ohmidog!

Street dogs are being blamed for the deaths of four people in a park on the outskirts of Mexico City.

“Experts have established that due to the gravity of the wounds, at least 10 dogs were involved in each attack,” Mexico City prosecutors said in a statement.

Authorities have begun rounding up dogs living in the park to conduct tests aimed at determining if they were involved in the attacks.

In one case, the Associated Press reports, a teenage girl called her sister with her cellphone to plead for help as the attack took place.

“Several dogs are attacking us, help me!” the girl screamed before the call was disconnected.

Despite that, some animal activists are questioning whether the deaths should all be blamed solely on wild dogs,  and Diana Ruiz, who received the phone call, still doesn’t believe dogs were responsible for her sister’s death.

“What kind of dog can tear the skin from your whole arm and leave just bone and if it was an attack dog why didn’t it attack her neck?” Ruiz told Milenio Television. “What’s most shocking is that one of her breasts was mutilated.”

She said she later visited the place of the attack and saw no pools of blood.

“There needs to be a thorough investigation,” she added.

The attacks occured in the Cerro de la Estrella, a hilltop park surrounded by the city’s Iztapalapa district.

The first two bodies — a  26-year-old woman and a 1-year-old child — were found there Dec. 29, authorities in Mexico’s capital said.

The woman, Shunashi Mendoza, was missing her left arm, and prosecutors said that both she and the boy had bled to death and been partially eaten.

On Friday, visitors to the park found the bodies of  Alejandra Ruiz, 15, and her boyfriend Samuel Martinez, 16. Both had bled to death.

Antemio Maya, president of the Street Dog Protection Association in Mexico City, said he doubts dogs could have killed the people found in the park.

“It’s not the behavior of street dogs to kill humans,” said Maya, adding that blaming street dogs for the deaths could make life difficult for the thousands of homeless dogs in the city.

“A lot of people get tired of their dogs and they simply throw them on the streets,” he said. “This is going to create a terrible hate for street dogs and that’s going to lead to even more abuse.”

It’s estimated that, in the city of 9 million people, the number of dogs range from 1.2 million to 3 million.

Mexico City Public Safety Secretary Jesus Rodriguez told Milenio Television that the four victims were not dumped in the area as some had suggested. He said all the bodies had bite wounds, and that the bites were inflicted both while they were alive and after they had died. He warned against visiting the park.

At least 100 police officers had trapped 25 dogs in the park by Monday night. (The photos in this post are of four of them.)

According to Maya, the trapped dogs included beagles, Maltese and poodles and most were probably abandoned pets or their offspring.

Experts will test the dogs’ hair for traces of human blood and also test their stomach contents. Authorities haven’t said what they plan to do with the dogs.

Previous attacks by feral dogs have occured in Mexico City’s famed Chapultepec Park, but none fatal. After one attack there, authorities rounded up dogs, spayed and neutered them, and then either returned them to the park or found them homes.

A heartless soul stole 7-year-old Mia Bendrat’s dog on Christmas Eve — scooping him off the sidewalk in front of a store in Manhattan where her owner’s left him tied.

Fortunately, a good-hearted one was out there, too.

Tina Cohen, a teacher, saw a man a couple of neighborhoods away trying to sell a dog on the street, circumstances that made her suspicious. She purchased the dog from him and, on Christmas day, returned the dog to the owners.

New York City police arrested the alleged thief, who they say took the Cavalier King Charles spaniel, named Marley, from outside a shop in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood, all under the eye of a surveillance camera.

“Thank you, the people of Washington Heights … Those great Samaritans… And now we got him on Christmas Day,” Mia’s mother Angie Estrada told WABC-TV.

Cohen, a high school Spanish teacher came across a man on Monday in another section of Manhattan standing on a street corner and yelling that he had a dog for sale.

“I said that’s not right. I said I’d like to buy the dog. I only have $100,” Cohen said.

When the man demanded more cash, Cohen went to a nearby Staples, bought some merchandise with her credit card, then returned it for cash.

She paid $200 for Marley and took him straight to a veterinarian, where he was identified through his microchip.

On Tuesday Cohen watched Marley jump into Mia’s arms.

“You guys belong together,” she said. “I’m so happy you are together.”

No word on whether Cohen got her $200 back, but — in the event Santa is listening, and maybe is willing to make a return trip — we’d say she deserves that and much more.

When nine-week-old Harper Brousseau stopped breathing during the night, a mutt named Duke woke up her parents.

Jenna Brousseau says Duke jumped up on her bed Sunday night, and woke up her and her husband with his shaking.

That was out of character for Duke, so the couple went to check on their daughter at their home in Connecticut to make sure everything was alright.

In the nursery, they found their daughter wasn’t breathing and called 911.

Paramedics were able to revive the baby, who’s now doing fine.

