Mysterious Sled Dog Deaths

Bad allegations connected to Whistler. Full article at the BBC News...

Canadian police are investigating the reported killing of 100 huskies which had been used to pull tourist sleds in the ski resort of Whistler.

An animal rights group claims the dogs were killed inhumanely by an outdoor adventure company and thrown into a mass grave.

Local media reports say business slumped after the 2010 Winter Olympics and the dogs were no longer needed.

The company could not be reached for comment.

"We've opened a police file and assigned an investigator," Police Sergeant Steve LeClair told AFP.
'Throats slit'

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in British Columbia, alleged that an Outdoor Adventures employee was told to cull the dogs in April last year.

Air Canada Criticized for Transporting Research Monkeys

Awful. For the full Toronto Star story, go here.

The arrival of 48 monkeys on a flight from China this weekend has brought Air Canada under fire for shipping primates destined for research laboratories, but the airline says it is obliged by federal law to accept monkeys as cargo.

A Pearson International Airport employee tipped off the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection that a shipment of monkeys destined for Montreal was being held at the Toronto airport after arriving from China on Saturday.

Sarah Kite, director of communications and special projects for the BUAV, said monkeys destined for research facilities are usually transported in cramped wooden crates in the plane’s cargo hold, where they can be subject to fluctuations in temperature, stopovers and in some cases long delays....

Air Canada is one of a small number of airlines that continues to transport these primates, Kite said. Under pressure from animal rights groups and the public, many airlines have banned the practice. British Airways, for example, has a policy of “not carrying live animals that are for use in any laboratory, or for experimentation or exploitation,” according to media liaison manager Sophie Greenyer.

Proposed Nebraska Legislation Angers Horse Activists

From the Lexington Clipper-Herald....click here for the full article.

Two bills introduced in the Nebraska Legislature are drawing fire from the largest animal advocacy organization in the world. Newcomer to the Legislature Sen. Tyson Larson introduced LB 305 on Wednesday, which would create a state meat inspection program, which would in turn allow horse meat to be transported across state lines. He also introduced LB 306, otherwise known as the Livestock Animal Welfare Act.

"Basically, it would mandate that humane societies and horse rescue operations would have to accept a horse if one was presented to them, or they would face a class four misdemeanor," said Larson. "I'm giving them an alternative. If they don't want us to process horses, what are we supposed to do?"

Spanish Tradition Under Threat by Activists

This sounds awful. Go to AFP for the full story....

Every year on the night of January 16, the eve of Saint Anthony's day, the patron saint of animals, the paved streets of the small town of 600 people are transformed into a sort of racetrack in which the fences are burning logs.

"It's a festival in which the horses are sanctified by the flames, they are liberated from all their ills," said Quique, 30, who takes part in the festival every year.

Tree branches for the fires are collected for weeks ahead of the festival. The flames are regularly doused with water to produce columns of smoke intended to purify the animals.

The tradition is under threat from animal rights groups, who say the horses suffer as they leap over the flames.

But the residents of San Bartolome de Pinares fiercely defend the festival, arguing that if the horses were really suffering they would not go near the flames.

"We don't force them," Quique said.

Canada Reaches Seal Product Deal with China

In order to offset the loss of the seal product market in Europe, Canada has made a deal with China. I'm not surprised. China as a whole still doesn't have a national conscience about these issues. Although 40 Chinese animal rights groups have protested, they don't really have any political or financial clout to change anything.

Save the Chimps Video with Anjelica Huston

University of Texas May Receive Surprise USDA Inspection

PETA has complained to the USDA that the University of Texas has been severely mistreating its lab animals. There may be a surprise inspection, but I don't really understand how effective a "surprise" inspection is when the facility is notified in advance!!

Best & Worst States for Animal Protection

According to this Technorati article, the Humane Society rated the states on their animal protection laws.

BEST STATES
California (best-yay!)
New Jersey
Illinois
Massachusetts
Colorado
Maine

WORST STATES
Ohio
Hawaii
Alabama
North Dakota
Mississippi
Idaho
South Dakota (worst)


According to the Animal Legal Defense Fund, the states fell this way...

