/ MAGAZINE
Creature Comforts
By REBECCA SKLOOT
January 4, 2009
Exerpted

ON HALLOWEEN NIGHT IN A SUBURB of Albany, a group of children dressed as vampires and witches ran past a middle-aged woman in plain clothes. She gripped a leather harness — like the kind used for Seeing Eye dogs — which was attached to a small, fuzzy black-and-white horse barely tall enough to reach the woman’s hip.

“Cool costume,” one of the kids said, nodding toward her.

But she wasn’t dressed up. The woman, Ann Edie, was simply blind and out for an evening walk with Panda, her guide miniature horse.

• • •

Edie isn’t the only blind person who uses a guide horse instead of a dog — there’s actually a Guide Horse Foundation that’s been around nearly a decade. The obvious question is, Why? In fact, Edie says, there are many reasons: miniature horses are mild-mannered, trainable and less threatening than large dogs. They’re naturally cautious and have exceptional vision, with eyes set far apart for nearly 360-degree range. Plus, they’re herd animals, so they instinctively synchronize their movements with others. But the biggest reason is age: miniature horses can live and work for more than 30 years. In that time, a blind person typically goes through five to seven guide dogs. That can be draining both emotionally and economically, because each one can cost up to $60,000 to breed, train and place in a home.

• • •

...the Americans With Disabilities Act (A.D.A.) requires that service animals be allowed wherever their owners want to go.

• • •

A few months ago, in a cafe in St. Louis, I met a man named Jim Eggers, who uses an assistance parrot, Sadie, to help control his psychotic tendencies.... “I have bipolar disorder with psychotic tendencies,” he told me.... “Homicidal feelings too.”

• • •

Sadie is one of the few things keeping Eggers from snapping. Sadie rides around town on Eggers’s back in a bright purple backpack specially designed to hold her cage. When he gets upset, she talks him down, saying: “It’s O.K., Jim. Calm down, Jim. You’re all right, Jim. I’m here, Jim.” She somehow senses when he is getting agitated before he even knows it’s happening.

• • •

There are two categories of animals that help people. “Therapy animals” (also known as “comfort animals”) have been used for decades in hospitals and homes for the elderly or disabled. Their job is essentially to be themselves — to let humans pet and play with them, which calms people, lowers their blood pressure and makes them feel better. There are also therapy horses, which people ride to help with balance and muscle building.

These animals are valuable, but they have no special legal rights because they aren’t considered service animals, the second category, which the A.D.A. defines as “any guide dog, signal dog or other animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including, but not limited to, guiding individuals with impaired vision, alerting individuals with impaired hearing to intruders or sounds, providing minimal protection or rescue work, pulling a wheelchair or fetching dropped items.”

Since the 1920s, when guide dogs first started working with blind World War I veterans, service animals have been trained to do everything from helping people balance on stairs to opening doors to calling 911. In the early ’80s, small capuchin monkeys started helping quadriplegics with basic day-to-day functions like eating and drinking, and there was no question about whetherú they counted as service animals. Things got more complicated in the ’90s, when “psychiatric service animals” started fetching pills and water, alerting owners to panic attacks and helping autistic children socialize.

The line between therapy animals and psychiatric service animals has always been blurry, because it usually comes down to varying definitions of the words “task” and “work” and whether something like actively soothing a person qualifies. That line got blurrier in 2003, when the Department of Transportation revised its internal policies regarding service animals on airplanes. It issued a statement saying that in recent years, “a wider variety of animals (e.g., cats, monkeys, etc.) have been individually trained to assist people with disabilities. Service animals also perform a much wider variety of functions than ever before.”

To keep up with these changes, the D.O.T.’s new guidelines said, “Animals that assist persons with disabilities by providing emotional support qualify as service animals.” They also said that any species could qualify and that these animals didn’t need special training, aside from basic obedience. The only thing required for a pet to fly with its owner instead of riding as cargo was documentation (like a letter from a doctor) saying the person needed emotional support from an animal.

• • •

To protect the disabled from intrusive questions about their medical histories, the A.D.A. makes it illegal to ask what disorder an animal helps with. You also can’t ask for proof that a person is disabled or a demonstration of an animal’s “tasks.” The only questions businesses can ask are “Is that a trained service animal?” and “What task is it trained to do?”

If the person answers yes to the first and claims that the animal is, say, trained to alert him or her to a specific condition (like a seizure), additional questioning could end in a lawsuit.

• • •

In June, in an effort to clarify the confusion surrounding service animals, the Department of Justice proposed new regulations to explicitly include psychiatric service and exclude comfort animals. This was part of a sweeping revision of the A.D.A.

• • •

"Many people try to make this issue black and white — this service animal is good; that one is bad — but that’s not possible, because disability extends through an enormous realm of human behavior and anatomy and human condition,” Lex Frieden, a professor of health-information science at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and a former director of the National Council on Disability, told me. In the end, according to him, the important thing to remember is this: “The public used to be put off by the very sight of a person with a disability. That state of mind delayed productivity and caused irreparable harm to many people for decades. We’ve now said, by law, that regardless of their disability, people must have equal opportunity, and we can’t discriminate. In order to seek the opportunities and benefits they have as citizens, if a person needs a cane, they should be able to use one. If they need a wheelchair, a dog, a miniature horse or any other device or animal, society has to accept that, because those things are, in fact, part of that person.”

