Have you heard about California’s SB 250 – The Pet Responsibility Act?

Consider this: According to the 2009 ca shelter report, in the 61 days since January 1: 84,801 pets have been killed in CA shelters, and  $42,349,973 in taxes spent to house & kill them.

Each year, over $250 million dollars is spent housing and euthanizing homeless dogs and cats in California. Approximately 1 million dogs and cats enter California’s shelters each year, and over half of them are euthanized.

This enormous number of homeless pets means that every dog born in the state of California today has nearly a 1 in 4 chance of ultimately becoming homeless and dying in a shelter.

SB 250 provides a reasonable, fiscally responsible step towards reducing pet overpopulation in California. The bill simply requires that dogs be spayed or neutered unless their owner/guardian obtains an unaltered dog license when they license their animal.

In Defense of Animal’s Dr. Elliot Katz says Senator Dean Florez’s new spay/neuter bill is “wonderful news, a historic step to help end the terrible killing of so many animals. Hopefully this will pass quickly and be a model for the nation.”

According to SB 250 The Pet Responsibility Act:

• Licensed dogs may be left unaltered if the owner/ guardian chooses. Owners cited for violating local or state laws may have their license revoked or be required to spay or neuter.
• SB 250 saves the state millions of dollars by reducing homeless pets.
• License costs, fines and implementation details are at the discretion of local jurisdictions.

Similar spay and neuter legislation is currently being introduced across the country. In California, a diverse coalition of elected officials, law enforcement agencies, city and county agencies, humane societies and SPCAs, veterinarians and veterinary hospitals, national animal welfare organizations, California rescue organizations, and thousands of individuals and organizations support spay and neuter legislation like SB 250.

Learn more about SB 250 here.

Photo courtesy of PETA.

Michael Vick is going to be released from prison soon, and according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), recently released government evidence indicates he “enjoyed putting his own family pet dogs into the ring with fighting pit bulls.”

As such, PETA is urging the NFL to make Vick take a test for anti-social personality disorder (ASPD), or psychopathy.

The profile for ASPD includes lying (Vick lied both to the NFL and again during his lie-detector test), manipulating others, enjoying others’ suffering, and being aggressive and charming. In addition, people who have ASPD cannot be truly remorseful and are likely to repeat the anti-social behavior that pleases them.

PETA is asking the NFL to require that Vick pass a brain scan for ASPD and the accompanying psychological evaluation before they consider the possibility of allowing Vick back into the league, where he will be in a position to influence many fans, including countless children.

To ask the NFL to test Vick for ASPD, click here.

The recently-released film, Hotel For Dogs, features a young cast of up and coming actors/actresses, but the real stars are of the four-legged variety.

The film features Friday, a white Benji-esque Jack Russell Terrier; Lenny, a Bullmastiff; Georgia, a Boston Terrier; hairless Chinese Crested Romeo; Cooper the English Bulldog; Shep the Border Collie; Juliet the Poodle; Frick the Pug; and Henry the Doberman/Rottweiler.

Human stars of Hotel For Dogs include Kevin Dillon, Lisa Kudrow, Don Cheadle, Emma Roberts and Jake Austin. It’s rated PG and is geared toward kiddos (and dog lovers).

For more information or to find a showtime near you, click here.

A puppy, but not the puppy Calli rescued.

Last summer, 9-year-old Calli Vanderaa found seven-week-old puppies in the garbage dumpster behind her house. In November, she wrote a letter to her local newspaper, the Winnipeg Free Press, detailing her rescue efforts.

Here is the letter:

Dear Sir
My name is Calli Vanderaa.
I’m 9 years old and I live with my daddy.
One day we found a little puppy in the BFI bin in our lane. Somebody had put 3 puppies in there and set them on fire.
Two of the puppies died but daddy and I saved one that was sitting in the corner crying.
We took her home and named her Jessie. She is happy and growing bigger every day.

When readers saw Calli’s story in the December 13 edition of the paper, offers started pouring in. Because Calli and her single father live in an inner-city neighborhood fraught with social issues, and because he is working hard to make ends meet, people pledged to donate gifts, cash, gift certificates, dog food and toys, and even babysitting.  What’s more, Habitat for Humanity emailed to say they could potentially help Calli’s father purchase a house with affordable payments in a safer neighbourhood. One man even offered him a job with better pay and less commute miles. And three kind strangers donated a total of $140 to pay for Jessie to be spayed, since Calli and her father don’t have the funds to do so.

