Humane Society seeks help to prepare for Ike

The Humane Society/SPCA of Bexar County is asking for help as Hurricane Ike approaches.  About 100 animals from the Gulf Coast have already been brought to the shelter and more will be brought in from the Houston area soon as evacuations are taking place. There is no budget for this evacuation so the Humane Society is asking for donations in any amount. You can donate in these ways:

Donate online at https://www.givedirect.org/give/givefrm.asp?CID=1013

Mail a check for Disaster Relief, c/o
  Humane Society/SPCA of Bexar County, 
  4804 Fredericksburg Rd.
  San Antonio, TX 78229

Drop off your check or cash in their lobby at the corner of Loop 410 and Fredericksburg Rd. from noon -7 p.m., any day of the week.

Donations will help buy food and equipment in order to take care of these homeless animals.

For more information visit HumaneSocietySPCA.org.

—Jill Brodsky

 

Relief efforts underway for Gustav pets

The ASPCA and HSUS have brought good news to the animal world during hurricane Gustav. While working together with several other organizations, they checked in more than 800 pets pre-hurricane into a mega shelter while their guardians evacuated New Orleans and the surrounding areas. There are organization members on staff 24 hours a day taking care of the animals who will be picked up by their guardians when the storm passes and the mandatory evacuation ends. The mega shelter reached capacity this weekend before Gustav touched land, forcing workers to reroute many animals to other shelters. According to the HSUS, the organization felt much better prepared this time around than it did for hurricane Katrina, having spent significant time and money on disaster relief training and preparations. In many cases, families have been able to take their pets along with them to shelters and evacuation destinations allowing the entire family to stay together while waiting out the storm. 

For more information or ways to help, visit the following resources:

HSUS Disaster Relief Fund
https://secure.hsus.org/01/disaster_relief_fund_2008?qp_source=gabhc7

ASPCA
http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=gustav_evacuees

Gustav Pets
http://gustavpets.com/

—Jill Brodsky

 

Vegas business and associates indicted for involvement in pet food recall

A Las Vegas food import company and its owners, along with two Chinese businesses and their executives, were indicted Wednesday, Feb. 6, by a federal grand jury for their involvement in last year’s pet food recall.

The indictment alleged that shipments containing wheat gluten, a chemical used as a binding agent in pet food, were tainted with melamine and falsely labeled to avoid inspection. The crime was putting an incorrect product code on the shipments and allowing them to leave China without the normal food inspection. Melamine artificially inflates the protein content of food additives and is cheaper than actual protein, but can cause kidney failure in animals. Thousands of animals were harmed or killed because of the melamine and more than 60 million containers of pet food had to be recalled.

The two Chinese companies, Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. and Suzhou Textiles, Silk, Light Industrial Products, Arts and Crafts I/E Co., were charged with 13 counts of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce and 13 counts of introducing misbranded food into interstate commerce. The Las Vegas-based company ChemNutra and owners Sally Quing Miller and Stephen S. Miller were charged with the same 26 counts as well as one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The Millers deny the accusations in a company statement.

If convicted on all counts, the Chinese nationals could face as much as 78 years in prison. The two Americans could face up to 31 years behind bars, five years for the felony, and one year for each misdemeanor charge.

The investigation is ongoing and other charges could follow, the Justice Department said. —Renee Krejci

Dogs Deserve Better founder Tammy Grimes convicted in dog theft case

A Pennsylvania jury needed just 30 minutes to find Dogs Deserve Better founder Tammy Grimes guilty of stealing a dog. At the trial, Grimes admitted that she had gone onto the property of Steve and Lori Arnold and taken their dog Jake, a 19-year-old mixed-breed German Shepherd. A neighbor had complained to animal control of Jake being tethered and left outside in the mud and rain without food and water, but they hadn’t come to investigate. After Grimes took the dog, she refused to return it to the Arnolds until she could be guaranteed the animal could be taken care of.

Richard Consiglio, the district attorney who prosecuted the case, says “If the defendant failed to return the dog to the Arnolds and gave it to a third party, she deprived the [guardians] of the dog. Without law you have chaos. Who wants someone taking the law into their own hands against them.”

Dogs Deserve Better is a Pennsylvania based, national organization that works to end the practice of tethering dogs. In a statement on the organization’s website, Grimes says “I don’t regret what I did. Not for one second. And when it comes to rescuing dogs and changing minds and laws, I’m just getting started.” Grimes will be sentenced on Feb. 27, but will not face jail time, according to Consiglio.

Vick sentenced for dogfighting

Former NFL star Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in federal prison today for his role in a dogfighting operation in Newport Beach, Virginia. “You were instrumental in organizing and promoting this activity,'' said Henry Hudson, the presiding judge on the case, as he handed down the sentence. “I'm convinced it wasn't a momentary lapse. You were at least a full partner. I'm not sure you've taken full responsibility for your role in this activity.'' In addition to the 23 months of prison time, Vick was also sentenced to three years of probation. Though he faced a maximum sentence of five years prison time, federal guidelines recommended a sentence of 12 to 18 months.