Add this grisly fish story to the annals of wrongly-accused pit bulls.

When the parents of an 18-month-old girl heard her cries and saw the tip of her finger had been severed, they immediately blamed the family pit bull.

They were wrong.

According to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, the parents were at home in Maine Township, Ill., one night last week when they heard their daughter’s screams, saw her bleeding finger and realized it was missing its tip.

They called 911 and an ambulance took the girl to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, where a doctor realized that, based on the looks of the wound, it wasn’t a dog bite after all, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Frank Bilecki, a sheriff’s office spokesman, said authorities called to inform the girl’s father, who was still at home, about that.

At that point — and we can only assume he didn’t do this with the pit bull, or the story would have mentioned it – the father plunged his hand into the fish bowl, grabbing one of family’s two piranhas.

“He grabbed a knife and cut it open and found her fingertip right there,” Bilecki said.

The piece of her finger was taken to the hospital. Doctors were trying to re-attach it.

Bilecki said he did not know if the tank was covered or how the child got access to it, but he said the mother and father are not facing any citations after the incident.

Onion, the mastiff-mix who attacked and killed a 1-year-old boy in Nevada has been spared from death, at least until Friday.

District Judge Rob Bare issued a restraining order to halt temporarily the scheduled Monday euthanization of the the 6-year-old mastiff-Rhodesian ridgeback mix.

“We’re thrilled,” said Richard Rosenthal, a New York-based lawyer who heads The Lexus Project, a national group that fights to spare dogs from destruction. Lawyers for the organization filed the motion for the temporary restraining order.

Bare scheduled a hearing for Friday morning on whether Onion should die, or get to live out his life at a sanctuary outside Denver that specializes in caring for large aggressive dogs, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported

Rosenthal said he hopes to negotiate with city animal control officials before then to settle the case and spare Onion’s life.

Rosenthal said the Colorado sanctuary has offered to take Onion. “The dog can stay there as long as need be, including the rest of his life, if it turns out there is an aggression issue.”

“Killing the dog will not bring back the baby,” he added.

Fox News in Las Vegas said the injunction came just hours before the dog was scheduled to be put down Tuesday.

Jeremiah Eskew-Shahan was killed late last month when his grandparent’s dog bit him on the head.

The judge’s order allows both sides to negotiate a settlement by Friday morning. Otherwise, the issue will be heard in district court where Judge Joanna Kirshner will make a ruling.

A group of dog lovers is working to persuade officials in Henderson, Nevada, to spare the life of a mastiff-Rhodesian ridgeback mix who bit and killed a 1-year-old boy last week.

Onion, six years old, is scheduled to be euthanized next week.

“This dog will never harm another soul,” said Les Golden, a Chicago-area dog rescuer who is leading the campaign to spare Onion. “The dog deserves to be saved.”

Golden told the Las Vegas Review Journal that he hopes a flood of supporters calling and emailing Mayor Andy Hafen will persuade him to stay the execution, which could happen Monday or Tuesday after the dog’s 10-day  quarantine.

Onion’s family voluntarily gave their pet to animal control officials for euthanization. “For what he did to my son, he deserves to be punished,” father Christopher Shahan said. “I’ve already accepted the fact that he’s dead.”

Jeremiah Eskew-Shahan was attacked by the dog on April 27 after the family had finished celebrating the boy’s first birthday. He crawled over to Onion and grabbed onto the 120-pound dog to help himself stand up, as his family said he had done many times before

Jeremiah’s grandmother, Elizabeth Keller, was leaning over to pick him up when Onion suddenly attacked. Jeremiah’s father and others freed the child about 30 seconds later and he was rushed to a nearby hospital. He died the next day at University Medical Center.

Henderson animal control officers declared Onion vicious, which requires euthanization following the state-mandated quarantine.

“The dog attacked and killed a child,” animal control spokesman Keith Paul said. “It would be irresponsible of us to allow this dog to be adopted out.”

Lisa Kavanaugh, said she would welcome Onion to her 35-acre ranch near Denver called Blue Lion Rescue, where he would remain for the rest of his life.

“If it’s an accident, why not give him a chance?” Kavanaugh said. “He’s never, ever going to get a chance to hurt anybody else.”

Onion had been with the family since he was a puppy and helped Keller through her battle with lung cancer. The dog had never shown aggression toward anyone, family members said.

“I would love him to be in a sanctuary the rest of his life, but what sort of punishment would that be for killing a human being?” the father said.

“Whispering” may suffice in his dealings with dogs, but, as some are reporting it, Cesar Millan is paying big bucks to ensure his now ex-wife’s silence.

“‘Dog Whisperer’ Cesar Millan silences canines with muzzles — and his ex-wife with cash,” is how the New York Post put it.

