Sheriff: Ga. couple likely killed in dog attack(Probably Wild Pack)

Source: USA Today/AP

ATLANTA (AP) — A former college professor and his wife were apparently attacked and killed by nearly a dozen dogs along a rural road where their bodies were found mutilated, authorities said Monday.

Preliminary autopsy results from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation showed Sherry Schweder, 65, likely died of injuries suffered in a dog attack, Oglethorpe County Sheriff Mike Smith said. Autopsy results for her husband, Lothar Karl Schweder, 77, were not yet available, but Smith said it's likely he was also attacked by dogs because the scene was so grisly.

Smith said officials were going to round up at least 11 dogs seen in the area in northeastern Georgia, where the couple's mutilated bodies were found Saturday morning by five passersby.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the mixed-breed dogs, which are to be captured by animal control officers, were wild or pets. There had been no recent complaints about vicious dogs in the area, Smith said.

The bodies were found along a dirt road near the couple's home in Lexington and had been there for at least 24 hours before they were found, said county coroner James Mathews.



Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-08-17-dogattack-couple-georgia_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

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Whew - that gives me chills. What a horrible way to die.

domestic animals before going after two humans? If they were already dead, I can believe that the dogs went after the remains.

feral kool aid drinkers, it's hard to tell. And many rural counties don't have money to fund real coroners for real evaluation of C.O.D.

up near Chicago I believe and others were attacked as well by a feral pack.

They should be able to tell from the autopsies (though not all crime labs are equal) if the people were dead and then chewed apart. I'm sure investigators have been wondering the same thing.

Feral dogs are a HUGE problem. People can't put their puppy to sleep or take them to a no-killer shelter just abandon them and they turn weird wild because so much survival instinct has been breed out for domestication. Many dogs are dogs that were to protect meth makers (in rural areas) they are abused to become fierce and hate people and escape.

what a way to go.

big problem up in Detroit with the packs

Contact the local Hunters!

God I love being a geek. ;)

We must defeat the servants of the Wyrm!

;-)

such as Michael Vick.

but if you can't laugh at a risque joke every once in a while then you need to loosen up.

Gallows humor is, after all, a defense mechanism to help one avoid dealing with pain.

Or as a standard about your entertainment.

Sometimes funny and sick race each other to your mind to see which one makes you respond first. And if your mind first responds with laughter, you may feel guilty a second later, or everyone else is disgusted with you, or vice-versa.

Laughter is basically amoral, but even so, I wouldn't have attempted to make a joke about something so sad and sick, because it doesn't make you feel like it, and its more likely to make people sicker than to make them laugh.

Which you've demonstrated.

We all tend to display our own personal strength (or weakness) of dignity, virtue, and class in many, many ways it seems.

Sometimes it's not very obvious, other times...

"Mental illness"? Black humor isn't illness. It's a coping mechanism. Worry more about the person who is impassive in response to tragedy than the one who cracks jokes. All you can cite this guy for is taste, not pathological behavior.

And I think that can be extrapolated to adults.

I had expected him to refer to natural predators like wolves or coyotes. It surprised me when he said Vick, so I laughed.

I thought it was clever, and of course sicko, but who cares? You take the little delights life gives you, wherever you find them.

Humor IS a way of coping with horror. In fact it's one of the most sophisticate methods of dealing with anxiety. This was a terrible thing, and if it had happened to me I'd still have thought the Vick joke funny. Well, I wouldn't. I'd be dead. But I'll put something in my advance directive that says you can. Oh, wait, I might not have an advance directive if the Dems don't stop the vicious, snarling GOP. I swear, they're like a pack of wild dogs...

See?

people who don't also appreciate black humor have a humor disability

nicely done

That was borderline brilliant. :hi:

but not long ago, my sister was working and went to a rural house where no one was home, and was met up with two friendly dogs. As soon as a 3rd, very unfriendly dog appeared (my sister called it the 'creature'), they changed their demeanor and started ganging up on her. She jumped onto a chest on the porch and was able to toss it and run to her car. They started attacking her as she was getting in her car. I was pretty horrified to hear her story. She loves all animals, but said she was so upset she had to force herself not to back up over the dogs. I shudder to think what could have happened where no one was around for miles. I'm so sad for this couple and their families.

it just can't be said enough.

Also, don't let your dog run around unsupervised. Mostly because it's not safe for your dog. But, there have been cases where sweet little pets can turn into killers if they start running with a pack. However, those cases tend to be rare.

