Nachtrag zu den Krawallen....Aaron is cutting again & Obi is recovering

Dies ist ein kurzer Nachtrag zu den Unruhen in London. Kurz nach den Vorfällen in England brachte BBC eine Meldung über diese bemerkenswerte Initiative, die sich einfach nur wohltuend im Gewimmel schlechter Meldungen und dramatischer Bilder abhob. -

Just a short update after the riots in England. Here the link to a remarkable initiative with the aim to help Aaron Biber who found himself not knowing how to continue with his barber shop after it was looted and damaged during the riots in Tottenham.

Aaron Biber in his barber shop after the riots

Für Aaron Biber, 89, der trotz seines fortgeschrittenen Alters noch als Friseur arbeitet, gab es am Sonntag eine böse Überraschung, als er morgens nach Krawallen in seinem Viertel in Tottenham, seinen kleinen Laden auseinandergenommen vorfand. Ohne Versicherung und Ersparnisse sah er sich vor die Situation gestellt, auf einmal keine Grundlage mehr zu haben, um seine Existenz absichern zu können. Björn, Sophie und Omid, die in einer Werbeagentur arbeiten, hörten davon und entschieden sich spontan, einen Blog einzurichten, um für Aaron Biber zu sammeln. £35,000 sind eingegangen, und nun schneidet er wieder...Der Laden ist wieder auf .-

And best of all...Aaron is cutting again, £35,000 had been raised for Aaron, and so he was able to reopen his barber shop.

Und hier ist Obi (3), der Polizeihund, der während der Unruhen von einem Ziegelstein schwer verletzt wurde und eine Schädelfraktur erlitt

Obi's, the 3 years old police dog who was injured during the riots by a brick is recovering. The only outward sign of injury is a small shaved patch above his left eye where vets checked for bruising, it can take several months before he is fit to resume active duty, his skull was fractured above the left eye socket.

Police dog Obi recovering from riot injuries 15.08.2011

Obi braucht nach seiner Schädelfraktur noch Ruhe und Medikamente, ist aber auf dem Weg der Besserung. Wie lange er noch krankgeschrieben ist, kann sein Freund und Handler Phil Wells noch nicht sagen. Obi, ein dreijähriger Deutscher Schäferhund, kam zur Wells Familie mit 8 Wochen und er ist einer von ungefähr 400 Hunden im Dienst der Metropolitan Polizei in London, 30- 40 Hunde waren während der Unruhen jede Nacht im Londoner Gebiet eingesetzt. Alle 8 Hunde der Einheit, in der Wells mit Obi eingesetzt waren, erlitten ebenfalls Verletzungen von Schnittwunden an den Pfoten durch Glasscherben bis hin zu gebrochenen Zähnen....

It was only after a couple of hours in which Obi even continued to work, - initially after a first check-over he seemed fine-, that he showed signs of need for veterinary help. He was lethargic and bleeding from his left nostril, a possible sign of head trauma, the assessing vet was not happy about the impact he had had so he was transferred to the Royal Veterinary School in Cambridge for a CT scan which detected the skull fracture. He is on medication now, and instead of being bouncy as usual, he is still quite lethargic and has to have some rest. Wells thinks it can take some time until Obi will be back to normal.

Obi has lived with the Wells family since he was eight weeks old and is seen as one of the family, for Wells the situation of seeing his best friend and colleague at the same time injured, was quite difficult and full of emotions.

Dogs play a vital part in the police force. Alone their physical presence is very powerful and just turning up with them or opening the van so people hear the dogs bark is a display of force. "A unit of six dogs can clear a crowd as easily as 30 officers in terms of impact."

The Metropolitan Police deployed between 30 and 40 dogs across London during each night of the week's unrest.

The Met has almost 400 dogs for operational and breeding purposes. Around half of these are general purpose dogs used to support a variety of police operations, including public order for which Obi was trained in particular. Smaller numbers are trained in specialist areas of detection such as explosives and narcotics.

The Met's brood bitches produce 85-90 pups a year.

All of the eight dogs in Wells unit on Tottenham High Road on Saturday suffered cut pads on their paws from the broken glass and debris on the street and some suffered cuts and broken teeth, unprecedented injuries as it seems. Wells said: "I have never experienced stuff coming at us from all sides like that before." (read full article here!)


Sources, incl. videos:

- Aaron Biber who has run a a barber shop/Keep Aaron cutting Blog August 2011
- Aaron is cutting again/Keep Aaron cutting Blog August 18.08.2011
- Keep Aaron cutting on facebook
- Police dog Obi recovering from riot injuries/AP 15.08.2011
- England Riots: Police dog fought against rioters with fractured skull/ Telegraph 15.08.2011 Video