Rottweiler mom and pups bought for a better life Anna Marie D’Angelo News Reporter dangelo@nsnews.com JUDY Stone first found out about the plight of Taz from a dog “rescue” sup- porter in Burnaby. Taz, a 1%-yvear-old Rottweiler cross, was being used for breeding purposes in a filthy Burnaby back- yard, said Stone. Stone heads a West Vancouver- based animal welfare group called Animal Advocates. She said Taz was on a second or third fitter of puppies. The nine pups from the latest fit- ter were five weeks old. They were up for sale for $40 cach. “Taz was not an abused dog. She’s. just used,” said Stone on Monday during an interview at the dog’s “foster home” in West Vancouver. Animal Advocates bought all the pups and Taz for $240 last week. “The reason that we took these pups is because we know that they were going to go to jerks with $40 who want a pup as a whim, or all nine of these dogs would end up chained up guarding somebody’s property or drugs or, with- in six months to two years, they'd be in the local pounds of the SPCA where they get killed because nobody wants them,” said Stone. “If any of them (the pups) did get adopted from those places (SPCA shelters,) they would go to creeps,” said Stone. Taz is a friendly dog who is suspicious of strangers. She is a calm, affectionate dog with a shiny coat. The dog appeared abnormally thin, even though she had just delivered a Sarge hitter of chubby pups. Animal Advocates was started in 1992, The group docs not believe in cuthanasia as a solution to homeless animals and will not kill an animal just because it would be expensive to save it. Animal Advocates is perhaps best known for its “rescues” of animals deemed by the animal wel- fare group to be neglected. Stone said Animal Advocates rescues dogs “in the middle of the night and takes them which is our standard methodology.“ Animal Advocates has a core membership of 20 people with about 1,000 supporters through- out the Lower Mainiand. Stone estimates Animal Advocates has “res- cued” hundreds of dogs over the years. Stone said Animal Advocates has never been charged with stealing a pet. Stone said Taz was neglected and left chained in a Burnaby back yard with a male dog. f “Until she gave birth to the pups, she was an outside dog. At least they had the decency to bring her in,” said Stone. Stone said that if Animal Advocates hadn't bought Taz, the breeding of the dog tor the owner's profit “would just go on.” Stone said “you don’t ask insulting questions” to dog owners when you want cooperation so she did not get her information about the dog's future from the its former owner. Stone said the pups have round worms and tape worms and had no shots when they were put up for sale. Burnaby SPCA Superintendent Carson Wilson agreed with Stone that the puppies were too young to be separated from their mother. He said pups can be separated from their mother at eight weeks old. Wilson said no one complained to the Burnaby SPCA about the dog's situation. He said breeding dogs is not illegal. Wilson said the SPCA must act within the boundaries of the law, unlike the practices of Animal Advocates. “She (Stone) takes the law into her own hands,” said Wilson. Wilson has worked for the SPCA for 18 years. The last 10 have been spent as manager. He takes issue with animal welfare group criticism of SPCA work , “Iam concerned with the welfare of animals or | wouldn’t be doing this. This type of job is not one you could do for just a pay cheque,” said Wilson. “fF haven’t lost my compassion for animals,” Friday, March 20, 1998 — North Shore News - 3 NEWS Mike Waketletd JACKLYN Simington, eight, holds one of nine pups recently bought by Animal Advocates. The ani- mal welfare group believes the puppies’ mom (background) was used for breeding purposes. said Wilson. Wilson said that there are irresponsible dog and cat owners in the Lower Mainland, bur it is a small group. He said last year, the Burnaby SPCA took in about 200 stray and abandoned dogs. Wilson said 17 of the dogs were killed because they were dan- gerous (aggressive pit bulls and Rottweilers) or the dogs had serious medical problems. Cats were a different story. Unlike the change Wilson has seen with dogs owners over the years, cat owners are not having thcir pets spayed or neutered in high numbers. Wilson said that in 1997 about 680 cats ended up at the Burnaby pound, He said about 270, mainly adult cats, were killed. Wilson said “kitten season” begins at the end of this month and runs “non-stop” until September. He said wauld-be cat owners go for the kittens, leaving the adult cats unwanted at the pound. “It is stressful having to put animals down. It is sometimes unavoidabic... As tong as we have the room, the fast resort for me is to put down an animal,” said Wilson. He said a dog that first ended up at the Burnaby