Greta, on the day we adopted her.

Over here, I often talk about my greyhound, Greta. And just last week, I shared a story on this blog about an amazing greyhound in the U.K.

If I had property and enough money and a husband who would let me, I would most likely have adopted a dozen greyhounds by now. Until I win the lottery, I’ll have to settle for the one.

But here’s yet another reason why I chose to adopt a greyhound. (WARNING: the images are horrible and sad.) 

I guess I’m hoping that maybe if I talk about it enough, one of you will adopt one, too!

The photos in the above link are part of a story about greyhounds in Guam that are experiencing horrific injures and/or extreme starvation and dehydration health issues caused by neglect and/or abandonment.

It all started when a large number of racing greyhounds were irresponsibly “given away” without discretion or review by the Guam Greyhound Racetrack owned by Guam Greyhound Inc., which closed recently. 
 
The greyhounds were handed out, after a broadcast public announcement, to any person showing up wanting one. There were many cases of  people taking as many dogs as they desired without any screening or clear application process to insure basic standard and reviewable care of the racing dogs. Pairs of male and female animals were distributed without being sterilized, suggesting a desire by many to breed the dogs for profit in a marketplace of inflated values. Promises of supporting breeding and bloodline documentation offered by the track appears not to have been provided. There has also be reports of local breeders wanting to cross the greyhounds with typical fighting breeds to produce and faster competitive animal.
 
Many of the adopters are now faced with being unable or refusing to take even the most basic of care for these animals. Local animal rescue groups like Guam Animals In Need (GAIN) shelter are being overrun with these Guam Greyhound Track dogs ,which are being turned in, rescued off the street, or confiscated from neglectful owners. A sharp increase in calls reporting greyhounds sited running loose in the streets faced with starvation and hydration, magnified by the hot weather of Guam, are being recorded daily. The vast majority of greyhounds recovered still have their collars which were provided by the track showing “Guam Greyhound Inc.” printed on them clearly indicating the origin of these animals. Local Veterinarians are treating scores of greyhounds with injuries or health issues directly related to exposure to an inappropriate natural environment which includes the high potential for attacks by other dogs on the more vulnerable greyhound.

Three near death greyhounds were discovered tied to a truck without food and water in the hot sun. These dogs were immediately confiscated from a local youth by an American European Greyhound Alliance representative who was recently sent by the non-profit international organization to evaluated and support efforts already in motion to recover the Give-A-Way dogs. Another greyhound was captured and turned in to GAIN by a local club owner. Many dogs are being returned to GAIN by owners that have discovered that the dogs not going to provide them with the attributed promised. 
 
The AEGA is requesting that the Guam Greyhound Inc. meet with them and local agencies to help appropriately place the dogs that remain under their care. There is an undetermined number of dogs still housed at the defunct track which will need to be processed into the adoption system. AEGA directors, with broad international support from other greyhound rescue organizations, is demanding full financial responsibility be taken immediately by track ownership to rectify the current situation, covering all the mounting medical cost connected to but not limited to, the recovery effort.

Jasmine and Roxy, the fox. Photo courtesy of Nuneaton Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary.

It seems that hardly a day goes by that I’m not explaining to someone about my greyhound, Greta, and how she came to be a part of my family. (Seriously, she gets attention everywhere we go!) She’s sweet, gentle and pretty lazy (most of the time). She’s also quite beautiful, if I do say so myself!

Greta stole my heart the first time I met her, but there’s one other greyhound that I’ve fallen for recently, albeit from afar.

Her name is Jasmine, and she lives on a wildlife sanctuary, where she was found and rescued from near starvation. These days, Jasmine does a little rescuing of her own–she’s a surrogate mother to all kinds of animals.

Currently, Jasmine, age 7, is caring for Bramble, an 11-week-old roe deer fawn found semi-conscious. Jasmine keeps Bramble warm and clean, and generally looks out for her.

This isn’t the first time Jasmine has exhibited motherly instincts. It seems she’s also cared for five fox cubs, four badger cubs, 15 chicks, eight guinea pigs, two stray puppies and 15 rabbits since she’s been living at the Nuneaton Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary for the past five years. She even lets birds perch on the bridge of her nose!