Wednesday, February 27, 2013

PET FOOD STAMPS! what a wonderful thing for pet owners!

PET FOOD STAMPS.. let's hope that we see this initiative more widespread very soon.
Low-Income NY Residents Can Apply for Pet Food Stamp Program-
Read more at-  http://www.christianpost.com/news/low-income-ny-residents-can-apply-for-pet-food-stamp-program-90852/#p8GmAqV4tZbFjiyd.99 

PET FOOD STAMPS-
Link: https://petfoodstamps.org/ 

Animal 'Advocates’ Could Speak in Court for Cruelty Victims

Animal 'Advocates’ Could Speak in Court for Cruelty Victims Under Proposed Conn. Bill.

Opinions on this proposal have ranged from “It’s about time!” to “This could open the door for animals to bring lawsuits against their owners through advocates." What do you think? - See more at: http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/animal-rights/animal-advocates-could-speak-court-cruelty-victims-under-proposed-conn-bill#sthash.nQy7RGV0.dpuf

Monday, February 18, 2013

Death row dogs: Owners fight to keep pitbull-types alive..

Death row dogs: Owners fight to keep pitbull-types alive.
Hundreds of dog owners in London say the law on pitbull-type dogs is not being applied properly, meaning their pets are being taken away and killed.
The 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act outlaws pitbull-type breeds and last year, the Metropolitan Police seized nearly 800.
Some dog owners have said they did not realise their mongrel pup would grow into an illegal pitbull, as they are hard to identify as puppies.
The government said the law helped to protect the public.
Good behaviour and temperament do not stop seizures, instead officers decide if a dog has "too much pitbull" in it, using a set of physical measurements based on American fighting dogs.
'Heartache to families'
Battersea Cats and Dogs home says 92% of illegal dogs it is forced to hand to police for destruction would have made good pets.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-21485508

Millions of dogs, cats coddled, 200,000 gassed each year in pet-mad Japan..

Millions of dogs, cats coddled, 200,000 gassed each year in pet-mad Japan

82% of animals that end up at public shelters face 'distressing' death by carbon dioxide.

Outrage over Oklahoma teen's Facebook photo of dog shot by bow and arrow..

Outrage over Oklahoma teen's Facebook photo of dog shot by bow and arrow..

  • Teen's Facebook page goes viral over animal cruelty photo.
  • When a disturbing photo of a gray and white pit bull lying in the grass in the city of Tahlequah with an arrow through his side had been posted on teenager Caisen Green's Facebook page on Friday, thousands of irate viewers throughout the United States and abroad began to email and call authorities at the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office.
  • A new Facebook page entitled "Caisen Green of Cherokee County OK Shoots dog w/ arrow 02/15/2013" created on Saturday has already garnered nearly 1,000 "likes."
    A petition on Change.org is demanding Green be charged with animal cruelty.
  • http://www.examiner.com/article/outrage-over-oklahoma-teen-s-facebook-photo-of-dog-shot-by-bow-and-arrow
  • PHOTO: Reward fund up to $1,200 in Waterloo dog death..

    PHOTO: Reward fund up to $1,200 in Waterloo dog death.

    http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/photo-reward-fund-up-to-in-waterloo-dog-death/article_ada873d6-79c5-11e2-b953-0019bb2963f4.html

    WATERLOO, Iowa  --- A nonprofit organization is offering a reward for an arrest and conviction in an apparent animal cruelty incident in which a dog, starved and half covered with its own feces, was found dead in a pet carrier in the 2700 block of Independence Avenue over the weekend.
    An online campaign via Facebook and social media has raised the reward to $1,200, said Diann Helmers of Agape Fosters, a nonprofit pet rescue shelter based in Reinbeck. “It’s probably been ‘shared’ 1,000 times” on Facebook, and social media, Helmers said.
    City workers found the dog Saturday morning, Helmers said.
    “There’s been some leads come in, but nothing concrete,” Helmers said. “We just want to keep the story out there, keep it alive. Someone has to know. More than one person had to know this. You can’t keep a dog that large hidden. Someone had to hear it. Someone had to see it.”
    It’s obvious the dog was held for some time in the pet carrier and died there, Helmers said, given the amount of feces inside.
    Helmers said she is working with Waterloo animal control workers on the incident.
    Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Waterloo Animal Control at 291-4440 or e-mail Helmers at alterupet@aol.com

    Sunday, February 10, 2013

    TAKE ACTION against Italy's dog concentration camps!

