Dogs among the heroes of the Mumbai attacks

January 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2009:
MUMBAI, India–Among the most popular heroes of the
three-day terrorist rampage through Mumbai that started on November
26, 2008 are the street dog Sheru, the sniffer dog Jessica, and
the therapy dogs Goldie and Onet.
At least 170 people were killed and 230 were wounded by 10
heavily armed men believed to be Pakistanis, who are believed to
have hijacked a boat to reach Mumbai, killing the crew. On arrival,
they shot up the Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station, the Taj
Mahal and Oberoi-Trident hotels, a Jewish outreach center, and a
restaurant, and left bombs in two taxi cabs.

Rescuing greyhounds from the most remote track in the world

January 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2009:
HAGNATA, Guam; BOSTON– Between the depressed U.S. economy
and the passage of an initiative ban on greyhound racing in
Massachusetts after January 1, 2010, greyhound rescuers expected a
winter of tracks closing and ex-racing dogs needing homes.
But few expected to be coordinating a major rescue on the
Pacific island of Guam –among the most remote of U.S. territories,
and until November 6, 2008 the most isolated outpost of greyhound
racing in the world.
Like the Wonderland and Raynham tracks in Massachusetts, the
32-year-old Guam Greyhound Track was killed at the ballot box–but
indirectly. The Guam Greyhound Track drew 250 to 300 people per night
in recent years, down from 800 per night in 1990, reported Steve
Limtiaco of Pacific Daily News. The track on November 4, 2008 asked
Guam voters to approve a proposition which would have enabled the
facility to build a $30 million convention center and expand into
casino gambling. When the proposition was defeated, track owner
John Baldwin halted dog racing and listed the property for sale at
$15.9 million.

Did Christmas bring the end of the Strausstown club pigeon shoots?

January 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2009:

STRAUSTOWN, Pennsylvania–“Christmas came a day late, but
our present was well worth the wait,” said SHARK founder Steve
Hindi, calling ANIMAL PEOPLE on December 29, 2008 to announce the
apparent end of pigeon shoots at the Strausstown Rod and Gun
Club–perhaps the most openly defiant among the last several places
in the U.S. where legal pigeon shoots were held.
“Neither a heavy thunderstorm nor the activities of an animal
rights group silenced the gunfire Saturday at the Strausstown Rod &
Gun Club’s weekend pigeon shoot,” wrote Steven Henshaw of the
Reading Eagle back in August 2008, when representatives of the
Humane Society of the U.S. and Humane Society of Berks County spent
eight hours trying to document prosecutable cruelty at a shoot.

Catty the miracle dog caption

January 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2009:
“Here is Catty the miracle dog,” writes Egyptian Society for
Mercy to Animals founder Mona Khalil from Cairo, Egypt. “Her
puppies were snatched from her and she was dropped in a busy street
so that she probably would get killed by cars. With her are the
three kittens we found nursing from her, as they too were snatched
from their mum and dropped in a box in the same area.” Discovered by
a gardener who feeds animals in the vicinity, Catty and the kittens,
five other abandoned kittens, and another dog were picked up from
amid the traffic by Khalil and her father. “They are all now at the
ESMA shelter,” Khalil said. “We will keep Catty and the kittens
together, and will look to get them adopted together too.”
Though rare, the case is not unprecedented: ANIMAL PEOPLE
has since 1992 collected 23 other authenticated accounts of dogs
cross-fostering kittens, plus five accounts of cats cross-fostering
puppies in similar rescue situations.

149 dogs saved from meat market

January 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2009:
CHENGDU–The last day of 2008 brought the first known mass
seizure of dogs from meat traders in mainland China in almost 70
years. “The 149 dogs were confiscated from the trading station in
Pengzhou, 30 kilometres north of Chengdu, by the local Animal
Husbandry Bureau, after it discovered that the trader was operating
without a licence,” announced the Animals Asia Foundation.
“The officials were notified of the situation by Qiao Wei,
operator of the Qiming Rescue Centre in Chengdu, who had received a
tip-off about the dogs,” the Animals Asia Foundation release
continued.
Best known for operating the China Bear Rescue Center near
Chengdu, “Animals Asia recently built the spacious quarantine area
at the Qiming Rescue Centre to shelter dogs rescued from the May 2008
Sichuan earthquake,” the release explained.

Money spent to help animals would not be lost

January 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2009:

Parables in every faith warn against
hoarding wealth, instead of using it to good
purpose. Those who doubt the wisdom of the sages
might look instead to the headlines.
The New York Times on page one of the
last day of 2008 observed that Wall Street losses
during the year had eradicated every gain made
since 2001, the most recent previous year of
economic downturn.
Another New York Times page one item
discussed the losses to charities resulting from
the activities of former NASDAQ chair Bernard
Madoff, who is charged with bilking investors of
$50 billion. Among the victims were many of the
wealthiest nonprofit foundations in the U.S.,
and investment funds that handled the assets of
possibly thousands of other charities and
individual donors. The extent of the damage will
take months to assess.

Activists & Organizations

Rodeo without mayhem?

January 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2009:
DENVER–If rodeo doesn’t kill, injure,
and torture animals, will people still pay to
watch it?
With rodeo attendance, TV audiences,
and sponsorship in freefall, and activist
opposition to violent events intensifying, major
rodeos throughout the west are making gestures
toward trying to reduce the mayhem.
For example, “New policies in place at
the 2009 National Western Rodeo will focus on
much restricted use of electric prods and
stronger fines for jerk downs in the tie down
roping,” announced National Western Stock Show
president Patrick A. Grant on the eve of the
stock show, held from January 7 to January 25,
2009.
The Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo and
Greeley Stampede announced similar policy changes
earlier. The Chicago-based animal rights group
Showing Animals Respect & Kindness (SHARK) has
repeatedly videotaped electroshocking and jerk
downs in roping competition at all three events
in recent years.

Exposé leads to exit of Atlanta shelter director

December 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2008:
ATLANTA–Fulton County Animal Control
director Jere Alexander resigned on November 3,
2008 after an exposé of shelter conditions by
Randy Travis of Fox 5 TV. She was succeeded on
an interim basis by 30-year county shelter worker
Herman Swann.
“Alexander worked for Barking Hound
Village, the company that last March acquired
the $2.1 million contract to manage the shelter,”
reported Jeffry Scott of the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution.

Reform begins at one of India’s oldest humane societies

December 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2008:

KAKINADA–The 102-year-old Kakinada SPCA, among the oldest
western-style humane societies in India, has “had its working
committee abolished by district collector and ex-officio president
Gopalakrishna Dwivedi, owing to detection of irregularities in its
functioning,” The Hindu reported on December 3, 2008.
Founded with a gift of 98 acres by the Maharajah of
Pithapuram, the Kakinada SPCA was expected to support itself by
making use of the land, but only two acres remain.
Part of the role of a “district collector” in India is
ensuring that nonprofit organizations fulfill their public trust.
Any humane society calling itself a Society for the Protection of
Animals is now required to include the local district collector as
ex-officio president. The dissolution of the Kakinada SPCA working
committee is among the first reported consequences of the newly
mandated board structure.

« 1 … 42 43 44 45 46 … 250 »