Archived News April 08
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SOLUTION TO DOGS IN PARK
KINGS CROSS LONDON
April 30 , 2008

Bingfield Park and dogs - possible solution?
Despite Islington's concrete and tarmac there is often unused green space that goes to waste. Next to Bingfield Park, along Pembroke Street there is a 50metre long 15 metre wide green strip with about a dozen trees on it. There is a map at the link here showing the space. Something undefinable about local geography means that this Council owned 'amenity strip' is completely unused.
The area could be converted into a large dog exercise area with the addition of some simple fencing and a dog toilet sandpit. Then people could exercise their dogs there and Bingfield Park be made dog free, for the first time allowing children and people to use it without fear of dog poo or bad dog behaviour. Also it would bring more footfall to an end of Pembroke Street that has had a problem with car break ins over the years. The Council are investigating the feasibility and costings.

Animal rights campaigners say the trend towards buying pets on layby will swell the number being abandoned or consigned to pounds, where there is a high risk that they will have to be put down.
Pets World is one NSW chain offering animals on payment plans.
Under the terms of the agreement, customers pay a 40 per cent deposit and the remainder over six months. They cannot bring the pet back or obtain a refund if it runs away or dies - nor are they entitled to compensation if the animal falls ill outside the 30-day "health guarantee".
Derek Knox, a volunteer with the charity CatRescue, said: "This is the dumbest and most socially irresponsible thing we have ever seen. "If a person can't afford the full cost of the animal in the first place, how are they going to afford the food, the upkeep and the vets' fees?
"These animals are sold before they have been de-sexed, so there is also the risk that they will have kittens or puppies because the owner cannot afford to have them desexed, adding to the numbers that will end up being dumped."
Mr Knox said more than 60,000 healthy animals were killed every year in NSW pounds.
Karen Schlieper, supervisor of the RSPCA's Sydney animal shelter, said: "We are hugely concerned. A lot of pet store purchases are made on impulse and if people are offered this type of payment plan, there is a big risk that those who can't afford a pet will be enticed into buying one."
But Pets World director Jamie Buttigieg said: "The payment plan is interest-free and offers our customers an alternative from paying by credit card or cash or cheque. "We take our responsibilities extremely seriously," he said.

The dogs have been roaming free in the Cradle Mountain - Lake St Clair and Walls of Jerusalem national parks for more than two years, devouring native wildlife.
A range of eradication strategies was implemented including baiting and shooting and two dogs, believed to be the leaders of the pack, were killed.
The Parks and Reserves Manager for the Great Western Tiers/Mersey area, Chris Emms, says rangers have since noticed a difference.
"We certainly could see impacts of the dogs in terms of possum and wallaby kills but since then we haven't seen any of that activity in that particular area from our ranger staff visiting those sites," he said.
Mr Emms says people should remain on the lookout.
"We still encourage visitors to the parks to report any dog sightings or any evidence in what they believe may be dog attacks or footprints and we will continue to monitor and evaluate where they may be and look at some further strategies from there."

A BREEDER says she is heartbroken about having to tell two families that pups earmarked for them have been stolen.

Cathy Scotton says that in 28 years of breeding cairn terriers it is the first time a dognapper has poached any from her backyard kennels.
But there are no leads on the whereabouts of the missing dogs.
Mrs Scotton, who was at a dog show, said her husband had returned to their Ashburton home after playing golf to find the pups missing about 1.30pm on Saturday.
Mrs Scotton believed youths took eight-week-old pups Mia and Rosy, who were bound for good homes.
An elderly Korumburra couple were to receive one of the pups tomorrow, while another family had been on the waiting list for about a year.
The pups, which are a popular breed and valuable, were snatched only a day after two other dogs were taken from their pen and found outside the property.
"The sad thing is there was an 80-year-old couple who lost their 16-year-old terrier who one of the pups was going to," Mrs Scotton said.
"It's terrible not knowing where they've gone and they (the thieves) wouldn't know how to care for a cairn puppy."
"I've been here for 18 years and never had anything like this happen.
"It's very sad two nice families will miss out on puppies. They have been waiting for such a long time."
Mrs Scotton said she was considering boosting security.
The remaining five pups in the litter are fretting over the loss. Mrs Scotton, however, says she is still hopeful the pups will be safely found or handed in to police or a vet.
Posters have been distributed to try to track down the stolen pups.
The loss follows the theft of three rare white german shepherds taken from a Reservoir breeder a week ago.
The pups, about six weeks old, were stolen from their pen in a well-planned theft about 5am on Sunday, April 20.
Police believe the dognappers knew the layout of the back yard and how to get in and out without being filmed by a security camera. They had a getaway car waiting.
The shepherd pups are worth about $700 each, but can fetch up to $1500.

Greyfriars Bobby is Scotland's best known dog A memorial to Scotland's most famous dog, Greyfriars Bobby, has helped to highlight that the breed is in danger, event organisers have said.
Skye terriers and their owners took part in a commemorative walk in Scotland's capital on Sunday. Greyfriars Bobby spent 14 years guarding his master, John Gray's grave. A walk took place from Edinburgh Castle to the graveyard where the dog's master was buried 150 years ago. A wreath laying and blessing also took place. The event was organised by the Skye Terrier Club which wanted to highlight the point that the breed was in danger because of the falling number of puppies being born. The current number of puppy registrations is just a third of the number registered a decade ago.

Police are appealing for witnesses to a robbery which occurred during the early hours of Sunday 20 April in the Manningham Park area of Manningham in Bradford.
A 16 year old male was approached by 3 other teenage males who forced him to take his clothes off and hand over jewellery and a mobile phone.
They then assaulted the 16 year old leaving him with serious facial injuries. Two dogs were also believed to have been used in the attack. He was subsequently taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary.
The first of the suspects is described as being aged 16 years old, slim, around 5ft 9ins tall with short dark hair. The second is believed to be aged about 17 years old and again 5ft 9ins tall. The third suspect is described as being about 18 year old and wore an orange and black horizontally-striped jumper. He is also said to have had two Staffordshire Bull Terrier-type dogs on leads.
Detective Inspector Gerry O'Shea, of Bradford South CID, said it was a an unusual type of crime: "The stealing of the clothes is quite bizarre and using dogs in the crime is unusual in itself. "It is being actively investigated and we are looking at a number of enquiries, which includes checking CCTV in the park.
"We urge anyone with information to contact the investigating officer, PC Louise Matthews, of Bradford South Police, on 0845 6060606, or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111."
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ESSEX ENGLAND
April 26,2008

Three people are being treated for exposure to rabies after being bitten by an infected puppy that was brought into the UK from Sri Lanka.
UK is considered free from rabiesThe dog attacked the three victims at a quarantine centre in Chingford, Essex, where it had been taken after arriving in the country.
Dr Dilys Morgan, a rabies expert from the Health Protection Agency, said the animal died in quarantine yesterday, effectively containing any risk to public health. She said: "We understand that three individuals connected to the quarantine centre and rescue centre were bitten by the animal and all have received or will be receiving prompt protective treatment with appropriate vaccination."
People who tend to die of rabies abroad are those who haven't been able to seek medical help soon enough.
The last person to die of rabies in Britain was a bat handler who contracted the disease in Scotland in 2002.
Other animals that may have come into contact with the puppy are now being checked and a full investigation is now under way, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said. The dog, which died yesterday, had been held in licensed quarantine premises in the South East since April 18.
Acting chief veterinary officer Alick Simmons said: "While initial tests show that this puppy has tested positive for rabies, this shows that the system is working and the case has been picked up while the animal is in quarantine.
"This means it is contained and the UK's rabies-free status remains in place."
Tory MP Iain Duncan Smith said he had been informed the case had occured in his Chingford and Woodford Green constituency in Essex.

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Under the Animal Protection Act, which went into force on January 31 2008, there should be no stray dogs left by 2011. Any municipality that still has stray dogs after 2011 would risk a fine under the Animal Protection Act.
On April 24, the Sofia municipality adopted a programme which aims to eliminate stray dogs by 2011, Zagrada.bg reported.
According to Miroslav Naidenov of Ekoravnovesie, the goal of eliminating all stray dogs by 2011 was possible with the new municipal programme.
The current system of castration had halved the population of stray dogs from an estimated 20 000 in 2005 to less than 10 000 currently.
Sociological research showed that while in 2005 the problem of stray dogs ranked second for citizens of Bulgaria's capital, it had now moved to ninth place after waste-collection, infrastructure, traffic jams, public transport and other problems.
The new programme includes additional measures besides castration. Until 2011, each year at least one asylum would be opened. Currently Sofia has only one dog pound, with a capacity of 250 dogs.
Another measure was the introduction of a registration system for domestic dogs. One proposal was to introduce financial incentives for vets to report pets they had examined by sharing part of the taxes collected for domestic dogs with the vets.
A third measure was the introduction of registration chips for pets, which would make identification of animals easier.
The registration system would make it harder for pet-owners to leave animals in the street, something which currently happens frequently despite the possible fine of 150 to 300 leva, Zagrada.bg said. Collected taxes for pets would be used to fund the programme to eliminate stray dogs.

A PENSIONER and his pet dogs perished in an early morning fire yesterday.
Yunish Mohammed, 75, who lived only with his four dogs in a wooden house at Pariag Trace, Rio Claro, was burnt beyond recognition, fire officers said.
His canine companions, who were also in the house, became victims to the inferno, which started around 1.15 a.m. officials added.
Fire personnel have not yet established the cause of the blaze, but estimated damage to be $40,000. The house had no electricity, neighbours said. They believed Mohammed, who was found under the house, was on his bed and fell through the flooring of the house during the blaze.
Officials said foul play could not be ruled out until a postmortem is conducted.
Inspector Gabriel Joseph, Corporal Christopher Fuentes and Corporal Ramdhan of the Rio Claro Police Station are continuing investigations.

Jamie Pearson with Pippa, right, and Daisy who were involved in an incident under the Old Malton Cricket Club pavillion
A LAKELAND terrier has been hailed a heroine after rescuing a another dog by digging more than four feet underground when she became stuck in a rabbit burrow.
The drama happened at the Old Malton Cricket Club pavilion when journalist Jill Beachell was taking her family pet, Daisy, an 18-month-old Patterdale cross terrier for a morning walk and she made off to investigate the burrow. But despite Jill's desperate calls to Daisy, the dog failed to reappear.
Then, fellow dog walker Jamie Pearson arrived on the scene with his Lakeland cross Patterdale dog, Pippa, who came to their aid by digging her way down to Daisy. "I sent Pippa down the hole in the hope she would bring Daisy out, but it wasn't to be," said Jamie, an engineer of Hambleton Road, Norton. With both dogs now underground, Jamie raced home to get tools to aid the rescue attempt while in the meantime, Pippa continued to frantically dig her way down under a slab of concrete to reach Daisy. Nearly an hour later, the dogs were brought to the surface - dirty, but safe and well.
"Daisy was certainly very lucky to have survived and I am so grateful to Pippa and Jamie for their splendid work, and to Eileen and Joy for their part in the rescue," said Jill. "Pippa did a fantastic job, digging away so frantically to reach Daisy - she deserves a medal!"

