ohmidog!

A Florida man will serve 40 days in jail for tying a 30-pound dumbbell to a dog’s neck and tossing him in the river.

Willie T. Bell, 41, of Palmetto, told police he was trying to make the dog stronger.

He pleaded no contest to the third-degree felony earlier this week, the Bradenton Herald reported.

Police in April spotted the two-year-old pit bull mix, named Blackie, in the Manatee River, not far from where Bell was fishing.

According to Palmetto police officer Micah Mathews’ report, the dogs snout was sticking up as it tried to tread water.

“Mr. Bell said he was trying to make the dog stronger,” Mathews wrote.
“The dog was unable to touch the ground and was not able to move the weight,” the officer wrote. “When I arrived I could see only the nose of the dog out of the water.”

On the officer’s request, Bell brought the dog to shore. Bell told the officer the dog had been swimming in place for about 15 minutes.

Mathews asked Bell the same question that’s probably running through your mind right now: Would he like to be anchored to a dumbbell and left in the water like that? Bell replied, “Hell no,” the police report states.

Bell was not the dog’s owner, animal control officials said.

The dog was returned to its original owner and animal control officials said it suffered no lasting physical damage.

A roommate of accused serial dog killer Andrew Thompson testified that at least eight Italian greyhounds mysteriously disappeared from their house, and that one of them died as he and Thompson watched.

Thompson, a former Michigan State University medical student, is charged with torturing and killing more than a dozen dogs in two different jurisdictions.

After a preliminary hearing Thursday, a judge ordered Thompson’s case in Meridian Township back to circuit court where he’ll face trial on nine felony counts of animal abuse, WLNS reported.

MSU student Jacob Dreyer testified that he saw Thompson throw one dog across the room, watched Thompson carry another one’s body outside in a garbage bag, and watched as yet another one died.

“It was hyperventilating, trying to catch a breath. At that time I grabbed my laptop and we were trying to look up an emergency vet and within minutes the first dog had died,” he said.

Dreyer said another dog was thrown by Thompson after it bit his face.

“He took the dog and threw it clear across the room and it went and hid behind the TV. It was shaking and whimpering,” the roommate testified.

A third dog was left in the home for “a day or two” before Thompson removed it, he said. “I did see the third dog dead on the floor. I spoke with him multiple times to take care of the deceased body.”

Dreyer said he told no one except his girlfriend and parents about the incident, because he was afraid of what Thompson might do.

Upon hearing Dreyer’s testimony, a District Judge Donald Allen ruled there was enough evidence to take the case to trial and reinstated six of the seven felony counts that a circuit judge threw out.

In all, Thompson, accused of killing dogs at residences in two different jurisdictions, faces 13 counts of animal killing and torture.

Seven counts in the Meridian Township case previously had been sent back to district court after a circuit court judge ruled previous testimony by one of Thompson’s friends was inadmissable. The friend was unable to appear at the initial preliminary hearing.

Thompson, who has been suspended from MSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, still faces three charges in East Lansing in connection with the alleged killing of three other dogs there.

According to the State News, Dreyer told the court that Thompson would give newly acquired dogs the same names as his former ones, including two different greyhounds named Chloe, and three who went by Angie or Angelino.

Thompson has been free on $50,000 bond and staying with friends in Okemos, where he is under a curfew and wears a monitor.

The trial of Andrew David Thompson, intially accused of killing 13 Italian greyhounds — now officially charged with only six of those deaths – has been indefinitely postponed.

Judge Paula Manderfield quashed seven of the 13 counts of animal killing and torture against the former Michigan State University medical student on Wednesday, ruling they were based on hearsay testimony.

As a result, prosecutors are regrouping, and the Dec. 5 start date for his trial is up in the air.

The evidence in question regards the number of puppies Thompson owned while living in one of the two residences where he was alleged to have killed the dogs.

Ingham County Animal Cruelty Investigator Jodi LeBombard interviewed Thompson’s former roommate, who told her he knew of seven dogs Thompson had owned while they shared a residence. LeBombard recounted what the roommate said in an earlier hearing.

In a pre-trial motion, Thompson’s attorney argued that — since the roommate was out of town and didn’t appear in court — LeBombard’s testimony was hearsay and shouldn’t have been deemed inadmissable.

Judge Manderfield concurred and quashed seven of the 13 counts Thompson faced.

