The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • A8

8A Tuesday, June 24, 2008 charlotte.com The Charlotte PAGE ONE Gunny is how willing people can be to said Murphy, a volunteer with the North Mecklenburg Animal Rescue who took Gunny in last month. One of the first people to help found the 2- or 3-year-old dog on the side of a road and delivered him to an animal res- cue agency. It take pit bulls, so Gunny ended up at an animal control center in Greenville, S.C. Laurel Watson, a Dallas, N.C., volunteer for the Mid-At- lantic Great Dane Rescue League, was scanning the ani- mal control Web site in May. Pictures of Gunny with a badly mangled leg moved her.

She want to see the dog suffer for days waiting to be euthanized. Watson took Gunny to Lake Cross Veterinary Hospital in Huntersville. A veterinarian there said that Gunny have to be put down, but he ur- gently needed medical atten- tion. Murphy, a friend of Wat- agreed to take Gunny in temporarily. Gunny brushed against Murphy, seeking affection, when she arrived to pick him up from the of- fice.

He was so dirty she asked if he might have a contagious condition. His body was covered with scars so many bite marks that no one has counted. At first Murphy thought he was wearing a purple cast on his leg. The leg was, instead, badly swollen, disfigured and infect- ed, with a 3-inch wound that oozed so continuously it left a puddle. when I started cry- Murphy said.

Murphy and Watson said a dog of nature, one who would not fight, would have been used as bait, tied down near fighting dogs that likely tore into him in sessions. Watson and Murphy and others circulated e-mails to raise money for med- ical care. Donations so far total about $1,800, and treatments have cost about $2,100. is a very rare thing to have his medical bills paid said Beth Phillips, president and co-owner of the North Mecklenburg Animal Rescue in Harrisburg. His injured leg has been am- putated and a second surgery unblocked his salivary glands.

Gunny, as tough as the gun- nery sergeants he was named for, licked the caregivers who prodded, poked and subjected him to other painful medical procedures. spirit is Mur- phy said. has every reason to be afraid and timid. He has no reservations about people or animals. His ability to let things go and move on is so incredi- Gunny gets along well with other dog, Oscar, and three cats all rescued castoffs.

Murphy, who lives in Harris- burg, still regularly posts infor- mation about Gunny at the North Mecklenburg Animal Rescue Web site, as she does for many animals that are available for adoption. Gunny, though, developed a following. dog has been to hell and back, but he looked like the happiest dog you could ever said Gene Pleas, who met Gunny this month at a birthday party that Murphy hosted for her dog Oscar. was hop- ping around on three legs with a ball in his mouth. we draw some kind of parallel, I think missing the GUNNY from 1A Meet Gunny When: 7 tonight.

Where: The Wine Vault, 9009-1 J.M. Keynes Drive in University Place shopping center. Details: www.northmeck- lenburganimalrescue.org background Gunny developed a fol- lowing online at www.north mecklenburganimalrescue where Amy Murphy writes bios of the animals. Want to help? You can send a donation to the North Mecklenburg Animal Rescue, P.O. Box 241, Harrisburg, NC 28075.

By Audra Ang Associated Press BEIJING With the debris of more than 50 years of climb- ing oxygen canisters, tents, backpacks and even some bodies Mount Everest has been called the high- est garbage dump. Now China is moving to clean up its northern side of the mountain and protect its fragile Himalayan environ- ment, announcing a trash col- lection campaign that could limit the number of climbers and other visitors in 2009. target is to keep even more people from abusing Mount Zhang Yongze, environmen- tal protection chief was quot- ed Monday as saying by the Xinhua News Agency. peak the tallest lies on the border between China and Nepal, with climbers provid- ing a large source of income for both countries. However, overcrowded routes and the accumulation of debris have led to some calls for the mountain to be closed to climbers temporari- ly.

Last year, more than 40,000 people visited the mountain from the Chinese side, which is located in Tibet, the China Daily newspaper said. Al- though that number was less than 10 percent of those who went to the mountain on the southern, or Nepali, side in 2000, the paper said environ- mentalists estimate they could have left behind as much as 120 tons of garbage, or about 6 pounds per tourist. There is no definitive figure on how much trash has been left on Everest in 54 years of climbing since Edmund Hilla- ry and Tenzing Norgay first conquered the mountain on May 29, 1953. The high altitude, deep snow, icy slopes and thin air make it difficult for climbers say their homeland was essen- tially independent for much of that time. The 2009 date may also be politically sensitive because it falls on the 50th anniversary of the Dalai flight to India after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

The exiled spiri- tual leader has long been re- viled by Beijing, which recent- ly accused his supporters for inciting bloody anti-Chinese riots in capital of Lhasa and other Tibetan communi- ties in neighboring provinces in March. which a team of Chinese and Tibetan climbers carried the flame to the summit and back down. Chinese authorities en- raged climbers by convincing government to join it in completely shutting down the mountain for several days at the height of the climbing season to prevent any possible disruption of the Everest leg. Tibetan activists accused Beijing of using the climb to symbolize its control over Ti- bet. China says it has ruled the Himalayan region for centu- ries, although many Tibetans to carry anything other than the necessities down the mountain once they reach the summit.

The Nepalese government has tightened its laws, and climbers and their guides are now required to carry out gear and trash or forfeit a $4,000 deposit. While China known to have a similar rule, it has en- acted other restrictions, in- cluding forbidding vehicles from driving directly to the base camp at 16,995 feet, Zhang said. The move also was aimed at preserving the melt- ing Rongbuk glacier, which has retreated 490 feet at the base of Everest in the past de- cade, he said. Zhang said his bureau is planning on launching a re- fuse collecting campaign in the first half of 2009 and is urging that the number of tourists and mountaineers be restricted. Everest featured most re- cently as the backdrop for the Beijing Olympic torch relay, in China plans Everest cleanup Garbage, human waste and even corpses litter what some call the highest dump.

TIM JOHNSON McCLATCHY TRIBUNE PHOTO Yaks are indispensable to those climbing Mount Everest. Each yak can carry between 90 and 110 pounds of supplies from the base camp, shown here in April 2007, to the advanced base camp, a two-day journey..