ohmidog!

A former animal control officer in Mississippi accused of shooting stray dogs and dumping their bodies in a creek has been charged, according to the Madison County District Attorney.

Last week, the Canton Police Department filed affidavits with the Canton Justice Court against Alonzo Esco for misdemeanor charges of unlawful killing of animals.

Esco was the city of Canton’s animal control officer. As a law enforcement officer, he will have to have a probable cause hearing before a judge before the case can be prosecuted, WAPT in Jackson reports.

A Madison County grand jury failed to indict Esco on felony charges and felt that the charges were misdemeanors and better handled in justice court, the district attorney said.

Esco was fired in January after home video surfaced that allegedly showed dozens of animal carcasses dumped in a creek in Canton. Since then, a group of residents has demanded that Esco be charged.

Baton Rouge Zoo officials think a pack of wild dogs may be responsible for the Sunday night deaths of 17 flamingos, more than a third of the zoo’s flock.

Despite having 24-hour security, the zoo didn’t discover the deaths until staff arrived for work Monday morning,  Phil Frost, zoo director, told The Advocate.

Zoo officials don’t know how the dogs got into the zoo, or through an additional fence and into the flamingo enclosure, but they said canine paw prints were detected.

Besides the 17 flamingos killed, one more bird was injured in the attack and was being treated at the zoo’s hospital, said Mary Wood, the zoo’s marketing director.

The remaining 30 members of the flock who survived were back on display Monday. Zoo officials aren’t sure how they managed to survive the attack.

Authorities have no plans to pursue charges against a Mississippi animal control officer suspected of shooting dogs and dumping their carcasses — more than 100 of them — into a creek.

A Madison County grand jury recommended Alzonzo Esco, who worked for the city of Canton, be tried on misdemeanor animal cruelty and illegal dumping charges.

District Attorney Michael Guest, however, said an arrest warrant couldn’t be issued until signed statements from police investigators were turned in.

And that’s not likely to happen. Canton Police Chief Vickie McNeill said she will not authorize her investigator to file the paperwork because he did not actually see Esco commit any crimes, the Madison County Herald reported.

“There are standards regarding a felony, and there are standards regarding a misdemeanor,” McNeill said. “By the standards of a misdemeanor, you must actually see the crime in action to file an affidavit. None of the officers saw any of the dogs having anything being done to them.

“At this point, I don’t see any further action being taken on it,” she said, but if somebody brings it to my attention that there is a way, I’m willing to listen.”

Esco, who worked as an animal control officer in Canton for three years, was fired by the Board of Aldermen on McNeill’s recommendation.

The 4-year-old  step-daughter of Jesse Browning from The History Channel’s series “Ax Men” has died from injuries her family said she received when she was attacked by their Rottweiler.

Clatsop County Sheriff Tom Bergin says Ashlynn Anderson was found by her mother, badly injured on their lawn of their home just outside Astoria, Ore.,  on Sunday.

Jesse Browning called 911.  Paramedics tried to save the girl’s life and she was transported by helicopter to Oregon Health and Science University hospital in Portland. She was pronounced dead on arrival.

Though Clatsop County Sheriff Tom Bergin said only one of the two family dogs mauled the girl, but both were taken from the home at the request of the family. The couple also has another child, age 1, living in the home.

Deputies transported the dogs to the Clatsop County animal shelter where they are quarantined.

According to TV station KATU,  the family contacted the Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office about four months ago to report a third dog who bit a adult family member. That dog was reportedly destroyed.

Poisoned meatballs are believed to have killed three dogs in a Spokane neighborhood last week

Several more batches were found Monday on streets in the South Hill neighborhood, KREM-TV reported, though no more pets were reported to have died or fallen ill.

On Friday, one woman saw her dog eat some meatballs on the street and then go into convulsions before dying. A man also had two of his dogs die Friday after eating the meatballs.

Washington State University veterinarians tested a meatball found near the woman’s property last week and confirmed the harmful chemical strychnine was found in it.

Local animal welfare agencies are investigating the incidents and urging pet owners to watch closely over their pets while outside.

The Humane Society of the United States is offering a reward up to $2,500 for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the poisonings.

A former animal control officer in Hoosick, N.Y., admitted in court last week that he shot and killed stray or loose dogs and buried them in a manure pile on his farm.

Matthew Beck, 46, pleaded guilty to official misconduct, larceny, cruelty to animals and violating environmental regulations.

According to the Albany Times Union, he will spend 10 days confined to home with a monitoring device, two weekends in jail and be placed on three years’ probation.

The case began last spring when a local resident, April Stevens, learned that Beck had picked up her two missing dogs. The dogs never showed up in the local animal shelter, though.

Investigators went to Beck’s farm, dug through his manure pile and discovered several dog carcasses, including two skulls with bullet holes which were determined to have been owned by another resident. Stevens’ dogs were never found but Beck pleaded guilty to the larceny charge in connection to their disappearance, as well as other misdemeanors.

“This is not what we really wanted. We wanted to see him do some real jail time,” said Stevens, who was wearing pictures of her dogs pinned to her shirt.  “At least there is some jail time to give him an opportunity to think about what he did.”

 
They left the choppers at home (too cold), but members of Rescue Ink arrived in Pennsylvania Friday to help search for the killer of a Chester County family’s two dogs — and promote their TV show at the same time.

The tattooed stars of National Geographic’s TV show “Rescue Ink Unleashed” greeted fans at the Chester County SPCA, and later Friday night at a town hall meeting.

Then they set out to search for the killer of Emma and Luna, two dogs found slain in October.

