Federal police officer shot dog in Arundel park

By Jill Rosen and Brent Jones, The Baltimore Sun

Stunned dog owners and residents of a Severn neighborhood are shocked that authorities won’t be charging a federal police officer who shot and killed a Siberian husky Monday night at a community dog park.

Bear-Bear, a brown and white husky that was about 3 years old, was playing in the Quail Run dog park at about 6:30 p.m., running off leash inside the fenced-in area, when the officer and his wife arrived with a German shepherd, who was kept on a leash. When the dogs began to play roughly, the federal officer asked Bear-Bear’s guardian, his owner’s brother, to call off the dog. But before he could do anything, the officer pulled out a gun and shot Bear-Bear, according to the husky’s owner.

Bear-Bear, who belongs to Rachel Rettaliata, died of his injuries a few hours later. County police did not name the federal officer.

“I’ve been bawling my eyes out since 7 p.m. last night,” Rettaliata said. “It’s grief mixed with anger. We’re so angry this guy was able to take our animal for what we feel was no reason at all.

“We still don’t believe that he’s gone. We just want so badly to be diligent about this. [The officer] has to pay some sort of consequence for his foolishness.”

A spokesman for the Anne Arundel County Police Department said no charges will be filed and investigators found no evidence of criminal activity.

Rettaliata adopted Bear-Bear about two years ago from a husky rescue. He’d been seized from a Delaware home where people had tied him up outside, largely leaving him to fend for himself in the elements.

Tiffany Greco, who fostered the young Bear-Bear and placed him with the Rettaliata family, said the husky had led a hard-knock life, starved and neglected, with mats in his long fur the size of softballs. But even though he was mistreated, she said he never became aggressive around people or dogs.

“He was a very lovey-dovey, happy-go-lucky guy,” Greco said, adding that Bear-Bear at least had a taste of a good life with the Rettaliatas. “All this dog wanted to do was curl up on top of you.”

She said that huskies have a rough way of playing that, to people who don’t know them, can seem intimidating.

“They have a much different play style than other dogs,” she said. “They’re a rough-and-tumble breed. They’re mouthy. Often people interpret that as being aggressive when it’s really them just playing.”

In the Quail Run community of townhomes, a number of residents have dogs that they walk to the community dog park. Neighbors say the park is generally an easygoing place where well-mannered dogs play with one another.

Bear-Bear was a regular there.

Tarnna Hernandez saw Bear-Bear all the time. She lives two doors down from the Rettaliatas and Bear-Bear plays with her children and Marshmallow, her year-and-a-half-old Dalmatian/Australian shepherd mix.

“I’ve never personally seen him be aggressive toward any dog or human or anything, for that matter,” Hernandez said. “My two very young children love Bear-Bear and would attack him every time they saw him with hugs and love.”

She can’t believe Bear-Bear would ever do anything to deserve being shot.

“I have not seen that dog hurt anyone. Or snarl. He’s never even barked,” she said. “His only way was to get out a gun out and shoot him? Uh-uh. It’s completely unbelievable.”

Dorothy Pearce, the homeowner’s association manager, was appalled that someone would fire a gun in the community dog park — at dinnertime.

“This is tragic,” she said. “A community of homeowners with children playing around should not have gun-crazy, off-duty policemen shooting in their area, especially a dog in a controllable situation.”

Rettaliata said that after the officer shot Bear-Bear, the dog didn’t yelp or cry, just lay down in the grass, bleeding heavily. “He just went and laid down,” she said. “I just can’t get over it and I don’t think it’s being taken seriously because it was an animal involved.”

Carolyn Kilborn, chairwoman of the organization Maryland Votes for Animals, based in nearby Annapolis, thought the authorities should be investigating the case thoroughly.

“The killing of the dog in Severn is a sad situation that should be investigated carefully to determine if the incident was caused by a dangerous dog or a dangerous person,” she said.

Mass. First State In Nation To Ban Surgery

POSTED: 11:38 am EDT July 19, 2010
UPDATED: 12:02 pm EDT July 19, 2010

BOSTON — A controversial surgery that stops dogs from barking and cats from meowing will soon be illegal in Massachusetts. On Wednesday, the first-in-the-nation ban on devocalization surgery will go into effect on the Bay State.

The surgery involves cutting an animal’s vocal cords to stop them from making sounds, according to the Humane Society.

