Thanks to Chiris Krewson for letting us know about this strong article from The Morning Call about puppy mills in Pennsylvania! Big barks and howls for the investigative journalists at The Morning Call!

More happy barks for The Morning Call’s new database on Pensylvania puppy mills! As Chris mentions, you can help others learn more about the evils of puppy mills by actually including a link on your blog or site to the extensive database.

Chris Krewson wrote:
Hello. On Sunday my newspaper (The Morning Call, Allentown) is running a major investigative story on Pennsylvania’s reputation as the puppy mill capitol of the East Coast. To do that, we used the state’s Right to Know Law and obtained 20,000 inspection reports, and assembled them into a database.

Today we launched that database on our Web site for users to search, days before the story’s running. We’re also encouraging Web site owners and bloggers to embed our search widget on your pages in the same way YouTube lets people
embed videos on their pages or blogs.

Please drop us a line if you wind up using our code. Thanks!

Who’s watching out for me?

Puppies put in peril by dog wardens with limited power, a flawed state reporting system and lax enforcement.
By Tim Darragh and Christopher Schnaars Of The Morning Call

Puppy breeding and boarding kennels throughout Pennsylvania have been virtually assured of passing grades from state regulators even with feces-filled living areas, cramped cages, dirty water bowls and diseased or dead dogs, according to an investigation by The Morning Call based on a first-ever analysis of 20,000 state inspection records.

Dog wardens are charged with protecting puppies. But the analysis of kennel inspection records from 2003-2006 shows the wardens have been the kennel owners’ best friend.

Kennels received perfect ratings — no violations in the 26 categories inspected by wardens on each visit — more than nine times out of 10 during that time, the newspaper’s analysis of the state’s computerized records showed.

This record of perfection flabbergasts animal welfare organizations, including the Humane Society of the United States and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which have long criticized Pennsylvania for allowing substandard kennels and puppy mills to operate.

The newspaper’s finding “sort of verifies in a very strong way what we’ve been complaining about for years,” said Bob Baker, a national ASPCA investigator. “I don’t think even the harshest critics would have thought” nine out of 10 inspections would be perfect. “It shows [the lack of enforcement] is even worse than what we thought.”

To fix the problem, the state Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement would have to know it existed. Until The Morning Call demanded kennel inspection records, the bureau had no idea how to analyze its own data. It took the newspaper three months to get the state database of inspections using the state public records law.

Even then, bureau officials mistakenly believed their computer system could only provide inspection records one at a time. The state’s ignorance of its own system’s capabilities prevented officials from analyzing records in a way that would have revealed troubling patterns among kennels.

The Morning Call assembled the records in its own database and completed an analysis that presented the accurate picture of the state’s kennel inspection system. [To view the inspection records for your kennel, visit www.mcall.com/dogs.]

A technical flaw also became apparent during the analysis: The state’s computer software inadvertently cut off wording in the narratives of hundreds of inspections, leaving some of the most critical information off the electronic record.

In addition to the nonexistent analysis of records, the bureau’s practices set its mission up for failure. Its unofficial policy tilted toward instructing kennel owners on how to comply with the law rather than issuing citations or closing kennels. That left hundreds of kennels with violations marked on their inspections still scoring an overall “satisfactory” grade for the inspection.

The bureau also tacitly permitted incomplete inspections by allowing wardens to file reports even when they were unable to go inside a kennel. That practice, along with the unofficial policy to educate rather than cite kennel owners, has been curtailed, officials said.

Finally, existing laws hampered more-effective enforcement, since state law allows only police and humane officers to file cruelty charges. So the one group allowed to enter a kennel without a warrant — dog wardens — has no authority to file cruelty charges even if wardens witness mistreatment.

Also in the mix are wardens’ other duties, including chasing strays, checking on licensing and enforcing dangerous-dog laws.

A need to get tough

All of the above can translate into misery for the animals and heartache for their prospective owners. Consider the case of Long Lane Kennel. Dog warden Richard Hess cited the Narvon, Lancaster County, kennel twice after a March 15, 2006, visit, but gave it a satisfactory grade. It was Long Lane’s 10th consecutive satisfactory inspection by Hess.

