Beagles Rescued from Bankrupt Lab

Good news!

From ohmidog! a site for dog lovers....

One hundred and twenty beagles who faced lifetimes being used in medical research experiments have been freed — just in time for the Fourth of July weekend.

On Friday, the beagles — owned by a research facility in New Jersey whose parent pharmaceutical company went into bankruptcy — were released to the care of animal rescue groups that, after socializing them, hope to adopt them out as family pets....

Best Friends Animal Society headquartered in Kanab, Utah, and Pets Alive Animal Sanctuary, based in Middletown, N.Y., and Elmsford, N.Y., worked together on rescuing the beagles, who had been left locked in the facility operated by Aniclin Preclinical Services in Warren County, N.J.

Latest News on Best Friends' Haiti Efforts

I hope one day to leave a bunch of money to help animals in such horrible conditions. Of course, I have to figure out how to earn that money first :-).

In the meantime, direct from Best Friends Animal Sanctuary...

Help Haiti's Animals

Here's a link to the Best Friends page to donate to animal rescue in Haiti. The organization is part of the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti.

Haiti...the only country where I believe human welfare is only slightly better than animal welfare.

That's really, really bad.

Dogtown Episode 3 - The Vick Dogs

This final episode in the three-episode Season 1 disc was about the Vick dogs taken in by Best Friends for rehabilitation. (Be warned, there were some dog-fighting clips in the episode.) But I'm glad I watched it because I learned a lot.

Rescuing the Vick dogs was a controversial move by Best Friends and some animal groups, most notably PETA, did not agree with it. I'm a dues-paying member of both groups but, while I support euthanasia when it is CLEARLY an act of mercy, I come down pretty hard on Best Friends' side here.

I think that the Vick dogs are a high-profile case that gets attention. And the dogs deserve a happy life after all the suffering they have been through (two of them have already been adopted.) Plus, it was Best Friends' decision to take the dogs and the issue is between them and their donors.

True, there are adoptable animals who do not get a spot at Best Friends because the Vick dogs are there, but I'm not of the opinion that just because you can't save all of them, then you shouldn't try to save any of them.

Dogtown Episode 2

Another episode of Dogtown done! This episode featured three young dogs: Johnny, the golden retriever that was considered too dumb to train; "Baxt" (I think) a puppy with a neurological problem; and Tuffy, the dog attacked and left for dead by other dogs.

Baxt and Tuffy were victims of a hoarder. The show's narrator mentioned that hoarders often start off as trying to save animals and then just get overwhelmed. I know it's more than that though...and I know it from an article in Best Friends Magazine itself.

After watching this episode, I think death is often a more humane end for an animal than to be trapped for a lifetime with an animal hoarder. And I think this case was probably edited for television.

We've posted about hoarders before, but animal hoarders are more than just overwhelmed rescuers. Many consider hoarding to be a real mental illness. There are numerous fact sheets about animal hoarding available from animal groups. Here's one from PETA and another from the Humane Society.

And here's a huge article from the Psychiatric Times in 2000. Truly fascinating reading, but a problem that has not been addressed adequately at all.

Care2 Vote For America's Best Animal Shelter

Go vote for Best Friends my little winged monkeys! Or not, but vote for someone so they can win $10,000.

Dogtown: So Far So Good

I just watched episode 1, season 1, of Dogtown, the National Geographic Channel TV show about Dogtown at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, UT. We really enjoyed it. The first episode featured three dogs: Noche, a terrier who displayed food and people aggression; Willa, a puppy mill rescued Scottie with neurological problems and a cute wobble; and Wiley, a rescued dog who loses a leg because of a hit-and-run.

I learned a lot from this episode. My hands-on experience is with small mammals/critters and cats. I don't know much about dogs other than what I read. However, this episode featuring Noche just emphasizes my view that dogs should not be euthanized for being food-aggressive alone. I remember posting last summer about an abused pit bull mother who was euthanized by our animal shelter for being food-aggressive. Well, yeah, she was starving in a crack house....duh! I believe that a dog with food aggression can be rehabilitated. If we expend the money and energy on "rehabilitating" hardened criminals, then why can't we do so with animals. In many ways, they are probably easier to change because they don't have the same emotional baggage.

I think food aggression is just an excuse to make space for the next animal.

"No More Homeless Pets" Conference Scheduled for October

From a Best Friends email...

Join Best Friends Animal Society for the annual No More Homeless Pets National Conference, October 23-25, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Each year, five million healthy, adoptable homeless pets are still being put down. This is the conference for people who want to make a difference. Three days of action oriented training, inspiration and, of course, fun with Best Friends. Make valuable new connections to make your work for homeless pets even more effective!

