Companion Animals
-
Beheading Chickens Is OK; Beheading Cats Is "Over the Top"
-
On Oreo, Mabel, and Killing Abused Animals
-
Could "Service Dog" Programs Be Good for Both Dogs and Veterans?
The Good, Bad, and Baffling: Cat Declawing in California and Elsewhere
Published November 04, 2009 @ 06:26AM PT
I've got good news -- at least if you're a domestic cat in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and some other California cities, that is. But there's no shortage of bad (and baffling) news too, on the very same front. First, the good: last night, San Francisco's proposed ban on declawing cats won 9 out of 11 votes from the city's supervisors; on Monday, the Public Safety Committee of the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to ask City Attorney Carmen Trutanich to draft an ordinance banning the practice; and in late October, the Santa Monica City Council passed a ban.
But the United States and Canada overall are still embarrasingly behind other countries in this area, and despite progress in California, a veterinary "welfare" organization in the state just managed to pass a law that will make it illegal for municipalities to pass any further such bans as of January 2010. The people behind the bans? Actual advocates for cats. The people behind the law to stop the bans? The California Veterinary Medical Association, a chip off the good ol' un-animal-friendly American Veterinary Medical Association block.
The Killing of the Misunderstood 3,500: Denver's Pit Bull Ban
Published October 29, 2009 @ 07:24AM PT
Denver's Westword published some really difficult-to-read material (and heartbreaking-to-see images) in the last month related to the city's pit bull ban. The reports were undoubtedly rough for any animal advocates who saw them, but I imagine that those involved in pit bull rescue and those who ourselves know and love a pit bull whom others have thought "unfixable" may have been hit even harder.
As many readers know, I live with a loving but traumatized rescued pit bull (an American Pit Bull Terrier to be exact), and her recovery from the abuse inflicted on her by humans has been slow. Two weeks ago, she hit a milestone in that recovery (more related to that coming in a post this weekend), but if we lived in Denver or any other city with breed-specific legislation, she never would have gotten that chance; Mabel would have been dead -- killed -- a long time ago. And knowing that perhaps intensifies my own personal anger, frustration, and heartbreak in response to these laws.
First, before we get to the heart of the issues, I'd like to give you the links to Westword's recent detailed coverage. Initially, this story appeared in the paper: "For two decades, pit bulls have been public enemy #1 in Denver. But maybe it's time for a recount." And these posts appeared concurrently and in the hours and days, respectively, to come: "Inside Denver's 'Pit Bull Row'" and "3,497 dead dogs and other numbers from Denver's pit bull ban," the former taking us inside the "row" and showing us the sweet, scared faces of the dogs awaiting death there. Then a couple weeks later came this jarring post, revealing to us the piles of dead dogs (before following this link, please note that the images are difficult to see): "Leaked: photos of pit bulls killed due to Denver ban."
Denver's pit bull ban has been in place for 20 years now, and for just as long, animal advocates have been fighting it. Pit bulls aren't the inherently vicious animals some people -- and laws -- make them out to be, and bans on pit bulls and the mass killing of these dogs defy logic. Consider this, from Westword's in-depth story:
Firearms killed over 30,000 people in the United States in 2006, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On average, dogs kill 23 people per year. Of those, six are killed by pit bulls. As a health hazard, pit bulls rate below bees, lightning and mooses in the number of deaths for which they're responsible.
Caring for Feral and Stray Cats in the Winter
Published October 27, 2009 @ 06:51AM PT
Winter is on its way in the Northern Hemisphere -- in some places, it has already descended. And the frigid season creates dangerous circumstances for feral and homeless cats and dogs (and other domesticated animals) just as it creates dangerous circumstances for homeless humans. We'll chat about dogs soon too, but first, let's talk feral cats:
Alley Cat Allies has just put out a press release offering "Winter Safety Tips for Feral And Stray Cats" that's well worth checking out if you have feral cats living near your home or workplace because although "most feral cats are skilled at finding their own food and place to sleep, providing specially-built shelters and dedicated feeding sites guarantee the cats a warm spot to escape the harsh winter weather and deter them from places they aren’t wanted."