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Photo Credits:
Edie and Panda: Jeff Riedel for The New York Times
Sadie and Eggers: Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images, for The New York Times

Webmaster's note:

Having broken a hip in a fall four years ago and needing hip replacement surgery a year later, I depend on my Mini Schnauzer, Rodin, to assist me in walking our other two Dogs, Frida and Sophie. As a sufferer of AADD and Bipolar disorder, Rodin also keeps me focused and alerts me to upcoming mood changes. Three years ago, during a suicidal episode, he saved my life.
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Two New Yorkers Arrested for Starving Their Dogs
Published: January 2, 2009

Following investigations by the ASPCA’s Humane Law Enforcement (HLE) department, two New York City women were arrested last month for crimes against their animal companions. Although the women are from different boroughs and their stories are unconnected, their alleged offenses are the same—both failed to adequately care for their pet dogs, putting the animals’ lives in jeopardy through neglect.

Back in October, an HLE agent discovered an emaciated and dirty male pit bull in the Manhattan home of Jennifer Vias, 26. The one-year-old dog was transported to the ASPCA’s Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital (BMAH), where he was renamed Lazarus and treated for starvation and neglect. On December 14, Vias was placed under arrest and charged with one count of misdemeanor animal cruelty. She faces up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine; meanwhile, Lazarus was released to the ASPCA and, just this week, began his new life with qualified, caring adopters.

On December 12, HLE agents arrested Staten Islander Zaquana Gordon for neglecting her three-year-old dog. When police officers from the 122nd Precinct executed an unrelated warrant on Gordon in early November, they encountered the woman’s extremely thin, lethargic pit bull and alerted the ASPCA. HLE agents retrieved the dog from the scene and brought him to BMAH. Like Lazarus, this dog, renamed Romeo, was treated for starvation and neglect.

Gordon, 22, was charged with one count of misdemeanor animal cruelty and two counts of criminal possession for drugs found on her person during the arrest. Romeo was released to the ASPCA and is currently available for adoption .

Owning a pet is a responsibility that should not be taken lightly. Neglect to meet a pet’s basic needs—including food, water, shelter and medical care—is a crime recognized by an ever-growing number of jurisdictions across the nation. If you know of an animal whose health is being compromised by neglect, please report it. In New York City, contact the ASPCA’s anonymous tip line at (877) THE-ASPCA.

Visit our Report Cruelty FAQ to learn how to report cruelty elsewhere.

Beloved Pets Everlasting?
By ERIC KONIGSBERG
January 1, 2009

Fairfax, Calif. -- THE most difficult thing about the cloned puppies is not telling them apart, but explaining why they don’t look exactly alike. This was the problem Lou Hawthorne faced on a recent afternoon hike with Mira and MissyToo, two dogs whose embryos were created from the preserved, recycled and repurposed nuclear DNA of the original Missy, a border collie-husky mix who died in 2002.

Photo: Heidi Schumann for The New York Times

To be sure, they have a very strong resemblance to each other and to Missy. It’s just that sometimes, as soon as people hear that the dogs are clones, the questions start coming:
“Why is one dog’s fur curlier?”
“Why aren’t the dogs the same size?”
“Why is one of them darker?”
“Why does this one have a floppy ear?”

Mr. Hawthorne, who is 48, is highly invested in the notion of likeness. With clones, after all, what good does similar do? It is Mr. Hawthorne’s biotech company, BioArts, which is based here in the Bay Area but has arrangements with a laboratory in South Korea, that performed the actual cloning.

He also has particular reason to be sensitive to questions that touch on the authenticity of the clones, given the history of his chief geneticist, Dr. Hwang Woo Suk of the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation in South Korea. Dr. Hwang is perhaps best known for fraudulently reporting in 2004 that a team he led had successfully cloned human embryos and stem cells. After the false claims were unearthed, he was fired by Seoul National University, where he did his research as a professor. But he is also widely acknowledged for having been involved in successfully cloning an Afghan hound in 2005.
“Dr. Hwang’s past is obviously controversial, but we feel that his lab and his record when it comes to dog cloning are the best in the field,” Mr. Hawthorne said. “He’s been very open with me about admitting his mistakes. Nobody says he lied about cloning animals.”

Elizabeth Wictum, associate director of the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory at the University of California, Davis, said that earlier this year, she and her staff had taken sets of DNA extracts from Mr. Hawthorne’s puppies and compared them with stored samples of Missy’s DNA, and concluded that the results were “consistent with clones.”

“The puppies had the same nuclear DNA as Missy, and different mitochondrial DNA, which is what you get from a cloned animal,” Ms. Wictum said. “If somebody were trying to, say, sneak in two samples from the same dog or an identical twin and claim that one was a clone’s, there would be no differentiation between the nuclear and mitochondrial DNA.”

Missy 1.0 — Mira and MissyToo’s “genetic donor,” as Mr. Hawthorne calls her when he’s speaking technically — was his mother’s dog. To date, he said, there are four Missy clones running around, all born between December 2007 and June 2008. Mira lives at Mr. Hawthorne’s house in Mill Valley and MissyToo between homes in Mill Valley and San Francisco, both owned by his mother’s boyfriend; clones No. 3 and 4 were given away to friends and now live in Phoenix and Boulder, respectively.

