tagged w/ Abandoned Animals
-
KCBS News | Los Angeles...
.
Animals Found Clinging To Life After Being Used As Bait In Dog Fighting Circuit
February 28, 2012 11:51 PM
.
VAN NUYS, CALIFORNIA (CBS) —
There is a brutal trend in the illegal dog fighting circuit that sacrifices smaller animals as bait to excite the dogs before they go in the ring.
CBS2’s Mike Dinow reports on “bait animals” and how more of them are being abandoned, clinging to life, and are in need of a good home.
“The bait allows the fighting dog to taste blood and allows that dog to think it’s OK,” said Kyle Schwab, who’s been rescuing dogs for the past 20 years and bringing them to his facility, “Smash Face Rescue”, in Van Nuys.
Schwab said 1-year-old “Zeke”, who is a bait animal survivor, was recently found on the verge of death. Zeke had dozens of puncture wounds and lacerations throughout his body. His swelling was so severe it led to an infection that restricted his breathing.
“His wounds, they’re all defensive – he has no offensive wounds,” Schwab said.
Zeke is one of many animals found abandoned and badly injured after they’ve been used as bait.
Lori Brooks of Hand, Paws and Hearts Rescue said she opened her dog rescue facility in Lancaster because hundreds of bait and other animals are being abandoned in the desert every year.
“They just drive out open the door and drop them off,” Brooks said.
Experts at the Humane Society said mostly very docile dogs and cats are used as bait animals because they won’t put up a fight. Usually, the only animals to survive are other pitbulls because of their high tolerance for pain and their ability to withstand unbelievable damage.
“Sometimes, they’ll cut their face up to draw blood on their face,” said Sasha Abelson, an independent dog rescuer, of how handlers treat the bait animals.
“People will steal family pets, cats, puppies and throw them into the rings to excite the fighting dogs,” according to Abelson.
Dog experts said fighting rings are in concentrated areas throughout Los Angeles, mainly in Pacoima, Panorama City, Sylmar and Van Nuys.
Schwab said as long as the people involved in these fighting rings continue to make huge profits they will continue to conduct dog fights and use defenseless bait animals to train them.
Authorities said you can qualify for a $5,000 reward by anonymously reporting a dog fighting ring by calling (877) NO2-FITE (662-3483).
Many of these bait animals are rescued and need good homes.
To find out how you can adopt Zeke or another rescue dog e-mail smashfacerescue911@yahoo.com or handpawshearts.rescuegroups.org.
.
If you’d like to help donate towards Zeke’s surgeries go to http://leonardossurgery.chipin.com/zeke-white-bait-dog.
.
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=6793276
.
.KCBS News | Los Angeles...
.
Animals Found Clinging To Life After Being Used As... more
-
-
CNN...
.
Fukushima's animals abandoned and left to die
.
By Kyung Lah, CNN
updated 5:48 AM EST, Thu January 26, 2012
Click link to play video
.
Animals left to die in Fukushima zone
.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Nearly a year after the quake and tsunami, animal carcasses litter the region
Animal activists call the dead animals an outrage
Environmental agency says government has tried to rescue as many as possible
It points out the risk posed to people entering the contaminated area
.
.
.
Inside Fukushima Exclusion Zone, Japan (CNN) --
When you stand in the center of Japan's exclusion zone, there is absolute silence. The exclusion zone is the 20-kilometer (12-mile) radius around the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, an area of high radiation contamination.
On March 12, the day after the quake and tsunami hit, 78,000 people were evacuated out of this area, believing they would return within a few days. As such, thousands of people left with their dogs tied up in the backyard, cats in their houses and livestock penned in barns.
Nearly a year later, animal carcasses litter the region.
Cows and pigs starved to death, their bones still in pens. Dogs dropped dead with disease. A cat skull sits on a neighborhood road.
This is perhaps an inevitable outcome to a nuclear emergency, but animal rights activists call it an outrage.
