By Gina Keating
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The case of 174 feral Chihuahuas on death row in a Los Angeles animal shelter has pitted animal rescue groups against each other in a debate over whether the purse-sized dogs are too vicious to adopt.
The plight of the tiny dogs has prompted a war of words between rival Chihuahua rescue groups, a candlelight vigil, and an outpouring of offers of new homes and money.
Some experts have also warned that the adorable lap dogs, made wild by years of inbreeding and roaming in packs in the home of their elderly owner, were closer to miniature wolves than the cute breed made famous as the Taco Bell mascot.
The dogs were seized from the home of 72-year-old Emma Harter in November. Harter was charged in April with felony animal cruelty.
Animal experts employed by Los Angeles initially determined that the dogs were too dangerous to be sent to new homes, Animal Care & Control spokeswoman Kaye Michelson said.
"They are very unsocialized," Michelson said. "They do have severe
behavior problems."
Their fate will be sealed on Thursday, when a judge is expected to decide whether the dogs should be euthanized or rehabilitated, a question also being debated by Chihuahua rescue groups.
Lynnie Bunten, president of Chihuahua Rescue & Transport, a Texasbased organization, said the dogs were too threatening to be adopted by "regular Joe families."
"They are pack animals and as pack animals are dangerous," Bunten
said.
But Kimi Peck, former daughter-in-law of the late actor Gregory Peck, said all the dogs could be rescued and planned to hold a candlelight vigil on Wednesday at her Burbank kennel, Chihuahua Rescue.
Peck also criticized Bunten's group for its stance: "They are despicable. They are Hitlers. They won't take dogs unless they are perfect."
No one questions that these are troubled dogs. The pack's dominant members have attacked and killed more than a dozen kennel mates after arriving at the shelter, Michelson said.
Pet expert Warren Eckstein, who evaluated the dogs for Peck, said he believed all of the dogs can be saved.
"Of course they are going to have that kind of behavior -- look at
how incarcerated humans act," Eckstein, who hosts a national pet
radio show and consults with NBC's Today Show, said. "I'm not saying
they are all Rin Tin Tin, but they're not Cujo either."
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