Photo: Heidi Schumann for The New York Times

"Marley & Me" top dog at busy Christmas box office
By Dean Goodman
Mon Dec 29, 2008

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - It may have been a bleak Christmas for U.S. retailers but Hollywood enjoyed a bumper holiday as new films, led by the dog tale "Marley & Me" and awards contender "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," drew throngs of moviegoers to theaters across North America.

"Marley & Me" sold an estimated $37 million worth of tickets during the traditional three-day weekend beginning on Friday, distributor 20th Century Fox said on Sunday. Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson star in the adaptation of a bestseller about a couple and their Labrador retriever.

The movie about "life, love and family" -- according to Fox senior vice president of domestic distribution Bert Livingston -- played strongly with audiences of all ages seeking feel-good entertainment.

As with the four other new releases, "Marley & Me" opened on Thursday and earned $14.7 million -- a new Christmas Day record.

 

Movie review: 'Marley & Me' a sweet tearjerker
Walter Addiego, Chronicle staff writer
Thursday, December 25, 2008

Marley & Me: Comedy. Starring Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston and Eric Dane. Directed by David Frankel. (PG. 123 minutes. At Bay Area theaters.)
This love letter to man's best friend will make dog fanciers roll over and do tricks. It's so warmhearted, you'll want to run out and hug the nearest big, sloppy mutt.

And while you're watching it, have your handkerchief ready. Though partly a comedy about the joys and stresses of modern family life, "Marley & Me" is also a tearjerker.

The "Me" of the title is John Grogan, in real life a Philadelphia Inquirer columnist who often wrote about his wife and kids and Marley, the family's boisterous Labrador. Readers loved Marley's misadventures, so the columnist wrote a best-selling book, "Marley & Me: Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog."

Click √ on image for full review

The UnDog and the NonCat
By TERI KARUSH ROGERS
Published: December 26, 2008

IN a city awash in creature comforts for those who can still afford them, a few remain unattainable at any price. Some New Yorkers who yearn for the comfort of creatures — specifically, cats and dogs — find themselves stymied by their apartment buildings’ restrictions on pets.

NO DOG POLICIES led Tonia Misvaer, left, to two small parrots, Swami and Odin; Dylan Edwards-Gaherty, center, and Pounce, a rabbit that joined the family because their building prohibited dogs; and Morgan Dontanville, right, with Ajax, a chinchilla.

But just as city dwellers are accustomed to settling when it comes to real estate, many aspiring cat and dog owners turn to other species to satisfy their yen for a cuddle, companionship or wish to convey childhood lessons in responsibility.
A partial list of things that slither, hop, glide, swim or scurry beyond the purview of co-op boards, landlords and occasionally, the law, includes chinchillas, parrots, bearded dragons, tortoises, pythons, fancy mice, monkeys and ferrets, along with a more pedestrian assortment of gerbils, guinea pigs and goldfish.

Click √ on image for full article

Photos from left: Michael Nagle , Suzanne DeChillo, Robert Caplan for The New York Times

Dogfighting Making a Comeback in Afghanistan
By KIRK SEMPLE
Published: December 27, 2008

KABUL, Afghanistan — In a dingy butcher’s shop reeking of slaughter, a half-dozen sheep’s carcasses dangled from hooks, and two men spoke of dogs.

Dogfighting tournaments in Kabul draw thousands of men and boys as spectators.

Ad Featuring Singer Proves Bonanza for the A.S.P.C.A.
By STEPHANIE STROM
Published: December 25, 2008

Marie Bedford first saw what has become known as “The Ad” in nonprofit circles about a year and a half ago. “I saw it a couple of times and found I just had to respond,” Ms. Bedford, an actress living in Brooklyn, said. “It’s so moving.”

The television advertisement, for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, features heartbreaking photographs of dogs and cats scrolling across the screen while Sarah McLachlan, the Canadian singer-songwriter, croons the haunting song “Angel” in the background.

That simple pitch has raised roughly $30 million for the organization since the advertisements started running in early 2007, making it the A.S.P.C.A.’s most successful fund-raising effort — and a landmark in nonprofit fund-raising, where such amounts are virtually unimaginable for a single commercial. (The organization’s annual budget is $50 million.)

Ms. McLachlan appears only momentarily to ask viewers to share her support for the A.S.P.C.A.
“Sarah made it possible to do in two minutes what took 30 minutes before,” said Jo Sullivan, the organization’s senior vice president for development and communications, referring to the long-form use of celebrities in the past. “She literally has changed the way we fund-raise.”

Like Ms. Bedford, many of the roughly 200,000 new donors attracted to the organization through the advertisement are “annuity” donors who have pledged an average of $21 a month to the A.S.P.C.A., which charges their credit card or receives the money via an automatic electronic transfer from their bank.
The advertisement came about by accident.

The A.S.P.C.A. had been working with a Canadian firm, Eagle-Com Inc., which helps charities raise money using television and that had helped the A.S.P.C.A. create spots featuring celebrities like Jason Alexander of “Seinfeld,” Kevin Nealon from “Saturday Night Live” and Jennifer Coolidge, who played the manicurist in “Legally Blonde.” Those advertisements typically ran in the early hours of the morning, which was all the organization could afford.

Eagle-Com was working on a project for a small animal shelter in Vancouver, British Columbia, that Ms. McLachlan supported and asked if she might be interested in doing similar work for the A.S.P.C.A.

“She asked for information about our mission and programs and just got really excited,” Ms. Sullivan said. “People keep asking us how we cultivated her — did we send flowers, chocolates — but it really was just a happy accident.”

Donations from the McLachlan commercial enabled the A.S.P.C.A to buy prime-time slots on national networks like CNN, which in turn has generated more income. This holiday season, the A.S.P.C.A. rolled out another advertisement featuring Ms. McLachlan singing “Silent Night,” and it will release another McLachlan advertisement in January.

“I don’t want people to hear $30 million and not understand that we’ve grown tremendously with that increase in income,” Ms. Sullivan said.

For instance, over the last decade, the A.S.P.C.A. has increased its grants to support other animal welfare organizations by 900 percent. “A big chunk of that has come in the last three years because of this ad,” Ms. Sullivan said.

CINDY ADAMS
Dec. 22, 2008

I am in London for the weekend because my friends James and Charlene Nederlander gave me a lift in their plane.

On the flight over, by the way, I told them that, when we returned, I was having a minister come to my home for a blessing of the animals. I wanted him to bless my Yorkies Jazzy and Juicy for the New Year. The Nederlanders also had a Yorkie so I asked: "Want to bring Cupcake?" Said Charlene: "No, Cupcake is in Palm Beach, where we are going when we get back."

Two seconds silence, then: "You think he could do it with a photo?"

Donna Karan to drop fur from her designs
22 December 2008

Thanks to the hard work of PETA's staff, members, and volunteers and after nearly a year of pressuring designer Donna Karan to drop fur from her designs--by protesting outside her boutiques, crashing her runway show, and exposing her cruel use of fur onlin--Donna Karan has announced that all her Fall 2009 lines will be fur-free and that she has "no plans" to use fur in the future.

Karan's turnaround came days after PETA launched its online campaign and after mega--fashion guru Tim Gunn sent Karan and designer Giorgio Armani a video that he narrated for PETA showing animals skinned alive for their fur and urged them to open their eyes to the violent and bloody fur industry.

While Donna Karan has followed in the footsteps of top designers--including Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, and Calvin Klein -- ARMANI { http://getactive.peta.org/ct/fdxCTNK164i8/ } still refuses to stop using fur. Armani claims that he "only" uses fur from rabbits who are butchered for meat.

Contact Armani to tell him that the cruelty depicted in this video on fur farms in both China and France show animals who are used for both fur and meat. Tell him that even if the meat of gentle rabbits killed for their fur is sold to be eaten, the rabbits endure the same suffering.

TOUGH TIMES PUT MORE PETS IN SHELTERS
December 22, 2008

More people are giving up their dogs and cats to animal shelters as the emotional bonds between people and pets get tested by hard economic times.

From the Malvern, Pa., man who turned his two dogs over in order to help pay for his mother's cancer treatments, to the New York woman who euthanized her cat rather than keeping it alive with expensive medications, economic anxieties make it difficult for some pet owners to justify spending $1,000 a year or more on pet food, veterinary services and other costs.

The population growth at animal shelters shows how the weak economy is also shrinking the pool of potential adopters. And it coincides with a drop-off in government funding and charitable donations. The effect has been cramped quarters for dogs and cats, a faster rate of shelters euthanizing animals and some shelters turning away people looking to surrender pets.

“No matter how little money and how few possesions you own,
having a Dog makes you rich." ~ LEWIS SABIN

2 Years Jail, No Pet for Lake Carmel Man Who Punched Puppy
Thursday, 18 December 2008

CARMEL, N.Y. (AP)  -- A man who admitted breaking a puppy's jaw has been sentenced to two years in prison and ordered never to keep any pets.

Putnam County Judge James Rooney imposed the sentence on 20-year-old Gerald Barrett of Lake Carmel after rejecting a more lenient plea bargain.

Barrett admitted in October that he punched his ex-girlfriend's 4-month-old pit bull, Cali, and then called the young woman from jail despite an order of protection. He pleaded guilty to animal cruelty and contempt.

Prosecutors had agreed to recommend six months in jail but Rooney said Dec. 4 that he found the pre-sentencing report disturbing. He told Barrett he could withdraw the plea, but he did not.

Wednesday's sentence includes a ban on keeping any animals other than farm animals.

Hero Dog Found in NJ, Chased Burglar from New City Home
Posted: Thursday, 18 December 2008

NEW CITY, N.Y. -- A 1-year-old pit bull mix has been found after she apparently chased an intruder from her family's New City home on Tuesday.

Kola - a sick 1-year-old black pit bull mix - was found in New Jersey, its owner Mitch Rosen said.

Yesterday a woman found Kola tied to a pole at a Costco and then took her to an animal shelter. Rosen later identified her and took her home.
   
Rosen said he and his wife entered their home around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday and noticed that a window was broken. They also noticed muddy footprints in the house and that Kola was gone.

It appears that the dog chased the intruder out of the house before anything was stolen from the New City home.

Rosen and his family rescued Kola earlier this year after she was seized from a dog-fighting ring in Yonkers.

TM & Copyright 2008 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO & EYE Logo TM & Copyright 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. TheAssociated Press contributed to this report.

