“Pets belonging to former Coppell mayor are adopted - Dallas Morning News” plus 2 more |
- Pets belonging to former Coppell mayor are adopted - Dallas Morning News
- Driving with pets a safety issue - Seattle Times
- More charges in series of exotic pets thefts - Chicago Sun-Times
| Pets belonging to former Coppell mayor are adopted - Dallas Morning News Posted: 10 Sep 2010 09:58 PM PDT 12:00 AM CDT on Saturday, September 11, 2010COPPELL – The murder-suicide that left Coppell Mayor Jayne Peters and her daughter, Corinne, dead stunned North Texas this summer. Two months later, the six pets left behind by the family are adjusting to their new homes. When Coppell police entered the Peterses' home July 13, they found a typed note from the mayor on the counter. Peters made various requests: forgiveness; cremation; and care for their two dogs, Hope and Lucy, and four cats, Mystic, Sassy, Snowflake and Reno. All six pets have been adopted. In a classroom in the Merrywood School in Duncanville, Sassy and Snowflake are together, pawing at a bookshelf. "I wish I knew which one was which," said Colleen FitzGerald, a sixth- and seventh-grade teacher at the school her family began 50 years ago. "I'm kind of going to judge by personality. But they are beautiful cats." FitzGerald is the head of Elliot's Friends, a pet rescue group, and the vice president of North Texas Samoyed Rescue. When she heard about the pets being left behind, she had a nagging feeling. "I thought, 'Gosh, I wish I could be in a position to help,' " FitzGerald said. "That thought kept coming back to me. Eventually, you think that you're supposed to go get those kitties." FitzGerald asked about the two 11-year-old Siamese cats and brought them home. She knew from the start that the two cats needed to be together. "When I got there, these kiddos were side by side in their little kennels, but there was a partition between them," FitzGerald said. "You could tell they were stressed. When those two cats saw each other and were able to touch and get back together, they just ran to each other and huddled." FitzGerald said that the cats have begun to recognize their new home and are adjusting very well. "They're just as sweet as can be and were obviously very well-cared for." More than 40 miles away in Copper Canyon is their one-time housemate Mystic, the Peterses' black cat. The color is a deterrent to some potential adopters, but not Dianne Brown. "I just felt that more people wouldn't respond than would," said Brown, who made Mystic the sixth cat in her household. "I'm particularly attracted to black cats. Someone has to stand up for the black cats in this world." Like FitzGerald, Brown said she was drawn to the cats by the news coverage. "I got e-mails from people that I know, and it was a topic of conversation for quite a while," Brown said. "The plight of animals is catastrophic in our world." While in the Coppell Animal Shelter, the 9-year-old Mystic began acting out, something that Brown said could have eventually jeopardized the cat's life. That's why Brown acted quickly, adding Mystic to the family. "Mystic is getting better with every day," Brown said. "She wasn't as happy with the new house. Mystic just didn't know where she was. It's been a month now, and Mystic is now very calm." The Peterses' two collies, Hope and Lucy, were adopted by a family quickly after arriving at the shelter. The family's fourth cat, Reno, has also found a new home. It's all good news for Brown, who said that what she did is nothing special. "I just wanted to help in some way to make sure they were taken care of," Brown said. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Driving with pets a safety issue - Seattle Times Posted: 11 Sep 2010 06:12 AM PDT CHICAGO — Safety experts have a new pet peeve related to distracted driving: Lap dogs and other pets left unrestrained inside moving vehicles pose a major distraction that could be deadly, a new study released warns motorists. About two-thirds of dog owners surveyed by the AAA organization said they routinely drive while petting or playing with their dogs, sometimes even giving them food or water while maneuvering through traffic. It has been a common sight for many years to see dogs hanging their heads out of open car windows with their ears flapping in the breeze. But in the cocoon that the automobile has become, more drivers are nonchalantly cradling their dogs in their laps or perching the animals on their chests with the pet's front paws clutching the driver's neck or shoulders. It's risky behavior for the driver and dangerous for the pets, too. An 80-pound dog unrestrained during a crash at 30 mph exerts 2,400 pounds of force in a vehicle, creating a danger for the dog and anyone in its path, according to Motivation Design, a company that manufactures pet travel products, including restraint systems for pets, under the brand name Kurgo. "As about 40 percent of Americans own dogs. We see this as an increasingly big problem," said Beth Mosher, spokeswoman for AAA of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. Dogs inside wrecked vehicles often become territorial and protective of their owners when police and emergency-responders try to rescue injured occupants, sometimes leaving authorities no other option than to shoot the animal in order to help the driver and passengers, say Illinois State Police troopers who have been dispatched to such accident scenes. "The last thing you want to do is to put the dog down, but you have a possible hurt animal that is acting in self-preservation and protecting its owner," said Sgt. Brian Copple, manager of the safety education unit of the State Police. Unlike the seat belt law for humans, there are no state laws requiring drivers to buckle up their pets or prohibiting them from holding animals on their laps, officials said. But police can ticket drivers for having an obstructed view of the road or being obstructed from using the steering wheel and other mechanisms in the vehicle. "I've never written a ticket in 21 years for this type of violation. But I have stopped people with dogs on their laps and told them how unsafe it is," Copple said. Most drivers don't realize that a dog moving around a vehicle or sitting on someone's lap can injure or kill occupants during a crash, particularly if air bags deploy, Copple said. "If the animal is sitting between the steering wheel and the driver, the air bag will throw the animal back at you with great force," Copple said. About 6,000 people died in crashes involving a distracted or inattentive driver in 2008 and more than 500,000 were injured, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. AAA and Kurgo were partners in the survey of 1,000 dog owners who have driven with their pets in the last year. Fifty-five percent of the drivers polled said they have petted their dog while driving, and 21 percent said they held the dog in their lap. Seven percent said they have given food and water to their dog while driving, and 5 percent said they have played with their dog while behind the steering wheel. Such behaviors are relevant because looking away from the road for only two seconds doubles the risk of being in a crash, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| More charges in series of exotic pets thefts - Chicago Sun-Times Posted: 11 Sep 2010 06:12 AM PDT SUN-TIMES MEDIA WIRE Two more west suburban police departments have filed charges against four suspects already accused of stealing exotic pets from a string of several stores. Batavia police filed charges Thursday against four people suspected in a string of thefts at pet stores in Batavia, St. Charles, Naperville and Bolingbrook. Alexander Kochno, 27, of Downers Grove; and Rebecca Cozzi, 30, Erik Zalkus, 31, and Viviana Rossi, 28, all of Berwyn, are charged with felony retail theft, accused of taking a white-bellied caique and a green-cheeked conure from Bird Is The Word at 30 S. Shumway in Batavia. On Friday, St. Charles police filed identical charges against the four suspects in the theft of four sugar gliders -- domesticated Australian cousins of the flying squirrel -- from Critters Pet Shop. Kochno and Cozzi turned themselves in to Batavia police on Thursday. Zalkus and Rossi are currently being held in the DuPage County jail on felony charges filed by the Naperville Police Department in connection with another animal theft at Petland. The investigation into the thefts began on Sept. 1 after police were called to a Wheaton Petland store by an employee who recognized the group from surveillance camera images distributed following the earlier theft at Naperville Petland. The stolen birds and animals were recovered unharmed. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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