Guy Leaves Dog On Mt Bierstadt

14ers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.…

9news.com/news/local/articl…

In short, dude takes dog up with him, has issues, leaves dog. He makes a call to the local SAR / Sherrif, and when they won't help, dude does NOTHING! No fliers, no return trip, no plea for help on forums... NOTHING. Eight days later, another party finds dog and arranges for a rescue. Now that dog is safe, original owner comes forward, says he is sorry and wants his dog back.

Trying to express my opinion within the confines of rule #1 is difficult, but in short I think that this guy is worthless and does not deserve the dog.

Your thoughts?

I hope a report is sent to the ASPCA....he could be charged with neglect

yeah, i would be freaked.. up everyday to find 'em..

but that is just me. look at my profile pic, i love dogs.

maybe his was a major pain in the ass...

I have learned the hard way that initial media reports are often wildly inaccurate. I tell myself wait until it shakes out,......
but 8 GD days!?! It was only Bierstadt for crying out loud.

ridiculous.

El Tigre wrote:I have learned the hard way that initial media reports are often wildly inaccurate. I tell myself wait until it shakes out,...... but 8 GD days!?! It was only Bierstadt for crying out loud.

Check out the thread on 14ers. Anthony Ortalani, the dog abandoning POS actually posts up in the thread repeatedly saying he is sorry, but never once (that I saw) explaining why he did NOTHING to help save his dog for 8 fucking days. From what I read, it seems that the news report is accurate.

I seldom get worked up over things in the news or on the Intertard, but this guy's neglect of his pet really touched a nerve with me.

Same thing happened to a friend of mine this spring.

POS owner abandons dog at a Colorado Springs lake after the dog doesn't come back after 5 minutes of calling for him. Dog shows up a few minutes after POS owner leaves according to a witness. The witness is back fishing at the lake several weeks later and notices the dog is still there waiting for his owner to show up. Witness makes a few calls, my friend's mother hears about it and decides to rescue the dog.

Jacque was just over 20 pounds when rescued. He should've been in the 50 pound range for his estimated age. My friend has since adopted him from his mom and he's gaining weight and happy. I don't know if the previous owner cares where his dog is now and don't care.

Wonder how will the owners of those abandoned animals feel if they are the one being left behind?

It’s unbelievable that someone would leave their dog like that.

Cool story, Doug! Actually, not cool, but a great outcome.

I am surprised that nobody who actually know the douche who abandoned his dog on Mt Bierstadt has posted up. His name is Anthony Ortalani, AKA dog abandoning POS. The guy is from Denver and a climber.

I really hope that Anthony never gets his dog back. 8 days doing nothing = loss of all rights to the dog.

This is ridiculous. For those not aware, Bierstadt is one of the (if not the) easiest 14er to hike. There is absolutely no excuse for not being able to get the dog down. What a POS!

Honestly that deserves a whooping. Just goes to show that person's character and he should never be allowed to own an animal again.

I'm a dog lover so I take a hard line, but no way he should get his dog back.

Because I'm lazy I'm just going to cut and paste the same response I posted to 14ers.com

We are calling her Lucky and she is currently in the care of a vet, is being treated like a princess and doing really well. For the most part she was dehydrated but otherwise in good shape.

Clear Creek Animal Control has officially seized control of Lucky but she will remain in the vet's care until custody is resolved.

If Mr. Ortalani wishes to pursue getting Lucky back he will need to petition a judge to grant custody and pay several thousand dollars of vet bills. I believe there is an Animal Rights group that will oppose granting him custody as well.

The eight members of our rescue group sincerely hope that Mr. Ortalani relinquishes control of Lucky so we can move forward with finding her a good home. Several of the news organisations that members of our group have talked with have stated that they have been unable to get a response from Mr. Ortalani.

Several of the group have also expressed a desire to form some sort of rescue organisation to help out with rescuing animals from the backcountry since there appears to be a lack of resources for animals in need; one of the names floated is "Friends of Lucky".

Dealt with a similar thing last weekend, I found a 35 maybe 40 pound dog almost two miles into a wilderness area. There was no one around so I brought the dog to my house called the humane society tag it had on, got the owner’s phone number it had been disconnected. I dropped the dog off at the animal shelter. The kid had the balls to call me three days later and say He just got done backpacking and he wants his dog back. I told him to call local animal control and hung up.

Ralph, Sincere thanks to you and the others who stepped in and rescued this dog.

I would not return the dog to the owner. Period. He obviously cannot handle the responsibility of dog ownership, and it can be a huge pain sometimes.

L.D. wrote:Dealt with a similar thing last weekend, I found a 35 maybe 40 pound dog almost two miles into a wilderness area. There was no one around so I brought the dog to my house called the humane society tag it had on, got the owner’s phone number it had been disconnected. I dropped the dog off at the animal shelter. The kid had the balls to call me three days later and say He just got done backpacking and he wants his dog back. I told him to call local animal control and hung up.

