tagged w/ Companion Animals
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No Protection for Pet Food: H.R. 875 Food Safety Modernization Act
This bill is appalling! The FDA is meant to protect the consumer! Not Big Corporations!
The Food Safety Modernization Act, currently being considered by Congress as the "answer to the many food safety concerns in the U.S.", blatantly gives pet food manufacturers 'carte blanche' opportunity to dump risky garbage into your pet’s food bowl without accountability. If this bill is approved, pet food can easily and legally get far worse than it is today.
Congress as the answer to the many food safety concerns in the U.S., blatantly gives pet food manufacturers carte blanche opportunity to dump risky garbage into your pet’s food bowl without accountability. If this bill is approved, pet food can easily and legally get far worse than it is today.
It is crystal clear the existing FDA needs an overhaul. Just as clear, the existing FDA has shown no genuine concern for the safety of pet food; the FDA has allowed pet food to be the dumping ground for useless waste of human food processing for many years despite Federal laws that should prohibit it. Over recent years, Congress has made a few half hearted attempts to improve the safety of pet food, especially after the deadly 2007 recall; seemingly just to quiet their pet owning constituents. However, the truth continues to clearly show Congress has no intentions to initiate responsible legislation demanding the safety of pet foods and the FDA has no intention of enforcing existing laws that would improve pet food safety.
To provide you with a little history, in November 2008, pet owners from across the U.S. wrote their Representatives in Congress politely demanding the FDA enforce existing Federal laws. The Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act laws clearly defines food to include pet food and clearly defines adulterated foods (thus prohibited by Federal law) to be foods containing sick, diseased, or euthanized animals; many of the most popular pet foods sold in the U.S. could contain ingredients, determined by the FDA, known to include sick, diseased, and/or euthanized animals.
The FDA website itself states that although some pet foods appear to be in violation of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, they WILL NOT ENFORCE THE LAWS WITH PET FOOD..
Every single member of Congress who received a letter from their pet loving constituent, ignored the point. Not one Representative addressed the FDA’s violation of Federal laws. Some spoke of ‘hope’ to improve the FDA with H.R. 875 Food Safety Modernization Act. http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/pages/We-are-Changing-Pet-Food.html
This unethical attempt to protect interests of BIG CORPORATION is outrageous, immoral and most importantly, at the cost of our companion animal's health.
CORPORATE & GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION AT IT'S FINEST!
It is apparent, with the multitude of food related sicknesses and deaths over the last 2 years, that the FDA and USDA needs a serious overhaul.
H.R. 875 Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 is no safety modernization for pet food.
H.R. 875 Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 is the same old story and worse; forgetting the concerns of our pets yet looking out for the interests of industries that earn billions in profits re-selling waste. If H.R. 875 is passed as it is currently written, it appears caring pet owners will be completely without resources to hold a pet food manufacturer accountable for their actions. This is not something to let others be concerned about and act on; every single caring pet lover needs to take immediate action.No Protection for Pet Food: H.R. 875 Food Safety Modernization Act
This bill is... more
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anyone who loves animals or creative photography will love these...
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A homepage dedicated to the (late) 6 month old puppy, Karley.
Story links, news updates, contact information and most importantly, petition links.
PLEASE DO NOT LET HER CRUEL DEATH GO UNPUNISHED.
Society must take responcibility... this horrible act against a helpless creature is a disgrace to what it means to be human.
There is NO excuse for animal cruelty.
If you witness or suspect animal abuse or animal cruelty, PLEASE speak up... your voice might be their only chance.A homepage dedicated to the (late) 6 month old puppy, Karley.
Story links, news... more
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Brave little 'Bobo', died several days later from the burns.
**--GOLDEN, Colo. -- A woman accused of tying up her dog and setting him on top of a stove had her arraignment continued today in Jefferson County.
Tanya Martin, 38, appeared in court Monday morning and her arraignment continued to Feb. 17 at 8 a.m.
Prosecutors say in October, Martin put her 6-year-old Yorkshire terrier on top of a telephone book on a lit stove burner.
When officers arrived, they found the terrier laying on his back on top of the burning telephone book, his legs tied down with speaker wire.
The terrier, named Bobo, suffered second- and third-degree burns to 50 percent of his body and died a few days later.
