Irresponsible pet owners, part three ... and counting ...

NICE!

From the Associated Press:

Attack Dog Sicced on Hurricane Victims

STUART, FL-September 19, 2004 — Police say a Florida man – whose job is to help people – deliberately ordered his pit bulls to attack hurricane refugees inside their office building.
Click Here for more about Hurricane Season 2004

Ryan Moore is a mental health counselor who treats anger management problems and addictions. He was arrested yesterday and charged with aggravated battery.

Police say he released his dogs with the command "go get them" while he and the others were riding out Hurricane Frances earlier this month.

One man suffered deep bites to his stomach, face, throat and hands. A woman was bitten on one leg. They called 9-1-1 – but police couldn't respond because of the storm.

This isn't Moore's first brush with the law. He's been arrested before for domestic violence, sexual assault and aggravated assault with a weapon.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Irresponsible pet owners, part two ...

From MedicineNet.com:

Fatal Dog Attacks

ATLANTA & WASHINGTON--Dog bite injuries can lead to serious infections (such as tetanus and rabies), disability, deformity, and occasionally death. Most of these injuries are preventable.

The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Humane Society of the United States recently updated data on fatal dog bites for the period 1989 to 1994.

In the 6-year study published in the medical journal PEDIATRICS (Vol.97 No. 6, 891-5), Jeffrey J. Sacks, M.D. and associates reported the finding of 109 bite-related fatalities. They found that 57% of the deaths were in children under 10 years of age. 22% of the deaths involved an unrestrained dog OFF the owner's property. 18% of the deaths involved a restrained dog ON the owner's property, and 59% of the deaths involved an unrestrained dog ON the owner's property.

The researchers also found that 10% of the dog bite attacks involved sleeping infants.

The most commonly reported dog breeds involved were pit bulls (24 deaths), followed by rottweilers (16 deaths), and German shepherds (10 deaths). The authors point out that many breeds, however, are involved in the problem.

The death rate from dog bite-related fatalities (18 deaths per year) in the 6-year study period remained relatively constant compared with the prior 10 years.

The authors emphasized that "most of the factors contributing to dog bites are related to the level of responsibility exercised by dog owners."

Irresponsible pet owners, part one ...

From the Monday, Sep. 27, 2004 edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Girl OK after pit bull attack
Dogs' owner is shot; 1 of 2 pets is killed
Charles Yoo - Staff
Monday, September 27, 2004

Mercedes Smith, 12, tried to get away from the two pit bulls that were mauling her head, a sight neighbors watched in disbelief.
"Somebody help me!" the seventh-grader yelled repeatedly.
Candice Cameron pleaded for the lives of her pets. "Don't shoot my dogs!" she said, according to witnesses.
Mercedes eventually freed herself from the dogs that other neighbors had complained about roaming without leashes. She later underwent reconstructive surgery of her ear and scalp and was in stable condition Sunday at Hughes Spalding Children's Hospital.
In the course of the commotion early Sunday morning, one dog was killed and the other eventually placed with animal control. Cameron was wounded by one of eight shots a neighbor heard fired. She is in stable condition at DeKalb Medical Center.
Police are still trying to piece together what happened, why the animals decided to attack Mercedes, how they had become loose and what the girl was doing outside after midnight. No one was arrested or charged Sunday.
"This is an ongoing investigation," said Officer Dale Davis, a spokesman for the DeKalb Police Department.
Police responded to the 911 call from the Orchard Lane condominium and apartment complex off Flat Shoals Road in Decatur, near the Gallery at South DeKalb, shortly before 1 a.m. The caller said two dogs were attacking a neighborhood girl.
Witnesses say the pit bulls, cocoa-colored and muscular, would not let go of Mercedes, who could not stand up.
The dogs, they said, only stuck to her face.
By then, a circle of shocked neighbors and family members had formed, and men whacked the dogs with sticks and poles.
Still, the animals did not budge, witnesses said.
Police identified Cameron, 28, who lives on Jackybell Trail, as the dogs' owners. Police did not say why or how Cameron got injured, particularly whether the bullet pierced her when she was defending the dogs.
"She was shot," Davis said. "We are following up on it."
Adrian Moreland, a neighbor, said he heard eights shots but didn't know who pulled the trigger.
"But somebody was shooting the dogs," he said.
Neighbors said one pit bull was shot and killed, which police could not confirm.
The other one will be monitored for the next 10 days by the county animal control department.
Lynne Reid said she could not recognize Mercedes, who is friends with Reid's 13-year-old daughter, Danielle.
"It was as if someone had poured a bucket of red paint all over her," Reid said.
The same dogs chased Danielle in the past, Reid said.
Three months ago, she called police and told an animal control officer that the pit bulls were a menace, roaming the neighborhood, she said.
"I have never seen the dogs on a leash," said Reid, adding that Mercedes' injuries were "a sight I never want to see again."

