US: Breeders and Animals Rights Groups Clash Over Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act Puppy mills are a problem in Missouri, especially here in the Ozarks- that's the consensus of animal rights organizations and breeders. But they butt heads over a solution. You'd be hard pressed to find a missourian proud of the title- puppy mill capitol of the world. Unfotunately we've earned it. “89% of people who were polled were in favor of a measure that would clean up the puppy mill situation in Missouri,” says Jeane Jae of the Humane Society of Missouri. Animal rights organizations- led by the Humane Society of the United States- say Proposition B is it. “There's no initiative to stop bad behavior,” says Tim Rickey with the ASPCA. A number of local breeders, backed by the American Veterinary Medical Association, say it isn't. “A knee-jerk response based solely on emotion and ignoring all the relevant science might not be in the best interest of the animals,” says the AVMA's CEO on one of many anti-Prop B websites. Baltimore takes steps to stop animal cruelty While serving an eviction notice this summer in East Baltimore, a team from the sheriff's office opened the door of vacated rowhouse to find two pit bulls left behind with no food or water — a black one waiting by the entrance, and a brown one in the living room, locked in a cage barely big enough to hold it. A few months earlier, if they had found animals like this, they would have called animal control to pick them up, end of story. Now, however, with the dogs safe, sheriffs launched an investigation to find their owner, hoping to have him charged with abandonment and neglect. It's a tiny victory for Baltimore's fledgling efforts to crack down on animal cruelty. But in a city that just dropped charges against a man who clubbed a small dog to death, and then, to the horror of animal advocates, ordered him to work with rescued dogs and cats, animal rights reformers say they have a ways to go. Vancouver: Store Owner Vows to Fight Puppy Sale Ban While animal rights activists are lauding a Vancouver suburb's decision to ban the retail sale of puppies, a pet store owner says he will fight the move, calling it discriminatory. Richmond city council voted unanimously on Oct. 4 to draft a bylaw banning the sale of puppies in pet stores, becoming the first municipality in Canada to make such a decision. The move is an attempt to rein in the impulse buying of puppies and stop pet stores from purchasing animals from puppy mills or unscrupulous backyard breeders. BLM uses helicopters to round up wild horses in NW Colorado Federal officials this week began herding wild horses using helicopters in northwestern Colorado, according to the Associated Press, which reports the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) intends to round up 140 horses over the next several days. Several groups, including the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, reportedly filed a lawsuit last week to stop the roundup of horses that have strayed off federal lands where they are allowed to roam. But a BLM spokesman said the agency is not rounding up 60 or so wild horses in the North Piceance area, which was of particular concern to the ASPCA. Still, the animal-rights group wants the roundup halted. Owner says implanted chip gave cat cancer A Massachusetts woman says her cat got cancer from an implanted tracking microchip, court records show. Andrea Rutherford of Cambridge is suing Digital Angel Inc. of Minnesota, which makes the HomeAgain pet tracker, and Merck & Co. of New Jersey, its distributor, The Boston Globe reported Wednesday. She contends they violated an implied warranty that the chip was safe and is seeking “reasonable compensatory damages and interest.” Each chip contains a tiny radio that transmits an identification code whenever the chip is scanned by a special detector used at animal shelters. Pets can be identified and returned to their homes. BM