Martin has been charged with animal cruelty and arson.
Martin's uncle, Leo Cordova, says she suffers from mental illness.
*FOLLOW LINK FOR NEWS VIDEO & SLIDESHOWBrave little 'Bobo', died several days later from the burns.... more
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SEE VIDEO & PHOTO GALLERY
http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=9621110#
Two pieces of new legislation involves the sale of puppies and the other addresses animal cruelty.
Because of tough times one proposed bill may have a better chance of passing.
State lawmakers want to join 37 other states and make cockfighting a felony. A cockfighting ring was recently dismantled in Nashville.
"Cockfighting isn't just two birds pecking at each other, they actually put knives like this on their heels so when they're fighting, they're slashing each other to pieces," said John Goodwin of the Humane Society of the United States.
Making it a felony instead of a misdemeanor seems to make sense. But there's a chance money will override commonsense this year on Capitol Hill.
The state is facing $1 billion shortfall.
"There's an awful lot of need out there and we are not going to be able to pass many bills that have high fiscal notes on them, because we just don't have the revenue coming in this year," said state Rep. Janis Sontany, D-Nashville.
***please follow link to continue storySEE VIDEO & PHOTO GALLERY
http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=9621110#... more
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WOOHOO!
YEAH!
HURRAY FOR RATCHET & GWEN!
I am so happy to post this video of Ratchet at his (new) FOREVER home.
Thank you all so much for your help signing the petitions... it really does make a difference.
JULES
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'No place like (a new) home for Ratchet' - Senators and strangers worked for his cause: to get to Minnesota and be with Army Sgt. Gwen Beberg of Spring Lake Park, who befriended him in Iraq.
The most famous dog in the world -- for this week, at least -- arrived in Minneapolis on Wednesday. Ratchet, the rescued Iraqi puppy, blinked modestly in the glaring lights of TV cameras, gazed at a U.S. congressman and looked around at people wearing T-shirts bearing his puppy picture.
Then he lowered his jet-lagged body onto the linoleum of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and slept the sleep of the dog-tired.
Ear rubs and even a dog biscuit failed to wake him. For Ratchet, who for two weeks was the subject of a tug-of-war between a Minnesota soldier in Baghdad and a military that prohibits pets, it's a peaceful ending to a story that outraged people around the world, via the Internet.
Ratchet was a tiny pup when he was rescued from a burning trash heap by American soldiers in Baghdad on Mother's Day. Army Sgt. Gwen Beberg of Spring Lake Park adopted the dog, calling him a comfort during a stressful year-long stint in Iraq. On Oct. 1, in preparation for a transfer to the United States, Beberg tried to get the seven-month-old border collie mix out of Iraq and to her parents' home in Minnesota. An officer confiscated the dog as he was on the way to the airport.
Beberg told her parents she was devastated at the thought of leaving the puppy in a country where few dogs are kept as pets and wild dogs are often treated like vermin. She posted the story on Facebook.
Katie Konrath, a college friend from White Bear Lake who had been following Beberg's postings about the puppy, blogged about Ratchet's situation, posted it on the website Digg, and asked friends to read it, drawing attention as more people read the story. From there Ratchet's story went viral.
An Internet petition demanding clemency for the dog was signed by almost 69,000 people around the world. Minnesota's members of Congress pressed for the dog's release.
Last week the military relented. Ratchet was rescued by Operation Baghdad Pups, a group that tries to get dogs and cats adopted by American military personnel out of Iraq.
Konrath was at the airport, wearing a shirt with Ratchet's photo on it.
"I think it's a testament to how compassionate people are," she said. "If this can help other soldiers keep their pets and their humanity over there, it's worth it."
While Ratchet's story has fascinated dog lovers, some question the uproar over an animal when so many people need help. Rep. Keith Ellison, whose office helped speed Ratchet's release, said the story is about more than a dog.
"He's a human way for people to connect with Iraq and a young soldier who is in a war zone," Ellison said as he waited for Ratchet to be unloaded from the jet. "He was source of comfort for Gwen and the soldiers around her. It makes the world a little bit more livable."