    TAKE ACTION against Italy's dog concentration camps!

    Italy is a nation that abandons every year between 100,000 and 150,000 dogs. There are over 1,500,000 dogs roaming free in Italy and only 10% of them are chipped and sterilized.

    The south of Italy is most affected, especially Campania, Puglia and Sicily. In Apulia alone, about 100,000 dogs wander the streets and anyone can easily imagine what a "life" these animals are forced to lead.

    About 80% of them die within the first year after their abandonment or their birth due to accidents, poison, or simply by starvation and dehydration. The rest - as non-sterilized - reproduces and the sad cycle repeats itself year after year, and so we have always the same drama on the streets of Italy.

    The number of stray dogs has increased significantly in recent years. There where about 20,000 stray dogs in Puglia in 1991, today there are more than 100,000 of them, who know nothing else than gnawing hunger and daily struggle for survival.

    But despite what these poor animals have to endure, they have at least one thing: their FREEDOM!

    The South, as you can see, is the part of Italy more exposed to this problem. The South is also the area with the highest level of corruption and criminality. The Italians living in an area were the mob exerts influence are over 13 millions. The equivalent of 22% of the Nation.

    The mob is present in over 610 Italian districts. The Italian mobs: Cosa nostra (Sicily), Camorra (Campania), N’drangheta (Calabria) and the Sacra Corona Unita (Puglie) have a turnover of over 130 billion of euros. The gain of the N’drangheta in 2007, that was around 44 billion euro, equal to 2,9% of the National GDP. To understand the level of corruption it’s enough to analyse the denunciations for corruption you have in percentage this classification: Sicily 13,07%; Campania 11,46%; Puglie 9,44%; Lombardia 9,39%; Calabria 8,19%..

    Black economy, tax evasion, arms trade, drug trade, extortion, racket, violence, prostitution, sex slavery, constructions without planning, transformation of the cost in a mass of cement, zoomafia, arsonism, deforestation, the poisoning of the land and of the sea with ships full of toxic and radioactive waste and now the kennel concentration camps!

    The roots of the problem is that the Italians abandon puppies on the motorways. They abandon cats and dogs like used, squashed beer cans. This is the root of the problem. From this horror everything originates.

    But note: the abandonment creates fortunes. It makes people rich. And, therefore, we have the commercialization of the animal - alive or dead.

    THE BIG BUSINESS OF THE DOGS KENNEL HOLOCAUST

    Dogs undernourished, ill, abandoned, jailed for life in miserable cages, lifeless. This is the picture of the dog shelter. From time to time it is heard on TV that the Forestale (forest ranger) arrived there and got one. Ok, but why? Because behind the Italy's stray dogs there is a filthy business. Indeed very filthy.

    As usually happens with Italian stories, it all begins with the best intentions with a lot of hustle just to end up in a dark hole. With stray dogs for example, in 1991 it was decided to they wouldn't be killed anymore but taken to public shelters, in good shape and condition, spayed and neutered, waiting for foster homes or natural death.

    We ended up, 16 years later with approximately 500 private shelters that house 230 thousand dogs (data from the Health Ministry from 2007) which are subsidized through Municipalities or Asl (Regional Health Departments)

    Official data of the amount of business is around 500 million euros. A great deal of public money goes for stray dogs. And the worst must come.

    A sad paradox: the more a dog is undernourished the more money the owner of the shelter gets. That means the dog eats poorly or nothing. The faster a dog dies the better is: the shelter owner gets 50/75 euros (figure from 2007) for each dumped carcass. The faster a new post is free, a new dog immediately comes to occupy it, even if it ends up being a puppy born only for that purpose: the shelter owner will add up 30/45 euros more. There are some shelters where half the dogs die every year and they are immediately "replaced".

    The dog business is all about a fast turnover. The faster the turnover the more money they do.

    The current system whereby the kennels are subsidized per dog, is wide open for abuse. The Italian government (and the EU) is paying for these shelters, 'unaware' that most of them are being run by criminals!

    YES: The Italian government and the European Union are lining the pockets of criminals!

    For months already, our friends from the organisation Tierschutzprojekt Italien are sending weekly mails to ministries, regional presidents, tourism associations, local authorities and commissions asking for official statements concerning the situation of the dogs in Italian Canili and above all, they ask them to finally become active in this matter!

