Posted on 09/17/2012 6:42:28 PM PDT by sirchtruth
The Colorado climber criticized for abandoning his injured dog on a mountain has agreed to give up custody of the dog to one of its rescuers.
Anthony Ortolani, 29, originally said he wanted custody of his dog Missy when she was rescued by a team of hikers after surviving eight days on the mountain. Since then, Ortolani has received intense criticism and even death threats over his decision.
(Excerpt) Read more at gma.yahoo.com ...
Too bad asswipe, you gave her up when you left her to die on the mountain!
I agree, the least he could have done was put the poor dog out of it’s misery. One shot to the head and it’s done, rather than leaving it up there to starve to death which is quite cruel.
I’m sure the dog would be thrilled to see him again, that’s just how dogs are. But, she’s far better off with one of her rescuers than she would be with him. This is the right thing to do.
Lock your wife and the dog in the car trunk for an hour. After two hours open up the car trunk and see who’s glad to see you!
Make up your mind, one hour or two.
In all fairness, I think he thought rescuer's would go get her -
When they reached the bottom, Ortolani said he had a friend call the sheriff's office, but deputies said they couldn't send a rescue crew for a dog.
Best outcome. That idiot shouldn’t be near dogs or mountains. We should kick his ass out to Florida.
The whole story is played out on this thread on the 14ers forum.
http://14ers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=36893&start=540
When I would hunt in remote areas with my dog (85 lb Lab), the thought of him getting hurt and being unable to walk out concerned me. I always carried a good first aid kit including super glue, vet-wrap, ace bandages and various bandaging supplies.
Additionally, the dog was trained to climb on my shoulders and tolerate a fireman’s carry.
I never had to tend to anything more than a sliced paw pad, but did use the kit on the trail once. I came on a rider and horse that was absolutely 3 legged lame. The rider couldn’t get the horse to take 2 steps due to the pain, and they were 8 miles from a trailhead.
As I watched the guy tend to his horse, I mentioned he should just pack the bottom of the hoof and wrap the whole thing in vetwrap. Got a real sarcastic “I would if I had any” answer from the rider. I reached into my pack and asked if he preferred black or red. I was real happy to help, and the guy very sheepishly thanked me profusely. The horse made it out fine with no further damage.
My current Lab is 110 pounds, and I am no longer in the shape I once was, so carrying him any distance is out. Of course this current dog is as gun shy as the day is long, so he isn’t likely to be on any extended hunts. I still keep a packed med kit for cuts and sprains.
What I don't get is, if there were two of them on the mountain, what kinda of dangerous situation would have prevented them from carrying the dog all the way down with them?
Good. Missy was dead in his mind so move on. Missy goes with one who had the live Missy and saved her from death.
I was just loving on my little Yorkie, Prissy, and if she weighed 100 lbs. I wouldn’t stop until I got her down that mountain.
She thinks and knows me and knows my habits and I know hers. She lies on my chair with me with her head across my ankles and can see out the front door from there and barks to tell me if she sees any movement out there. No one gets to the door without her first telling me something is moving toward the door. Would I leave this dog to die? Never as long as I was alive.
I think this outcome is a victory of collective thought over individualism, and is a travesty.
He had responsibility to care for his dog (including not expecting a dog to climb and hike in areas where it is physically unable to travel).
He abdicated his responsibility.
Best wishes to Missy’s new owners.
How so?
After reading all 544 posts while it was going on I would say because they were unprepared and should have turned back when she first hurt her paw early on. By the time she was completely lame it was to rough for them to pack her out.
Then the jerk made no effort to organize a search to go back and get her. He left that to others who did so.
If you read the whole thing you will have no sympathy for him at all.
Start at the beginning http://14ers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=36893&start=540 and then get back to us.
If individualism means abandoning a pet to painfully die when you had a chance to rescue the animal yourself, I want no part of that!
Why did he have to leave the dog for 8 days? He could have gone and got her at some point!
Good !
That is a great ending to this story.
This guy’s attachment to the dog ended when he failed to try to rescue her.
Life teaches some really hard lessons. This is one of them. Hopefully he will learn.
Thanks for the link, but that’s not the beginning of the saga.
I started following this story when it broke (and I am sure you guys did too). There was a lot more depth to this than that blog page lays out.
I swear that I’m not trying to be a douchebag with my cautious opinion, and if you could help me find the original threads I could probably explain better why I think this is an incautious outcome.
This cat would never abandon her dog!
That isn’t a blog page, it is a forum just like FR. There are no “threads” out there that more completely recount the story as these are the real posts of all of the participants from start to finish.
The posts include when the dog was first discover, the plans for a rescue, the successful rescue with photos and finally the jerk coming on the thread making excuses.
This IS the whole story.
Here are three earlier FR articles:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2919776/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2920219/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2920137/posts
Over 400 total replies...
Ah, gotcha. That’s not the same forum I started following this story from, but I see the history now. BBL.
The reason I don’t own a dog and will not buy one for my family is that there are too many humans who will kill other humans over their concern for a dog.
The guy just left her for dead when the government wouldn’t go get her for him. She was up there for days, stunned hikers were coming down off the mountain wanting to know why, they finally did what this lazy excuse of a man should have done the very next day, got a group together, went up the mountain, got her, brought her back down and got her to a vet for treatment of her injuries.
He abandoned any claim to the dog when he abandoned her and left her for dead. He has no claim. Ample precedent regarding abandoned property exists, look to the very old vendue laws regarding shipwreck salvage here in NC for but one example.
