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Sunday, October 21, 2012

MAS Continues to Starve Dogs; Puppy Cannibalizes Littermate Out of Hunger

This is a difficult story to tell. It is the story of 2 puppies, impounded by MAS along with 4 others (whose outcomes are unknown), who are both now dead. The details are horrifying but must be shared if there is to be any hope of justice. In my view, justice for the deaths of these two puppies would be nothing short of immediate arrests, criminal charges, and a complete overhaul of MAS – starting with the state Attorney General placing the facility into receivership, as we requested more than a year ago. This ongoing crisis of suffering, neglect and needless killing at MAS must be met with swift and decisive corrective action. It has gone on far too long.

On September 4, 2012, a Memphis animal control officer responded to a call from a school reporting puppies on the property. The ACO impounded 6 puppies, including dog ID #245825 and #245826, who were listed as 4 month old Lab mixes. On September 5, both pups were dewormed and vaccinated. Each weighed a little over 14 pounds. Both pups had the note “nasal discharge” entered into their medical histories on September 17 but no weights were recorded.

On September 13, an adopter expressed interest in puppy #245825 but MAS would not release him without a background check and a yard inspection because, although his medical history says Lab mix, and his littermate’s records say Lab mix, puppy #245825′s cage card says Pitbull mix. And MAS has special adoption requirements for Pitbulls. There are no notes indicating those tasks were ever completed. On September 19, the would-be adopter was phoned and advised that the puppy she wanted had been found dead in his kennel that morning.

In fact, the two pups had been caged together and one ate the other. Puppy #245826 ate his littermate’s face, trachea and esophagus as well as his shoulder. Someone with initials RC, presumably the MAS vet Rebecca Coleman, performed an examination on the remains of the partially eaten puppy and found he was very recently deceased and not suffering from an upper respiratory infection. The final notes are:
Cause of death undetermined. Body was cannibalized post-mortem.
There is no way of knowing whether this puppy was dead when the littermate ate him and I see nothing in the the records that supports this conclusion. He was not sick and in fact, there is no known cause of death. This conclusion seems irresponsible, at best.

Dr. Coleman then killed puppy #245826 marking “behavior” and “health” on the card. She performed a necropsy on this puppy, noting that portions of the other puppy were readily identifiable amidst the stomach contents. His body condition score (BCS) was 1/5. Anyone who has sat in a vet’s office looking at posters on the wall probably knows what a BCS of 1 looks like (see an illustration here). It indicates an emaciated animal. In an apparent contradiction, she also notes the pup had “good fat” under the skin and around the internal organs. The fat around the organs is among the last reserves to be used in the case of starvation. And the “good fat” beneath the skin is inconsistent with an emaciated puppy although the mere presence of fat in no way indicates the puppy was being fed enough.   To read the rest of the story Click Here.

Urge Health & Human Services to Retire Chimpanzees

Despite scientific evidence demonstrating they are unnecessary, more than 900 chimpanzees languish in U.S. labs today. Many are elderly and sick, and 80-90% are not even being used in studies. A law already exists that would retire these chimpanzees to sanctuary, however it is not being fulfilled. In response, NEAVS, the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance (NAPSA), Save the Chimps, Fauna Foundation, Animal Protection of New Mexico, the Kerulos Center, Sen. Bob Smith (lead sponsor of the Senate version of the CHIMP Act), and Friends of Washoe – under the counsel of Katherine Meyer of Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal in Washington, D.C., a premier law firm with extensive experience and success in animal protection – filed a Rulemaking Petition asking the government to define when a chimpanzee is not needed for research and therefore eligible for retirement. The Rulemaking Petition holds them accountable to the law.

The time for HHS to exercise its authority and responsibility is long overdue. Sign the petition urging the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to enforce the CHIMP Act and retire chimpanzees to sanctuary.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Heartbreaking Story - Wolf Hunting Season

Yesterday, when I logged into to my homepage on att.yahoo.com, I saw a very disturbing story on the front page that read "First wolf hunts set for Minnesota, Wisconsin".  Wisconsin's season is set to open Oct. 15 and Minnesota's season is on track for Nov. 3.    Both states will allow hunters to bait, shoot and trap wolves.  Wisconsin also will allow night hunting and the use of dogs.  What was even more disturbing, was a quote from a lady (questionable) in Grand Rapids, Minn.  She said, "To get a (wolf) as a trophy would be awesome, " she said.  I am speechless!

If anyone else read this story or knows about it, please comment.
 

Friday, October 5, 2012

The Terrible Truth About Some ASPCA/HSUS Rescues, such as on Caboodle Ranch

You read the magazine adds or watch the three-minute infomercials by the ASPCA and HSUS about the terrible plight of abused animals across our country, and then the request for money.
Then you see the newspaper article and news reports on Channels 6, 7, 9 etc., about a local non-profit rescuer who had 90 or 150 or even 400 cats who were all rescued from deplorable conditions by the City Animal Services along with the local or national ASPCA or HSUS. The reporter is told that the number of animals just got out of hand and the owner just wasn’t able to take care of the animals anymore.  To read the rest of of the story, Click Here!