Mountaintop Natural Pets

Source: Reuters, April 20, 2010

The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a U.S. law that makes it a crime to sell videos of animals being tortured or killed violated constitutional free-speech rights.

By an 8-1 vote, the court struck down the 1999 animal cruelty law for infringing on free-speech protections guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Congress adopted the law in an attempt to stop people from profiting by the interstate sale of depictions of torture and killing of animals. It was mainly aimed at “crush” videos in which women in high-heeled shoes step on small animals as a type of sexual fetish.

Opponents of the law had argued it was too broad and too vague, making illegal some videos of blood sports like bullfighting and even some documentaries. They said it should be struck down as a form of government censorship.

Writing for the court majority, Chief Justice John Roberts agreed that the law was substantially too broad and therefore invalid under the First Amendment.

While the prohibition of animal cruelty has a long history in American law, there is no evidence of a similar tradition prohibiting depictions of such cruelty, Roberts wrote in the 20-page opinion.

The ruling was a victory for Robert Stevens of Virginia, who made and sold three videos of pit bulls fighting each other and attacking hogs and wild boars.

His 2005 conviction was the first in the country under the law. Stevens was sentenced to 37 months in prison, but he has yet to start his sentence while his case was on appeal.

Attorneys for Stevens said his sentence was 14 months longer than professional football player Michael Vick’s prison term for running a dog-fighting ring. Vick has served his sentence and has resumed his career.

Laws in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, along with various other federal laws, already ban animal cruelty.

U.S. Justice Department lawyers had argued animal cruelty videos should be treated like child pornography, not entitled to any constitutional protection. Usually, videos and other depictions are protected as free speech, even if they show abhorrent conduct.

Only Justice Samuel Alito dissented. He said the law could be validly applied to at least two broad categories of expression — “crush” videos and dog-fighting videos.

The Supreme Court case is United States v. Stevens, No. 08-769.

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Source: abc4.com, April 8, 2010

We’ve all heard cats have nine lives, but ABC 4 found a dog that has a few extra as well. The little dog was run over by a train, not once, but twice — and survived.

His bark is back. And he’s getting healthier everyday, which is pretty amazing considering on Sunday night, the Shih Tzu was nearly smashed by a train near Kearns High School.

“I saw this little guy between the rail,” said Fred Krause, “and of course and it was too late to do anything about it.”

Krause is a Utah Railway engineer and at the time he didn’t know if the dog had survived the rail line encounter, but he figured the odds weren’t good.

“There’s nothing you can do,” Krause said. “It breaks your heart. But there’s nothing you can do.”

After Krause made his delivery to Kennecott, he began the return trip to Midvale and he spotted the Shih Tzu again. He was alive and playing a game of chicken with the train.

“I’m flashing the lights, blowing the horn, trying to get him out of the rails,” Krause said. “And he just ran right down the rails at us. I tried to slow down, got it from 20 miles per hour to 15 miles per hour when we hit, thought for sure we killed him.”

Because Krause has his own Shih Tzu, a seven year old named Milo, he couldn’t stop thinking about the canine. So when he got off work, he went into doggie detective down the tracks.

“I took my flashlight and walked down the rails and saw a heap of fur and thought this is it,” Krause said. “I shined a light on him and he turned around and looked at me.”

Krause decided to take him to the vet and then home and help him recover. But now that he’s getting better, he’s not sure about the fortunate dog’s future.

“If he can get along with Milo we might keep him,” Krause said. “If we can find the original owners we’ll give him back. Or if not we’ll find a home.”

Krause says the Shih Tzu is about ten years old. The dog doesn’t have a name, but Krause and his wife are working on that. Krause said it won’t be “Lucky” though, because that’d be too cliche’.

Source: Courier-Journal, April 9, 2010

The Humane Society of the United States is offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of whoever was responsible for the severe injuries suffered by a pit bull found in March.

Louisville Metro Police are investigating the case of a blue-gray pit bull found March 8 in an alley in the 1700 block between Garland Avenue and West Kentucky Street.

The pit bull’s lower jaw was displaced and fractured in half. Many of its teeth were also fractured, and there was a quarter-size chunk missing from its tongue.

The dog also had severe hair loss on the legs and chest as well as scratches and puncture wounds on its forearms, which may be a sign it was used in dog fighting, police said. The dog had to be euthanized immediately.

The reward could double if the information leads to a dog fighting conviction, according to a press release from the Humane Society.

A police officer who is investigating called it one of the worse cases of animal abuse she has ever seen.

Anyone with information should call the anonymous tip line at 574-LMPD.

Source: FirstCoastNews.com, April 7, 2010

Sheriff’s deputies broke up what appears to be a dog fighting ring after arriving at a horrific scene Saturday night.

Deputies from the Baker County Sheriff’s Office said they saw several agitated fighting dogs behind a home on Circle G Lane, one of which wasn’t chained to anything, right near an unattended 4-year-old child who was sitting at a picnic table.  The child was safely removed from the area.

