I love cats:
"Man is convicted of 12 counts of animal cruelty in ‘Puppy Doe’ case" by Travis Andersen Globe Staff March 26, 2018
A Norfolk County jury on Monday convicted a Polish national on 12 counts of animal cruelty for torturing a dog that became known to the world as “Puppy Doe,” capping an emotional case that had infuriated animal rights activists.
Jurors in Norfolk Superior Court found Radoslaw Artur Czerkawski, 36, guilty of the animal cruelty counts but acquitted him of a charge of misleading a police investigation, according to District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey’s office.
Czerkawski’s lawyer couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
The former Quincy resident arrived in the United States on a student visa in 2008 and was charged with inflicting abuse on a pit bull that authorities eventually learned had been named Kiya, leaving the dog with broken bones, burns, dislocated joints, a split tongue, a stabbed eye, and complications due to starvation before it had to be euthanized in 2013.
Czerkawski is already serving a prison term for stealing $130,000 from the late Janina Stock, a 90-year-old woman he had been caring for in Quincy before she died in 2013.
The abuse of Kiya shocked the conscience of animal rights advocates and spawned a documentary entitled “Puppy Doe: Free To a Good Home.”
David Traub, a spokesman for Morrissey, said in an e-mail that the animal cruelty laws have stiffened since Czerkawski committed his crimes.
“Although the penalty has increased since 2013, at the time of the crimes against this dog the animal cruelty statute carried a 5-year penalty,” Traub wrote.
The creators of the Puppy Doe documentary tweeted soon after the verdict Monday that Czerkawski had been found “GUILTY on all 12 counts of animals cruelty.”
The filmmakers describe Puppy Doe’s ordeal in wrenching detail on the film’s website.
“This documentary explores the tragic story of a young pit bull dog who was shuffled from home to home via Craigslist and ended up in the hands of a monster,” the site says. “ Animal rights advocates everywhere demand that justice be brought against the perpetrator of this heinous crime described by many as the worst case of animal abuse the city of Boston has ever seen. As the eyes of an ever-growing community are watching and demanding change, is it time that tolerance for violent crimes against animals comes to an end?”
Jurors began deliberating Thursday but had to start over at 9 a.m. Monday, after two people on the panel fell ill over the weekend and were replaced by alternates, Morrissey’s office said.
Czerkawski was slapped with the conviction before 3 p.m.
Kara Holmquist, director of advocacy for the MSPCA, hailed the verdict in a statement.
“Today’s verdict underscores the strong cruelty case brought by the Norfolk District Attorney, and we hope the sentencing is commensurate with the suffering endured by Puppy Doe,” Holmquist said. “With increasing attention to animal cruelty issues, we look forward to the legislature’s action on S. 2347 (PAWS II – Protecting Animal Welfare and Safety), a bill that would further strengthen the Commonwealth’s anti-cruelty laws and that passed the Senate just over a week ago. Passage of this bill by the House, and signature by the Governor, will help ensure other animals never endure what Puppy Doe suffered.”
At least it's a happy ending.
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Related: Man is sentenced to 8-10 years in prison for torturing ‘Puppy Doe’
If only he had been a Labrador.
"Police chief says he had no choice but to kill a 600-pound escaped bull in Skowhegan, Maine" by Elise Takahama Globe Correspondent April 03, 2018
The Skowhegan, Maine, police chief defended his actions after he fatally shot a 600-pound escaped bull that charged through town for an hour and a half on Monday afternoon, saying it was his job to protect onlookers.
“The only place for that steer to go was through me and into the crowds,” Police Chief David Bucknam said. “At that point, public safety took precedent over the steer.”
The bull broke free from its trailer around 4:30 p.m., and began running wild through town, Skowhegan police said in a statement. When officials finally located it, it was about 1.5 miles from its carrier.
“As the owners of the steer attempted to corral it, the steer broke through the fence and started trotting back into town. . . . One of the owners of the steer attempted to corner it with his truck on multiple occasions but the steer rammed his truck, circling around it and continued traveling north,” the statement said.
The bull ran through two major intersections, past a hospital, and across the Margaret Chase Smith Bridge onto Island Avenue, before jumping into the Kennebec River and swimming to the south shore, Bucknam said.
I didn't know bulls could swim.
By this point, Bucknam said, about 50 men, women, and children had gathered in the area to watch the chase unfold. After numerous attempts to corral the bull elsewhere, Bucknam said he saw an immediate threat to public safety, and shot the animal on the riverbank.
The dead bull slid back into the river and floated downstream, the statement said. Police said they didn’t know if the bull’s owners were able to retrieve it from the river.
“It was an unfortunate incident because I didn’t want to put that cow down, but I had no other options,” Bucknam said.
Several Skowhegan residents didn’t approve of the police chief’s actions.
Martin Lane, a seasoned farmer and cattle owner, said he saw the incident transpire much differently than the police chief did.
“The bull was on such a steep bank and he was struggling for his life to get up the bank and made it almost to the top, but started to slip and that’s when the officer shot him,” Lane said. “The officer had no right.”
Lane added that he thought there were only four people standing at the top of the bank, rather than a full crowd.
“A bunch of people at the top had ropes to bring the bull in, and we told the chief, ‘Don’t shoot him.’ But he just did it,” Lane said. “And the fire department didn’t do anything to help. So we just stood there and watched this helpless bull thrash and float down the river and out of sight. And to my knowledge, it’s still in the river.”
Lane’s nephew, Jarod, also owns cattle and was on his way to the scene with an additional trailer when the police chief shot the animal.
“The bull was just standing there on the riverbank and the chief had his gun drawn for no reason,” Jarod Lane said. “The bull was down on the bank, and there was no way he was getting to the people. The only way he was getting over that bank was with help.”
Jarod Lane said the bull’s owner was on his way back from the Somerset Auction in Fairfield, Maine, where he had just purchased the bull for $840.
“That bull should not be dead,” Jarod Lane said. “It could have been in my trailer in half an hour if given the opportunity. It was a senseless shooting.”
Imagine how they would have reacted had he shot a human.
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Bull had to be euthanized anyway.
"Are these roads death traps for deer, bears, and other wildlife?" by Matt Rocheleau and Todd Wallack Globe Staff April 06, 2018
Because tracking road kill is a fairly new endeavor, there are significant caveats and limitations to the information they’ve gathered so far, which is something officials from the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife and the Department of Transportation hope to improve upon going forward.
Still, they say the data offer some potentially valuable insights that could help state officials pinpoint areas where certain measures — new signs for drivers, for example, or fencing to steer animals away from busy roads — could reduce animal-vehicle collisions.
In Massachusetts, the estimated number of vehicle collisions with deer alone has ranged from about 7,500 to 10,750 annually in recent years, according to data tracked by insurance company State Farm.....
A horse got hit the other day.
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Also see:
"It’s spring and, with the snow mostly faded away, the birds are causing a ruckus in the foliage again. But exactly which birds are you hearing out there? You have no idea, do you?
Related:
The 2 emus that were running around Freetown have been captured
Tiger reported running through streets of New York
Turned out to be a wolfman.
