A Medical Doctor Leaves 9 Dogs In Hot Car, All Die While He Makes Rounds At Hospital

A doctor in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina left nine dogs in a hot car while he made rounds at the hospital on Monday. The 64-year-old is charged with animal cruelty and is set on $90,000 bond.

Dr. Charles Allen Bickerstaff was making rounds at one of the hospitals he works for when his dogs died. All nine were crammed into five crates altogether in the back of Bickerstaff’s Ford Explorer. When he returned to his SUV, he noticed the dogs were unresponsive so he took them to Mt. Pleasant Emergency Hospital.

A staff member at the vet’s office called 911 after she saw the animals.

She said:

“This is a medical doctor. This is not acceptable. He had asked, ‘So, leaving the windows open is not adequate?’ No. Not when they’re in kennels and they have full coats, and you have them two by two in each kennel.”

The nine dogs left in the hot vehicle were Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. According to court documents, the dogs are identified as Money, Lucinda, Drayton, Madeline, Shelby, Katie, Freddie, and Willis. Their ages ranged from 5 months to 9 years, the document reveals. The doctor left the dogs inside the vehicle for three hours.

Police used records from the vet’s office to get information on Dr. Bickeroff. He’s a gastroenterologist and is a physician for several hospitals that include Bon Secours St. Francis Xavier Hospital and East Cooper Medical Center, according to ABC 4 Charleston. The allegedly negligent doctor was questioned by police Monday night and arrested on Wednesday.

When Dr. Sarah Boyd, director of shelter health and wellness at Charleston Animal Society, learned of the animals’ terrible fate, she explained how hard it is for dogs to be inside hot cars.

Dr. Boyd said:

“The temperature inside of a car during spring and summer and early fall in South Carolina will rise so much, that for a dog, seconds can cost them their life.”

News 2 mentions that the affidavit says during the time Dr. Bickeroff was at the hospital, the temperatures outside went from 73 degrees to 82 degrees; the heat index was around 91 degrees.

Another tragedy of multiple dogs in a hot car occurred when four pit bulls were left in the back of a man’s car in Sacramento. As reported on The Inquisitr, all four dogs died from heat exposure. One pit bull was rescued alive, but died the next day due to severe injuries to her internal organs.

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Arin Greenwood, Animal Welfare Editor, The Huffington Post - 10 Stereotypes About Pit Bulls That Are Just Dead Wrong

HuffPost Green is launching a week-long, community-driven effort to bust the myths and raise awareness about pit bulls, a maligned "breed" that often bears the brunt of dated, discriminatory legislation that can make it near impossible for these dogs to find a forever home. You can follow along with HuffPost Pit Bull Week here, or on Facebook and Twitter where we'll be using the hashtag #PitBullWeek.

To read her article, click here: 10 Stereotypes About Pit Bulls That Are Just. Dead. Wrong

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Puppy Saves 3-Year-Old Girl Who Was Lost in Siberia for 11 Days

The dog stayed with Karina Chikitova, keeping her warm, after she and her pet wandered away from her home in a remote village in diamond-rich Sakha Republic, the largest region in Russia. The area where she lives has large populations of bears and wolves.

Eventually, after nine days in which the girl survived on river water and berries, the dog left her in a protective hole amid long grass and found its way home to summon help. The loyal and loving mongrel is known as Kyrachaan to locals, meaning 'little one' in the Yakutian language.

Remarkably, Karina, aged three years and seven months, suffered minimal injuries - but as our picture shows, she was badly bitten by mosquitoes.

There are more pictures of Karina's dramatic rescue but also the revelation that her family is under investigation for neglect in letting her disappear into the wild.

The truth emerged yesterday of a nightmare confusion between the parents and the child's grandmother over her whereabouts, which meant that long days passed before anyone realised little Karina was missing from her home in Olom village in Olyokminsky district.

The parents were haymaking in a distant field and were absent for a few days while Karina was being looked after by her grandmother.

Huge wild fires in Siberia meant that her father Rodion was summoned on July 29th to work in a volunteer team to combat the flames engulfing the region.

The grandmother saw the father leave the family home - and, she claims, thought Karina was going with him. The father says he had no idea that the grandmother thought he had taken the child. When mother Aitalina returned from the fields, she was surprised to learn that her husband had taken Karina.