STRAY DOGS SAVE BABY
INDIA
April 22, 2008
DOGS RESCUE BABY GIRL

Hundreds of villagers have flocked to a remote Indian village to see a baby girl who was saved by stray dogs after she was abandoned in a mound of mud by her mother, officials said on Tuesday.
Villagers in Bihar saved the newborn over the weekend after they saw three dogs barking near a baby covered with mud. "The dogs removed the soil around and began to bark and the baby started crying which drew attention of the local villagers," Ram Narayan Sahani, a senior government official, said on Tuesday from Bihar's Samastipur district. "The girl is crying but is safe in the lap of a childless couple who have adopted her."
Police said they were looking for the girl's mother, who they think had left the girl to die.
Female foeticide, though illegal in India, is widespread as boys are traditionally preferred to girls as breadwinners, and families have to pay huge dowries to marry off their daughters.
The United Nations says an estimated 2,000 unborn girls are illegally aborted every day in India.

Officials in a Johnson County city are taking action after coyotes attacked several dogs.
In the past few months, 11 pet owners have reported coyote attacks in Leawood.
Sherry Widman said she lost her West Highland terrier Molly. Widman hooked Molly up to her lead for a quick trip outside at about midnight but she was grabbed by a coyote and killed.
At 7:30 p.m. Monday, the Leawood City Council plans to meet to discuss a plan to handle the coyotes.
In the meantime, city officials urge resident to stay with their small pets outside at all times.

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OLDEST SURFING DOG
AUSTRALIA
April 21 2008

MEET Bondi's favourite good luck charm - a 17-year-old "pedigree bitser" with a penchant for surfing.
Locals have taken to patting "Teddy the Bondi Wonder Dog" for good luck at the TAB, for which he appeared in a recent ad campaign.
He even has his own MySpace, possibly the first canine involved in the youth network phenomenon. (Actually, at 119 in dog years, he is probably the oldest MySpacer.)
"He's just got something about him," Teddy's owner, abseiling instructor Roderick Millner, said.
"He has this amazing ability to make people relax and they pat him for luck."
And it works, apparently.
Mr Millner said he encouraged people who won money after patting the pooch to send 10 per cent of the takings to the RSPCA.
"That's where I got him from. People are starting to send money. The locals are charity oriented," he said.
Teddy was unavailable for comment yesterday but discusses himself at length on his MySpace page.
Listing his star sign as Virgo and with a total of three online MySpace friends, Teddy writes: "I am an elderly gent but most people think I'm younger. I have a great sense of style and many people think I am regal in my ways. The Egyptian pharaoh dog has been likened to myself."
Teddy also says he loves riding motorbikes and surfboards, and that his parentage is similarly catholic, probably an English bull terrier and a greyhound.

REGISTRATIONS CONTINUE TO GROW
UNITED KINGDOM
April 21, 2008

In spite of the ban on docking which was introduced in April last year, Kennel Club registrations for the first three months of 2008 rose by 2.1 per cent, compared with the same period last year.
In all, 65,796 puppies were registered during the quarter, as against 64,470 for January-March 2007. A KC spokesman said:
“This is certainly very encouraging news, particularly when considering the fact that the time frame being assessed is comparable to a period before the introduction of the ban on tail docking. While the registration numbers of traditionally docked breeds has fallen since the ban, it is apparent that the overwhelming popularity of pedigree dogs has not.”
Three groups have shown a decrease: terriers, 10,227 in the first quarter of 2007 and 9,806 this year; working, 6,661 to 6,487; and pastoral, 5,402 to 5,273.
Although some of the formerly docked terrier breeds have shown a decline – with no Sealyhams at all registered in the period. The reduction in terrier numbers stems mainly from Staffordshire Bull Terriers which have gone down by almost 500 registrations.
The other groups, however, make up for this, all showing an increase: hounds, 3,656 to 3,832; gundogs, 21,570 to 23,005; utility, 8,252 to 9,024; and toys, 7,702 to 8,369.
In the toy breeds, several show significant increases, including Pugs, Papillons, Pomeranians and Chihuahuas.
The docking ban seems to have made hardly any difference in the gundog breeds, with most of the affected breeds, including both types of Vizsla, American Cockers, Cockers, English Springers and Welsh Springers, showing increases, as well as the popular Labrador and Golden Retrievers. Nor do Miniature and Standard Schnauzers seem to have been affected, and Poodle registrations are similar to the same period last year.
Most of the formerly docked working breeds – Bouviers, Boxers, Dobermanns and Rottweilers, are well down, as are Old English Sheepdogs.

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DOGS MAY BECOME EXTINCT
INDIA
April 20, 208

Bakerwali dogs on the verge of extinction: TRCF
Srinagar (PTI): The Bakerwali breed of dogs, an indigenous breed of Jammu and Kashmir kept by the nomadic Gujjars and Bakerwals, is in danger of becoming extinct within the next few decades, a survey claimed on Sunday.
According to a survey by the Tribal Research and Cultural Foundation, the shepherd dog is on the verge of extinction.
"The Bakerwali dog is distinctive with nomadic Gujjars and Bakerwals since immemorial. Since 1990, there has been a steep decline in the number of the dogs with hundreds being killed during militancy in the higher reaches of the state.
There are only a few hundred dogs of this particular specie surviving in very difficult conditions. Dozens of dogs die every year due to rabies and other infections," TRCF secretary Javaid Rahi said.
The dog is an ancient working breed found in the Hindukush and Himalayan belt of the Indian subcontinent, where it has been bred for many centuries by the Gujjar nomadic tribes as a livestock guardian and settlement protector, he said.
Rahi claimed the dogs only eat milk products and bread and avoid meat.
Praising its qualities, he said "the dog is as strong as a Jaguar and at times can fight even a tiger to protect livestock and his master."
He demanded steps be taken to preserve the breed before it goes extinct.

DOGS ALERT OWNER OF EARTHQUAKE
LAWRENCE USA
April 19, 2008

Lisa Englebrecht isn’t accustomed to her Labs yelping, whining and pawing so early in the morning, nor her red terrier jumping up and down on the bed like it was trampoline.
But Sandy, Champ and Jessie knew something their owner didn’t: The earth was shaking. And the dogs weren’t about to take that sitting down. “They were just going bananas — jumping up and down off the bed, running down the hall and all over,” said Englebrecht, who didn’t feel anything shaking other than the bed under her terrier’s constant leaping. “They had everybody in the house awake.”
The 5.2 magnitude earthquake that sent shock waves emanating from West Salem, Ill., apparently stirred interest in towns throughout the Midwest, including Lawrence and, in Englebrecht’s case, Eudora.
That Englebrecht’s four-legged friends were among those taking notice when the quake hit at 4:37 a.m. didn’t surprise Dr. Mark Marks, a Lawrence veterinarian.
While people may not notice movement in the earth, dogs often can both hear and feel it, he said.
“They live on the ground,” Marks said. “They’re going to feel it differently than we’re going to feel it.” Eugene George sure didn’t notice, and he was awake at the time, preparing to milk more than 100 dairy cows about 5 miles south of Lawrence. The cows didn’t seem to notice, either — going about their normal routine, giving up milk like nothing had changed. “It didn’t faze them,” said George’s wife, Laura. “Usually animals are kind of in tune to this stuff. “But,” she added, “he might have been too sleepy to notice.”

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DOG GETS HEART PACEMAKER
SOUTH AFRICA
April 19, 2008

Rupert, a watermelon-loving Staffordshire bull terrier, has been given a high-tech lifeline.
In what is thought to be a first for the province, a Swiss pacemaker made for humans and valued at R40 000 was implanted into 12-year-old Rupert by a Howick vet yesterday to correct a heart condition that, if left untreated, would have proved fatal. The procedure has only rarely been carried out on dogs in South Africa before.
The story of Rupert’s ordeal began on Tuesday, when he collapsed suddenly and his concerned owners, Rob and Bev McKenzie, rushed him from their Rosetta home to Dr Martin de Scalley at the Midlands Veterinary Clinic in Howick. After blood tests and an ultrasound, De Scalley diagnosed Rupert as having a heart block. He set about trying to find a pacemaker for the hound and that was when Johannesburg-based Medtronic heard of his plight and stepped in. “The top of the heart sends an impulse to tell the bottom part of the heart when to contract, and so synchronise the heart beat. When the nerve between them breaks down, there’s a block,” explained De Scalley.
“The pacemaker corrects this by sending the impulse needed for normal heart function.” Rupert had gone from his playful, energetic self to being subdued as his heartbeat slowed from its normal 120 beats per minute to just 40. “We needed a miracle, and we got one,” said Bev McKenzie. Moving fast because of Rupert’s deteriorating condition, Wendy Watton, a qualified ICU nurse from Medtronic, flew down from Johannesburg, bearing the valuable pacemaker and guidance for the vet on how to implant it.
Rupert was given a final ECG and a shave, which he did not relish, before being put under anaesthetic.
De Scalley had warned the McKenzies that there was a chance Rupert might not survive the procedure, and it was with heavy hearts that they bid him farewell.
“We don’t know if it’s a death sentence or not, but it’s his only chance. Without it he’s a goner,” said Rob. At one tense time during the procedure, Rupert’s heart rate dropped to just 22 beats per minute, but the dog rallied and pulled through.
The two-hour operation was a success. “The pacemaker was fitted under Rupert’s neck muscle … and the ventricular lead glided into position under Dr de Scalley’s steady hand,” said Watton.
Rupert had to spend 48 hours recuperating before he got active, but from now on, it’s a dog’s life.
Speaking to Weekend Witness before the operation, the anxious couple described Rupert as having a “double dose of personality” and being a “Staffie of note”.
A thoroughbred Rupert may be, but his quirks set him apart from the breed. His favourite foods are watermelon (without the pips), avocado and banana. At 12, he is still obsessed with shoes and grabs and runs off with them, keeping his owners fit as they chase after him. “He talks all the time, but since he’s been ill, he’s stopped,” said Bev. “Any problem he has, he tells you about.” The McKenzies yesterday expressed their gratitude to Medtronic for their assistance. “We are so relieved he’s survived.”
All going well with his recovery, Rupert should soon be home playing with his playmate, boerbul Daisy.