pound last October finally was adopted this month. Wilson disagrees with Stone’s belief that dogs should not be chained in yards. He said many people have dogs tied in yards for various reasons. Wilson said Burnaby modeled its dog bylaws after North Vancouver's bylaws which require See Pups page §S Career crook’s release irks cops NORTH Vancouver RCMP are concerned about the release of a career criminal. According to a police spokesman, the North Vancouver RCMP tracked down a known criminal on Friday, March 13. A man was arrested in Burnaby on warrants for break and enter and possessing stolen property. The police brought him back to North Vancouver. Investigating officers provided a lengthy “show cause” sheet to the Crown and requested that the man be held in custody to await trial. The police report to Crown stated the man is 29 vears oid and is an admitted drug addict. According to the police he supports his habit through crimi- nal activity. He faces charges for break and entry. The man is also on probation for two separate convictions for which he received suspended sen- tences for theft and being in pos- session of house breaking instru- ments. The local RCMP recently forwarded nwo more charges of break and enter to Crown counsel for approval against the man. Police -say the man has a lengthy — criminal record. Convictions include theft, break and enter, possession of stolen property and narcotics. Despite the police report ‘to Crown, an on-call Justice of The Peace ruled that the man be released from custody on Saturday. Police had wanted him to remain in custody pending a court appearance Monday. Residential and commercial break and entries totalled 1,827 on the North Shore in 1997, The average insurance claim for each case is $9,350. Said Const. Tom Scaman, “We, the police hear daily from victims of home break and enters. They feel angry and violated. Many feel there is no deterrent in the justice system for the carcer criminal. We also feel the frustra- tion and are many tines at a loss for words to explain the system's results to them.” From pane 1 they do so, jumpers ask that the fire take their Fire jumpers leap for love and passion NEWS phote Cindy Goodman BEHDAD Ashkan, 12, and Nevil Namiranian, 14, add a sparkle to Persian New Year celebrations which saw some 5,000 revelers congregating at Ambleside Park. Vancouver Police to provide additional foor patrols through the park, bur no problems were reported. Boname said the municipality was aware of the event, but was not approached for an event permit. “We haven’ been able to find someone in charge,” explained Boname. “They (Iranians) come from a place of oppression and they have a fair bit of mistrust toward authority that behaves badly — we don’t behave badly — but they like to keep away from authority.” The concern stems from West Vancouver's 1997 decision to ban fires on Ambleside. But Boname and members of the West Vancouver police department at the scene pre- ferred to let the transgression pass. “We'd have to bring the fire department down here with hoses and unless you're willing to cause a ruckus there isn’t much you're going to accomplish except upset people,” said Sgr. Bob Tait in the midst of revelers huddled around dozens of fires large and small. “Putting them out to uphold a bylaw wouldn’t serve anyone.” The accommodating attitude served the cel- ebration well because fire is a central component of Persian New Year celebrations. Most of the revelers at Tuerday’s do participated in a_tradi- tion that calls for people to jump over the fire. As yellow and give back its red. Yellow is represen- tative of illness and hatred while the much more desirable red stands for love and passion. As legend has it, the Persians also discovered fire. According to popular lore, an ancient king on horseback was confronted by a snake. To defend himself, the king grabbed a rock which turned out to be fintstone and hurled it at the unwelcome intruder. It struck another rock, cre- ating a spark and subsequently fire. as a result, fire has always played an impor- tant role in many of the traditions and customs of the Persian people which continue to this day. “We respect fire very much, we don’t wor- ship it but we respect it,” said Farahnand Enayatizadeh, a North Vancouver resident tak- ing in Wednesday’s celebrations. This is Enayatizadeh’s first Norooz away from home, bur the ESD instructor found few differences berween the celebration even though he finds himself half a world away. “We did the same thing there (ran},” he said. Ambleside Concession owner Bob Siderfill stayed open late to accommodate the crowd and said there was a marked increase ‘in this year's attendance. . “The last couple of years it was raining,” said Siderfill. “For the number of people they're very well-behaved, even the young kids.”