JulesP Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 This is from the US. A GSD was left on a mountain by her owner after she hurt her paws. He asked search and rescue to get her but they wouldn't so he just left her there! A couple found her EIGHT days later but couldn't carry her either but they posted a help notice on a climbing page and a bunch of people went out and saved her in rather nasty conditions. The owner heard about the rescue and now wants the dog back! Only way I would be leaving my dog on a mountain to die is if I was unconscious in hospital! Good on the people that saved Missy. http://www.examiner.com/article/dog-left-to-die-on-mountain-by-owner-custody-battle-video-of-rescue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlc Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 Wouldn't you think the owner could have gotten some helpers to go back and get her? He doesn't deserve to get her back! Good on the rescuers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesP Posted August 19, 2012 Author Share Posted August 19, 2012 Yeah I just don't get why he left her like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dame Aussie Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 Arsehole!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe001 Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 Reading down the comments is this article about the owner being charged. Hope the rescuers get to keep her. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/08/man-faces-animal-cruelty-charge-after-abandoning-dog-on-colorado-mountain Man Faces Animal Cruelty Charge After Abandoning Dog on Colorado Mountain Email 7 Smaller Font Text Larger Text | Print (Courtesy Scott Washburn) A 29-year-old man is expected to face a charge of animal cruelty after he abandoned his dog on Colorado mountain, the Clear Creek Sheriff’s Office officials said Friday. Anthony Joseph Ortolani told The Denver Channel earlier that he was forced to leave his German shepherd named Missy on the snow-capped peaks of Mount Bierstadt Aug. 5, when a storm moved in and he became worried for the safety of a younger hiker who was with him. He said his dog’s feet were cut up from walking on sharp rocks and it could no longer walk. ABC News’ previous efforts to reach Ortolani were unsuccessful. Scott Washburn and his wife, Amanda, found Missy Aug. 11, while they were on a leisurely hike up Mount Bierstadt. “We were hiking to this ridge and we got off course and I was a little ahead of my wife,” he said. “She called out to me and said, ‘Hey I found a dog,’ and figured I misheard her ’cause there was no way a dog was where we were.” Washburn and his wife were incredulous at how this dog, tucked into a tiny nook between rocks, could have ended up where it was. The whimpering dog was, as Washburn said, “in awful shape.” He was convinced it would have died if left without food or water for much longer. The couple tried to coax the dog up out of the rocks and down the mountain but it was clear the dog was too injured and weak to move. “We knew we weren’t going to be able to get her out by herself,” said Washburn. “Her paws were completely raw and her elbows were torn up.” Washburn got together a group of eight volunteers and the group headed back up the mountain that Monday morning. The group found the dog with all of its wounds Washburn had tried to bandage reopened. The rocks around the dog were covered in blood, and the dog was back cowering beneath the surrounding rocks. The group of eight hikers traveled through a full-blown snowstorm that broke out during their hike. Eventually, after a nine-hour rescue mission, the group successfully managed to bring back the broken and bruised dog in a hiker’s oversized backpack. Upon their return, the hikers entrusted the dog to a local vet, who told Washburn that it was “the miracle dog of the century, and although she was severely dehydrated she has, miraculously, no long-term or permanent damage.” “I just don’t think that his actions have shown that he is a responsible dog owner,” Washburn said. “We understand that he had to leave her there. My wife and I did the same thing. But we ended up going back for her, and we went to some pretty extreme lengths to do so. In my opinion, that is not a responsible dog owner, who doesn’t really care about her.” Washburn and his wife, as well as other members of the rescue team, would now like to adopt Missy, Washburn said. But Ortolani is asking for his dog back. Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Sgt. Rick Safe said “the dog was basically abandoned up there.” “He [Ortolani] made no initial attempt. After three days, he thought the dog was deceased so he made no attempts to reclaim the dog,” Page said. The sheriff’s department also has a rescue team, and other hikers told them about Missy being stranded on Mount Bierstadt during the weekend. However, the rescue team was unable to respond because it is solely reserved for human rescues. “We can’t specifically send a rescue effort for a dog,” Safe said. “We have a designated rescue team. In the last two weeks we have had six rescues, one a day on the weekends, for people. It is tough terrain out there.