Loews Hotels thinks it’s a good idea to call exterminators to rid of the feral cats surrounding the property. The cats were participants in a trap-neuter-return program and were being fed by employees.
Feral cats are not socialized which means they will be killed if taken to a shelter.
I think this is an animal welfare violation…watch this video from Alley Cat Allies- it explains everything.
You can also go to their website for more information and what you can do to stop it.
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I’ve been horribly busy with school. I’ll have a quick breather and then finals will happen! But for now, here are a couple interesting images I stumbled upon online.
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They say that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but I believe that you can. There are so many other counties and entire states that choose not to use carbon monoxide for euthanasia purposes. They use euthanasia by injection (EBI) with sodium pentobarbital. This is the preferred method by the Association of Shelter Veterinarians and the National Animal Control Association. These other counties and states use EBI even for aggressive dogs without regards to price. Money should not be the issue here-just because something is cheaper doesn’t make it right.
Aggressive animals do not only exist in Athens County yet these other counties and states figure out a way to humanely euthanize them. I am yet to hear a very logical reason for the Athens County Dog Shelter to continue using the gas chamber.
On top of that, the policy of adopting out animals who are not spayed or neutered only adds to the problem of euthanasia numbers in Athens County. Although I hear it is in the adoption contract that the animal must be spayed or neutered, everyone knows that people don’t always do it. Where do you think all the unwanted puppies end up? Probably back at the Dog Shelter and eventually euthanized. That costs the shelter money and the life of an animal. You have to stop this. Increase the adoption fee to cover the cost of the spaying and neutering, if that is what it takes. That is something that I believe must be changed-and the sooner the better.
I think the people in charge are afraid of change. We aren’t. And we aren’t going to give up. It may be a long fight but we will not give up until the demands of the people of Athens County are met. It’s not too late to learn a new trick. Change. We just hope that you can embrace this change with us and continue to work with the citizens for a better shelter.
In the words of our president, “We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.” We may not be millions, but we still have a voice, and Yes. We. Can.
Filed under animal rights, Animal Welfare
Growing up my two cats Boo and Tiger were declawed. While it was nice not to have to worry about getting scratched with their front claws, I have decided not to declaw any of my future cats. I have also decided, as a future veterinarian, that I will not declaw cats (except in instances where someone has an immunodeficiency disease and can’t afford to get scratched and declawing the cat is the only alternative for it going to a shelter). It took me a long time to come to this conclusion because I grew up thinking having a declawed cat was way better than having one with claws. There weren’t any complications with Boo and Tiger’s little procedure but that doesn’t mean other cats don’t have problems with it.
I know that the new laser method seems more humane, and it is, but if you watch the procedure and see the cat waking up afterwards with bloody paws it just gets hard to watch. Also too many people are irresponsible with their pets. How is a declawed cat supposed to defend itself outside? When I’m a veterinarian, I’m not willing to take the risk of an owners situation changing and a declawed cat ending up outside.
The declawing procedure is equivalent to chopping off the end of your finger, below the nail. If you wouldn’t have that done to a person you probably shouldn’t do it to your cat.
I understand that getting scratched hurts and is annoying, and furniture getting destroyed isn’t fun, but there are alternatives. I’m a big fan of Soft Paws/Soft Claws. You can see them in action on Maya’s paws here. If your cat has catitude, you will need a veterinarian or groomer to apply them for you. They run about $15-20 for a pack of 40 plastic nail caps and they come in assorted colors. They last about a month before the first ones start falling off (longer if they are a really good fit). I got Maya’s put on in July and she still has a couple left on.
Soft Paws work really great though; if kitty tries to scratch you it does no good. If you are thinking about declawing, try out the nail caps first. If you bring in your own caps to the vet/groomer it usually only costs about $15 each application. (If you are brave or have a good kitty you can do it yourself at home for free)
You can buy them at:
http://www.softclaws.com/index.php?pet=cat
Give them a try!
