Jockeys strike over horse treatment, owner quits

March 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2010:

PHILADELPHIA–Michael Gill, the winningest racehorse stable
owner in North America in 2009, on February 2, 2010 announced that
he would sell his horses and sue his critics for defamation.
The Pennsylvania Racing Com-mission and the Penn National
Race Course in Grantville, Pennsylvania, opened investigations of
Gill’s racing practices after jockey Thomas Clifton led fellow
jockeys in a boycott of any race in which a Gill horse was entered.
The racing commission later barred Gill horses from PRA-sanctioned
events.
Gill leases 49 stalls at the Penn National track, typically
running about five horses per racing card. Nationally, Gill has
fielded as many as 400 horses, but told media that he now has about
100. His horses won $6.7 million with 370 victories in 2,247 starts
in 2009, according to the data firm Equibase.

Private eye Norred quarterbacks drive against Georgia dogfighters

March 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2010:

ATLANTA–Exit Michael Vick, the ex-Atlanta Falcons
quarterback who was among the biggest names in both pro football and
professional dogfighting.
Enter Greg Norred, who in 1982 founded the security firm
Norred & Associates. “We conduct workplace investigations and
provide workplace security for companies throughout the country,”
Norred recites.
Norred also busts dogfighters.

Fake “faux fur”costs sellers real money

March 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2010:

DALLAS–Nieman Marcus Inc. in late January 2010 agreed to pay
a $25,000 judgement to settle a lawsuit brought by the Humane Society
of the U.S. over the sale of garments with dog fur trim labeled “faux
fur.”
A Washington D.C. court found that the Dallas firm misled buyers.
Saks earlier settled a similar case brought by HSUS for $6,500.

BOOKS: Heritage of Care

March 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2010:

Heritage of Care:
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
by Marion S. Lane & Stephen L. Zawistowki
Praeger Publishers (88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881), 2008.
185 pages, hardcover. $39.95.

“The ASPCA story is one that I’ve been
trying to tell in one way or another for the past
19 years,” writes American SPCA executive vice
president Stephen L. Zawistoski in introducing
Heritage of Care, co-authored with former ASPCA
AnmalWatch editor Marion S. Lane. Working
primarily from the ASPCA’s own archives,
Zawistowski recalls, “We decided that we had
neither the time nor training to write a
scholarly history of the organization. We agreed
that what we wanted to do was spin a yarn,”
covering the first 140 years of the history of
the ASPCA as informatively and honestly as
possible.

Mississippi burning

January 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2010:

HATTIESBURG–Southern Pines Animal Shelter employee Ricky
Pierce Jr., 24, of Petal, Mississippi, was charged with
commercial burglary and arson on December 23, 2009 for allegedly
stealing a computer hard drive and torching the shelter office. The
fire killed four handicapped cats.
Southern Pines office manager Michelle Bullock told
Hattiesburg American staff writer Erica Sherrill Owens that Pierce
was angry because he was recently transferred from the office to do
kennel work. Hired in the summer to work in the office, Pierce
lived with a female shelter office assistant.
The Southern Pines facilities that burned were built after a
May 1995 fire at the former Forrest County Humane Society killed
about 60 animals. Firefighter Marvin Loftin suffered a severely
burned hand while cutting fences and cage locks to save about 20 dogs.
The organization became the Southern Pines Animal Shelter in 2002.

Jet-powered puppy mill case crashes before getting to court

January 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2010:

PHILADELPHIA, HARRISBURG–Main Line
Animal Rescue founder Bill Smith and former
Pennsylvania SPCA board president Harrise Yaron
just before Christmas 2009 lost their gamble that
jetting dogs back from an Ohio dog auction would
produce evidence sufficient to prosecute six
Amish dog breeders.
Two days before a new Pennsylvania dog
law took effect, 12 Lancaster County breeders
either quit the business or significantly
downsized, sending dozens of dogs to an auction
in Baltic, Ohio.

Homeowners are liable for guests’ dog attacks

January 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2010:

MADISON–The Wisconsin Supreme Court on December 29, 2009
ruled unanimously that a homeowner is accountable for injuries
inflicted by a dog who lives in the home, even if the dog belongs to
someone else.
The verdict upheld an appellate court finding that Nancy
Seefeldt of Menasha was the “keeper” of a dog who injured passer-by
Colleen Pawlowski in October 2003, and that Seefeldt was therefore
responsible for the dog’s behavior.

Playful dogs

January 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2010:

LINCOLN–The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled 5-2 on December
18, 2009 that injuries caused by dogs without intent on the part of
the dog to do injury are not actionable under the state law holding
dog keepers liable for dog attacks. The case originated in 2005 when
a golden retriever service dog kept by Shiloh Hobelman bounded up to
Anne Underhill, who is confined to a wheelchair, and collided with
Hobelman causing her a knee injury that required surgery.
The outcome of the case paralleled the 1996 British
Columbia Court of Appeal verdict Shelvey v. Bicknell. In that case a
two-year-old Rottweiler in August 1991 collided with plaintiff Judith
Shelvey while chasing an Old English sheep dog playmate. Shelvey
suffered a severe head injury. The British Columbia Court of Appeal
held that Shelvey was injured as result of an unforseeable accident.

Ontario SPCA asks court to dump Toronto Humane board

January 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2010:

TORONTO–Directing animal care at the Toronto Humane Society
since a November 26, 2009 raid that brought five arrests of THS
senior personnel for alleged neglect of animals, the Ontario SPCA on
December 23, 2009 asked Ontario Superior Court to remove the THS
board of directors and appoint a receiver to oversee operations.
Responding to earlier filings by Toronto Humane, Ontario
Superior Court Justice Ian Nordheimer on the same day ruled that
animal care at the shelter must “remain under the control and
direction of the Ontario SPCA,” and refused to quash the Ontario
SPCA search warrant.
“But four weeks is too long for what has effectively become
an occupation of the humane society to continue, Judge Nordheimer
said,” according to Anna Mehler Paperny of the Toronto Globe & Mail.
“Judge Nordheimer ordered the Ontario SPCA to turn over all
potentially sensitive documents, including scans of the humane
society’s hard drives, to a third party, and to allow all humane
society employees not facing criminal charges to return to work,”
Paperny wrote.

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