Del Mar -- CRUEL As Ever

For the first time in the history of the Del Mar horse races, four members of the San Diego Animal Defense Team successfully infiltrated Opening Day AKA Hat Day on July 21, wearing large hats protesting the cruelty of horse racing.

The team officially entered the Opening Day hat contest, sponsored by track officials and billed as "The One and Only Truly Fabulous Hats Contest." They then joined the Parade of Hats, potentially exposing thousands of horse race fans to creative visuals of the cruel reality of racing.

Each hat was individually crafted. One featured "My Pretty (Dead) Pony." Another boldly stated "Racing Kills." The third was topped with three dead horses and a tombstone engraved with  "Del Mar 2009 -- 13 horses dead / 2010 -- ???" The fourth hat featured a prominent banner: "Remembering the valiant horses who gave their lives for 'sport,' " trimmed with ghost horses with targets on them.

Judge Orders Nearly 500 Puppy Mill Dogs Turned Over to Texas Humane Society

July 17, 10:32 PM
Dallas Animal Rescue Examiner
By Rebecca Poling

Late this afternoon, a Montague county judge ruled in favor of the Humane Society of North Texas, giving HSNT custody of nearly 500 dogs rescued last week from a puppy mill in Bowie, Texas. The dogs, from Heddins Kennels/Maggic Pets Kennels, in Bowie, Texas, were emaciated, sick, and starving. I know. I helped care for them after they were rescued. I spent last weekend in Fort Worth a the warehouse where they were being held. I saw them. I cared for them. And I loved them.

Several "family dogs" will be returned to the kennel owners, Carol and Cloyce Heddins and those dogs will likely suffer a fate I cannot even imagine.

The Heddins were ordered to pay $40,000 to the Humane Society of North Texas for the cost of caring for the dogs, but so many were sick and needed expensive veterinary care that this heroic effort is likely to leave HSNT financially drained.

Regardless, most of the dogs are safe for now and Maggic Pets will soon be out of business. And the good guys will soon move on to raid another puppy mill, here or elsewhere, until one day our society wakes up and realizes that that those cute puppies in the window of the pet store are the reason puppy mills exist. If you buy a puppy from a pet store, you're enabling people like the Heddins to benefit financially from the suffering of animals. Putting pet stores out of business will put puppy mills out of business. It's as simple as that.

Help Shut Down Puppy Mills - The Petition Site

Help Shut Down Puppy Mills - The Petition Site

Watch the video below from the Humane Society of the United States and then sign this petition.
Will we be the ones to stop this puppy mill cruelty? If not us, who?

Bring All Commercial Dog Breeders Under Federal Oversight! - The Petition Site

Bring All Commercial Dog Breeders Under Federal Oversight! - The Petition Site

URGENT! Please click on the link above and sign the petition! For a discussion of the PUPS Act, scroll down to our entry on Friday, June 25 -- PUPS Act Response to USDA Puppy Mill Audit

We Are Making A Difference!

6/10/10 "Description Of This San Diego Puppy Shop Business For Sale: asking price ($180,000) is reduced and available sellers financing for qualified buyer. bring offer. also owner this store just added puppy financing for customers. This is a great program. The way it works is that, if a customer has no money then store offer puppy financing through a bank. Its an instant financing program to the customer. There is virtually no competition for this type of concept. The store sells quality and pedigree purebred puppies from the industry’s top Breeders. Also, carry brand name and trendy doggie accessories. sales are growing by the day. Not marketing or advertisements has been done ( Not Needed). Only relies on mall traffic. Christmas, Valentine’s Mother/Father’s day, and graduation are Extremely Busy. The store is located in front of the most popular movie theatres, famous national restaurant, food court, and main strip of the center."
Photos included with this ad match the Mission Valley Puparazzi store.

Animal Defense Team is on the march! Heading in to Mission Valley Shopping Center to protest at Puparazzi Pet Store. Thanks to everyone who has joined us in our protests at pet stores that sell puppies.   Which one will be next???

UPDATE! San Francisco Proposed Pet Sales Ban

San Francisco hits nerve with pet sale ban idea

By EVELYN NIEVES, Associated Press Writer

Saturday, July 10, 2010 at 11:04 a.m.

SAN FRANCISCO — As Philip Gerrie tells it, the idea of banning pet sales in San Francisco started simply enough, with a proposal to outlaw puppy and kitten mills.
West Hollywood, Calif. had done it, with little fanfare. Why not the city of St. Francis, patron saint of animals, which prides itself on its compassion toward all creatures great and small?
So Gerrie, a bee keeper and secretary of the San Francisco Commission of Animal Control & Welfare, a seven-member advisory board on animal issues to the city's lawmakers, decided to suggest adding the idea to the commission's agenda.

"Then we came across the idea of adding small animals as well," Gerrie recalled, "since all these animals are being euthanized" by animal shelters.

