Animal Obituaries
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2010:
Spunk, 10, a therapy dog kept by a 75-year-old retired
teacher in Taman Merdeka, Ipoh, Malaysia, was shot by dogcatchers
on October 29, 2010 while the woman fetched paper to clean up after
him. Made public by her son, Rohan Marshall of Bangkok, Thailand,
the killing rallied national and international support for efforts
led for years by Sabhat Alam Malaysia, the Ipoh SPCA, Noah’s Ark
Ipoh, and PetPositive to abolish dog-shooting. The Ipoh City
Council banned dog-shooting on November 16, 2010. PetPositive
president Anthony Sivabalan, who is also a Petaling Jaya city
councilor, told Ivan Loh of the Star of Malaysia that “The council
will send its officers to their counterparts in Petaling Jaya next
week to learn dog-catching methods. They are also studying the
possibility of setting up an animal shelter. A committee set up by
the council will have meetings later to discuss neutering the
animals.”
Prince Chunk, 12, said to be the world’s fattest cat when
rehomed by the Camden County Animal Shelter in New Jersey in 2008,
died in his sleep on November 21, 2010 at the home of his adopter,
Vince Damiani of Turnersville, who founded the Prince Chunk
Foundation in June 2010 to provide temporary help, including
veterinary care, to the pets of people who area in financial
distress. “The organization now operates in New Jersey, New York,
Pennsylvania and California,” reported Jim Walsh of the Cherry Hill
Courier-Post.
Thirteen dogs and cats and 43 other animals died in a
November 26, 2010 dawn fire at the Ark RAIN Wildlife Sanctuary &
Exotic Animal Rescue in Brownsville, Tennessee. A kangaroo named
Tucker tried to alert the occupants of the burning building,
suffering burns on his paws and face, but only founders Tim and Toni
Davis, a dog named Freedom, and a cat named Ashes escaped.
Fifty-six animals kept elsewhere on the property survived, including
a lion, a badger, a capybara, a fenec fox, and Tucker. Two other
kangaroos are known to have done similar deeds. One in September
2003 fetched help for Australian rancher Len Richards after he was
hit by a falling tree limb. The other kangaroo in March 1997 alerted
Nigel Etherington of Australia to a house fire by banging furiously
on his door.
Target, a former street dog in the Dand Aw Patan district of
Paktia province, Afghanistan, on November 13, 2010 escaped from
the home of Army medic Sergeant Terry Young, 37, in the San Tan
Valley of Arizona, was picked up by Pinal County Animal Control,
and was mistakenly euthanized on November 15, even though Young
recognized Target from a photo on the county animal control web site
and paid the fee to reclaim her online. Target was one of three
street dogs who in February 2010 attacked a suicide bomber who
entered a U.S. Army barracks. One dog was killed when the suicide
bomber self-detonated. The two surviving dogs, Target and Rufus,
were flown to the U.S. and adopted. The Pinal County employee who
was responsible for the fatal error was discharged following an
internal investigation.
Bozo, 17, an 875-pound bear fed since he was a cub by Leroy
Lewis, 71, of Bushkill, Pennsylvania, was shot six times with a
crossbow on November 15, 2010 by David Price, 46, of Cresco,
Pennsylvania and two hunting companions. Lewis had been warned for
illegally feeding wildlife, but many Bushkill residents told local
media that Bozo was a docile and friendly bear who was essentially a
community pet.