Operation Baghdad Pups, a branch of SPCA International, spent $4,000 getting Ratchet out of Iraq, even with free transportation from Kuwait to Minneapolis from Northwest Airlines. Terri Crisp, the program director of Operation Baghdad Pups, who flew with Ratchet to Minnesota, returns to Iraq next week to rescue 21 dogs and cats in a mission that will cost about $35,000. The group relies on donations and is using Ratchet's journey in an effort to raise money. Mary Jane Smetanka • 612-673-7380
WOOHOO!
YEAH!
HURRAY FOR RATCHET & GWEN!
I am so happy to post this video of... more
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Latest News on Horse Slaughter: 'No Country for Horses'
With slaughterhouses closed in the U.S., Canada is now home to a growing horse slaughter industry. Undercover video exposes some disturbing methods.
WARNING: While the producers have tried to be sensitive about the footage used in this feature, please be advised that some people may find some of these images disturbing.
PLEASE NOTE: THERE ARE 6 DIFFERENT VIDEOS ON THIS WEBPAGE:
http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/special_feature/no_country_for_horses/no_country_for_horses.html
PLEASE SEE WHAT IS HAPPENING TO AMERICAS HORSES!
Latest News on Horse Slaughter: 'No Country for Horses'
With... more
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"Moogy" The Fort Lauderdale Pig Loses Home In Housing Crunch
FT. LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ― Moogy is about three years old and housetrained. His former owners foreclosed on their South Florida home and could no longer keep him.
Michelle Frier, adoption supervisor at the Wildlife Care Center, said "They were heartbroken - to have to give him up, and I think, he was heartbroken to be back here because he's back in the barn."
In October 2005, the same animal rescue center found him on the side of the road in Plantation, Florida, when he was six months old.
A month went by when a young couple, recently engaged, came in and adopted him, where he took on the role of an indoor pet. But along came the American housing crisis, and the couple's loss of their home meant the loss of their pig.
So the black Vietnamese Pot-Bellied Pig is up for adoption at The SPCA Wildlife Care Center in Fort Lauderdale for a small adoption of $50.
To contact the SPCA Wildlife Care Center in Fort Lauderdale, please visit: http://www.wildcare.org/
"Moogy" The Fort Lauderdale Pig Loses Home In Housing Crunch
FT.... more
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"We cannot evacuate because I was just told we cannot take our pets to FIU," she told cbs4.com, referring to the official Keys residents shelter on the campus of Florida International University in west Miami-Dade. "I will not go without my cat."
Her concern was echoed by Jan Goes of Grassy Key, who was told when she contacted Monroe County about Evacuation that her pet would not be accepted.
"What are we supposed to do? I will not leave my dog," she said. "This is why so many people died in Katrina; they would not leave their animals."
CBS4 consumer investigator Al Sunshine said concerns about that following Hurricane Katrina led to congressional action intended to ease the concerns of pet owners forced to evacuate.
"The feds passed a law requiring 'FEMA to ensure all state and local emergency plans address the needs of individuals with household pets and service animals.', Sunshine said.
Keys spokesperson Becky Herrin said the solution is not easy. In an e-mail to CBS4, she said the problem starts with the fact in a mandatory evacuation, there are no shelters actually in the Keys, which is why residents must travel to the mainland and FIU,
"The Red Cross has a policy which will not allow pets in shelters. They run that shelter for us," she wrote. "We've asked FIU, the facility owner, to give us space for pets separate from the shelter area. They have refused as well."
Herrin said the efforts to find a solution are ongoing, but, "We've been working on this issue for several years now and have not been able to resolve it."
Herrin pointed out that residents can always make their own arrangements to stay with relatives or friends, to board their pets on the mainland, or to find a pet-friendly motel in the South Florida area.
The problem may be getting there. Because not everyone in the Keys has the ability to travel to the mainland, the county offers shuttle bus service to the shelter on the mainland. But, as Setmayer found, that shuttle is also pet-unfriendly.
"We are not allowed to take them on the evacuation buses either in Monroe County even with all the shots and crated!"
But Sunday afternoon, Monroe County officials announced an abrupt solution to a problem they said they had been "working years to solve".
After CBS4 started asking questions about the lack of pet provisions, the county's Office of Emergency Management announced a major policy change.
The new policy removes a major roadblock for the evacuation of pet owners who are willing to give their pets into the care of county animal control officials.
