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Monday 29 September 2014

Charge Animal Abuser for Poisoning Dogs Posted by Liz Mellem

Target: Santa Ana District Attorney, Tony Rackauckas
Goal: Charge Ray Haines with animal cruelty after poisoning dogs with toxic drain cleaner.
A California man still faces no animal cruelty charges after fatally poisoning a neighbor’s dog more than three months ago. Ray Haines left a mixture of dog food and toxic drain cleaner eight feet from the neighbor’s yard where he knew dogs were present. Please sign this petition and urge the District Attorney to file animal cruelty charges against Haines.
Marc Schroeder’s dog, Diablito, suffered convulsions and died after reportedly eating a mixture of dog food and drain cleaner from a neighbor’s yard. Schroeder, Diablito and Atlas, a friend’s 135-pound German Shepherd, were chatting with his neighbor, Ray Haines two days before both dogs suffered convulsions and Diablito’s death. While the neighbors were visiting, Haines watched as both dogs entered his yard and he did not warn of any poison. Both dogs were sickened and suffered convulsions. While a veterinarian was able to save Atlas, eight-pound Diablito sadly died.
Haines says the poison was intended for opossums that had been causing him problems in his garden. According to City Manager George Scarborough, it is a violation of California law to poison wildlife and domestic animals.
Please sign this petition and urge the District Attorney to file animal cruelty charges against Ray Haines for poisoning and killing his neighbor’s dog.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Mr. Rackauckas,
Three months ago, Marc Schroeder’s dog Diablito died after eating dog food laced with poison in his neighbor’s yard. Ray Haines had left the poisonous food out to kill opossums bothering his garden. Despite seeing the dogs in his yard, Haines did not stop the dogs or mention the poison to Schroeder. Shockingly, three months later Haines has not faced any charges, despite the fact that poisoning any animal, domestic or wild, is against California state law.
Diablito was not the only dog affected by Haines’ poisonous trap. Atlas, a 135-pound German Shepherd, also suffered convulsions but was able to pull through with the help of a veterinarian. Haines must face charges for his careless attempt to deal with the wildlife in his close-knit community.
Please file animal cruelty charges against Haines for breaking California state law, poisoning two dogs, and killing one. Three months is a very long time for the case to be delayed considering the insurmountable evidence against Haines and his admission of guilt. It is time that the Schroeder family gets justice for Diablito, and Haines must be punished for the careless murder of wildlife and a beloved pet.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]

Seafood Waste: Fisheries Throw Away 20% Of Animals Caught In Nets

Seafood Waste: Fisheries Throw Away 20% Of Animals Caught In Nets
By Ben Wolford on March 21, 2014 3:38 PM EDT
This common dolphin was a casualty of industrial fishing bycatch. (Photo: Oceana)
This common dolphin was a casualty of industrial fishing bycatch. (Photo: Oceana)
Industrial fishermen throw back one out of every five animals they catch, many of them dead or dying, leading to massive waste and threatening endangered species, a new report claims.
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The wasted animals are known as bycatch, the unintended prey of commercial fisheries. According to "Wasted Catch," a report out Thursday from the environmental activist group Oceana, the United States discards perhaps 2 billion pounds of sea animals each year. The report is not clear about how many of these animals are sent back into the ocean alive, but the authors do complain that records were often outdated or incomplete.
"Hundreds of thousands of dolphins, whales, sharks, sea birds, sea turtles, and fish needlessly die each year as a result of indiscriminate fishing gear," said Amanda Keledjian, report author and marine scientist at Oceana, in astatement. Many of these animals are endangered species that become entangled in massive fishing nets. Some of the worst offending fisheries toss out more sea creatures than they take in.
The fishing industry responded, saying bycatch is often the result of market demand. Bycatch are "fish that if you bring it to the market, you cannot sell it...because people are not educated enough to understand that all of the fish in the ocean [are] good. It's all good protein," Angela Sanfilippo, executive director of the Massachusetts Fishermen's Partnership, told The Boston Globe. She also said, "You cannot go fishing for just one type of species. When fishermen go fishing, they catch all types of species together."
As a solution, Oceana proposes new regulations on the amount of bycatch that fisheries are allowed to take in, plus imposing restrictions on the kinds of equipment the industry is allowed to use. "The solution can be as simple as banning the use of drift gillnets, transitioning to proven cleaner fishing gears, requiring Turtle Excluder Devices in trawls, or avoiding bycatch hotspots," says Oceana scientist Geoff Shester in the statement.
Similar measures are already being employed by lobstermen in New England in response to pressure from environmental groups saying endangered whales are being threatened by lobster pot lines. Entanglements are part of the reason only 500 North Atlantic right whales remain in the wild. For smaller species, like dolphins, turtles, seals and sharks, vast nets are contributing to overfishing and stealing the catch of other fisheries, Oceana says.
The report highlighted nine fisheries that were responsible for half the bycatch reported in the United States. The worst four each discarded nearly two-thirds of their catch, according to Oceana. Another fishery in the Gulf of Mexico targets tuna, swordfish and sharks; of the 23 percent of its catch it throws back, more than three-fourths are tuna, swordfish and sharks. "Longline fishermen discard hundreds of thousands of the same fish and sharks that they target because the animals are too small or the fishermen exceed annual quotas," leading to overfishing and inefficiency, Oceana wrote.

Cold-Water Fish Not Adapting To Changing Sea Temperatures

Cold-Water Fish Not Adapting To Changing Sea Temperatures

plankton
(Photo : Flickr) The cold-water plankton lives for one year or less. Researchers examined a 50-year dataset from the North Atlantic to determine how this creature and another species of planknton that thrives in warmer water fared over half a century
A tiny sea creature that plays a big role in the ocean food chain faces the threat of extinction as it struggles to adapt to changes in sea temperature, a new study found. 
A species of cold-water plankton in the North Atlantic, that is a vital food source for fish such as cod and hake, is in decline as the waters warm, according to research led by Deakin University in Australia and Swansea University in the UK. The decline puts pressure on the fisheries that rely on abundant supplies of these fish.
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The cold-water plankton lives for one year or less. Researchers examined a 50-year dataset from the North Atlantic to determine how the creature and other species of plankton that thrive in warmer water fared over half a century.
"Lots of people speculated that animals with short generation times will simply adapt to change," Graeme Hays, a marine scientist at Deakin University told NBC News. "We show that is not the case."
The study shows that the range and abundance of the cold-water plankton, Calanus finmarchicus, declined while the warm-water species, C. helgolandicus, expanded its range and increased in abundance.
"In other words, even over 50 generations ... there is no evidence of adaptation to the warmer water," Hays said of the cold-water plankton.
That shift may have profound ramifications for fish that eat the cold-water plankton, as well as, for the livelihoods of people who catch and sell these fish, Hays noted.
Warm-water species of the plankton is filling the niche vacated by the cold-water plankton "is abundant at the wrong time of year" for cod and hake, Hays said.
"So, it is not available as food for the developing fish larvae," Hays said.
While the study was based on available data from the North Atlantic, the findings may be applicable to oceans all over the world as ocean temperatures are warming everywhere and closely-related species of Plankton are distributed globally.

Over time, Hays said, the surging abundance of warm-water plankton "will likely play a role in the emergence of new fisheries for warm-water species."