I fear, however, with the economic downturn that there are a lot more strays, and they WILL band together for survival. They prefer to scavange, but they WILL hunt, if they have to.

It's a human-created problem. Unfortunately, in the end, more dogs will suffer than humans. Even more sadly, the human victims (as this couple may be) will more often than not be innocent bystanders.

Some who were born here or move to areas like Jackson, Elbert, Oglethorpe, and Madison Counties do so for that "I'm living in the country so my pets can run wild without shots or medical care and there ain't a damn thing you can do about it" sort of mentality. NOT all, but SOME. The other problem is that students at UGA buy or get pets during the school year, then abandon them in the rural counties when it's time to go home or when the landlord discovers them.

I hate to say, they were also hungry.

Reminds me of a seen in some forgotten movie where a pack of wild boar did something similar. I wish I could remember what it was called.

I remember seeing a pack of about 5 dogs harassing a horse many years ago, boy did it piss me off. A few years later, I started noticing signs in California that stated:

All Dogs found harassing or attacking livestock would be shot as per California Law.

I bought a beautiful farm in the foothils of the Sierras, and my neighbor raised cattle. I asked him what he did when roaming dogs harrased his animals. He said that he shot them on sight, buried them on the spot, and never spoke about it again.

Well, after seeing a pack of dog kill 30 full grown Muscovy ducks for sport one day, I am now in the same camp as my former neighbor. If I see them in the act, they are finished.

I call this a good example of the cost of ownership. If you are going to own an animal, you had better be responsible to help keep it out of trouble. Furthermore, I think pets are just another industry for the big corporations to make money off of people. You pay lots of money for unhealthy, questionable food. License fees, Vet bill, medications, flea dip, and all of this feeds a huge industry that reinforces the myth that pets like dogs in the big city are a good thing. I don't even keep them in a farm setting, because they disturb the wildlife that is just as pleasant to watch from afar, cost to much to maintain, and take too much time to supervise.

There are way too many wild or abandoned dogs.

Pack of 3 dogs came into my yard, chased my cat, it took a hoe to get them away from the porch.
A week later, same pack attacked my dog who was tied up outside.
Turns out the 3 "pets" were owned by someone who moved in up the street and turned them loose to run at night.
They charged a woman's baby in a car carrier as she was taking it out of the car.
They charged another neighbor's 8 y/o who was waiting for school bus.

We have a good animal control officer, and good laws, finally, and used them.
the owner has been served with warnings and inspection of his dog run, had to make it escape proof.
but I know for a fact if those animals are running around again, there are neighbors who will shoot them. Rabies is a very real concern here in the summer.

The nicest family pet will become very un-nice when packed up.

They've been tested on people and shown to be quite effective.

it will only temporarily neutralize it.

Usually, with wild or feral animals that have a tendency to attack humans, there is only one solution.

street. The shelters have no room, and are giving dogs less than a week to live in many cases, so it is easy to believe that a bunch of dogs in the street found each other. Starving animals will kill. We need spay and neuter laws (for a start).

But in my area it costs a lot of money to bring a pet to the Humane Society and people are abandoning animals like they used to years ago.

The animal shelters need to abandoned their starry-eyed 'no-kill' policy, put down those who are not adopted in a timely manner, and cut back on the costs for bringing in pets.

they are mostly euthanized.

Charging $60 to leave a pet at the NH Humane Society. She had a cat abandoned near her home and she can't keep it due to allergies. She has been frantically trying to find a home for it.


But I just looked at the sight and it says nothing about a fee.

when a shelter near me started to charge a $20 drop off fee, then people stopped dropping off at the shelter -- there was a well publicized case where a woman instead brought the dogs to the vets office, said, oops i left my purse in my car and drove off before anyone realized

the vet had to eat the fee instead

i do not know whether they still charge the fee and ya know what? for several years now i don't feed or in any way help out with stray or abandoned animals, because i'm low income and i'm not gonna take the chance that i do a good deed, drop an animal off at the shelter, and end up getting socked with a fee that is several day's worth of food for me

maybe a $20 fee is to you the same as "no fee" but any amount of money charged is a fee to some people on low or fixed incomes

don't drop off your damn cat by my house (for some reason i get WAY more cats than dogs) and expect me to do fuck-all about it, if YOU can't afford to feed or euthanize your cat, for god's sake please don't assume that *I* can

i spoke w. a friend a couple of days ago, all of the shelters in louisiana are currently FULL anyway or close to capacity so even if there is no fee, she was unable to find any shelter to accept the cats she found, don't know what she will do -- i think most of us would have no option except to leave the cats right back where she found them -- she is trying to do the right thing but if no shelter will take the animals and she can't find who dumped them or afford to keep them then what???