Two of Vick’s co-defendants, Quanis Phillips and Purnell Peace, were sentenced to 21 and 18 months in prison, respectively, at the end of November. The sentences were longer than recommended by prosecutors, but not as long as the 5-year sentences that Hudson could have handed down, if he wanted to. A fourth defendant, Tony Taylor, will be sentenced on Dec. 14. All four defendants face state charges as well. Vick is scheduled to stand trial on those charges on April 2, 2008, though prosecutors could decide to drop those charges in light of the federal time Vick will be serving.

Vick has agreed to pay $928,000 for the care of the Pit Bulls seized from his property. Hudson had earlier appointed Rebecca J. Huss, an animal law expert at the Valparaiso University School of Law, as the guardian of the dogs. Though 53 dogs were initially seized from the property in Virginia, six of the canines either died or needed to be euthanized. The remaining dogs will be distributed amongst the following rescue groups and shelters: Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah (22); Bay Area Dog Lovers Responsible About Pit Bulls (BAD RAP) of Oakland, California (10); Richmond Animal League of Richmond, Virginia (4); Georgia SPCA of Suwanee, Georgia. (3); SPCA of Monterey County, California (3); Recycled Love Inc. of Baltimore, Maryland (3); Animal Rescue of Tidewater, Chesapeake, Virginia (1); and PACK (Pit Bull Advocates for Compassion and Kindness), San Francisco, California (1).

“The court has granted Best Friends the opportunity to do what it does best—provide a caring, rehabilitative home for these abused, homeless animals,” said Paul Berry, chief executive officer of Best Friends, in a statement on its website. “They deserve the very best that we can give them, and we are prepared to provide a safe place for them to stay for the rest of their lives.

The dogs each come with funding to help pay for their treatment and shelter stays. Dogs that need little rehabilitation or are expected to be adopted out quickly will arrive with $5,000 for their care, while dogs that are expected to stay in the shelter for an extensive period of time will arrive with $20,000 to help cover their expenses.

South Texas dogs need a home by Dec. 1

To aid with the overwhelming pet overpopulation problem in the small town of Goliad, Texas, four women began Goliad Pet Adoption to attempt to put some of the abandoned pets into adopted homes. The organization has no proper facility, so the women foster the dogs at their respective homes, causing them to often exceed the legal limit of canines on one's property, which is currently set at six. A city council vote to pass an exemption for the Goliad Pet Adoption foster homes to keep more than six dogs failed, and now they have until Dec. 1 to adhere to the ordinance. As a result, the rescue is requesting help from the entire adoption community to find homes for 25 dogs before the deadline, or they will face possible euthenasia.

To view photos of the available dogs and learn more about Goliad Pet Adoption, visit TheHeartsofTexasProject.com/adoptanunderdog.html or Myspace.com/theheartsoftexasproject.

 

Hospital opens special pet visitation room

Laurie Meade loved pets of all kinds. Her dream was to open a shelter for cats when there wasn't enough room for them at her local Humane Society. Sadly, Meade was never able to achieve this dream; she was born with Cystic Fibrosis and died in 2004 from complications from a lung transplant.

During her last few weeks in the hospital, Meade was trying to stay upbeat, but her spirits were low. So her brother Bob had an idea to help bring a little joy to his sister—a visit to the hospital from Beck, her beloved pet Husky.

“The nurses took Laurie out to a patio area and Bob lifted Beck onto Laurie's lap,” remembers Kitty Ricciardelli, Laurie’s mom. “The look on Laurie's face when she saw first Beck that day and while she held her was one I'll never forget.”

Shortly after Laurie’s death on May 5, 2004, her parents Kitty and Bob, sister Andrea, brother Bob and their families—along with Laurie’s surviving spouse, Jeffrey Meade, M.D.—created a special fund to memorialize her. Money raised in Laurie’s honor has been donated to the new American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, which opens July 29. The hospital used the funds to pioneer a new program at the hospital—a pet visitation program for seriously ill patients.

The program occurs in the Laurie Meade Pet Visitation Room. Unlike existing animal therapy or pet visitation programs at the hospital, in which patients spend time with other peoples’ pets, this program allows critically ill children visits from their own pets. Details like hard floors instead of carpeted ones and medical gas outlets help make the space both patient- and pet-friendly.

“We cannot think of a more meaningful way to give something to other families who are experiencing what our family did with Laurie,” says Meade. “We only hope that having this special place will allow families the same kind of inspirational memory we had when Beck came to visit Laurie.”
The primary concern of the hospital is the patient’s well being, so it is imperative that visiting pets be healthy with no open wounds. Only dogs will initially be permitted, as there are concerns about possible infections from cats and other pets. “The animals in the pet visitation room will have to be unofficially pre-screened by a parent or guardian” says Dave Berry, vice president of the UW Children’s Hospital. Berry adds that the hospital must act conservatively when it comes to allowing animals into the hospital.
In the meantime, Ricciardelli believes Laurie would be ecstatic with the Pet Visitation Room, if she were alive today. “She would be thrilled that kids with health problems will have a place to visit with their pets,” she says.