77 cats taken from GR home

GRAND RAPIDS -- Dozens upon dozens of cats are at the Humane Society of Kent County after they were found in the same Grand Rapids home.

The Human Society got tipped off to the case by a neighbor. When the owner was approached, she voluntarily turned over all of the cats.

"The carpets were saturated in urine so much that if you walked into the basement...the ceiling tiles had urine saturated through them," Amber Conklin, a kennel technician at the Humane Society, told 24 Hour News 8.

"(The owner) had about 48 food bowls around the house for the cats to eat out of."




But unlike similar cases where many animals have to be euthanized, everyone involved says these cats are in good health.

Many of the cats are already spayed or neutered, and some are even declawed.

Those at the Humane Society say this case just boils down to one person getting overwhelmed after taking in all these cats.

"There were too many of them in a household with someone who didn't have the financial means or time to properly care for that quantity of cats," said Karen Terpstra of the Humane Society.

The animals will go up for adoption next week for $25 each.

Reference:woodtv

Lance Armstrong sues animal group over yellow wristbands

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Lance Armstrong Foundation set up by the former Tour de France champion to battle cancer is suing an animal charity over dog and cat collars which resemble its yellow wristbands.

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Armstrong, a cancer survivor, launched the yellow bands during the 2004 Tour bearing the words "Livestrong." They became an instant success, and selling at a dollar a piece, have turned into a huge money-spinner for his foundation.

They have also become a sign of recognition for those fighting against cancer. Armstrong always wears his, as does cancer-sufferer White House spokesman Tony Snow, along with many other personalities.





In court documents filed in Texas on Tuesday, the foundation (LAF) alleges that the Oklahoma-based Animal Charity Collar Group stole the idea in producing yellow dog and cat collars embossed with the words "Barkstrong" and "Purrstrong."

The animal collars which went on sale in 2005 "use the same color, the same or similar materials, similar wording ... and similar fonts," the documents allege.

"Such confusion, mistake and deception are likely to cause irreparable harm to LAF," they add.

The foundation has sold some 65 million yellow "Livestrong" wristbands since they were launched three years ago and is asking for the animal charity to pay damages from the profits of the collars and to stop selling them.

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Man arrested after beating dog

Tampa, Florida - A 36-year-old Hillsborough County man is jail today, accused of beating his dog in a bank parking lot in the Town N' Country area.

Herbert Cox Jr. has a long arrest history in Hillsborough County. He's been arrested at least 19 times, the majority of those are battery and drug charges.

Investigators say numerous people called the Sheriff's Office when they spotted Cox hitting and kicking his mixed breed dog outside a bank on Sheldon Road.




Cox was taken to the Hillsborough County Jail and the injured dog was taken to an emergency vet clinic.

The dog reportedly has eye, mouth and leg injuries.

Cox is charged with animal cruelty and is being held on a $2,000 bond.

tampabays10

Stolen Dog Recovered After Two Years

Usually, you hear dogs will scare away would-be intruders, unless it’s your dogs they’re after.

“My window had been pried open,” Jennifer Gleason said. “And the dogs were gone.”

When someone broke into Jennifer Gleason's home in Canton, Georgia, the only things missing were her two purebred pugs. She filed a police report and started a search that lasted nearly two years.

“One of the animal control officers told me there’s been a rash of small dogs being stolen and sold,” Gleason remembered. “I never thought I’d see them again.”

Then, last week, a phone call: “My mother screamed, ‘Jenny, Jenny, they found Cupcake!’”

The female pug was discovered abandoned on the side of the road by two Carrollton sisters. Melissa and Melinda didn’t want to use their last names, because they’re also dog owners and are afraid they could be targeted.

“I was led to her,” Melissa said. “My husband said he saw a pug on the side of the road and I went looking for her.” Melissa finally found Cupcake at the end of an abandoned road. She was covered in fleas, missing patches of hair, and had lost 15 pounds.

