The Morningwood News

The Mercury News (San Jose)
By Bay City News Service

Bird paraphernalia found along with painkillers and steroids

Police broke up a suspected cock-fighting event this morning in unincorporated Santa Clara County that could have ended with up to 100 roosters dead, according to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office.

Around 10:30 a.m. sheriff’s deputies responded to a neighbor’s report of loud bird noises at 3770 Quimby Road, Santa Clara County Sgt. Ed Wise said.

As soon as police arrived at the four-acre ranch, a group of men at the premises took off running, Wise said.

Approximately 70 to 100 roosters were located on the property, all being kept in separate cages, according to Wise.

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By Paul Duggan
Washington Post

Vick’s Case Puts Dogfighting Culture in the Spotlight

It’s a disturbing narrative, the 19-page indictment of football star Michael Vick and three of his friends. Perhaps the details shocked people unfamiliar with the secretive world of illegal dogfighting: the breeding and training of pit bulls for savage, high-stakes combat and the brutal executions of dogs that fail to measure up.

Dogs shot, hanged, drowned, beaten, electrocuted. An awful story.

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Rocky Mountain News
By Tillie Fong

A Conifer man has been charged with aggravated animal cruelty after he allegedly shot the family dog for stealing food from his plate.

The dog, named Lucky, is expected to make a full recovery.

Devin Shane Calhoun, 35, was arrested Aug. 12 and released on $2,000 bail on Aug. 16.

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The Mercury News
By Linda Goldston

It was bad enough for Richard Gambord to learn that his missing service dog was killed a short time after he crashed his van and the dog ran off.

Then, he learned that the Golden Retriever’s battered body had already been diposed of - mixed in with roadkill and grease at a San Jose rendering plant.

“It’s just so sickening,” Gambord said. “They took this esteemed and loved dog and hauled him away like he was roadkill. It makes me sick.”

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The Rocky Mountain News
By Marilyn Robinson
Special to The Rocky

2 Lakewood men accused of plan to kill poker host

Two Lakewood men have been arrested on suspicion of plotting to kill a Texas Hold’em poker game operator by putting him in a box with rattlesnakes because he allegedly owed one of the men $60,000.

Herbert Paul Beck, 56, was arrested Thursday night in Raton, N.M., and Christopher Lee Steelman, 34, was arrested Wednesday night in Lakewood after a probe by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

Beck is accused of hiring Steelman to kill Matthew Sowash, owner of Amateur Poker Tour in Wheat Ridge.

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Pioneer Press
RUBÉN ROSARIO

Perhaps we should consider banning or putting down knucklehead parents instead of “killer” pit bulls.

I’m admittedly writing this in a heightened state of righteous anger at news that a “family” pit bull mauled a 7-year-old boy to death Thursday in the basement of a North Minneapolis home.

The reported circumstances are not new or shocking. A dog was treated, well, like a dog - tied up in a basement, exiled there except for breeding and denied normal human bonding or interaction. It became aggressive and attacked when an opportunity arose. Go figure.

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International Herald Tribune
Asia-Pacific
Associated Press

BRISBANE, Australia: An Australian woman was killed by a pet camel given to her as a 60th birthday present after the animal apparently tried to have sex, police said Sunday.

The woman, whose name was not released, was killed Saturday at her family’s sheep and cattle ranch near Mitchell, 600 kilometers (350 miles) west of the Queensland state capital Brisbane, state police Detective Senior Constable Craig Gregory said.

The 10-month-old male camel — weighing about 150 kilograms (330 pounds) — knocked the woman to the ground, lay on top of her, then exhibited what police suspect was mating behavior, Gregory said.

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KVAL.com
By Joe Raineri
Springfield, Oregon

It’s not just people who can give blood to save lives, so can man’s best friend.

About ten dogs gave blood at Banner’s Blood Bank in Springfield for the third annual “Friends for Life” blood drive. But in order to help out other pooches needing transfusions, there are a few requirements.

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The Chicago Tribune
By Larry O’Dell
Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. - It’s up to Michael Vick now. His last two co-defendants pleaded guilty Friday and implicated Vick in bankrolling gambling on dogfights. One of them said the Atlanta Falcons quarterback helped drown or hang dogs that didn’t do well.

With his NFL career in jeopardy and a superseding indictment adding more charges in the works, that left Vick with a hard choice: Cutting his own deal to hold jail time under a year or go to trial and sit through detailed descriptions of the ghastly operation known as “Bad Newz Kennels.”

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The Daily News (LA)

VENTURA - Bob, a 42-pound pet tortoise who was slashed and mutilated after being stolen from a family’s yard, has returned home following more than a month in a rehabilitation center.

Bob heartily ate his first meal of hibiscus flowers and roses after having a feeding tube pulled out of his neck, owner Dorothy Sullivan said Friday.

“He’s eating like a pig,” she said. “He’s doing great and we’re pretty excited.”

The 25-year-old African spurred tortoise was snatched from Sullivan’s yard on July 7. Police following an anonymous tip found Bob behind an apartment complex several days later.

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New York Post
By Andy Soltis

August 16, 2007 — Up for auction next week at a Beverly Hills gallery is a rare piece of pornographic prehistory - a 12,000-year-old walrus penis.

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Rocky Mountain News
By Mary Pemberton
Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Dozens of walrus carcasses have washed up on beaches this summer, many missing their heads and ivory tusks.

While rotting, headless carcasses are not uncommon along beaches in western Alaska in the summer, the number of carcasses washing up in Norton Sound has prompted an investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Federal authorities don’t know if a crime has occurred, said Steve Oberholtzer, a special agent in Anchorage. But he said investigators are looking into two possibilities: Either someone who is not an Alaska native is poaching walruses or Alaska natives are not salvaging enough of the animals.

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East Valley Tribune
Christian Richardson

Chandler police are investigating whether the head of its K-9 unit, whose police dog died after being left unattended in a squad vehicle for almost 13 hours, violated any department policies.

Police are not conducting a criminal investigation because they believe Sgt. Tom Lovejoy’s actions on Saturday were at most negligent, police spokesman Sgt. Rick Griner said.

To be charged with animal cruelty under state law, someone must intentionally or recklessly leave an animal in a vehicle when injury or death likely would occur.

Lovejoy is still on duty and, if found to have violated policy, could face department punishment.

He discovered that the dog, a 5-year-old Belgian Malinois named Bandit, had died in his police sport utility vehicle parked outside his house about 10 p.m. Saturday.

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