Tag: behind
Curveball: Ontario’s pit bull ban forces Toronto Blue Jays pitcher to leave family behind
Mark Buehrle, the Miami Marlins pitcher traded to the Toronto Blue Jays last November, will be leaving his dogs and family behind when the season opens, due to Ontario’s ban on pit bulls.
One of the Buehrle family’s four dogs, Slater, falls under the government’s pit bull ban, so Buehrle’s wife Jamie, their children and their dogs will remain in Florida until the end of the school year, then return to their off-season home in the St. Louis area.
The Toronto Star reports it will be the first time in his career that Buehrle has spent the summer away from his wife and children.
It’s not the first time, though, that the family has been inconvenienced because of their love for pit bulls in general, and Slater in particular.
When Buehrle was traded to the Marlins, from the White Sox, his family couldn’t live in the Miami-Dade area, because of a similar ban, and located in Broward County instead.
“Other families have gone through things and they’ve made it work. And I will see my dogs when I can,” Buehrle said of the Toronto situation during spring training last week.”
Buehrle, who also has three Vizslas, said he didn’t even consider the suggestion that he try and sneak his pit bull mix into Toronto, or that he put Slater in a kennel in order to have his family by his side in Toronto.
“Being a responsible pet owner, you can’t drop off the dog on someone else,” he said. “If you try and bring the dog anyways and think you can (hide it), you’re taking a chance, and then (if you get caught) the dog sits in a cage for a month or more or however long until the court date comes up.”
Both Buehrle and his wife have worked extensively to raise public awareness about pit bulls.
“The big thing is to bring awareness of the breed, that’s what this is all about,” he said. “I won’t see my dog for a while but bringing awareness for the breed ban is important for me.”
Posted by jwoestendiek February 19th, 2013 under Muttsblog.
Tags: animals, baseball, behind, breed bans, buehrle, dogs, family, major league baseball, mark buehrle, miami marlins, ontario, pets, pit bull bans, pit bulls, pitbull bans, pitbulls, pitcher, slater, stay, toronto blue jays
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Owner gives up dog rescued on mountain
The owner of a dog rescued from a Colorado mountain after he had to abandon her has consented to give the German shepherd-Rottweiler mix to one of her rescuers.
“I don’t want to give her up — I love her — but those people risked life and limb to get her out of there, and that has got to be worth something,” Anthony Ortolani told the Denver Post.
Ortolani, 31, was climbing with a friend when a combination of factors led him to decide to leave his dog, Missy, behind.
The dog’s feet were blistered and she was unable to walk. A storm was approaching. And his climbing companion was out of water. They tried carrying the five-year-old, 112-pound dog, but after two hours, he said, they ended up leaving her between Mount Bierstadt and Mount Evans.
Once down the mountain, Ortolani called a friend who contacted the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office but was told the region was too dangerous and that the department didn’t rescue animals.
Missy was stranded for eight days before a volunteer group of rescuers found her and carried her down the mountain.
After that, Ortolani was charged with animal cruelty for abandoning her, and one of the rescuers expressed interest in keeping the dog.
Ortolani has agreed to plead guilty to a less serious charge, according to his lawyer, Jennifer Edwards, founder and attorney with the Animal Law Center.
Discussions leading to the plea bargain included talk of his giving up the dog, said Edwards, but are not the reason for his surrendering the animal.
(Photo: 14ers.com)
Posted by jwoestendiek September 18th, 2012 under Muttsblog.
Tags: 14ers, abandoned, animals, anthony ortolani, behind, clear creek county, climbing, colorado, dog, dogs, german shepherd, hiking, left, missy, mount bierstadt, Mount Evans, mountains, owner, pets, rescue, rescued, rottweiler, surrenders
Comments: 2