When the sisters took Cupcake to the veterinarian, they asked for a microchip scan. That scan came up with Jennifer’s name. The two groups quickly planned a reunion over Labor Day weekend.

“I was emotional,” Melinda said. “I was crying. She was crying, and Cupcake was like, ‘What’s going on?”

Randi Tucker, from the Southeast Pug Rescue and Adoption (SEPRA), said when certain breeds gain popularity, and price, they can also become targets:

"A lot of times because they're purebreds, they're valuable. They can be put into puppy mills, which are solely for the purpose of breeding puppies."





That’s why Tucker says microchipping your dog is so important: “Whether lost or stolen, it will help you find your dog.”

Because stolen dogs are sometimes sold at flea markets or in classified ads, she also warns you should have new dogs scanned to make sure they don’t belong to someone else.

Meanwhile, police are still looking into Jennifer Gleason’s case. Jennifer said she’s been told other nearby dog owners suspect they, too, might have been targets. Canton police say there have been no other police reports filed in that area.

tampabays10

Muncie man guilty of dog fighting

STAR PRESS FILE PHOTO

One of two pit bulls confiscated from Chris Wilson’s home peeks out from a cage at the Muncie Animal Shelter in December of 2006. The dogs were later put to death.


MUNCIE -- Christopher Wilson loved dogs as a child, according to his mother, but the Muncie man was found guilty Tuesday of promoting animal fighting and cruelty to animals.

"This is a case of an individual that benefited from fighting dogs," said Deputy Prosecutor Joe Orick, displaying photographs of a chewed-up pit bull that was found in Wilson's possession.

Wilson's mother, Brenda Gore, maintained the guilty verdicts rendered by Delaware Circuit Court 3 Judge Robert Barnet Jr. were wrong.

"Chris raised dogs since he was nine," Gore said. "He loves animals."
Based on evidence presented by Orick, Barnet found Wilson, 22, guilty of promoting an animal fighting contest, a class D felony carrying a standard 18-month prison term, and two counts of animal cruelty, a class B misdemeanor with a maximum 180-day jail sentence.

The judge found Wilson not guilty of resisting law enforcement.
Barnet issued the verdicts after a two-hour bench trial and ordered Wilson held in jail pending a Sept. 17 sentencing hearing.

Wilson's arrest followed a December fire in a condemned house at 823 E. Main St. where two canines were found.

Police officer Michael Edwards said he found two pit bulls, an adult in a cage that was standing in feces and urine without food or water, and a puppy tied to a treadmill with a one-foot leash.

Orick provided photographs illustrating scars from chew marks on the head and legs of the adult pit bull.

Jill Dolon, president of Unconditional Love Foundation, testified that the scars on the dog were consistent with wounds caused by dog fighting.
The animal rights group has produced a documentary on dog fighting and also provides education to prevent animal cruelty.

Defense attorney Ross Rowland tried to exclude Dolon's testimony, saying she had no formal education in animal care and treatment. Barnet allowed the testimony after Dolon testified she received education and training as a county animal control officer.

Wilson denied he had ever been involved in dog fighting, insisting that the animals were regularly fed and watered. He also claimed equipment in the house, such as the treadmill and scales, were for his personal use.



"I moved out of the house because it was condemned," said Wilson, who maintained he continued to care for the two dogs and others there after moving out. The two dogs police found were taken to the Muncie Animal Shelter and later put to death.
Orick said the prosecutor's office took animal rights "very seriously."
"We aggressively pursue these cases any time we hear of dog fighting," the deputy prosecutor said.

Rowland, meanwhile, insisted there was no evidence to prove his client intended to commit the crimes against animals.

Ancient Beehives Unearthed in Israel

Amihai Mazar, Hebrew University of Jerusalem


Honeybee Central?

An archaeologist peers into the opening of an ancient beehive found in excavations in Tel Rehov in northern Israel. Researchers digging in northern Israel recently discovered the hives, believed to be the oldest ever found, as well as remnants of ancient honeycombs and beeswax.




