I’ve been on holidays for the last week and a half in Bali and had a great time hanging out with Hubby and The Toddler by the pool. However, with practically no internet (yay!) I’m a bit behind on the blog (less yay), so thought I’d do a quick round up today and revisit some of these stories at a later date.
A new study on e-collars has found they negatively impacted on the welfare of some dogs during training “even when training was conducted by professional trainers using relatively benign training programmes advised by e-collar advocates”. They also found that the e-collar was not more effective than rewards-based training for recall and chasing, even though this is the scenario that e-collar advocates particularly recommend it for.
One of the Vicktory dogs, Lucas, has been euthanized at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary after his health declined. He had lived at the Sanctuary since he was rescued from Bad Newz Kennels, a dog fighting operation. Lucas had at one time been Michael Vick’s grand champion fighting dog and he and his fellow Vicktory dogs have been used to demonstrate to the world that the canine victims of fighting operations – even the most damaged of them – could be saved and rehabilitated.
Scientists telling us what we already know – dogs are family. “Owner-dog relationships share striking similarities to parent-child relationships”
The Animal Welfare League of Qld has issued a public response to negative comments made by Cr Andrew Antoniolli in the media recently, about their operation of the AWLQ Ipswich Rehoming Centre. This is definitely an topic I will be revisiting in the coming days.
RSPCA Tasmania requires “change at the top” if it is to overcome long-standing financial and managerial problems, the charity’s auditor has told a parliamentary inquiry. The public accounts committee inquiry into the organisation’s problems yesterday heard from auditor Bob Ruddick who said the current board and management did not “have the depth of experience” to effectively manage the charity and he recommended that “the State Government should recruit a “strong president”, indemnify that president, then allow that person to put forward a strong three-year program”.
Since handing over the operations of the Cessnock Council contract two years ago to the RSPCA NSW, kill rates at the pound have skyrocketed. For the financial year to date, of the 490 dogs taken in by Cessnock, only 5 were given to rescue while 152 dogs (31%) were killed. 239 cats (78%) were killed out of 311. Animal advocates say this makes it one of the worst performing pounds in the region, with Sydney, Singleton, Taree, Wyong, Muswellbrook and Gosford boasting euthanasia rates of 15% or lower. The RSPCA NSW maintains all the animals were sick or something…
The Age ran a story on cat management in the City of Melbourne, which is basically continuing to do what it has always done – catch cats, blame the public and then kill the cats. This is costing a veritable fortune with 617 cats cats trapped in three years by the RSPCA on behalf of council, with this service costing tax payers $140,000 per year.
The Bingara ranger who shot a dog he couldn’t unload from his rangers van has been defended by the Gwydir Shire Council who employs him. The dog’s owner, who believes she should have been consulted before the ranger put a bullet into the brain of her pet, is now seeking legal action (previous blog post here).
But don’t you worry about those gun-happy rangers in the state – the NSW Companion Animal Taskforce doesn’t. It is presently patting itself on the back for lobbying Government to amend the model by-laws from banning pets to allowing pets in apartment/townhouses. Said the NSW Minister of Fair Trading Anthony Roberts “This Government proposes to amend the model by-laws to allow pets to be kept with the approval of the owners corporation. Permission cannot be refused unreasonably, and I expect that over time this will lead to a rise in the number of pet-friendly strata buildings in the city and in the State. Individual strata schemes will retain the power to ban pets, or certain types of pets—such as brown snakes—if they wish to, but it will no longer be the default option.”
Victoria’s ridiculous dog laws continue to cause heartache to dog owners in the state. Rocket and Dougie have now completed their VCAT hearings and are awaiting their decisions. Kerser’s application for appeal was lodged last week in the Supreme Court of Victoria and should have a hearing soon. Kerser and Rocket are now both entered in a Pets of the Year competition as a way of bringing attention to their plight. They can be voted for here.
The ABC is reporting on University of Newcastle research into non-surgical sterlisation for animals. Professor John Aitken from the School of Environmental and Life Sciences says he is three months away from determining if they have been successful, and says this has the potential to completely change the debate about ‘pest animals’ if “instead of having to kill the animal you can just suppress its fertility.”
The 5th National G2Z Summit is being held from the September 10 – 14th, 2013. Including some excellent international speakers including Mark Kumpf, a leading spokesperson for progressive policies in animal management, and Sharon Harmon, leader of Oregon Humane Society who maintains a 98% combined save rate for pets, this conference should not be missed by animal welfare peeps. Why not also send a personal invitation for your local ranger to attend?
Another conference announcement. On the 16-17 October 2013 the Australian Institute of Animal Management (AIAM) annual conference is being held in Alice Springs. Entitled ‘A cooperative approach to animal management’ it includes such gems as ‘Making animal management in Queensland more like Victoria’ (good grief) and ‘Working with councils to reduce the number of dogs euthanased in pounds’ presented by…. wait for it… the pet shop puppy farm mouthpiece Dr Maryann Dalton, from the Pet Industry Association of Australia (PIAA). This is the cutting edge of ranger’ing in Australia, you guys. And we wonder why we’re in dire straights.
From Gina Spadafori – How do you help more cats with less money? Contrary to decades of conventional practice, some in the shelter community are now arguing that for municipal shelters, the answer is to leave free-roaming cats alone, and to ask communities nonprofit shelters to do the same. “We help when a cat is in trouble, or causing trouble.”
From KC Dog Blog – “This is not a “pet problem”, this is a poverty problem. Lack of jobs, lack of secure and affordable housing, lack of services. When services are available, they are often difficult to access. Other services require people to live in a target zip code or prove how little money they make to qualify. Even reclaiming a pet at the shelter can be a challenge since it requires identification that matches the address where the people live — a challenge for people in transition. I know that many of you might say that you would be homeless, living in your car, before you would surrender your cat or dog. But think about it: Would you really? Could you survive living in a violent area, constant noise, graffiti, trash, gangs controlling the streets, controlling the times that you can go out after dark?”
From Kathy Pobloskie – Cats: FIV – A Bad Case of Rumors. “This article was written in 2002 by Best Friends Animal Society. It explains how FIV cats can live long, healthy lives and FIV test can be inaccurate. But still, eleven years later, there are shelters that kill every cat that is FIV positive. Not sure if those shelter directors can’t read? Or they enjoy staying in the dark ages? Please share this with them again. #dinosaurs”
A great promo for TNR from Alley Cat Allies
Maddies Fund Institute Webcast this week ‘Making the Case for a Paradigm Shift in Community Cat Management’ Dr. Kate Hurley examines the assumptions underlying traditional sheltering practices, and compares them to the most recent evidence-based information regarding the health and behavior impacts of stress on sheltered cats and the statistical likelihood of a live outcome for an unsocialized cat taken into a shelter.
Conference wrap up – “The Outdoor Cat: Science and Policy from a Global Perspective” brought together leading experts to take the measure of contemporary research and science concerning outdoor cats, and to advance the integration of such evidence into better policy that protects cats, birds and other wildlife. For bird advocates and cat advocates, it represented a step forward toward a common goal.
From Yes Biscuit blog – One Thing Shelters Can Do with All Those Cats Like you know, get them adopted.
More about ‘Impulse Adoptions’ from the ASPCA. “Most exciting was those who had obtained a pet as a spur-of-the-moment decision were no more or less likely to retain their pet than those who had done a lot of research or thinking. In other words, doing prior planning or research or already intending to adopt when they walked in the door did not increase the likelihood that they kept the pet.”