Before the year’s end, however, other inspectors and a Humane League of Lancaster County cruelty investigator found conditions so horrible at Long Lane they seized 23 dogs, with one so sick it had to be euthanized. The kennel had a broken heater, exposed wires, chewed wood and feces throughout the structure, according to an affidavit of probable cause. Charges against the kennel are pending.

In another case, a dog warden found two dead puppies and other violations at Rocklane Kennel in Martinsburg, Bedford County, about 18 months ago. Rather than pull the kennel’s license the warden issued six summary fines. The state took three months to do a follow-up inspection, after which it licensed Rocklane for another year.

Follow this link to read the rest of the article, watch the video and see more information.

Follow this link to use the database or to get a button to add to your site so others can find the database through you.

Categories: Dog News, Crimes Against Dogs and Cats, Politics, Puppy Mills
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The following comes from a recent email from Its Their Destiny, a group fighting Asian dog abuse. The article itself came from Manila Standard Today on 26th February. You may not be able to do much to help Fillipino dogs, but you can do one thing that costs you nothing other than a few seconds. You can sign the petition!

As many of you may know, the person who started the petition is a Dogster (she’s Luc’s furmom) and has worked with other Dogsters to make life a little better and safer for canines in the Phillipines. Add your voice and your signature!

Here is a link to the original blog post.

BAGUIO CITY—Team Unity’s candidates may be united as far as political and economic issues are concerned, but for some of them, there are things that they literally cannot stomach. Like dog meat.

In front of Baguio’s residents who, according to animal rights advocate Network for Animals consume about 200 dogs daily, the administration’s Senate bets issued differing positions on the controversial issue, which will be discussed when Congress resumes sessions in June.

Former Senator Tessie Aquino Oreta said she could not imagine why anyone would want to eat dogs, which are known to be man’s best friend.

“I have pet Labrador, Fidel, and I know I will be very sad if something happens to him. Dogs are friends, not food for the table. I wish everybody would be kind to dogs, even those whose culture makes it acceptable to eat dogs. Anyway, culture can be changed over time,” Oreta said.

Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis Singson, despite his tough-guy image, also admitted that he had a soft spot for dogs even if he preferred Bengal tigers for pets.

“We should teach [dog-eaters] to stop this practice because this is very humiliating. I know it’s part of their tradition, but these people can be educated so they will learn to support animal rights,” Singson said.

But former Senator Edgardo Angara, Zambales Gov. Vicente Magsaysay, and Bukidnon Rep. Juan Miguel said they were satisfied with an existing law, the Philippines’ Animal Welfare Act of 1998, which prohibits the torture of all animals. Angara said the practice of eating dogs should be allowed “during cultural events,” while Zubiri, who has positioned himself as the champion of the environment, said traditions must be respected even if he maintained that people should be humane to animals in general.

But Magsaysay, a confessed dog-eater, said lawmakers should take a “calibrated response” to the problem so as not to discriminate against traditional dog-eaters in Baguio, Benguet, Ilocos and Cagayan. “I’m Kapampangan, so I have tried eating everything from dogs to goats. Stricter laws should be implemented, but [we should] talk to the people here first. For them, it’s medicine and the warm meat is a perfect partner to Baguio’s cold temperature,” he said, adding that changes could not be expected to happen overnight since this was a centuries-old tradition.

Re-electionist Joker Arroyo refused to take a stand on the issue, saying: “I do not know anything about the dog meat trade.”

But the candidate with the safest position over the issue, which Oreta said was crucial in getting the votes of the Cordillerans and other people who eat dogs, was Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram.

Kiram said that as a Muslim, he was bound by religion not to eat dog meat, which is not considered halal or clean under the Islamic tradition. But he said that if a new law was passed on the matter, he would support its implementation.

While the Animal Welfare Act has helped to partly arrest the problem of indiscriminate dog-eating, animal rights groups claim that the law has failed to prohibit commercial dog meat trading and only provides lenient penalties. Under the law, arrested dog-meat traders may plead guilty and pay a maximum fine of only P5,000.

