Service Dog Jailed With Owner

May 16, 2007May 18, 2007

Service Dog Jailed With Owner

When Warren Gillis was jailed in Minnesota, so was his service dog, Lurch. The Great Dane, also appeared in court when Gillis was charged with domestic assault.

Lurch acts as a service dog for Gillis, who is epilleptic, but he is also locally well known as a therapy dog and often visits hospitals and retirement homes.

The presiding judge ruled that Lurch wouldn’t again be allowed in the jail or in court, since the letter on file from a doctor didn’t specifically state the dog was needed by Gillis in jail or in court. Mower Co. Sheriff Terese Amazi stated she doesn’t have the staffing to take care of a dog in jail.

I think Judge Fred Wellmann and Sheriff Amazi may need to familiarize themselves better with The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and The Civil Right of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA).

May 15, 2007

Pet Safety & Protection Act

You can help make it illegal to sell lost or stolen pets to research labs. Representatives Mike Doyle(D-PA) and Phil English(R-PA) and Senator Daniel Akaka(D-HI) have introduced a bill (S. 714 & H.R. 1280) that would make it illegal for Class B dealers to sell “random source” animals to labs. The bill is named “Buck’s Bill” in honor of an abused and neglected dog named Buck who was rescued from C. C. Baird, a Class B dealer, only to die months later from the mistreatment he had endured.

These Class B dealers acquire cats and dogs from different sources (“free to good home” ads, shelters, breeders, theft) and sell the animals to labs and veterinary schools where they are used for testing, biomedical research, and educational purposes. Lost and stolen pets are often caught up in the animal dealing.

This bill would work to end that by:

Prohibiting Class B dealers and unlicensed individuals from selling dogs and cats to laboratories

Preventing stray animals, who may be lost family pets, from being sold to laboratories

Providing pet owners peace of mind that their animals will not be sold to a laboratory, should their animal be stolen or become lost

This bill won’t prevent Class A dealers from supplying animals to labs or prohibit research facilities from breeding animals and supplying them to other research facilities. It won’t prohibit individuals from donating their own
animals to labs for research purposes. And it won’t “supersede any state law pertaining to pound seizure.”

HBO’s Dealing Dogs investigated the business of Class B dealers by going undercover to document the horrors at Martin Creek Kennels, run by C. C. Baird, one of the most notorious Class B dealers.

This bill has been introduced before, but never passed. It has a better chance this time, thanks in part, to the documentary Dealing Dogs. Contact your Senators and your Representatives and urge them to support S. 714 & H.R. 1280.

April 24, 2007April 24, 2007

More On Therapy Dogs At Virginia Tech

(Updated with corrected information on which Animal-Assisted Crisis Response teams are at Virginia Tech. Thank you, Amy, from HOPE AACR.)

The Red Cross sent therapy dogs to Virginia Tech to help students and staff and CNN reported on how therapy dogs can make a difference. (direct link to a Windows Media video)

Members of the HOPE Animal-Assisted Crisis Response sent eight volunteer teams from Erie, PA, Quantico, VA, Williamsburg, VA, and Atlanta GA, to help. They’ll be there at least through April 29th. HOPE AACR provides animal-assisted emotional support to survivors and responders affected by disaster or crisis. You can find out what goes into becoming a member.

Virginia Tech students from the Animal Welfare Foster Program are participating too with some of their newly rescued foster dogs . The Animal Welfare Foster Program is made up of volunteer veterinary students in Blacksburg, VA. These are the cats and dogs they currently have up for adoption.

See previous post on therapy dogs at Virginia Tech.

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April 21, 2007April 22, 2007

The FDA, The Whistle-Blower, & Proheart 6

Victoria Hampshire worked for the FDA analyzing side-effects from Wyeth’s heartworm preventative, Proheart 6, (also known as Moxidectin) and she started seeing a pattern—death—almost 500, in fact. The drug company, Wyeth, fought, but Proheart 6 was recalled in the US in 2004. It’s still sold in Canada, Europe, and in other countries, and Wyeth is making a play to sell it in the US again. But, what might be the most important part of the story is how the FDA handled the case and how poorly they treated their own employee who was doing her job.

April 21, 2007April 24, 2007

Therapy Dogs At Virginia Tech

I was glad to see dogs from the Animal Welfare Foster Program and from St. Marys, PA, were on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, VA, serving as therapy dogs to comfort members of the campus traumatized by the murders on Monday, April 16th. It’s such a good idea–dogs will never say the wrong thing, they’ll offer unconditional love, they’ll lick your tears, they won’t ask questions, and they’ll smile when you can’t.

Check out the follow-up post on therapy dogs at Virginia Tech.