As of Wednesday evening, Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings had not decided whether to appeal the ruling or send the counts back to district court so the roommate can testify, the State News reported.

(Photo: Dogbreedinfo.com)

Police in Sussex, England, are investigating the death of beagle-collie mix who was dragged behind a Porsche — for up to six miles, and at speeds approaching 70 miles per hour.

A police source told the Telegraph that detectives are looking into whether the incident may have been triggered by a domestic dispute between the dog’s owners.

A 33-year-old man from West Sussex whose name wasn’t made public turned himself in yesterday and is being held and questioned, police said.

The car was seen dragging the dog by its leash Sunday near Brighton, first by a citizen and later by a police officer. The body of the dog was later found near the Southwick Tunnel.

“This is being treated as a deliberate act,” a police spokesperson said. “The injuries this dog suffered were horrific. It has been distressing for everyone involved.”

The attorney for Andrew David Thompson, the former Michigan State University student charged with killing 13 Italian greyhounds, is seeking to suppress incriminating statements Thompson made during questioning by an animal control deputy.

Thompson’s trial is scheduled to begin Dec. 5.

In Ingham County Circuit Court yesterday, Judge Paula Manderfield heard arguments from Stacia Buchanan, who said her client was not read his Miranda rights by the animal control deputy who questioned him.

Prosecutor Jeff Cruz argued that Thompson was not coerced or threatened during the interview and had every opportunity to leave if he wanted, and that the evidence regarding the dogs was allowed in a preliminary hearing.

Animal control deputy Jodi LeBombard testified in a preliminary hearing that Thompson told her during questioning that he killed the dogs out of anger, mostly by throwing them to the ground, against a wall or by grabbing them by the neck and beating them.

He purchased the dogs mostly over the Internet from breeders.

The judge said she would review video of the interview and transcripts from the preliminary hearing before making a decision, according to the Lansing State Journal.

Thompson, 24, who is suspended from MSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, faces 13 felony in two counties on charges of animal killing or torture in the deaths of the Italian greyhound puppies from September 2010 to June of 2011.

(Photo: Lansing State Journal)

A pit bull in Missouri was dragged behind a car, tied to a pole and set on fire.

And if that weren’t horrendous enough, KFVS News called it, “a case of alleged animal cruelty.”

Alleged?

Bollinger County Sheriff Leo McElrath said the charred animal carcass found on County Road 318 near Marble Hill was in such bad shape, investigators almost couldn’t determine it was a dog.

Deputies buried the dog (and with it, I’d guess, the evidence its body might have provided) where they found it.

McElrath said a man came into the department Saturday morning to report seeing a dead animal tied to a post.

“It made my deputies sick to even find this kind of thing,” said McElrath. “It really upset all of us to think someone would treat a dog like that.”

“I was shocked to hear that something of this magnitude happened in Bollinger County,” said Marilyn Neville with the Bollinger County Stray Project. “I just still can’t believe it, I can’t believe it happened in this county.”

Neville urged residents to take extra cautions with their pets on Halloween.

A Facebook page has been set up in the unknown dog’s memory.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake tomorrow will kick off a campaign urging young people to “Show Your Soft Side” when it comes to cats and dogs.

The campaign was developed to combat the alarming incidence of animal cruelty in Baltimore, with most of the abuse being perpetrated by teens.

“Only a punk would hurt a cat or dog,” is one of its messages.

The campaign is one offshoot of the Mayor’s Anti-Animal Abuse Advisory Commission, which examined ways to change the mindset of young people who often view the maiming and torturing of defenseless dogs and cats as a sign of “toughness” or “manhood.”

The campaign attempts to put forth the message that “being a man,” has  many facets to it, including a “soft side” when it comes to animals.

Because research shows that kids who abuse animals often graduate to even more violent crimes, the campaigns goal is to reach children early.

The campaign will showcase several Baltimore men as role models, when it comes to animals, including Baltimore Oriole Adam Jones, MMA fighter John Rallo, and Baltimore Raven Jarret Johnson (pictured above with his dog, Tucker, in one of the campaign posters).

They will be appearing with their pets on billboards and print ads that make the point that ”only a punk” would hurt a cat or dog.

Pets are invited to the campaign’s launch, at 9:30 a.m. Thursday (Sept. 29) in the plaza outside City Hall, 100 N. Holliday Street.

The campaign is made possible by funding from Eddie’s of Roland Park, Fullmoon Marketing & Events, Kirk Designs, Inc. and Media Works, Ltd.

