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Dog Deemed Part Wolf Saved From Euthanasia

Judge reverses decision, will send 'Karma' to a wolf sanctuary
By Elizabeth Armstrong Moore,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 1, 2015 12:02 PM CDT
Dog Deemed Part Wolf Saved From Euthanasia
Karma was impounded in May after a domestic violence dispute also sent four kids to foster care.   (Danna Cruzan via Care2Petition site)

When Josh and Tiffany Ogle were arrested in a domestic violence dispute in Orange County in May, the couple lost their four kids to foster care and their dog Karma was impounded. At that point animal control deemed the animal a wolf-dog hybrid that could not get the rabies vaccine and characterized it as "vicious" for killing two cats a few years earlier. An Orange County Superior Court judge ordered he be put down, but after weeks of public debate—including an online campaign and a county supervisors meeting last week during which OC Animal Care Director Jennifer Hawkins continued to call for Karma's euthanization—county supervisors voted 3-2 to place Karma in a wolf sanctuary in North Carolina, while the judge, Corey S. Cramin, overturned his own decision and agreed, reports NBC Los Angeles.

"The court is actually addressing irresponsible pet ownership," Cramin said. "Karma is as much a victim as the people and pets who were harmed by Karma." Josh Ogle pleaded guilty in May and June to various charges, including resisting arrest and disturbing the peace, while Tiffany Ogle faces such charges as corporal injury on a spouse, child abuse and endangerment, and being under the influence of a controlled substance, reports MyNewsLA.com. "So hungry dog, neglected by drug users, gets out and does what it is trained to do—goes after a cat just like Wile E. Coyote," says board chairman Todd Spitzer, who led the fight to save Karma’s life. The Ogles' attorney, meanwhile, says she has proof that Karma is a purebred Siberian Husky. (Check out who saved this UPS worker from a dog attack.)

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