17 July 2023
This is a second hand telling on an event that happened on Saturday. Keith called me to check on me and I could tell he was emotional. He proceeded to tell me of a shocking event.
A group of dog walkers, including long time friends Keith and Joel often meet at a small park along Victoria Park Road. It’s called Annie Beck Park that runs along Karen Canal, part of the extensive set of canals that gives Fort Lauderdale its moniker of Venice of America.
All along Victoria Park Road and along all the canals are some of the most exclusive areas in Fort Lauderdale. For example, one house just a little north of the park sold this year for $5.75 million dollars.
The dog walkers are an eclectic bunch and it can be as few as three people and as many as 10. Like most friends, they got to know each other through their pets. It’s a pretty tight knit bunch and they often celebrate life events together: birthdays, anniversaries, national holidays, etc.
On Saturday, it must have been a gathering of at least six or seven standing together in the park when either a pit bull or pit bull mix jumped out of the open window of a parked SUV and attacked one of the small dogs of the group. After being stunned, they all jumped in to pull the attacking dog of the small, 14 year dog, to no avail.
Someone noticed that the SUV was occupied. Two went over and tried to rouse the person in the SUV to come get their dog. There was no response and they ended up shouting and banging on the doors of the SUV (both front windows were open) to arouse the individual. He was either asleep or passed out. They finally roused him and he jumped in to pull his dog off the other dog. The owner of the attacking dog finally got him off the little dog. The attacker then went after another small dog in the group. All the while, everyone was trying to keep their own dogs safe.
Finally the owner grabbed his dog, threw him into the SUV and sped away. Fortunately, two of the group had the presence of mind to photograph the tag of the SUV. Two people called 911 and two sets of police arrived. Joel and another of the group took the owner of the first dog attacked to the emergency vet but it was too late. Apparently, the attacking dog had broken the neck of the little dog. The owner was devastated and all of the dog walkers were in shock.
Two police reports were filed. One of the dog walker bunch found the Facebook profile of the individual and it showed the guy with his dog on his Facebook page. He was shirtless and he was easily identified by his heavily tattooed torso and arms.
Concerned that the police were not being aggressive enough, several phone calls worked their way up to the mayor. No one still knows whether the owner of the attacking dog was contacted or arrested.
This is an all too common occurrence. When I had Rocky and we walked in the neighborhood, he was attacked numerous times. That’s actually why I walked with a walking stick – to keep vicious dogs away from Rocky. Now, it’s just to keep me upright.
One friend in my neighborhood was walking her usual route with her two dogs when two dogs ran out from a house and attacked her dogs. She had to have both taken to the vet. The home owner was dog sitting for a friend and didn’t realize the dogs were vicious. Fortunately, he owned up to the deed and paid the vet fees.
Michel, when she lived in my neighborhood, was walking her dog when another jumped a fence and attacked her dog. She had to badger the owner over several days to pay the vet visit.
Fort Lauderdale has a leash low. Very few people obey the law. All the dog walk group at Annie Beck have their dogs on leashes which probably was the only reason many more of the dogs there were not injured.
Hopefully, the owner of the attacking dog will be held to account. I don’t hold anything against the attacking dog. It’s the owner that is responsible for his dog’s actions. I tend to believe there are no bad dogs, just bad dog owners.
Rocky was supposedly a pit bull mix but a gentler dog you would never find. He was never the aggressor in a dog fight. It was always him defending himself against an aggressor.
All of the dog walkers are still in shock and they are contemplating what they can do to protect themselves and their pets. I’m sure several are thinking of now walking with tasers and pepper spray. It’s sad that it has come to this.
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I’ve previously written about this tree before but I do love it. It’s Sea Hibiscus.
The old genus and species was Hibiscus tiliaceus. What’s fascinating about this is, number one, it’s a tree and, number two, the flowers only open for one day and then change color and fall off the tree.
The petals turn from yellow to red and then fall of the plant intact. Only the ovary and stamens are left attached to the tree.
As a kid growing up, I knew of hibiscus as swamp mallow or rose mallow (H. moscheutos) or rose of Sharon (H. syriacus). Here in Florida, we mostly have the shrub known as Chinese hibiscus (H. rosa-sinensis). All belong to the mallow family of plants (Malvaceae).
Another relative of the hibiscus is the genus Gossypium better known as cotton. Both cotton and hibiscus tend to be tropical and both produce a woody capsule as a dry fruit. It’s cotton, of course, that produces numerous fibers around the seeds that are almost pure cellulose from which we spin the cloth. You can either praise or curse Eli Whitney for discovering a method of separating the seeds from the fibers.
According to Wikipedia, there are four species of the genus Gossypium: G. hirsutum (90% of cotton production) G. barbadense (8%) G. arboreum (<2%) and G. herbarium (<2%). If you were to remove all the seeds and fibers from a cotton boll, the remaining woody capsule would look pretty similar to the woody capsule of the hibiscus plant. By the way, one of my neighbors has G. arboreum. I had never seen cotton grow on a tree before!
In my travels, and in my backyard, I’ve encountered seven genera and 12 species of the mallow family.
| Genus/Species | Common Name | Location |
| Eremalche rotundifolia | Desert 5-spot | Death Valley |
| Herissanthia crispa | Bladder Mallow | Bahia Honda State Park, Florida |
| Hibiscus coulteri | Desert Rose Mallow | Saguaro National Park |
| Malva arborea | Bush Mallow | Lands End, San Francisco |
| Malva parviflora | Cheeseweed | Santa Rosa Island, Channel Islands National Park |
| Sida ciliaris | Fringed Fanpetals | Bahia Honda State Park, Florida |
| Sida rhombifolia | Wireweed | Back Yard |
| Sphaeralcea angustifolia | Narrow-leaf Globemallow | Carlsbad Caverns National Park |
| Sphaeralcea coccinea | Scarlet Globemallow | Grand Canyon, south rim; Capitol Reef National Park; Badlands National Park; Zion National Park; Arches national Park; Pipe Springs National Monument; Red Cliffs, Utah |
| Sphaeralcea grossularifolia | Goosefoot Globemallow | Great Basin National Park |
| Sphaeralcea incana | Gray Globemallow | Cedar Grove, NM |
| Urena lobata | Bur Mallow | Myakka River State Park, Florida |
So, from my one and only experience at picking cotton to the Rose of Sharon, the mallow family is firmly implanted into my memory banks.
