ohmidog!

A police officer in Arizona was acquitted Friday of animal cruelty charges stemming from the heat-related death of a police dog left in a patrol car in suburban Phoenix.

Meanwhile, in San Diego, a police officer was charged with a misdemeanor in a similar case.

Chandler police Sgt. Tom Lovejoy was negligent in leaving his dog in a parked patrol car for 13 hours last summer, but prosecutors in Arizona did not prove he acted recklessly, a justice of the peace ruled. Lovejoy could have been jailed for six months if he had been convicted of the misdemeanor count.

Lovejoy testified that on the morning of Aug. 11, 2007, after working an overnight shift, he parked his police SUV in his driveway and went inside. He said he was exhausted and forgot the Belgian Malinois was sleeping in the back of the vehicle, according to an Associated Press report.

In San Diego, Paul Hubka, a longtime police department dog handler, is accused of leaving a 5-year-old Belgian Malinois in his car on June 20, when the outside temperature reached 108 degrees. Hubka had worked a double shift and was exhausted and distracted when he got home, according to an attorney who represented him on another matter.

If convicted of the misdemeanor, Hubka faces a six-month jail sentence, a fine and restitution. The city also sued Hubka to recover the cost to replace the dog.

Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell today said the killing of 80 dogs by two breeders — and the fact that it was entirely legal — has “shocked and disgusted citizens all over the commonwealth,” and he called on legislators to approve proposed reforms to the state dog law.

“These violent killings were totally unnecessary, particularly considering that there are rescue societies that would have taken all of the dogs, regardless of their ages or conditions,” Rendell said.

Two weeks ago, kennel owners Elmer and Ammon Zimmerman of Berks County shot 80 dogs and closed their kennels after dog wardens ordered kennel repairs and veterinary checks for 39 dogs suffering flea and fly bites. Pennsylvania’s current dog law does not prohibit kennel owners from euthanizing their dogs with firearms, even if the dogs are healthy

“Clearly, the time has come to enact legislation that would make this practice illegal and raise the standards under which the state’s commercial breeding kennel industry operates. There is simply no excuse for continued inaction,” the governor said.

The governor made his appeal during a news conference at the Schuylkill River Dog Park, accompanied by Maggie, one of his family’s two golden retrievers. Maggie and Ginger are former breeding dogs who were rescued and adopted by the Rendells.

Under legislation pending in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, only veterinarians would be authorized to euthanize dogs in commercial breeding kennels.

The bill also doubles the minimum floor space for cages at commercial breeding kennels,  prohibits stacking cages, ensures dogs get outdoor exercise (currently not required) and requires kennel cages to have solid floors.

In addition breeders would be required to hav dogs checked by a veterinarian annually or during each pregnancy. Many dogs now never see a vet throughout their entire lives.

This is a different kind of Batman, with a different kind of nemesis – a 10-year-old German shepherd-mix with a brain tumor, who’s the first dog to be treated with a new and experimental vaccine and gene therapy at the University of Minnesota.

A compelling account of his family’s fight to save him appeared this week in the student newspaper, the Minnesota Daily.

Batman’s owners,  Anna Brailovsky and her husband Eric Baker, found him on the streets of Berlin as graduate students in 1999.

They lost him, then found him three days later — a sure sign to them that they were meant to be together.  Batman returned with the couple to the United States in 2001, and was happy and healthy until he had a series of seizures about three weeks ago, often a sign of a brain tumor.

In July,  the tumor was diagnosed, and the couple was considering options when the University called with a new plan.

Dr. Elizabeth Pluhar , a veterinary surgery professor, and John Ohlfest , a pediatrics professor, had been considering an experimental brain tumor treatment for about three years.

Last week, Batman underwent the procedure — which, though it had been tried on mice, had never used on a dog before. Surgeons removed most of Batman’s tumor, much of which will be used to make a vaccine for the dog. Gene therapy was then used to try and make the remaining tumor cells recognizable to the body.

Batman’s tumor, doctors said, was similar to that which affected U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy.

Ohlfest said they hope to try the treatment in about 20 dogs before trying to get approval to test it in people, possibly applying for a treatment permit within three years.

The University is taking care of the couple’s bill.  In the next few months, the veterinarians said, Batman will receive the vaccine and further monitoring.

(Photo by Stephen Maturen/Courtesy of Minnesota Daily)