Bird Conservation Group Files Suit Against Government After Eagle Deaths

Bird Conservation Group Files Suit Against Government After Eagle Deaths

First Posted: May 02, 2014 01:43 PM EDT
The Department of Interior issued a 30-year permit that allows the killing of eagles.
The American Bird Conservancy is a non-profit organization with the goal of conserving native birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. Now, the ABC has taken issue with the Department of Interior and its wind farm and electricity projects. (Photo : Flickr)
The American Bird Conservancy is a non-profit organization with the goal of conserving native birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. Now, the ABC has taken issue with the Department of Interior and its wind farm and electricity projects.
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The Department of the Interior authorizes granting 30-year permits for taking eagles from their habitats in order to build wind farms and electricity transmission projects. The policy was finalized in December, but the ABC is threatening to sue because under federal law it is illegal to remove or take protected species unless the federal government issues an "incidental take permit."
"ABC is initiating legal action in order to have the rule invalidated pending full compliance with federal statutes that are designed to ensure that the environmental impacts of, and alternatives to, agency actions are thoroughly analyzed before those actions are implemented," stated the conservancy in their Notice of Intentletter.
The Department of Interior plans to hand out permits to wind energy companies as well as other kill and/or displaced eagles, but ABC claims such a policy violates the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.
Federal biologists in this Fox News article reported that at least 85 eagles were killed as a result of wind farms in the past 27 years, with a majority of the deaths occurring between 2008 and 2012. The turbines killed 79 golden eagles, and one was electrocuted by a power line. A total of 58 of those deaths were recorded in California and Wyoming, and eight other states were responsible for the remaining deaths.
Although the American Bird Conservancy is supportive of wind energy and other energy-efficient resources, they state that the Department of Interior is violating past legislation and they believe there are other methods to establish wind farms without displacing or killing our nation's bird.

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Friday 26 September 2014

Police hunt sick animal-hater who has been scattering cooked sausages spiked with NAILS across dog walking areas

Police hunt sick animal-hater who has been scattering cooked sausages spiked with NAILS across dog walking areas

  • Pet owners on alert after walkers make horrifying find
  • A vet says the intention is to kill and the traps would cause a 'slow death'
  • One dog lover found more than 40 scattered in field
Police issued a warning today after dog walkers discovered the sausages embedded with nails as their pets sniffed the deadly treats.
The dog hater littered a popular dog-walking spot in Abergavenny, South Wales, with cooked cocktail sausages, each one spiked with nine metal nails pushed inside.
Vet Ben Hynes was warned about the cruel campaign of terror by concerned dog owners.
Cruel: Dog walkers in Abergavenny in Wales were horrified to discover inch-long nails in sausages scattered in a field
Cruel: Dog walkers in Abergavenny in Wales were horrified to discover inch-long nails in sausages scattered in a field
Mr Hynes said: 'I was shocked and appalled at what I was shown.
'Had it not been for these extremely observant people out walking their own dogs, we could have easily seen a spate of dogs facing a slow, but certain death.
'Luckily we haven't had any emergencies but if we had, the animals would have been suffering from vomiting, bleeding and I have no doubt the result would have been fatal.
'There is absolutely no way that this can be anything other than the intention to kill animals.'
 
One shocked dog walker, who asked not to be named, said he noticed the sun reflecting off a nail in one of the sausages.
He said: 'My dog, which was on a lead, started to sniff at a sausage on the ground, but I immediately pulled him back when I saw something shining back at me.
'On closer inspection I realised that it had about nine or ten nails in it and thought that this was no coincidence as I was aware of a similar incident in the past involving shards of glass.
Horrific: One dog owner found around 40 of the sausages scattered through the area, which is popular with pet owners
Horrific: One dog owner found around 40 of the sausages scattered through the area, which is popular with pet owners
'I looked around and found a lot more of these sausages - I must have collected close to 40.
'I appreciate not everybody likes dogs, but to react in this manner is not the way to deal with the problem.
'I have been extra diligent while out walking my dogs since as I believe it would have caused a slow death in the animal.'
The issue has been raised with police and warnings were sent to dog owners in the area through the Neighbourhood Watch and local vets.
A police spokesman said: 'This is a very worrying incident, especially as they are being left on playing fields where not only dogs but children could be harmed by these sausages.'
Caution: Dog owners have been warned by police to be diligent when out with their pets
Caution: Dog owners have been warned by police to be diligent when out with their pets. File picture


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2264072/Police-hunt-sick-animal-hater-scattering-cooked-sausages-spiked-NAILS-dog-walking-areas.html#ixzz3EYDGHX1W
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Wednesday 24 September 2014