"It's shameful," says Yasunori Hoso with United Kennel Club Japan. "We kept asking the government to rescue these animals from the beginning of the disaster. There must have been a way to rescue the people and the animals at the same time following the nuclear disaster at Fukushima."
Japan's environmental agency tells CNN the government's position has been to rescue as many livestock and animals possible. But it points out that because of the risk posed to people entering the contaminated area, the government has chosen to take a prudent attitude toward animal rescue.
Last December, the government allowed animal rights groups like UKC Japan to enter the exclusion zone and rescue any surviving animals. Hoso entered with his members, carrying cages and food.
On one of those days, Hoso's group approached a house. A six-week-old female puppy lay dead in the living room in a pool of blood. It appeared to have died from disease. From the back of the house, the UKC volunteers heard weak barking. The puppy's two brothers were still alive, hiding in another part of the house. They were traumatized and afraid of the rescuers, having never been around people before. The volunteers soon rounded up their mother.
Those dogs now reside at the UKC Japan shelter near Tokyo. 250 dogs and 100 cats, all from the exclusion zone, live in cramped cages at the shelter. UKC Japan, which survives on donations, says it has tracked down 80% of the owners.
But that hasn't meant the animals can reunite with owners. Shelters and temporary apartment housing have not allowed the owners to live with their pets, Hoso said.
Unfortunately, he added, the owners can't live with their animals because they are homeless themselves.
.
.
.CNN...
.
Fukushima's animals abandoned and left to die
.
By Kyung... more
-
-
Macau Daily Times...
Animal groups seek to ban greyhound exports to Macau
06/06/2011 09:39:00
Chinese animal welfare groups have urged the Australia Prime Minister Julia Gillard to ban the export of greyhounds for Macau racetracks. They accuse the Canidrome of destroying healthy dogs after they are found unable to compete, South China Morning Post reported yesterday.
Local animal welfare association Society for the Protection of Animals (ANIMA) is aware of the culling, but admitted there is little to halt the process without an official law on animal welfare protection.
The alliance of animal welfare groups from across China said in the petition to Gillard that healthy dogs are being destroyed in Macau at a rate of more than one a day. The greyhounds are imported to Macau at the age of two or three years old.
At the Canidrome they race four times a week. If they finish outside the top three in five races in a row, though still no more than five years old, they are allegedly given lethal injections.
According to Hong Kong’s daily investigation, last year, 383 dogs imported from Australia were culled at the Canidrome. In March alone 45 greyhounds were given the lethal injection.
Not only do track rules disallow the dogs to be taken on as pets, but it is also difficult to send them away to other countries because of anti-rabies quarantine restrictions.
Macau lacks legislation on transmittable diseases, thus other country authorities don’t consider MSAR laboratories as qualified. As a result, animals have to undergo quarantine in Hong Kong in order to travel out of Macau.
The director of ANIMA, Albano Martins, told the Macau Daily Times that preliminary discussions on this situation have been held between the association and the Civil and Municipal Affairs Bureau’s (IACM) animal shelter.
“The government-run animal shelter is concerned over the culling of healthy dogs after they are not able to race anymore. We are trying to find a way to send them to other countries to be adopted as pets, but that’s not an easy task, without a law on animal protection,” he said.
Macau SAR’s first animal rights protection bill was draft in 2008, but is still on hold. In the meantime, several provisions from legislations dating from the 19th-century are regulating animal welfare in Macau.
Martins said that currently Macau is also trying to cope with the plight of abandoned animals, and it would be very difficult to keep the greyhounds in the SAR.
Nevertheless, he suggested Macau make contact with other animal welfare groups in China to try to allow these race dogs a chance to have a second life.Macau Daily Times...