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DOG SCAM WARWICKSHIRE ENGLAND
18 April, 2008

DOG SCAM UNCOVERED

A Dog Lover from Warwick who paid out £400 for a dog which did not exist has prompted a warning from trading standards officers.
The woman, who does not want to be named, responded to an internet advert for a bull terrier puppy which said it was free to a good home.
She contacted the seller who claimed he had recently moved from London to Aberdeen and could no longer take care of the dog. He then said he had handed it over to a company which specialised in moving pets.
After seeing pictures of a dog she believed to be the bull terrier, she paid £100 for the dog to be moved and a further £300 insurance, which she was told would be refunded.
it was only when she was asked for a further £200 that she became suspicious and contacted Warwickshire Trading Standards who were able to confirm it was an elaborate scam being run by criminals based in Cameroon. The dog never existed.
Trading standards are aiming to avoid others falling foul to a similar con. Warwickshire Trading Standards spokesman Simon Cripwell said: "Beware of offers that seem too good to be true. "Try to get a personal recommendation before buying from a company or individual you know nothing about and make sure you know where the company or individual is based and what their telephone number is.
"Don't be hurried along by your seller as this is often a tactic used by a fraudster to get you to make a mistake and if you are asked to pay by money transfer, think twice – this is a form of payment often used by fraudsters.

ASBOS FOR DANGEROUS DOGS
UNITED KINGDOM

Backing for Asbos to control danger dogs
A new bill targeting dog owners who let their animals run dangerously out of control has met with a 100 per cent positive response.
SNP backbencher Alex Neil, who is putting forward the bill, received around 100 responses to his proposed Control of Dogs (Scotland) Bill, which would replace the "flawed" Dangerous Dogs Act.
Under the proposals, owners could be liable to pay £5,000 in compensation for injury or damage, including for attacks on people visiting private property which is not covered by the current law introduced by former Conservative Home Secretary Kenneth Baker 17 years ago.
In the most serious cases, they could face an unlimited fine and up to two years in jail. The new law would also operate on a preventative basis, enabling control orders – Asbos for dogs – to be issued to owners of dangerous animals.
The orders could require measures like muzzling, re-homing, and owners attending mandatory dog-training courses.

COYOTES ATTACK DOG
AUSTIN TEXAS
April 15, 2008

Residents spot coyotes near their homes

AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) -- The city's coyote trapping program has received about 1,600 phone calls from neighbors who said they have had encounters with the animals.
Since the past summer, coyotes have killed three dogs and injured two in the Shoal Creek area north of West 45th Street.
The Devine family said they never thought they would have a problem with coyotes, especially because they have a 5-foot-tall fence.
"The dog was out in the a.m., the coyote probably jumped the fence, or two coyotes, the vet suspects it was two," said Linda Devine.
The family's 11-year-old Scottish terrier, Sadie, survived the coyote attack.
Yet other neighborhood pets have not been as fortunate, including Kay Aielli's two chihuahuas.
"They ran out my backdoor about 3:30 at night to go to the bathroom," Aielli said. "I was right behind them, which I always go out with them. The next thing I heard was them being carried off down the creek, yipping."
About 50 people gathered Monday evening to find out why the coyotes have showed up and what they can do to prevent them from attacking.
"Keep housecats indoors, don't allow any food access for the coyotes, whether intentionally or unintentionally," advised Randay Farrar with Texas Wildlife Services.
The city has caught five coyotes so far and estimated there are just a few left.
Neighbors said they don't agree with that calculation.
Wildlife experts said the biggest challenge is for people to stop leaving cats and pet food outside.

Australia

THE RSPCA fears criminals involved in high-stakes dog fights are behind the slaughter of at least a dozen dogs in the Bendigo area.
They've appealed for public help because a joint police/RSPCA investigation into the deaths has stalled.
The investigation started last year after the discovery on Christmas Day of a dead Irish wolfhound lashed to a tree in a sitting position.
RSPCA inspectorate services manager Greg Boland said the wolfhound couldn't lie down and would have slowly strangled to death.
Another Irish wolfhound was found tied in a similar manner last year.
In August two strangled adult staffordshire terrier crosses and a blue heeler were found near seven staffordshire pups that had been bashed to death.
"You can only speculate as to what's taken place, whether somebody sat there and watched them die or just walked away, but either way it's escalating," Mr Boland said.
"One avenue we're investigating is into the organised criminal dog fighting. We know it's out there, but it's extremely difficult to infiltrate. It's all done very secretly.
"The intelligence which we get, but can't really substantiate, is that the dogfighting fraternity is involved with pig and deer hunters, and hand in glove with that is illegal firearms and handguns."

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ENGLAND

April 12, 2008

Manchester thugs threaten to set fire to Scottie
Mr Trainer was walking Scottie on fields behind Heybrook Primary School on Sunday when he noticed a small fire burning in woodland and a group attempting to start a second blaze. When he told the group to stop, he was given a barrage of abuse – including the threat to set Scottie on fire.
Mr Trainer took pictures of tyres, pieces of wood and large pieces of fencing, all of which have been burned. He has handed these, and video footage of both incidents, to the police.
Mr Trainer also says a large amount of leaflets is regularly fly-tipped in the area, and believes if this problem continues it could increase the risk of a large fire in the area.
He said: “The arson is bad enough but to say something like that about my dog was awful.

MONTREAL

Quebec's Inuit association and the provincial government are launching an inquiry into long-standing allegations RCMP officers slaughtered thousands of sled dogs in the province's north during the 1950s and '60s.Inuit elders in Quebec's Nunavik region claim the alleged killings targeted the Inuk way of life.
Two years ago, an RCMP report concluded there were no mass canine slaughters and that dogs were only shot for humanitarian and public health reasons.
After speaking to many elders over the years, the president of the association representing Quebec Inuit says he doesn't buy the RCMP findings. "For the RCMP to come out with a report to say that this never happened was an insult to the Inuit," Pita Aatami of Makivik Corp. told The Canadian Press on Friday. "They are saying the Inuit are liars." In Nunavik and Nunavut, many Inuit believe police officers and other white authority figures killed up to 20,000 sled dogs, nearly wiping out their primary means of transportation.
Last year, the Qikiqtani Inuit Association initiated a truth commission into accusations the RCMP decimated the sled dog population in some Nunavut communities. The group is expected to complete fieldwork by the end of the year. Aatami said Quebec has agreed to pay half the costs of the Nunavik investigation, which could carry a total price tag between $300,000 and $600,000.
The study will be led by retired Quebec judge Jean-Jacques Croteau, who will visit Nunavik villages and table a report in three to six months.
Aatami hopes the results will trigger a full-blown public inquiry into the allegations. "We thought maybe by having some sort of an inquiry we could get to the bottom of this once and for all," Aatami said.
The RCMP report found evidence that officers destroyed sled dogs, but only as authorized by law. The study reports police killed the animals only for public health and safety reasons at the request of their owners.
"There was no government directive instructing the RCMP to destroy the sled dog population," Sgt. Nathalie Deschenes of the RCMP said Friday. "We were aware of outbreaks of canine disease that were threatening the sled dog population and we inoculated thousands of them. We also offered pups."
But the RCMP report says only eight Inuit statements were examined during the investigation.
Inuit have long argued RCMP actions were part of a plan to confine their people in settlements where they would be more manageable.
Elders have recounted stories of police systemically shooting dogs that were tied up outside trading posts as Inuit conducted business inside. The dog team was the hunters' ticket back to camp.
Dog sleds were used to whisk Inuit across barren land to faraway tree stands, where hunters gathered wood to chisel into harpoons.
Aatami said Makivik interviewed 200 Nunavik elders who claim their canines were killed. With an average of eight dogs harnessed in a team, that's some 1,600 dogs, he added. "It really affected a lot of lives," he said of the alleged killings. "There was something going on in those early years when the government was really starting to settle into Northern Canada."

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POLICE DOGS SUSPENDED
AMERICA
April 30 , 2008

Trooper dogs off duty indefinitely.

The N.C. Highway Patrol has pulled its 10 police dogs off duty indefinitely after several troopers testified in a personnel hearing this week to several rough training methods that involved shocking, kicking and suspending the dogs.
Patrol spokesman Lt. Everett Clendenin said that Bryan Beatty, the N.C. Crime Control and Public Safety secretary who oversees the patrol, ordered the suspension so that a review can be conducted of training techniques.
"We can't run the risk of one of our dogs being injured or somebody in the public being injured because of the training," Clendenin said. "We're not sure what's taking place, so that's what we are going to do."
Over the course of three days of hearings into the firing of Sgt. Charles Jones, who is trying to win his job back, troopers in the canine program have said that dogs have been shocked with a stun gun, kicked, and suspended until they are nearly unconscious.
They also have acknowledged throwing plastic bottles filled with stones at the dogs and twirling them around in a technique known as "helicoptering," sometimes releasing them in midair.
Clendenin said that Beatty and other patrol leaders were unaware of many of the techniques. He said patrol officials are adamant that no trooper has done what Jones admitted to — kicking his police dog Ricoh several times while he was suspended from a loading dock railing — nor have troopers been trained to do it.
The Jones case has exposed a murky area of police training. Troopers have testified that there is very little in writing as far as training procedures, in part because of feared outrage if they ever became public. They said Jones' actions were not abusive, though some said characterized the discipline as "excessive" in written statements.
They said the rough training techniques are necessary because the dogs need to learn to obey orders to protect the officers and the public. The dogs are considered lethal weapons.
The only known written directive regarding dog training, according to testimony at the hearing, was the banning of special shock collars three years ago.
A memo delivered to patrol Commander Fletcher Clay as part of the Jones case acknowledged several rough techniques but also added that striking or kicking dogs should be a last resort because of the risk of injury to the dog.
Clendenin said that patrol Major Jamie Hatcher, director of special operations, will conduct the review. It is the second called for after the patrol ordered a review last fall in the wake of Jones' firing.
Clendenin did not know how long the dogs would remain out of service. He said they are mostly used to sniff out drugs at traffic stops, and the patrol would use other techniques to ferret out such activity. He said the 10 canine handlers will assume other duties while the review is underway.

