A large turtle that's injured is reportedly laying in the roadway on Main Road in Stafford. Law enforcement is responding.
UPDATE 11:01 a.m.: "The turtle's been removed from the roadway and I'll be back in service," says the officer.
"Lola" thought about trying to make her escape today, but once on the roof above the porch of her home on Pringle Avenue, she wasn't quite sure of her next move.
A neighbor tried getting to her with a ladder, but she was too big and hard to carry on his own.
Police were called, who called the fire department.
The owner wasn't home, but firefighters were able to gain access to the house and went to the second floor. Firefighter Bob Fix opened a window and called to her.
At that point, "Lola" gave serious consideration to jumping from the roof. Onlookers yelled, "no," and Fix called her again. She turned and walked into the house through the window.
When Fix came out, he said "Lola" was standing on the kitchen table.
About this time, the owner returned from a bike ride with her children.
It's not the first time "Lola" has done something like this, she said. At their previous residence -- the family recently moved to Pringle -- "Lola" jumped from a second-floor window.
"She's crazy," she said.
Then her children got tours of the fire truck and the police car.
A resident reports there is an Irish setter on the roof at 30 Pringle Ave. in the city. The fire department is responding.
UPDATE 6:40 p.m.: Truck #15 is responding with its ladder. The home was recently purchased and the owners are not there. The dog busted through a screen on the second floor and is just hanging out, perhaps enjoying the scenery.
UPDATE 6:54 p.m.: "Lola" the dog was put safely back in the home, coaxed by firefighters. The owner, who was out for a bike ride, subsequently returned.
UPDATE 6:56 p.m.: Truck #15 is back in quarters.
A horse is reportedly loose on Pratt Road.
The owner was reportedly riding the horse and the horse stopped cooperating. She's concerned it may run toward the Thruway.
A deputy is responding.
UPDATE 9:07 a.m.: Deputy on scene. Horse nowhere in sight. Caller being re-contacted.
UPDATE 9:08 a.m.: The owner and the horse are reportedly in a field behind Ridge Road Village Park.
UPDATE 9:29 a.m.: A deputy to another, "She's got that rope over it, but he's not a real willing participant."
UPDATE 9:32 a.m.: Horse re-harnessed. No further law enforcement assistance needed.
A 77-year-old Thorpe Street resident has been arrested by the Wyoming County Sheriff's Office and charged with animal abuse.
His son, a Middlebury resident, was also arrested.
The arrests follow an April 28 report in Middlebury of 50 chihuahuas being dropped off on a property in Middlebury.
Joseph Wenzel Jr., of Bank Road, Middlebury, allegedly made the 9-1-1 call.
The day before, according to the WCSO, a Batavia PD officer responded to a residence on Thorpe after receiving a barking dog complaint. The officer reportedly observed eight dogs at the residence, but the homeowner did not come to the door.
The officer left a contact card and information was passed on to the city's animal control officer.
When Wenzel Jr., contacted law enforcement, he said he had fed the dogs and the dogs were contained.
An animal control officer and a deputy responded to the residence and decided to leave the dogs in place until the next morning.
Upon further investigation, Investigator Mayer and Deputy Ficarella determined that Wenzel Sr. allegedly dropped off the dogs after the visit to his residence in Batavia.
He reportedly told officers that he could not take care of the animals any longer.
Wenzel Sr. was subsequently arrested and charged with 44 counts of animal abuse and is being held in Wyoming County pending arraignment.
Wenzel Jr. was charged with 44 counts of animal abuse and falsely reporting an incident. He was jailed on $10,000 bail.
Driving down Bridge Road in Elba this afternoon, I see some strange looking birds near the edge of the roadway. I naturally stop to take pictures.
While stopped, I meet George Morgan, the owner of the birds. He tells me they're guinea hens, native to Africa. He also shows me his peacock (bottom photo).
Morgan said he's owned guinea hens for 30 years.
"They're just a riot," he said. "They're lots of fun. They chase each other. They play tag. I always enjoy a good laugh."
Heather Klein is still looking for help in locating her missing chihuahua, Belle, who ran from her kennel March 17.
Belle split without her collar on and was last seen at Main and River streets, with sightings at Birchwood, Dewey and Woodrow. She is the color of a deer with white on her neck. She weighs five pounds and is 5 years old and is skittish.
Klein is offering a reward for her safe return.
Heather can be reached at (585) 993-1050.
This was just sent in by a reader:
"We have lost a smooth coat Chihuahua. She got loose late Sunday (this) morning. The dog was last seen around the corner of Main and River. If you see her please call Wendy at 585-409-4617."
Thank you so much,
Wendy
UPDATE 3:25 p.m.: A lost dog was found in Valu Plaza and is at the Mexican food store. Not sure if it's the chihuahua or not, but an officer is called to the location.
UPDATE: The tiny canine is still missing. Wendy posted this in comments yesterday afternoon:
"It was not the dog. We are still looking for her. If you see her, she probably won't come to you. Please call with any sightings. Owner's number is 993-1050. She is about 5 lbs, reddish tan with white around her neck."