Not only will you meet like-minded people in a dazzling Vegas setting, but there will be a wealth of presentations to help all of our work for the animals thrive, even in this tough economy, including:

* Scott Goodstein, CEO of Revolution Messaging and director of External Organizing for Obama for America presents: Welcome to the 21st Century: Learn How to Activate Your On-line Grassroots Base

* Dog trainers from National Geographic’s DogTown TV show share their training secrets and answer question about designing a plan for your problem pooch.

* Best Friends 25th anniversary surprises including questions and answers with some of the founders of Best Friends. And because this year marks Best Friends’ 25th Anniversary, there will be special presentations by the folks who founded Best Friends – and a few anniversary surprises, too!

Best Friends to Celebrate 25 Years of Helping Animals

Starting July 19, Best Friends will be having a celebration of their 25th anniversary.

It’s a celebration befitting 25 years of drastically reducing the euthanasia rate around the country, improving the lives of animals around the world, and setting the stage for a time of No More Homeless Pets. From July 19 to 25, Best Friends will be hosting a weeklong 25th anniversary party at our sanctuary in Utah to celebrate all of those achievements and more.

You can read about organizing local events on their site linked at the top.

Pets and Fireworks

Your July 4th obligatory pets and fireworks story. This is from Best Friends though, so it's worth checking out. In fact, their site is always worth checking out as they are one of the coolest animal groups out there.

Another Former Vick Dog Prospers

Another happy little story from Best Friends about a rescued pit bull once owned by Michael "Sick" Vick. This story is about Cherry.

Find Out How the Vick Dogs are Doing at Best Friends

Just got this update from Best Friends on two of the former Michael "Sick" Vick dogs (now named Little Red and Handsome Dan.) All the Vick dogs at Best Friends have their own web page if you want to check up on them.

Pet Love Closes its Doors in Beverly Hills

This is awesome. (Pet Love is a business that sells animals from puppy mills.)

The Beverly Center, an upscale shopping mall in Beverly Hills, California, has announced it will terminate Pet Love’s lease sometime in the next few months. Best Friends made the announcement at a news conference Tuesday.

“Our work here in Los Angeles sends the strongest possible message everywhere that pet shops are supplied by puppy millers,” said Paul Berry, Best Friends chief executive officer. “If a pet store can be closed down in the iconic Beverly Center, it can happen anywhere in the country – New York, Chicago, Boston and other large metro areas.”

Pet Love isn’t just your average little neighborhood pet shop. It has been a fixture at the high-end, celebrity-filled mall for more than 15 years. Pet Love is to pet stores what FAO Schwarz is to toy stores, says Julie Castle, director of Best Friends’ Community Programs and Services.

Best Friends is an amazing organization. Please do support their work. Not only do they advocate, but they train advocates as well. And this Pet Love is only one of several stores that have closed as a result of Best Friends' Puppy-Store-Free L.A. campaign started last summer.

Going Against The Grain: How Best Friends Defied Convention on Rehabilitating Fighting Dogs

Best Friends has a good article about how they took in Michael Vick's dogs, going against the conventional wisdom that these animals can't be saved.

Vick's Dogs Enjoying Life at Best Friends

Twenty-two of the rescued Michael Vick pitbulls (now known as the Vick-tory dogs) are enjoying life at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. For an update on their adventures, check out the website of this wonderful organization and its blog.

PETA did not agree with the rescue of these animals.

PETA argued that dogs trained for fighting should be destroyed because they are unsafe and unserviceable. PETA said the Vick money would have been better spent spaying and neutering, as well as providing care for more suitable and less well-known adoption candidates.

Being a pragmatic accountant, I can understand the cost-benefit argument that PETA makes. But I've seen the pictures that Best Friends has posted on their web site. In my honest opinion, these pictures are a powerful testament that PETA is wrong on this one.

Best Friends for Michael Vick's Dogs

Good news for Michael Vick's dogs!

Judge Henry Hudson of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia has approved a recommendation by a guardian/special master appointed by the court that 22 of the 48 American pit bull terriers connected with the Michael Vick civil forfeiture action be placed with Best Friends Animal Society.

Valparaiso University School of Law Professor Rebecca J. Huss, in a Summary Report to the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, recommended that 47 dogs (one has been euthanized for medical reasons) be placed with eight organizations, with Best Friends receiving the most dogs (22). The next largest group would be placed with Bay Area Dog Lovers Responsible About Pit Bulls (BAD RAP) of Oakland, Calif. (10). Other organizations that would receive dogs are Richmond Animal League of Richmond, Va. (4); Georgia SPCA of Suwanee, Ga. (3); SPCA of Monterey County, Calif. (3); Recycled Love Inc. of Baltimore, Md. (3); Animal Rescue of Tidewater, Chesapeake, Va. (1); and PACK (Pit Bull Advocates for Compassion and Kindness), San Francisco, Calif. (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. “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.

I am very, very happy for these guys.

Photo by komissarov.