In addition to banning continuous chaining, a proposed law in Germany will require people to take their dogs out at least twice a day for walks, a run around the park, or some other outside time. The proposal has largely been met with derision and claims of “nanny state” micromanaging. I think such scoffing misses the point. In addition to exercise, such laws offer an important psychological benefit. Of course, the devil is in the…
The President is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in a case with enormous implications for shelter reform advocates. At his direction, the Justice Department wants it to overturn “a federal appeals court ruling that found the president’s practice of blocking critics [on social media] violates the First Amendment.” The President is not the only public official to violate Federal law by censoring speech. Virginia Delegate Bobby Orrock, a Republican, has done it; as…
This is Peanut Butter, a healthy orphaned kitten, who was killed by the New York City pound with a rescuer minutes away. According to her would-be rescuer, Peanut Butter was of good weight, “observed to be ‘active, crawling and vocal’: Her lungs were clear, no eye or ear discharge was noted and her skin was free of parasites.” At 4:30 pm “She was told the kitty was ‘prepped and ready to go” and the rescuer…
As I have reported repeatedly over the last several months, progressive shelters in progressive communities are rising to the challenged posed by the pandemic by embracing ingenuity, a “can do” attitude, and technology to save the animals. And thanks to an overwhelming response by the public, these shelters have placed record numbers of dogs, cats and other animals and many are finding themselves empty for the first time in their history. As the economic fallout…
Back in May, the Los Angeles Times published an expose that Marc Ching, a well-known and until then beloved “animal activist” allegedly fighting cruelty in the Indonesian dog meat industry, was a fraud. It provided evidence that Ching, who spent nearly a decade in prison for a violent crime before joining the movement, staged videos of dogs being killed, including blowtorched alive, for personal gain. Recently, the L.A. Times published a follow-up with evidence that…
I’m very excited to announce the All American Vegan Candy Cookbook. With recipes that veganize America’s most iconic commercial candies, including Snickers, Three Musketeers, Milk Duds, KitKat, Twix, Dots, Tootsie Rolls, Blow Pops, and more, the All American Vegan Candy Cookbook has more than 100 recipes for copycat candies that look and taste the same as your childhood favorites, as well as recipes for other classic sweets such as fudge, caramels, salt water taffy, truffles,…
Although they deny it, Austin Animal Center (in Texas) has been telling people to release stray dogs where they are found because they are not taking them in. When it was caught on video and made public, the pound director claimed it was a misunderstanding and issued a statement that he was “disappointed” in staff. But the staff member seen in the video telling the Good Samaritan with the young dog to “let her go…
The pandemic has revealed both the tremendous progress we have made in animal sheltering practices and exposed some alarming deficiencies. Many communities rose to the challenge by embracing ingenuity, a “can do” attitude, and technology to save the animals, and, as a result, “placed record numbers of dogs, cats and other animals.” Others turned their backs on animals by closing their doors. The former includes communities like Rosenberg, TX, which continued operating as an essential…
We’ve made tremendous progress as a movement, but not only is there still a long way to go, some communities are moving in the wrong direction. The Solano County Grand Jury recently issued a report recently after doing an inspection of the county shelter. Jurors found “evidence of rodent infestation with rat/mouse droppings in the living environment of the confined animals. In addition, the majority of the cages of the confined stray dogs were so…
As such, there is no mode of transmission either to other dogs, to other animals, or to people. I am at a loss here. I worry about people taking actions to compromise the welfare of dogs, cats, and other animals as the USDA announces positive dog and cat tests of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. So I post about studies that prove that animals are highly resistant, show few (if any) clinical symptoms, develop…