Dog Shot with Arrow, Lodged 11 Inches in Shoulder


THE LOUISIANA SPCA

  
Logo from Jan
  
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 22, 2014
 Contact: Alicia Haefele, Communications Director
504.444.2284 | alicia@la-spca.org
Dog Shot with Arrow, Lodged 11 Inches in Shoulder
$1,000 reward for anyone with information about this act of animal cruelty
 
Robin HoodRobin Hood
NEW ORLEANS – The Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Louisiana SPCA) is asking the public for assistance to identify the person(s) involved in the shooting of a bow and arrow into the shoulder of a 1-year-old Terrier/Pit Bull mix on Sunday, Sept. 21 near the 8300 block of Grant Street in New Orleans East. 
The Louisiana SPCA is offering a $1,000 reward to anyone with information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator(s) of this act of animal cruelty. 
At 7:20 p.m. a good Samaritan called Louisiana SPCA Animal Control to report an injured dog in their backyard. Upon arrival, Humane Officer Eric Durcinka found the dog lying under a small tree. When approached, the dog became visibly excited and appeared to be in good spirits despite his injury. Humane Officer Durcinka was able to coax the dog to stand and walk toward him, revealing what appeared to be a short carbon fiber arrow from either a bow or crossbow lodged in the dog’s upper right shoulder, protruding approximately 4 inches. The arrow appeared to be either cutoff or broken off upon initial inspection. The entry site also appeared swollen and newly infected. Despite being in excruciating pain, the injured dog was unable to control his over the top tail wagging and followed Officer Durcinka to his vehicle.
Robin HoodOfficer Durcinka immediately transported the dog to the Westbank Pet Emergency Clinic. Once the arrow was extracted, the team at the clinic and Humane Officer Durcinka were shocked to learn that what appeared to be a short broken of arrow was in fact a 14 inch arrow buried 11 inches deep into the dog’s shoulder. Luckily, the arrow hit the bone upon entry and deflected off, running subcutaneously along the rib cage for 11 inches. 
Based on the position of the arrow and the entry wound, the dog was likely shot from the front while approaching the shooter; likely wagging his tail on the way. The dog was wearing a thick blue collar with a rabies tag #543241; no microchip was found. The rabies tag is untraceable as it is a generic feed store tag with no store name, phone number or clinic listed. 
The dog, now known as Robin Hood, is comfortably resting at the Louisiana SPCA, wagging his tail for all the staff. Individuals with information about this crime are urged to call Louisiana SPCA at 504.368.5191 ext. 100 or emaildispatch@la-spca.org. You can make a difference in the fight against animal cruelty by reporting suspected cruelty; we need citizens who are willing to stand up against this senseless act. Help end animal abuse and care for those victim of animal cruelty by donating at www.la-spca.org/donate
Robin Hood
###

The Louisiana SPCA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the elimination of animal suffering. As the oldest and most comprehensive animal welfare organization in the state, the Louisiana SPCA provides care for over 20,000 homeless and companion animals annually. For more than 125 years, the Louisiana SPCA has been committed to serving the needs of the people and animals in the community and across the region as a 4-Star Charity Navigator rated nonprofit ranking in the top 1 percent nationally. For more information, call 504.368.5191 or visit www.la-spca.org.

Thomas McCartney

    • Avatar
      Pit bull type dogs were created for one purpose: to torture other animals to death. When you manage to keep a pit bull from killing your dog (or horse, or sheep -- or child), this doesn't mean the danger has subsided.
      If you let it live, the pit bull will persistently try to return to finish the job of killing. Even if it does kill, it'll come back some other day to see if there's more pit bull fun to be had (a new victim).
      The pit bull isn't like this because it has bad owners. It attracts a certain type of owner because it is inherently vicious.
      The only part of the problem the owners create is that they are unable or unwilling to keep their killer away from other people, our children and our pets. They don't care because they assume we and our loved ones will die, never their pit bull.
      Never let a pit bull leave your yard alive.