A WOMAN was trampled to death by a herd of cows as she walked her dogs in a field at a beauty spot.
Sandra Pearce, 45, was knocked down as she tried to keep her two pet dogs under control on grazing pastures.
One of the panicked Jack Russells escaped the carnage on Sunday afternoon at South Elmham Hall, near Bungay, Suffolk, and fled into a nearby restaurant, covered in blood.
Staff and diners rushed out to find Miss Pearce lying in the field.
The owner of the cows, farmer John Sanderson, tried to resuscitate her but air ambulance paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene.
Last night it was reported that Miss Pearce, a probation officer from Beccles, Suffolk, died of a heart attack brought on by the injuries.
Mr Sanderson said: “We are all feeling for the family. It is a tragedy. It was a complete shock to me.”
He said the cows were his suckler herd of brown and white Simmental beef cattle that were in a field next to the hall’s car park.
Journalist Dylan Reynolds, 40, from London, said: “We heard a commotion. The cows were making a huge rumpus. A few minutes later one of the dogs came in. It was battered, bruised, shaking and bloody and had obviously been kicked or trampled.
“It is unbelievable. We were walking in the field with my dog the day before and taking pictures of the cows.”
His friend, Lili Gooch, 48, said she had seen about 20 cows in the field shortly before the stampede.
She added: “I saw the cows with calves and they were looking at me in a funny way.
“I am never scared of animals – but I decided not to go back in the field.”
Cows are usually docile but can become aggressive, particularly when protecting their young.
A Health and Safety Executive spokesman said: “In 30 years in East Anglia I can’t remember us having a member of the public killed by cattle.”
The HSE will decide if this counts as a work-related tragedy and if a full investigation should be launched.
Suffolk Police said last night that Miss Pearce’s family were too upset to comment. But a friend, who asked not to be named, said: “She was a lovely woman who was devoted to her two dogs. She cared for her disabled mother for many years until she died a few years ago.”
A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said: “Keep your dog on a lead when around other animals. If you start to be chased, let your dog off the lead.
“That can defuse the situation and it is better than trying to protect it.”

Dogs of Our Lives - Riverside Park
During the War of 1812, what's now Riverside Park served as Fort Lookout. Its panoramic views -- well, at least they were then -- provided a vantage point from which U.S. forces could keep an eye out for any invading Brits.

Today, the skyline has filled up some, with I-95 and Domino Sugar and high rise condos. Members of the doggie crowd still keep an eye out -- only now it's for invading animal control officers and undercover cops.
As at several other city parks, dozens of dogwalkers -- yours truly included -- have been swept up in periodic crackdowns on those who let their dogs off leash. The signs clearly states doing so is illegal, but we take our chances --- feeling (A) our dogs are free spirits and, if well behaved, deserve a chance to act like such, and (B) there are plenty of worse things that go on in Baltimore, some of them right there under Riverside Park's gazebo.
So, daily, after looking around, we unhook our dogs and let them frolic here in the park named after a popular, crap-shooting City Councilman who was gunned down in City Hall 31 years ago.
Leone-Riverside Park, named for Dominic Leone, was one of the city's first parks, and is known for its tremendous swimming pool (where kids can still swim for $1 a day). When the pool opens -- June 21 this year -- there's an influx of children and families, who sometimes have to walk through a phalanx of frolicking dogs, and don't always appreciate it.
Among the dogwalkers, there are divisions as well. Most congregate near the gazebo and let their dogs off the leash to play en masse. It's not unusual to see 20 loose dogs or more weaving about. Others, fearing that's asking for trouble, keep to the perimeter, away from the big group. Some stick to the the athletic fields on the south end. Some just jog with their dogs.
Of those in the big group, some humans, like some dogs, see it as a chance to be social; some keep to themselves. With me, it depends on the day.
Some find their paths crossing again outside the dog park, as was the case with the humans of Argus and Buckley.
Recent developments? Probably the biggest has been the absence of Stan the Biscuit Man and his fat black dog, Louie. Stan, famous for bringing a gigantic bag of dog biscuits and tossing them to the crowd of dogs that inevitabably formed around his bench, underwent back surgery a few weeks ago, and hasn't been to the park since. (Stan was featured in my movie, "Hey, Mister, What Kind of Dog is That?")
Riverside Park -- even with all the gentrification of its surrounding neighborhoods -- still attracts folks of all kinds, black and white, homeless and homed, blind and sighted (the National Center for the Blind is right across the street), white collar and blue, upscale and old school.
It's a mutty kind of place, and Ace and I dig the mix. You can hear well-heeled Riversiders discussing next year's vacation plans one minute, blue collar South Baltimoreans pondering that night's dinner the next. "You want to get something to eat?" a woman said to the child whose stroller she was pushing the other night, a block from the park. "OK, but I'm not walking all the way to the shopping center. Let's just get some f---ing chicken tenders."

Seen something interesting at Riverside Park? Got a gripe? A compliment? An observation? Some gossip? Your own personal run-in with an odd character, or the long arm of the law?

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NEW YORK USA
April 29, 2008

New York hotels enlist bedbug sniffer dogs
Just one infestation can taint a hotel's reputation for good - which is why New York hoteliers are seeking canine help to root out pests

In a prominent New York hotel last month, a uniformed man strode purposefully through the corridors, a beagle mongrel trotting at his side. “We look like cops,” says Carl Massicott with a laugh.
Massicott is in fact an exterminator; his highly trained dog sniffs out bedbugs – the pestilence whose virulent return has been plaguing hotels across the US in recent years. “People have thought we were looking for gas leaks, even illegal fruit. No one ever suspects bedbugs.”
In the US, super-powered pesticides like DDT once all-but eradicated bedbugs, the scourge of insects that nest in mattresses and feed on human blood. Increased concerns about the risks these chemicals pose to humans and the environment led to mass bans.
Three new New York hotels
Grand Gothic glamour, British dash and retro-contemporary cool. At these comfortable new hotels you’ll slumber soundly
Now it's thought that in the absence of these chemicals, the bugs are back with a vengeance. As recently as 2002, for example, New York City reported only two infestations; in 2007 there were 6,889.
Hotels are particularly hard-hit, as bugs can be transmitted on clothing, or even luggage.
Massicott runs Advanced K9 Detectives, a specialist extermination company that uses dogs to sniff out pests. News of an infestation can ruin a business predicated on giving punters a good night’s sleep; it helps that Massicott dogs appear innocuous. Massicott says he's heard of dogs being used to sniff out termites in the past, and thought to apply the skills of his first black-lab mix, Jada, to sniff out bedbugs when there was an epidemic in 2002.
He’s since trained a small army of mutts, all adopted from dogs' homes. There’s only one requirement: “They’ve got to like to hunt,” he says.
Each young dog is trained for an average of 18 months. Initially they are introduced to the pest’s scent and rewarded with a treat each time they smell the bugs; the process culminates in the dog seeking out that scent on its own.
Each dog is capable of covering 150 hotel bedrooms per day. The procedure is swift; in only a matter of minutes a dog can cover even a large suite, sniffing key areas like box-springs and dust ruffles, and even some places you might not expect to find the pests: “I’ve had a dog find them in the telephones and clock radios near beds,” says Massicott. “At a five star resort she found them in a $400 Bose radio.”
Massicott rates his dogs’ detection abilities at around 98 per cent accuracy, though recent studies by the university of Florida have put them at 100 per cent. Factors that may lead to canine error are similar to those that cause humans to err in the workplace: fatigue and over-eagerness to please the boss.
Though a dog can put in eight hours of searching a day, accuracy dwindles after about an hour’s work, unless sufficiently rested between searches. Additionally, in their desire to please their master (and obtain scrumptious rewards) clever canines sometimes falsely report finding bugs.
To prevent this, even adult dogs are continuously re-trained using mock sessions where both live and dead bedbugs are employed. “We hide them, so we know where everything is,” explains Massicott, “even if they find a dead bug, there’s no reward.”
Dogs’ sensitive noses can differentiate between not just a living or deceased bedbug, but between adults and their eggs as well.
Massicott serviced over 30 hotels in 2007 alone, along with private apartments, university housing and even cruise ships. Several of his projects have been resorts in the 1,800-bedroom mega-complex range. At $4-$5 per room (approximately £2.50 on average), business is booming and demand seems ever increasing.
“Business has tripled since I started out [in 2004],” says Massicott. “I only had two dogs. Now I have seven, and I need three more.”

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Spy law 'used in dog fouling war'
Councils say Ripa is used to protect the public

A survey of UK councils has found some are spying on litter louts and people who let dogs foul public places, using laws to track criminals and terrorists.
Some local authorities have used the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) more than 100 times in the last 12 months to conduct surveillance.
The findings, obtained by the Press Association news agency, come from 46 of the 468 local authorities in the UK. Privacy campaigners called for a "root and branch review" of the law.
Earlier this month it emerged that Poole Borough Council in Dorset used Ripa to spy on a family for three weeks to find out if they were really living in a school catchment area.
The council said the case was treated as potential criminal activity, which justified the use of the act.
Home Office guidance says Ripa allows "the interception of communications, carrying out of surveillance and the use of covert human intelligence sources" to help prevent crime, including terrorism.
The Press Association contacted 97 councils to find out how they were using the powers. The 46 who responded said they had used the act a total of 1,343 times, mainly against rogue trading, benefit fraud and anti-social behaviour like criminal damage.
But some said the law was also used to find out about other less serious offences, such as:
Derby City Council, Bolton, Gateshead and Hartlepool used surveillance to investigate dog fouling. Bolton Council also used the act to investigate littering.
The London borough of Kensington and Chelsea conducted surveillance on the misuse of a disabled parking badge. Liverpool City Council used Ripa to identify a false claim for damages. Conwy Council used the law to spy on a person who was working while off sick.
The survey found the biggest user of Ripa was Durham County Council, which used it 144 times in the last 12 months. The council said it did not consider the use to be directed at members of the public, but against traders it had suspected of crime.
Simon Davies, director of campaign group Privacy International, called for a review of Ripa.
"Ripa put physical surveillance on a legal basis but that doesn't make it right or morally right - it just covers the back of local authorities, but at huge expense," Mr Davies said. There are strict rules to protect people from unnecessary intrusion.
Sir Simon Milton Local Government Authority: "Local authorities can be very petty and vindictive and they can become obsessed with issues like dog fouling and there can be a lack of judgment. "In the case of dog fouling it's almost morally justifiable to bring these people to book, but you have to ask the question is the response an overkill? "There are better ways to achieve the objectives without using counter-terrorism laws.
"Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights group Liberty, said: "You don't use a sledgehammer to crack a nut, nor targeted surveillance to stop a litter bug.
"You can care about serious crime and terrorism without throwing away our personal privacy with a snoopers' charter. "The law must be reformed to require sign-off by judges not self authorisation by over-zealous bureaucrats."
Sir Simon Milton, Local Government Association chairman, said councils were using the law to protect people against rip-off merchants, fly-tippers and benefit fraudsters. "It's wrong to suggest that these are specifically anti-terror powers," he said. "There are strict rules to protect people from unnecessary intrusion, and whenever a council applies to use these powers they must prove that it is both necessary and proportionate to the crime being investigated."
Out of the 97 councils contacted, 16 said they did not use the act at all, 19 asked for the request to be submitted under the Freedom of Information Act and 16 did not respond.