Network for Animals representative Melchor Alipio said the fine was too small compared to the estimated P55 million in revenues that dog traders earn each year.

Even Malacañang has distanced itself from the sticky issue of ending the dog-meat trading. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo acknowledged that the people from Baguio eat dogs “to keep them warm.”

But candidates who win in the May 14 mid-term polls will have no choice but to brush up on the issue, which is discussed in House Bill 2991 sponsored by Rep. Ma. Rhodora Maiolo and introduced by Rep. Francis Escudero, and which has the support of animal-rights groups.

“Because this barbaric industry provides a steady flow of income not only to the traders but to officials and police officers, the dog meat trade remains untouched by the Welfare Act. Traders remain elusive because the penalty is unrealistic, so with this bill the penalty will be upgraded,” Maiolo said in a statement on www.thepetitionsite.com, where 50,000 signatures are being gathered for the cause in time for the June opening of Congress.

——————————————————————————–

It remains to be seen just what will become of House Bill 2991, but it is certain that it will face opposition in a country whose President was quoted as saying “Dog meat keeps you warm, does it not?” There is also constant pressure to have the Animal Welfare Act replaced by legislation more friendly to dog-eaters who, like Magsaysay above, openly brag (with apparent impunity) about breaking the law.

See Its their Destiny for more on dog abuse in the Philippines. You can also visit the website of Rhodora Maiolo, sponsor of the Bill and author of the petition, at Dog Meat Trade.

Categories: Dog News, Crimes Against Dogs and Cats, Politics
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This news is like some horrendous sequel to the previous horror story of Chinese dog purges. That’s right, purges. Let’s not let these Chinese authorities get away with calling this a “cull.” Use the real name for it, purge.

Does this remind anyone else of the human purges during the 60’s and 70’s. Its the same impetus. Let’s get very real. You don’t get rid of “rabies” by killing all pet dogs. You get rid of rabies by vaccinations. The CHinese have been offered tons of help with that. So no, rabies isn’t the target here.

So what IS the target? Could it be the feelings that having dogs around inspires? You know, those feelings of protectiveness to others, acceptance of something outside of the norm, thinking in different ways, those sorts of things. What the authorities want to purge aren’t just the dogs. THose are the innocent victims. No, I strongly suspect that the authorities want to purge those feelings and all the other good things that come with feeling the love of a being who can help a person look beyond their own limited selves.

Once again, I encourage everyone who can to boycott the Chinese Olympics. These purges may be in the past by then but only because the authorities who will benefit from them have managed to kill every dissent and dissenter possible, human and canince.

Thanks to Daphne, Zeb’s furmom, for barking in this story from Yahoo News.

China district orders pet dogs killed
By DIAMOND CHENG, Associated Press Writer

HONG KONG - All pet dogs will be killed in a district of the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing as part of an anti-rabies campaign, the government said.

Residents of the city’s Wanzhou district have until March 15 to hand over their dogs, according to a directive seen Wednesday on the district’s official Web site.

“All the dogs in the area should be killed. A compulsory cull phase will begin after March 16. The forced cull will be carried out by the police,” the directive said.

The statement said government guard dogs and those animals kept for research institutions, military and commercial purposes would be spared.

Officials have rounded up dogs in other cities, such as Beijing, as they crack down on strays and unregistered pets.

A spokesman at Wanzhou’s Health Department refused to comment about the cull.

Follow this link to read the rest of the article.

Categories: Dog News, Crimes Against Dogs and Cats, Politics
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Thanks to Jim Willis for allowing us to run the following piece.

“Free Kittuns”
Copyright Jim Willis 2002
from his book Pieces of My Heart – Writings Inspired by Animals and Nature

The sign on the mailbox post was hand-lettered on cardboard and read “FREE KITTUNS.” It appeared there two or three times a year, sometimes spelled this way, sometimes that, but the message was always the same.

In a corner of the farmhouse back porch was a cardboard box with a dirty towel inside, on which huddled a bouquet of kittens of different colors, mewing and blinking and waiting for their mama to return from hunting in the fields. The mother cat managed to show them enough interest for the first several weeks, but after having two or three litters per year, she was worn out and her milk barely lasted long enough for her babies to survive.

