In front of families with children.

At Emma Long Park in Northwest Austin, this Memorial Day was one to be remembered for sure. Not for the shrieks of delight along the waters edge, but for the sound of gunshots on the picnic lawn.

Failing to actually kill the dog, they shot her 2 or 3 times and left her to suffer before finally ending her life. If you can’t kill a dog on the first (or 2nd!) try, do you really have any business discharging a firearm in a park filled with people?

But the force wasn’t quite deadly at first. Bystanders say the several bullets failed to kill the dog, who was left staggering and bleeding badly.

“There’s a crowd around screaming at him like I am to kill her, kill her,” exclaims Moreno.

And so they say the officer finally fired a fatal mercy shot. Contreras says his young children saw it all from just a few feet away, “They couldn’t stop crying. I said man, what’s wrong with you? Put the gun away.”

We wonder if this dog would have been shot had it not been for the “pit bull hysteria” that half the country seems to suffer from, despite the fact that more Golden Retrievers fail temperament tests than do pit bulls - per Nathan Winograd.

We bet that if the dog had been a breed that appeared less threatening, this would never have happened.

We hope the police will think before they shoot, next time. (Is this something that should need saying?)

Don’t shoot and kill family pets in parks. Don’t shoot and kill family pets period.

Our hearts go out to this family.

For the full story, click here.

ShareThis

From Mark Madows’ blog:

So it’s the 29th of April, and I show up for this hearing. I go into the hearing officer’s office and he’s got two of the Animal Control people there. Unfortunately, the guy had more testosterone in his veins than blood cells. He has a three-quarter-inch thick file of paper, and he’s shaking his head and wagging his finger and telling me that he sees these terrible, terrible things in that file. He starts going down the list: there are more than three animals, and they’re not healthy, and the conditions are not healthy for human beings, and he goes on and on with all these allegations. While he’s ranting, I’m thinking he’s got the wrong file. I mean, it seems like he’s talking about one of those cases you see on TV, where there’s 57 animals living in a small apartment, plus twenty dead ones, all paddling around in feces stacked three feet deep. He finally says, “What do you have to say about it?”

“Will you show me a photograph, or a paragraph in your report there, that alleges the animals are unhealthy, for example, or a danger to human beings?”

He slams the file closed and says, “This is not a joke, this is one of the worst cases I’ve ever seen.” And he won’t show me a specific word that anyone has alleged, and he doesn’t show me any photograph.

Now, I suppose that I could believe that if someone had been working at the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office for say, one day, that a person who had feral cats TNRed and fed and watered feral cats *might* be the “worst case they’d ever seen.” Or, I guess if you hate cats with a passion impossible to comprehend, someone trying to help them might be the “worst case you’ve ever seen.” But it is pretty hard for us to believe, even then. And it seems this particular hearing officer, Ben Lovato, has a rather storied past. Seems he used to be a detective with the LAPD. And even just having been a dectective with the LAPD, one would have to guess that he’d seen worse things than a man trying to help some cats (personally I wish the worst thing *I’d* ever seen was a man trying to help some cats.) But it seems Ben Lovato has been around a while, and has a rather storied past.

Then there is the unnamed Los Angeles animal control officer (again quoted from Mr. Madow’s blog):

She said something like, “Your animals are all healthy, and they have adequate clean food and water, so my only question is why you do this.” I agreed with her that it was a lot of work, and I certainly don’t get the food for free. She said, “Well, if you’re doing this much work for this many animals, you must not have much of a life.”

Why do we do it?

Because we love animals, because we want to help animals, because it is the right thing to do? What business is it of hers why we do it? As for not having much of a life, well, we can all do the things we are able to do to try to have the kind of life we want. At least, in the America I want to live in. And getting feral cats TNRed deserves kudos, not criticism. Again, in the America I want to live in.

ShareThis

Seems a gentleman in Los Angeles has been TNRing cats in his neighborhood. That’s a good thing to do, right?

Keeps feral cat population under control, keeps rodent population under control, etc.

No vacuum effect.

Not to mention it is the humane thing to do.

