Mountaintop Natural Pets

What a great event!  Please share!!

Out of The Pits Into The Ritz Gala

Saturday – July 31,  @ 7:00PM – 10:00PM

Please join Out of the Pits for a night of fun at Union Gables in Saratoga Springs. Emcee for the evening: Jason Keller, radio personality from Channel 103.1fm.

Special appearances by our “Special Success Stories”:  Hazel (Michael Vick rescue), Sidney (Hurricane Katrina) and Bandit (our Wheeled Wonder).

Live music by Got 2 Groove.

Silent and Live Auctions Lite fine fare will be provided.

Prices are $100 pp or $75 if non-profit, to reserve your tickets, visit Out of the Pits

For more information please email Out of the Pits directly: Events@outofthepits.org

Source: Media-Newswire.com – ALBANY, N.Y. — The Humane Society of the United States, on behalf of its more than 800,000 supporters in New York, commends the state Senate for unanimously passing S. 3926a, legislation to strengthen the state law against animal fighting.

A.6287b was introduced by Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, D-Brooklyn, and S. 3926a was introduced by Sen. Toby Stavisky, D-Flushing. These bills would provide misdemeanor penalties for spectators at these organized events. Presently, offenders can receive only a traffic ticket-style citation, which does not provide an adequate deterrent against chronic violators.

Spectators who attend animal fights do not stumble upon them accidentally. These criminal activities take place at clandestine locations.

“We commend Sen. Stavisky, and Assemblyman Lentol for championing these anti-crime bills,” said Patrick Kwan, New York state director for The Humane Society of the United States. “Now that the legislation passed in the Senate, we look forward to its passage in the Assembly.”

Facts:

Animal fighting spectators, with their admission fees and gambling wagers, fuel these undeniably cruel and criminal industries. Under current law, dogfighters or cockfighters can claim they were only present at an animal fight as spectators, thereby avoiding any meaningful punishment.
Law enforcement officials have documented a strong connection between animal fighting operations and narcotics distribution, illegal firearms and other illicit activities.
While dogfighting and cockfighting are felonies in New York, possessing animals for the purpose of fighting is only a misdemeanor, and attending an animal fight is just a traffic-ticket style violation.
New York has the nation’s fifth-weakest dogfighting laws, making it a magnet for spectators from surrounding states where penalties on spectators are significantly more severe.
According to news reports, in June 2008, authorities raided a Bronx, N.Y., building that housed a dogfighting ring. Seven people were arrested and two additional suspects fled from the scene during the raid. Of the seven who were arrested, four were New Jersey residents. New Jersey is currently ranked as having the nation’s strongest dogfighting law, punishing spectators with three to five years of imprisonment and/or a maximum $15,000 fine.

Source: al.com, June 22, 2010

The confiscation of 26 pit bull terriers in a suspected dog-fighting operation Friday has left the Mobile County Animal Shelter crowded with dogs, authorities said.

Animal control officials said the shelter’s adoptable pets may be in danger of being euthanized because the pit bulls must be isolated and kept until a judge determines what should be done with them.

The 26 dogs were confiscated from the home of Bruce McDonald on Red Fox Road in far north Mobile County, Mobile County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Lori Myles said.

McDonald is yet to be charged in connection with the dogs. He was arrested May 22 on multiple charges related to a methamphetamine operation at the same address, Myles said. Mobile County Humane Officer Carmelo Miranda said the shelter’s adoptable pets suffer when suspected fighting dogs are brought in.

“These dogs must be sheltered one dog to two kennels for at least seven days, because a door separates the kennels back-to-back,” Miranda said.

He added that strays, which also must be kept isolated for seven days, end up moving in to kennels meant for the adoptable pets, adding to crowding problems.

So far since the seizure, Miranda said, no dogs have had to be put down. He said 80 to 90 adoptable dogs reside at the shelter on average.