One by one, people showed up over the next several days and each took a kitten. Before they left the woman who lived there always said the same thing, “You make sure you give that one a good home – I’ve become very attached to that one.”

One by one the kittens and their new people drove down the long driveway and past the sign on the mailbox post, “FREE KITTUNS.”

The ginger girl kitten was the first to be picked. Her four-year-old owner loved her very much, but the little girl accidentally injured the kitten’s shoulder by picking her up the wrong way. She couldn’t be blamed really – no adult had shown her the proper way to handle a kitten. She had named the kitten “Ginger” and was very sad a few weeks later when her older brother and his friends were playing in the living room and someone sat on the kitten.

The solid white boy kitten with blue eyes was the next to leave with a couple who announced even before they went down the porch steps that his name would be “Snowy.” Unfortunately, he never learned his name and everyone had paid so little attention to him that nobody realized he was deaf. On his first excursion outside he was run over in the driveway by a mail truck.

The pretty gray and white girl kitten went to live on a nearby farm as a “mouser.” Her people called her “the cat,” and like her mother and grandmother before her she had many, many “free kittuns,” but they sapped her energy. She became ill and died before her current litter of kittens was weaned.

Another brother was a beautiful red tabby. His owner loved him so much that she took him around to meet everyone in the family and her friends, and their cats, and everyone agreed that “Erik” was a handsome boy. Except his owner didn’t bother to have him vaccinated. It took all the money in her bank account to pay a veterinarian to treat him when he became sick, but the doctor just shook his head one day and said “I’m sorry.”

The solid black boy kitten grew up to be a fine example of a tomcat. The man who adopted him moved shortly thereafter and left “Tommy” where he was, roaming the neighborhood, defending his territory, and fathering many kittens until a bully of a dog cornered him.

The black and white girl kitten got a wonderful home. She was named “Pyewacket.” She got the best of food, the best of care until she was nearly five years old. Then her owner met a man who didn’t like cats, but she married him anyway. Pyewacket was taken to an animal shelter where there were already a hundred cats. Then one day, there were none.

A pretty woman driving a van took the last two kittens, a gray boy and a brown tiger-striped girl. She promised they would always stay together. She sold them for fifteen dollars each to a laboratory. To this day, they are still together…in a jar of alcohol.

For whatever reason – because Heaven is in a different time zone, or because not even cat souls can be trusted to travel in a straight line without meandering – all the young-again kittens arrived at Heaven’s gate simultaneously. They batted and licked each other in glee, romped for awhile, and then solemnly marched through the gate, right past a sign lettered in gold: “YOU ARE FINALLY FREE, KITTENS.”

Author’s Note: Each year, since I wrote this story, I’m deluged in the Spring with permission requests to publish it by humane societies, shelters, and rescues, which I happily grant in hopes it might do some good to educate the public about the plight of unwanted animals. Each Spring, we who deal with the tragedy of unwanted animals can only embrace this lovely season half-heartedly, because we know about the millions of unwanted animals who are put to death needlessly in this and other “civilized” countries.

Please support your local agencies that help animals and consider volunteering. Please promote local spay & neuter efforts and trap-neuter-release programs for cats. Please educate your family members, neighbors, coworkers, and members of the general public. Please visit the websites of the national animal-protection organizations, some of which offer free or low-cost literature to distribute. Or create your own (see the appendix of my book for more suggestions and resources about what you can do to help). Of course all animal-efforts welcome your donations, but even the small investment of your time can help us all make a tremendous difference for these innocent beings. And please consider breed-specific and other rescues as an alternative to buying a purebred pet (and never, ever purchase a pet from a pet shop!).

I hereby grant all not-for-profit uses of this story. Perhaps you can convince your local newspapers to publish it along with photos taken at your local shelters, with additional information about pet-related-resources in your communities.