BLOG
Joe Biden Buys One, Gets One Killed
Posted by Christine Doré
Dec. 12, 2008

I was extremely disappointed to read that Vice President-elect Joe Biden and his wife bought a dog from a breeder instead of adopting one from an animal shelter. Obviously he or his wife blanked on Ingrid's letter , which asked him to consider adopting and explained, "Every year, U.S. animal shelters are forced to euthanize millions of wonderful, deserving dogs and cats because of the lack of good homes."
Ugh. I'm sorely upset about this—not to mention worried that his supporters will now all run out and get purebred German shepherds. I mean, not only is it really out of touch with dog issues to buy a dog from a breeder—or plain cold-hearted—it's such a bad idea that one New Mexico county has just banned selling dogs from pet stores altogether . At least some Americans know what's up. So what's with our future vice president?

If it weren't bad enough that Biden chose to buy from a breeder, we are now trying to confirm the accuracy of a report that was sent to us alleging that he bought his dog from a known puppy mill operator ! An anti–puppy mill activist who claims to have firsthand knowledge of this particular breeder's operation writes, "When I was there, she had dogs living outside in [I]gloos and a large side building wrapped in blue plastic … the barking was deafening … her inspection report states approximately 100 breeding dogs … she sold more than 275 dogs in 2006 … it was a stupid move on Biden's part … a puppy mill, for sure." Wow, Biden—if this is true, you've left us speechless.

Well, we decided to remind Mr. Biden and his home state of Delaware that every time someone buys a dog from a breeder, a dog in an animal shelter is killed. We will be running the following PSA on every station we can in Delaware:

Mr. Biden may have let us down, but we're still pinning our hopes on President-elect Obama , who said, "[a] lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me."

POST A COMMENT >>> http://blog.peta.org/archives/2008/12/joe_biden_buys.php?c=weekly_enews

Awwww! Joe Biden gets a new puppy
The Vice President-elect's grandchildren will pick out a name
Dec. 14, 2008

POTTSTOWN, Pa. - You could say the incoming Democratic administration is already going to the dogs.
Vice President-elect Joe Biden has picked out a 3-month-old male German shepherd from a suburban Philadelphia kennel to bring with him to Washington.

Biden, riding deep with seven black Secret Service vehicles, rolled up to German Shepherd breeder Linda Brown’s home in Chester County, Penn. on Saturday and rolled out having chosen the nation's Second Dog.

President-elect Barack Obama's children will also be getting a dog when they move to Washington.

Jill Biden promised her hubby that if he and Obama won the election they too would buy a dog.

Biden's pup, from Jolindy's German shepherd kennel in Spring City, will be trained and housebroken over the next several weeks and delivered after the inauguration.
The owner of the kennel says Biden told her his grandchildren will get to pick a name.

Mark Tobin, who coordinates the K-9 division for police in Biden's home county of New Castle, Del., will do the training.

Apparently, Biden had Tobin scout out breeder Linda Brown beforehand. Brown said Tobin called her up, came to her house to check her out, and told her she had “beautiful dogs.” And, that’s pretty much how it all began.

Brown says the Vice President-elect will be relieved to find his new puppy isn't a political beast. The puppy he chose is "very even-tempered" she said, and will make a nice family dog.

ASPCA Arrests Bronx Man for Cruelty to St. Bernard Mix
December 12, 2008

On November 20, ASPCA Humane Law Enforcement agents arrested Bronx resident Cedric Flemming for neglecting his seven-year-old female dog, Precious. Flemming, 28, was charged with one count of misdemeanor animal cruelty, punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,000 fine.

Back in October, when responding to a complaint, ASPCA Special Agent John De La Torre first discovered the emaciated St. Bernard mix, about ten blocks north of Yankee Stadium. Agent De La Torre seized the dog and brought her to the ASPCA’s Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital, where she was treated for starvation and neglect. Under the care of our veterinarians, Precious’s gaunt 65-pound frame soon bulked up by 45 percent—after just one month at the ASPCA, she weighed in at a healthy 94 pounds. “When she first came in, Precious looked like a walking skeleton,” remembers Trish McMillan, ASPCA Senior Manager, Animal Behavior. “She’s now looking a million times better. You wouldn’t believe she’s the same dog!”

Ready to move on to a happier chapter of her life, this sweet girl is now available for adoption at the ASPCA’s 92nd Street Adoption Center. “Precious is a snuggly couch potato!” says McMillan. “She can be a bit shy at first, but she warms up to new people quickly—especially for cookies. Her ideal home would be a quiet one where she’ll be allowed on the furniture for frequent petting and belly rubs. This is an affectionate, low-maintenance dog who will lie around and cause no trouble.”

If you know of an animal whose health is being compromised by neglect, please report it. In New York City, contact the ASPCA's anonymous tip line at (877) THE-ASPCA. Visit our Report Cruelty FAQ to learn how to report cruelty elsewhere.

The upscale Beverly Center Mall in Los Angeles announced it will terminate the lease of the Hollywood pet store institution, Pet Love. 
Wed, December 10, 2008

Since last July, Best Friends staff and members like you have been at the Beverly Center educating potential customers that those cute puppies at Pet Love really come from cruel puppy mills.  

The goal of the Puppy-Store-Free-LA campaign is to convince stores to offer homeless pets for adoption rather than sell dogs from puppy mills. We’ve already seen two pets stores shut down, and now we have the biggest victory we could have hoped for. Pet Love, a store that sells to the Hollywood elite, is shutting its doors.