It took several days for him to reach her by phone - and all the time little Karina was cuddling up to the dog out in the open, some six kilometres from home, but unable to get back.

"When she reach him by phone on August 2nd, he said Karina was not with him and should be with the grandmother," said Stanislav Platonov, head of the press service of the republics Interior Ministry.

Aitalina called to police. The first team of police and rescuers appeared on the scene on August 3rd and immediately began the search. Later they got more equipment and specialists and luckily found the girl in the end'.

The dog came home after nine days evidently seeking help to rescue Karina.

Here accounts differ: TV reports say that the dog led the rescuers to the girl. Another version is that by returning home, the dog let the rescuers know that Karina was not far away. The republican Investigative Committee, said it was considering whether the family had been negligent and should face legal action.

Investigators are still working on this case. "We need to decide whether to close the criminal case, or was some crime committed, like negligence for example," said spokeswoman Nadezhda Dvoretskaya.

"Why did they let child go to the forest alone? Why she was without adult supervision?"

The mother explained that she did not know that the young child was missing because she was at the hayfield with her husband, before he then left to help with fire-fighting.

Later she came home and asked, "where is the child?" The granny told her that she lay down to sleep and when she woke up, there was no Karina. The granny was sure that Karina was with her father, that he took the girl with him. The mother talked to the father, as soon as she could, due to the bad phone connection and it turned out that girl was not with him.

It is a very remote region, with very difficult phone connections, so there is the  possibility that mother really could not connect with her mother, and with her husband in time and learn that Karina is missing.

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China's Latest Craze - Dyeing Pets to Look Like Other Wild Animals

They only look like baby pandas. These little bundles of joy are actually chow chow dogs that have been dyed black-and-white to look like pandas.

Dyeing pets has been a trend in pet pampering for quite some time. At last summer's Pets Show Taipei, there was a fierce dog-dyeing competition. Check out photos.

But dyeing your pets to look like other wild animals is a more recent development.

The trend demonstrates how quickly and dramatically attitudes toward pets — particularly dogs — have changed in many parts of Asia.

In Taiwan, for example, just 10 years ago, dogs were still eaten in public restaurants and raised on farms for that purpose. Traditional Chinese medicine held that so-called "fragrant meat" from dogs could fortify one's health. Now, eating dog is viewed by many as an embarrassing reminder of a poorer time.

Elsewhere, in mainland China, dog meat is still very much on the menu. In fact, it's more expensive than pork or beef.

So, while more people may be eating dog as the country gets richer, newly wealthy Chinese have embraced dog-owning culture with a vengeance.

Dogs are brought into restaurants, fussed over in public, dressed up in ridiculous outfits and dyed to look like ferocious tigers.

Panda or chow chow? Tiger or retriever? You be the judge:

These dogs were put on show after being transferred to Zhenghou from southwest China's Sichuan province

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These chow chow dogs have been styled to look like pandas in Xi’an, Shaanxi province on June 18, 2011.

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And here's another bizarre transformation, courtesy of the Daily Mail: a pet retriever in China has been dyed to look like tiger.

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China Denounces Pet Dogs as Filthy Imports From the West

Bangkok, China - They slink through Chinese streets dropping poop like “land mines.” They are a blight on “social peace and harmony.”

Pet dogs, in the eyes of China’s Communist Party, are a modern-day menace. And the Chinese urbanites who’ve grown infatuated with Spot and Rover are acting out a “crude and ludicrous imitation ... of a Western lifestyle.”

So goes a recent op-ed in the People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s official news outlet.

The op-ed decries a “dog infestation” in China’s cities. Its urgent message to selfish dog owners: scoop those land mines - or else.

And yet the writer concedes that pet ownership is proof of China’s economic ascent. After all, starving peasants can’t afford to pamper Shih Tzus.

The ranks of people who can afford dog chow is rising fast. By 2030, according to the United Nations, China’s middle class will be four times the size of America’s middle class. Many Chinese can now seek out what Western consumers have long enjoyed: cars, flat-screen TVs and, yes, pet poodles. In Beijing, the number of registered dogs hit 1 million in 2012.

The doggie denouncement coincides with a revived effort to stamp out certain Western beliefs and behaviors taking root in 21st-century China. Officials are taking aim at bigger perils to social harmony, including democracy, an obsession with “individual rights” and the “free flow of information on the internet.”