Yesterday, Lorri Goergen, of North Spruce Street, Batavia, showed me these pictures on her iPad. It's a herd of deer that appeared in her backyard the day before -- in the city, on Spruce Street.
Dee Neilans, the manager at the Days Inn in Batavia, said a little black kitten walked up to the front door this morning and appears to have no home.
She said it's all black with a little white mark on its belly. She doesn't know what to do with it. She can't keep it and the shelter is closed today.
If you can help, contact her at the Days Inn, (585) 343-6000.
Jazzy won over a lot of hearts in New York City last week, but she made Joanne Mistler's heart soar when a Westminster Kennel Club judge named her one of two finalists among 25 English Setters invited to the competition this year.
It was a male English Setter that won best of breed, but 3-year-old "GCH Birdhavens and All That Jazz" (Jazzy's full name) was named "Best of Breed/Opposite Sex."
Just getting invited to Westminster to show Jazzy was a big honor, Mistler said, but to come home with a ribbon from America's most prestigious dog show is the thrill of a lifetime.
"She just showed beautifully, and she loves to show," Mistler said.
A few years ago, Westminster became an invitation-only show. A dog must score enough points in accredited competitions to get on the short list of dogs who can enter the ring. Mistler took Jazzy to more than a dozen shows in the past 18 months. She won her first major in Chicago, which helped her get into Westminster.
Jazzy was part of the Sporting Group. (Groups are what you see on TV, not the breed competitions.) The male that won English Setters advanced to the group, and from the four groups, Westminster judges picked Best in Show. This year, Best in Show was Banana Joe, an affenpinscher.
For owners who show dogs, getting to Westminster isn't cheap, and the payoff ... well, unless you get Best of Breed at Westminster followed by some endorsement deals, there isn't much money to be made from dog shows.
"People say, how much do you get? How much money do you get," Mistler said. "I say, you get a ribbon, that’s it. But this ribbon -- this is prestige."
Mistler started showing setters in dog shows in the 1970s.
She and her husband bought a setter when her twins were 2 years old, and one day she was walking down a New York street and a member of the Staten Island Kennel Club asked her if she ever showed her dog.
She hadn't. He said the club was having a "fun show," and she should enter.
She did, and her dog won.
"Of course, I was hooked," Mistler said.
Her son, local businessman Ken Mistler, said he went to a lot of dog shows growing up.
In the days before Westminster was invitation-only, Joanne Mistler did manage to enter the competition -- entries would open at noon and be closed (sold out, essentially) by 12:30 -- so getting an invitation this year was itself something special.
There were 2,800 dogs in this year's competition, with 25 English Setters, and of those 25, nine were females.
Owners showing dogs must be there by 9 a.m. and stay until 3 p.m., Mistler said. The public walks through the show freely, meeting all the dogs, talking to owners and learning about different breeds.
"It's a long day for exhibitors, but it's prestigious just to be there," Mistler said. "(Jazzy) had her picture taken a thousand times and was petted by a million people."
Next up for Jazzy is becoming a mother. Mistler said she will go into heat next month.
She already has a prospective mate.
A lot goes into picking a mate for a show dog, Mistler said. Show dogs are judged against a set of standards for the breed, and every show dog has some standard that gets just a little off.
"No dog is perfect," Mistler said. "If she has a tail set too low, you look for a male with an even tail. If she is not deep-chested, you look for a male with a deep chest. You try to offset it."
The owner of the prospective mate loves Jazzy's temperament and the way she showed, Mistler said.
Typically, a pure-breed setter puppy sells for about $1,000. The red ribbon might make Jazzy's puppies a little more valuable.
From the time of Mistler's first show dog until Jazzy's predecessor (a female that wouldn't breed), Mistler always kept a puppy from the litter. With Jazzy's litter, Mistler hopes to resume the line of dogs she's bred.
Picking that puppy is as much art as it is science. At about six weeks, you see bone structure and whether the animal will be well-proportioned.
If your puppy shows, great. If one of the other puppies shows, even better.
"You hope that one of these puppies will be shown," Mistler said. "It’s every breeders dream. The chances are, if you get one to go to show out of a litter, that’s wonderful. That’s what everybody’s dream is, to have the dog that you can say, ‘Joanne bred that dog. That’s one of Joanne’s breeds.’ ”
Abby is missing. Abby is a pure-bred Chesapeake Bay retriever owned by Tom Frew of Le Roy. Tom said Abby has been missing since last Wednesday from the Asbury Road area.
Abby is 2 years old and Frew was planning to use her for foundation stock for his two-dog kennel. She is also his personal gun dog and house pet. He has all the proper AKC paperwork.
Local professional photographer Jay Terkel sent in this picture taken in his backyard in Corfu of a Cooper's hawk making a meal of a starling.
A reader alerted us Saturday that she had seen a swan on the Tonawanda Creek earlier behind Settler's. Sure enough, we found this big white bird hanging out with the geese.
