SPCA HONORS DOGGED BRAVERY.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
A couple of bonafide canine heroes met for the first time Saturday morning in Griffith Park Griffith Park is a large public park at the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains. It is situated in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The park covers 4,210 acres (17 km²) of land, making it one of the largest urban parks in North America. - Rocky from Philly and King Arthur King Arthur: see Arthurian legend. from the Valley. Best of show. They were being honored by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) is any of a number of animal welfare organisations whose operations include protecting and providing shelter to animals in danger. Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. for some courageous acts that had a few hundred people who brought their own dogs to the park to meet these two heroes on their feet in tears and applauding. Rocky from Philly - a 5-year-old, 118-pound Rhodesian ridgeback Rhodesian ridgeback, sometimes called the African lion hound, breed of large, muscular hound developed in South Africa in the 16th and 17th cent. It stands from 24 to 27 in. (61.0–68.6 cm) high at the shoulder and weighs between 65 and 75 lb (29.5–34. - is an incredible story. Late on a Sunday night Sunday Night, later named Michelob Presents Night Music, was an NBC late-night television show which aired for two seasons between 1988 and 1990 as a showcase for jazz and eclectic musical artists. in August of last year, a convicted child molester Noun 1. child molester - a man who has sex (usually sodomy) with a boy as the passive partner paederast, pederast degenerate, deviant, deviate, pervert - a person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable especially in sexual behavior broke into the three-story Hatboro, Pa., home of the Staples family who own Rocky. He went into the second-story bedroom where 8-year-old Laura Staples was sleeping, grabbed the girl from her bed, covered her mouth with his hand, and started carrying her down the stairs Adv. 1. down the stairs - on a floor below; "the tenants live downstairs" downstairs, on a lower floor, below . In her horror, all Laura could manage to do to alert her sleeping parents was kick her bedroom door as she was being carried out. It was that sound that woke up Rocky from his sound sleep in another room on the third floor. Rocky charged down two flights of stairs and attacked the man, who dropped Laura, and tried to escape. Rocky kept biting him until he chased the intruder An attacker that gains, or tries to gain, unauthorized access to a system. See attacker, intrusion and IDS. out of the house, then returned to stand guard over the hysterical Laura while her parents called the police. Officers found the attempted kidnapper in a nearby park, bleeding from countless dog bites. He was later convicted and sentenced to 42 to 118 years in state prison for his daylong crime spree that ended when he met up with Rocky. ``What would have happened if Rocky hadn't stopped him from taking our little girl is just to horrendous to even think about,'' said Joan Staples, who was flown out from Philadelphia by SPCA-LA with her daughter Laura and Rocky. ``Rocky's fiercely loyal and not normally an aggressive dog, but he sure was on that night, thank God,'' she said Saturday after accepting the SPCA-LA's 18th annual Hero Dog Award for Rocky. As for Laura, she's got the bravest, most popular dog in her neighborhood, she said. ``He's become a little spoiled and can sleep wherever he wants now,'' she said, laughing. ``He's a minicelebrity.'' King Arthur's act of courage you probably already know about if you've read this column before. He's a stray who ran out into a busy street to protect his companion, Annie, after she was hit by a car. Disregarding his own safety, Arthur slowly started to circle her fallen body in the middle of the street until he got all the oncoming traffic to stop. Then, he dragged her by the neck to the curb and safety. It was a scene right out of ``Lady and the Tramp.'' Since then, the two have been inseparable. People who witnessed the rescue called it the most regal act they had ever seen. Before long, the neighborhood stray known as Arthur was now being called King Arthur. ``I hope King Arthur can be an inspiration for more people to realize that there are some incredible stray dogs out there deserving of a good home and love,'' said Laurel Kinder, who accepted the SPCA-LA's first time Courage Award for Arthur. It was Kinder, a Studio City animal activist, who rescued Arthur and Annie from the streets and gave them a home in her kennels at the Parker Pet Hospital in Studio City until she can find a good home for both of them together. After the awards were handed out Saturday, and the crowd began to thin, Rocky and King Arthur finally got a chance to meet. They checked each other out, but neither seemed to impressed with the other. They were both too busy trying to break into the bags of Pedigree dog food they had won for their courage and heroism. CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) Joan Staples and daughter Laura listen Saturday as their dog Rocky is honored as a canine hero. Rocky saved Laura from abduction Abduction Balfour, David expecting inheritance, kidnapped by uncle. [Br. Lit.: Kidnapped] Bertram, Henry kidnapped at age five; taken from Scotland. [Br. Lit. last year after a child molester broke into their home. (2) King Arthur, at rear, is honored for his courage Saturday in shielding sidekick Annie after she was struck by a car. Eric Grigorian/Special to the Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion