Neglect cases fuel drive to restart horse slaughter

May 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2009:
HELENA–Montana governor Brian Schweitzer on April 3, 2009
vetoed two parts of a bill passed by the state legislature to
encourage entrepreneurs to start a horse slaughterhouse, but on
April 16 both houses of the legislature returned the same bill to him
without amendment.
The provisions of the bill that Schweitzer vetoed would
require anyone filing a lawsuit seeking to stop construction of a
horse slaughterhouse to post a bond worth 20% percent of the
estimated construction costs, would hold plaintiffs liable for
damages incurred by the defendants due to legal action, and would
prevent state courts from halting construction after a horse
slaughterhouse site and design have received the requisite permits.
Schweitzer must now either veto the bill as a whole or sign
it into law. There was no indication, as ANIMAL PEOPLE went to
press, which he would do.

Ontario pit bull ban appealed to Supreme Court

May 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2009:
TORONTO–Civil rights lawyer Clayton Ruby on April 16, 2009
petitioned the Supreme Count of Canada to appeal an October 2006
Ontario Court of Appeal verdict which upheld the breed-specific Dog
Owners Liability Act.
The 2005 act forbids breeding, selling, or keeping a pit
bull within Ontario, except for pit bulls who were already licensed
in Ontario when the act took effect. Those dogs must be sterilized,
and must be kept leashed and muzzled when in public. A lower court
weakened the act in March 2007, holding the term “pit bull terrier”
to be too imprecise, but the Ontario Court of Appeal restored the
act as written.

Camp Lejeune follows Army, bans pit bulls

May 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2009:
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. –The U.S. Marine Corps on April 16,
2009 banned pit bull terriers, Rottweilers, wolf hybrids, and “any
other breeds [of dog] with dominant traits of aggression” from Camp
Lejeune, the largest Marine base on the Atlantic Coast.
Camp Lejeune commanding officer Colonel Richard P. Flatau
Jr. signed the order just over three months after the U.S. Army
banned pit bulls, Rottweilers, wolf hybrids, chows, and Dobermans
from Army base housing throughout the world.
The Camp Lejeune order covers the housing of approximately
50,000 active duty Marine Corps personnel, plus more than 100,000
civilian dependents of Marines and civilian base staff.

Kerala capital to obey Indian dog law?

May 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2009:
THIRUVANATHAPURAM–Three years of defiance of the Indian
national dog policy may be at an end in Thiruvanathapuram, the
capital city of Kerala state.
Both The Hindu and the Indian Express on April 25, 2009
reported that mayor C. Jayan Babu on April 3 reluctantly suspended
killing street dogs after receiving notice from the Animal Welfare
Board of India that the program violates a December 2008 ruling by
the Supreme Court of India.
From the ruling until obliged to stop, the Indian Express
said, the Babu administration paid 18 dogcatchers two and a half
times the previous rate per dog caught.

Irate chimp shot at alleged puppy-mill

May 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2009:
ST. LOUIS–Responding to a “loose chimpanzee” call from
Winston, Missouri, 60 miles north of Kansas City, Daviess County
sheriff’s deputy Larry Adams on March 30, 2009 initially tried to
help Brent Hudson, 49, Cherace Hudson, 41, and Mary Overton, 52,
to get the chimp back into secure premises.
When the chimp opened the door of Adams’ patrol car, grabbed
his leg, and tried to hit him, Adams fatally shot the chimp, a
nine-year-old male named Timmy.
Adams reported seeing three other chimps and 100-200 dogs at
the scene, but when the Missouri Department of Agriculture and
Humane Society of Missouri arrived two days later with a
search-and-seizure warrant, they found only 15 dogs and three cats.

Indianapolis considers requiring pit bulls to be sterilized

May 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2009:
INDIANAPOLIS–Indianapolis city/county council member Mike
Speedy on April 24, 2009 introduced an ordinance to make
Indianapolis the biggest city in the U.S. to mandate sterilizing pit
bull terriers.
The introduction comes three years after a breed-specific
ordinance proposed by another Indianapolis councillor met intense
opposition. Her ordinance was watered down into a conventional
dangerous dog law, providing penalities of only $50 for the first
violation and $100 for the second, with impoundment coming only on
third offense.
“An Indianapolis Star review of dog bite data for 2008
revealed that pit bull bites soared 33% from the previous year and
were three times higher than in 2006. Pit bulls also account for
more bites and more severe bites than any other breed,” reported
Heather Gillers of the Star.

Editorial: Learning from the Glendale Creek beaver disaster

May 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2009:

ANIMAL PEOPLE is headquartered at the top of a steep hill
rising above Glendale Creek. Formed from 5,000 to 9,000 years ago by
runoff from a melting glacier, Glendale Creek cut a deep ravine
through which it flows for about three miles before draining into
Puget Sound at the 10-house village of Glendale.
Glendale a century ago was the chief link between South
Whidbey Island and the mainland. Steam-powered ferries stopped
there. The first car dealership on the island perched precariously
beside Glendale Creek. A narrow gauge railway, built in 1900, ran
from the water’s edge at low tide into the interior of the island.
Eventually about 10 miles long, it hauled huge cedar logs down to
the Sound, where they were floated off of flat cars and tied into
rafts to be tugged to Seattle.
The logging predictably created soil erosion. Loss of
topsoil led to loss of ground covering vegetation and flash floods,
but the loggers, the farmers who followed them to work the land,
and the hunters and fishers who came from the mainland for holidays
of recreational mayhem were all preoccupied with killing most of the
wildlife who survived the tree-cutting.

Obama family accepts a “second chance” dog from Ted Kennedy

May 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2009:
WASHINGTON D.C.– Massa-chusetts Senator Ted Kennedy and his
wife Victoria in early April 2009 ended months of speculation that
President Barack Obama and family would adopt a shelter dog for
daughters Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, by giving the Obamas a
purebred Portuguese water dog– not a shelter dog, but a “second
chance” dog, who was returned to the breeder after reportedly
failing in at least one previous home.
Originally named Charlie, according to the anonymous
FirstDogCharlie web site that leaked the news on April 10, 2009,
the dog was renamed Bo by the Obamas.

BOOKS: If Only They Could Speak

April 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2009:

If Only They Could Speak:
Understanding the powerful bond
between dogs and their owners
by Nicholas H. Dodman
W.W. Norton & Co. (500 Fifth Ave., New York,
NY 10110), 2003, 2008. 262 pages, paperback. $15.95.

W.W. Norton & Co. published this second edition of one of
Nicholas Dodman’s most popular books in September 2008. Dodman
heads the Tufts Behavior Clinic at the Tufts University School of
Veterinary Medicine. His 1999 volume Dogs Behaving Badly made him
one of the more acclaimed dog behavior gurus of our time–but Dodman
was already well known to news media for promoting the idea that many
dog behavior problems can pharmaceutically treated.
“Throw in a shrink” has long been standard editorial advice
to reporters trying to find experts to explain difficult or
disturbing news. Dodman’s recommendations, often summarized as “Put
your dog on Prozac,” have made him perhaps the most quoted doggie
shrink ever.

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