The dogs were reported missing from a Pocopson Township farm on Oct. 25 and were found later that day several miles away in Pennsbury Township by a resident walking in the woods near railroad tracks along the Brandywine Creek, Britton said. The dogs were shot between the eyes and lined up tail to tail.

Rescue Ink had this message for the perpetrator: “Come find us before we find you.”

Joe Panz, one of the members, said the group plans to spend several days canvassing Chester County neighborhoods. “We’re street guys; we know how to get information from people,” he said.

Members of the New York-based group chatted with visitors at the SPCA Friday, many of them members of the animal-rescue community, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Anyone with information about Emma and Luna is asked to call the Chester County SPCA at 610-692-6113, Ext. 213. A $50,000 reward has been posted.

(Photo: Courtesy of National Geographic Channel)

A six-inch wide piece of steel pipe had sat in Kay Simmons backyard in Colorado for a long time, but only this week did her wolf-dog hybrid, Marina, decide, for reasons unknown, to stick her head in it.

The 3-year-old dog is recovering from cuts, scrapes and bruises after spending more than seven hours Tuesday with her skull wedged in the 8-foot-long pipe.

“It was a pretty terrible day,” Simmons, 73, told the Boulder Daily Camera Wednesday before leaving to pick up her pet from the veterinarian.

On Friday, though the Daily Camera reported that Simmons has had a lot of terrible days:

She has a lengthy history of animal violations, and last year authorities killed five of her wolf-dogs after they attacked neighborhood pets, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

Simmons,  who lives on the Boulder County side of the border with Jefferson County, has at least four open “animal violation” cases in Jefferson County, into which her wolf hybrids sometimes wander.

“She has the largest file in the office,” said Camille Paczosa, animal control officer and supervisor.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office has taken more than 50 complaints about Simmons’ wolf-dogs and charged her dozens of times since 1985. The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office has taken at least 16 reports of “dangerous animals at large” and similar violations since 1986.

One neighbor said he’s glad the animal is OK, but he finds it “ironic, if not insulting,” that the Sheriff’s Office and firefighters spent so much time and money “to save one of these animals but let the documented hazard to humans go on for almost 15 years.”

Simmons told authorities this week that one of her dogs started “making a racket” about noon Tuesday. When she went outside she found Marina squirming to free herself from the pipe.

Nearly 20 people from the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, the Coal Creek Fire Department and the Boulder Emergency Squad tried to free her, using everything from vegetable oil to a spatula. Finally, one of the firefighters — who also works as a plumber — used a pipe saw to cut off most of the steel, leaving just one foot of pipe covering the dog’s head. That allowed crews to transport her safely to the veterinary clinic.

Once at the clinic, a “grinding tool” was used to cut a triangle out of the pipe. When Marina was finally freed from the pipe she “sprang up” and appeared to be fine. She’s expected to make a full recovery.

But Wednesday’s feel-good story took a turn later in the week.

Steve McAdoo, who has lived near Simmons for about six years, told the Daily Camera he’s afraid for his 3- and 5-year-old children’s lives after four of Simmons’ wolf-dogs “ripped to shreds and almost killed” his 35-pound spaniel, Molly, in August.

After the attack on that same night, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, the wolf-dogs attacked other animals and caused property damage. As a result, the Sheriff’s Office killed five of the hybrids.

“Two weeks later, she got five more,” McAdoo said. “And she’s been doing this for years.”

In August 2003, Jefferson County animal control officers took three of Simmons’ wolf-dogs and charged her with having a dangerous dog. In 2000, authorities took a report of a dog being killed by wolves in that area, but they were unable to identify the wolves that attacked, according to Jefferson County officials.

(Photo: Paul Aiken/Boulder Daily Camera)

Steven Clay Romero — accused in dragging a dog named Buddy to his death at Colorado National Monument– pleaded not guilty to animal cruelty charges in federal court Wednesday.

His sister, 32-year-old Melissa Lockhart, failed to appear at her hearing, and a warrant for her arrest was issued.

Romero is accused of dragging the dog for three miles behind his pick-up truck last month. Lockhart, who allegedly stole the dog from a couple in Delta, reportedly told Romero to get rid of Buddy after he mauled a family cat. She is also charged with animal cruelty.

In court yesterday, Romero’s attorney asked for more time to review the case. He told the judge he has received more than 930 pages of discovery evidence including numerous CD’s and DVD’s, according to KJCT in Grand Junction.

Before the hearing, supporters of Buddy delivered to the U.S. District Attorney petitions with more than 100,000 signatures the suspects receive the maximum sentence if convicted.

(For our previous posts on Buddy, click here.)

An Ohio firefighter who was fired for executing his two dogs walked out of an appeal hearing yesterday in which he was seeking to get his job back.

As a result, the Civil Service Commission dismissed David Santuomo’s appeal of his firing, the Columbus Dispatch reports.

Santuomo, 43, was waiting for the hearing to begin, but left after a television news crew set up a camera in the commission’s hearing room.

“He came here with the intention of going forward but changed his mind,” said Barbara McGrath, the commission’s executive director. The commission had agreed to postpone the original hearing in the fall and informed Santuomo that his appeal would be dismissed if he didn’t attend today’s hearing.

Santuomo was fired in July after being convicted of two counts of animal cruelty and one count of possession of a criminal tool. Prosecutors say Santuomo tied his two mixed-breed dogs to a pipe in his basement and shot them so he wouldn’t have to put them in a kennel while he went on a vacation cruise with his girlfriend. He dumped the bodies in a trash bin behind his fire station

He was sentenced to 90 days in jail and fined $4,500.