Quebec to regulate dog breeders

November 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2009:

QUEBEC–Quebec Agriculture Minister
Claude Béchard pledged recently to CBC News that
the provincial government will act upon all five
recommendations issued on October 7, 2009 by a
Task Force on Companion Animal Welfare appointed
in February 2009 to investigate the Quebec puppy
industry.
The task force was empaneled a month
after the Montreal SPCA impounded 367 dogs in
three raids on alleged puppy mills.
Chaired by Geoff Kelley, Member of the
National Assembly from Jacques-Cartier, the task
force recommended that 15 new inspectors should
be appointed to enforce humane laws, quadrupling
the present inspection force, at cost of about
$500,000; that $1 million should be invested in
improving animal shelters; that new regulations
should more explicitly define proper care of
animals; that fines for animal abuse and neglect
should be increased; and that the task force
should continue working.

Greyhound racing comes to end in Wisconsin

November 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2009:

MILWAUKEE–Greyhound racing will end in Wisconsin on December
31, 2009, 20 years after it started, with the closure of the
Dairyland Greyhound Park in Kenosha.
“In 1989, state regulators with dollar signs in their eyes
approved five operating licenses for pari-mutuel greyhound racing,”
recounted Don Walker of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Tracks
opened in Geneva Lakes, Kaukauna, Lake Delton, Hudson and Kenosha,
attracting 3.5 million visitors in 1991, the first year all five
tracks were open. But by 1994, four of the five tracks reported
losses. Costing $45 million to build, Dairyland was the last
survivor, but lost $17 million in the last seven years that it
operated. Attendance dropped 19% in 2009; wagering dropped 29%.

Eight California cities ban declawing

November 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2009:

MARIN, Calif.–Racing to beat a January 1, 2010 deadline
imposed by the state legislature, cities including about a sixth of
the population of California had banned declawing cats by December 8,
2009, and Marin County was expected to join them.
“I’m leaning very heavily toward going for it, given the
cruelty issue,” Marin County supervisor Charles McGlashan told
Richard Halstead of the Marin Independent Journal. McGlashan
indicated that declawing might be banned at the county board meeting
of December 15, 2009, one day after the 102nd anniversary of the
founding of the Marin County Humane Society. Marin County is also
home of national animal advocacy organizations including In Defense
of Animals, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, and the Humane Farming
Association.

Efforts continue to ban the “elephant hook”

November 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2009:

BOSTON–“All ears to the plight of the
GOP symbol,” according to Boston Herald reporter
Jessica Van Sack, Massachusetts state senator
Robert Hedlund has tried since 2004 to ban
keeping elephants in chains and striking them
with the ankus, or bullhook. The 2006 edition
cleared the Massachusetts senate, but not the
house of delegates. The 2009 edition reached a
legislative hearing on November 16.
A Republican representing Weymouth,
Plymouth and Norfolk, Hedlund distances himself
from those he calls “politically correct
left-wing do-gooders,” but concerning chaining
and the ankus, “”The more I got involved in the
issue, the more I became passionate about it and
emotionally tied to it, knowing the abusive
conditions these animals have to endure,” he
told Van Sack.

“Swine flu” infects cats, ferrets, & dogs

November 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2009:

A cat in Des Moines, Iowa, a cat in Lebanon, Oregon, nine
ferrets in Rice Hill, Oregon, four ferrets in Nebraska, and two
dogs in Beijing in November 2009 became the first household pets
known to have contracted the pandemic H1N1-2009 “swine flu” virus,
which is believed to have evolved in humans from swine flu strains.
Humans have passed the H1N1-2009 strain back to pigs on at least 12
different occasions in as many nations.
Each infected pet lived with humans who displayed H1N1-2009
symptoms earlier. The humans all recovered, as did the 13-year-old
Iowa cat and both Beijing dogs. The 10-year-old Oregon cat, one of
the Oregon ferrets, and one of the Nebraska ferrets died.

Dog dealers raided at jet speed

November 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2009:

PHILADELPHIA–Will air power trump horse-and-buggy in the
courts of law and public opinion?
Main Line Animal Rescue founder Bill Smith on October 7,
2009 bet that it will, relying on jet speed to gather evidence that
he hopes will finish the image of Pennsylvania puppy millers as
plain, simple people who are just out of step with modern times.
Amish dog breeders in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, and
upstate New York have come to dominate the dog breeding industry in
the northeastern U.S. during the past 20 years. The Amish reputation
for producing quality handcrafted furniture, growing pesticide-free
fruit and vegetables, and managing farms that look like those of a
century ago has helped the dog breeders–but traditional commercial
dog-breeding practices were unacceptable to the humane community even
120 years ago, and are much less so in light of vastly increased
knowledge about what dogs need to become happy, healthy,
well-behaved pets.

Struggle for humane euthanasia continues in U.S., Philippines

November 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2009:

An employee of the Lincoln County Animal Shelter in
Lincolnton, North Carolina escaped serious injury on October 20,
2009 when a newly installed gas chamber exploded. The man had just
killed several dogs. “Carbon monoxide was clearing out of the
machine when a fireball, propelled by pressure, blew open the door
of the gas chamber, burning the man and slamming the chamber door
into him,” reported Diane Turbyfill of the Gaston Gazette.
North Carolina Coalition for Humane Euthanasia secretary
Michele King, of Garner, North Carolina, forwarded to ANIMAL
PEOPLE a purchase order which she said “shows that the gas chamber
was formerly used in Reidsville, at Rockingham County Animal
Control,” where King said it “leaked repeatedly and was finally
removed. The same gas chamber company, Cutting Edge Fabrication in
Gastonia, sold another used gas chamber to Iredell County last
year,” King added. “That chamber also later exploded,” on July 22,
2008, with 10 dogs inside at the time.

Florida busts chase pens

November 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2009:

FORT WALTON BEACH–The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation
Commission in mid-November 2009 concluded ten months of both
undercover and aerial surveillance of unlicensed chase pens by
charging 12 people with buying and possessing live foxes and coyotes
without having permits, and issuing citations to 46 people who
brought dogs to pursue the foxes and coyotes.
There are six legal chase pens left in Florida, where dogs
may be released to harass and attack foxes and coyotes who cannot
escape from the pens, though they may have hiding places. The foxes
and coyotes must be vaccinated against rabies, and must come from
rabies-free states.

Wild Animal Orphanage leadership transition

October 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2009:

SAN ANTONIO–Nicole A. Garcia on October 4, 2009 succeeded
her mother, Carol Asvestas, as chief executive of Wild Animal
Orphanage, but it was not an easy succession.
Asvestas, who founded WAO in 1983, resisted stepping down.
Garcia, who grew up helping to run the sanctuary, but had lived in
Florida for several years, returned in late 2008 in anticipation of
helping Asvestas fend off critics, including a former board member
who had resigned and taken a list of allegations to the USDA and the
Texas Office of Attorney General.
Instead, Garcia told ANIMAL PEOPLE, she found that many of
the allegations she had heard were substantially true. After taking
the evidence to the board, Garcia found herself cleaning up after an
October 4, 2009 coup d’etat that displaced both of her parents.
“The board of directors did not oust Ron and Carol,” WAO
vice president Sumner Matthes told ANIMAL PEOPLE. “Our original
legal vote was to place them on 90-day administrative leave.
Unfortunately, this was not acceptable to them, and they
immediately proceeded to the WAO offices and removed computers,
records and various other things essential to our conducting an
in-house investigation. These items have essentially been returned
as a result of legal action,” Matthes said. “This resulted in the
board holding another meeting at which it was voted to terminate
them.”

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