"Please look at Cheena's little YouTube video and pass it on. I just need one person to recognize her and let me know she's OK. It is hard to be without her after ten years spent together."
By Rob Jennings
A male dachshund found as a stray in
Through confirmation via an implanted microchip on the dog, the Animal Rescue League of Western Pennsylvania will reunite owner and pet in
This incredible discovery was made late last week when Edna Colon, daughter of Elda Arguello, responded to a letter that the family received from the shelter in
All animals brought to the Animal Rescue League are scanned for an implanted microchip when they are brought to the facility. If a microchip exists, the number is checked in a national database and the owner on file is contacted. In this case, the phone number on file did not yield a response. However, the shelter sent a letter to Ms. Arguello and received a return call several days later.
At only six months of age, Tootsie went missing from the family's gated yard nearly five years ago. At the time, the family had another puppy, a Rottweiler named Baby. Sadly, Baby passed away at the age of three after eating contaminated dog food. The family is both shocked and overwhelmed with joy to receive word that their long lost pet is alive, well, and coming home. Several members of the family will meet an Animal Rescue League staff member tomorrow morning in
The Animal Rescue League of Western Pennsylvania places a microchip in every animal that is adopted from the shelter. The shelter also runs a veterinary clinic that can implant the chip into any pet, whether it is a rescued animal or not.
"Given the distance and time involved in this case, the chances were about one in a million that Tootsie would ever be reunited with his original owners. Without a microchip, the reunion would have been completely unequivocally and undeniably impossible. I can't think of a better ambassador for having your pet micro-chipped than Tootsie," said Janice Barnard, the Animal Rescue League of Western PA's Director of Special Programs.
"We appreciate the Animal Rescue League. If not for them and the microchip, we would never have seen Tootsie again. Because (the Animal Rescue League) understands animal lovers, they did all that they could to find us. We are so thankful to (the organization) and their work to get Tootsie back to our family," said eighteen year old Edna
The family looks forward to giving thanks this Thursday for their long-lost family member's return.
Information from the Animal Rescue League of
(Copyright ©2008 WPVI-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
So when they heard this week that the cat was found -- having survived 17 months of apparent roaming around downtown
"We lost a kitty and we got a cat back -- and he's a big cat," said Marcia Ferranto, executive director of the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation.
The cat, whose name is sailor slang for whatzit or thingamajiggy, was about 6 months old when he disappeared just weeks after the crew adopted him from a local shelter. He apparently wandered off from
The crew thought he was on board when they set sail, and as soon as they realized he was missing, a search party was dispatched on the Riverfront to find him, Ferranto said.
"We found his collar but we did not find the cat," Ferranto recalled.
After three months of looking and chasing down dead-end tips on Timmy sightings, the search was called off.
On Monday, Ferranto got a call from the Talleyville Veterinarian Clinic, saying they had found the crew's cat, identifying him as Timmynocky by a microchip that had been implanted under his skin.
"If it wasn't for that chip, Timmy would have been long gone," Ferranto said.
They learned that
On Friday, the grateful crew invited Gatenby to Kalmar Nyckel to thank her, show her Timmy's home and give her a tour of the tall ship.
Timmy, who Ferranto said looked thin and was covered with bugs, nonetheless was greeted warmly by crew members and by fellow crew cat Toolbox, the senior mascot on the Kalmar Nyckel. Timmy also met Lagon, his replacement on the ship -- which brings up another problem:
Due to rules set up by Ferranto, one of the cats, probably Timmy, will be given away because she does not allow more than two cats to be on the ship at the same time. The woman who found him has expressed interest in taking care of him, however.
"We're thrilled to have him back, but my main concern is to do what is best for the cat. Our goal will be to find him a home," Ferranto said, adding that giving him to Gatenby, who took a liking to him, is one option.
His return home also shows the value in having pets identified with microchips.
"Chips are the only sure way you can have your animal returned to you if it gets lost. It's a great tool to be used," Ferranto said. "If you do have a domestic animal, the most prudent thing to do is to have the animal chipped."
Witnesses needed to identify four teenagers who burned a dog to death
SACRAMENTO, CA (September 11, 2008) – United Animal Nations (UAN) today pledged a $2,500 reward to anyone who comes forward with information leading to the arrest and indictment of the person(s) who led a dog to the commuter rail tracks near Front Street and Tabor Road in the Olney section of Philadelphia, wrapped it in a towel, doused it with lighter fluid and set it on fire on Thursday, September 4.