Jim Willis

Categories: Crimes Against Dogs and Cats, Tearjerkers
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I can never understand how some people have such a greatness of heart to spend their lives helping street and rescue dogs. They are the best among us! Then you have local Chiang Mai, Thailand authorities such as the ones mentioned in this posting from Ally’s Care for Dogs Diary. I understand there is great poverty and that hardens some people’s hearts but to wantonly poison stray dogs, there must be some regression on the reincarnation ladder for that kind of behavior!

The reason Karin was not around today was that she was over at Maejo, Wat Vivek & Gasset Mai, doing her weekly feed of the dogs there. As I write this I received a call from her and I am still numb from what she has told me.

She visits Kachou market every week on her journey to Maejo and today she learned that in that area the local Orbitor (elected governor) is planning a street dog cull. Yes PLANNING ! It is said they have asked local residents to keep their own dogs in on a particular date and the local authorities will put poisoned meat down for the street dogs to eat, in order to kill the dogs.

Karin has spent much of her day talking with local people, talking with an animal friendly solicitor and trying to assess the numbers that are likely to be affected by this barbaric action.

Karin has been actively sterilising the dogs in this area for almost a year now and we are continuing to include dogs from this area every week in our program. Does this mean that despite sterilisation, these dogs will be killed? Do these people not understand that if you kill strays, more just move in to populate the same area, where as if you sterilise, the numbers reduce and there is not an influx of new dogs.

This is very bad news for Thailand, Chiang Mai, Dogs & Humanity

Original post by Joy and software by Elliott Back

Categories: Dog News, Rescue Groups and Information, Crimes Against Dogs and Cats
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Thanks to Bobbe. L, Dogster Sara’s furmom, for barking in about this petition. We can all thank DA Howard for being a great friend to all dogs by pushing for above and beyond penalties for the evil brothers who horribly abused that Georgia puppy.

So many times we hear about crimes against animals and the criminals are released are required to perform some ridculously minimal penatly. Not this time! This time, DA Howard is the hero who is taking these men off the street before they can harm anyone else, two- or four-legged! Happy barks and howls from the Ward pack!

Bobbe L. wrote:
Hi Joy:

My mom just sent me this petition site link to thank DA Howard for getting the maximum sentence for the torture murder of that Georgia puppy to 10 years jail time and 10 years strict probation. Thought your readers might want to hear about this and better yet, sign the petition.

Bobbe and Sara

Original post by Joy and software by Elliott Back

Categories: Dog News, Crimes Against Dogs and Cats, Friends of Dogs
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How terrible! Is this becoming a national trend, thieves stealing breedable dogs? If that’s true, its another reason to crack down on puppy mills that would be the beneficiaries of these stolen dogs!

Thanks to Lynn H. for barking in this article from Boston.com.

Police: LA puppies dognapped in LA

LOS ANGELES –A pair of gunmen men posing as prospective buyers of four Yorkshire puppies forced their way into a home and stole the terriers worth $2,500 each, police said.

They also fled with the family’s grown terrier.

After seeing a newspaper ad, the men made an appointment to see the 8-week-old puppies on the night of Feb. 23 at Kelly Lee’s home in Koreatown. When they showed up, she said, she asked them to remove their shoes before entering.

One suspect told her they would get slippers from his vehicle, Lee said. When he returned, one pointed a gun at her and three family members.

“They yelled at us to get down” on the floor of the living room, Lee said.

As one man held a gun, the other chased after the puppies scampering around the room and underneath a coffee table, home surveillance video released by police showed. He snatched one of the dogs from Lee’s hands.

After stuffing the dogs one by one in a plastic garbage bag, the men fled in a silver car, police said.

No one was injured.

“It appears the suspects answered the ad, knowing the value of the puppies,” police Lt. Paul Vernon said.

Although the puppies were valued at $2,500 each, the victims were most concerned about the loss of Tan-ja, the family pet for more than three years.

Follow this link to read the rest of the article.

Thanks to Debra for barking in this video about the crime!

I saw this very distubing video on AOL news and thought it should be viewed by the Dogster community. Perhaps the attempt to sell these puppies may bring about the arrest of the individuals involved.

Original post by Joy and software by Elliott Back

Categories: Dog News, Crimes Against Dogs and Cats, Lost Dogs and Cats
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