The proposed ban on puppy and kitten mills became a proposed ban on the sale of just about every animal that might end up in a shelter: gerbils, guinea pigs, birds, hamsters, turtles, snakes, rats. Sales of rabbits and chicks are already banned in the city.

The idea came back to bite the commission. It led to the panel's biggest, longest monthly meeting in recent memory, not to mention blogger fodder around the world.
Animal control and welfare commissioners say all they planned to do at their regularly scheduled meeting Thursday evening was discuss the idea, hear out those on all sides of the issue - pet store owners, rescue groups, pet owners and maybe, just maybe, take a vote on a ban.

After a vote, the proposal would have to find a sponsor, preferably two, on the Board of Supervisors, pass muster as legislation with the city attorney, and then pass the Board.

But once Gerrie's idea made the front page of The San Francisco Chronicle Thursday - "Sell a guinea pig, go to jail," the story began - it was famous.
Or infamous. The Chronicle story prompted 793 comments and counting, many playing on only-in-San Francisco stereotypes. "Bay area people truly are nuts!" read a common refrain. It prompted CNN's Jack Cafferty, who called the idea "not half bad," to ask readers their thoughts, prompting 15 printed out pages of debate from around the globe.

And the commission's regularly scheduled meeting, usually attended by a handful of spectators, became a standing room only spectacle of close to 100 people, with some spilling into the hallways, and speakers lined up for hours.

The guinea pig rescue people showed up. The rabbit rescue folks came. The bird rescue people showed up in force, including Mira Tweti, who decried the plight of captive parrots and how often they are dumped by owners who find them too demanding.

"I thought it was the longest meeting we've ever had," Gerrie said, adding that he thought the several hours were productive, brought a lot of attention to the issue nationwide and "got people talking."
And yet, he said, "I would love to get this behind me."
That will have to wait a little while. The commission, overwhelmed with varying opinions, voted not to vote, tabling the debate until at least another month.

The Associated Press

Seattle Humane Society Takes in Southern California Shelter Dogs

Posted July 8, 2010
When it comes to saving lives, cooperation between rescue organizations is crucial. We currently have kennel space to help support other shelters who are desperately in need. Our staff makes weekly calls or visits to the King County Shelter in Kent first. When we still have life-saving kennel spaces to offer, our team reaches out to rescue partners across Washington state and beyond to see if we can help.


Many of you have heard that thousands of dogs are being euthanized in Southern California due to space constraints. At just one organization, they take in 50,000 animals annually and only 60 percent are placed.
This story of innocent pups not having a chance is gut wrenching to many of us who are looking at available kennels here at the Seattle Humane Society. And so, as part of our life-saving mission, we've joined other shelters across the United States to help rescue dogs in Southern California.

Our team arrived at our Bellevue campus early this morning with 62 dogs from the LA City Shelters. Thanks to a great team effort, all of the dogs were spayed/neutered, vaccinated, microchipped, heartworm tested and given health certificates before making the trip north. Now we will give them as long as it takes for us to find them homes of their own.

All of the dogs' pictures and profiles will be posted on our website at seattlehumane.org over the weekend after we give them another veterinary exam and a behavior evaluation. So check in soon! Better yet, come visit them at our shelter in Bellevue and help us find each and every one of these wonderful pups the family they deserve.
We're located at 13212 SE Eastgate Way, just off I-90 at the 405 interchange and open seven days a week from noon to 6 p.m.
seattlehumane.org

Animal Shelters Full! Companion Animal Crisis Continues in San Diego!

From North County Times
REGION: Animal shelters full with little room for surrendered pets Adoption