Animal groups seek to ban greyhound exports to Macau... more
-
-
Japan to launch massive search for quake bodies
By SHINO YUASA, AP
4 hours ago
TOKYO — Japan will send nearly 25,000 soldiers backed by boats and aircraft into its disaster zone Monday on an intensive land-and-sea mission to recover the bodies of those killed by last month's earthquake and tsunami, the military said.
Agriculture officials also plan to send a team of veterinarians into the evacuation zone around a stricken nuclear plant to check on hundreds of thousands of abandoned cows, pigs and chickens, many of which are believed to have died of starvation and neglect. The government is considering euthanizing some of the dying animals, officials said.
About 14,300 people have been confirmed dead so far in the catastrophic March 11 tsunami and earthquake. Another 12,000 remain missing and are presumed killed. Some of their bodies were likely swept out to sea, while others were buried under the mass of rubble.
Cleanup crews have discovered some remains as they gingerly removed rotting debris to clear the area for rebuilding.
But the two-day military search operation will be far more extensive, Defense Ministry spokesman Ippo Maeyama said Sunday.
"We will do our utmost to recover bodies for bereaved families," he said.
A total of 24,800 soldiers will scour the rubble, backed by 90 helicopters and planes, he said. Another 50 boats, along with 100 navy divers, will search the waters up to 20 kilometers off the coast, he said. Police, coast guard and U.S. troops will also take part.
"It's been very difficult and challenging to find bodies because the areas hit by tsunami are so widespread," he said. "Many bodies also have been swept away by the tsunami."
The operation will be the third intensive military search for bodies since the disaster last month. With the waters receding, Maeyama hopes the teams will have more success.
The search was complicated by the decomposition of some of the corpses, he said. Some had already turned into skeletons.
"You have to be very careful in touching the bodies because they quickly disintegrate. We cannot tell the bodies' gender anymore, let alone their age," he said.
The searches will continue, however, "as long as families want us to look for their loved ones," Maeyama said.
Meanwhile, the government in the Fukushima prefecture will send a team of six veterinarians into the 12-mile (20-kilometer) evacuation zone around the radiation-leaking Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant to survey the livestock there.
Farmers in the area were estimated to have left 3,000 cows, 130,000 pigs and 680,000 chickens behind when they hurriedly fled the area last month when the nuclear crisis started.
With no time for burials, veterinarians who find dead livestock will spray lime over them to prevent them from spreading disease, agricultural officials said.
The government is also considering euthanizing dying animals, but only after getting permission from their owners, said Yutaka Kashimura, an agricultural official in Fukushima.
"Killing animals is the very last resort," he said.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewriJapan to launch massive search for quake bodies
By SHINO YUASA, AP
4 hours ago... more
-
-
sue4e3
-
added this
-
1 year ago
- |
-
CNN...
Pet rescuers brave Fukushima danger zone
From Kyung Lah and Whitney Hurst, CNN
April 13, 2011 6:05 p.m. EDT
Photo: A dog wanders Tuesday about 4 miles from Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Many owners left pets behind when evacuations were ordered
"We tried to save him, but we couldn't get in," one says
Japan has no plans to retrieve animals from contaminated areas
Tokyo (CNN) -- The image was horrific: A whimpering beagle, ribs showing through its fur, tethered to a post inside the no-go zone around the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.
The scene was captured by freelance journalists who drove through towns within a few kilometers of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and who left food for the animal. But animal rescue activists who have braved the exclusion zone around the plant say there many others like it.
"I understand the nuclear danger and everything, but they're just being left to starve to death, basically," said Isabella Gallaon-Aoki of Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support.
Gallaon-Aoki and others like her have been slipping into the 20-km radius around Fukushima Daiichi to retrieve pets and feed livestock left behind when their owners were forced to evacuate. Pet owners have sent her group their addresses, accompanied by pleas to rescue their animals, left behind when they fled for what was supposed to be a short time.
A month later, the volunteers are putting their long-term health on the line, putting on protective gear and entering the 20-km radius around the plant that was declared off-limits in the early days of the crisis. Hiroko Ito's 5-year-old Shiba, Non, is among those rescued by Gallaon-Aoki's group. Ito said she left food for the dog, but didn't expect to be gone a month.