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dame Aussie Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 That is absolutely disgusting, I hope they lock him up to make an example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k9angel Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 That made me cry. Poor Missy, thank Dog she was found and rescued by those wonderful people. I would never abandon any of my dogs like that. Never. I would either carry them or stay with them. That guy definately does not deserve to get her back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dandybrush Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 i cant imagine abandoning mine either! i know if i had to i could carry mine, but if they were too heavy and i had to i'd run for help and go straight back to them....gosh that poor dog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheyd Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 no way on this earth would I leave my dog behind, they would be bringing two bodies down the mountain before I would leave my dog behind I agree he doesnt deserve to have her back, they should dump him back up there with cut up feet and see how he fares on his own - like he left her Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavNrott Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 What an unbelievably cruel and heartless thing to do. How could that man live with himself? I hope they throw the book at him and that an order is made to prevent him from ever owning another animal. Also hope he does some time so he has the opportunity to learn the error of his ways from fellow inmates who love and respect animals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jed Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 (edited) How appalling. I cannot understand how anyone could do that - and live with themselves later. Surely, wondering about the eventual fate of the dog would have been mental torment? Apparently not. Too much of the "it's only a dog" mentality I too hope he is forbidden to have another dog. Edited August 20, 2012 by Jed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mita Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 Bless the wonderful people who eventually got Missy off the mountain. They restore faith in the human race. And now she will live the rest of her life with people like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkySoaringMagpie Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 If it is a choice between a dog's life and a human's life, especially a younger human in your charge, I think there is a clear choice to be made. However, I agree with the subsequent rescuers that he should have returned as soon as possible with appropriate equipment and serious intent to bring the dog back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teebs Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 why the hell did he take her up there in the first place? I get if something happens you may have to leave her (and go back... lets not go there on this one) but it sounds like she was pretty damaged just from the trip up there horrible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
temperamentfirst Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 If it is a choice between a dog's life and a human's life, especially a younger human in your charge, I think there is a clear choice to be made. However, I agree with the subsequent rescuers that he should have returned as soon as possible with appropriate equipment and serious intent to bring the dog back. From what I read, he only came up with the younger hiker excuse when there was talk of his being charged. He first said it was the storm. And regardless - 3 days and he doesn't go back? And what sort of care did he give her to get her feet cut up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxiewolf Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 why the hell did he take her up there in the first place? I get if something happens you may have to leave her (and go back... lets not go there on this one) but it sounds like she was pretty damaged just from the trip up there horrible Yeah I was gonna say? Why the heck did he drag the poor dog up there so unprepared in the first place? I mean you woudln't expect a person to hike up there in bare feet, some climber if he doesn't know such things as dog boots exist for a reason! I hope he gets booked, and I hope the rescuers get to keep her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Gifts Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 There was a similar incident in Australia but there was an accident and the man was able to be rescued but the dog wasn't. He went back as soon as he could and got his dog. I think they had to be winched from a ledge. I also remember a dog that got trapped in a rock fall and a major effort was made to get the dog out by the owner including cameras down crevices and blasting/drilling of the rocks. Also here in Australia. I'd pay whatever I had to to get my dog out with me or as soon as possible after. Leaving an injured dog in the wild is plain evil in my book. The guy only had to post something about it on FB and I bet he would've had loads of people willing to assist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris the Rebel Wolf Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 Sorry but I'd carry my injured dog a few steps at a time rather than leave her to die. Imagine how lot and terrified Missy would have been after being abandoned like that. And then to make NO EFFORT to get her back until she was safely back down the mountain... *shakes head* True heros, the Washburns and those who went to rescue Missy in her time of need Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Her Majesty Dogmad Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 I hope this moron is jailed for animal cruelty, he simply doesn't deserve any kind of animal. I hope that she can be rehomed to the people that really love her and did the right thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesP Posted August 20, 2012 Author Share Posted August 20, 2012 Such a sweet girl to let strangers put her in a backpack when she was in pain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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