prices cut as officials work to make more room By SARAH GORDON -

sgordon@nctimes.com
Posted: July 5, 2010 4:14 pm

North County animal shelters are brimming with cats and dogs, and two are
offering incentives to encourage people to give the pets a home. The shelters
are so full that few are taking animals surrendered by their owners. At the
Escondido Humane Society, all adoptions are half-price in the month of July,
said shelter spokeswoman Katie Woolsey. "We are very full ---- summertime is
our busiest time of year," Woolsey said. The shelter has kennels in hallways
and offices to make room for all its adoptable pets, which recently was 57
cats, 42 kittens, 64 dogs, one puppy and 42 rabbits. Woolsey said summer can
be the best time to take an animal home because kids are out of school and
parents are home more often. "It's kind of an ideal situation to bond with a
new pet and spend more time to allow it to adjust," she said. The Escondido
shelter, which has contracts with that city, Poway and San Marcos to provide
animal control services, is only taking in animals found stray in those
cities. It cannot accept owner-surrendered animals, Woolsey said. Anyone
seeking to surrender a pet will be given a list of rescue groups and other
shelters to try, she said. Woolsey suggests people find homes for animals
themselves, through friends or classified ads. "I know it's not the answer
everyone is looking for, but we're asking people to be pro-active," she said.
Candice Eley, a spokeswoman for the San Diego Humane Society North Campus in
Oceanside, said that shelter also is too full to accept owner-surrendered
pets right. This summer, the county has waived adoption fees for cats over
six months old and for any dog over age 5 or that has been at its Carlsbad,
Bonita and San Diego shelters for more than 30 days, said Animal Services
spokesman Dan DeSousa. And kittens are adopt one, adopt a second at half
price. "With kittens it's better to have two than just one," DeSousa said.
"It gives them someone to socialize with when you're not home." DeSousa said
it varies day-to-day whether the shelters can accept animals turned in by
owners in its service areas, which include Encinitas, Carlsbad and
unincorporated parts of the county. Sometimes there is more space after a
weekend, when most people tend to adopt animals. "Sometimes we'll tell people
'Give us two days and call then.' It's a very fluid situation," DeSousa said.
While the county and other shelters work with local rescue groups and foster
families to house adoptable animals, DeSousa said many of those groups
currently have as many animals as they can handle. So the most important
thing is to plan ahead if possible, he said. "We do know people are put in
situations sometimes where they cannot keep their animal," DeSousa said. "But
if someone knows they're moving out and have to give up a pet, we don't want
them coming on the 30th day of the month when there's no more time." Call
staff writer Sarah Gordon at 760-740-3517.

July 2: Judge Rules Boxer Rescue Dogs to Be Released for Adoption

July 2 2010
From Channel 10 News:
EL CAJON, Calif. -- Dozens of dogs taken from the home of a Lakeside woman charged with failing to properly care for the canines can be given away, a judge ruled Friday.


In March, animal control officers found 63 dogs -- mostly boxers, Chihuahuas and a few small terriers -- in dirty cages stacked throughout 65-year-old Alice Via's two-bedroom, 750-square-foot home on Moreno Avenue, said Dan DeSousa of San Diego County Animal Services.
At the time, many of the dogs had skin conditions and other illnesses, along with injuries to their feet and noses from trying to escape from their cages, according to DeSousa.
Despite the "appalling" conditions in the house, Via apparently "had the best of intentions" in taking in the canines, which were well-fed, DeSousa said.

On Friday, El Cajon Judge Allan Preckel ruled that animal control officials can start placing the dogs in new homes.
He also said three of Via's personal dogs could be returned to her as long as officials are able to check on their welfare.

At the time the dogs were seized, Via was running a private shelter and dog-adoption service under the name San Diego Boxer Rescue but did not have a kennel license to do so, DeSousa said.

Via is scheduled to be arraigned July 8 on misdemeanors charges of having an unlawful kennel, keeping animals in unsanitary conditions, failing to treat contagious animals and failure to care for an animal, said Deputy District Attorney Richard Huffman II.

Will the City of San Francisco Be Next to Ban Retail Sales of Animals???

The San Diego Animal Defense Team strongly supports this legislation!
HELP SAN FRANCISCO BAN RETAIL SALES OF ANIMALS!

If you are in the Bay Area: URGENT COMMITTEE MEETING ON JULY 8, 2010!
ANIMAL ACTIVISTS' VOICES MUST BE HEARD!

Last Chance for Animals (LCA) supports the city of San Francisco in considering a ban on the retail sales of animals! West Hollywood, CA banned the retail sales of dogs and cats last year. Hermosa Beach followed with a similar ordinance. Banning such sales in South Lake Tahoe, CA will take effect in 2011.

The ban is the brainchild of Philip Gerrie of the San Francisco Commission of Animal Control & Welfare. The ban would "discourage excessive animal breeding and minimize the number of animals euthanized in city animal shelters," he said.

The proposal would not be limited to a ban on sales of dogs and cats, but also small mammals such as hamsters, guinea pigs, rats, mice and chinchillas. Sales of birds may be banned as well.

The idea is to control the breeding and numbers of animals that end up in public shelters. It is estimated more than 90% of dogs sold in pet stores come from puppy mills and backyard breeders. The Commission's plan is an acknowledgement that pet stores may often times be a front for unscrupulous breeders and distributors profiting from breeding and selling other animals as well. The Pet Shop Project, which LCA started in 2008, has been working hard to bring attention to the problem of backyard breeders and their indisputable contribution to California's pet overpopulation problem and the non-stop euthanizing at our over-crowded shelters!

This is a call-to-action to all animal activists!! If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, please show up at the meeting (and bring a few friends!) where the Commission will consider the ban on July 8, 2010, and help drown out the opposition! They are very organized and quite prepared to fight this!
San Francisco City Hall - 5:30pm - July 8, 2010
Commission of Animal Control & Welfare
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 408
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 554-6074
sfgov.org/awcc

Thank you!
For the animals,
Last Chance for Animals