    Animal lovers call for felony laws as neighbors fight over cats, dogs

     
    Published Tuesday, October 21, 1997

    Pet peeves turn deadly with poisonings

    Animal lovers call for felony laws as neighbors fight over cats, dogs
    By JONATHAN DUBE
    Staff Writer

    Bonnie Long always thought the mesh fence around her yard would protect her beloved terriers. Now she's terrified to let them out of sight.Taurus, Little Girl and Curly Sue were playing in her yard last summer when a neighbor revved up a lawn mower. From her tool shed, Long could hear the dogs barking away at the noise.
    Suddenly she heard Curly Sue howl -- a sharp, piercing cry -- and then a whimper.
    ``She ran up to me and was soaking wet,'' said Long, who lives in Chester County, S.C. ``When she put her face up to me, she smelled of ammonia. I was horrified.''
    No one keeps track of how often people accuse their neighbors of throwing ammonia in their pets' faces, or poisoning them with antifreeze, or shooting them with air rifles.
    But animal-rights advocates say it's happening more and more in the growing suburbs of Charlotte, as new development forces strangers to live side by side, in greater proximity, with less space for four-legged creatures to roam.
    ``These are exactly the kinds of conflicts that arise out of suburban growth,'' said Randall Lockwood, a psychologist and vice president of the Humane Society of the United States, who has observed similar trends across the country. ``Your neighbor's dog poops on your lawn, and you retaliate by going to his yard and poisoning his dog.''
    Among the Charlotte-area incidents this year:
    On Sunday, a man reported to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police that a neighbor shot his dog and another dog in a neighborhood off West Boulevard. The neighbor had threatened to kill the dogs if their owners didn't keep them away from the birds on his property, a police report said.
    An east Charlotte woman laced canned tuna with antifreeze last month and left it out, killing at least three neighborhood cats, police said.
    In Hickory, someone shot Eric Starnes' 10-month-old kitten, Mittens, four times with a pellet gun in July, temporarily paralyzing her.
    In southeast York County, S.C., Ann Dawkins told police her 2-year-old German shepherd Samson died in July after drinking from a bowl of antifreeze on a neighbor's property.
    In a West Concord neighborhood, at least seven cats have died of antifreeze poisoning within the last month, said Betsy Carpenter, president of Cabarrus County Animal Control.
    None of those cases led to criminal charges. Every county has its share of unsolved pet crimes, which is why animal-rights advocates in both Carolinas are pushing lawmakers to make animal cruelty a felony.
    ``We have a lot of people moving to places like Chester County, who didn't grow up in rural areas like this, and their neighbors have been there forever, raising hunting dogs and letting them roam all over the place,'' said Teresa Gibbs, director of Chester County Animal Control.
    ``The dogs start getting on their neighbors' nerves, and then the dogs suddenly disappear. But there's no great dog magician. What happens is somebody will poison or shoot the dog and then just go and dump the body somewhere.''
    John Hunter hasn't shot any dogs but says he sure has thought about it. One of his neighbors in Chester County has 10 dogs; another has 20. They run across his property, they howl throughout the night, and they don't give him any peace.
    ``I would love to take a gun to them,'' said Hunter, who has lived on Melnunnery Road since he built a house there last year. ``I don't blame the animals, though. They ought to take the owners and shoot them.''
    No one tracks pet killings because they rarely are prosecuted. But a nationwide Humane Society survey found that 16 percent of Americans have witnessed animal cruelty in the past five years, though 58 percent did not report the incidents. That translates into hundreds of thousands of cases a year, Lockwood said.