For more information, visit the campaign’s Facebook page.

The retrial of twin brothers Travers and Tremayne Johnson, accused of setting a pit bull on fire in Baltimore way back in 2009, has been delayed again.

Now it’s scheduled for Nov. 18, which will be nearly two and a half years after the incident.

Attempts to save the young female pit bull, later named Phoenix, were unsuccessful and she died five days later.

Their first trial ended with a hung jury when jurors could not reach a unanimous decision. One juror believed the evidence presented didn’t prove they were guilty.

Prosecutors filed charges against the brothers again, and the new trial was scheduled for May, then postponed until September.

The case led to the creation of an anti-animal abuse task force by then-mayor Sheila Dixon. That task force has since become a city commission.

Andrew David Thompson, the Michigan State University student accused of slaying 13 Italian greyhounds, told investigators he killed them “out of anger,” according to court transcripts obtained by the Lansing State Journal.

The 24-year-old osteopathic medicine student, since suspended by the university, said he killed the dogs by throwing them to the ground or against a wall and by grabbing them by the neck and beating them.

“He (said) that he has killed every single one of these dogs except for two,” Ingham County Animal Control Deputy Jodi LeBombard testified at a June 24 hearing in 55th District Court that led to charges.

Thompson is charged with killing 13 dogs since September 2010.

Typically, he’d put a deceased dog in a garbage bag, along with its clothes, collars and other items, LeBombard testified. “He would cry all the way to the Dumpster, and throw it in the Dumpster,” she said.

Thompson faces 10 felony counts of animal killing in 55th District Court in Mason and three additional counts of animal killing in East Lansing’s 54B District Court. The charges are punishable by up to four years in prison.

He is being held at the Ingham County Jail on a $500,000 bond in the East Lansing case and a $100,000 bond in the Mason case.

Thompson faces an additional count of animal neglect because at least one of the dogs survived.

Officials didn’t say where Thompson bought the Italian greyhounds, a small and delicate breed that typically weighs 7 to 14 pounds.

According to the transcripts, Thompson was seeing a psychiatrist, who expressed concern that Thompson might be a suicide risk.

On his Facebook page, Thompson, who has 790 “friends,” says he attended Phoenix Christian High School in Arizona, then the University of Southern California, where his major was biochemistry. He lists his favorite book as The Bible and his interests as snowboarding and reading The Economist.

The investigation began on June 14, when animal control officials received an anonymous complaint that Thompson had been seen with numerous dogs that kept disappearing.

Several days later, investigators searched Thompson’s Okemos apartment and found a severely injured puppy in the closet.

Authorities also found evidence Thompson bought the dogs from outside Michigan and had them transported via airplane in carriers. Thompson previously lived in Goodyear, Ariz.

In a June 22 interview, Thompson told LeBombard he killed the dogs out of frustration or anger, often sparked when they defecated on his floor, urinated in his bed or wouldn’t come to him when he called them.

“And he got frustrated they didn’t want to stay with him,” LeBombard said, according to transcripts. “And that made him upset.”

A Philadelphia man was jailed on animal cruelty charges after allegedly using a chain to severely beat a dog that his stepmother told him to “get rid of.”

Antique Benjamin, 27, of the 2100 block of Dagget Street, was arrested last week on charges of cruelty to animals, disorderly conduct and dog abandonment, The Delaware County Times reported.

The dog, a shepherd-pit bull mix named Skyye, survived.

Witnesses flagged down a Darby police officer last Wednesday and told him they had seen the dog being beaten with a chain until it stopped moving, near Main Street and MacDade Boulevard. The witnesses said that when the suspect walked across MacDade Boulevard trying to leave the dog behind, the dog got up and began following him.

The suspect returned and beat the dog some more, police said.

Officers, while interviewing the witnesses, saw a man with a chain. When they questioned him, officers said, he admitted beating the dog and said he did so because his stepmother told him to “get rid of it.”

The dog was taken to the Delaware County SPCA and treated for head wounds.

“She is very, very sweet. The minute she walked in, she climbed into the lap of one of our staff members,” a spokesperson said. “She is pretty resilient.”

SPCA officials said Skyye was receiving pain medication and is being closely monitored at the shelter. Until she is formally turned over to the SPCA, Skyye is still the property of Benjamin’s stepmother and is not available for adoption.

Benjamin’s preliminary hearing is scheduled this afternoon.