WebClawer: PETA’s worst-dressed list, Oprah’s new puppy, world’s oldest dog?

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From Oprah to Madonna, celebrities’ animal activism (or lack thereof) is making news today:

-- Someone needs to fill the void left by departed fashion critic Richard Blackwell, and PETA has inserted itself into the fray. The animal rights group has released its list of worst-dressed celebrities (read: famous fur-wearers), and topping the list is faux-Brit and Material Mom Madonna. ‘When you see Madonna in fur, you realize why nobody has copied her style since 1984,’ the group says. Also making the list are Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, musician Kanye West, and model-turned-actress Elizabeth Hurley. Us Magazine

-- Prominent cocker spaniel fan and puppy mill opponent Oprah Winfrey has adopted a new puppy, whom she named Sadie, from a Chicago-area no-kill animal shelter called PAWS. Winfrey previously sponsored an ‘Oprah’ room at the shelter. Her two well-known cocker spaniels, Sophie and Solomon, both passed away last year. Chicago Sun-Times

-- A Fillmore animal rescue group is working to save greyhounds from a racetrack in Guam that closed late last year. Barbara and Bob Davenport of Homestretch Greyhound Rescue & Adoption have received over 50 dogs from Guam and are keeping them until they can find space for them, with help from another California greyhound rescue group. ‘We’re a holding pen, basically,’ Barbara Davenport said. ‘The dogs have spent at least a month at the rescue on Guam because they need to wait a month after getting a rabies shot before flying. Some will be coming in very skinny, some with ear infections, and some with medical issues such as a limp.’ Reports from Guam suggest some of the track’s greyhounds have been abandoned by new adoptive owners and were found wandering the island. California rescue groups have already spent around $25,000 on transport and veterinary care for the dogs; the cost to bring one from Guam to L.A. is $500. Ventura County Star

-- An outbreak of the infection methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, that affected both an African elephant and staff at the San Diego Zoo last year was initially spread from a zookeeper to the baby elephant, who was being hand-raised because her mother was unable to care for her. The elephant then spread the infection to other keepers in what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says is the first known case of MRSA in a zoo elephant and the first known transmission of the ‘superbug’ from a zoo animal to a human. ‘It is a significant public health problem...One of our biggest concerns is that the person has it, then the animal picks it up from them, then the person thinks they’re clear of it, and the animal gives it back to them,’ said Dr. Kimberly May of the American Veterinary Medical Assn. She added that MRSA strains isolated in pets are typically found to be human strains acquired from contact with people. The baby elephant whose illness prompted the investigation was euthanized last year for reasons unrelated to MRSA, according to the San Diego Zoo. L.A. Times

-- Britain’s Telegraph says the world’s oldest living dog is Chanel, a 20-year-old wirehaired dachshund who lives in Port Jefferson Station, New York. ‘She has to wear the goggles because she has cataracts and is very sensitive to the light,’ says Chanel’s owner, Denice Shaughnessy, who adopted the dog in 1988. ‘Chanel also has to wear a sweater because the older that she gets you notice the temperature change more and during the summertime she wears a T-shirt. Right now she eats a special diet dog food. I boil her chicken every day and then I cut it up and put it on her dog food but she has been eating table food her whole life.’ Telegraph

-- If you need a pick-me-up, we can’t think of anything cheerier than this video of a tiny piglet climbing stairs, chasing cats, and frolicking on the beach. We want to be a piglet, too! The Dish Rag

--Lindsay Barnett