Jay Leno and Chris Rock Think Dog Fighting Is Funny
Published October 26, 2009 @ 10:27AM PT
There are actually two other pit bull-related posts coming up on this blog this week, but I feel like this needs to be acknowledged on its own.
Doris of About.com just wrote about Chris Rock losing his chance to play the late Richard Pryor (who was an animal advocate) in an upcoming movie -- and simultaneously losing Pryor's wife's respect -- because of flippant remarks he made on The Jay Leno Show late last month about Vick and the dogs he tortured and killed. I didn't know about the incident until Doris's post today, but BAD RAP covered it on October 3, just days after the show aired. And Jay Leno was just as flippant and dismissive of the animals' suffering. The men were discussing how outrageous it is that so many people think Roman Polanski deserves a free pass on rape (and absolutely ridiculous it is) when Leno brought up Vick, to imply that his crime was minor in comparison and resulted in too much punishment:
Jay Leno: It's amazing to me -- you mistreat a dog, and you lose your career, and you go to jail for two years.
Chris Rock: Yeah, look at Michael Vick! What the hell did Michael Vick do, man? A dog? A pit bull ain't even a real dog.
So Leno thinks that the torture, maiming, traumatizing, and killing -- in often the most horrendous of ways -- of hundreds of innocent beings is mere "mistreatment" and that Vick's so-called punishment was over-the-top. And Rock thinks that what Vick did really wasn't that bad because pit bulls apparently aren't worthy of compassion. I was indifferent to Chris Rock already. I disliked Jay Leno already. Now I have good reason to dislike them both.
Read more from Doris and from BAD RAP.
Photo of Little Red, used by Vick's group as a puppy machine and bait dog, courtesy Best Friends Animal Society.
Man Charged for Strangling Rat
Published October 16, 2009 @ 06:49AM PT
Well, there's a headline I didn't expect to be writing anytime soon. Nevertheless, it's what a Florida newspaper reported yesterday: "Man Accused in Rat Strangling Charged with Animal Cruelty." In the midst of an oh-so-mature fight with his wife over the last cigarette, the 22-year-old went after the animal: he "grabbed a white rat from their aquarium, smashed its head against the tank and then strangled it to death." (Of course, the article calls the rat "it" and gives us no idea what the gender of the animal actually was.)
Adopting Senior and Special-Needs Animals, in Honor of Chance's 13th
Published October 01, 2009 @ 02:51PM PT
Today is Chance the corgi lab's 13th (observed) birthday. And it is good that she is not cognizant of this -- because she would otherwise be understandably miffed that she and I spent a couple hours of it at the vet's office, where she was subjected to much unpleasantness in the name of treatment as well as preventive testing. Nor would she be particularly thrilled that tomorrow is brush-and-bath day. But even though she doesn't know that today is anything special, and even though we don't know when she was really born, I'll still fix her a dinner with extra goodies tonight and give her an extra belly rub; the day means something to me because of how much she means to me and because I'm painfully aware that she's in her final year or years.
Information from Chance's first 8 years of life is vague and scarce. I know that she spent most of her first 6 to 7 years tied to a tree. I know that she wasn't taken to the vet often if ever. I know that many of the ear problems she has now are the result of years of ear infections gone untreated. And I know that after she somehow ended up in a central Illinois shelter after those first several years, she was adopted twice -- and returned twice -- before I came along; she was in those homes only briefly and each time was returned not because she'd done anything wrong, but essentially because she wasn't perfect, and her adopters -- well, let's just say they weren't perfect either.
"Treat Equal"
Published September 28, 2009 @ 12:27PM PT
I send thanks to animal advocate Susannah from Spain for sending along the following short video from the Stray Animals Foundation/BGD of Turkey (no links because I couldn't find any; anyone who has more information on these groups, please do share). I won't say more to introduce the ad because it speaks, simply but elegantly, for itself.