“Sadly, in cases of violence toward animals, people are reluctant to come forward without a financial incentive,” said UAN President and CEO Nicole Forsyth. “We hope that the reward will encourage someone to do the right thing and help local law enforcement catch whoever committed this senseless act of cruelty.”
A witness called the Pennsylvania Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ hot
UAN’s $2,500 pledge brings the total reward being offered in this case to $13,500.
Anyone with information in this case should call the
“Given that research shows that people who abuse animals are more likely to be violent toward humans, our society can no longer take animal cruelty cases lightly,” Forsyth said. “It is especially troub
UAN is offering this reward through its Zig Zag Memorial Reward Fund , designed to encourage witnesses to step forward with information about animal cruelty crimes and to advocate the need for harsher punishments in such cases.
The Zig Zag Memorial Reward is named for a
United Animal Nations (UAN) is
Oct 1, 2008
Alleged: Puppy mill - 800 animals, 125 seized
Jul 19, 2006
Not Charged: Housing exotic animals
Aug 2004
Civil Case: Dog breeders given lifetime ban by AKC
Apr 1999
Not Charged: AKC suspended breeder using alias to register dogs
Jun 1991
Convicted: Convicted abuser operating unlicensed kennels
May 1991
Convicted: Convicted abuser operating unlicensed kennel
Apr 1990
Convicted: 10 puppies die from lack of sustenance
Jun 1989
Convicted: Convicted abuser suspended from AKC until 2019
Aug 1988
Convicted: 45 dogs, 3 cats starved, removed from home
Sentence: Fined $100 each for 32 citations for cruelty to animals; sentenced to 2 to 10 months in Carbon County Prison for allowing unsanitary conditions at the kennel.
The voluntary Class I recall involves the following products:
Pedigree Large Breed Original, UPC 2310029158;
Pedigree Mealtime Crunchy Bites Small, UPC 2310005104;
Pedigree Small Crunchy Bites Beef, UPC 2310031483;
Pedigree Small Crunchy Bites, UPC 2310014719.
At this time, no illnesses or injuries to dogs associated with the consumption of these products have been reported by pet owners.
Customers should check for the above UPC numbers on any packages of Pedigree Dog Food in their homes. Consumers who have purchased packages of Pedigree Dog Food with any of these UPC labels are urged to return the packages to the store for a full refund.
Consumers with questions may contact the Mars Consumer Care Line (866) 298-8332.
All Class I and Class II product recalls of products carried in Giant Food Stores or Martin’s Food Markets are posted at www.giantfoodstores.com and www.martinsfoods.com.
for allowing Prince Chunk, the big fat celebrity cat to become nothing more than a money- making side show attraction for you. If you truly cared about the well-being of this cat, then you would do the right thing and acknowledge that you adopted him to a new family. Now you are trying to claim that they are only fostering him and are required to shuttle him around to events to make money for you? This is a horrendous decision for an animal shelter to make.
You placed him into what you must have considered to be the best home from among the 500 applications (which is pretty disgusting if the other 499 people wanted to adopt only this particular celebrity cat and not one of the many other lovely cats awaiting a home of their own).
Reading this made me so sad:
Prince Chunk was spotted at a local PetSmart Sunday, sadly cowering in a cage as shoppers and photographers poked and prodded at the unhappy cat.
A collection jar was placed by the cage asking for donations to a save-a-stray campaign.
While he may have been overweight, he was a homeless cat who needed a home and he got one. Nothing more and nothing less.
He was given away by his previous owner to "a friend" of hers who then let him go. Luckily for him, he was found and brought to a shelter where he was adopted.
You are behaving like Lindsay Lohan's crazy mother.
He now has a new home and family. Please don't destroy that. Please do the right thing.
The abandoned infant was found in a field with this dog and her newborn puppies.
The man went outside and found the infant lying beside the dog and its six newborn puppies, Daniel Salcedo, chief of police of the Province of Buenos Aires, told CNN.
The temperature was a chilly 37 degrees, Salcedo said.
The dog had apparently carried the baby some 50 meters from where his mother had abandoned him to where the puppies were huddled, police said.
"She took it like a puppy and rescued it," Salcedo said. "The doctors told us if she hadn't done this, he would have died."
"The dog is a hero to us."
Dr. Egidio Melia, director of the Melchor Romero Hospital in La Plata, told CNN that police showed up at the hospital at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday with the baby who doctors say was only a few hours old.
Though the infant had superficial scratches and bruises and was bleeding from his mouth, he was in good shape, Melia said.