FIGHTING DOGS TORTURED FOR BLOOD SPORT
April 27, 2008

Dogfighting is a blood “sport” in which two dogs are pitted against each other in a fighting pit and forced to rip each other to shreds in a fight to the death for the “amusement” and monetary gain of onlooking gamblers it is illegal in the United States and is a felony in every state except Idaho and Wyoming. Experts estimate that tens of thousands of people are involved in professional dogfighting, while an additional 100,000 may be participating in so-called “streetfighting” or informal dogfights. Forced to Fight and Left to Die

The most commonly bred dogs for fighting are Staffordshire terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, American bulldogs, and American pit bull terriers. All of them are usually referred to as pit bulls. Dogs are highly social pack animals who need and deserve love, attention, and exercise and thrive in an environment that offers the companionship of other dogs and human guardians. Dogs who are used for fighting are chained, taunted, and starved in order to trigger extreme survival instincts and encourage aggressiveness.Typically, before their first birthdays, puppies bred for fighting are placed in front of other dogs in order to test their aggression. At around 15 months, two prospective “fighters” are forced to participate in a “roll”—their first fight, which lasts about 10 minutes—followed by a second fight that lasts an hour. Survivors are chained again (sometimes with weighted logging chains) for a couple of months until they are ready for their first “show.” Breeders “train” dogs by forcing them to tread water in pools; run on a treadmill while a cat or another terrified animal, who may be someone’s stolen companion animal, is placed in a cage in front of the dog (to be caught and mauled to death as a reward afterward); and hang on with their jaws while dangling from a chain baited with meat. The dogs are likely injected with steroids, and some breeders go so far as to sharpen their dogs’ teeth, cut off their ears (in order to prevent another dog from latching on), and add roach poison to their food so that their fur might taste bad to other dogs.
Dogs that “win” fights are forced to fight again and again and are bred to produce profit-making puppies. One breeder who was claimed to be a particularly successful fighting dog earned $100,000 in stud fees in a single year.(7) “Rape stands,” which are routinely confiscated from large-scale dogfighting operations, are contraptions used by breeders to strap down resistant female dogs so that males can impregnate them. Dogs that do not fight or lose fights may be used as “bait” animals or may be abandoned, tortured, set on fire, electrocuted, shot, drowned, or beaten to death.
What Happens at DogfightsA dogfight could be a street fight, which lasts only a few minutes and takes place in an alley or a back yard, or it could fall under one of two levels of organized fights: hobbyist and professional. Organized fights tend to be highly secretive, with word spreading by mouth or via the Internet. Participants may meet in one place and be taken en masse to another location so that even they don’t know where they’re going until they arrive. Abandoned houses, garages, warehouses, and fields all serve as sites for dogfights—places that can be easily scouted by lookouts and quickly evacuated in advance of a raid. A “pit” consists of a dirt or carpeted floor that is anywhere from 8 to 16 square feet and is surrounded by a wooden—and often portable—enclosure that is about 3 feet high. Dogs are taken to either end of the ring and released at the “face your dogs” command. Break or parting sticks are used to pry apart fighting dogs, who clamp down so fiercely that it is not uncommon for dogs to “fang” themselves (i.e., bite through their own lips).(10) The fight could go on for hours—until one dog is seriously injured or dies or, “should the police interfere, the referee … name[s] the next meeting place,” according to rules posted on a breeder’s Web site.
Dogs are ranked by their “gameness”—the ability to keep fighting even when pain and loss of blood have caused their bodies to go into shock. A federal prosecutor recalls a case in which one of 18 dogs found in a raid had 70 open wounds and was missing half a jaw while another dog’s body was 75 percent covered in scar tissue. A Louisiana state police officer who conducts dogfighting investigations says, “When you go to where these fights have happened, you’ll find a couple of dog corpses or a pit full of blood.”
The Tip of a Criminal IcebergDogfighting usually involves other crimes in addition to cruelty to animals. One infamous breeder planted “directional mines” on his property in an attempt to keep people away; a land surveyor was injured when one of these devices exploded. Gambling—which is frequently illegal and often involves large sums of money—is found at many dogfights, as are firearms and other weapons that are sometimes used in violent crimes, including murder, as occurred at a Texas home when three intruders bound the wife and children of a well-known pit bull breeder and killed him for the $100,000 that he had won at a fight. A detective told the
New York Daily News that “you can get more drugs and guns off the street by breaking up dog rings than you would breaking up drug rings.” An Ohio sheriff says that “just about every dogfighting search warrant we’ve done, we’ve found drugs.” A review of Chicago dogfighting incidents over a three-year span found that in the nearly 400 cases, more than half the dog owners had gang affiliations and almost all had been arrested at least two times.
Young children are sometimes present at dogfights; Baltimore’s Health Department lists dogfighting as a child welfare issue on its Web site and cautions parents that children are exposed to exhibits of extreme brutality, illegal gambling, drugs, and guns associated with these cruel events.”
These tortured dogs do not make good companions, as breeders commonly mate close relatives together in an effort to pass on the traits of dogs that are especially aggressive and whose instincts and training motivate them to kill other animals. “We’re sitting on a powder keg,” says one Ohio dog warden.
What You Can DoFederal law bans interstate commerce import and export of fighting dogs, and the penalty is three years in jail with a $250,000 fine. But as a Texas sheriff remarked, “If you don’t know it’s going on, there’s not a whole lot you can do. It’s organized crime.” Officials often stumble across dogfighting operations accidentally while searching property for other reasons. For instance, in 2007, authorities were searching Michael Vick’s property in rural Virginia for suspected drug activity when they discovered dogs who were tied to car axles with logging chains as well as dogfighting equipment, including treadmills, chains, whips, and injectable drugs.(23)Dogs raised for fighting are usually chained (or “tethered”), which is a safety hazard for the dogs and the community.

Airplane Security Gone to the Dogs

King Has The Nose For The Job

RSS King is fit to be employee of the month. He loves going to work. He's confident, energetic, driven and flexible. He handles himself well in large crowds. He's a quick learner. And he's got a good nose for sniffing out trouble and responding quickly to problems on the job.
King, named for a New York City firefighter who died in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, sniffs out cargo bound for passenger planes in his job with the Transportation Security Administration. "He's trained to work in the environment around the airport and to find explosive odors," said King's handler, Nathan Chase. "These are explosive odors in cargo, parcels or baggage that is destined for passenger aircraft."
King and Chase are part of a new program that pairs a TSA employee with a bomb-sniffing dog to search cargo bound for passenger planes. This is the first time TSA is using its own inspectors as dog handlers. The first 12 teams of dogs and their handlers, which includes King and Chase, are being deployed in April and May at Miami, Los Angeles' LAX, New York's JFK, and Washington's Dulles airports.
If King sits down, Chase knows he's sniffed out an explosive odor. In response, Chase can pull him out of the area, coordinate with local police, cordon off and evacuate the surroundings, and call in a team to respond.
"Canines are a great bomb detection capability," said TSA administrator Kip Hawley. "First off, they all do a great job at detecting bombs. Second, they're very mobile. You can move them anywhere, including an airport environment, mass transit environment, and they're extremely flexible in the way we can use them." Dogs like King are raised at the TSA's canine facility at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. All the puppies raised and reared there are named for people who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
King is named for Bobby King, a New York City firefighter who died in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Thirty-six year old King was married with three children. He wasn't supposed to be at work that day.
"I met King the dog last night and I was absolutely thrilled," said Bobby King's mother, Audrey King, who added that the canine's feisty personality reminded her of her own son. "I think that's a great honor for anyone that lost someone to have a dog named after them. It's a great legacy for them in the future," Audrey King added.
Uninspected air cargo that travels in the hold beneath travelers' seats has been of great concern in recent years. While most air cargo doesn't land on passenger planes, some does -- and very little of it is screened. By 2010, Congress is requiring the TSA to screen 100 percent of that cargo. The agency plans to use the canine teams to do so, in addition to other screening methods.
TSA will train hundreds of canine teams over the next few years. Hawley said the dogs cost roughly $50,000 each, but considering the high price of buying and maintaining technology, they're a good investment.Scott Thomas, program manager at TSA's Canine Breeding and Development Center, said the best four-legged graduates are those who, like King, had mothers and fathers raised in the program. "Rambunction, coupled with a really good nose, coupled with a desire to search -- those are the qualities we look for," Thomas said.