“During Mao’s cultural revolution, dog ownership was condemned as elitist.”

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A Chinese man who supplements his income by walking dogs around the Houhai Lake area of Beijing on December 11, 2012. Dog ownership is popular amongst China?s elderly and the growing middle class but Beijing owners cannot keep dogs taller than 36 centimeters.


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This picture taken on March 18, 2014 shows an unidentified man posing for a photo with two Tibetan mastiffs after they were sold at a "luxury pet" fair in Hangzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang province. One of the Tibetan mastiff puppies (L) was sold in China for almost two million USD, a report said on March 19, in what could be the most expensive dog sale ever.


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An old man and his Pekingese dog in an ancient street of Beijing, China.


Officials in Shanghai have experimented with an even stricter edict: If dog owners can’t convince neighbors to approve of their dogs, the animal is confiscated by the state.

Dogs who aren’t up to code can be yanked out of owners’ arms. That was the fate of one white pooch, confiscated by cops in this cell phone video that went viral in China.

All of these rules on dog ownership, however, are increasingly flouted.

A documentary titled “Oversized Dogs” focuses entirely on Chinese citizens defying dog laws. Its director calls this trend “an important part of Chinese dissent.”

Meanwhile, the Communist Party’s media arm keeps cranking out editorials about dogs.

Just one month ago, the People’s Daily published another piece urging animal rights activists to stop berating fellow Chinese who view dogs as a culinary delicacy.

The op-ed first revives the elitist legacy of pet dogs in China: “Over China’s long history, they have only recently become pets except in the imperial court where Pekingese were kept exclusively for the royals.”

Another group suspiciously fond of canines? That’s right — foreigners. Though Westerners call dogs “man’s best friend,” the People’s Daily states, “Chinese people have only ever kept watchdogs or hunting dogs — along with those to be eaten.”

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Owners, Vets Reporting Even More Deaths Suspected to be Connected to Trifexis

Channel 2 consumer investigator Jim Strickland has discovered that hundreds more pet deaths are now blamed on a popular dog medicine.
       
Since Strickland first reported data collected by the Food and Drug Administration eight months ago, the number of death complaints is up nearly 40 percent, now coming in at a rate greater than one dog per day.
       
The FDA cautions there is no solid evidence linking Trifexis to any dog's death.  The reports are simply complaints from owners and vets in which the pill is suspected.
       
"It's just horrendous to watch an animal die such a horrible, painful, excruciating death," said Acworth resident Anita Bergen.

Bergen's case is included in the FDA data.

Her Scottie named Fergus was 10 years old when she tried Trifexis.
       
"The initial reaction from taking that one pill was horrible," Bergen said.
       
"One pill?" asked Strickland.
       
"One Trifexis pill was all he ever had."
       
Bergen says the dog lost all muscle control, lost his thirst and suffered liver failure.  She euthanized him two months after giving him the pill.
       
"I do feel deceived. I do not feel there was full disclosure," Bergen said.
       
Trifexis is a once-a-month pill to kill fleas, control parasites and prevent heartworm. TV commercials list side effects like vomiting and lethargy, but not death.
       
Strickland learned through the Freedom of Information Act that the FDA lists 965 complaints of dog deaths blamed on Trifexis.

That's an increase of 38 percent in the last eight months, and close to the total of 1,000 deaths linked to Chinese-made chicken jerky pet treats.
       
Drug maker Elanco maintains it can find no link between the pill and any dog fatalities.
         
"I see that as a cause for investigation, and as they're looking at those causes. I feel confident the FDA will follow through, but from our experience, we haven't seen it," said Cobb County veterinarian Toby Carmichael.
       
Carmichael says he and his partners have prescribed 75,000 doses of Trifexis with no adverse complications.
       
"My dogs have been on Trifexis since it came out and haven't had an issue once,” Carmichael said.

Physician Rochelle LePor has given her 7-year-old rescue dog Cooper nearly 40 pills over three years.
       
"I can only speak of my experience. For me, it’s like a wonder drug," she said.
       
"The FDA is not going to allow a product on the market that's going to hurt animals," added Carmichael.
       
Reports to Elanco's customer hotline have had an impact. There are now nearly 1,500 complaints of lost muscle control; a condition called ataxia.

Elanco added ataxia to its list of side effects two years ago.
       
Elanco also added seizures, the malady that hit a prize bulldog named Foxy, owned by 50-year veteran breeder Nancy Harrison.

