It's time for the weekly roundup. Since I missed last week while I was at the Best Friends No More Homeless Pets Conference, I have two weeks of material to get through. Because of that, and limited time this morning, I'm only going to hit the highlights.
If you have any other stories you'd like to highlight, please feel free to post them in the comments section.
Cities/States and Laws
The new state law in Massachusetts preventing cities from having breed-specific laws went into effect this week.
In spite of wide opposition, the community of Etowah, TN went ahead and passed it's law banning pit bulls. The law passed 3-2 in the final vote -- although the passing of the first reading was unanimous, showing that education efforts impacted 2 of the 5 voters (and I'm guessing the other 3 didn't spend much time working to educate themselves).
Lansing, MI is looking at improving its dangerous dog law -- there is no word yet on whether or not the law will be breed-specific.
New Westminster, BC is considering repealing their breed-specific ordinance. If you live in the area, please encourage them to do so.
Dog bites/Attacks
Dogs have become increasingly a part of our daily lives and are wonderful additions to our lives -- keeping owners happier and healthier. However, in rare instances, bad incidents do happen and dogs severely attack people. When this happens, it is important for us to look at the circumstances behind such attacks, and not breeds, as focusing on breeds has never been an effective way at determining attacks.
In the UK, 71 year old Gloria Knowles was tragicaly killed this week by her own dogs. There were 5 dogs present, and they were described as two French Mastiffs, one Alpha Blue Bulldog, one American Bulldog and one mongrel. There is little information available about what led up to the attack (although she may have been feeding them at the time). The UK has had a ban on four breeds of dogs for more than 2 decades now, but the law has not reduced dog attacks and there are no shortage of other large breed dogs available for owners who want them.
Miscellaneous
The Humane Society of Memphis is launching a new campaign "Pit bull people" showing pit bulls with wonderful families who own them -- working to debunk the ridiculous myths of the types of people who own pit bulls.
Reading a dog's body language can help you prevent dog bites -- nice to see a smart, educational approach to dog bite prevention.
A pit bull in Ionia, MI is being declared a "hero" after alerting its owner that the neighbor's porch was on fire and allowing them to save their home.
Here's a really good feature on Jim Crosby. Crosby is a former law enforcement official who now specializes in investigating canine attacks on humans and determining root causes. "It's usually a perfect storm of things" says Crosby of canine fatal attacks. "Most commonly, there is some form of human failure." It's a good story and one you should take the time to read.
No Kill
A new group in Lincoln, NE hopes to make the community No Kill. The city killed more than 1200 pets last year in their city shelter.
Manatee County, FL, a community working to get to no kill, is having a Canine Christmas Adoption Festival in order to maximize adoptions during the holidays.
Miscellaneous
Eighteen months after a devastating tornado hit the community of Joplin, MO, a family found their cat that was lost in the devastation. The family searched animal shelters for months, and then, finally saw their cat at the location of their former home -- a little thin, but otherwise in healthy condition.
There is a custody battle over a Dachsund that was allowed to get up to 77 lbs. I would hope that cruelty charges follow as well.
Blogs
Frenemies -- Winograd looks at the love/hate relationship between HSUS and the Center for Consumer Freedom in an interesting take on the situation.
A contract to control: Do Pet Adoption Contracts go too far -- some good thoughts on overly restrictive adoption contracts from new blog Tales from the Bark Side.
An open letter to the Vancouver Media -- a thoughtful note about hyperbolic language in headlines and misleading information being relayed by the local media, by Hug A Bull.
The life-changing weekend of the year -- a video from the Best Friends No More Homeless Pets Conference.
Central Virginia's Pets: Change the way you look at pit bulls -- a well=written letter to the editor of one person's experience with how her opinion of pit bulls changed over time.
Another well-done video promoting 'pit bulls' in the Milwaukee area.
Do you like to be petted by people you don't know? Shelter dogs blog takes a look at more shy dogs in shelters and helping people understand that enthusiastic greetings are not a requirement of good, loving pets.
Fun
Since this week was Halloween, it only seems appropriate to show one vidoe of a pet dressed up for Halloween. This week's winner is a Bichon Frise named Pearson, dressed as Indiana Jones.
Just wanted to say that the breed name is "Alapaha Blue Blood Bulldog" not "Alpha Blue Bulldog". Carry on.
/dognerd
Posted by: CristyF | November 06, 2012 at 11:04 PM