As Nash's mother was dying of cancer, one of the dogs, Archangel - Angel for short - was there. It would put its head on the side of the bed and Nash's mother would run her hands through the animal's fur. On the way home from the hospital, Nash would look to the dog for support, she said. "I don't know how many times I soaked her coat with my tears."
When Angel and two of her puppies disappeared one day in June 2005, the Saskatchewan woman was frantic. She spent five days searching for the animals in the town of Wolseley, east of Regina, asking anyone if they had seen them on the loose. She said she was shocked and devastated when she learned the town had found her dogs and destroyed them when they went unclaimed.
The case has ended up in front of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission. Nash claims that town officials put the dogs down because they knew she was on welfare and assumed she didn't have the money to pay pound fees.
The town acknowledges the "sadness and hurt" the situation has caused, but says officials were just following bylaws. It says Wolseley, like many other rural areas, had a problem with stray and abandoned pets and Nash's financial situation had nothing to do with the decision.
The human rights tribunal began hearing witnesses Thursday. Nash was the first to take the stand and she explained what the dogs meant to her. "They were my best friends."
Angel was a registered purebred of good breeding stock and paired nicely with Sisco, another of Nash's dogs. Nash said she never considered herself a large breeder of dogs, but she allowed Angel a litter from time to time because she liked the puppies and they supplemented her social assistance income.
Townspeople, it seems, were not so fond of the dogs.
Nash testified that in December 2004 she received a complaint from the town that her dogs were barking and doing their business on other people's lawns.
In January 2005, Angel had a litter of eight puppies. Nash gave some away, but kept three she named Tar, Stan and Pinky. That month she was fined $20 following a complaint that her dogs were roaming free. Nash said she didn't pay the fine because she would never have let her dogs do that, especially in the middle of winter.
On another occasion, she said, she was looking after her son's dog when it slipped off its leash and was standing in the middle of the road barking. The RCMP were called.
Despite the incidents, Nash said her dogs were well trained. "They were my constant companions. They were gentle, they were loyal."
Four of the animals got out of the house on the day in question - a Sunday. Even now, Nash testified, she has no idea how it happened. A farmer just outside town called her to say the dogs were on the loose. Tar eventually came home. The others did not. Nash said she looked everywhere. She called the town administrator that Monday and even went to see the town's mayor. No one, she said, had seen her dogs or could tell her what the town would do with stray dogs if it found them.
That Friday, someone at the bank suggested Nash check the garage where the town fixes its service vehicles. When she got there, she found two empty kennels. A worker told her the dogs had been killed a day earlier.
"I was really stunned and shocked and devastated," Nash recalled. "I couldn't believe my dogs were dead - that they were gone forever."
Nash, who now lives in Calgary, said she would have borrowed money from friends or family to pay the fines and pound fees had she known the town had the dogs. The initial fine per dog was $50 and the pound fee was $50 per dog per day.
The town was expected to call witnesses to testify that the dogs were underfed, dirty and infested with ticks when found, said lawyer Juliana Saxberg. The animal control officer did not know the dogs belonged to Nash, Saxberg said, and the town kept the animals longer than the required three days before killing them.
"For whatever reason, Jackie Nash and the town never made the connection until it was too late," Saxberg said in her opening statement.
The hearing is expected to last two days..

Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Fark Google Newsvine Reddit Yahoo Print Reprints Post comment Text size: Talk is cheap. But at least it's a start.
On May 3 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Long Island hosts its first-ever Pit Bull Predicament Conference at the Health, Sports and Education Center at Suffolk Community College's Brentwood campus. Open to the general public, as well as to rescue and shelter groups, the conference's stated goal is to "focus on the current problems being faced by pit bulls and to develop workable solutions to curtail irresponsible breeding and enhance their public image and adoptability.
"Long Island - like much of the rest of the nation - is drowning in pit bulls. Linda Stuurman, president of Last Hope Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation, which is the driving force behind the conference, estimates that depending on the location, 50 to 90 percent of dogs in our local municipal shelters are pit bulls, or pit mixes of some sort.
But just as prevalent as pit bulls are the wrongheaded stereotypes about them. This is nothing new - every era has its canine bogeymen. In the 1950s, it was Dobermans: Their skulls were too small to fit their brains, went the conventionally stupid wisdom. They would turn on their masters without warning.
Fifty years later, "pit bull" has become synonymous with "vicious." As evidence, people point to newspaper articles about pit-bull-related maulings. Of course, pit bulls can and do bite, but so does every breed of dog. Because a chomping Lab isn't as newsworthy as a marauding pit bull, media coverage shouldn't be extrapolated to represent evidence of some sort of teeming pit crime wave.
Another facet of the pit-bull debate that no one wants to talk about is that the breed has become associated with certain socioeconomic and demographic groups - specifically, young urban males. This is where intervention is sorely needed, in the form of education and free - not just subsidized, but free - spay/neuter services.
It's easy to say that the pit-bull appeals to street toughs because of his imposing exterior. But they, too, see and cherish his greatest strength - the sheer depth of his character. This is a dog who would do anything for his master, whose loyalty is unquestioning. This is why, for much of the 19th century, he was the hearth dog of the American West. A symbol of fidelity and stamina, he was depicted on patriotic posters during World War I. Helen Keller owned a pit bull. Petey, the bull's-eyed child's companion from "The Little Rascals," was one.
It is the pit bull's single-minded devotion to those he deems his own that is his tragic flaw. In the hands of the heartless, these dogs can be taught human aggression - as is the case with any breed. Give me a Chihuahua, and I can turn him into a man-hater. Give me a handful of generations, and I can hard-wire that trait into his offspring. Dogs are what we make of them - both in the short and long term.
The irony, of course, is that human aggression in pit bulls is a direct contradiction to the innate friendliness toward people that has been bred into them for decades. After all, what good is a fighting dog if he attacks his owner or a bystander, even in the heat of battle? Such pit bulls were escorted from the gene pool with a bullet to the head. This is why, generally speaking, they make lousy guard dogs.
Nonetheless, the witch hunt for pit bulls - and by extension, any "bully" breeds - has reached epic proportions, with breed-specific legislation outlawing them from Toronto to Detroit. A Trumbull, Conn., shelter recently resorted to DNA testing of a dog named Mindy to prove she wasn't a pit and make her more "adoptable." (Turns out she was 70 percent boxer - a gregarious breed that was presumably created from "bully" blood, though it has zero semantic baggage attached.)
Adding to the lunacy is that no one can really agree on what a pit bull is. The United Kennel Club, which has registered them since 1898, allows for a great variety in size and body style. (As a result of century-old politics, the American Kennel Club registers a subsection of these dogs under the banner of American Staffordshire terrier.) But most of the pits you encounter don't have a pedigree - just a bad rap.
If you disagree with what I have to say about pit bulls, no surprise there. Arguably, no modern breed has engendered more debate or controversy. And there will be plenty of it a week from Saturday. Try to be there.

THE RSCPA is investigating claims that a group of young children savagely beat a puppy to within an inch of its life.
The four and five-year-olds are said to have `repeatedly battered' the quivering pup with sticks until they were disturbed by a passer-by.
Animal welfare officers say it is `the worst case they have ever seen'.
The 10-week-old Staffordshire Bull Terrier, known as `Meg', needed lifesaving surgery after the attack on fields close to Heywood's Darnhill estate. Vets say she now faces a grim battle to save one of her legs and still `whimpers with pain'.
The passer-by, who didn't want to be named, said he saw the gang attacking something with sticks. He said he was stunned to find it was a quivering puppy. He chased the youngsters off before taking Meg to Rochdale RSPCA centre. Staff there say it is the most shocking incident of animal cruelty they have ever seen.
Manager Jean Spencer said: "The man came here straight from picking her up. He was in two minds whether to catch the children or rescue the puppy."
Jean said she was stunned by the attack, which happened last Tuesday at about 4pm.
"The age of the children makes it absolutely sickening - they should know the difference between right and wrong. "I can't say what has happened to them and who has told them to behave like this. Perhaps they've seen an older person kicking a dog. If they're behaving like this aged four and five imagine what they will be like when they are 14 and 15."
Jean has adopted Meg, who is thought to be a stray.
Because of the extent of her injuries, she is recovering in a cage for her own safety and faces an anxious six-week wait to see if her leg has been saved. Jean said: "She's absolutely gorgeous. A little sweetie - and I don't know how anyone could do that to her. "She's very upset and regularly whimpers with pain. All she wants is to be hugged, kissed and cared for. It's beyond belief how children of this age could have brought themselves to hurt her." She said staff are trying to trace the Good Samaritan for a further description of Meg's attackers.

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ARE DOGS MOUTHS CLEANER

IS A DOG'S MOUTH CLEANER THAN A HUMAN'S?
April 24, 2008

Here’s the myth that makes dogs sound like a dental miracle: Despite all the leftover macaroni, rubber bands and dead squirrels they chew, our canine friends still maintain better oral hygiene than human beings do, no matter how studiously we floss and how often we visit our dentists.
Could this really be true? Well, sadly, no. In short, a dog’s mouth is besieged by its own legions of germs, roughly as huge in population as those living in the human mouth and causing a similar array of dental illnesses.
“It’s like comparing apples and oranges,” says Colin Harvey, a professor of surgery and dentistry at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine. He is also the executive secretary at the American Veterinary Dental College.
Although there’s a vast overlap of bacteria in the mouths of both species, Harvey considers the question of which one is cleaner to be irrelevant because a) both are teeming with microbes, and b) in many cases, a dog’s dental bacteria differ from their human counterparts.
One example is the Porphyromonas, a family of rod-shaped bacteria known for causing periodontal disease, a serious gum infection that leads to the loosening and, eventually, detachment of teeth in both humans and animals. Scientists have spotted two distinct species within the family: P. gingivalis was found in the human dental plaque, while its sibling, P. gulae, was found in dogs. Both bacteria thrive on periodontal tissues, eating up the gums and reducing well-rooted teeth to shaky cavities.
Although there are no theories so far to correlate breed and a dog’s proneness to periodontal disease, small and old dogs generally have higher risks of developing a serious form of the disease.
Another common dental disease in humans, however, has largely spared dogs. Dental caries (tooth decay), which according to a 2003 World Health Organization report may affect 90 percent of schoolchildren around the world, hits only about 5 percent of dogs. As complicated as the reason may be, most scientists, including Harvey, point to the scarcity of a bacterium in dogs’ mouths as the major explanation.
The culprit bacterium, S. mutans, eats a big sugar molecule by chopping the sugar into two slightly smaller molecules. This process produces acid as a byproduct. Therefore, the bacterium has evolved to require a slightly acidic habitat, and if lucky, it ends up in the more acidic human mouth rather than the more alkaline dog’s mouth.
One of the rumors related to the cleanliness of a dog’s mouth is the idea that human bites are more infectious than dog bites. However, this too doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. According to Jeein Chung, a veterinarian at Hoboken Animal Hospital in New Jersey, the danger of both human and dog bites depends on the kinds of bacteria in the mouth and the depth of the wound. The bottom line: Cleanse as thoroughly as possible after getting bit, and go to an emergency room if you feel the wound go anywhere beyond the muscles.
As for dogs’ favorite archrivals — I mean, besides squirrels — cats are found to be largely in an identical condition to that of dogs. “We haven’t done as much research on cats,” says Harvey. “But to the extent of what’s been studied, they are [almost] the same.”

DOGS TRAINED TO FIGHT
USA
April 23, 2008

Dogs being trained to fight, police say two men face felony charges of animal cruelty.
Police found nutritional supplements and performance enhancers for dogs when they raided an Austell property last month — indicators that the animals were being trained for fighting. But police found very little food for dogs, although 16 were living in barren outdoor shelters.