Wait what? How did he have your phone number? How do you know the dog didn't run off and get lost? It sounds like you are jumping to conclusions a little bit. Regardless, good on you for helping out.

Thanks Ralph. Major props to you and the rest of the crew that saved Lucky.

I am glad that Animal Control is opposing Anthony getting custody of the pup. Given how lazy and ineffective Anthony was in trying to save his dog when she was on the mountain, I doubt that he will be able to clear the hurdles necessary for him to regain custody of Lucky.

In case Anthony ever reads this, let me make my opinion clear. You abandoned your dog to die. I can understand leaving her and then coming back to search for her later IF you felt your life was in danger. That is not something I would do in your situation, especially not just because I had blisters and the weather wasn't perfect, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt here. However, the fact that you did nothing for the next eight days in inexcusable. Your lack of action shows your total lack of character and your lack of fitness to be a pet owner. From your posts on 14ers, it is obvious that you just don't understand what you did. It is the same as if you drove your dog 50 miles into the desert and left it there. All of your tears and weak apologies do not change the fact that you abandoned your dog to die.

I hope that you learn from this and grow, but I also hope that you never get your dog back. Ever.

Crag Dweller wrote:This is ridiculous. For those not aware, Bierstadt is one of the (if not the) easiest 14er to hike. There is absolutely no excuse for not being able to get the dog down. What a POS!

After seeing this post last night, I couldn't help but read all 46 pages on 14ers.com. I was completely blown away.

There needs to be some kind of repercussion for this guy's actions.

I've seen self professed dog lovers claiming they would rather die than leave their dogs. I am certainly not in that camp. If it ever came down to deciding between human life and that of a pet, I would completely understand sacrificing the pet. However, once he got down and made sure his companion was safe, how could he not do anything for over a week?

The owner's posts on 14ers.com disgust me. I'm sure he feels he is a good dog owner, much like everyone feels they are a good person. However, he did not just make one bad judgement call, but rather a large series of them, which should make him re-evaluate his opinion of himself.

First, he admits that the dog did not have any tag aside from the rabies tag. He claims the dog wasn't prone to run away so it wasn't necessary. That is like saying you aren't prone to crash your car so you won't make your kids wear seat belts! (no, I am not equating this to child abuse). The point is, a tag is for unexpected circumstances.

Then the guy tries to make himself seem more responsible by saying he has hiked 6 14ers so he wasn't just some clueless gumby. Anyone can hike 6 14ers... I don't care how many easy mountains you walk up, it does not absolve you of guilt!

Despite his extensive experience on those 6 14ers, he seems to have confused Bierstadt with Everest! 13k feet is not the death zone! This is a mountain that is a couple hours drive from Denver, and an EASY hike up. The ridge that the dog was left on connects that mountain with a mountain that has a PAVED ROAD to the top. Help could have been up there in a couple of hours the next day had he asked someone. I don't buy the excuse that he had to go out of town for work and he didn't know anyone in Colorado he could ask to go help his dog out... at least bring her some food and a blanket or something... Hell, almost everyone I have met in Colorado has hiked a few 14ers. It is inconceivable that he would not be able to think of anyone to go help... on that note, if you look at this guy's facebook page, there are pictures of him with other people on mountains in Colorado... even pictures of Devil's Tower in Wyoming and his musing about how he wants to get good enough to climb that. Really? He wants to be a climber, he lives in Colorado, at least occasionally hikes mountains with other people, and he couldn't think of a single person to ask to go get his dog?!

And he couldn't be bothered to post a flier at the trailhead... post something on an internet forum... nothing...

So, he decides his dog doesn't need tags. He decides to take his dog on an exposed class 3 ridge without experience (and with a teenager in tow). He decides not to turn around and walk down the easy path from the summit after seeing the class 3 ridge. He decides to leave the dog (this is the only understandable decision if he really felt human life was in danger). He decides not to go back for the dog. He decides not to post anything at the trailhead. He decides not to ask anyone to go up there and check for the dog. He decides not to even search for a mountaineering website in Colorado and post the story.

I don't see how anyone could rationalize his course of behavior...

The humane society I called must have gave my number to the kid. He was not from Colorado. So... I thought it was pretty f*** up to call me.+++Thanks to Ralph and his team for helping another dog

I love my dog to death. When Pipin goes climbing he is a part of the climbing party and we never leave a fellow climber behind, regardless of species.

I've gone as far as dropping gear and putting the dog in my pack to get him out in the past. Blows my mind that someone could leave their dog behind. I would be up there risking open bivys trying to find him. Speechless.