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BANGOR, Maine — Two dogs that belonged to actor John Travolta and his family were accidentally struck and killed on the tarmac early last Thursday morning by an employee at Bangor International Airport, according to city officials.
An e-mail sent late last week by Bangor Interim City Manager Bob Farrar to the nine city councilors, which was obtained by the Bangor Daily News, confirmed the accident.
Asked to verify the details contained in that e-mail, the city released this statement:
“At approximately 1 a.m. on Thursday, May 13, 2010, an airplane carrying members of the John Travolta family landed at BIA. While there, two small dogs were taken for a walk by someone who is not a family member. An airport service pickup truck was approaching the airplane to service the airplane and did not see the dogs. Unfortunately, the dogs were struck and killed. The airport is investigating the accident. Out of respect for the family’s privacy the city will make no further comment.”
Airport Director Rebecca Hupp said normally it’s the airport’s policy not to comment on the identity of any passengers that come through Bangor, which is why, she said, she didn’t release a statement immediately after the accident happened.
“The airport takes safety very seriously,” Hupp said Monday afternoon. “Many flights come and go without incidents. Clearly, this is an unfortunate accident. Our deepest sympathies are with the family.”
It’s unclear whether any charges would be filed against the employee, who has not been named. Hupp also didn’t know whether the dogs were on leashes or not or what breed of dogs they were. The assistant who was walking the dogs was unharmed. The plane landed and was serviced at the main domestic terminal section of BIA.
Bangor police Lt. Steve Hunt confirmed Monday that officers responded to an incident at the airport that morning, but he declined to provide any details.
Paul Bloch, a publicist for Travolta, said Monday that he was unaware of the incident, but that he would look into it.
Travolta, 56, and his wife, actress Kelly Preston, 47, own a home on Islesboro off the coast of Waldo County, and the family likely was headed there after landing at Bangor. It wasn’t clear how many people were traveling with Travolta or if the actor, who is an accomplished pilot, was flying the plane.
In January 2009, the Travolta’s 16-year-old son, Jett, died after suffering a seizure while vacationing with family in the Bahamas. Travolta and Preston have one other child.
A longtime fixture in Hollywood dating back to the late 1970s with movies like “Grease,” “Saturday Night Fever” and “Urban Cowboy,” Travolta is still acting and was seen most recently in “Old Dogs” alongside Robin Williams.
H.R. 4733—Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act
Sponsors: Rep. Diane Watson (D-CA) and Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-CA) ASPCA Position: Support Action Needed: Please email your U.S. representative and urge him or her to support the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act.
Recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Diane Watson and Rep. Elton Gallegly, the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act (H.R. 4733) is a federal bill that would require the U.S. Government to purchase animal products only from entities that do not keep animals in gestation crates, veal crates or battery cages. Since almost all major packers and distributors do business with the federal government, this legislation would have a significant impact and dramatically improve animals’ living conditions in many farms across the nation.
In order to sell to the federal government, producers would be required to meet minimum humane standards (they would have two years from the date of the Act’s enactment to do so). Their animals would have to be provided with adequate space to stand up, lie down and turn around freely without any impediments, including tethers, and without touching the sides of their enclosures. Animals must also be able to fully extend all limbs without touching the sides of their enclosures—and in the case of egg-laying hens, fully spread both wings without touching the side of an enclosure or another hen.
It took a while, but Justice the stray finally received justice from the law. After 7 hours of deliberation the first day and a mere 30 minutes the second day of deliberations, Elvin Dooley was convicted and found guilty of animal cruelty for the shooting of Justice. The jury, consisting of 7 men and 5 women, did not find Dooley guilty of the more severe charge, animal torture. The trial lasted 3 days. Fortunately, the misdemeanor charge of cruelty to animals, that was given as a last minute option to the jurors by the defense, did not come into play during deliberations.