"We tried to save him, but we couldn't get in," Ito said.
Radiation levels recorded by photographers Shuji Ogawa and Naomi Toyoda were not high enough to cause immediate illness, but would pose potential health risks with prolonged exposure. Gallaon-Aoki said she knows the risks, "but I feel personally that the risk that there is is worth taking for what I can achieve by doing so."
From the prime minister's office to town halls, Japanese authorities told CNN they have no provisions for dealing with animals when their owners are ordered to clear out -- orders that have been expanded to other towns around the crippled power plant, which has been emitting radioactive particles since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that knocked out its coolant systems.
Gallaon-Aoki called that "unforgivable."
"I understand they have a huge problem as far as people are concerned. They are dealing with a lot," she said. "But, I mean, there are people and groups who would be willing to help, and surely they could kind of set some sort of well-coordinated effort."
The fate of the tethered beagle Ogawa and Toyoda captured on video was not known early Thursday.CNN...
Pet rescuers brave Fukushima danger zone
From Kyung Lah and Whitney... more
-
-
Bruce Friedrich
Posted: February 4, 2011 03:30 PM
U.S. Citizens Forced to Abandon Their Dogs in Egypt
Amid the political riots in Egypt, the U.S. State Department is evacuating U.S. nationals. But evacuees are being told that they are not allowed to take their animal companions on the plane. This leaves the terrified evacuees with an impossible choice: leave their beloved companions behind to face certain death, or risk their own lives by remaining in Egypt in order to stay with their animals.
Have we learned nothing from Hurricane Katrina? For Americans and compassionate people around the world, dogs and cats are members of the family. Animals aren't any better equipped to survive a disaster than humans are. Dogs and cats who are left behind in emergencies may be stranded in dangerous conditions for days or weeks without food or water -- or worse.
Many brave people chose to stay behind after Katrina rather than evacuate without their beloved animal family members, and many of these people perished as a result. The animals whose guardians left without them, however, were shot or suffered slow, lonely, and painful deaths from dehydration, starvation, injuries, or drowning. A few lucky animals were later rescued, but for many, help came too late. At one home, PETA's team of trained animal-emergency staffers found the rotting remains of a pit bull who had been left locked inside a cage on a kitchen table without any food or water.
Dogs and cats who are left behind by people fleeing Egypt face similar -- if not worse -- peril, and chances that they will ever be reunited with their guardians are slim to none. The people fleeing Egypt have already had their lives turned upside down. It's a low blow for their own country to put them through the heartache and stress of leaving their animal family members behind and wondering what will happen to them.
A State Department contact has confirmed to PETA that decisionmakers are discussing ways to create more animal-friendly standard operating procedures for future evacuations, but the people and animals who are caught in the turmoil in Egypt need help right now. With the stroke of a pen, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could put an end to the heartbreaking destruction of families today. Please urge the Department of State's Egyptian Task Force to allow evacuees from Egypt to take their animal companions with them.
Dogs and cats have no political affiliation, and they don't start riots. They don't deserve to be left behind to die in a crisis created by humans.Bruce Friedrich
Posted: February 4, 2011 03:30 PM
U.S. Citizens Forced to Abandon... more
-
-
It is certainly better than throwing them in an effin' river... I love puppies. What's really upsetting is to see the man just let them run around like unsupervised little kids, sad to see the little guys running around CONFUSED. I hope they find good homes and don't become little feral bastards...It is certainly better than throwing them in an effin' river... I love puppies.... more
-
-
-
Hundreds of Gulf-Area Pets Now Homeless
Added On July 15, 2010
Gulf families who can't afford to keep their pets are being forced to send them to shelters. CNN's Randi Kaye reports.Hundreds of Gulf-Area Pets Now Homeless
Added On July 15, 2010
Gulf families... more
-
-
Oil Spill: Gulf Pets Abandoned As Owners Can No Longer Afford To Care For Their Animals (VIDEO)
When people think of the animals affected by the oil spill, tragic images of crude-coated sea turtles and pelicans come to mind. The unseen animal victims of the oil spill are the hundreds of Gulf pets that are overflowing area animal shelters, as their owners -- left unemployed by the BP oil spill -- are forced to give them up, unable to afford caring for them.
