Hours From Death A Pit Bull Stages A Daring Escape

Hours from death, pit bull is stolen in Alameda

Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

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Alameda Police Department
Max, a 3-year-old red nose pit bull condemned to death for biting two people was stolen from the Alameda Animal Shelter on May 12, 2010, just hours before he was to be euthanized.
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(05-12) 15:39 PDT ALAMEDA --

Max, a 70-pound pit bull that bit two people earlier this year, cheated death Wednesday and is on the run - with some human help.

The 3-year-old red nose pit bull was stolen from the Alameda Animal Shelter, just hours before he was to be euthanized for being a dangerous animal. No arrests have been made, but investigators are contacting everyone connected to Max, including his owners.

In all his 28 years in the department, police Lt. Bill Scott said, no one had ever broken into the shelter to steal an animal.

"It's very unusual," Scott said. "Somebody knew the dog was going to be euthanized."

Max disappeared one day after Superior Court Commissioner Thomas Rasch signed his death warrant - agreeing with the city that the dog had to be put down.

The animal shelter was ready to euthanize Max on Tuesday, but Rasch agreed to allow his owners, Richard Cochran, 57, and his wife, Melissa Perry, 38, to say their goodbyes at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

About 7:30 a.m., shelter staffers discovered that someone had sliced through a cyclone fence and used bolt cutters to break the lock on the kennel where Max was awaiting the executioner. The break-in on Fortmann Way happened sometime after 4:30 a.m., police said.

No one answered the door Wednesday at the motel unit where Cochran and Perry live near Alameda's busy Park Street. No sounds of a dog could be heard.

John McCurley, the attorney who represented the couple at the hearing, said of the break-in, "This is the first I've heard of it. Based on the time I've spent with them, I definitely wouldn't think they would do something like that."

Perry said in court papers that she is Max's main caregiver because her husband is a truck driver who is away from home a lot.

She had begged the city not to kill her dog, describing him in a handwritten letter as a "great, loyal, loving companion" who is "full of love for people."

She added, "I, as Max's owner, will take any means necessary to prevent Max from being put to sleep."

Max's recent troubles began Jan. 22, when he was being examined at an animal hospital in Oakland. Veterinary technician Talina Hoover, 34, crouched down, trying to show Perry that her dog needed dental work, when the animal lunged at Hoover and bit her in the upper lip, court records show. Hoover needed 13 stitches.

Officials concluded that Max could be forgiven because of the "invasive nature of veterinary procedures," but required that Perry quarantine him at her home at the Islander Motel on Central Avenue.

It was at the motel that Max committed his second biting attack March 10.

Brendan McFarland, 27, was petting Max while visiting his owners when his girlfriend sat on his lap, police said. Max bit McFarland on his left arm.

"The momentum from Max's attack drove them both to the floor," the police report said. McFarland suffered two cuts to his arm.

Perry told police that Max was "temperamental at times" and became protective when someone pets him and touches another person at the same time. She also said the dog was "grumpy" because he had had a rotten tooth extracted less than a week earlier.

Max was quarantined at the shelter. On March 24, a police hearing officer deemed him to be a dangerous dog, meaning he could be put down. Rasch confirmed the finding.

A friend of Max's owners, Zina Deloatch, 62, of Oakland, said she doubted that the couple were responsible for the break-in. Perry, she said, seemed resigned to her dog's impending demise.

"I wouldn't think she would do anything that drastic," Deloatch said.

Perry's use of "any means necessary" in her letter, she said, most likely referred to "talking about getting a lawyer, going to obedience school, stuff like that."

E-mail Henry K. Lee at hlee@sfchronicle.com.

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