    Evidence is hard to come by. Stricken pets often return home to curl up and die, so it's difficult to determine where they were shot or poisoned. And even if you can find a bowl filled with antifreeze or a piece of meat laced with poison, that's not enough.
    ``Whether the dog is dead or not, it's not going to be able to say anything,'' said Maggie Nelson, the animal control officer for Union County. ``You about have to see a neighbor do it.''
    Long, for example, told police her neighbor threw ammonia in her dog's face, but officers wouldn't press charges because she didn't see anything and the neighbor denied it. She got so upset that she yelled at her neighbor, who responded by filing breach of peace and assault charges; Long was convicted and fined $400.
    She's thankful, though, that Curly Sue escaped relatively unharmed, with just minor eye damage.
    Even when there is evidence, activists say that investigators and lawyers don't take complaints seriously, because penalties are too weak: In South Carolina, the maximum punishment for animal cruelty, a misdemeanor, is two years in prison or $2,000; in North Carolina, it's one year or $1,000.
    ``Law enforcement people just deem these cases unworthy of their limited time,'' said Henry Brzezinski, a former board member of the S.C. State Animal Care and Control Association.
    North Carolina's House passed a bill in May that would make animal cruelty a felony, but it stalled in a Senate committee. South Carolina's Senate passed a similar bill this year, but it got stuck in a House committee. Both bills are expected to be reconsidered next term.
    In the 17 states where animal cruelty is a felony, prosecutions are more common and more successful, said Pamela Frasch, the director of the animal cruelty division of the Animal Legal Defense Fund.
    ``When you have a felony penalty, it does make people sit up, pay attention and take it more seriously,'' Frasch said.
    Most Charlotte-area counties have some form of leash law, although many are weak and rarely enforced.
    Lincoln County has an unusual law that lets anyone file a nuisance complaint against a neighbor if their pet runs on their property, gets into trash, urinates in their yard or tears up shrubbery. Anyone named could face a $50 fine, said Tony Davis, Lincoln's senior animal control officer.
    ``We've had a lot of success with this,'' Davis said. ``Instead of somebody doing something to the dog, they do it to the owner, whose fault it is anyway.''
    Animal lovers say owners should take their own precautions to protect their pets. Rock Hill veterinarian Lorin Lawrence, a member of York County's Animal Issues Task Force, said keeping pets out of trouble is up to the owners, and urges them to keep their pets on leashes, fenced in or indoors.
    But sometimes an owner can do everything right and still have things go wrong. At a Labor Day party in Stanly County, Charlotte lawyer Mac Sasser's 2-year-old Jack Russell terrier, Rumi, was shot with an air rifle from a neighboring property.
    Sasser ran to Rumi and cradled him in his arms, but there was nothing he could do. After a minute, he felt Rumi tense up and die.
    A sheriff's deputy questioned a neighbor, who denied firing the rifle. But a few days later, Sasser said the neighbor's attorney called him and offered to pay whatever Rumi was worth. Sasser decided he'd rather press charges.
    ``I don't care about the freakin' money,'' Sasser said. ``All I want is my dog back, and he can't give me that.''
    Mac Sasser plays with his Jack Russell terriers, Houdini and Emma, in Charlotte. His other terrier, Rumi, was shot and killed during a Labor Day party in Stanly County. He buried Rumi in the back yard beneath a dogwood tree, a gift from his sister.