The dogs were tethered with logging chains, with weights hung from their
Police said

The dogs were tethered with logging chains. Weights hung from their collars, more evidence that they were being conditioned as fighters, an investigator testified Tuesday during a hearing in Cobb Magistrate Court.
Two men, Michael Sweeney, 45, and Erik Vann, 28, face 16 counts of animal cruelty and felony dog fighting charges. The men also face weapons and drug charges.
Officer Andrew T. Grubb, of the Marietta Cobb Smyrna Organized Crime Intelligence Unit, said the animals were emaciated when they were examined by animal control officers and a veterinarian. "Some of them had old wounds that hadn't been attended," Grubb testified.
Police found 11 adult pit bulls and 5 five puppies on the 5-acre property.
Magistrate Judge Donald T. Phillips found probable cause in the case against Sweeney and Vann and sent it to Superior Court.
"Animals running around with 10-pounds attached to their collars, dragging these chains around to increase their strength....[They were] outside in 27 degrees with no bedding. I can't imagine what that would be like," Phillips said. He set Sweeney's bond at $300,000. Vann's attorney did not ask for bond. Both men are being held at the Cobb County Jail. The dogs are at the Cobb animal shelter, said Sgt. Dana Pierce, a police spokesman.
A "notice of impoundment" was filed shortly after the dogs were seized and an owner has until May 3 to step up and claim them. "The animals are in good health and they were treated as recommended by the vet," Pierce said in an e-mail.

DO DOGS TALK BARK
USA
April 22, 2008

Barking Dogs Have Something to Say. The emotion conveyed by a dog's bark often seems obvious to its human companions, but new research shows just how clear the message can be -- at least, to other dogs.
The study presents the first concrete evidence that dogs can perceive the difference between barks arising from different situations. While dog barking is hardly on par with human language in its complexity, experts now think it's clear that dogs are conveying their feelings to humans and other dogs.
Dogs "express basic emotions, and we have not yet found signs for more complex meanings, like 'this is the postman,' 'this is the bill collector,' 'this is the neighbor,' etc.," said co-author Peter Pongracz, who is a professor of animal behavior at Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, Hungary. "We might call this functionally referential communication, as we are able to tell what kind of situation could elicit a particular kind of barking," he added. Prior research conducted by Pongracz's team found that people could indeed distinguish between different types of barks. For decades, however, dog experts were stumped as to how to prove dogs could do the same thing.
For the new study, which has been accepted for publication in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science, Pongracz and his team found a way to do just that.
The researchers first recruited pet dogs of various breeds from training schools, to serve as listeners. Next, the scientists made recordings of Hungarian Mudi dogs barking during two different situations. One set of recordings was made when a stranger entered the property where a given dog lived. The second set was made when the dogs were tethered to a tree and left alone.

A BRYNMAWR man has been found guilty of using a dog lead like a
‘lasso’ to swing this tiny terrier around his head and into a metal road sign.
Paul Anthony Walters, aged 40, of Alma Street, had pleaded not guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to cross breed terrier Megan.
However, after a two-and-a-half-hour trial magistrates at Abergavenny court found Walters guilty of the offence that took place on Saturday, October 20, 2007, the day of the Rugby World Cup final.
The case started with the evidence of Lesley Rosser who was walking her own dog at around 10pm that night. “I could hear a man shouting and swearing, so I turned around and saw him swinging something around his head,” she said. “It went around his head twice before I realised it was a dog, then I saw the dog come into contact with a vehicle sign that was directly behind the man.“He had been swinging it round like a lasso. I was very upset and angry, we went over to the man and the dog was quiet and trembling. I don’t need to make anything like this up. I don’t know this man, I’ve taken time off work to come here today because I feel so strongly about what has been done.”
After going to an unmanned police station, Miss Rosser returned to see Walters walk off to his address. Walters tried his front door then, knowing he was being watched, walked to an alley that leads to the back entrance of his property.
Miss Rosser’s partner Ross Morris also gave evidence at the trial. Mr Morris told the court that at closest he was a foot away from Walters and the dog. Looking at photos, he said: “I am 100% sure that is the same dog.
“It was late at night but I don’t drink and the area is well lit because it is on a junction. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the dog being swung around, it was well over head height and it made a slapping sound when it came into contact with the metal road sign.”
The court then heard evidence from vets Helen Graffam and Sophie Daniels who examined Megan on October 21 and October 22 respectively.
Although the vets struggled to find anything wrong with the terrier, any possible injury was likened to whiplash as it is difficult to detect.
It was also noted that swinging the dog around by its neck would cause pain and pressure on the trachea similar to strangulation.
Both vets noted ‘extreme fear and anxiety’ when the dog was around humans.
Unemployed Walters, who lives with and cares for his 85-year-old father, claimed the dog’s behaviour was a result of the way it was mistreated by a previous owner. Under oath, Walters said: “Megan came from a battered home. It has always been nervous around humans, it was nervous around me and my father when we first had it.“I love dogs and I would never do anything to hurt one.”
Walters told the court he went to the Gwesty Bach on the night in question where he drank between ‘two to four pints’. He admitted taking Megan for a walk but claimed he was back home before the incident happened. He claimed he left his house at 9.45pm despite telling the RSPCA in his October interview that he left the house just after 10pm.
Both witnesses told the court that Walters was swinging Megan around by a brown leather lead, Walters denies owning such a lead and said he uses a pull cord lead that he had lost since the incident.
He also claimed there were a number of people who owned similar dogs living in the street.
Aled Watkins, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, said: “It is an amazing coincidence that a person matching your description with the same dog as you was out in the same place at the same time as you. “I’m suggesting that you have given us a different time today to what you told the RSPCA in October because you have done the maths and have worked out that you would have needed to be at home at that time.”
Summing up the case, David Lewis, defending, said: This is a serious allegation and the court needs to be sure that the right person gets punished. “We can’t assume it must be the defendant because of the coincidences.” Mr Lewis also read a statement from an RSPCA inspector who had spoken to the man who sold the dog to Watkins. He confirmed Megan was ‘timid’ before Watkins owned the dog.
After a relatively short adjournment the magistrates returned their guilty verdict. Chair magistrate Dr Peter Stokes said: “We have listened very carefully to this case. “We found the witnesses’ evidence to be constant and credible even under cross examination, we found your evidence to be confused and contradictory. “We believe the offence took place and that you committed the offence and we find you guilty.”
Walters was told to return to Abergavenny court for sentencing on May 7.

SEOUL (AFP) — The world's first cloned sniffer dogs have begun training and will be ready to report for duty this year, South Korean customs officials said Monday.
Seven cloned puppies named Toppy ("Tomorrow's puppy") were born in late 2007 to three surrogate mothers under a state-funded project, the Korea Customs Service said.
The Toppies have passed the first round of tests for behavioural patterns and genetic qualities, it said. "They will report for duty in June after completing a second round of training," customs spokesman Lee Ho told AFP.
The 300 million won (301,205 dollar) project was carried out by Lee Byung-Chun, who played a key role in the world's first successful cloning of a dog by creating a duplicate of a three-year-old Afghan Hound. Lee used the nuclei of somatic cells from sniffer dog Chase, a Golden Retriever, to clone the puppies.
Project manager Lim Jae-Yong said that training the clones of a skilled sniffer dog is easier than training ordinary canines. "The project was successful. This is the first time that cloned dogs have been used as sniffer dogs," he added.
Lee, a former colleague of disgraced cloning scientist Hwang Woo-Suk, has led his own research team since Hwang was indicted in 2006 for fraud, embezzlement, ethical breaches and other charges. Hwang, once hailed as a national hero before a university inquiry ruled some of his work was fake, is now on trial. The government has banned Hwang from research using human eggs after his claims that he created the first human stem cells through cloning were ruled in January 2007 to be bogus.

ANGRY VILLAGERS KILL DOGS
INDIA
April 20, 2008

MANSA: In this dusty, and now seething, village of Mansa district, Kishangarh, residents say they have killed 50 stray dogs in just two days. This rampage, remniscient of the one in Bangalore last year, came after a 10-year-old girl was attacked and ripped to death by dogs on Wednesday.
Raj Kaur was on her way to the fields, carrying food for her parents, when she was attacked by the dogs. Villagers had rushed to her rescue but had failed to save the girl.
The incident of pack of dogs attacking children is not a stray one in the area. About a week ago, Manpreet Kaur of the same village was lucky to have survived a similar attack. However, in the nearby Daska village, three-year-old Tota had died after he was mauled by strays on March 28.
"Our representations to the administrative and police officials to save us from these (stray) dogs have remained unheeded and we have been left with no option but to take charge of the situation," said Karmjit Singh, a resident of Kishangarh. "No villager can sit back and watch the children being killed by dogs. When the authorities have failed to provide us the required protection, we have to take remedial measures," added ex-sarpanch Kulwant Singh.
Confirming the killings, DC Surjit Singh Dhillon said it was a serious matter and that he had directed the SDM, Budhlada, to take appropriate action against the guilty. "The matter will also be raised with the police," he added. According to another villager, the authorities used to kill strays dogs some years ago but stopped after former Union minister Maneka Gandhi had "spoken against cruelty to animals".

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BLOOD DONER DOGS
AMERICA
April 19, 2008
Donor Dogs Give the Gift of Life

