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Man killed by deer sent airborne by another car
Saturday November 18, 2000

By The Associated Press

BRANDYWINE - A Franklin man was killed early Friday when a deer hit by a car traveling in the opposite direction crashed through his windshield and hit him in the head.
Jim Landes, 63, was killed instantly in the 3:15 a.m. accident on U.S. 33 about two miles east of Brandywine, Pendleton County, State Police said.The deer ran into the path of a westbound car driven by Selina Pritt, 24, of Collinsville, Va. Pritt's car hit the deer, sending it airborne. After going through the front windshield of Landes' eastbound pickup and hitting him, the deer continued through the back window.
Pritt was not speeding and no charges have been filed, said a spokeswoman at the State Police detachment at Franklin.
Last week, a Virginia brother and sister were killed when their vehicle hit a deer on Interstate 79 near Lost Creek. Sandra Johnson, 47, and Steven Piotrowski, 39, both of Tazewell, Va., died. Johnson's son, Joseph Johnson, 20, was injured.
Harrison County Sheriff's Deputy Pat McCarty said Johnson and Piotrowski were not wearing seat belts and were ejected from the vehicle when it rolled over. Joseph Johnson was wearing a seat belt.
Wildlife officials earlier this week warned motorists to beware of deer, which are more active October through December, especially between dusk and dawn.

Boy, 9, on mend after dog attack
Parents rip lack of supervision

Thursday, November 16, 2000

By MICHAEL CLEMENT, TORONTO SUN A nine-year-old Toronto boy who was savaged by a husky-cross dog should never have been left unsupervised in the schoolyard, his parents complained.
Frankie Williams underwent four hours of surgery at the Hospital for Sick Children to repair severe wounds to his left forearm and upper body after the attack Tuesday.
"His muscle was torn apart and they reconstructed the muscle and made sure there was no infection before they stitched it up," said his step-mom, Dolly Burt, Burt said the youngster was "holding up okay," but will be "out of whack for a while" and he's "scared ... frightened."
The boy was attacked by the vicious dog about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday as he crossed the schoolyard at Briar Hill Public School, near Dufferin St. and Eglinton Ave.
Frankie "doesn't even want to go to that school any more," Burt said.
The dog tore the school boy's left forearm and surgeons also had to repair bite wounds on his underarm and shoulder.
"It's pretty bad, it's terrible. The dog (bit) to the bone on his left (arm)," said Burt.
"The surgeon told me the flesh was missing and you could see the bone," said Frankie's dad, Ricky Williams, 29.
"I'm very, very upset," said Williams.
He said teachers were inside the school and there was no one monitoring the schoolyard.
"If the dog would have ate his face off, what then?" he said.
"There's a big vicious dog in the schoolyard and where's the protection?"
The dog is under a destroy order in quarantine at Toronto Animal Services in York.

Animal control officers fail to flush animals out BY S.L. WYKES, Mercury News

Thursday, September 21, 2000

Frustrated dog hunters in Palo Alto decided Thursday to leave it to the colonel.
They're hoping that boneless fried chicken will prove more interesting than the dog-food bait they set out Wednesday to entice two stray dogs whose hunger has apparently led them to attack neighborhood cats along San Francisquito Creek.
The death of one cat and serious injuries of another have made the dog hunt a priority for the city, said Palo Alto Animal Services Superintendent Sandi Stadler.
She and a half-dozen others spent much of Thursday walking the dry creek bed. With Palo Alto police officers at one end of the creek and animal control officers from Palo Alto and San Mateo County at the other, the two groups converged, hoping to flush the dogs out.
Stadler and animal services supervisor Connie Urbanski stood somewhere in the middle, with a large span of netting between them. ``I don't care what I have to do, they're not getting by me,'' Stadler said.
After more than an hour of waiting, word came by radio that the dogs had not been seen at all despite a thorough walk-through. ``That's very disappointing,'' Stadler said. ``I guess we should have informed the dogs we were doing this.''
``These are very streetwise dogs,'' Urbanski said.
They had been seen this morning, sitting near the baited trap, and animal control officer Bill Warrior came within an inch of catching one of them, she said.
The trap bait will be replenished with the fried chicken, and if that doesn't overcome the dogs' distrust, the foot search will begin again, Stadler said.
``Fridays are hard. We never know if we'll have the manpower. Everyone's been so helpful as far as pulling together as a team. But this is a priority for the city,'' he said.
Warrior said the traps would be checked twice a day.