NOTE: A reader contacted us recently suggesting we look into what happens to dead deer left by the side of the road. So we looked into it ...
Dispatchers often call them car vs. deer accidents, but the deer never wins.
If it doesn't die on the spot, a deputy is called to deliver the coup de grâce.
Some deer are just left to die by the side of the road and when that happens, there can be some expense to county taxpayers for disposal of the animals.
According to Tim Hens, county superintendent of highways, when the county had a contractor to remove the deer, the fee was $30 per animal.
On average, the county had 160 deer a year removed for an approximate expense of $4,800 per year.
The contractor used to feed the dead deer to mink he raised, but recently discontinued his deer pick-up business, Hens said.
That has left county workers the task of disposing of the carcasses.
"It is just not as cost effective when you factor in the loss of productivity to leave an active job to run across the county to pick up one deer," Hens said. "It might be different if you could wait a few days and pick up several in one trip, but most residents don't like the deer lying there for more than a day or two, especially in the summer."
Hens said the county is collecting quotes from potential new contractors and hope to resume a paid pick-up service in 2013.
Not all dead deer go to waste, however. Some become venison stew, steaks or hamburger.
If a driver reports a deer strike, the driver has first dibs on getting the animal tagged, or dispatchers maintain a list of people who might be interested in claiming the animal.
Drivers are only required to report the collision with a deer if their vehicle sustained more than $1,000 in damage or they need an accident report for insurance purposes.
So far in 2012 (as of a week ago), there have been 512 car vs. deer accidents reported to Genesee County dispatchers. In 2011, there were 514. In 2010, 406 (stats from earlier years are harder for clerks at the Sheriff's Office to retrieve from records, so we didn't request those figures).
There are no special permits necessary, according to Linda Vera, spokeswoman for the DEC, to remove deer for disposal purposes.
If a deer carcass is off the road, a farmer can just scoop it up with a loader or drag it off with a tractor and dump it in the woods.
"The DEC encourages the composting of animal carcasses, but the animals are allowed to be disposed of in landfills or other approved disposal areas," Vera said.
From Fran Woodworth, DVM:
Here at the State Street Animal Hospital we see poisonings in animals frequently. The most common is rat/mouse poison ingestion.
This week we had two potentially disastrous cases, and I wanted to get a warning out to all pet owners: BE SURE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE BUYING!
Rat poisons do not all have the same toxic ingredient. They can cause bleeding, or brain swelling, or irreversible kidney failure, or seizures, or anemia. THE ONLY ONES THAT HAVE A DIRECT ANTIDOTE ARE THOSE THAT CAUSE BLEEDING!
The two dogs we saw this week both ate yummy green bricks (the most common packaging of most of the rat poisons) containing BROMETHALIN, the poison that causes cerebral edema, or brain swelling.
Luckily the owners saw them eat it, called us immediately, and were able to make the dogs vomit up just about all the material using hydrogen peroxide under our direction.
We then saw them in the hospital and gave them medication to bind up any remaining poison in their GI tracts. These steps saved the dogs' lives.
Our recommendation:
We just received this message from Mary Pentycofe:
ATTENTION!!!!!! All people in or around the Oakfield area. Please be on the look out for our lost African Grey Parrot. Answers to "Benny." Is known to whistle the Indiana Jones Theme song and "Hi-ho" when prompted. He went missing about 7 p.m. Thursday night 10-25-12 from 7 Coe Ave. in Oakfield, NY. If found, there is a $50 reward. Please help us find our bird. This is not a joke, we are all heartbroken.
If found or seen please call 585-307-1116.
UPDATE: Benny has been located. Mary said he's home safe. She thanked all who helped, including the Oakfied Fire Department.
Keith Smith found this little chihuahua on Gulf Road, Le Roy.
The dog had a tag with a name of "Petetie" on it, but the phone number on the tag is out of service.
If it's your lost dog, call Keith at (585) 797-4557.
UPDATE, Wednesday, 5:04 p.m.: "Petetie" is going home tonight.
A tenant of an apartment complex on East Main Street is being evicted this morning and the deputy handling the eviction said the man has four cats.
He's requested cat carriers from animal control, but the animal control officer says if the plan is to relocate the cats to the shelter, there is no room.
"That's definitely my last resort," the deouty said, adding that the tenant's mother is trying to find some place to place the cats.
Animal control is responding with cat carriers to at least act as temporary housing for the felines until more suitable arrangements can be made.
UPDATE: The deputy is apparently taking the cats to a location on Lewiston Road.
An officer is responding to 1371 Lewiston Road, Alabama, for a complaint of dogs barking ceaselessly. The nearest crossroads are Alleghany Road and Church Street. There are reportedly three Siberian huskies on the property.
UPDATE 6:38 p.m.: "The owner has been advised. All FOUR dogs are licensed," the officer reports to dispatch, adding that now she's headed to Oakfield for the stray Great Dane.
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