From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2005:

WINTON, N.C.–The scheduled first court appearance of PETA
staffers Adria Joy Hinkle and Andrew Benjamin Cook on multiple
cruelty charges was on July 19, 2005 postponed until August 16.
Hinkle, 27, and Cook, 24, are charged with a combined 62
counts of felony cruelty to animals and 16 counts of illegal disposal
of animal remains.
Police sources have indicated that other persons associated
with PETA may be charged as result of ongoing investigation.
The court date was delayed, reported Darren Freeman of the
Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, because the prosecution was “waiting for
lab results on chemicals found in a van the two suspects were using
when they were arrested, and the results to determine the cause of
death of one of the animals.”
Ahoskie, North Carolina police detective Jeremy Roberts told Freeman
that the van was registered to PETA.
Roberts announced the next day that the tests had confirmed
that the chemicals were ketamine and pentobarbital. Ketamine is
commonly used to immobilize animals before surgical procedures or
lethal injection. Pentobarbital is the standard drug used for lethal
injection. Both drugs are regulated by the federal Drug Enforcement
Agency, and in North Carolina may only be purchased and used by a
licensed veterinarian.

Read more

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2005:

TRENTON–New Jersey SPCA spokesperson Matt Stanton has
indicated that the NJ/SPCA will appeal to the state Supreme Court an
April 14, 2005 ruling by the New Jersey Court of Appeals that
significantly erodes NJ/SPCA authority.
Although the NJ/SPCA was created by state law in 1868 as an
autonomous police force, able to pursue animal abuse cases without
county oversight, the justices held that it lost that autonomy under
the Criminal Justice Act of 1970, which consolidated all police
activities under the authority of the state attorney general and
county prosecutors.
“The ruling leaves the NJ/SPCA as the lead agency in
investigating animal abuse,” wrote Brian T. Murray of the Newark
Star-Ledger, “but it gives each county prosecutor the authority to
oversee and guide procedures and policies. “
As of May 2001, the New Jersey SPCA had 18 chartered
chapters, at least on paper, each with constabulary law enforcement
authority. A review of alleged abuses conducted by the New Jersey
State Commission of Investigation found, however, that “The SPCAs
at both the statewide and county level have been subverted to the
point where in many instances they are incapable of fulfilling their
primary statutory mission–the effective and reliable enforcement of
animal cruelty laws.

Read more

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2005:

Georgia Governor Sonny Purdue on May 10, 2005 signed into
law an income tax return checkoff to help fund the state Dog & Cat
Sterilization Program. The program has been supported entirely by
the sale of commemorative license plates and unsolicited donations.

The Illinois legislature on June 2, 2005 sent to Governor
Rod Blagojevich a revised state Public Health & Safety Animal
Population Control Act. The act, HB 315, expands the funding
sources of the Illinois Pet Population Control Fund from a
commemorative license plate program to include also an income tax
return checkoff, voluntary donations, public safety fines,
forfeited sterilization deposits, and a licensing differential for
intact animals. The act also updates fines and licensing procedures,
requires shelters to offer “adoptable” animals for placement,
expands the definition of dangerous dog and streamlines dangerous dog
law enforcement, exempts feral cat caretakers from the legal
definition of an animal “owner,” and requires shelters to report
intake and killing statistics annually to the state Department of
Agriculture. “HB 669 was also passed. It would provide some
funding to wildlife rehabbers,” said American SPCA senior director
of legal training & legislation Ledy Van Kavage, for whom drafting
and lobbying HB 315 to passage has been a multi-year focal project.

Read more