So, what happens?

The neighbors start complaining. And not just complaining, but throwing metal pipes at the cats, poisoning the cats, installing 9 video cameras to monitor the gentleman’s property, throwing cat feces at the gentleman’s girlfriend, etc.
The City Attorney’s solution to this? Stop feeding the cats.

A friend of mine called this gentleman last night and talked to him for over an hour. Apparently he is allowed to have a birdbath (because the neighbors are not complaining about the birds, I’m guessing) and the adult cats drink out of that. However, the kittens cannot reach it and one tried to drink out of his pool and drowned. Cats have been poisoned and killed off his property while searching for food.

This gentleman foolishly let representatives of the City of Los Angeles into his home. Apparently he has 6 litterboxes in his home. One litterbox had feces outside of it (cats have been known to miss). They took a picture of this one. He asked if they wanted to take a picture of the clean one. They said “Oh no, we won’t need that.” (Gee, I wonder why). People, don’t let anyone in your house without a warrant. This is a recipe for disaster.

See relevant articles on LA Animal Watch:

http://laanimalwatch.blogspot.com/2008/05/i-want-to-apologize.html

http://laanimalwatch.blogspot.com/2008/05/city-attorney-refuses-to-let-madow-give.html

(warning, graphic image)

And the gentleman in question’s blog on the cats:

http://earthblog.net/eb-articles/cat_tribunals01.html

ShareThis

Clearly this dog did not die, as some would have us believe, because there are “too many animals and not enough homes.” There was someone willing to take this dog and give her a home and hopefully love her forever. All we can ask is “why?” Was it easier to kill this dog? Did someone, God forbid, enjoy killing this dog? Why did this happen?

Even worse, it seems this is a not uncommon event at this “shelter.”

Taylor said 2,600 animals were adopted and 6,000 were euthanized at the shelter last year.

That doesn’t really give us enough information to determine the kill rate, since we don’t know what percentage of animals were returned to owners and fell into other categories, it does give us enough information to know it is abysmal.

Lisa Ordakowski, a volunteer with a Northern Virginia animal rescue group, said she went to the shelter on a Sunday about six weeks ago to evaluate canine rescue candidates. Two days later, she returned for a dog that was chosen for rescue. But she learned that the animal had been euthanized the previous day, Ordakowski said, even though the shelter had paperwork showing that the animal was slated to be rescued.

“The saddest part was the shelter wasn’t even completely full that day,” Ordakowski said.

So they’re killing animals for no reason. Got it.

For the entire article, click here.

Here’s the contact info…you know what to do!

Prince George’s County Animal Shelter
8311 Darcy Road
Forrestville, MD
301-499-8300

ShareThis

Seems an elderly (73 year old) couple in the UK is being harassed and bullied by animal rights activists in an attempt to get them to give up their animals. Perhaps this means that animal control, or the UK equivalent, isn’t able to steal animals there? I don’t know, I’m not versed in UK law, but anyone who has knowledge please feel free to leave a comment.)

This was a 10 year old charity.

Can’t anyone step in and help people instead of well, conducting witch hunts (sorry MC)? I’m guessing it wouldn’t sell as many papers….

Pet rescuers Stella and George Harris say they are victims of a witch hunt following a damning TV documentary.

After the sudden closure of their scandal-hit sanctuary in Staunton, near Coleford, the elderly couple say animal rights activists are using bullying tactics to get them to rehome their menagerie.

Banner-waving protesters spent last weekend camped in a lay-by on the A4136 near the Harris’ home.

Click here for more.

ShareThis

This is why, rescuers, you don’t allow adopters into your homes anymore. You can’t. It isn’t safe. Should it be safe? Well, we think so. But right here, right now, it isn’t. Set up meetups at local pet stores, or deliver the animals to the adopters. But don’t, for any reason, let them into your house.

Officers from the Prince William County Police Department’s Animal Control Bureau were at a dog rescue for the better part of Monday after receiving a complaint of animal cruelty that provided police with new information into an ongoing investigation.

Click here for more.

When does it stop? When we make it stop. Which I fear will be no time soon.