Elvin Dooley Convicted in Dog Killing
Dooley, 57 years old lives near the Save-a-Pet shelter on Townline Road in Grayslake, IL. Justice, a small dog, had been abandoned in the parking lot of Save-a-Pet on Tuesday, January 26, 2010.. Before the staff could get the dog inside, he ran away. Save-a-Pet manager, Dana Deutsch, had been trying that day to capture the elusive dog. Then at around 2 p.m. that day, Deutsch, while in her car, spotted the dog run into a field at Townline and Fairfield Roads. She pulled her car over to try and catch it. That is when she heard 2 gunshots. According to http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=355053, Deutsch said she saw a man with a rifle aiming at the back terrier across the filed. He was shooting out the back door of a house. She said a third shot rang out as she stopped her car, went to the house and started “pounding on the door and shouting at him that he was shooting my dog.”
The man, Dooley, denied shooting at the dog. Deutsch took the dog to a nearby animal hospital, but the dog died of a gunshot wound that passed through its neck. According to Assistant State’s Attorney Raquel Robles-Eschbach, the dog died a “slow and painful death as it staggered for several yards in the field after being wounded.”
Dooley was also charged with unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, unlawful possession of ammunition by a felon (Dooley has served prison terms for a 1974 burglary conviction in Alabama and 1996 for burglary in West Virginia, according to Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Marc Bangser) and possession of a weapon without a state Firearms Owner’s Identification card. Police found he was in possession of 17 firearms, 6,000 rounds of rifle ammunition and a large quantity of handgun ammunition. Those cases are scheduled to go to trial July 16, 2010.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court declared an important federal anti-cruelty law known as the “Crush Act” (18 U.S. Code Section 48) unconstitutional and therefore unenforceable. The Crush Act banned the creation, sale and possession of materials depicting genuine acts of animal cruelty where such acts are illegal. The Court made it clear that its major concern was the broadness of the law’s language, which could make the law applicable in many circumstances not intended by its authors.
While the ASPCA is disappointed with the Court’s decision, we are moving forward! Representative Elton Gallegly of California has acted quickly and introduced a bill to amend the law. H.R. 5092 will make the Crush Act’s language more specific and resolve the over-breadth concerns raised by the Supreme Court.
Passage of H.R. 5092 will help prevent a revitalization of the crush video industry. The original Crush Act was passed with little opposition—help us ensure that this revision passes, too.
They say you can judge a society by how they deal with the elderly and the unborn. But, I also believe that how a society treats other creatures is also paramount to the fabric of that society. And this is why I was not surprised by the Supreme Court’s recent ruling striking down the “Crush Act”. The “Crush Act,” is a 1999 federal law banning the creation, sale and possession of materials depicting genuine acts of animal cruelty (http://www.aspca.org/news/national/04-23-10.html#1) . It was an 8-1 decision with the lone dissenting vote coming from Justice Alito. According to BusinessWeek.com, Justice Alito said the ruling effectively legalized the sale of crush videos and “is thus likely to spur a resumption of their production.” He pointed out that the animals in crush videos “are living creatures that experience excruciating pain.” We are a society in decline.
Kitten
In case you are not familiar with what a “Crush” video is, let me explain (and this is not pretty): A crush video (usually posted on the internet) depicts extreme cruelty to animals. The perpetrator’s face is usually blocked in these videos (hmm . . . why you ask? Obviously because they know what they are doing is horrendous and don’t want to be identified). Small animals, (rabbits, hamsters, tortoises, quail, chicken, ducks, frogs, snakes, and even cats) are video taped while being tortured (including being burned, drowned and having nails hammered into them) and crushed. Typically the animals are burned with cigarettes, nailed to the floor, or hurt in some other manner before being killed by women in high heeled shoes. These videos sell anywhere from $20 – $300 over the internet.
According to the ASPCA site, “The Crush Act was designed to stop the commerce of crush videos and other depictions of illegal acts of animal cruelty “in which a living animal is intentionally maimed, mutilated, tortured, wounded, or killed.” The act depicted did not have to be illegal where it was filmed, only where the resulting product was sold. (Robert) Stevens, who marketed videos of dog and hog-dog fighting—some of which he filmed overseas—was the first person convicted under the Crush Act.”