The measure, named Logan’s Law, was signed into law by Gov. Deval Patrick in April after it received overwhelming bipartisan support in the Legislature.

The surgery exposes animals to the possibilities of infection, blood loss and scarred vocal cord tissue regrowth, which could lead to chronic coughing, gagging and breathing difficulties, according to the Humane Society.

The law allows for the surgery to be performed if there are medical reasons including injuries, congenital defects and diseases.

Supporters of the surgery say it can allow families to keep a vocal pet that would otherwise be surrendered or euthanized, and it can help diffuse potential neighborhood issues spurred by noisy pets.

More than 200 veterinarians, animal shelter workers and animal behavior experts endorsed Logan’s Law, which is named for a show dog that was surrendered after receiving the surgery.

Anyone who violates the law could face up to five years in prison.

Copyright 2010 by TheBostonChannel.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Dogs trek 2,000 miles to fight cancer
Raising awareness for canine cancer research

Updated: Monday, 19 Apr 2010, 9:40 PM EDT
Published : Monday, 19 Apr 2010, 11:35 AM EDT

Mike Bulda

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (WWLP) - Every year, just like people, millions of dogs die from cancer. Now Luke Robinson is hoping to make a difference by taking his dogs for a walk. A very long walk — more than 2,000 miles.

“In 2006, I lost my dog Malcolm to metastatic bone cancer, and it just devastated me,” Robinson said.

Now Luke is sharing Malcolm’s story. He and his two Great Pyrenees dogs are walking across the America to raise awareness and money for canine cancer research.

Their two-dog 2000 mile walk started in Austin, Texas and it will end up in Boston on the weekend of June 18.

“Basically, I just sold my truck, put my stuff in storage and Hudsen and Murphy got on the road in March 2008. We’ve been walking a little over two years now, and Connecticut is our 14th state. So we’ve done over 2,200 miles now,” Robinson said.

Along the way hundreds of canine lovers have shown their support, offering food, and even opening their homes to Luke and his dogs.

“They’ve opened up their hearts their homes to us. People will often drive by and ask us if we need any water or bring us treats,” he said.

Among Luke’s supporters is actress and Animal Attractions TV host Megan Blake, who, with her dog Super Smiley, joined Luke for part of his trek.

“I lost two dogs to cancer two years ago. One was to bone cancer and one was to liver cancer,” Blake said. “It’s so important that people know canine cancer is on the uprise. It’s affecting so many of our younger dogs and hopefully something can be done about it.”

Luke is hoping supporters of his cause will join him for the final mile into the city of Boston on Saturday, June 19.



Man completes 2,300-mile dog walk
Raises awareness for canine cancer

Updated: Monday, 21 Jun 2010, 5:42 PM EDT
Published : Monday, 21 Jun 2010, 11:49 AM EDT

Lynn Barry
Mike Bulda

BOSTON (WWLP) - More than two years after Luke Robinson and his dogs set out on a incredible cross country walk to raise awareness for canine and human cancer, he finally reached his goal.

“Over 2,000 miles and 826 days on the road. Man it’s just awesome to finally be home,” said Robinson

Luke Robinson’s journey began in Austin, Texas in March of 2008. After losing his beloved dog Malcolm to cancer, he sold his truck, put his belongings in storage and set out on the road for a very long dog walk. He was joined by his two Great Pyrenees dogs, Murphy and Hudson.

This weekend, hundreds of other dog lovers from all across the country joined Robinson to help him walk the final miles of his journey into Boston. Many of them had lost a pet to canine cancer.

Robinson is now in the process of launching phase-2 of his quest. He hopes to get 2,000,000 dogs to walk 2 miles for cancer.

FEMA canine dies during VB training Internal bleeding

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) - A FEMA canine who assisted after disasters around the world, died during a training accident in Virginia Beach.

On June 4, Virginia Task Force 2 canine, Lietenant Winters “Win” was searching rubble for a live victim. He had entered the rubble through a small opening, when a piece of concrete reinforcing wire punctured his chest, causing internal bleeding. Even though Win was hurt, FEMA officials said he finished the search, found the victim and laid by her side. The handler immediately noticed there was a problem, though, and took Win to Bay-Beach Veterinary Hospital where he died a short time later.

Lieutenant Winters was a seven year old male Belgian Malinois/Shepard. He joined Virginia Task Force 2 in October 2005.

Win was deployed on five search missions, including Haiti and Katrina.

A private burial was conducted at the family farm in Charlottesville.