L.A. County's new dogfighting tip line is unveiled

Earlier this week, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office and the Humane Society of the United States announced plans for a novel new approach to combating animal cruelty in L.A. County: A 24-hour tip line, manned by both English and Spanish speakers, for citizens to report incidents of dogfighting.  

The tip line was officially unveiled at a press conference Tuesday at the office of L.A. County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley.  Those with information about a dogfighting ring, an upcoming dogfight or an individual who is involved in dogfighting are urged to call 1-877-NO2FITE; those reporting information that leads to an arrest or conviction will be rewarded with up to $5,000.  (Cooley noted that anyone reporting a dogfight in progress should call 911 rather than the tip line.)

"Our goal is to encourage citizens to help law enforcement root out a brutal crime that often goes unreported and occurs in the shadows," Cooley said during Tuesday's press conference.  Also present Tuesday was the Humane Society's senior state director for California, Jennifer Fearing, who called Cooley "a true champion for animals." 

Despite protests, mass animal sacrifice to go on as planned in Nepal

 

Katmandu, Nepal -- A Hindu festival in which thousands of animals are expected to be sacrificed will go ahead as scheduled in southern Nepal despite protests, organizers said Friday.

The Gadhimai festival, celebrated every five years, is attended by many Hindus from India as well as from Nepal. More than 200,000 buffaloes, pigs, goats, chickens and pigeons are expected to be slaughtered this year on Nov. 24 and 25.

Organizers said they will not bow to "interference" from animal rights and religious groups that have held protests in Katmandu and in the festival area in Bara district, about 100 miles south of the capital.

"We will not stop this centuries-old tradition now. This is our religion, belief and tradition and we will continue with it no matter what," said Motilal Kushwa of the organizing committee.

Kushwa said thousands of people have already arrived at the site with animals meant for sacrifice next week.

Public outcry follows ASPCA decision to euthanize Oreo, 'miracle' dog who survived six-story fall

Over the summer, animal lovers were outraged over a shocking incident of animal cruelty: A man threw his 1-year-old female pit bull, Oreo, from the roof of the six-story Brooklyn, N.Y., building where he lived.

Fabian Henderson, 19, was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals, criminal trespassing and "overdriving, torturing and injuring animals," charges that could result in a sentence of up to two years in prison, according to the Brooklyn district attorney's office; he pleaded guilty to a felony animal-cruelty charge in October and will be sentenced Dec. 1. 

Officials of the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals told the New York Daily News that they'd first received a complaint that an animal was being beaten on the third floor of the building, where Henderson shares an apartment with family members, and shortly thereafter heard from witnesses who reported seeing Oreo thrown from the roof. (For her part, Henderson's mother told the Daily News that she believed her son was not guilty and that he was "basically a quiet person, good with animals.")

Oreo became something of a celebrity and recovered from the physical injuries that resulted from the fall, which included "multiple fractures in her two front legs, severe ligament damage, bruised lungs, a fractured rib, liver injury and internal bleeding," according to the indictment against Henderson. 

24-hour dogfighting tip line to be unveiled by L.A. County prosecutors

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office and the Humane Society of the United States are collaborating to offer a 24-hour tip line -- and a substantial financial incentive for calling it -- to help L.A. County residents report incidents of dogfighting, our colleagues at the L.A. Now blog report.

The tip line will be officially announced at a press conference Tuesday at the office of L.A. County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley. 

According to L.A. Now, the tip line will be staffed by both English and Spanish speakers, and those who provide information leading to an arrest or conviction will receive a reward of up to $5,000. 

Last month, Pennsylvania authorities unveiled a similar cash-for-tips program that offers up to $5,000 in reward money for information about dogfights, as well as other illegal animal-combat activities like cockfighting. The Humane Society was also involved in the creation of the Pennsylvania program.

Because of the shadowy nature of the dogfighting world, no one knows just how many dogs are made to fight or used as so-called bait dogs, but the Humane Society estimates that more than 250,000 dogs are forced to participate in the blood sport each year in the U.S. alone.  

RELATED:
Main Line Animal Rescue takes its pro-pit bull, anti-Michael Vick message to San Diego
Michael Vick speaks out about dogfighting (sort of) at Washington church

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Pit bull puppies rescued as a result of a massive multistate raid on dogfighting operations in July.  Credit: Jeff Roberson / Associated Press

Novelist Jonathan Safran Foer tackles nonfiction with his latest effort, 'Eating Animals'

Animal advocates everywhere are talking about author Jonathan Safran Foer's latest book, "Eating Animals."  Foer, known primarily as a novelist whose prior works include "Everything is Illuminated" and "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," went the nonfiction route with "Eating Animals," which tackles the issue of factory farming and the toll it takes both on animals and the environment.  Here's an excerpt from our colleague Susan Salter Reynolds' review:

Looking forward to your turkey dinner? Think twice. It's time, argues Jonathan Safran Foer, to stop lying to ourselves. With all the studies on animal agriculture, pollution, toxic chemicals in factory-farmed animals and exposés of the appalling cruelty to animals in that industry, he writes in "Eating Animals," "We can't plead ignorance, only indifference. Those alive today are the generations that came to know better. We have the burden and the opportunity of living in the moment when the critique of factory farming broke into the popular consciousness. We are the ones of whom it will be fairly asked, 'What did you do when you learned the truth about eating animals?' "

Some of our finest journalists (Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser) and animal rights activists (Peter Singer, Temple Grandin) -- not to mention Gandhi, Jesus, Pythagoras, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, John Locke and Immanuel Kant (and so many others) -- have hurled themselves against the question of eating meat and the moral issues inherent in killing animals for food. Foer, 32, in this, his first work of nonfiction, intrepidly joins their ranks, inspired by fatherhood, the memory of his grandmother (who survived the Holocaust by scavenging her way to freedom) and something else.

