Funny stuff here (not for the easily offended)

and just up the road from Doylestown....

By JOHN ANASTASI
The Intelligencer

New Orleans' Earle Bryant III is suing a Montgomery County kennel for allowing a local resident to adopt a German shepherd that Bryant left behind when he evacuated his home to escape from Hurricane Katrina last summer.

Ragnar, the dog, ended up at Molly's Country Kennels in Worcester in September after the shelter took on some animals that were being housed at a temporary rescue area in Louisiana.

The suit, filed this month in Montgomery County Court, claims Molly's kennel did not give Bryant enough time to claim the animal before allowing someone to adopt it. He has been trying to get the 2-year-old dog back since January.

“The fact is, I'm very, very close to my animals, and I see them as part of the family,” Bryant said last week. “I won't give up. I'm disgusted. This really makes me upset. I can't even express how angry this has made me.”

His is the latest case of a pet owner from the Gulf Coast trying to reclaim a dog that made its way to the Philadelphia suburbs following Hurricane Katrina.

Lynne and Joseph Welsh of Doylestown adopted a dog named Rocket whose owner has come forward and asked for her pet's return. The Welshes have said, through their attorney, that they don't want to return the dog to its owner unless she comes to Pennsylvania.

A happier outcome has been reached by a New Orleans family and the Reith family of Doylestown Township. The Reiths have plans to return Mojo, a 9-year-old blond terrier-chow mix, to the McNeils of New Orleans later this week.

Bryant, who is now home in New Orleans, said the dog initially belonged to his mother, but he was taking care of it. When the hurricane hit in late August, Bryant packed up his belongings and loaded them and his own three dogs into his 1995 Chevrolet Blazer.

Bryant said there was simply no room for Ragnar, especially since one of the other dogs was very aggressive. So, he gave Ragnar plenty of food and water, attached tags bearing the owner's name and telephone number and left for Oklahoma.

“That I was unable to take him was a painful choice,” said Bryant, who got Ragnar at a Mississippi rescue agency. “He's not an aggressive dog. He's a very submissive, altered male. He's a pure-bred German shepherd who was very well taken care of.”

Bryant contacted Louisiana's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Humane Society of the United States to request that the dog be rescued and provided them with his cell phone number.

Once he returned to Louisiana in October, he tried to track the dog down with no luck. In December, Bryant contacted an animal rescue organization that helped him post a “lost” notice on www.petfinder.com.

On Dec., 31, an organization representative realized that Molly's Country Kennels had posted a notice about the dog on the same site in September but deactivated the posting in early October, the suit claims.

That notice indicated that all Katrina adoptions from Molly's would be final on Jan. 1, the suit said.

On Jan. 1, Bryant sent an e-mail to Molly's representatives to claim the dog and learned it had already been adopted. Molly's has refused to provide Bryant with the name, address and phone number of the person who adopted the dog.

“This is unacceptable if you ask me,” Bryant said of the pre-Jan. 1 adoption.

Colorado Springs attorney Mark Francis represented Molly's in discussions with Bryant's lawyer earlier this spring. Reached Friday, Francis said he has since advised Molly's officials to obtain local counsel.

A phone call to the kennel business for comment was not immediately returned.

Oh, look - here is a video of all the dogs arriving at Molly's Country Kennels!
Go to page 25 and then click on the video dated 10/18: Finding Homes for Stranded Pets

And here are dogs that were brought back to Last Chance Ranch in PA!

Story is also on MSNBC

ATTENTION: owners of Katrina Kitties

I've been in contact recently with a woman from Waveland who I first met in September, helping to locate her three dogs. She told me that she found the remains of one - a 17 year old Chow-Shepherd mix. She also found and was reunited with one of her cats, who tragically died six months later from heartworms. Heartworms are rare in cats, and cats are not usually tested. She had an autopsy done on her cat who was fine one minute and dead the next.

If your cat was rescued after Katrina, or if you adopted a Katrina kitty that had been wondering around for some time before being trapped, consult with your vet about having them checked for heartworms.

Videos and photos of Katrina dogs brought to PA

http://kyw.com/video/?id=16115@kyw.dayport.com

http://kyw.com/video/?id=16080@kyw.dayport.com

http://kyw.com/video/?id=15727@kyw.dayport.com

Here are most of the dogs brought to Mollys on this awesome Flickr Site
Be sure to click on both pages of photos.

PA dog trainer charged with animal cruelty

SHOHOLA - State police have charged a Birchwood Lakes woman with four misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty.

Pike County Humane Society Supervisor Barry Heim reported he answered a call from neighbors in Birchwood Lake on May 24. He found nine animals dead and three still living at the residence.

Danielle Assante, the homeowner, a professional trainer of show dogs is alleged to have left her home for three weeks, leaving the pets without food or water.

The dead animals were a five month-old Border Collie, three Staffordshire Bull Terriers, three cats, a rabbit, and a cockatiel.

Still alive but severely emaciated were three other dogs, two Rotweillers and a Sheltie Collie, which were taken to the animal shelter and are recovering. One of the surviving Rotweilers, which was just 59 pounds, is now back at 95 pounds.

Assante was interviewed by Trooper McCarthy at the Blooming Grove State Police barracks and arrested. She was charged with Animal Cruelty, a misdemeanor and four summary charges of neglect and unsanitary conditions as reported by Heim.

“She’ll get fined and serve minimal jail time. The state does not crack down hard enough on people like this,” said Heim.

