Alhambra, Calif. – At least officers didn't have to issue a speeding ticket when they spotted a giant tortoise ambling down a street suburban Los Angeles.
The Alhambra Police Department joked on its Facebook page that the 150-pound reptile was captured Saturday afternoon after a brief pursuit.
"The tortoise did try to make a run for it; but, our officers are pretty fast," the post said.
It took two officers to heft the hard-shelled creature into a patrol car. They then took the reptile to the local police station before turning it over to animal control authorities.
Giant tortoises are not indigenous to the Los Angeles area.
Police are asking anyone with a big tortoise that went missing this weekend to contact them. They aren't sure if this one escaped or was abandoned by its owner.
Police say this particular reptile has some distinctive markings. They aren't revealing them for the time being, however, to ensure that whoever claims the tortoise is its rightful owner.
Update: From Alhambra Police Department's Facebook Page:
The tortoise is actually named "Dirk." He has been reunited with his human family who actually live in Alhambra. According to 21310 of the Penal Code, it is illegal to possess a "dirk."
We enjoy keeping families together, so an exception was made in this case.
We stand corrected and have edited this post at 4:30 p.m. The tortoises' confirmed name is CLARK. Thank you Alhambra partners and FB friends! Until next time.
Bakersfield, CA - After Scott Clare's wife passed away he taught himself how to love again, but this time with a four-legged companion.
"He makes me laugh and smile every day," said Scott about his dog Buck-O. "He's just a crack-up, he's lots of fun."
He adopted the now 14-month-old dog who is named after baseball player Buck O'Neil, a direct reflection of his love for baseball.
When Scott took Buck-O to get neutered the doctors noticed something was different with the puppy. He was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect called tricuspid (heart) valve dysplasia and frequent ventricular arrhythmias. The irregular heart rhythms (arrhythmias) result in high heart rates that put Buck-O at risk for developing heart enlargement, decreased ability of the heart to contract, and possible sudden death.
"My choices were to spend a lot of money or hang on to him until he has a horrible death and I wasn't gonna do that," said Scott.
The only option was to take Buck-O to Cincinnati, Ohio where he could undergo ventricular ablation, a surgery that has never been done before at MedVet.
Scott and Buck-O made the 2,300-mile trek and made many friends along the way.
"I think they liked the story, the story of him being the first ever," said Scott, "and look at his face, he has a beautiful face."
Eight hours and more than $10,000 later, Buck-O made it through the surgery.
Buck-O is doing well so far and goes for weekly checkups to the vet to make sure his heart beat stays regular.
To follow Buck-O's progress you can 'Like' his Facebook page .
You can follow Buck-O's progress on his Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/I-Heart-Buck-O/657745927628685?fref=nf, or at: Follow Buck-O
Buck-O checked into MedVet this morning at 8:00 AM. Here, he sports the latest in heart monitor fashions. This time the IV ports are in the right, hind leg.
Jamaica, Queens - Twenty emaciated and scarred pit bulls have been rescued from a Queens home that was allegedly the site of dog fighting.
Officers of the 113th Precinct, along with the newly formed NYPD Animal Cruelty Investigation Squad and the ASPCA Investigative team, executed a warrant at a residence on 196th Street in Jamaica on Thursday. The dogs were found inside crates and cages at the back of the home.
Methamphetamine was also found at the scene.
The dogs were taken to the ASPCA’s main office for medical care. The organization will be providing ongoing care and enrichment for the dogs.
Addison Holder, 44, and Keisha Hall, 33, were arrested at the scene and charged with multiple counts of animal cruelty, animal fighting and criminal possession of a controlled substance.
“Organized dog fighting is a brutal form of animal abuse where dogs are exploited and forced to fight as their owners profit from their torture,” said Matthew Bershaker, President and CEO of the ASPCA. “Through our partnership, the ASPCA and the NYPD are determined to protect New York City’s animals from this form of cruelty and bring their abusers to justice.”
If you are interested in adopting one of the dogs or the many other animals in need of homes, contact the ASPCA at (212) 876-7700, ext. 4120 or visit their website. http://www.aspca.org/
The dogs were emaciated and scarred, according to the NYPD.
The dogs were taken to the ASPCA's main office for medical care.
Holder and Hall were charged with multiple counts on animal cruelty and animal fighting.
Wichita, KS - Lady aka (Ma Kettle) has had a tough life in recent months, but a Florida heiress who loves animals is vowing to make the lab's golden years truly happy.
The grizzled black lab made national headlines when she walked 30 miles to return home to owners who had given her up and refused to take her back.
As word spread on social media, heartbroken dog fans swamped the Chautauqua County Animal Shelter telephone line as they sought to adopt the older dog.
After learning of her plight, Wrigley Gum heiress Helen Rich Rosburg flew a private jet to Kansas on Thursday to whisk the dog to her Florida sanctuary for neglected animals.
The dog tale goes back to 2012. Lady, who has also been called Ma Kettle, saw her owner die in 2012. No one wanted the dog so she wound up at the shelter in Sedan, KS.
Shelter worker Kelsey Loyd told KWCH-TV on Thursday that a family adopted Lady. She was living a good life, but was rough with the family's puppy and didn't get along well with little dogs.
So the family returned the dog to the shelter. Earlier this summer, a woman in Independence, KS, adopted Lady.
But Lady's desire to return to her previous owner was overwhelming. She escaped from her Independence home and the aged arthritic dog walked 30 miles to Sedan.
The family with the little dogs wouldn't take her back. And the Independence woman also decided she didn't want Lady back.
So back to the shelter she went with an uncertain future.
Cindy Barclay Powell posted about the dog she called Ma on Facebook, begging for someone to adopt the animal.