"We cannot evacuate because I was just told we cannot take our pets to FIU,"... more
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Killing of Mayor's 2 Dogs Justified, Pr. George's Finds
Officers in Raid Threatened, Sheriff Says
The Prince George's County Sheriff's Office has concluded in an internal review that its deputies were justified when they shot and killed two dogs belonging to the mayor of Berwyn Heights during a July drug raid, Sheriff Michael Jackson said yesterday.
The sheriff said that one dog was engaging an officer and that the other was running toward a second officer at the time the black Labs were shot, but the ruling did not satisfy the mayor, who said the inquiry was incomplete and misleading.
Jackson released the results of the review in response to a scientific examination of the dogs' carcasses by a veterinarian with the Maryland Department of Agriculture at the request of Mayor Cheye Calvo. The necropsy concluded one dog was shot four times and the other twice, including once in the dog's back legs.
Calvo said the necropsy has bolstered his contention that neither dog was threatening law enforcement officers during the raid and that one dog was shot from behind as he fled into a back room.
A sheriff's department SWAT team and county police narcotics officers burst into the mayor's home July 29 after police intercepted a 32-pound package of marijuana addressed to Trinity Tomsic, Calvo's wife.
Police cleared Calvo and Tomsic of wrongdoing, saying they were victims of a drug smuggling scheme in which drug-filled packages addressed to unsuspecting recipients were intercepted by a FedEx deliveryman.
Calvo rejected Jackson's conclusions yesterday, saying sheriff's deputies have not interviewed him or his mother-in-law about their accounts of the incident. Both were home at the time of the raid. Their arms were bound behind their backs, and they were questioned about the package while the body of one dog lay nearby.
"The fact that they've done an internal review without contacting the victims of their raid, the people whose house they stormed through, shows they're not very interested in the actual facts," he said.
Read the rest of this story at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/04/AR2008090402746.htmlKilling of Mayor's 2 Dogs Justified, Pr. George's Finds
Officers in Raid... more
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The Humane Society of the United States is on full alert with emergency staff and equipment to help animals in the path of Tropical Storm Hanna bearing down on the Carolinas as early as tonight, with Hurricane Ike right behind.
And we're still in Louisiana caring for animals we helped evacuate before Hurricane Gustav hit.
VIDEO:
https://secure.hsus.org/01/disaster_relief_fund_2008?source=gabhc7
LINK:
http://www.hsus.org/hsus_field/hsus_disaster_center/disaster_relief_fund.html
The Disaster Relief Fund enables The Humane Society of the United States to rescue animals victimized by natural and man-made disasters. With your help, we can save animals who suffer—and keep them out of harm's way in the first place.
Rescue and provide temporary shelter to animals in need during hurricanes (including Hurricane Gustav), floods, wildfires and other natural disasters, in cooperation with local, state and federal officials.
SOME OF WHAT THE HSUS PROVIDES:
*Rescue and provide temporary shelter to animals suffering at the hands of puppy mill operators, animal fighters and animal hoarders, in cooperation with law enforcement agencies. These large-scale cruelty cases too frequently involve hundreds of animals in immediate need of rescue, and temporary shelter and care.
*Hire and train crisis response staff, and provide training for volunteer responders.
*Purchase and outfit the trucks, boats, other rescue vehicles, and temporary animal sheltering facilities needed to respond to natural disasters and large-scale animal cruelty cases.
*Educate the public about the importance of taking pets with them when evacuating.
*Assist state and local officials in disaster preparedness for pets, planning, response and coordination activities.
The Humane Society of the United States is on full alert with emergency staff and... more
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A dog who was left for dead is up and walking around now after being rescued by a Good Samaritan.
"Old Yeller" was found lying along side a road, presumably hit by a car and unable to even lift his head. Once at the Animal Defense League they realized he hadn't been hit by car, but instead has severe arthritis.
After two weeks of treatment, he's now moving around on his own.
"Little by little, he got up," said Emily King of the Animal Defense League. "He can walk out to the yard by himself, and he can walk into the run by himself."
The Animal Defense League says Old Yeller is already helping other dogs. He donated blood that saved another dog's life.
http://www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=ed9520ff-c2d8-47c5-b956-a95140bce8da
VIDEO:
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A dog who was left for dead is up and walking around now after being rescued by a Good... more
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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
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