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Some shelters still use gas chambers to euthanize animals. My animal advocates group at my school is trying to ban gassing at the dog shelter here. We want the dog shelter to switch to euthanasia by injection with sodium pentobarbital. The Association of Shelter Veterinarians thinks that euthanasia by carbon monoxide is inhumane. There are many instances where the American Veterinary Medical Association deems CO gas inhumane, such as in sick, elderly, animals under 16 weeks of age, and pregnant animals. Shelter workers may not always be able to accurately evaluate an animal’s health or age making an inhumane euthanasia likely to occur.
Also, a certain concentration of CO must be reached to be effective, and if multiple animals are in a gas chamber it can take longer for loss of consciousness to occur causing animals to become anxious or agitated. According to the AVMA, any method of euthanasia that causes anxiety or agitation is inhumane.
It has also not been proven that the vocalizations and convulsions caused by carbon monoxide occur before loss of consciousness.
Here is a photo campaign that I did:
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On Saturday I visited the farm where my parents buy their meat. They did a farm and dairy tour and it was really nice to see animals with space to move around.
Buy local!
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The dog breeding business is something that preys off of people’s emotions for cute puppies. But what is life like for the mothers of those puppies that you see in the pet store?
Establishments that breed for profit are called puppy mills.
These dogs are kept in less-than adequate conditions and are bred too often. This over-breeding doesn’t select for temperament or health. These dogs are also not properly socialized which can cause psychological issues with the dogs. Apart from that, this industry is taking away opportunities for shelter dogs to find a home. Shelters are already over-crowed and breeding dogs for profit is irresponsible and cruel.
If everyone were to just say no to buying a dog from a pet store (buying a pure-bred from a reputable and responsible breeder is different from buying from a pet store) then puppy mills would go out of business.
Don’t support pet stores that sell puppies or kittens (kitten mills exits too). Save a life and adopt from your local shelter.
Filed under Animal Welfare
While ordering a drink at Starbucks recently I asked for soy milk instead of regular milk. Not being allergic or a vegan, my mom asked me why I got soy and I told her it was because I didn’t want to drink milk from unhappy cows.
My mom knows what this means because we agree on food choices (although she has this weird hate for everything soy due to the overuse of GMO soy in processed foods). The barista however, wasn’t sure what I meant.
“Why aren’t the cows happy?” he asked. So I explained that factory farms mistreat dairy cows by keeping them confined and feeding them grain (cows are meant to eat grass only). He looked at the milk carton, trying to figure out where the Kroger brand milk actually comes from. All he could figure out about it was that it wasn’t from cows treated with rBGH. That really doesn’t mean much when it comes to the lives of dairy cows.
Now, when I talk about Happy Milk I don’t mean non-dairy milk. It’s possible to sell milk from cows who are living lives as cows. When you imagine a cow farm you probably think of cows grazing in a pasture with lots of space. That picture unfortunately is the minority.
I think the treatment of dairy cows and egg laying hens are things that often get overlooked by people. Most people probably have never thought about what really goes on in those operations. But when you really think about it, how do you think all of that milk is produced for such a cheap price? Especially when seeing cow farms is quite rare these days.
Besides the treatment of these cows as machines (due to the fact the animal cruelty is illegal in all 50 states I think we can all agree that animals can suffer) you don’t get as many health benefits from milk from these cows. The health benefits from milk come from being grass fed. With this factory system the cows are fed grain, which cows were not meant to eat.
So what is it about grass-fed milk that make it so much better? According to a study done by the Harvard School of Public Health“…experiments have shown that cows on a diet of fresh grass produce milk with five times as much of an unsaturated fat called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) than do cows fed processed grains. Studies in animals have suggested that CLAs can protect the heart, and help in weight loss.”
Can you buy milk from happy cows? Yes you can. In the Ohio and Indiana area there are two creameries that I particularly like. Snowville Creamery in the Southeast Ohio area, can be found in select places throughout Ohio and Traders Point Creamery from Zionsville, Indiana. I’ve visited both of these creameries and the cows at both had freedom of movement and enjoyed real pastures.
Local grass-fed milk is a great option for everyone-the cows get to live lives as cows rather than machines, and people get to have better tasting and healthier milk while supporting local and sustainable businesses.
Filed under Animal Welfare
