Roy Curtis Marcum,  43,  a 14-year Sacramento County Animal Care & Regulation Department office,  was fatally shot through a closed front door on November 28,  2012 as he approached a house occupied by Joseph Francis Corey,  65,  to take custody of six Catahoula dogs.  Marcum,  who was unarmed,  was accompanied by two locksmiths,  who suffered superficial injuries.  Corey had been evicted the day before,  but was believed to have left the Catahoulas,  who are pit bull variants,  in the second floor house and ground level garage.  A 16-hour standoff followed the shooting, during which SWAT team members were able to slip into the garage and hide until  Corey descended a stairway into the garage to check on one of the dogs circa 5 a.m. on November 29.  Corey was then captured and charged with homicide. Read more

“I come to bury Caesar,  not to praise him.  The evil that men do lives after them.  The good is oft interred with their bones.”–William Shakespeare

Kelly Ann Rada,  DVM,  38,  medical director for Humane Ohio, died unexpectedly of an unknown cause on September 26,  2012.  Rada became acquainted with Humane Ohio founder Aimee St. Arnaud while volunteering to assist feral cat neuter/return projects while attending the Ohio State University School of Veterinary Medicine. After graduating in 2002,  Rada served as shelter vet for the Capital Area Humane Society in Columbus,  Ohio,  and the Flagler Humane Society in Palm Coast,  Florida.  Founding a practice called Shelter Vet to Go,  Rada participated in dog and cat sterilization campaigns organized by animal charities from Jacksonville to Miami.  Rada relocated Shelter Vet to Go to Toledo in 2010.  As well as working for Humane Ohio,  Rada was a consultant for the Lucas County Dog Warden’s office and did sterilizations and vaccinations for the Lucas County Pit Crew,  a pit bull rescue agency.  “I briefly worked with her on a Florida microchipping issue and she was tremendously helpful,”  recalled Janet Winikoff,  director of education for the Humane Society of Vero Beach & Indian River County.  Several people at my shelter knew her when she helped our shelter in 2006 during an outbreak of canine flu.”  Humane Ohio has established a memorial fund in Rada’s name to help sterilize and treat feral cats,  and help send University of Florida and Ohio State University veterinary students to receive dog and cat sterilization training from the Humane Alliance,  in Asheville,  North Carolina. Read more

“I come to bury Caesar,  not to praise him.  The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones.” –William Shakespeare

Sabrina Yeap, 49, died of leukemia on July 17, 2012 in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.  “Yeap, who was orphaned when she was just a month old after her parents died in a car accident, did not have a single relative in Malaysia.  Her doctor father and her mother had eloped to Malaysia from China and lost touch with their families,” wrote Wani Muthiah of The Star of Malaysia.  “Yeap grew up in a temple and her 200-odd dogs, 150 cats and countless loyal friends were her only family,” Muthiah added. Yeap became an inspector for the Selangor SPCA, introduced the Animals Asia Foundation’s Dr. Dog program to Malaysia, and founded the Furry Friends Farm sanctuary in 2006.  Yeap also helped others to start programs, including Suzana Suliaman of Stray Cats Rescue And Treatment Community in Penang, and Irene Low of Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better, who recalled to Muthiah that Yeap in 2008 donated 50 bags of dog food and paid off the organization’s veterinary debts. Read more

Susan Davila, 58, former manager of the Wyoming County SPCA in Attica, New York, was found dead at her home in Attica on July 8, 2012. “We believe it was an overdose of her prescription medications, but the investigation is ongoing. We do not see any foul play at this time,” Wyoming County District Attorney Donald O’Geen told Bennet J. Loudon of the Attica Democrat & Chronicle. Davila was charged with 20 counts of cruelty after 518 cats were removed from the Wyoming County SPCA shelter in February 2012 by the Erie County SPCA and New York state police. “Former board president Janet Foissett is charged with tampering with evidence,” added Loudon. Between 40 and 50 cats were euthanized due to severe health issues, Erie County SPCA spokesperson Gina Browning told Carolyn Thompson of Associated Press. Nearly two dozen organizations helped to find homes for the remaining cats, Browning said. Read more