Bank is expected to help Oklahoma City achieve further dramatic drops in shelter killing OKLAHOMA CITY––Former New York City Animal Care & Control chief Julie Bank on January 16, 2015 assumed direction of the Oklahoma City Animal Shelter and Animal Welfare Division. Succeeding acting director John Gary, who had replaced 14-year executive director Catherine English, […]
Should animal shelters re-open night drop-off kennels?
Opened in mid-2013, the state-of-the-art Whatcom Humane Society shelter may be the newest in the U.S. to include a night drop-off facility BELLINGHAM, KENAI––How far apart are the Whatcom Humane Society, of Bellingham, Washington, and the Kenai Animal Shelter, of Kenai, Alaska? Both are just five or ten minutes from airports. Measured in flight time […]
$37 million verdict ups the ante for pit bull attacks
Police sergeant beat the dogs off the victim with his baton, then fatally shot one of them when he was attacked himself. DECATUR, Georgia––Five years of legal and political history resulting from a March 9, 2010 pit bull attack on then-eight-year-old Erin Ingram gained another chapter on January 12, 2015 when DeKalb County senior judge […]
773% rise in fatal & disfiguring pit bull attacks from 2007 to 2014
Totals of all fatal and disfiguring dog attacks since 1982, by breed, appear in the tables below. Absent late reports, such as the belated discovery of a 2014 dog attack victim in early 2015, the dog attack body count for the U.S. and Canada in 2014 is complete, with new record tolls in every category […]
Why California proposition 2, now in effect, is not protecting farmed animals
by Brad Miller Founder, Humane Farming Association California Proposition 2, passed by voters who hoped to protect farmed animals in November 2008, officially goes into non-effect this week. The Humane Society of the U.S. promised donors and the public that Proposition 2 would outlaw cages for laying hens and would result in a “cage-free” California. […]
SHARK names “10 Worst U.S. Animal Abusers of 2014”
Coca-Cola, the Catholic Church, the NRA and leading state and national political figures are among those listed by Showing Animals Respect & Kindness on the SHARK “10 Worst U.S. Animal Abusers of 2014” list. 10 Worst U.S. Animal Abusers of 2014, according to SHARK #1 – U.S. Sen. James Inhofe (OK). The Senator held a […]
SHARK puts “Pennsylvania humane organizations” on list of “10 worst animal abusers of 2014”
Why Steve Hindi listed humane societies as animal abusers PHILADELPHIA––Seven years into an ongoing campaign to stop pigeon shoots held at the Philadelphia Gun Club for at least 125 years, Showing Animals Respect & Kindness founder Steve Hindi put “Pennsylvania humane organizations” fourth on his list of the “10 Worst U.S. Animal Abusers of 2014.” The […]
Would-be duckling rescuer is sentenced for acts that killed two people
90 days in prison for not thinking before acting MONTREAL––Would-be duckling rescuer Emma Czornobaj, 26, of Châteauguay, Quebec, was on December 18, 2014 sentenced to serve 45 weekends (90 days) in prison, and do 240 hours of community service for causing the June 2010 deaths of motorcyclists Andre Roy, 50, and his daughter Jessie, 16. […]
The poop on deer, cats & Toxoplasma gondi
Cats wrongly blamed CLEVELAND, Ohio––Deer don’t eat cats, or cat poop, but that did not stop the American Bird Conservancy from alleging in a December 23, 2014 media release that feral cats are the “likely source” of the parasite Toxoplasma gondi, discovered in about 60% of the 444 deer and 65% of the 200 cats […]
Pit bulls, Ann Landers, & Dr. Laura
by Barbara Kay My first, and arguably most influential, journalistic role model was advice columnist Ann Landers. I discovered her in 1955, when I was a teenager. I liked her crisp, dryly humorous “voice” that radiated moral clarity and common sense in equal measure. Our culture changed dramatically over the years, but Ann remained faithful […]