The next morning, the child's mother was driven by a neighbor to the hospital and told authorities the 8 pound, 13 ounce infant is hers, Melia said.
The teenager was immediately given psychological treatment and was hospitalized, he said. She has said little about the incident.
The child has been transferred to a children's hospital in La Plata, 37 miles from Buenos Aires.Two eastern
Elmer Zimmerman, of Kutztown, shot 70 dogs after a July 24 inspection, officials of the state Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement said. His brother, Ammon Zimmerman, operator of a kennel next door, shot 10 dogs, officials said.
Wardens had ordered 39 dogs checked for flea and fly bites. They also issued citations for extreme heat, insufficient bedding and floors dogs' feet could fall through.
Elmer Zimmerman told The Philadelphia Inquirer he feared the state was trying to close his kennel, and said a veterinarian recommended destroying the dogs.
"They were old, and we were hearing that they don't want kennels anymore," he said. "The best thing to do was get rid of them."
Ammon Zimmerman told a reporter the decision to destroy the dogs was "none of your business."
State law allows owners to put dogs down by shooting them, though Gov. Ed Rendell is trying to change that. He backs legislation pending in the state Legislature that would only allow veterinarians to euthanize dogs in commercial kennels.
"It's horrible, but it's legal," Jessie Smith, special deputy secretary of the dog-law bureau, said of the shootings.
"That someone would shoot 70 dogs rather than spend money to do a vet check is extremely problematic," Smith said.
Ken Brandt, lobbyist for the Pennsylvania Professional Dog Breeders' Association, said the group didn't support the operators' actions. He said there were other ways to resolve the situation, "like in a court."
The breeders could have turned the dogs over to rescue groups, said Howard Nelson, chief executive officer of the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
"Every humane society in the state would have taken those dogs," Nelson said.
The two men surrendered their kennel licenses. Elmer Zimmerman pleaded guilty to four charges of violating the dog law, Smith said.
After hours of anxiety, a firefighter called his cell phone about 3 a.m.—Aaron thinks the number must have been on Elvis' dog tag—with the good news that the animal was fine.
"We could sleep once we got him," Aaron said. "I honestly don't know how they got him. ... You get your loved ones and life goes on."
I would have much less of a problem with this incredibly selfish woman if she had paid a lot of money to buy a top of the line pit bull puppy. But to CREATE five pit bull puppies is beyond comprehension.
Cloning only replicates the DNA and not the environmental factors and influences that shape an animal's personality. You can't clone the bond between a pet and the person who loved and nurtured it over the pet's lifetime.
He died in 2006, but now he’s back — at least in clone form, after the birth last week of puppies replicated by a South Korean company.
“Yes, I know you! You know me too!” McKinney cried joyfully Tuesday, hugging the puppy clones as they slept with one of their two surrogate mothers, both Korean mixed breed dogs, in a Seoul laboratory. “It’s a miracle.”
The five clones were created by Seoul-based RNL Bio in cooperation with a team of Seoul National University scientists who in 2005 created the world’s first cloned dog, a male Afghan hound named Snuppy.
It is headed by Lee Byeong-chun, a former colleague of disgraced scientist Hwang Woo-suk, whose purported breakthroughs in stem cell research were revealed as fake. Independent tests, however, proved the team’s dog cloning was genuine.
Lee’s team has since cloned some 30 dogs and five wolves but claims Booger’s clones, for which McKinney paid $50,000, are the first successful commercial cloning of a canine.
The procedure, which costs up to $150,000, is drawing criticism from animal rights groups, which oppose cloning pets.
“It’s fraught with animal welfare concerns, and it does not bring back a loved one,” said Martin Stephens, vice president for animal research issues at The Humane Society of The United States, based in Washington.
“A dead animal’s DNA does not guarantee the offspring will be identical to the deceased. It takes more than just genes to create an animal,” said Stephens.
He said the cloning process also subjects hundreds of dogs and cats to invasive procedures as egg donors and surrogates. According to a report released by The Humane Society in May, 3,656 cloned embryos, 319 egg donors and 214 surrogates were used to produce just five cloned dogs and 11 cloned cats who were able to survive 30 days past birth.
There are millions of homeless dogs and cats in the U.S., Stephens said, and “we don’t need new sources to compete with animal shelters and reputable breeders.”
Ra Jeong-chan, company head of RNL Bio, said his firm eventually aims to clone about 300 dogs per year and is also interested in duplicating camels for customers in the Middle East.