The first deputy to respond to a call about a suspicious person walking around the house said he heard a noise behind the house, and found that it was from a mortally wounded dog in a kennel in the back of a pickup truck, bleeding from several wounds.

The deputy also heard barking from several dogs coming from a bit farther away, and heard people running away into the woods, but couldn’t see them.

A neighbor yelled at the deputy where one of the people was standing, and the deputy found the owner of the pickup truck with the dog in the back, 37-year-old Cletus Gaskins.

Gaksins told the deputy his dog had gotten loose and he had come to pick it up.  He said he had taken the dog to the house for breeding.

The deputy found a loaded 9 mm handgun on the front seat of the truck.

The child who had been taken from the area around the dogs was placed in the back of a patrol car.  Moments later, a deputy saw a man walk up to the patrol car and try to open it.

He was sweating and panting, and told the deputy he hadn’t run away.  He said the boy was his son.

The deputy asked the man, 29-year-old Omar Aldridge, why he left his 4-year-old son alone with all the agitated fighting dogs, and he didn’t answer.

The boy was given to his mother, and the deputy called the Department of Children and Families to initiate a report.

The deputies were able to follow a path behind the house to what they said was a dog fighting ring, with an extension cord that ran to the house for lighting.

The path from the ring to the truck was full of fresh blood.

Animal control came to the house to take control of the 14 pitbulls.  The severely wounded one in the truck had to euthanized on the scene.

Gaskins and Aldridge were arrested.

Gaskins, who continually told the deputies he had only stopped by and was unaware of the dog fighting, faces charges of violation of the animal fighting act and animal cruelty.

Aldridge, who told the deputies he wasn’t at the home until the deputies arrived, is charged with child neglect and violation of the animal fighting act.

Source: The Baltimore Sun, April 6, 2010

A Baltimore city animal shelter is seeking the public’s help to track down a group of children seen throwing rocks and bricks at a 1-year-old dog Sunday.

The Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter said the youths were witnessed abusing and injuring the dog while it was tied up in the 3700 block of Greenspring Ave. near Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School. When a witness tried to intervene, the group began throwing rocks and bricks at him, shelter officials said.

The dog was taken to the shelter, where it is being treated for several wounds to the top of its head, a swollen snout, hemorrhages in both eyes, blood in both ears and a wound on a paw.

The case is under investigation by the Baltimore City Bureau of Animal Control, according to the shelter. The children are believed to be between 12 and 13 years old. Anyone with information is asked to call 410-396-4698

Source: TBO.com, April 5, 2010

A 1-year-old puppy-size bundle of fur is credited with alerting a sleeping family to fire spreading through their Clearwater home early this morning.

The incessant barking of the family’s Shih Tzu, Scooter, awoke the family and gave them time to escape a fire that started in a vehicle parked in the driveway of their home on Byram Drive.

“She woke us up. She started barking,” said Roberto Segovia, 18-year-old son of homeowners Ocsar and Celsa Segovia.

“The dog usually barks and we were just like minding our own business, but she kept on barking until we woke up just to see what’s happening,” he said as friends and neighbors helped board up the home severely damaged by the fire.

His father saw the glow of flames and got the rest of the family moving to safety.

All three people along with Scooter were outside when firefighters arrived about 5:30 a.m., Clearwater Fire and Rescue said.

The fire started in a 2001 Ford Expedition in the driveway parked about 4 feet from the house and spread to the attic, the fire department said. It took firefighters about 40 minutes to put out the flames.

The car was not running, though the family used it the day before, Roberto Segovia said. It ran fine then.

Firefighters had to pull down parts of the ceiling to get at flames roaring through the attic. The interior is a shambles with ash, ruined ceiling material and water, Roberto Segovia said.

The house in uninhabitable and the American Red Cross is helping the family find a place to live.

Roberto Segovia described the family pet firefighters hailed as a hero as a tiny furball.

“It’s just all fur,” he said. “It moves.”

Source: azcentral.com, April 6, 2010

Kay Harrison figured there was some kind of trouble when her dog, Sammy, started barking and wouldn’t stop outside her place in Tonopah.

Harrison said she stepped out to see what was going on, and the dog jumped in front of her, blocking her from taking another step. Harrison said she heard a rattle and leaned to see a rattlesnake in a flower bed by the door.

“She saved my life,” Harrison said of her 8-year-old Catahoula. “She got between me and the snake.

Warmer weather means venomous snakes and other poisonous creatures are getting more active after winter hibernation.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department says people need to be more vigilant.

“You just need to watch where you put your hands and feet,” said Thomas R. Jones, the agency’s amphibians and reptiles program manager.

The snake bit Sammy on the head. Harrison thinks it happened when she turned to yell for help. The dog immediately got lethargic and suffered acute pain. Harrison could hardly get her into a Jeep for the trip to the veterinarian.

Swelling eventually closed one of her eyes, but Sammy made it. The dog goes home today after about five days in a Buckeye veterinary clinic.

Wally Wass, a veterinarian who works part-time in the clinic, said the dog probably would not have survived without the snake-bite vaccine he got last summer.