    But nothing happens!

    HOW TO HELP THE DOGS IN THE CANILI LAGER:

    ► Please SIGN the following 2 PETITIONS:

    1. https://www.change.org/de/Petitionen/regione-puglia-e-comuni-pugliesi-basta-vacanze-in-puglia-se-non-ci-sara-intervento-concreto-sui-canili-2#

    2. https://www.change.org/de/Petitionen/nichi-vendola-basta-vacanze-in-puglia-se-non-ci-sara-un-intervento-concreto-sui-canili#

    ► Please send a message to your MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) and ask them to speak out against these dog concentration camps. Please add the link to OfA's page (see next link) so that they can see the pictures, too.

    You can find the email address of your MEP easily in the following portal of the European parliament:http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/search.html;jsessionid=A21C9E491E4EB4E0DC60358AE8F998CA.node1

    For more information on Italy's canili lager, please go to: http://www.occupyforanimals.org/italy--the-mafia-involved-in-shelter-activities.html

    ► Please consider sharing this post with your friends and networks to help us get more supporters and to put even more pressure on the responsible bodies.

    Thank you!

    Picture via Julia from Million Actions for Animal Rights
    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=521969007826133&set=a.103076729715365.6548.100000391141280&type=1&theater



    Saturday, February 9, 2013

    ‘COMPASSION AWARDS’ SEEK ENTRIES



    ‘COMPASSION AWARDS’ SEEK ENTRIES..

    The San Diego Humane Society and Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will be recognizing kindness to animals through the shelter’s first Animal Compassion Awards. Entries will be accepted through Feb. 15.
    Applications can be submitted in three categories:
    • Human-Animal Bond — An animal that has had a major effect on a human life, or vice versa.
    • Humane Hero — An individual, business or group that goes the extra mile to bring awareness of the love animals give people.
    • Pet-Friendly Destination — A local business that supports an extraordinary pet-friendly environment.
    Award winners will be chosen based on their unique and compelling relationship with an animal companion or their service to animals in the community, as discussed in an essay of up to 500 words along with two to six digital images.
    For information on submitting an application, go to sdhumane.org or call (760) 757-4357 or (619) 299-7012.

    Monday, February 4, 2013

    Michigan man accused of burning dog alive in woodstove..

    http://www.examiner.com/article/michigan-man-accused-of-burning-dog-alive-woodstove


    Michigan man accused of burning dog alive in woodstove.

    On Sunday, the Midland Daily News published a story about a Midland County, Mich., man who is accused of a truly heinous crime.
    Reed Mathew Compton, 39, is facing felony charges of killing or torturing animals after he allegedly placed a still alive dog inside of a wood-burning stove.
    NEWS STORY LINK:
    http://www.ourmidland.com/police_and_courts/article_6db35f4b-1be3-5254-a527-a479cfb3e217.html

    PETITION:
    http://www.causes.com/actions/1729572-punish-reed-mathew-compton-accused-of-burning-pet-dog-to-death-in-wood-stove

    Protesters start online petition to halt kangaroo boxing match in Oxford

    Protesters start online petition to halt kangaroo boxing match in Oxford.

    Animal rights activists are taking jabs at a kangaroo boxing match planned for Oxford later this month.
    In an online petition filed on Change.org, protesters called for the boxing match between Rocky the Kangaroo and a human to be canceled at the Star Family Circus event on Feb. 13.
    The petition stated the Mississippi National Guard is sponsoring the event.

    http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20130204/NEWS/302040033/Protesters-start-online-petition-halt-kangaroo-boxing-match-Oxford

    Sunday, February 3, 2013

    Support for Herbie Stretches Worldwide


    Support for Herbie Stretches Worldwide..

    LORAIN, Ohio — Beaten. Neglected. Starved.
    That’s how all of us were first introduced to Herbie, a dog found barely alive on December 2.
    The pit-bull mix was spotted on the tree lawn of an abandoned home on West 11th Street in Lorain, by Patrolman Rick Broz. Herbie was excruciatingly underweight, blind in one eye and had a fractured skull.
    Thanks to the love and support of people all over the world, the pup who never gave up, has made unthinkable strides towards a more comfortable life, despite doctors’ recent discovery of inoperable cancer.
    Herbie’s story has helped to catapult a much-debated issue into the spotlight: the push for stricter animal cruelty laws in Ohio.