As soon as the word got around that we worked with strays. Had to forbid media from ever mentioning it when they did stories about us because we could barely cope with the ones we had.

at some point people need to accept that they can't save the world, this lady is probably going to end up being arrested one day for animal cruelty -- her cruelty being that she takes in animals that other people have thrown away -- but honestly, 80? seriously? 80?

i told her to give up saving the world when it was 50 but apparently jesus told her otherwise -- her daughter is freaking out but can't do anything to stop her

sigh

when the shelters are full and hurricane season is upon us, it's time for people to think about saving themselves, not every stray that comes along -- there is no way this lady will be able to comply with an evacuation order, you cannot as an amateur transport 80 cats!

We used the store to place the cats (no facilities for dogs, but every now and then...we were plugged into all the rescuers in the area. Even had a certified Audobon bird rescuer on our staff.)I would do kitten tours to take customers downstairs to handle the kittens.

Rule was, no matter how attached we got, any cat who could be placed got placed, even if it took three or four tries. The only ones my sister kept were the AIDS cats or some of the leukemic ones. Also the severely traumatized psychotic ones. They could take years of work. And did.

My cat, David, was one of the psychos. He was rescued from a kitty concentration camp, one of those places where a rescuer goes crazy trying to take in every stray on earth. First ten years of his life, he was nuts. Then he began to make amazing breakthroughs. By the time he died, he felt safe enough to jump in my lap when I held up the syringe that would put fluids under his skin, while his kidneys were failing (Yes, it may have been the cat food.).

WTF does this mean?

Shelters who choose to be no-kill do so at their own expense. In what possible way does this impact you in any way, shape or form?

By the way, I would venture a guess that most shelters are NOT no-kill.

might have come from nasty folks in the dog-fighting biz. I'll bet the Michael Vick case made some people nervous.

Grovelbot made a joke.

in Oglethorpe and Madison County. The couple lived about 15 minutes away from my house. Unfortunately, there is little to no animal control out here in the rural areas. Wild dogs, feral cats, and loose pets run rampant around here. The only shelter in this area does their best, but they take in animals for two counties and are almost always full. My deepest sympathies and condolences go out to the family and friends of this couple.

For anyone who is inclined or able to, please take a moment and make a donation to the Madison Oglethorpe Animal Shelter. They cover both Madison and Oglethorpe Counties (Lexington, where this tragedy took place is a part of Oglethorpe County). They are really a wonderful, dedicated, and hardworking group of people trying to help with our feral and abandoned animal issues.

http://www.moaspets.org/help_out.htm

Didnt you read that book by that world famous tracker..umm I think his name is Jerry Brown or something like that? He talked about the dog packs in the ozarks in his book.

Also not necessarily a recent occurrence in the US, I would guess just under reported, for the most part.

Years ago, in a quiet bedroom community, within minutes of one of the largest cities on the western plains, I recall being stalked by a pack of domestic dogs.

There were two of us walking to a friends house, asphalt roads, street lights at each intersection, tract style homes that everyone lived in, trees in yards. All contained in an incorporated mini-city complete with leash laws and organized law enforcement.

As we progressed down a main artery we began to notice a lot of mixed breed doggies running through the un-fenced yards on one side of the street. As we went along, now within a block or two of our destination, we realized what had been maybe three or four had suddenly become six or ten. By the time we reached the street our friend lived on we had closer to eighteen doggies trailing us. They were no longer frolicking around in front yards but were beginning to group directly behind, keeping pace with us.

A large gray, hound looking one suddenly flanked us and perched on the edge of a curb all the while emitting a low growl, a second later a little strooch looking thing was doing the same thing on the other side but more directly in our line of travel. My friend grabbed my shoulder and directed me to look behind. There were at least twenty-five dogs of all shapes and sizes behind us; their heads were down and none of them looked like they were interested in crapping on a yard anywhere. Very freaky and scary experience!

I don’t to this day know why I thought of what I did. I pulled a pack of matches from my pocket and walked briskly straight at the little strooch, striking and throwing matches at her/him and shouting “go home” “bad dog”.

