Meet Scrappy, a male pitty chained on a 4 foot tether, very friendly needs foster/forever/rescue to get him off the chain.

Owner is willing to surrender.

 

Here is the information Lucky Dog Animal Rescue has obtained concerning the shooting of Parrot, a Shar Pei mix, by a police officer.

"Less than 2 percent of cats in animal shelters make it back to their owners, whereas about 15 to 19 percent of dogs are returned, and one reason is that more dogs wear collars."

A six-month study was conducted on 538 cats who had collars put on them.  75% of them were still wearing collars at the end of the study.  Only a few had injured themselves slightly. 

Read more here, nytimes.com, Sindya Bhanoo, 9/13/10

In an effort to support Missouri's proposed restrictions on dog breeders, money has been pouring in from all over the country.  The majority of the funds raised are from outside the state.  Missouri is notorious for its animal mills and they are a major source of income for the 'farmers' in the state.  Of course, if the animals were treated humanely a proposal like this would not be necessary.

Dr. Kayla Dougia donated 30 oxygen masks to volunteer fire departments.  Dr. Dougia who lost a few pets in a fire when she was a child knows how upsetting this can be.  Oxygen masks designed for humans do not fit an animal properly. 

Read the article here from al.com, Yvonne Betowt - writer, 9/13/10

What is this world coming to?  Another shooting of dogs by a police officer in public.  This time a Rottweiler and a Chesapeake Bay Retriever.  The Rottweiler attacked an off-leash blind dog.  Who the heck lets a blind dog off-leash in the streets? Supposedly, when the owner of the dogs asked for the policeman's name, the policeman refused and threatened to have him arrested. 

Read the story here from the BayNews9, Holly Gregory reported, 9/13/10

The Washington Post's, Matt Zapotosky has more information on the shooting.

Aaron Block, 25, of Dupont Circle said he was walking his 2-year-old Shar-Pei mix, Parrot, up 18th Street when the dog suddenly turned around and bit a poodle that was passing by. He said he separated the two dogs -- cutting his hand inside Parrot's mouth in the process -- and was subduing his dog when police arrived.

"The officer drew his gun in an unnecessary act of cowboy gunslinging law enforcement and shot my dog amidst a crowd of thousands," said Block, who was fostering Parrot while he was waiting to be adopted through the Lucky Dog Animal Rescue. "The problems here are almost too numerous to count."

Block's account is supported by at least one witness, Jennifer Naideth, 29, who was in town from Los Angeles selling cosmetics at the festival. She called the shooting "so unnecessary and so violent," adding that "there was no human life in danger."

Read here and here

I am sure there will be follow-up to this story...

Here is the full statement by the spokesperson of the victim, including a description of what happened this afternoon:

Parrot is [a] two-year-old dog for whom we have cared for almost a month. He has never bitten another dog and is regularly walked along 17th street during the busiest times of day without incident. He's extremely friendly.

Today, there was an unexpected scuffle between Parrot and a poodle. Aaron, subdued Parrot, who was wearing both a leash and a harness. To do so, he placed his hands in Parrot's mouth and held it open, which he has done when Parrot gets overexcited when romping in the apartment. As it had in the past, this calmed Parrot down.

At this point, the policeman knocked Aaron off of Parrot. The policeman put his knee in the middle of Parrot's back while pulling Parrot's forelegs behind him, as one would do with an armed criminal. Without waiting to determine whether this technique would calm Parrot, the policeman grabbed Parrot, lifted him off the ground, and brought him to the top of the concrete staircase. He threw Parrot over the banister, down twelve steps, and onto the concrete floor. Then, the policeman stood at the top of the stairs, drew his weapon, and executed Parrot. Aaron cannot recall the number of shots fired.

  

 

Original article: dcist, Aaron Morrissey, 9/12/10

From the Kentucky.com site, Josh Kegley, 9/10/10

A Lexington, KY police officer was chasing a suspect on foot.  He entered a backyard that the supect went through, was bit by the dog that lived there.  He then shot the dog six times.  The owner states that he does not think the suspect went through his yard and that the 10 year-old Rottweiler was not aggressive.

Read the article here.