The iconic store has sold tens of thousands of unfixed dogs in the 15 years they have been in business, adding to the thousands of animals that clog area shelters and where many thousands die annually. But thanks to you, tireless efforts from countless volunteers, and the Best Friends Puppy Mill Campaign staff, the store will no longer be a part of the perpetual cycle of abuse.

This is only the beginning. The closing of such a giant in the pet store industry in LA, like Pet Love, is a huge victory, but we cannot stop now.

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News Alert
December 5, 2008

Thinking of Getting a Puppy This Holiday Season?
Watch This Video First √

It’s the picture-perfect scene: Sweet little Suzy, just turned three, toddles downstairs to find a new puppy with a big red bow. And with the latest charismatic canine movies— Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Marley & Me —hitting the big screen, purebred Chihuahuas and Labrador retrievers are bound to be on kids’ lists this holiday season.

Unfortunately, while the giver may have the best intentions, that cute little pooch most likely came from a substandard commercial breeding operation, commonly known as a puppy mill . And with the holiday season upon us, puppy scammers are on the prowl, hoping to lure shoppers with endearing photos and phony promises.

If you’re thinking of surprising the family with a new pet for the holidays, we’re all for it—if you do it the right way! To help you out, ASPCA President Ed Sayres and Officer Annemarie Lucas, ASPCA Humane Law Enforcement’s Supervisory Special Investigator, have prepared a special video message with tips for determining if a pet really is the best gift—and if so, where to find your furry bundle of joy. (Here’s a not-so-subtle hint: your local shelter or rescue group!)

P.S. Know someone who’s planning to give a pup as a present?
Please ask them to watch the video , too!

Fight Animal Cruelty √

PUPPY MILLS: What Is a Puppy Mill? • Laws Protecting Dogs & Consumers • Where We Stand • Puppy Mill Timeline • 10 Ways You Can Help Fight Puppy Mills • Puppy Mill Scams & Cons • Our Rescue Efforts • Puppy Mill Glossary

Dogfighting Subculture Is Taking Hold in Texas Texas Department of Public Safety
An investigation into dogfights in East Texas took 17 months, and led to the seizing of 187 pit bulls and 55 indictments.
By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
Published: December 6, 2008

HOUSTON — The two undercover agents were miles from any town, deep in the East Texas countryside, following a car carrying three dogfighting fanatics and a female pit bull known for ripping off the genitals of other dogs. A car trailed the officers with two burly armed guards, hired to protect the dog and a $40,000 wager.

When the owners of the opposing dog, a crew from Louisiana, got cold feet and took off, the men in the undercover agents’ party reacted with fury, offering to chase them down and kill them. The owner of the female pit bull, an American living in Mexico, was merciful. He decided to take the opposing dog and let the men live, the officers said.

Over 17 months, the agents from the Texas state police penetrated a murky and dangerous subculture in East Texas, a world where petty criminals, drug dealers and a few people with ordinary jobs shared a passion for watching pit bulls tear each other apart in a 12-foot-square pit.

Investigators found that dogfighting was on the rise in Texas and was much more widespread than they had expected. The ring broken up here had links to dogfighting organizations in other states and in Mexico, suggesting an extensive underground network of people devoted to the activity, investigators said.

Besides a cadre of older, well-established dogfighters, officials said, the sport has begun to attract a growing following among young people from hardscrabble neighborhoods in Texas, where gangs, drug dealing and hip-hop culture make up the backdrop.

The investigation here led to the indictments of 55 people and the seizing of 187 pit bulls, breaking up what officials described as one of the largest dogfighting rings in the country.

“It’s like the Saturday night poker game for hardened criminals,” said one of the undercover agents, Sgt. C. T. Manning, describing the tense atmosphere at the fights.

In between screaming obscenities at the animals locked in combat, Sergeant Manning said, the participants smoked marijuana, popped pills, made side deals about things like selling cocaine and fencing stolen property, and, always, talked about dogs.

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Making history!
by David Dickson
December 5, 2008

Okay, all you scholastic types. Picture this academic situation: You've crammed all semester long for the final exam. The big day arrives. But, right before the instructor tells you to pick up your pencil, you sit down on a chair full of thumbtacks while hundreds of fire ants come spilling out of your desk to nibble on your arms. Think it'd be easy to concentrate? Oscar the Vicktory dog didn't think so either. Thank goodness he had another chance!

Oscar has been going through the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) classes at Best Friends. These classes teach dogs good manners, which helps them find homes and stay there. For Oscar, though, the stakes were higher. He is one of the 22 dogs who came to Best Friends after being seized from the property of former NFL quarterback Michael Vick.

The courts had very specific requirements regarding these dogs, one of which dealt directly with Oscar's big day. Nine out of the 22, Oscar included, were required to pass their CGC tests with a perfect score before they could ever live in a foster home. One of Oscar's caregivers, Carissa Hendricks, was determined to help him succeed. She attended the classes every week and then worked with him on the behaviors as often as possible. Oscar's biggest issues were loose-leash walking, becoming too afraid at loud noises, and being confident around strangers.

Over the weeks, Carissa watched Oscar overcome his problem areas one by one. She felt sure he would pass his test with flying colors. Then he hit one little setback. Right before the big test, they plowed an area of land for the testing ground. In doing so, they unearthed a whole bunch of goatheads, nasty little weeds sharp enough to puncture car tires.