Rabid raccoon choked to death
after invading couples bedroom Tuesday, September 26, 2000
NEW MILFORD, Conn. -- A rabid raccoon broke into the bedroom of a New Milford couple, and was choked to death in a battle with the home's owner.
Steven Kolitz, 42, came away from the Sept. 16 fracas with various cuts, including an inch-deep gash to his leg that required five staples. He is also been undergoing a series of rabies shots.
Kolitz wife, Valorie, was awakened by the Sunday morning by the masked intruder, when the animal tugged on her blanket.
She screamed for her husband, who tried to coax the animal outside. But the raccoon attacked.
"It wasn't going bad until it turned on me," Kolitz said. "Once he got me, I said 'All right you want to fight, you are going to lose."'
The Kolitzes believe the animal got into his home through a dog door.
Copyright 2000 Boston Globe Electronic Publishing, Inc.

Deer crash through window, trash Colorado home
Wednesday, November 15, 2000

The Associated Press
BOULDER, Colo. -- Two deer smashed through a window at the home of Kathryn MacGregor, mangled the miniblinds, hopped over a computer, tore a few pillows and scratched a table before they found their way out. Fur was dangling from the ceiling. "I saw them, they saw me and I was gone," MacGregor said. "I wasn't going to wait for them to leave." MacGregor, 49, went to a neighbor's home, where animal control officials were called. As she waited, one deer crashed through a utility room window. A few minutes later, another followed. "They pretty much left me with a big mess," she said. "There was blood everywhere." Wildlife officials told MacGregor they suspect one of the deer saw its reflection in the window and took it as a challenge. The animals are nearing the end of breeding season and can be extremely aggressive, Colorado Department of Wildlife spokesman Todd Malmsbury said. "If anything can be learned from this, it's that deer should be treated with caution," Malmsbury said. "You don't want to find out how sharp their hooves can be." MacGregor quipped that the break-in didn't surprise her. "It's mating season and there's a nice fireplace and a comfy couch inside," she said. "Everyone says it was bound to happen."

Dog mauls man to death in Franklin County
By Valerie K. Schremp Of the Post-Dispatch
October 27, 2000
A 41-year-old St. Clair man was mauled to death this week by his roommate's pet chow, suffering wounds so severe that investigators called their police chief back from a conference, thinking they had a murder on their hands.
A roommate found Randy P. Harris, of 225 Cottage Street in St. Clair in Franklin County, barely alive in the front doorway of their home Wednesday evening.
He had puncture wounds on his forehead that looked like they came from gunshots. His leg had been dislocated. Blood gushed from wounds on his head, arm, and neck, and police found blood in several rooms in the house.
The chow, named Buster, was running loose inside. The roommate had locked Buster in a bedroom when she left about two hours before. After calling police, she locked Buster in a kennel outside, not suspecting he was the perpetrator.
Medics airlifted Harris to St. John's Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur, where he died a little over an hour after being found. Hospital officials told the medical examiner's office that the man had shotgun wounds. But a preliminary autopsy showed they were dog bites, and that Harris' carotid artery, one of the arteries that runs up the neck and supplies blood to the head, had been partially severed.
Later that night, St. Clair police put two and two together when they found blood on Buster. A veterinarian euthanized the dog with the roommate's approval.
The roommate told police she wasn't sure what prompted the struggle between the 50-pound dog and the five foot six inch, 130-pound man.
"She said that they lived together for two years and this guy knew the dog, and she said he had fed the dog before but it had been aggressive towards him at times," said St. Clair Police Chief Tom Yoder.
"Everyone's just amazed."

Wolf hybrid kills grandson, 5
Animal in back yard shot after attack
Sunday, October 22, 2000