We ended up walking right to the house we were headed for. Banged on the front door, rather loudly. Our friend opened the door and looked at us as if we were crazy for knocking so loudly. We tried to explain what had happened. I clearly remember he looked over my shoulder with a quizzical expression. I turned around and all that I could see in the distant street light was the little strooch sitting in the corner of a front yard three doors down. I felt like a total idiot.

This was in the fall of either 1966 or 1967.

Spring of the next year, whatever year it was, the local sheriff’s posse did a big “roundup”. If I recall correctly they put down over 100 loose dogs that had been plaguing the county and surrounding area with attack issues. Could those doggies have put two humans down on a quiet, asphalt suburban street?

I don’t know. I do know the experience woke me up quickly!

Imagine if that had been kids or very elderly people instead of you. Those packs can smell fear and see it in posture. I'd never have thought of matches, but I know they really hate rocks and big sticks.

Superior, indeed, they always wait to eat you until after your dead. I like that in a pet.

are why I curse people who don't neuter their pets, or let them "get laid just one time." It's infuriating, and just as bad as people who would turn out an animal because they're tired of it, or abuse it until it runs away and becomes part of one of these packs.

Those poor people. When I got run over by a car, although I was conscious, I remember none of the blood and pain to this day. I hope that it was the same for them.

nonetheless it's a horrible story

there were dog packs running around in new orleans before katrina and a few during the disaster as well, i specifically recall being stalked in the new orleans east area in 2003, even though i had another person (also a short person) w. me -- pretty damn scary -- fortunately two other larger guys stumbled along and the dogs took the hint and dispersed

a dog mauled a child in my own neighborhood (considered a nice one)

it's my opinion that any dog roaming loose that threatens a human should be immediately put down for public safety, an opinion i didn't use to have, before the child was mauled in my neighborhood, but animal control simply doesn't always get the funding it needs to pick up roaming dogs and i don't see why a human should lose life or limb because of sentimental fantasies about dogs -- the dog gave plenty of warning it could be dangerous, it was stalking adults, including me, but i thought it was just playing, my husband also complained that the dog was stalking him...ultimately it wasn't playing, it was rehearsing and gathering courage for the attack on the child...we need to take rehearsal behaviors more seriously and not wait until someone is seriously injured

also a pack is worse than a lone dog, dogs in groups egg each other on, just as men in groups do

aware of what was happening to them.

I wouldn't go so far as to put a dog down for barking at someone. I would fine the bloody hell out of the negligent owner, and if it happened again, take the dog away.

Obviously there are dogs that can't be "fixed" or who are a real danger to anyone/anything that crosses their path, and should be euthanized. They didn't get that way by theirselves though, and the owner should be taken to account as well.

and walk. Before I knew it, there was a pack of 15, easily, about 30 feet away from me. Some people are too stupid to have dogs, to know them or to think through their own behavior. :grr:

a whole pack of feral dogs right in the city...they all kind of ran away from me when they saw me, though

That is a horrible way to die.

Source: Athens Banner-Herald

Lexington (ABH)--An autopsy done at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's Crime Lab in Decatur showed that dogs killed 65-year-old Sherry Schweder, a UGA bibliographer known on campus as Sherry Allen, Oglethorpe County Coroner James Mathews said. Her husband, Lothar Karl Schweder, 77, a former German professor at UGA, died from similar injuries, Mathews said.

"It positively came back that it was a brutal dog attack as the cause of death," he said.

Read more: http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/081809/new_482836253.shtml

and there are a lot of dogs dumped off up there. She has two that followed her dogs home when she let them out. And one time, her husband found a litter of puppies dumped by the side of the road. Fortunately, she got them to a no-kill animal rescuer.

According to the deformed mutant family that lived nearby in the remote rural area.

and NEVER hike without a rifle.

The problem is domestic dogs might get to the food, so this will not work.


SCARY ... Fido can eat you.

and when I saw them running toward me and growling, I called for my neighbors' dogs, who were my "friends."

These two dogs, a doberman and a German shephard, came galloping up. The doberman planted right beside me with teeth bared and hair standing on end.

The shephard threw a body block on the lead dogs and got them all chasing their tails.

Close call for me . . .

It is a tragedy. What a horrible way to die. Unfortunately, feral dogs are not uncommon in mostly rural counties with no animal control.

Link to story in today's Athens Banner-Herald:
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/081809/bre_482990349.shtml