ohmidog!

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.)

The operator of the Almost Heaven dog kennel has withdrawn his guilty pleas to animal cruelty charges, choosing instead to stand trial in Lehigh County Court in Pennsylvania.

Judge Robert L. Steinberg, who was scheduled to sentence Derbe “Skip” Eckhart , instead approved his request to withdraw guilty pleas that had been entered in court on Sept. 22. The judge ordered Eckhart’s bail increased to $25,000 and ordered him to stop working as a dog groomer pending the outcome of the trial, according to the Allentown Morning Call. “Your employment involving animals is now at an end,” the judge said.

Eckhart’s, who has prior animal cruelty convictions from 1988 and 1993, is facing four new counts in connection with the  operation of Almost Heaven Kennel in Upper Milford Township. The kennel was shut down in June following mounting complaints and dog law violations, and more than 200 dogs were seized.

When the trial does take place, it’s a safe bet the American Kennel Club won’t be testifying on his behalf.

According to a letter the AKC sent to the Lehigh County Probation Department, the non-profit organization has suspended his membership — three times.

The letter, as reported by columnist Bill White in his blog for the Morning Call, recounts that the AKC initially suspended Eckhart in 1988 after his conviction animal cruelty conviction, then extended the suspension to 25 years after learning in 1994 of another conviction in 1991. In May 2002, the AKC received information that Derbe Eckhart had sought the AKC seal of approval under the name ‘Skip’ Eckhart.

Upon learning he had managed to circumvent the suspension, the AKC took Eckhart to court, where an order was issued prohibiting him from claiming any affiliation with the AKC.  He was also ordered to pay AKC $8,910.21, but has not done so, the letter said.

Derbe “Skip” Eckhart, former operator of Pennsylvania’s Almost Heaven Kennel, faces up to three years in prison after pleading guilty in Lehigh County Court yesterday to animal cruelty and multiple dog law violations.

Eckhart also faces fines of up to $7,500 under a plea agreement reached with the Lehigh County District Attorney’s office.

The kennel in Upper Milford Township was shut down in June.

Eckhart pleaded guilty to two counts of animal cruelty, three counts of violating a cease and desist order and failing to remove 216 dogs from the kennel after the period to appeal his denied operating license expired, the Allentown Morning Call reported.

Prosecutor Jay Jenkins said that under the agreement, Eckhart does not intend to be involved in any other kennel, but would like to keep some of his personal animals and continue working as a groomer at a Fogelsville business.

Judge Robert L. Steinberg will determine that, and Eckhart’s sentence, at a Nov. 16 hearing.

A man who beat his girlfriend’s dog to death last year was sentenced in California to six months in county jail Tuesday.

Ryan Reeser, 27, of Burlingame, repeatedly punched Godiva, a 7-pound miniature pinscher, dislodged an eye from its socket and then let the dog bleed to death, prosecutors said.

He pleaded no contest to one count of felony animal cruelty in San Mateo County Superior Court after striking a plea bargain with prosecutors, according to the Oakland Tribune.

Reeser’s girlfriend’s father found Godiva dead in a plastic storage container a few blocks from Reeser’s apartment. 

Reeser had been mad at his girlfriend and annoyed with the dog, which nipped him, spurring the fatal attack, prosecutors said.

Reeser faced a maximum of three years in jail. Under the plea agreement, he will be on probation for three years after serving his six-month sentence.

An Ohio firefighter sentenced to 90 days in jail for killing his dogs has now lost his fire department job.

Columbus Public Safety Director Mitchell Brown said today that he has decided to terminate 43-year-old David Santuomo on the recommendation of the fire chief, according to an Associated Press report.

The thousands of messages the department received demanding the firefighter be stripped of his job probably played a role as well.

Santuomo pleaded guilty last month to three misdemeanors, including two animal cruelty counts. Prosecutors say Santuomo tied his two mixed-breed dogs to a pipe in his basement and shot them in December so he wouldn’t have to put them up in a kennel while he went on vacation.

Mayor Don Call pleaded innocent to two felony counts of animal cruelty in the February shooting of a McCune resident’s two dogs.

Call was bound over for trial after a preliminary hearing Monday in Crawford County District Court, according to the Joplin Globe.

Crawford County Attorney Michael Gayoso said he filed the felony charges because he believes the dogs were killed maliciously. Call, who says he killed the dogs after receiving a report that they were chasing a neighbor’s children, is also charged with the illegal discharge of a firearm, a misdemeanor.

Call didn’t seek re-election as mayor of McCune in April, but won it anyway, when the 98 write-in votes he received were enough to beat the only candidate on the ballot.

According to Crawford County Sheriff’s Department reports, witnesses said Call fired three times from his vehicle, driving around the block between each shot. The owners of the dogs says they were chained at the time. Evidence submitted during the hearing included the rifle allegedly used by Call.