"The senior lab walked nearly 30 miles to come home," Powell wrote on Facebook. "Is there anyone out there who can give this girl a home? She may not have many years left. She is spayed, house broken, leash trained, mellow, having problems walking (so her travels back to Sedan amazed me)."
Powell's post was shared nearly 7,000 times across Facebook. It went viral after Examiner.com picked up the story on Wednesday.
Rosburg, the great-granddaughter of the founder of the famous gum, is a self-described animal lover. She has used a portion of her inheritance to help neglected and abandoned animals. She has built a 120-acre farm in Odessa, FL, that houses 300 animals including rabbits, pigs and goats. She even built an on-site home for a trainer to work with dogs dealing with behavioral issues. She reportedly has a staff of 15 to care for the animals, and eventually adopts out some of the animals or they are trained to be service dogs.
When Rosburg learned about Lady's plight, she stepped in. The plane was sent to Independence and a car ride was made Thursday afternoon to Sedan to pick up the tail-wagging Lady.
Rosburg has vowed to give Lady a pampered life, and she will join the cats and dogs already inside Rosburg's home.
The heiress has made headlines before for helping out dogs in need.
When a Marine was facing losing his two dogs because he couldn't fly them on commercial flights to his new base, Rosburg chartered a plane to take the dogs to him.
Lady's misfortune has also garnered a new home for a dog at the Sedan shelter. A woman who heard about Lady went to the shelter to see about adopting her. Once she got there and learned that Lady had already gotten a new forever home, the lady adopted a similar-looking lab.
Lady (Ma Kettle) got a plane ride across the country Thursday to her new home in Odessa.
The mayor of Houston, Texas, apologized last week to a woman whose beloved family dog died when a police officer forced her husband to leave it on the side of the road after a traffic stop. The helpless little 14-year-old chihuahua was already mostly blind from cataracts and didn’t stand a chance when the officer arrested Josie Garcia’s husband, on a charge that was quickly dropped anyway ,and refused to let him call anyone to pick up the dog.
Josie Garcia appeared at a Houston City Council meeting on July 22 to tell her story.
On July 14, she said her husband gave a friend a ride home from a family gathering when a Houston police officer pulled his truck over, saying that he made a turn without using his turn signal.
The cop then searched the car and found, according to court records, that the friend was in possession of the drug PCP. The officer then took the two men into custody. But Garcia said her husband pleaded with the officer to let someone come and pick up Guero, the lovable chihuahua who enjoyed riding in the truck and was along for the trip.
But the Houston officer refused, telling the man to leave the dog by the side of the road, but according to Garcia, the arresting cop said it wasn’t his problem, that the dog would be fine.”
What makes the story even more unbelievable is that the arrest happened close by to Houston’s Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care. But in addition to refusing to allow the man to call someone to get Guero, the officer didn’t even bother to call animal control to collect the dog.
Charges against Garcia’s husband were dropped and they put up “lost dog” posters, hoping someone had picked Gero up and they would see the dog again. Instead, they got a call from a Good Samaritan who said he saw Guero wandering up a freeway ramp near where the officer forced him to be abandoned.
The Good Samaritan said he tried to get the dog, but traffic was too heavy. Before he could reach Guero, the dog was struck and killed.
“Let me give you a public apology right now on behalf of the city of Houston,” Mayor Annise Parker said at the council meeting. “I don’t know what airhead, there’s another word in my mind but I’m not going to say it — would throw, you wouldn’t put a kid on the side of the road. You shouldn’t put someone’s pet on the side of the road.”
The report is one of many recently involving family dogs killed by police officers, seemingly for no reason.
The Houston Police Department says an investigation into what happened and why Guero was dumped on the road could take an astounding six months.
Japan is known for it's crazy, kooky fads. The social trends there cover almost any kind of interest (and any subset of that interest). So it's no surprise that after making gaming cafes, cat cafes and even bunny cafes, the Japanese thought of a new adorable trend: owl cafes.
Over the past year, owl cafes have been springing up in Tokyo and Osaka, and they're just as adorable as they sound.
Istanbul is Turkey’s largest city with a population of 14 million, but it also has one of the world’s largest stray animal populations at around 150,000. Instead of overlooking the problem as is all too common, the Turkish company Pugedon has struck a deal with the government to place food dispensaries around the city. Not only do these provide food and water, but they also help to promote recycling.
The bottle-powered dispensers dish out pet food every time someone places a plastic bottle inside the machine. It also has a container where you can pour the remainder of your water to make sure stray cats and dogs also have something to drink. Apart from keeping the urban animals alive, the vending machine also makes people stop and think about their plight and could perhaps be enough to make some consider adopting an animal to help deal with the problem.
As far as solutions go, this one is a much more humane option when you consider those that have occurred before. In 2012, the government drafted a law that allowed city dogs to be sent to “wildlife parks” on city outskirts. This outraged animal rights activists who referenced a brutal act of animal cruelty in 1910 when the city’s stray dogs were sent to an island and forced to eat each other for survival.
While the solution is a good one, it’s worth noting that it only targets the symptoms of the stray animal problem. Animal smuggling, illegal pet shops, and the desire to have the latest “fashionable” animal are all factors. As pointed out on BigThink by Ahmet Senpolat, an Istanbul-based animal rights lawyer:
Animal smugglers only face a fine of a few hundred euros at worst, they continue to bring expensive pure-bred puppies and sell them to pet stores. People often buy the puppies from pet stores, and abandon them when they become too tough to handle.
Facing up to problems is harder because it usually requires doing something about them, but it’s still a better option than ignoring them altogether.
Plastic for pet food is a better option than sending dogs to isolated islands.