BEST
Illinois (best)
Maine
Michigan
Oregon
California

WORST
Mississippi
Idaho
Hawaii
North Dakota
Kentucky

Grey2K Video Exposes Cruelty at Tucson Greyhound Park

Grey2K is a greyhound advocacy group. Here is the link to the video showing kennel conditions. They had professional investigators there last summer.

Good News for the Alamagordo Chimps!

I received an alert from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. The Alamagordo chimps will be allowed to remain in New Mexico for about two years while the NIH studies the issue of their transference. This gives animal rights activists some time to prepare further defense of the animals.

Good way to end 2010.

Here's the story as reported in NewsWest...

ALAMOGORDO, N.M. (AP) - Some 186 chimpanzees will remain at a federal facility in New Mexico for now.

The Albuquerque Journal reported in a copyright story Friday that the National Institutes of Health informed Gov. Bill Richardson on Thursday the chimps will not be transferred to a San Antonio, Texas, facility until the National Academy of Sciences reviews policies on using chimpanzees in biomedical research.

Richardson spokeswoman Alarie Ray-Garcia says that's expected to postpone the transfer for about two years.

A federal contract covering the chimps expires next year. The NIH proposed sending them to Texas to be used in research aimed at finding a hepatitis C vaccine.

Animal welfare activists protested the transfer.

The chimps have been free from testing at the Alamogordo Primate Facility at Holloman Air Force Base since 2001.

Rats Taking Over from Mice in Labs

I recently fostered the sweetest little rat and I currently have two mice. Therefore, this Boston Globe article saddens me on both levels. And, of course, our old friend, Charles River Laboratories, will be a major supplier of lab rats.

Scientific advances over the last three years have now made it feasible to easily tinker with rat genes, creating the possibility of far better models of certain human diseases, and potentially shortening the time it takes to develop medications...

While both rats and mice have similarities to humans, rats win out in key areas.

Their blood system is much more similar, with a heart that beats four times faster than a person’s, instead of the mouse’s six times faster. Rat brains are far more complex than mouse brains, making them more likely to exhibit the behaviors of Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, and autism, among other disorders. Their liver enzymes are more similar so they metabolize drugs more like people do.

Rats are also simply larger, as are their cancerous tumors, making them easier to study and to operate on.

But these innovations won’t mean the end of the lab mouse.

“To what degree the rat will replace the mouse remains to be seen,’’ said Iva S. Morse, corporate vice president for research model services at Charles River Laboratories, a Wilmington company that started by breeding lab rats in 1947 and has become a major supplier of rodents for research.

Merry Christmas!

Many blessings to you from Critter News!

From Ana, Patrick, Cleo, Che, Sonia, Jennie, TJ, and two mice.

Ellen Donates a Million Meals to Homeless Pets

Very cool of her to do this..

PETA Settlement over Shelter Records

Follow-up from the Utah scandal in which shelter animals were being sold for research purposes. For the full story, go to NECN.com...

The Davis County Commission has agreed to pay the legal fees of an animal rights group after settling a lawsuit over animal shelter records.

The Standard-Examiner of Ogden said Wednesday that the county will pay $17,732 to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The money will cover a portion of PETA's legal fees for a lawsuit the group filed in January about animals that had been sold by the county shelter for research purposes.

PETA will have access to the requested records. The settlement provides limited protections for the county from further litigation.

In a statement provided to The Associated Press on Friday, PETA's Associate Director of Laboratory Investigations Justin Goodman said the group filed the lawsuit to gain access to intake and transfer records for approximately 100 cats and dogs that were sold for research. They also requested any records of people who gave explicit permission for the animals to be sold.

Animal Cruelty at Texas Horse Farm

50 surviving horses were rescued.

For the full story, go here to KLTV.com...

The Humane Society of the United States, SPCA of East Texas and Humane Society of North Texas worked with the Smith County District Attorney's Office to rescue 50 horses from a Lindale property.

The District Attorney's office served a seizure warrant to the owner of the horses Tuesday, opening the door for the rescue team to begin removal on Wednesday.

Most of the horses on the 70-acre ranch are quarter-horses, and most showed signs of neglect and severe emaciation. Some even suffered from parasite infestation and overgrown hooves. The group also included pregnant mares and a few yearlings.

Rescuers also found several dead horses and numerous equine skeletons on site.