Archaeologists digging in northern Israel have discovered evidence of a 3,000-year-old beekeeping industry, including remnants of ancient honeycombs, beeswax and what they believe are the oldest intact beehives ever found.

The findings in the ruins of the city of Rehov this summer include 30 intact hives dating to around 900 B.C., archaeologist Amihai Mazar of Jerusalem's Hebrew University said. He said it offers unique evidence that an advanced honey industry existed in the Holy Land at the time of the Bible.

Beekeeping was widely practiced in the ancient world, where honey used for medicinal and religious purposes as well as for food, and beeswax was used to make molds for metal and to create surfaces to write on. While bees and beekeeping are depicted in ancient artwork, nothing similar to the Rehov hives has ever been found before, Mazar said.

The beehives, made of straw and unbaked clay, have a hole at one end to allow the bees in and out and a lid on the other end to allow beekeepers access to the honeycombs inside. They were found in orderly rows, three high, in a room that could have accommodated around 100 hives, Mazar said.

The Bible repeatedly refers to Israel as a "land of milk and honey," but that's believed to refer to honey made from dates and figs — there is no mention of bee cultivation. But the new find shows that the Holy Land was home to a highly developed beekeeping industry nearly 3,000 years ago.

"You can tell that this was an organized industry, part of an organized economy, in an ultra-organized city," Mazar said.

At the time the beehives were in use, Mazar believes Rehov had around 2,000 residents, a mix of Israelites, Canaanites and others.

Ezra Marcus, an expert on the ancient Mediterranean world at Haifa University, said Tuesday the finding was a unique glimpse into ancient beekeeping. Marcus was not involved in the Rehov excavation.

"We have seen depictions of beekeeping in texts and ancient art from the Near East, but this is the first time we've been able to actually feel and see the industry," Marcus said.

The finding is especially unique, Marcus said, because of its location in the middle of a thriving city — a strange place for thousands of bees.



This might have been because the city's ruler wanted the industry under his control, Marcus said, or because the beekeeping industry was linked to residents' religious practices, as might be indicated by an altar decorated with fertility figurines that archaeologists found alongside the hives.

Reference:Discovery News

Protect rabbits from wet weather disease

By Mark Waffel

Vets in Northampton are urging pet owners to have their rabbits vaccinated against a deadly disease, as wet weather this summer could cause an outbreak.
Heavy downpours this summer have already lead to flash floods, swarms of mosquitoes and an explosion in slug numbers.

And now the wet weather could lead to a rise in myxomatosis, a virus spread by biting insects, which have thrived this summer.

County animal charities and vets are now urging rabbit owners to get their pets vaccinated, as the disease is most prevalent in the autumn.

Annette Shanahan, who runs Rabbit Rescue & Boarding in Ashton, near Towcester, said: "It always increases in September, October and November – that's the time it really flares up.



"That's why we're saying to owners, even if you live in the middle of the town, it's worth doing it. For the sake of a small amount of money you could save yourself a lot of heartbreak."

Myxomatosis, which nearly wiped out the entire population of wild rabbits in the UK in the 1950s, is usually spread by fleas and mosquitoes, but it can be passed on by contact with infected animals.

Simon Maddock, a veterinary surgeon at the Cat & Rabbit Care Clinic in Limehurst Square, Northampton, said an outbreak was more likely this year.

He said: "I think it's quite likely that this year there will be an increase because of the wet weather. There are quite a lot of mosquitoes around and we had a bad fly season this year."

Mr Maddock, whose clinic last week treated its first few cases of the year, said the number of animals infected varies each autumn, depending on viral strains and the size of the wild rabbit population.

The veterinary surgeon's clinic offers a health check and the myxomatosis vaccine for £26 which, although does not prevent the illness in every rabbit, does weaken the symptoms in infected animals.

For more information on the illness visit www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk

Reference:northamptonchron