CNN reports from Louisiana, showing the heartbreaking scene of countless puppies and kittens torn from their families, and facing euthanasia if homes are not found. The Louisiana SPCA is even forced to send animals to other states, as there just isn't enough room to house all of the orphaned pets.
While the SPCA recently set up a donation-based fund to support out-of-work fisherman with pet food and veterinary care , they still don't have enough money to help everyone. Ana Zorilla of the SPCA thinks that BP should pay to support pets that are being forced out of their homes as a consequence of the oil spill. For families already confronted with the loss of their livelihood and struggling to support themselves as a result, having to say goodbye to the family pet is just "one more blow on top of everything else," she says.Oil Spill: Gulf Pets Abandoned As Owners Can No Longer Afford To Care For Their... more
-
-
Added On June 24, 2010
A Miami dog owner says animal control knew her dog was locked in a foreclosed house but did nothing about it.
WSVN reports.Added On June 24, 2010
A Miami dog owner says animal control knew her dog was... more
-
-
This documentary explores the impact of illegal breeding and selling of exotic pets on not only the lives of the animals, but the lives of the people around them. We explore many causes of why these animals are abandoned and focus on Shirley Cannan owner and operator of Fallin' Pines Critter Rescue, a non-profit organization that takes in exotic animals which have been neglected or abandoned.This documentary explores the impact of illegal breeding and selling of exotic pets on... more
-
-
Do not support breeders. RESCUE a beautiful animal who will otherwise be euthanized. Your animal companion will thank you by giving you tons of love for the rest of your lives together.Do not support breeders. RESCUE a beautiful animal who will otherwise be euthanized.... more
-
-
We all hear so many sad stories of animal abuse—of pit bulls being forced to fight and kill one another; of pets left outside to suffer through the coldest and hottest of days; of dogs and cats left behind to die when their owners move; and of the millions of unwanted pets that are dumped at animal shelters, where they’re often euthanized (make that killed) before they can find new families.
Luckily, there are still many people who care enough about animals to go to extreme measures to save the life of an innocent creature. Here are five of those animal rescue stories.We all hear so many sad stories of animal abuse—of pit bulls being forced to... more
-
-
Wells Fargo foreclosed on a Rhode Island shelter for abandoned animals, barred former owner Dan MacKenzie from entering the property, and seems to be just letting the animals fend for themselves, the Providence Journal reports
"Tuesday, RISPCA president Dr. Ernest Finocchio confirmed some of MacKenzie’s fears, saying that the bank said it didn’t want the organization’s help. When he visited the site Tuesday, he said that at least some of the animals — eight horses and two 800-pound pigs — had not been given any water even though he had been told that they had.
The buckets next to each stall were still empty in mid-afternoon, and little pointers he had placed on the doors to show whether the stalls were opened were found to be undisturbed, he said. But the clearest sign that the horses had not been watered was when he took a five-gallon bucket and placed it in front of each horse.
Seven of the eight horses drank up the water with no hesitation, an indication to him that they had not been given any water in a long time. He and Joseph Warycha, RISPCA’s animal cruelty officer, gave each horse a bucket of water and some hay."Wells Fargo foreclosed on a Rhode Island shelter for abandoned animals, barred former... more
-
-
Take Action!