With the repeal of the law, Mr. Stevens and others like him are free again to market their despicable wares. The Supreme Court’s decision stated in the majority opinion written by Chief Justice Roberts, the court attributed its decision “to the law being both unconstitutional and (sic) overbroad”. They have basically said that the law imposed upon First Amendment Rights. Excuse me? What part of free speech does watching a defenseless animal being tortured and subsequently crushed to death (under a stiletto heel) fall into?
The fight won’t stop here, and the ASPCA is hoping that the courts will draft new legislation with more narrowly drafted legislation to specifically target crush and animal fighting videos. Solicitor Generals for both the Bush and Obama Administrations have pushed this case forward. And we are heartened that26 state Attorneys Generalhave filed a friend of the court brief urging the Supreme Court to reverse the Third Circuit’s ruling, with not a single Attorney General taking the opposite stance (http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/2009/09/crush-videos.html).
You hear it time and time again, dogs are man’s best friends. Ben Heinrich would be quick to agree with that statement. It was, after-all, his dog, aptly named “Buddy” that came to his rescue.
Friday, Apr 23 2010
How a frantic pet dog led police to his family’s burning home after owner told him: ‘Buddy, go get help!’
This is the kind of Buddy you really want in a crisis.
Buddy the German Shepherd proved to be a real-life Lassie as he led police straight to his family home which was on fire.
The frantic pet dog can be seen on police dashcam footage looking back repeatedly to make sure the car was still following as he took them round narrow, unlit bends to the inferno.
Buddy go get help: The German Shepherd spots the trooper’s car and races off in the direction of the burning house
Real-life Lassie: Buddy leads the trooper down unlit, winding roads
Near-tragedy: Buddy brings the trooper right up to his family’s burning home
Owner Ben Heinrichs, 23, insists the amazing rescue started when his dog raced off after he told him: ‘Buddy, we need to get help.’
Every once in a while there’s a crazy dog story out there. This story comes from the “Chattanooga Times Free Press”
An owner of the dog that attacked four cars — including two police vehicles — on Sunday says she doesn’t blame police officers for using pepper spray and a Taser in attempts to subdue the animal.
“I cannot believe they didn’t shoot him,” said Nancy Emerling, one of the dog’s owners. “I think that the officers showed amazing restraint. They could not have been nicer.”
Ms. Emerling said that before Sunday her dog Winston, a mixed pit bull breed, never has been aggressive toward anything other than lawn equipment. But on that day, Winston attacked two police vehicles — chewing the tires and tearing the bumper off one — and two other vehicles after he found his way out of the two fences he was kept behind.
Contributed Photo: Winston, the dog that attacked a police car.
An officer was running radar in a parking lot next to Mann’s Welding Co. on Workman Road when the attack began. Ms. Emerling said she thinks either the blue police lights or possibly the sound of the radar gun triggered the nearly 3-year-old dog.
“He has never shown aggression toward people,” she said. “He’s very sweet, very good natured.”
An officer from McKamey Animal Center eventually was able to capture Winston by using a pole. The dog now is in McKamey’s Safe Harbor, where animals involved in bite cases and other legal cases are held, said Karen Walsh, the center’s executive director.
“This is our first dog attacking a car, doing this kind of damage,” she said.
Police car the bulldog chewed up.
Ms. Emerling was given a citation for Winston being a “potentially dangerous dog,” Ms. Walsh said, and the case will go before City Court Judge Sherry Paty, who hears all the local animal cases, on March 25. Ms. Walsh said it will be up to the judge to determine what happens to Winston.
Since the dog has been under McKamey’s watch, he has not shown any signs of aggression, Ms. Walsh said.
“He has not been throwing himself at the bars or any of the things that some of the dogs do,” she said. “But he’s not on trial for being aggressive toward people. He’s on trial for what happened that day.”