Assante is scheduled to appear before Magistrate Steve McBride of District Court in Dingmans Ferry on August 8 for a preliminary hearing regarding the charges.

Sharon Gorski's open letter to the rescuers

Have you seen the movie "Eight Below?" If not you have to watch that movie, as it should explain something very important to you.

It sends a message to every single animal lover on this earth. We saw this same determination with the rescues who made their way down to ground zero, and with the rescuers that followed them.

In the very beginning when the small guys went past Lamar-Dixon, and said we can do better than them. We said we will work together to save the animals. We actually went our seperate ways, but we accomplished much. But the real reason you went down there, was because you wanted to save the pets and return them to their owners.

Yes, some did get back to their owners, but there are still a lot of them who did not, and you know what, a lot of their owners have now lost large chunk of their heart, and it is for them that I write this. Because when you lose a piece of your heart, you are never whole until you find that piece and return it to it's rightful place.

This is what we should ALL be working towards, to return those pets that were saved, brought to safety, and taken care of by their guardian angels, but they need to go home to the ones who are missing them, missing that piece of themselves, and their pet is the only thing that will help live thru the rest of this terrible ordeal.

You came together in December to help these people find their loved and lost pets, why can you not open your hearts, and once again help these people find their pets, you are the only hope they have, and most of you are shutting the doors in their faces. It has been almost one year, won't you consider another chance to help them find their pets.

I do not care what ya'll think of me, I am an animal lover, and I have compassion for all humans, and with those two virtues, I am rich, when in reality I am poor.

I lost my home and a couple of pets to a house fire a few years back, so I know the feeling that these pet owners go thru. I cannot get my pets they are gone forever, but these people they know these pets were rescued, and alive somewhere, that gives them hope.

I will not ceast and desist, I have nothing to sue for except my voice. And this voice will not quit until, you have at least tried one more time to help the pet owners of the pets you helped to rescue.

I am speaking to the founders of these rescues, prove to me and the rest of the world that you really are the animal lovers you say you are. Prove it to these owners. If you do not at least try, then we will know that you are not what you say you are, you are not animal lovers and you do not have human compassion.

Sharon Gorski
"Possecop"

Reward Offered for Abuser of Chihuahua

Severely Injured Chihuahua in Guarded Condition

Charlotte on day of rescue - July 27, 2006

Charlotte recovering - July 31, 2006

The Humane Society of Missouri is offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or person(s) who severely abused a one-year-old, reddish brown, female Chihuahua.

When brought to Humane Society headquarters, the dog had a hard plastic zip tie tightly attached to her neck. Her head was grotesquely swollen to the size of a grapefruit and she was unable to swallow. The dog, staff have named Charlotte, also is very skinny.

A St. Louis city resident found the dog on her front porch and brought her to Humane Society of Missouri headquarters. Humane Society staff immediately transported the dog to the Animal Emergency Center where the zip tie was removed and emergency treatment administered. This morning the Chihuahua was brought back to the Humane Society of Missouri. Treatment will continue under the direction of Humane Society veterinarians.

Dr. Melinda Fleming, Assistant Director of the Humane Society’s Veterinary Clinics, says the dog is in guarded condition. “We are monitoring her closely and giving her time to stabilize before we perform further examinations and diagnostics. She is receiving medication and is now able to eat and drink in small amounts.”

Report information about this incident or report animal abuse: 314-647-4400
Make a donation to help care for Charlotte: 314-951-1542

I seem to be in a political sort of mood tonight

Friday, September 2nd, 2005

Dear Mr. Bush:

Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.

Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?

Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!

I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?

And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!

On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.

There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!

You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.

Yours,

Michael Moore

At least 20 lawsuits now filed for return of Katrina pets

Above link is to an article in yesterday's Dallas Morning News. Some of the 20 cases have been filed against the shelters or rescue groups that adopted away owned dogs, and in other cases the lawsuits are filed against the individuals with the dogs.

I would hate to be among those not-yet-sued, harboring Katrina dogs, wondering when the other shoe will drop, wondering when the subpoena will arrive. Yes, this would be the dark side of being a martyr.

But I also imagine that this would be a really good time for those people to find some escape route that allows them to return the dogs in whatever way they can find to save face. We have already seen that it's impossible for any of these people to say "I'm sorry, I made a mistake and I want to give you back your dog." But there are lots of varied and creative ways that someone can do this, such as Lynne Welsh having declared that the Dog Whisperer told her that Rocket needs to be returned to his family in New Orleans (of course she changed her mind again after that and decided not to return Rocket).

Here are a few suggestions.

1. Say that you were just diagnosed with a terminal illness and given the extenuating circumstances decided it would be best to return the dog to its original owners. Be sure to allow yourself to maintain your martyrdom to possibly even evoke some sympathy in the process.

2. Announce that the unexplained symptoms you've had for the past ___ months were recently diagnosed as an allergy to Chow mixes/poodles/St. Bernards/Shih Tzu/Yorkies...and that your doctor ordered you to get rid of the dog. Better yet, say that your child developed the horrible allergy to the dog.

3. Claim that your job is relocating you to Beirut and you thought it best to find a new home for the dog here.

4. Another good one that hasn't been tried yet is to announce that you have recently been saved and declared Jesus as your personal savior, repented all your sins and have come to see your evil ways. Beg for forgiveness. If this can work with mass murderers I imagine it will work quite well for Pam, Lynne, Biannca, Elizabeth, Lisa, etc.