During his final practice, Oscar stepped on a bunch of those nasty little things. No fun! But that really wasn't the worst of it. When he had to sit and stay for that part of the routine, he sat unknowingly on a pile of red ants. Ouch! The poor guy, he was squirming and twisting in a hurry.

Safe to say, that wasn't exactly his shining moment. He took a week to heal up and regain his focus before the big day (which they held at a different location). But once the main test came, boy was he ready. And guess what? He passed! A perfect score! Oscar is the first of all the Vicktory dogs to pass his CGC exam and he couldn't be more proud.

This big loveable lug is officially now eligible to join a foster home once the right person comes along. Congrats, Oscar and Carissa! Glad that even the ants couldn't slow you down.

Photo by Molly Wald

California: Dogfighting Arrests
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 2, 2008

The police in Los Angeles said they made two arrests and rescued 17 dogs in the breakup of a dogfighting operation. They said the outfit was a major player in the illegal training and breeding of dogs for fighting. Of the 17 dogs, many were scarred and injured, and all were suffering from severe dermatitis.

Fox, Meet Your Enemy (But No Need to Worry)
November 28, 2008

In northern Maryland, Thanksgiving means it' time for the annualGreenspring Valley Hunt Club outing. It is described as a fox chase, not a fox hunt, but otherwise is in keeping with traditions going back for generations.

The day began with the blesing of the houndsthat drew more than 125 Dogs and more than 50 horses. Then te hunt -- er chase -- was on.

Photo: Mycah Albert for The New York Times

He is the show’s busiest-ever Best in Show titlist.

He was the first one to be celebrated as a champion by President Bush in the White House Rose Garden last May and still wears the red, white and blue collar that Laura Bush gave him.

He has thrown out — O.K., he fetched — the first pitch before major league games at Busch Stadium in St. Louis and Miller Park in Milwaukee.

His home state of Illinois declared a March day in his honor (and the lieutenant governor connected Uno to Abe Lincoln’s dog).

Shari Belafonte swept him off a table and walked him on the red carpet at a Hollywood fund-raiser. He has met the family of Charles M. Schulz, the “Peanuts” creator who sired Snoopy, Uno’s ink-on-paper beagle forebear.

About all he has not done since winning the Westminster at Madison Square Garden and retiring from competition is to sire any puppies.

PHOTO CREDITS
Top left - Lisa Rose/Associated Press:
Uno, the first beagle to win best in show at Westminster, with Snoopy at Knott’s Berry Farm in California in March.
Bottom right - Donna Ward/Getty Images: Uno “signing” autographs.

Click √ on Snoopy image for full story

Weird but True
Lukas I. Alpert
November 27, 2008

This guy picked the wrong species to mess with.

An Ohio K-9 cop chased dow and bit a suspectwanted on dogfighting charges. As the man ran, the police pooch grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him to the ground, where two-legged officers finished making the arrest.

November 26, 2008

Sometimes man's best friend is not so friendly.

An Oregon man was shot in the behindwhen his pet pooch jumped into his boat and accidentally triggered his 12-gauge shotgun.

Matthew Marcum said Drake is a good Dog and he's not angry over the pain in his butt.

Motive in Japanese Stabbings: A Dead Dog
By MARTIN FACKLER
Published: November 24, 2008

TOKYO — The Japanese police say the motive in last week’s stabbing deaths of a former health

On Monday, the police arrested a 46-year-old unemployed man, Takeshi Koizumi, after he turned himself in for the killings. He was carrying a blood-stained knife.

The police had been investigating whether the killings, which shocked this low-crime nation, were motivated by recent scandals involving tens of millions of lost pension records, which are administered by the ministry.

But Mr. Koizumi told police that he was angry at the ministry because, decades ago, animal control agents had put to sleep a stray dog that he had befriended as a child.

Takeshi Koizumi, seen on November 23 while in police custody.
Koizumi who admitted murdering a former top bureaucrat has
said he planned to attack as many as 10 people because of the
death of his dog, officials said Tuesday.

Ex-NFL player Vick allowed dogs to savage family pets: report

November 22, 2008

RICHMOND, Virginia — Jailed ex-National Football League star Michael Vick allowed his fighting dogs to savage family pets, a federal government agency has said in a report.

Vick drowned dogs that did not perform well in a five-gallon pail of water, according to a report released by US Department of Agriculture on Friday.

The 17-page report also said Vick and his three partners, Quanis Phillips, Purnell Peace and Tony Taylor, "thought it was funny" to watch their trained pitbulls kill family pets and other dogs.

"They drowned approximately three dogs by putting the dogs' heads in a five-gallon bucket of water."

Vick is back in the state of Virginia to answer state dogfighting charges, and is being held in protective custody at a Richmond, Virginia area jail until a hearing on Tuesday.

The former all-star quarterback with the Atlanta Falcons arrived on Thursday from Kansas, where he is serving a two-year sentence for a dogfighting conspiracy conviction.

Vick, who was once the highest paid player in the NFL, is scheduled to be released in July 2009.

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In Virginia facing state dogfighting charges, Vick's involvement revealed
By Kelly Naqi
November 22, 2008

Suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick placed family pet dogs into a ring and his trained pit bulls "caused major injuries" to the pets at Bad Newz Kennels, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report released on Friday.

The 17-page report, prepared by the USDA's inspector general-investigations division, provided some new details on Vick's participation in Bad Newz Kennels, the dogfighting operation financed by Vick and formed along with his friends Tony Taylor, Purnell Peace and Quanis Phillips.