El Paso County Officials Plan to Use Cruel Traps to Capture Dogs
http://ga0.org/campaign/el_paso_dogs
Action campaigns on animal cruelty issues worldwide
http://www.KinshipCircle.org
Officials in El Paso County, Colorado, have allocated thousands of taxpayer dollars to fund a heartless arrangement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in a misguided effort to rid the community of homeless and roaming dogs. The county plans to have the USDA set leghold and snare traps—torturous devices that maim and kill animals—in various locations throughout the community.
Even with "padding," the steel jaws of leghold traps powerfully grip animals, and they don't always get animals by the legs. The traps often clamp down on sensitive parts of animals' bodies, such as their feet, heads, eyes, muzzles, and abdomens. So-called "padded" leghold traps offer nothing more than a thin strip of synthetic material between the steel jaws and the animals' limbs, and padding does not reduce the terror and pain that animals endure when the traps clamp down on them.
Talking Points:
Snare traps encircle animals' necks or bodies with wire. As a trapped animal struggles to escape, the loop tightens and slowly strangles the animal. The use of these medieval torture devices cannot be justified under any circumstances. No animal—wild or domestic—should be made to suffer and potentially die in these horrible traps when humane alternatives are widely used and commercially available. Animals can be easily and humanely captured with live traps.
Humane box traps, which are commonly used by animal care and control agencies to capture unsocialized and frightened animals, can be used to capture dogs who cannot be caught with a treat and a leash, an age old method that hasn't even been tried in this case. In addition, El Paso County has an existing contractual agreement with a local humane society that provides animal control services in other areas of the county, and the group's doors are always open to animals in need. But instead, El Paso County has contracted the USDA to torturously trap and cruelly kill homeless dogs.
Please sign! It is quick and easy!
Take Action!
El Paso County Officials Plan to Use Cruel Traps to Capture Dogs... more
-
-
SOUTH SALT LAKE - As more people lose their homes and jobs in a shaky economy, more pets are showing up at this suburban city's animal shelter.
Some are brought in by tearful owners who can't afford to keep them or who are moving to apartments that don't allow four-legged residents. Others are left at the door at night with a note asking that someone find the animal a good home. Some are simply abandoned in apartments by evicted tenants.
As a result, the South Salt Lake Animal Shelter is bursting at the seams and trying to adopt out its 62 cats and 22 dogs to make room for new arrivals. "There's a lot of animals coming in and a lot not being redeemed. We're thinking it's got to be the economy."
Dogs and cats have filled all the regular cages and overflowed to kennels in the lobby, the playroom and the garage. Some have been there a few days or weeks, while others have been awaiting new homes for months.
Generally, healthy, adoptable animals are not euthanized, said Hyden-Leek.
Autumn Wagner, of No More Homeless Pets in Utah, said her group has so many animals in foster care - including previously adopted pets that have been returned - that it has stopped going to shelters to pick up more. Volunteers already are taking care of more than 100 cats and 30 dogs, she said.
"We've gotten a lot of returns because people are moving, and they're moving to places that don't allow animals," Wagner said. "A lot of returns are people who are suffering economically."
Ladybug, a basset hound, was returned recently by a family that adopted her five years ago but was moving and couldn't afford to keep her, she said. Cats Wyatt and Coco are in the same bind, brought back by a woman who no longer had the ability to support them after six years of ownership.
And Wiggles, a tan pitbull that had been previously adopted, showed up at the door by himself earlier this month. The owner could not be traced, and the dog is available once again...
THIS IS HAPPENING ALL OVER THE USA! PLEASE VOLUNTEER YOUR TIME &/OR ANY OTHER RESOURCES THAT YOU CAN. THIS IS A PROBLEM WE CREATED & OUR ANIMAL COMPANIONS ARE PAYING THE ULTIMATE PRICE.
If you would like more information on how you can help, please visit: http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_10007591 (Article)
http://www.ssl.state.ut.us/animal/animal.html (Animal Shelter)
SOUTH SALT LAKE - As more people lose their homes and jobs in a shaky economy, more... more
-