The misdemeanor count carries a penalty of 30 days of jail time and a fine of $500. The felony counts carry a penalty of up to a year in jail, and a fine of up to $5,000.

The trial is scheduled for December.

Abby Toll, the University of Colorado student accused of taping her boyfriend’s dog, Rex, to the refrigerator during an argument, entered a not guilty plea to animal cruelty and drug charges Friday.

Toll arrived at the Boulder County Justice Center to see animal-lovers, many with their pets, toting signs demanding justice for Rex.

Toll, 20, who is now is living in Chicago, had the drug charge filed against her after police said they found heroin on her when she was booked into Boulder County Jail on April 14, according to Coloradodaily.com.

Toll’s attorney, George Kokus, said he might file a change-of-venue request because “of the amount of hate mail we’ve received.” He said Toll’s case should be viewed as a “domestic violence” matter and said “she was the human victim.”

Her boyfriend, Brian Beck, 21, also faces misdemeanor animal-cruelty and false-imprisonment charges. Kokus said Beck wouldn’t let Toll leave their apartment and took away her cell phone.

“How would any woman react?” he said.

(Editorial comment: I can think of several alternatives that might be slightly more effective than taping a dog to the refrigerator.)

Beck is scheduled to accept a plea deal on his charges July 15. Toll is due back in court for a motions hearing Oct. 27.

Toll was arrested April 14 on suspicion of binding her boyfriend’s 2-year-old shiba inu, Rex, in packing tape and sticking him upside-down to the refrigerator during a fight. At the time of her arrest, Toll told police, “I know this looks bad. We were going to get rid of him anyway. We usually don’t do this.”

Rex is now in a new home in Castle Rock. Her new owners held a contest in May to rename the abused puppy. Online voters chose Yoshi — a Japanese word for “good luck.”

The owners of a Las Vegas-based company that supplied wheat gluten tainted with melamine to pet food makers have agreed to plead guilty in connection with the widespread scandal that may have killed thousands of dogs and cats in 2007.

Stephen S. Miller, and his wife Sally Miller, co-owners of ChemNutra Inc., reached a plea agreement with prosecutors and will plead guilty at a hearing June 16, according to the Associated Press.

The information was contained in a court filing, and attorneys did not immediately respond to the AP’s calls seeking comment Tuesday. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office said the office couldn’t discuss any plea agreement until it had been approved by a judge.

The Millers and ChemNutra, along with two Chinese companies, were indicted in February 2008 on charges alleging they imported wheat gluten tainted with the chemical melamine, which was then sold to pet food makers. Thousands of cats and dogs reportedly sickened or died after eating the tainted food.

Read more »

An FBI agent who shot and killed a Chihuahua named Sassy in front of his Texas home says he deserves probation.

Amazingly, if a judge approves, that’s the sentence he’ll get.

Lovett Leslie Ledger Jr., 40, who lives near Lorena, pleaded no contest to animal cruelty charges in exchange for a recommendation from prosecutors that he be placed on probation for two years, according to the Waco Tribune.

The 3-pound dog, which belonged to a neighboring 8-year-old girl, was shot in the neck, just above her rhinestone collar, in February of 2008.

A neighbor, who witnessed the shooting when she went to investigate why her dogs were barking, said Ledger shot the dog with a pellet rifle, as one of his children watched.

Ledger initially lied to investigators about the dog’s death but later told deputies he shot the animal, according to court records. Ledger and his attorney both declined comment after a brief plea hearing Monday, the Tribune reported. The judge has set sentencing in the case for June 23.

After an appeal from Pamela Anderson the Indian Supreme Court has issued a ruling against killing stray dogs in Mumbai.

The former Baywatch star appealed to the authorities in India’s financial capital not to put down nuisance stray dogs, instead calling for them to be sterilized.

“It is well established that killing stray dogs is not a permanent solution to controlling their populations,” the former “Baywatch” star said in a letter to the municipal commission of Greater Mumbai, made pubic by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

About 70,000 stray dogs are in India’s financial and entertainment capital and there are widespread concerns about the spread of diseases, including deadly rabies.

Anderson’s letter, which cited World Health Organization and Animal Health Board of India support for mass sterilisation, cam after a legal ruling here to destroy nuisance dogs.

Anderson’s stance was supported by the Mumbai-based charity Welfare of Stray Dogs, which has been carrying out mass sterilization of stray dogs since 1989.

India has so many dogs roaming its streets because of its high numbers of slum and street dwellers, who often keep the animals as pets, plus a large amount of garbage, which provides readily accessible food for scavenging mutts, according to an AFP report.

India’s Supreme Court ruled Friday that a dog can be put down only if it is rabid, mortally wounded or incurably ill.