Boneland Security
While security dogs aren’t new to the CTA, a new class of trained police canines will work to keep commuters safe by sniffing out explosives. Homeland Security officials hope that the dogs, who have been trained by the Transportation Security Administration’s explosives-detection program, will keep mass-transit travelers safe at several locations throughout the country, including Chicago. Every dog that goes through the program is named after someone who died in the Sept. 11 attacks. While the dogs are capable of sniffing out explosives in train stations and on people, commuters shouldn’t be concerned. These dogs have been trained to be as people-friendly as house pets while they work. The first class of dogs will graduate in mid-September.
Congress approves PETS
More than 50,000 pets were left behind in the wake of Hurricane Katrina according to the Humane Society of the United States. U.S. lawmakers have taken notice and on Fri., Aug. 4, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Pets Evacuation and Transportations Standards (PETS) Act, a bill similar to one approved by the House. The PETS Act requires states and cities that receive Federal Emergency Management Agency funding to develop plans that will create emergency shelters that allow people with pets, which currently don’t exist. The Senate version also authorizes financial help to states to create emergency shelters for people with their animals and requires the provision of essential assistance for individuals with household pets and service animals, and the animals themselves, following a major disaster. Wayne Pacelle, president of the HSUS, called the measure “an important step in ensuring Americans will never again be forced to make an impossibly difficult choice: leave their animal behind while they flee a disaster or take their chances by staying in a disaster-stricken area with their pet.” For more information, visit
www.HSUS.org.
A Rational Idea
Pop ARF artist Nathan Janes has joined paws with Rational Animal, a nonprofit organization that aims to increase awareness of at-risk animals. Janes has designed a special pewter lapel pin, available at animal rescue facilities, that will help with fundraising projects and support Rational Animal’s Animal Guardian Ribbon Campaign. The orange pin, which is in the shape of a ribbon with a paw print at the top, promotes animal guardianship rather than ownership. In addition to the pin, Janes has also created an original portrait of a dog sitting in front of New York City skyscrapers wearing an animal guardian ribbon and an orange “Adopt Me” vest. For more about Rational Animal, visit www.Rational-Animal.org. For more information on Pop ARF, visit
www.PopArf.com.