Since Saturday, Miranda said, rescue groups and individuals have taken in 72 dogs, but at least 37 adoptable dogs remain, and that number could increase.

Miranda said sheriff’s deputies noticed the pit bulls June 16, and animal control officers confiscated them Friday along with treadmills, medications, scales and other paraphernalia associated with dog fighting.  Miranda said anyone interested in adopting a dog can visit the shelter’s Facebook page online or call 251-574-3230 or 251-574-3647.

Source: philly.com, June 18, 2010

Gatherers spoke of a life too short.

Activists, megaphone in hand, vowed the death would not be in vain.

At the foot of a park tree lay a makeshift memorial – farewell notes, flowers real and fake, framed tributes.

A plastic yellow bear that squeaks when you bite it.

Animal-rights advocates, their pets – and even a couple of city councilmen – assembled late Thursday afternoon in Barrett Playground at Eighth Street and Duncannon Avenue in the city’s Olney section to commemorate the life of a dog they had never met.

“The purpose is to send a unified message that violence against any living creature will not be tolerated,” said social worker Kim Wolf, a chief organizer of the event that drew roughly 100 people and a dozen dogs.

On Tuesday morning, a tennis ball’s throw from the site of the vigil, a 1-year-old female mixed-breed dog was found dead, suspended from a piece of playground equipment with a leash around her neck. Her paws were bloodied in what appeared to have been a frantic attempt to lower herself onto the ground just inches beneath her.

No arrests have been made, but according to George Bengal, director of law enforcement for the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, “We have established ownership of the animal.”

The PSPCA and the Humane Society of the United States are combining to offer a $4,500 reward for information leading to a conviction.

Solving cases like this, many vigil speakers emphasized, is pivotal, given the well-documented link between cruelty to animals and domestic violence.

“If we don’t stop them now, they’re going to grow up to be the next Jeffrey Dahmers,” City Councilman Jack Kelly said, referring to the serial killer. “We have to stamp them out.”

Councilman William K. Greenlee also was there. As the crowd swelled – including a few hoops players who trekked from the nearby courts to mug for cameras – visitors added fresh emblems to the tree memorial: a leash, a Frisbee, a leopard Beanie Baby, a 101 Dalmatians coloring book.

One note read, “Rest in Peace, Flora” – the name bestowed on the dog posthumously by the PSPCA.

“They’re all individuals,” said Susan Cosby, the organization’s chief executive officer. “So we give them all names.”

Source: PRNewswire.com, June 15, 2010

The nation’s first criminal dog-fighting DNA database has been established by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), The Humane Society of Missouri (HSMO) and the Louisiana SPCA (LA/SPCA), and will be maintained at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) Veterinary Genetics Laboratory.  Known as the Canine CODIS (Combined DNA Index System), the database is designed to help the criminal justice system investigate and prosecute dog fighting cases and address the growing problem of dog fighting using 21st century technology.

“Dog fighting is a multi-million dollar criminal enterprise that leads to the cruel treatment and deaths of thousands of dogs nationwide every year,” said Tim Rickey, the ASPCA’s Senior Director of Field Investigation and Response. “This database is an unprecedented and vital component in the fight against animal cruelty and will allow us to strengthen cases against animal abusers and seek justice for their victims.”

Rickey, the former Animal Cruelty Task Force Director at HSMO, Kathryn Destreza, the ASPCA’s Southeast Regional Director, Field Investigation and Response and formerly Director of Humane Law Enforcement for the Louisiana SPCA, and Dr. Melinda Merck, the ASPCA’s Senior Director of Veterinary Forensic Sciences and the nation’s premier forensic veterinarian, collaborated to create the database, working with Dr. Randall Lockwood, the ASPCA’s Senior Vice President of Anti-Cruelty Initiatives and Training.

“This database will connect investigations across the country and internationally, creating multi-jurisdictional collaboration,” said Ms. Destreza, who presented on the Canine CODIS at the recent Veterinary Forensics Conference in Orlando, Fla. “It’s another tool we can use toward the elimination of dog fighting.”