All not so quiet on the Western front ...

For about a week, W2 declared a temporary cease-fire, refraining from aggression on both of us. He'd stopped hissing at The Boyfriend and me, but had also started making himself completely scarce whenever The Boyfriend was around, coming out only when he was gone, with angel-pie loving chirps and purrs for me. (In his mind, making enemies with The Boyfriend was no longer an option because the consequences weren't worth it, but making friends with him wasn't an option either because that would have meant putting down his pride, sucking up and eating humble pie, so he just took option (c) and hid.) Yesterday, I'd spent the night at The Boyfriend's and came back to my place with The Boyfriend in tow. When we walked in, W2 ran up to me in joyful greeting, then when he realized I wasn't alone, he backed off, glared at us, turned tail and and ran upstairs, so I knew he was upset, but at least he didn't hiss. A couple of times in the next few hours W2 called to me from upstairs, wanting affection but refusing to come out near The Boyfriend in order to get it, so I graciously and generously accommodated him. After a little while he came downstairs and hung out near us for a few moments without hissing. I thought, "Maybe he's finally getting used to having The Boyfriend around and he won't act up any more." Once again, way too optimistic for my own good.

The cease-fire ended fifteen minutes later when The Boyfriend and I decided to go upstairs to bed. W2 glared at The Boyfriend as he walked past, and as soon as The Boyfriend was out of the room, he turned his bile on me, hissing at me. I yelled at him, but then he started rowling, readying himself to lunge at me. I threw a glass of water at him. He got a mouthful of water in mid-rowl but didn't budge, kept rowling. I brought out the towel, but he got away before I could snap him and went under the piano so the towel wouldn't reach him. He kept hissing and howling like a banshee, no submission, instead got even angrier, eyes completely dilated, positioned to lunge at me first chance he got and I let my guard down. I kept snapping, even though I was missing and he wasn't getting any punishment except a snap of air by his ears. Finally I got him once, and he ran into the bathroom. I chased him there to get some more snaps in, intending to press on until I got a final show of submission from him. He crawled into the covered litterbox so I couldn't get him and he started rowling even louder. Suddenly he lunged out at me with claws and fangs flying, and the towel came between us so his claws lodged firmly in the towel instead of me. I yanked the towel back and forth, but instead of letting go, he hung on. I kept yelling, "You want some more? You want some MORE?!!" and the louder I yelled and the harder I yanked, the louder he rowled but the more firmly he hung on. I'm sure I pulled his claws pretty painfully, but he didn't let go, he held his ground and just kept hissing and rowling.

At that point I heard a creak behind me. It was The Boyfriend, who had quietly moved into the room to offer backup assistance if I needed it. At last, W2 showed some submission, backed off and calmed down, so I could back off too. Went to bed, W2 didn't bother us one bit. The Boyfriend spent the morning here and again W2 kept himself scarce, and as soon as he was gone, out came W2, all angel pie lovin' again.

Cheese and rice ...