The dog developed additional symptoms beyond her veterinarian's control.
       
"So you were forced to euthanize her?" Strickland asked.
       
"Yeah, if you saw it, you wouldn't want to live with it either. And never in 52 years had I had one before,” Harrison said.
       
Harrison stopped using the drug, even though her other dogs handled it without issue.
       
"It's hard to lose a dog. They're my children," said Harrison.

The mystery of their dogs’ deaths eats at her and Bergen.
       
"All the tests that are done, they're all inconclusive.  No one can ever say this death is absolutely the result of administering this particular medication. But all the owners, all the pet caregivers know," said Bergen.
       
The FDA says it's continuing to monitor reports, and considers the product label a living document.  To date, there are no plans to list death as even a rare but potential side effect.



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Among the Millions Mourning the Death of Robin Williams on Monday was Koko, a Gorilla who Communicates in Sign Language

Among the millions mourning the death of Robin Williams on Monday was Koko, a gorilla who communicates in sign language. Williams met Koko in 2001 at The Gorilla Foundation in Northern California, where the great ape managed to upstage the great comedic actor.

“Years later (on Aug. 11, 2014), Koko overheard Penny (Dr. Penny Patterson, Koko’s mentor and surrogate mother) talking on the phone about Robin, who had just passed away,” The Gorilla Foundation stated on its website. “She became extremely sad.”

“When you remember Robin Williams, remember that he is not only one of the world’s most beloved entertainers, he is also one of the world’s most powerful ambassadors for great ape conservation,” the organization said.

For his part, Williams called his conversations with Koko a “mind-altering experience.”

The encounter with Koko was just one of many efforts Williams made over the years on behalf of wildlife. In 2011, the actor appeared with other celebrities in a TakePart video to call attention to the annual slaughter of dolphins at the cove in Taiji, Japan, where the few survivors are sold to zoos and water parks.

“My friend doesn’t belong in captivity,” Williams says in the video. “The others are brutally killed.”

“Years later (on Aug. 11, 2014), Koko overheard Penny (Dr. Penny Patterson, Koko’s mentor and surrogate mother) talking on the phone about Robin, who had just passed away,” The Gorilla Foundation stated on its website. “She became extremely sad.”

“When you remember Robin Williams, remember that he is not only one of the world’s most beloved entertainers, he is also one of the world’s most powerful ambassadors for great ape conservation,” the organization said.

For his part, Williams called his conversations with Koko a “mind-altering experience.”

The encounter with Koko was just one of many efforts Williams made over the years on behalf of wildlife. In 2011, the actor appeared with other celebrities in a TakePart video to call attention to the annual slaughter of dolphins at the cove in Taiji, Japan, where the few survivors are sold to zoos and water parks.

“My friend doesn’t belong in captivity,” Williams says in the video. “The others are brutally killed.”

In 1995, the comedian narrated and starred in the PBS documentary In the Wild—Dolphins With Robin Williams. He followed the work of marine biologists and swam with Atlantic spotted dolphins in the Caribbean.

In the Wake of Robin Williams' Death, Will We Finally Start Taking Depression Seriously?

As with Koko, he attempted to communicate with his newfound dolphin friends.

“What’s up, my main mammal?” he asked a spotted dolphin.

Closer to his Marin County, Calif., home, Williams once made an impromptu appearance at a fund-raiser for the local humane society, jumping onstage to riff with another comedian.

“The Marin Humane Society is very sad to hear about the passing of Robin Williams,” the group said on its Facebook page on Monday. “In 2009, we were honored when he gave a surprise performance at our Woofstock benefit concert.”



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Washington Humane Society - Many Thanks! To a Group of Very Special Kids Who Raised $223.75 for WHS from Their Lemonade Stand! - Help Us Thank These Amazing Animal Advocates

Many THANKS to a group of very special kids who raised $223.75 for WHS from their lemonade stand!

Kyle, Ella, Ally, Leah, Sylvia, Eleanor and Frances stopped by to visit us to personally deliver their donation. Eleanor and Frances (8 and 10 years old) are world class travelers who host bake sales and lemonade stands wherever they dock their family boat, and always find the local animal shelter and help wherever they are. We are thrilled that they chose to help DC animals during their three week visit.

Will you help us thank these amazing animal advocates?



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