Dr. Merck, who testifies as a forensic veterinary expert for animal cruelty cases around the country, added, “Juries expect forensic science to support the evidence that’s presented to them, and animal cruelty cases are no exception. This database breaks new ground in supplying that evidence for dog fighting investigations.”

The Canine CODIS contains individual DNA profiles from dogs that have been seized during dog-fighting investigations and from unidentified samples collected at suspected dog-fighting venues. The HSMO provided the 400 original and initial samples of dog DNA collected from dogs that were seized last July during the nation’s largest dog-fighting seizure ever, a multi-state raid led by Mr. Rickey that followed an 18-month investigation by federal and state agencies.

The database is similar to the FBI’s human CODIS, a computerized archive that stores DNA profiles from criminal offenders and crime scenes and is used in criminal and missing person investigations. DNA analysis and matching through the database will help law enforcement agencies to identify relationships between dogs, enabling investigators to establish connections between breeders, trainers, and dog-fight operators. Blood collected from dog fighting sites will also be searched against the Canine CODIS database to identify the source.

“The Veterinary Genetics Laboratory has one of the largest sample databases in the world,” said Beth Wictum, Director of the Forensics Unit of the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory in UC Davis’ School of Veterinary Medicine. “This is important for estimating the rarity of a DNA profile. The Canine CODIS database is unique because it includes many more DNA markers than are normally tested, and that provides greater power when calculating match probability or assigning parentage.”

“When these cases come to trial, it’s important to make your strongest case,” she adds. “DNA evidence not only establishes links between owners, breeders, and dog fighting sites, it tells a story. We can tie blood spatter on pit walls and clothing, or blood trails found outside of the pit, to a specific dog and tell his story for him. We become the voice for those victims.”

How the Canine CODIS Database Works

DNA samples from animals have been used in forensics investigations for over 15 years to help solve criminal investigations. In some cases, the animal may be related to the suspect, the victim or the crime scene.  In other cases, the animal itself is the victim or perpetrator.

In dog-fighting investigations, the dogs’ inner cheeks are swabbed to collect DNA in their saliva at the time they are seized.  These swab samples are then submitted to UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory for DNA testing. Law enforcement agencies also collect DNA at suspected dog-fighting venues in samples of blood, saliva, tissue, bones, teeth, feces and urine. These unidentified DNA samples can be submitted to the laboratory at UC Davis for analysis and archiving in the database.

When an agency submits a sample to the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, the DNA is analyzed and the Canine CODIS database is then searched for corresponding DNA profiles. In the event the database search locates a match for the submitted DNA, the lab will notify both the agency that submitted the new sample and the agency that submitted the existing sample.  The Canine CODIS database is only available to law enforcement agencies; analysis is part of the cost of testing.

Dog Fighting Statistics

Although there are no official statistics, the ASPCA estimates that there are tens of thousands of people involved in dog fighting in the United States. Dog fighting is a federal crime, as well as a felony offense in all 50 U.S. states. For more information, visit http://www.aspcapro.org/dog-fighting-faq.php.

Source: Baltimore Sun, June 16, 2010

A $3,500 reward is being offered for information leading to the conviction of the person or persons responsible for the hanging death of a dog at a Philadelphia playground in the early morning hours of Tuesday, June 15, 2010.
A female, one-year-old, brown, pit-bull mix was found by a Humane Law Enforcement officer hanging from playground equipment at the Barrett Playground, at 8th and Duncannon Sts. in Philadelphia, PA 19120. The time of death is estimated to be in the early morning hours of Tuesday, June 15, 2010.

An investigation is underway, but the Pennsylvania SPCA needs the public’s help in gathering information about what happened to this dog.

Anyone with information should call the Pennsylvania SPCA’s toll-free, 24-hour cruelty hotline at 866.601.7722.