“It seems … Cesar Millan has been handed a slice of ruff justice by his former wife,” said the Daily Mail.

Under the terms of a divorce settlement, Millan will pay his ex-wife Illusion a lump sum of $400,000, $23,000  a month in spousal support and $10,000 per month in child support for their two  sons, TMZ reports.

In return, Illusion agrees to keep confidential any “intimate, personal and/or  private information about the other party . . . including details of their  personal and/or sexual relationships” and any “photograph, film, videotape, recording.”

Millan and his wife of 16 years separated in June 2010.

Toby, an autistic girl’s dog that was reported stolen last week, was found dead Sunday night.

The body of the dog – trained to help Kelly Noland’s daughter, Alle, 9, stay safe — was dumped in the family’s yard in Moncks Corner, S.C.

“They killed our dog and dropped it off in our yard,” Kelly Noland told the Charleston Post and Courier. “He had been hit in the face with a bat. He was still warm.”

Toby, a 3-year-old black and white American bull terrier, was taken from the family’s front yard last Tuesday.

Neighborhood children waiting for the morning school bus said they saw a blond woman in a black Dodge stop, snatch the dog and drive off, according to a Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office report.

“It’s just been a nightmare. Devastating, heartbreaking,” Noland said. “We want to know why someone would target our animal and target our family and be so heartless.”

The family got Toby as a puppy. He wasn’t professionally trained to be a service dog for Alle — the family says it can’t afford one of those — but he watched after her and made sure she stayed safe, the family said.

Noland thanked those who helped look for the dog, and those who have helped since his death, including a local crematory that offered its services for free.

Noland said the family has no plans to get another dog in the near future. “It’s just too much heartache,” she said.

(Top photo: Kelly Noland holds Toby’s collar as she sits with daughter, Alle; by Grace Beahm / Charleston Post and Courier)

Tell your heartstrings to prepare to be tugged.

Paul Wu was pulling his car out of the driveway in Kirkland, Washington, when he saw a small dog.

“He would not go away,” Wu said.

Wu stopped his car and the dog approached. Around the dog’s neck, attached to his collar, was a bone-shaped poop bag dispenser, inside of which was some money and a note.

Here’s what the note said:

“Please take care of Mr. B. He is a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel. Six years old. My parents got divorced and Mr. B was supposed to go to the pound. I think he has a better chance with you. This is my birthday money for any of his care. He is used to kids, not other dogs. He’s a good boy. I know God will take care of Mr. B – Everyone loves him…especially me. Thank you.”

Wu took the dog into work, where his colleague, Robert Kuchcinski, offered to help, according to KING 5 News in Seattle. Kuchcinski took the dog to a veterinarian, where Mr. B was found to be healthy except for some dry skin, and plugged ears.

Mr B. didn’t have a microchip, and lacked any identification that included his owner’s name or address.

Kuchcinski took the dog home to stay, introducing him to his wife and three children.

“I’d hate to be a kid making that choice,” he said. “It didn’t seem right that it would go to the pound.”

“All I want to do is let this person know, that we found him a good home. That’s the whole message,” said Wu.

Here’s KING 5′s report:

(Photos: KING 5 in Seattle)

Agatha Christie, a beloved — but apparently not by everybody — cat who has long called the Willamina Public Library home, must go, the city council voted last night.

The city council in Willamina, Oregon, voted 4-0 to evict the 14-year-old cat.

The council gave Head Librarian Melissa Hansen and Youth Services Librarian Denise Willms 10 days to find a new home for Agatha Christie.

It’s not the first time Agatha Christie has been on the verge of homelessness.

In the late fall of 2005, the council voted to ban all but guide animals from city-owned buildings. The community quickly rallied to the cat’s defense — and the council ended up making an exception for the cat, but not her hamster buddies, Hamlet and Othello.

Hamlet and Othello found new homes, and Agatha Christie remained in the library. (The controversy was also partially responsible an unsuccessful recall effort against then Mayor Rita Baller and two council members, according to Yamhill Valley News Register.)

Apparently, a local resident claims her two-year-old daughter was bitten and scratched by the declawed and mostly toothless old cat in late September. The cat was resting on a shelf in the library when the child approached and petted her.

“I’m not against animals, but I have a genuine concern,” one complaining resident said. “Animals get grouchy when they get older. I don’t think an animal should be roaming around a public building. The cat needs to live somewhere else. The library is a public building. I think there are allergy issues and sanitation issues. It’s not a good place for a cat to reside.”

Librarian Hansen was surprised by it all: ”She is the most laid back cat there is. She’s been declawed and she hardly has any teeth. She has to eat soft food … Anything a small child can do to an animal it’s been done to Agie. Over the years, I’ve seen all kinds of things happen to her. She has never gone on the offensive. She just gets away and hides under my desk.”