ShareThis

In February, the mayor of Alice, Texas, agreed to take care of the neighbor’s dog in their absence. Upon their return she lied to them and told them the dog was dead and she had buried it, all the while hiding the dog outside of town at her sister’s ranch.

For the full story, click here.

The hearing was held April 25, and the stolen dog was ordered returned to his owners. Unfortunately, the dog’s family was not awarded court costs as they had asked.

The sisters are facing criminal charges and could face as much as 10 years in jail.

Now really. As mayor, this woman could have helped many animals. She won’t be helping any in jail. Why on earth would she steal a dog? We just don’t get it.

ShareThis

It seems that the Daniels family jointly owned 6 pit bulls and a terrier.

3 of the dogs were puppies.

When Mr. Daniels arrived home from work, he expected to be greeted by his dogs as usual; however, he found that two of them had been shot at his home and the rest (including the terrier) had been impounded and killed at the city animal control facility.

The four dogs, including the terrier, were then deemed vicious by the animal control officer and a threat to public safety so were destroyed, according to Aaron Palmer acting director of animal control and human resource director for the city.
While there have been no reports of the dogs biting anyone during the incident, Palmer said he cannot comment on specifics of the case.
“Our dogs were the sweetest animals and would never hurt anyone,” cried Sherry.

We think the animal control officer is likely a threat to public safety. Does that mean we get to kill him? Likely not, and neither should he (or she) be able to kill someone else’s dogs.

Especially not when they knocked the fence down and removed the dogs:

Leah Roach, a neighbor of the Daniels, said she saw the police and animal control knock on the Daniels’ front door then break down the family’s fence and enter the back yard to extricate the dogs.
“If they didn’t know they were their dogs, then why did they knock on their door?” questioned Roach.

Ok, so if you live in Adelanto, apparently while you are off trying to earn a living, the police and/or animal control can come destroy your fence, steal your dogs, and kill them.

For the full story, click here.

The City of Adelanto’s motto would appear to be “Progress Through Unity.”

Perhaps they should change that to “Progress Through Killing Animals.”

And aren’t these the same people who had the head of animal control placed on administrative leave for being charged with killing, maiming and abusing kittens last month?  Why yes, we believe they are.  Maybe it is an educational program there..you start with killing kittens, then “graduate” to puppies….then…what?

ShareThis

Animal cruelty case sparks increase in pitt (sic) bull rescue efforts

Apparently a pit bull was found walking down the road in Travis County with his head and mouth duct taped closed and shot in the shoulder.

Amazingly, while Austin police and animal control officers seem to have unlimited time and resources to persecute animal rescuers and steal their animals under color of law, no one is even going to investigate this.

We tried to determine whether this dog’s story is being nvestigated. Because there is no owner associated no one has been charged and it does not appear that any agency is looking in to it.

Does this seem wrong to anyone except us? Anyone? Bueller?

ShareThis

Now, it bothers us that this theft would have the support of the Hawaiian Humane Society, but as we have lately learned, “Humane Soceities” aren’t always “humane” - to animals *or* people.

At first glance, being a pet owned by the homeless would seem to be a dire condition, but it is our understanding that this can be close to an ideal life for a dog.   He’s outside all the time and around his “pack” (owners) close to 24/7.   What dogs think is good isn’t always what humans think is good.

“The dogs are our protection against thieves,” said Annie Pau, who locked herself and her two dogs, Baboo and Hey You, in her car and refused to leave when police attempted to confiscate the animals the same day they ticketed Gomes.

Pau’s husband, John, stood near the couple’s tent and watched the encounter.

“The officer said, ‘Either I take your dogs or I’m going to take your husband.’ And I said, ‘Then take my husband. I hope you’ve got a cage big enough for him.’ ”

Cooler heads prevailed and police left without the dogs or John Pau.

Now this woman, we like - “you can take my husband, I hope you’ve got a cage big enough for him.”   Hee!

Don’t homeless people have enough issues without having their property stolen by the police?

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080323/NEWS01/803230347/1001 

ShareThis