by Kenn Bell
September 23, 2010 in Adoption News, Endangerment, Lifestyle News, News
Here’s a great video from the CBS Early Morning Show this week. It features Hector, A Vicktory dog and his pop, Andrew Yori. Both are featured in the next Dog Files Episode entitled, “Pit Proud: The History Of The Pit Bull” which will be live on the Dog Files Site in Mid-October.
– Kenn
by Kenn Bell
September 22, 2010 in Adoption News, Endangerment, Inhumane Practices, News
VALLEY, AL (WTVM) – As of today the Chattahoochee Humane Society in Valley, Alabama has taken in 2098 animals since January 1st.
The humane society went to the county earlier this month asking for more funding, without it they’ll have to shut down the facility September 30th and every animal that has not been adopted will be euthanized. Sharon Hawkins, President of the Board of Directors says, “we tried to present to them what it costs to do that and apparently our county feels that they can do it more affordably.”
Under U.S. law , an animal shelter is required in every county but what kind of shelter is not specified.
Hawkins says shelters are required to keep an animal for 7 days, after that, the humane society tries to get the animal adopted or fostered, but the county is proposing a pound.
“The difference in a pound is that they hold the animal for 7 days and they do not offer the option for adoption…so inevitably they’re euthanized” said Hawkins
Although the humane society needs more money, the board of directors has agreed to try a six month contract with the county that would prolong the closing, they are still waiting to hear if the county will accept.
Shon Sims, Director of the Humane Society is devastated…she feels like 6 years of hard work for the community has been wasted, “I’ve tried really hard to make sure the animals that leave our facility are healthy animals and that our cleaning structure and disease protocol changed so we didn’t have the disease presence we used too.”
by Melody Chen
September 22, 2010 in Lifestyle News, News
Susan Miller was so mad that she stepped into dog droppings left by her neighbor’s pet, she didn’t waste time in sending back a smelly gift, according to police.
The Naperville woman allegedly gathered up the excrement and threw it at the neighbor’s sliding patio screen Wednesday night. She also strung several plastic bags filled with dog feces “on various places on the patio,” police said.
Miller, 43, also swiped a sign — asking the apartment complex residents to pick up dog waste — and placed it on the dog owner’s property, police said.
Miller was charged with disorderly conduct.
by Melody Chen
September 22, 2010 in Dog Safety, Inhumane Practices, News
Teamwork between several national and local animal welfare groups saved the lives of more than 100 dogs on Tuesday from a puppy mill in Central Missouri.
The owner of the kennel could no longer afford to feed the dogs.
The dogs, which included small breeds such as Dachshunds, Malteses, Shih Tzus, Lhasa Apsos, and large breeds such as Huskies and Boxers, were voluntarily surrendered by the owner of the puppy mill. He contacted a local rescue group, Half-way Home Pet Rescue and explained that he couldn’t afford to feed the dogs. The rescue group called the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for help.
The Rescue Plan
The ASPCA quickly put a collaborative rescue plan into action. They sent eight members from their Anti-Cruelty team and their 60-foot-long animal transport trailer to the puppy mill. They also enlisted the help of PetSmart Charities to supply the large number of pet transport carriers and crates needed.
The dogs were then transferred to two local animal rescue groups – the Humane Society of Southwest Missouri in Springfield and HSMO in St. Louis. Each of the rescued pups will stay with the rescue groups until they are given a clean bill of health and ready to be adopted into a family of their own.
To read the rest click here.
by Melody Chen
September 22, 2010 in Health & Science Files, Lifestyle News, News
U.S. – A new study suggests man’s best friend may help children become more active. As reported by LiveScience.com, researchers found that kids who have dogs in their families are more active than those without them.
As noted in the report, the St George’s University of London researchers found that children with household dogs spent an average of 11 minutes more doing physical activity than non pet owners per day.
Lead researcher Christopher Owen, a senior lecturer in epidemiology, is quoted in the report as stating of the findings, “The more active lifestyles of children from dog-owning families [are] really interesting – is it that owning a dog makes you more active or that more active families choose to have a dog?… It’s a bit of a chicken and egg question. Long-term studies are needed to answer it, but it may be a bit of both.â€
More information about the study may be available in the American Journal of Public Health.
by Melody Chen
September 22, 2010 in Health & Science News, Lifestyle News, News
Chatham, VA – It’s that time of year again, to get your flu shot, and it turns out, it may be time for your dog to get a flu shot too.
Dr. Lisa Shorter with the Chatham Animal Clinic says they haven’t had any diagnosed K9 influenza cases in the area, but she has seen some dogs with flu-like symptoms.
They carry the dog flu vaccine, but she says they haven’t made it part of the routine protocol just yet. Still, she says there are some cases where she absolutely recommends the dogs get vaccinated.
“Animals that travel a lot, that are exposed to a lot of other animals, that board a lot; that’s where I think is the real niche for this vaccine at this point in time,” she said.
Dr. Shorter says she fully expects that canine influenza will become more prevalent in this area. She says one to five percent of dogs with the flu do die.
by Melody Chen
by Melody Chen
September 22, 2010 in Inhumane Practices, Lifestyle News, News
By, Jeffrey Wolf written and Chris Vanderveen for 9news.com
LAKEWOOD – A state employee’s penchant for sending out tweets to his 1,032 followers has prompted his bosses to tell his co-workers to take it easy for the time being on social networking websites. It’s also prompted the local head of the Humane Society of the United States to call the employee’s actions “appalling.”
Scot Dutcher is the chief of the Colorado Department of Agriculture Animal Protection Bureau. Basically, he oversees more than 100 commissioned agents across the state charged with looking into animal neglect and cruelty cases. Online and on Twitter he’s also known as “Skinnyhorse.”
Over the last year and a half “Skinnyhorse” has helped author 4,698 tweets. Many of them are apolitical, but some are not. Before the site was changed in the last week, he called himself an “unapologetic American” who is “anti-animal rights.” In one tweet he urged his followers to “take our country back” and in another he sarcastically called on people to “eat more polar bears.” In another he mentioned “that success over animal rights is the best revenge.”
He has also clearly developed strong negative feelings for the Humane Society of the United States, a vocal animal advocacy group and has shared his thoughts about the HSUS on a number of occasions.
Last week, the local head of HSUS, Holly Tarry, says she finally had enough and notified Dutcher’s bosses.
“I was appalled that a state employee charged with protecting animals would clock in and spend his day turning out anti-animal protection tweets,” Tarry said. “It makes me mad.”
Tarry asked on Monday if Dutcher is still capable of handling his duties considering his antagonistic views toward animal-rights advocates.
His boss said on Monday afternoon he still has confidence in a man he calls “a hardworking” employee.
“There really shouldn’t be any reason why organizations shouldn’t be able to trust him,” Jim Miller, the deputy commissioner of the Colorado Department of Agriculture, said.
Even still he did say the Dutcher was reminded of the department’s policy on social networking.
“It wasn’t authorized. We didn’t know about it, and it was something that we spoke with him about. He understood that he wasn’t supposed to be doing that,” Miller said.
Miller declined to say of Dutcher had been reprimanded in any way. Late last week, Miller did send out an email to all of the department’s employees outlining the “Social Networking Policy.”