The initial $1,000 reward was increased after the Humane Society of the United States offered an additional $2,500 in reward money.

The staff here at the Pennsylvania SPCA has named the deceased dog Flora. If you would like to make a donation in her memory, or to find out how you can help other abused and neglected animals, please e-mail development@pspca.org.

Source: ketv.com, June 8, 2010

Kody Connick said he was never much of a student, let alone a writer. He hated English and got into trouble at school.

“It was just seeing friends and trying to get by through the day,” he said.

But the 14-year-old teen from Lincoln recently put fingers to the keyboard and is now selling his story.  Connick got sick last winter and something sparked an unrealized passion. He sat down and began writing about dogfighting.  His narrator is a pit bull.

Through the dog’s eyes, the reader is witness to the horror, Connick said.”Fighting and chomping on Shadow’s neck, I tasted blood. I tasted madness, then I tasted sorrow,” the teen read from the book, which has sold 60 copies and is in its second printing.  “My owner Jake shouted, ‘Go get him, be the king you’re meant to be tonight. Tear his heart out,’” Connick read.

He was compelled to write about the cruel way people treat pit bulls and the notorious reputation the dogs possess.”It’s how you train a dog and it’s how you treat it.  So there’s no bad dog, ever,” Connick said.  He said he drew upon his own experience with friends who own pit bulls, researched the issue and then began to write.

“In the first two days, I had 20 pages done,” he said.  Four months later, Wild Hearts was finished. It’s a story about a juvenile delinquent and a pit bull whose lives become intertwined.

Kevin Connick couldn’t believe what his son had written.”Very detailed, very good story — I was shocked,” the boy’s father said.

Kody said people see him as wanting to be a gangster, a bad kid. The book has changed the way people look at him and the way he looks at school, he said.”It actually opened my eyes that I could do something if I worked hard enough and focused,” Connick said.

He plans on writing another book in the future. He said he’s also paying more attention in school and wants to go to college.

Source:  wset.com, May 26, 2010

Bedford County authorities say they’ve dealt a huge blow to a national dog fighting ring by locking up one of its top breeders.

The Bedford County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday that they arrested Jeffrey Denny, 36, of North Carolina in an undercover sting at the Exxon in Montvale Monday night.

Denny was there to sell a female pit bull and planned on driving to Charleston, West Virginia to sell another dog, authorities say.

He has been charged with two counts of transporting animals for the purpose of fighting.

Investigators say Denny has delivered dogs all over the country, and they believe he’s responsible for hundreds of dog fighting deaths.

The good news is the two dogs taken from him are now in an animal shelter, saved from a life of violence.

Deputies say he has a reputation for breeding good fighting pit bulls.

“Mr. Denny is a nationally known and admitted dog fighter,” Bedford County Sheriff Mike Brown said. “He’s acknowledged that he’s sold hundreds of game-bred dogs throughout the United States.”

Investigators seized Denny’s mini-van, rigged to transport multiple dogs. These dogs were going for $900 apiece. The business of dog fighting is reported to be a multi-million dollar industry.

“And not too many of them put in 1099s to the IRS,” Brown said with a laugh.

The US Humane Society says they’ve had Denny at the top of their watch list for months.

“He’s been a long-standing breeder of dogs that are for the purpose of fighting,” US Humane Society Cruelty Investigator Chris Schindler said.

They’re certain word of his arrest will get around.

“It’s this effort that’s going to send a ripple effect cross the country to other animal fighters that this crime is not going to be tolerated,” Schindler said.

And they say the goal is to save the lives of dogs.

“Save possibly hundreds and hundreds of other dogs from being maimed and killed in the most gruesome way,” Brown said.

Authorities in Randolph County, North Carolina also seized 16 pit bulls from Denny’s home. They’ve charged him with 16 counts of dog fighting and 11 counts of cruelty to animals.