You be the judge: Is this a vicious dog?
A Monroe County judge has upheld the First Amendment rights of animal activists appealing for the lives of three dogs rescued from a dog fighting bust.
Advocates from the Monroe SPCA and Buster Foundation, a pit bull rescue group based in Belleville, Mich., posted photographs and videos of the three dogs online — including the one above of a dog named Dusty — to support their case that the animals should not be put down.
The county’s response? The Monroe County prosecutor wanted the groups held in contempt of court for distributing materials about the case online.
On August 4, a judge ruled that forcing the advocates to remove the photos and video from Change.org, their websites and social media would infringe on their First Amendment rights.
With that battle won, the fight continues on behalf of the three dogs, who the same judge ruled July 13 should be put down because they “lack useful purpose and pose a threat to public safety.”
Michigan animal advocate Jennifer Burke started the petition to save the three dogs on Change.org, and, as of yesterday, it had gathered more than 4,000 signatures in less than three weeks.
Included on the petition was the video (above) of Dusty, being evaluated by by Dr. Katherine Houpt, the prosecution’s expert witness. Dr. Houpt concluded Dusty, and two others, should be euthanized, even though Dusty seems to be doing everything right in the video.
According to her written notes and testimony, though, Dusty snarled at the doll Houpt taunted her with. The petition seeks to have Houpt recant her testimony.
“I created the petition because we were finally allowed to show the public what sweet, gentle dogs these are, and my opinion is that the expert was biased based on the testimony from her evaluations,” Burke said.
“This is about fighting for what’s right,” said Burke. ”…If we continue to stand by and watch these needless killings we aren’t getting to the root of the problem. Michigan taxpayers have a right to know where their money is being spent.
“We are shocked that the prosecution has made our battle for getting these dogs vet care, training, and human contact almost impossible,” Burke continued. “This is wrong, and we are standing up for ourselves and for these dogs that deserve a second chance. This victory means we are re-energized for our appeal. The community support has been amazing.”
The groups will gain custody later this month of one of the seized dogs, Razzle, who the county decided deserved a second chance. The appeal to save the lives of Dusty and two other dogs has not yet been scheduled.
Posted by jwoestendiek August 9th, 2011 under Muttsblog, videos.
Tags: animals, appeal, assessment, behavior, belleville, buster foundation, change, dog fighting, dogfighting, dogs, doll, dusty, euthanasia, evaluation, expert, facebook, first amendment, food, free speech, jennifer burke, katherine houpt, lives, michigan, monroe county, monroe spca, online, petition, pets, prosecution, rehabilitation, second chance, seized, signatures, temperament, video, websites
Comments
Comment from smoketoomuch
Time August 9, 2011 at 8:26 am
Petition signed. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Comment from Starla
Time August 9, 2011 at 11:48 am
Hmmm…won’t let me sign petition. Will keep trying though. I saw no aggression in the video. What a sweet dog! She deserves a chance at a happy life!
Comment from Lynette Mungall
Time August 9, 2011 at 2:11 pm
Let these lovely animals live.. Just see how you as a human would like to prodded and pushed and see how you react…
Comment from selwyn marock
Time August 9, 2011 at 2:11 pm
Leave the Dogs alone,go after the Fighters(Human Scum) put them away for life
Comment from Jan
Time August 9, 2011 at 2:33 pm
You have GOT to be kidding me! My black lab, a certified pet therapy dog, may have lifted her lip at a big plastic thing that kept chasing her around the room, too! That dog put up with an awful lot of crap and never stopped wagging her tail! Great dog!
Comment from jt waldie
Time August 14, 2011 at 7:32 pm
MY DOGS would not pass this bogus set up of this professed evaluator. She has a personal agenda and it called her pocketbook How much does she get paid to kill innocent animals? If an investigation were launched into that aspect of this “serves no useful purpose and is a danger to the public” evaluator you would probably find the missing link!
Comment from Joanne Dixon
Time August 21, 2011 at 6:47 am
We are also questioning the Sheriff about the inhumane treatment of the dogs. (Note animal control officer in this video pushing the dog) One of the dogs died in the care of Animal Control, two other dogs were injured while in their care. Animal control has refused a court order for the dogs to receive medical care and for the Buster Foundation and Monroe SPCA to visit the dogs. Two other, non-pit bull type of dogs are now unaccounted for and believed to be either euthanized or returned to the person who lived in the house where the dog fighting occurred.
Comment from Joanne Dixon
Time August 21, 2011 at 6:52 am
Animal Control officer Pushes the dog at 3 minutes 60 seconds into the video.
Comment from Nancy
Time August 30, 2011 at 8:38 am
Where are these dogs now?
Comment from Miriam
Time September 27, 2011 at 2:52 am
It ‘possible that no one take? I write from Italy and if we had the opportunity to adopt it, I take it from here now!
Comment from Anne’n'Spencer
Time August 9, 2011 at 7:42 am
WTF????
This woman is supposed to be some kind of dog expert? All she’s doing is jabbing at the dog with various pieces of plastic. Does she figure the dog thinks the plastic is human beings? I notice the plastic hand was pink, and the doll was pink as well. Does that mean that the dog is only aggressive to pink plastic people? Do we need, oh maybe, brown plastic and tan plastic to make it a fair test for plastic people of other ethnicities?
I’ll tell you what, “Doctor.” Jab at me with pieces of pink plastic and then you can evaluate my temperament. Or maybe just my temper, which I have lost over this article.