The dog belongs to her rescuers.
LOL!
Your post makes absolute sense. You should not have a dog, cat, canary or gerbil.
Didn't think you were, but I was/am curious about your reasoning.
if you could help me find the original threads
No luck, sorry.
An earlier thread on this story detailed injuries to the dog’s paws that made it reportedly impossible to bring him down by the owners at the time (or so they said—yeah, I’m skeptical too). And the original owners were depicted as trying harder to rescue their dog than is being depicted in this over-simplified final story prosecution.
I don’t doubt that the dog is in absolutely fantastic hands in the ownership of the eventual rescuers, but I just want to make sure that the fact that the original owners lost ownership of their dog as the result of legal prosecution is really something to feel good about.
With all the miserable news lately, this is a wonderful bright spot.
Brought a smile to our faces.
That, and H Buzzard’s post. :D
A message from Scott Turner, the prosecutor in this case...
-----------------------------------------------------------
Once again the world has been made aware of the caring community that is known as 14ers.com
I have been following this thread with great interest as I, a 14ers.com member, will be the prosecutor handling the criminal charges in this case. If you were one of the rescuers or personally witnessed anything that happened on the mountain please contact me through my 14ers.com profile. I want to make sure we have contact information for all potential witnesses. Any photographs or video that you may have will also be helpful. If we get to the point where the judge is considering punishment I will do another post with information for whomever would like to send a letter to the judge to make their opinion known as to what should happen to the defendant and the dog. However please remember that under the law Mr. Ortolani is innocent until proven guilty.
That is all I can comment on for now. I will continue to keep the 14ers.com community updated on the progress of the case.
Scott Turner, Chief Deputy District Attorney, 5th Judicial District
swturner
Amen.
I would’ve died trying...but that’s just me.
Gotta love the buzzard.
:)
If I went up a mountain with my dog or my woman, no way would I come down without them!
Period! NUFF SAID!
“The guy just left her for dead when the government wouldn’t go get her for him”
This. The true individualists were the ones who went up and rescued the dog anyway.
Any Freepers among the rescuers?
death threats over his decision.
What’s this about? I read this crap all the time. Are Americans rag head jihadists now?
I wish the authorities would decide whether dogs are chattel or sentient beings. If they are chattel, the guy should not only walk, he shouldn’t be prosecuted at all. If, on the other hand, they are sentient beings, then not only should the book be thrown at this guy, but also there are an awful lot of cops who should face equal charges for shooting family dogs for no reason, (not all of which were fatal shots ... in case the cruelty angle is important here). Whatever the decision is (and I do have a preference) it should be consistently applied to everyone.
You know, the guy did nothing. He called “the authorities” and when they wouldn’t carry the load he gave up. As I recall the bits I originally read he then spent his time feeling real bad, about his dog, who was dying of starvation and dehydration on a mountain he brought her to.
Other people, who just encountered the dog by happenstance didn’t ask Big Sis to help them, they helped themselves and the poor, helpless dog.
And saved the animal’s life.
I don’t get at all what you mean about “collectivism”, to me the people who saved the dog showed the true American way of self-reliance, true community action and charity.
The original owner is just a lazy, self-pitying slob who gave up any moral claim to this animal when he left it to die FOR EIGHT DAYS on a mountain, a mountain I repeat that HE BROUGHT HER TO.
And you know what, I don’t even like dogs.
But, it was I who made hubby stop the truck when we saw two dogs (obviously escaped from their home/yard) jumping through traffic. Luckily a cop showed up and they knew the dogs and were taking them home. And yes, I’m no animal rights nut, animals are chattel, they are property, but they are living beings and when you leave them to die, you leave your claim to them also.
God bless those people who saved this dog, I hope they have many happy years together. To the original owner I suggest, get a cat, they can take care of themselves.
“...what kinda of dangerous situation would have prevented them from carrying the dog all the way down with them?”
Ok, at the first I guess there was some storm or something. But later the far more dangerous situation of laziness and victimology set in. The cops won’t help me, my dog is dying, it’s not my fault, I’m a victim, it’s bush’s fault, obama’s fault, woe is me!
This is the truly dangerous mindset that we saw on full display during hurricane katrina and with which the democratic party seeks to infect us all.
I’m helpless, I’m hopeless, Nothing is my responsibility!
It is THIS ATTITUDE that is going to destroy America.
As I said in my other post, animals ARE chattel but they are also living beings. I’m not sure about the definition of “sentient” but they are alive. And yes, cops who kill family pets should certainly be brought under greater scrutiny that if they shot up your couch. I actually think all this is encompassed in the word “chattel” but I could be wrong.
This man did not take a lot of responsibility for his dog. I think a prior poster made a good point as to abandoned property.
Should he have been prosecuted, I don’t know, but he had a HELL of a lot of nerve to expect the animal to be returned to him.
I actually think this is a rather important story in terms of what it says about our country.
We should probably be thankful that those who rescued the poor dog weren’t charged with some crime.
Remember the California public servants who let the man drown because, I don’t remember why. Here’s the link:
Our country is dying, like an abandoned dog.
How can we be saved?
Did you read the link to the 14ers thread?
Several people posted near the end, claiming to be friends, family and even the supervisor of the dog’s former owner (Personally, I suspect it was the dog’s owner, trying to save face on an Internet forum).
But even if his friends/relatives/supervisor are who they claimed to be, the fact that he NEVER asked them for help in retrieving his dog, but was willing to ask them to help him “save face” on a forum, is telling.
Priorities.
He has them backwards.
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