Michael Vick is isolated at the Riverside Regional Jail in Virginia to avoid disruptions.

The report, dated Aug. 28, 2008, says "Vick, Peace and Phillips thought it was funny to watch the pit bull dogs belonging to Bad Newz Kennels injure or kill the other dogs." The report has names and phrases redacted in order to protect the anonymity of certain individuals who cooperated with investigators.The report also states in mid-April of 2007, Vick, Peace and Phillips hung approximately three dogs that did not perform well in a "rolling session," which indicates the readiness of a dog to fight. According to the report, the three men hung the dogs "by placing a nylon cord over a 2 X 4 that was nailed to two trees located next to the big shed. They also drowned approximately three dogs by putting the dogs' heads in a five gallon bucket of water."

Vick initially told authorities "while he assisted Phillips and Peace in the killing of the dogs, he did not actually kill the dogs" but "helped Phillips toss several dogs to the side," according to the report.

However, the report says Vick took back that statement when he failed a polygraph test. "Vick failed the examination as it related to the killing of the dogs in April 2007. Ultimately, Vick recanted his previous statement wherein he said he was not actually involved in the killing of six to eight dogs. ... Vick admitted taking part in the actual hanging of the dogs." Vick, the report says, paid someone whose name was redacted $100 to dig two graves for the dog carcasses. "Based on past circumstances," the report says, "Phillips and Peace did not like [Vick] to do any type of work that could injure him and jeopardize his NFL contract." When the person who dug the graves refused to bury the animals, the report says, Vick, Peace and Phillips buried the dogs themselves.

Vick is serving a 23 month sentence in a minimum security federal prison camp in Leavenworth, Kan., on a conspiracy charge relating to the interstate dogfighting operation he helped run on a property he owned in Surry County, Virginia. Vick is scheduled to be released on July 20, 2009.

Vick is currently being held in protective custody at Riverside Regional Jail in Hopewell, Va., until his hearing on Tuesday in Surry County Circuit Court to plead guilty to two state charges related to dogfighting. The state charges -- one count of torturing and killing dogs and one count of promoting dogfighting -- each carry a maximum prison term of five years. But under the terms of his plea agreement, Vick is expected to receive a three-year suspended prison term and a $2,500 fine (which would be suspended if he pays court costs and maintains good behavior for four years).

By resolving the pending state charges, Vick would qualify to participate in the Federal Bureau of Prisons re-entry program, which could enable him to serve part of the remainder of his federal sentence in a halfway house.
According to the Bureau of Prisons, in 2007, for inmates who qualified, the average length of their time served at a halfway house was three months.

Vick, who was once the NFL's highest paid player, has been washing pots and pans for 12 cents an hour, according to Falcons owner Arthur Blank, who has said he's kept in touch with Vick through written correspondence. Blank said Vick also told him he's passing the time and staying in shape by playing quarterback for both sides during prison football games. Vick, 28, is still under contract with the Falcons.

National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Vick indefinitely without pay on Aug. 24, 2007, and has said he will review the status of Vick's suspension following the conclusion of Vick's legal proceedings.

Vick's lawyers, the NFL and the Falcons were not immediately available for comment.

Dog Drives Van into L.I. Coffee House
Thursday, 20 November 2008

ST. JAMES, N.Y. (AP)  -- A dog left inside a running van put the vehicle in drive, causing it to crash into a Long Island coffee house.
  
Suffolk County police say no one was injured in the incident, which damaged the glass window and some patio furniture at Cool Beanz coffee shop in St. James.
   
Police say a 60-year-old Port Jefferson resident left the van running while he went into the shop. His dog, Bentley, somehow knocked the controls and it rolled into the building, smashing some patio furniture and damaging the storefront window, police said.

No one was hurt.

It's not immediately clear if cops ticketed Bentley for driving without a license.

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Conn. Woman Will Go to Trial in Death of Starved Dog
Thursday, 20 November 2008

BRISTOL, Conn. (AP)  -- After being denied probation, a Plymouth woman accused of starving her 4-year-old dog to death is headed to trial.
   
Thirty-one-year-old Jessica Watson, who lives in the Terryville section of Plymouth, faces one count of animal cruelty after allegedly refusing food and water over a three-week span to the dog, Gizmo, a pit bull.
   
Watson was arrested on Feb. 17.
   
A Bristol Superior Court judge has denied her application for accelerated rehabilitation, which would have led to erasing the charge from her record.
   
Watson's former neighbors discovered the dog on Jan. 17 in the back of a garage bay attached to the apartment Watson was living in at the time.
   
Officials confirmed that the pit bull died of starvation.

Banker Pleads Guilty To Killing Landlord's Terrier
Thursday, 20 November 2008

NEW YORK (AP)  -- A banker who was accused of stomping and beating his landlord's Boston terrier to death pleaded guilty Wednesday to misdemeanor animal cruelty charges.
   
Tafik Habib, 40, pleaded guilty to ``overdriving, torturing and injuring'' an animal, a violation of the state's agricultural law. He admitted to the court he kicked the 15-pound, nearly 3-year-old dog and beat her with an umbrella.
   
The terrier, named Sasha, had a litter of 7-week-old puppies. Her owner, Elefterios Bonaros, wept profusely as Habib pleaded guilty to killing the dog on Jan.