog.

Remember, these are same officers that probably wouldn’t cut you an ounce of slack if you were jay-walking!

Cruelty Alert: Pets Suffering from Heatstroke in Parked Cars

As many parts of the country struggle with recent heat waves, we’ve all seen the disturbing news reports of pets, mostly dogs, dying from heatstroke as a result of being left in parked cars. Just last week, a Bronx, NY, man left his Maltese in his van—with the windows cracked—while he went for a swim at a state park. The temperature inside the van climbed to 140 degrees and despite intervention by park police, the dog didn’t survive.

Even on a relatively mild 85-degree day, it takes only 10 minutes for the interior of a car to reach 102 degrees—and within 30 minutes, the inside of the car can be a staggering 120 degrees. Leaving windows open a few inches does not help. Furthermore, when it comes to the body’s ability to cool itself, canine physiology is vastly different from ours. While humans have sweat glands all over our bodies that help regulate our body heat, dogs cool down mostly by panting, which is much less efficient than sweating. In only a short amount of time, a dog with a high body temperature can suffer critical damage to his nervous system, heart, liver and brain.

At least 14 states and many municipalities have enacted laws to address the problem of animals left in cars in extreme temperatures. Under these laws, police, animal control agents, peace officers and others may be authorized to enter a vehicle by whatever means necessary to remove an animal. “I would recommend that if your state doesn’t have a specific law addressing animals left in hot cars that you still call law enforcement, because it may be considered animal cruelty under your state or local laws,” says Jill Buckley, Senior Director of ASPCA Government Relations & Mediation.

If you’re out and about on a hot day and see an animal alone in a car, you should immediately try to find the car’s owner. If you have no luck, or if the owner refuses to act, contact local law enforcement and/or animal control.

“The important thing is to get the dog out of the car, keeping in mind that you shouldn’t put your life in danger, either!” says Buckley, who keeps a few copies of the ASPCA’s suggested Pets in Hot Cars flyers that she she has made up herself (or picked up from some animal shelters, ASPCA’s and rescues) in her glovebox to give out when appropriate.

See:  Temperatures Are Rising: Be a Dog Defender: Help Save Animals This Summer! Cool Ideas for Hot Dogs – Please be proactive and vocal… you could be saving a life and definitely saving animals of a lot of suffering!!

Please contact the State of Ohio, Mercer County and the Sheriff’s department as well as the local humane society and insist they prosecute Deputy Chad Fortkamp and the Officer involved in the former lost/killed dog.  It is time toughen animal abuse laws and sentences everywhere!

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