By Joe Wessels Enquirer contributor
MIAMI TOWNSHIP - A 5-year-old Cincinnati boy was killed Saturday morning when his grandmother's pet wolf hybrid attacked him at her home here.
Joe, an 18-month old female,attacked the boy, Oberen “Obie” Burgin, after he strolled too close to the chained animal, authorities said.
Mavis Miller, the hybrid's owner, might face charges, pending further investigation, according to Lt. Nick Coyle with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office.
Ohio does not have a law forbidding owning a specific animal breed, said Andy Mahlman, operations manager of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in Northside. Hamilton County likewise has no such law.
The last killing in Hamilton County of a human by a pet occurred in 1983, when Marcellus Hampton, an 11-year-old Fairmount boy, died from a pit bull attack.
Ms. Miller's residence, in the 4900 block of East Miami River Road, is directly across from the Miami Township Fire Department. Firefighters arrived while the leashed wolf circled along a worn pathway near the lifeless child.
The boy's uncle, Mike Golden, 27, shot the 85-pound gray-and-white wolf with a .22-caliber pistol as firefighters arrived. SPCA officials asked sheriff's deputies to finish off the animal.
Miami Township Fire Chief Jim Hughes said the boy's only visible injury was a bite to the abdomen, leading authorities to speculate the boy died from internal injuries. An autopsy will be performed.
Firefighters said he did not regain consciousness while being treated. A University Hospital Air Care doctor pronounced the boy dead at the scene.
“It's kind of hard,” said Rob Street, the first firefighter on the scene, tears in his eyes. “I've got a 10-year-old at home.”
Paul Strasser, head of the Red Wolf Sanctuary in Dillsboro, Ind., called the attack a tragedy. The wildlife expert, however, said the child's death comes as no surprise; these types of accidents typically happen when people try to domesticate wild animals.
“Every year you have a kid killed in some part of the country by one of these things,” said Mr. Strasser, who holds a bachelor's degree in wildlife management from Montana State University and a master's degree in education from the University of Cincinnati.
“People need to learn that it is not a good idea to try to keep these types of animals as pets, especially around children.
“A child is dead because someone had an animal that had no business being there.”
Family members said Oberen liked dogs, and apparently was being curious when he was attacked.
Sher Amrein, 26, a neighbor, said she complained about the creature to the SPCA three weeks ago. She was worried because her four daughters routinely play outside. The hybrid had been chained closer to the road, but was moved to near the back of Ms. Miller's lot, she said.
“We checked our mail and (the animal) looked up at us like, "You gonna feed me or not,'” Ms. Amrein, 26, said. “I think my husband pet the dog once.”
In 1994, the City of Cincinnati passed a law prohibiting ownership of animals “not customarily domesticated in the city.” Wolves and wolf-dog hybrids are included in the ordinance.
In 1986, Cincinnati voted to ban pit bulls, but did not enforce the law until August 1995, after a pit bull mauled an officer. The ban was lifted in November 1999.

Hurst man kills skunk after it attacks his dog
By Kelly Melhart Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Thursday, October 19, 2000

HURST -- A man killed a skunk with a barbecue spatula after he looked out a window and saw the rabid animal attacking his dog.
The attack occurred about noon Tuesday in the 3100 block of River Bend Drive when the skunk bit a Labrador retriever mix on the nose, officials said.
When the man ran into his back yard, the skunk charged at him, police Sgt. Steve Moore said.
The dog, whose rabies vaccination had lapsed, then went after the skunk, Moore said. The man grabbed a spatula from a nearby grill and killed the intruder, Moore said.
The skunk was the first rabid animal found in Hurst in "many, many, many years," but was the 38th confirmed rabid animal this year in Tarrant County, said Jan Buck, a public health technician with the Texas Department of Health. It is the most rabid animals confirmed in the county since the department began keeping rabies statistics in 1979.
"This year has broken all kinds of records, and I don't want to be around if we ever break this record," Buck said.
Rabies cases in North Texas declined in August. State Health Department officials said the decrease may have been caused by the scorching heat. Animals tend to stay in their dens during hot weather to keep cool.
The numbers may increase now. Typically, spring and fall are peak periods for rabies cases, Buck said.
"I haven't plotted it out, but I wonder if we are just now experiencing our fall peak," she said.
Skunks seem to be walking south into Tarrant County from Denton County, which also has had a record number of rabid animals, Buck said. Denton County has had 93 confirmed rabies cases -- 88 of them skunks -- so far this year. The closest to that record was in 1991, when there were 40 confirmed rabies cases.
The Hurst skunk probably wandered from a creek that runs behind River Bend Drive in a newly developed area of north Hurst, Moore said. Those who live on the street said they have seen several skunks walking through yards, roaming across back porches and spraying pets.
The skunk's body was sent Tuesday to the state Health Department lab in Austin. Buck received a telephone call Wednesday confirming that the skunk was rabid.
The state Health Department has confirmed 30 rabid skunks, seven rabid bats and one rabid raccoon in Tarrant County this year. Last year, eight rabid animals were found in the county, all of them bats.
Officials believe that the mild winter and a good food supply helped skunks to flourish.
The bitten dog's rabies vaccinations expired four months ago, Moore said. It will be placed in quarantine for 90 days, he said.
Buck and Moore urge pet owners to vaccinate their pets and to not let the vaccinations lapse.
"Rabies is not in some other country, it can be in your back yard," Buck said. "Protect yourself and your family by protecting your pets."

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