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    Man who poisoned dogs with antifreeze to hear fate

    Man who poisoned dogs with antifreeze to hear fate

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    Alyssa Cwanger, Post-Gazette
    Nancy Dilworth and her cat, Poochini, look at photos of her dogs, Sanford and Alonzo, in a photo album in her home in Wilkinsburg Monday. Her dogs were poisoned with bread soaked with antifreeze and thrown into their yard, approximately one year ago. The sentencing of their killer is scheduled for tomorrow.
    Click photo for larger image.
    A year and one day after the anniversary of the poisoning deaths of her two dogs, Nancy Dilworth will sit in a courtroom to hear the sentence handed down to the neighbor who admitted he soaked bread in antifreeze and threw it into her yard.
    Wilkinsburg police charged John Cassase, 54, with two counts of animal cruelty April 22 in the deaths of Sanford and Alonzo, the mixed-breed dogs Dilworth had adopted from a local shelter.
    Cassase entered a guilty plea Jan. 27 on both charges, making his one of the few cases of a successful investigation into animal poisoning. His sentencing before Common Pleas Judge Cheryl Allen is scheduled for tomorrow. Each charge is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison.
    "This is one of the worst things I have ever been through," Dilworth said. "It would have been better if he had shot them. They suffered for a week and I did not know what was wrong with them."
    By the time Dilworth and her veterinarian figured out that the dogs had been poisoned, it was too late to save them. Despite treatment which included intravenous saline flushes, their kidneys failed to the point of almost total shutdown. They were euthanized to spare them further suffering last March 27.
    A necropsy, the animal version of an autopsy, confirmed that the dogs had been poisoned with antifreeze.
    The dog deaths capped a long-running dispute between Dilworth, Cassase and other neighbors on Hay Street, in the Regent Square section of Wilkinsburg.
    Dilworth moved there in 2000, renting the bottom floor of a duplex owned by a pet-friendly landlord who lived upstairs with his own dog. The fenced-in back yard was an added bonus for Sanford, a 70-pound black Labrador retriever mix that Dilworth had adopted from the Animal Rescue League in 1997, when he was 7 weeks old.
    Sanford was a gentle, friendly dog who was especially popular with neighborhood children, Dilworth said.
    "Sanford was basically a couch potato at home. He was never outside when I was at work. He never went outside without me," Dilworth said, except for brief trips to the fenced yard to relieve himself.
    Shortly after she moved in, Dilworth came home from work to find a dozen unsigned notes hanging on the fence. Each had the same message: "Keep your dogs quiet."
    More notes appeared for months, sometimes on the fence, sometimes on the door of her duplex, and "each note got nastier and nastier.
    "I love this neighborhood. Everyone is very friendly. I asked neighbors if my dogs barked [inside the house] when I was at work or at any other time. Everyone said no," Dilworth said.
    But people in a multistory condominium adjacent to her duplex told Dilworth that a man in their building was constantly complaining about barking dogs and other noises. John Cassase even complained about doors squeaking too loudly when people entered or exited their apartments, neighbors told Dilworth.
    In 2002, Dilworth adopted Alonzo, a 4-month-old white German shepherd mix, also from the Animal Rescue League. Alonzo got along well with Sanford, with other dogs and people in the neighborhood.
    But somewhere along the line, Dilworth can't recall exactly when, Cassase went public with his complaints.
    "He would come out on his balcony and scream about noise and barking dogs, even when the dogs weren't barking," Dilworth said.
    He pounded on her door screaming complaints, and there were similar scenes with other neighbors.
    A Wilkinsburg police officer came to her home, saying Cassase repeatedly complained about barking dogs. But her dogs were not barking incessantly that time, or any other time, she said, and Dilworth never received a citation from police.
    Last March, Alonzo started urinating in the house. It was strange behavior for the 90-pound dog, who had been perfectly housebroken.
    "We would come back from a walk and he would pee on the carpet. This went on for a couple of days, so I took him to the Penn Animal Hospital, where he was treated for a urinary tract infection."
    The next morning, Dilworth awoke to the sound of Sanford vomiting. She took both dogs to the vet, who thought maybe they had a virus. He prescribed medication, but that night, they were both vomiting and had stopped eating.
    Neighbors told Dilworth that a small beagle named Wagster had come down with the same symptoms and had died two weeks earlier.
    Wagster's veterinarian suspected he had been poisoned with antifreeze.
    Dilworth took her dogs back to the animal hospital March 26 and told Dr. Glenn Battle about Wagster. Battle did a number of tests "and then he told me, 'I have very bad news. I think someone may have poisoned your dogs,' " Dilworth said.
