A lot of interesting articles and information over the past week or so. I'm going to hold a couple in hopes of getting to individual posts on them this week, and will cover a lot of the action on the state level in a post tomorrow, but here are a few of the stories you may have missed that you should for sure check out.
Cities and Laws
The LaGrange, GA city council is considering relaxing the rules to allow pit bulls to be adopted from the city animals shelter. Currently, all pit bulls are killed if they are not reclaimed by their owners.
Dog bites/attacks
I'm not going to cover many of the incidents that have been reported over the past couple of weeks. But there are a handful that I'll cover because I think it's important to understand how circumstances lead to major dog bites and that we need to focus on these circumstances, not the type of dog involved.
A 61 year old man and a 51 year old woman of Harlingen, TX were apparently attacked by a group of 26 dogs (from the images, they all appear to be mongrels) that were living in their home. The dogs apparently got in a fight over a tortilla and the two were injured while breaking up the rukus. The conditions of the home were described as filled with feces, urine and "unbearable" conditions. So we have a pack of dogs living in horrible conditions in a family home and two people get injured breaking up a fight by the dogs over food.
An 18 month old toddler in Montgomery County, TX suffered significant injuries after being attacked by a dog that is described as a "pit bull". The family was playing near a dog on a chain when the dog lunged and "came off the chain" and attacked the toddler. The family said the dog didn't get a lot of attention because the dog was the woman's boyfriend's cousin's dog and he is in jail. So here we have chained dog that isn't getting a lot of socialization due to other societal social factors that got frustrated and attacked.
An Austin-area woman reportedly received minor bites on her hand and ankle when she tried to break up two dogs that were fighting. However, even though the bites were minor, she ended up getting a severe blood infection that caused her to lose her legs and fingers. While the news reports call the situation "rare", it is why people should get medical treatment for bite wounds (even minor ones) to get antibiotics so they can avoid infection -- especially if signs of infection occur.
No Kill News
The Fulton County commission just hired a new organization to run the county animal shelter. Life Line Animal Project will take over the operation of the shelter that is currently killing about 57% of the animals at the shelter in hopes of making the shelter into a no kill community. Best of luck to the folks at Life Line Animal Project.
There is talk in Columbia, SC of trying to make the shelter into a no kill shelter. The shelter has decreased shelter euthanasia by 22% over the past 3 years, but with more than 8,000 animals dying in the shelter each year, much work still needs to be done.
The Wisconsin Humane Society has begun providing animal sheltering services for the city of Racine -- which is creating a "new era" for animal control in that community.
Miscellaneous
Earlier this week, the Kansas City Star wrote a pretty good article about TNR and feral cat care in our community. It's a pretty balanced article, as far as news reports go and I think was fair. There is also a poll on the page -- where currently more than 80% of the voters agree that TNR is the more Humane way to handle the situation....and yet, most cities in the metro don't allow for TNR legally and thus, caregivers are forced to be discrete in their actions.
Police vs Animals: Are we seeing a trend? -- CBS News in Denver wonders about the trending uptick in police shooting dogs. Good for them for highlighting this...
A six year old Missouri boy got lost and was found huddled in a ditch with his two dogs laying on top of him to keep him warmon a cold winter night.
Have you heard of the Yellow Dog Project? I like this idea.
Blogs
Nature vs Nurture - Happy Pit Bull discusses how it's not an "either/or" but that it's a combination of both that should be considered. I think this blog does a great job of explaining the difference between "Temperament", "individual temperament", "environment", "Learned behavior" and "aggressive behavior" and is well worth the read.
After decades of frustration, a new strategy against puppy mills -- Best Friends' new plan is to now go after the demand-side of the economic pendelum after finally realizing that it is a nearly impossible problem to solve by only going after the supply side.
The Needless fear of pit bull breeds -- a study done by Danielle Dunne from the University of the Pacific on pit bull type dogs -- published by No Kill Allegany County. Science and expert opinion continue to be nearly unanimous in this point of view.
The gap between rescues and adoptions - YesBiscuit! highlights the gap created when rescues impose arbitrary adoption requirements, high adoption fees, and turn away (and turn off) good people, and then yet issue daily pleas because there is no cage space or shelter space.
Who is saving lives in Australia? -- Saving Pets has the details
Surry County Shelter thinks 86% kill rate is progress -- Yikes. And the deatils are from For the Pit Bulls. The kill rate is 77% for dogs, and 95% for cats. The "progress" has little to nothing to do with trying to rehome them and is almost entirely based on lowering intake.
And for fun, Pavlov's dog finally gets it -- from Seattle Dog Spot
I'm not seeing shutting down pet stores as attacking the demand for puppy mill dogs - that is still attacking the supply.
Posted by: PAMM - People Against Mad Murders | January 30, 2013 at 01:46 PM