Tails in the news
By C. Warner Sills
Local humane center to open new facility
PAWS (Pets Are Worth Saving) has broken ground on a new 13,000-square-foot, cageless Adoption and Humane Center set to open in Lincoln Park during the summer of 2007. The $6 million project has been in the works for quite some time but construction of the building officially commenced late last fall.
The new facility will feature a series of suites, rather than traditional cages, that give the homeless animals ample room to exercise and receive human and pet social interactions.
“The center will increase adoptions and adoption retention by offering lifelong support,” says Paula Fasseas, founder and chair of PAWS Chicago.
The organization hopes that the new facility will be a welcoming haven for prospective adopters, not to mention the animals that will live within its walls. By combining custom-made suites and rooms for both cats and dogs, and by including state-of-the-art technology, the center hopes to make adoption a pleasant experience for both people and pets. PAWS has also recently been named one of the ten best charities in the nation by Charity Navigator. It has officially been inducted into the Charity Hall of Fame and is the highest ranking animal welfare organization to achieve Hall of Fame status.
The new facility is at 1997 N. Clybourn Ave in Chicago and will be open to the public this summer. For more information on the project or to make donations/volunteer at PAWS, visit
www.PawsChicago.org or call (773) 521-1408.
CPD responds to pet thefts
In response to a recent case of pet stealing, the Chicago Police Department has issued a citywide warning to people with dogs regarding thievery. The canine caveat comes after a recent dognapping incident, in which a 3-month-old Bull Terrier named Clementine was stolen from a boy who was walking the dog in Lincoln Park.
While the motive for the incident is unknown, most likely the dog was stolen with the intent of being sold for profit. Police officials also claim that dogs are often taken for abuse in dogfighting rings.
“They use them as bait dogs to get the bloodlust of the fighting dogs,” Sgt. Brian Degenhardt of the Chicago Police Department told CBS.
To help prevent pet-stealing incidents, the police’s Animal Abuse Control Unit says that it is important to implant identification microchips in your pets and to never leave dogs leashed outside unattended. For more information on how to further protect your pet or to report a stolen animal, contact the Chicago Police Department or visit its website at www.ChicagoPolice.org.
Postscript: Thanks in part to a Sun Times article on the pet-theft case and to a concerned Chicago citizen, Clementine was reunited with his person.
Scientists begin massive rabies vaccine study
A team of veterinary scientists including two internationally recognized veterinary researchers, Drs. W. Jean Dodds and Ronald Schultz, is working to help determine the necessary duration of immunity vaccines needed for the prevention of rabies. The Five and Seven Year Rabies Challenge study aims to prove that dogs require fewer rabies vaccines during their lifetime and that dogs that are over vaccinated by rabies medicine do in fact garner serious side effects as a result.
“The ultimate purpose of the study is to increase the duration of immunity for rabies vaccines licensed for dogs in the United States from three to five years, and eventually to seven years,” Dodds says. “This would mean that dogs typically would need only one more rabies vaccine booster in their lifetime after receiving the initial two doses, thereby reducing the frequency of adverse vaccine reactions and the legal requirement to revaccinate for rabies even when dogs are ill or debilitated.”
In the United States, through various state laws, rabies vaccines are given to dogs every three years, an amount that the Rabies Challenge team feels is unnecessary. The study hopes to prove that rabies vaccines provide sufficient immunity to dogs for five to seven years. Previous studies have already proven that over vaccination causes severe bad reactions in dogs, including autoimmune diseases that can affect everything from the blood to the central nervous system.
The Rabies Challenge project is a grassroots-funded operation that aims to raise a total of $1.5 million to complete the study. The Rabies Challenge Charitable Trust, which is the tax-exempt outfit funding the research, is looking for private donations. For more information on the project or to make monetary donations, visit www.RabiesChallengeFund.org.