    Battle did renal function tests. A reading of 130 indicates total kidney failure. Sanford and Alonzo had readings of 97 and 103, well on their way to failure.
    The dogs were hooked up to intravenous lines and subjected to saline flushes.
    "When I brought them home on March 26, they just got weaker and weaker," Dilworth said. A friend drove her and the dogs back to the vet March 27. Alonzo's reading was 117. Sanford's was in the 120s.
    "I brought them home to say goodbye," Dilworth said. Then she called Wilkinsburg police and the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society. Wilkinsburg Officer Michael Bender and Bob Gosser, who investigates cruelty complaints for the Humane Society, both talked to Dilworth. She told them she thought her dogs were dying from poison, and she told them she thought she knew who did it.
    Then Dilworth took Alonzo and Sanford back to the animal hospital to be euthanized.
    Nearly a year later, Dilworth cannot retell the story without crying.
    "My dogs were my joy. They were the best therapy," Dilworth said as she looked at photo albums filled with pictures of her dogs and her friends. "Who was he to take that from me? I had Sanford for 6 1/2 years. Alonzo wasn't even 2 years old when he died."
    Despite her shock and grief, Dilworth "did everything right," Gosser said, starting with calling the police and the Humane Society. Gosser picked up the bodies at the animal hospital and had them tested. Both dogs had been poisoned with antifreeze.
    Gosser interviewed neighbors, including people in Cassase's building. No one but Cassase had any complaints about barking dogs.
    Bender followed through, interviewing Cassase on April 3. "Mr. Cassase ... did supply me with a written confession of his involvement," Bender said in the affidavit of probable cause which is part of the court record. "Cassase stated he soaked some bread in antifreeze and did throw the soaked bread over the fence in the yard with the dogs."
    Cassase told Bender he'd been having problems with barking dogs in the neighborhood since 2001, which had caused him "an extended period of sleep deprivation."
    He said he didn't want to kill the dogs, and he had hoped their owners would see the bread and avoid letting their dogs outside at night. He said he was "saddened they were harmed by my actions ... and I only wish that the owners could have been more responsible in handling their dogs and understanding the disturbance they were causing to others."
    Cassase moved out of the neighborhood shortly after criminal charges were filed against him. He could not be reached for comment for this story.
    Cassase is executive director of the Peer Support and Advocacy Network on Penn Avenue, Downtown, which has 27 employees, but he has been on a leave of absence. The organization's Web site said it is a nonprofit, holistic agency that seeks to "build a community, free of stigma, where individuals with mental illness work together toward recovery of mind, body and spirit."
    Assistant District Attorney Deb Jugan, who handles most of the animal cruelty cases in Allegheny County, declined comment on the case until after sentencing.
    Gosser said the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society gets several calls each year about poisoned animals. "It's usually cats, often stray cats, and it usually happens in the spring and summer, when cats are urinating on porches and defecating in gardens. Veterinarians tell us antifreeze is sweet and dogs and cats like it."
    Though people who report suspected poisonings often suspect someone, charges cannot be brought unless there is a witness to the poisoning, Gossar said. He cannot recall another Allegheny County prosecution for antifreeze poisoning.
    Ethylene glycol is the ingredient that causes kidney failure in animals and people.
    Last year, the Pittsburgh Poison Control Center at Children's Hospital received 181 calls about antifreeze ingestion, said Rita Mrvos, a nurse and education coordinator there. Six of the calls were for cats, 34 for dogs and 141 were for people. There was one fatality, a 63-year-old man, she said.
    Some of the ingestions, especially with animals, are accidental, Mrvos and Gossar said. Fluid leaks from a car radiator onto a garage floor or driveway and an animal drinks it. Sometimes the highly toxic fluid is carelessly stored and a pet or small child can get into it.
    Dilworth said she had not considered adopting another dog. She has been reading books and surfing the Internet for information about animal abuse. She wants to start a nonprofit advocacy group called Puppanulaa, Protecting Our Pets in Pennsylvania with New Laws Against Abuse.
    "I don't want anyone else to go through something like this, and then find out the penalty is only a misdemeanor," Dilworth said.

    Correction/Clarification: (Published March 28, 2005) Bob Gosser is a humane agent for the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society. He was incorrectly identified in the version of this story that appeared in later editons of the March 27, 2005 newspaper.