This something else is what made critics of Foer's fiction, the novels "Everything Is Illuminated" (2002) and "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" (2005), fall over themselves to praise him. It is a kind of fearless modernity: one part "whatever," one part descendant of Holocaust survivor (we've only got this one life, if that, to get things right) and one part soaringly beautiful, annoyingly entitled liberalism. What did you do when you learned the truth about eating animals?

THERE'S MORE; READ THE REST.

Photo: Jonathan Safran Foer in 2007.  Credit: Granta

It pays to be a cute animal: New Zealand town cancels dead rabbit throw, proceeds with pig hunt

The tiny New Zealand town of Waiau's social calendar is a bit lighter after an outcry prompted organizers to cancel a planned dead-rabbit-throwing contest for children.

The contest is an annual affair that signals the start of another non-animal-friendly town event -- a pig hunt.  The events have apparently been held in tandem without incident for years.

But this year, all that changed when the Royal New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals learned of the rabbit throw. RNZSPCA officials argued that throwing dead rabbits for fun was not only cruel, but also set the stage for future cruelty by sending a message to children that playing with dead animals can be a form of recreation. Animal cruelty inspector Charles Cadwallader likened the spectacle to throwing "your dead grandmother around for a joke," but the rabbit throw's organizer, Jo Moriarty, insists it was intended to be an innocent affair. 

Canceling the rabbit throw is an example of out-of-control political correctness, Moriarty told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. She denies that tossing dead rabbits about has had any detrimental effect on the kids' compassion, insisting that "[the] children in this community are fantastic, they love their animals." 

The pig hunt went on as planned late last month. Score: Rabbits: 1; Pigs: 0.

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Los Angeles Times file photo

Vermont slaughterhouse closed amid animal cruelty allegations

A Vermont slaughterhouse ordered closed Friday after video showed calves kicked, shocked and cut while conscious had its operating license suspended three times earlier this year for similar conduct.

U.S. Department of Agriculture records show Bushway Packing Inc. of Grand Isle was shut down for a day in May, again in June and again in July after an inspector cited it for inhumane treatment of animals.

The revelation came Monday as the Humane Society of the United States released more video footage taken with a hidden camera this summer. The video shows days-old male calves culled from dairy herds being dragged, kicked, repeatedly shocked with electric prods and apparently cut while still conscious.

"We found even two calves who appeared to be skinned alive while they were still conscious," said Michael Markarian, the Humane Society's chief operating officer.

The video also appeared to back up a Friday statement in which U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack described the conduct of a USDA inspector at the slaughterhouse as "inexcusable."

Michael Vick doesn't play but draws animal rights protestors in Oakland; Raiders upset Eagles

OAKLAND, Calif. - Michael Vick heard it all in his first road game, from supporters to animal rights activists and protesters eager to boo him. Or bark at him for that matter.

"I'm just trying to do the best I can," Vick said afterward. "I want to help more animals than I hurt. I understand there are people who want to do that. I'm still trying to do whatever I can to be the best ambassador I can be. I'm trying to move on with my life."

It didn't help he hardly played Sunday and his Philadelphia Eagles lost an ugly one at Oakland, 13-9. Vick played in a road game for the first time since being reinstated to the NFL following an 18-month prison sentence for his involvement in a dogfighting ring.

Outisde the Coliseum, Charles Wright caught plenty of flak for wearing an old-school Vick Falcons jersey.

Berkeley Breathed's new book was inspired by one of Michael Vick's former pit bulls

Beloved cartoonist Berkeley Breathed had an unusual inspiration for his latest children's book, "Flawed Dogs." No it wasn't one of the Santa Barbaran's many rescued pit bulls, but it was one of Michael Vick's infamous dogs who was set to be put down.

"The book happened because I came across both a picture and a quote at about the same time -- a picture of one of Michael Vick's fight dogs. It was set to be put down, but a shelter in Utah decided to take the dog and a few others at the same time and try to rehabilitate them," Breathed told CNN. "This was the first time the dog had ever received any affection in its life.... It's the most moving picture of a dog I've ever seen, having gone through an impossible transition and fallen back to where dogs naturally go, which is just loving people."

Best known for other animals, most notably the skittish penguin named Opus and utterly bizarre Bill the Cat, the Pulitzer Prize-winner sat down with Hero Complex blogger Geoff Boucher earlier this month and talked about his career so far, his regrets and his plans for the future.

Video of Breathed reading from "Flawed Dogs" after the jump.

Florida man charged with animal cruelty over pet rat

DELAND, Fla. -- Authorities say a DeLand man who strangled a pet rat after accusing his wife of taking the last cigarette has been charged with animal cruelty.

The new charge for 22-year-old Darren Daniels was added Thursday. The Volusia County Sheriff's Office reports that Daniels grabbed his wife during a confrontation last week, which led to the 20-year-old woman running away and hiding outside.

Before that, Daniels reportedly grabbed a white rat from a tank in their apartment, smashed its head and then strangled it.

Authorities say Daniels drove away recklessly and refused to pull over for deputies.

Daniels was previously charged with battery and fleeing and eluding. He was still being held on $3,000 bail for those charges.

The new charge carries an additional $5,000 bail.

-- Associated Press