Four-legged heroes -- cats, too -- are maintaining the veterinary blood supply. Like most of America's blood donors, JJ and Logan are unaware of exactly how many or whose lives they may have saved. But over a three-year period, the two healthy Labradors donated blood more than a dozen times -- helping numerous canine patients survive surgeries and illnesses to play "fetch" another day. The dogs' owner, Joanna Goriss of Deerfield Beach, Fla., has no regrets in volunteering her pets as blood donors for the nearby Sun States Animal Blood Bank, a nonprofit center serving Florida. "You're helping out," she reasoned. "It's similar to giving blood as a person -- what benefit do you get for that? You're just doing a good thing."
And just as it is in human medicine, the demand for blood transfusions for veterinary procedures is very real, one expert said.
"There's a significant need," said Dr. Andrew Mackin, an associate professor and service chief of Small Animal Internal Medicine at Mississippi State University's College of Veterinary Medicine.
"Severe injuries occasionally need blood transfusions, but more often dogs commonly need transfusions for different reasons," said Mackin, who is also past president of the Association of Veterinary Hematology and Transfusion Medicine. Those reasons include illnesses involving chronic anemia or clotting disorders, bone marrow diseases, and major surgeries such as removal of the spleen or a spinal surgery. Too often, Mackin said, dogs also make the mistake of consuming rat bait containing the anticoagulant warfarin, which can lead to a massive loss of blood.
"So, there's a steady need for blood that is similar to the everyday need in people," he said. That need is currently being met with a patchwork system that involves in-house transfusions performed at local clinics (some larger veterinary clinics keep a few animals on hand for this purpose), or via commercial animal blood banks spread across the United States.
"Where blood banks become important is when you have an overwhelming demand for blood, such as in specialty practices that do a lot of surgery or see a lot of emergency cases," Mackin explained. Midwest Animal Blood Services, in Stockbridge, Mich., is one such regional supplier of canine and feline blood for transfusion. According to director Dr. Anne Hale, Midwest regularly sponsors local doggy donor blood drives. The ideal donor is a healthy dog under 8 years of age, weighing over 50 pounds, with a friendly disposition. Owners typically bring the dog in to donate blood once or twice a year. "We want to make sure that [the dogs] meet the criteria as far as weight and age, so that we aren't unduly stressing their systems," Hale said. Vaccinations must also be up-to-date and the dog must be free of fleas and ticks, she added. "And, like all blood banks who let volunteer donors participate, we check the dog's red blood cell counts, we may check their electrolytes, and make sure they are healthy that day," Hale said. "We do a physical exam, we monitor their temperature before the event and make sure there's no predisposing problem that we can foresee."
Dogs are different from humans, Hale said, in that they lack natural antibodies that can trigger blood mismatch reactions. However, once any dog has received one transfusion, those antibodies will be created, rendering a second transfusion much riskier unless a good match is found. "But there are also 'universal donors' -- their blood type allows them to safely match with 98 percent of dogs in the U.S., even on second transfusions," Hale added. Certain breeds -- boxers, German shepherds, greyhounds -- are most likely to turn up universal donors. But Hale stressed that dog blood-donor drives typically accept all younger, large-sized dogs, once they pass the physical. A typical donation yields a 500 milliliter (one pint) volume of blood per visit, she said. Animal blood banks are also concerned with the feline veterinary blood supply. At Midwest, these donations come from a group of hard-to-place cats that have been brought to the center from area shelters. "These cats stay and live and work with us as donors, and we eventually adopt them out," Hale explained. "Of course, cats are also not the most willing donors -- what a shock," she said. "So all of our cats donate under anesthesia. We do that because it's less stressful for them. "According to Hale, the cat-adoption rate at Midwest is now more than 80 percent. "A lot of the time, these cats that were kind of thrown away by the system actually just needed a little more time to adjust, to have a behavior issue dealt with or to clean up a health problem," she said. And does donating blood hurt an animal? Not at all, according to all the humans involved. JJ and Logan -- who stopped donating this year after they reached the cut-off age of 8 -- never seemed to mind, Goriss said. "I don't think it hurt them. You are just sitting there petting them, keeping them calm," she said. Goriss, who owns and manages Family Dog Central, a local doggy day-care service, said that in many cases, pet owners stand to benefit directly from signing their pet up for donation. "If God forbid something happened to my dog -- he was hit by a car or something and needed a blood transfusion -- I have some [stored at Sun States] and I can get it for free," she noted. "And they also test the blood, so that if something was wrong with your dog you would know.
"She and Hale advised all dog owners to consider providing the gift of life to other animals in need. "I think that it would be great if anyone who is interested contacted their local veterinarian," Hale said. "Their vet should know who is in their area and doing a volunteer blood drive."

A FAMILY accused of keeping pit bull terriers in their Northfield home claimed evidence was planted in their house during a raid.
A BIRMINGHAM family accused of keeping dangerous fighting dogs in their garden thought they were legal Staffordshire bull terriers.
Anthony Mullen, 50, and Susan Hancock, 51, of Taragon Gardens, Northfield, deny keeping dangerous dogs as well as breaching court orders banning them from keeping animals.
They claim that three Staffordshire bull terriers and two pit bull terrier-type dogs which were being kept in their back garden were actually owned by their son Patrick Mullen, 25, who denies charges of aiding and abetting his parents and keeping dangerous animals.
Nick Sutton, prosecuting, told Birmingham magistrates that the animals were found at the house during a joint raid between RSPCA and Police during an operation codenamed Chalice.
Mr Sutton read an interview to the court from Anthony Mullen, who is serving a lifetime ban for keeping dangerous dogs in the past, in which he said: "What you're trying to do is stitch me up now like you've done before. "I'm not answering anything. It's just a stitch-up again."
The court also heard from Mr Sutton that Mr Mullen's son, who claimed to own the dogs, had been living with his girlfriend across the road for more than a year while the dogs were kept at his parents' house.
In an interview, Patrick Mullen was asked if he was taking the fall for his parents, to which he replied: "No, they are my dogs."
Interview transcripts with the trio taken on the day of the raid and later which were read out by Mr Sutton and RSPCA inspector Kat Thorburn revealed that veterinary wound treatment powder, steroids and superglue were found on top of a cupboard in the kitchen, all of which are used to treat animals after fights.
A book about first aid for dogs and two other books about Staffordshire bull terriers were also found.
(Proceeding)

Pair 'being victimised'
Apr 18 2008
Anthony Mullen, 50, and his partner Susan Hancock, 51, both deny charges of keeping the dangerous pit bull terrier type dogs at their home in Taragon Gardens as well as breaching bans on keeping animals.
The pair both said that the dogs were owned by their son Patrick Mullen, 25, who refused to give evidence at the trial and who denied charges of keeping the two terriers.
He also denies a charge of aiding and abetting his parents.
The court has been told that three Staffordshire bull terriers, three puppies, superglue and a book on dog first aid were found at their home during a raid by the RSPCA and police in April last year.
Anthony Mullen told the court that he had never seen a bottle containing steroids that was found at his house and claimed officers had planted the evidence. He also claimed they had used underhand tactics by raiding his house just before his partner's ban was due to expire.
"You come to my house a month before the ban was up. If that's not victimisation I don't know what is," he said. "That bottle, I've never seen before in my life."
Mullen and his Hancock both denied breeding pit bull terrier-type dogs and being involved in dog fighting.
The case was adjourned until next month.

ENGLAND

PET OWNER'S ANGER AT RULING ON DOGS
17, April 2008

Jonathan Edwards with his Jack Russell, Brutus

A DOG lover slammed the anti-dog ethos of Britain's big businesses after a 15-minute row with a petrol station attendant over letting his dog into the shop. PR consultant Jonathan Edwards, 37, of Perth Road, Stroud Green, said he had to call local police before his three-and-a-half-year-old Jack Russell, called Brutus, was allowed into the Shell garage in Park Road, Crouch End.
Even then, the attendant would only let him through if Mr Edwards carried Brutus in, despite there being no sign banning dogs.
He said: "I had to pass my phone through to the garage attendant to get the police operator to get him to allow me to pick my dog up and carry it through to pay for my petrol. I was there for 15 minutes!
"It just seemed absolutely ridiculous. As a responsible dog owner I never take my dog anywhere that has a sign saying 'No dogs allowed'. I had the issue once on the M6 and ended up in a row and I always check for 'No dogs' signs now. "Mr Edwards tried complaining to Shell but gave up after 15 minutes on hold to customer services. He said he has suffered similar situations at Starbucks in Crouch End, and Abbey National in Seven Sisters Road. "We are supposed to be a nation of dog lovers and I live partly in France," he said, "and there you can take your dog into Michelin-starred restaurants. You can take them anywhere; every café, every bank.
"You can go shopping in the main department stores in Manhattan and every third person will have a little dog with them. "My experience of living in London for three years is one of frustration - before you can even make a simple journey you have to pick up your phone!"
A spokeswoman for Shell said: "Shell UK Retail does not allow dogs, other than registered assistance dogs, within the shops attached to its forecourts, for reasons of hygiene. "The shops sell convenience retail goods, including fresh food, and the company adheres to the same hygiene rules as other food retailers, such as supermarkets, who do not allow dogs on site either.
"Most of our sites either already have 'no dogs, except assistance dogs' notices. Sites without this notice will receive them shortly.

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Canada

ANIMALS TARGETED?
April 15, 2008

CALGARY -- Someone in Calgary may be targeting cats and dogs, police believe, after up to seven animals in the same neighbourhood mysteriously died, possibly victims of consuming poisoned material tossed directly into their owners' backyards.
Police are investigating after pet owners in the southeast neighbourhood of Inglewood complained about sudden illnesses and gruesome deaths of their otherwise healthy animals over the past five weeks. Elisabeth Soros speaks fondly of Angel, her five-year-old Staffordshire terrier, who was healthy until a night two weeks ago when she came in from the yard. The next day, Ms. Soros called the veterinarian, and by then, Angel couldn't stand and her fur was coming out in clumps. "You could see she had terrible, terrible pain. I said, 'Angel, what is wrong?' and she just looked at me," Ms. Soros recalled.
She rushed Angel to an emergency clinic for a battery of tests and X-rays only to learn that the dog's intestines had been ravaged. Angel was euthanized and Ms. Soros is now paying a $1,600 vet bill and nursing a broken heart.
Another veterinarian suggested the culprit could be rat poison, although Ms. Soros couldn't afford the test to confirm the cause of death. But she has collected pieces of bread and rice mysteriously found in her garden.
Joan MacGougan is convinced someone poisoned her beloved nine-year-old border collie, JD, who died five weeks ago after initial symptoms of lethargy quickly worsened to bleeding from the eyes and nose. "As JD only had three legs, we didn't go to the park in the winter due to the ice and snow, so the poison was given him right here, in HIS yard," she wrote in a letter published in the Inglewood Community Association newsletter.
Police said yesterday that rat poison has been ruled out as the cause of JD's death.
But they are now probing the deaths of four animals, while reports of incidents to the community association have counted as many as five dead dogs and two dead cats. "Unfortunately, many of these animals have already been destroyed so we don't even have a direct link to see if they have in fact been poisoned," Staff Sergeant Nancy Farmer said.
Yesterday, the Humane Society of Canada offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.
Under the Criminal Code, the maximum penalty for cruelty to animals is $2,000 or six months in jail, but those sentences would be increased if new animal cruelty legislation receives royal assent. Still, animal welfare officials say stiff sentences are rarely handed out in these sorts of cases.
"Judges don't take the cases seriously enough," said Michael O'Sullivan, executive director of the Humane Society of Canada, who described those who poison animals as "cowardly, brutal, sub-humans.
"These are also people that you don't want living next door to you because anyone who would do that to an animal, shows that they've got the potential to do it to a child or an adult," Mr. O'Sullivan said.

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Moscow Dog Attacks Spur 64 Million Dollar Castration Drive

April 14 (Bloomberg) -- Moscow is spending $64 million to castrate as many as 50,000 stray dogs because of a rising number of attacks on people, including one fatality this month.
A Soviet-era policy of shooting homeless animals was abandoned in 2002.