Tag: animals
Hurting Man's Best Friend -- Bad. Selling Videos Of Same -- Good.
MayorBob.
Posted to Legal on Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 06:52:18 AM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.
Morally it might seem a mighty fine line, but for Robert Stevens of Pittsville, Virginia the fact there is a legal difference between treating animals cruelly and selling videos depicting animal cruelty makes a big difference - between 37 months in prison and freedom, to be exact. According to a panel from the US Third District Court of Appeals, the former is a crime and the latter a legitimate expression of free speech. In arriving at their 10-3 decision (pdf doc), they not only gave relief to Stevens, they also overturned a federal law regarding "creation, sale, or possession of animal cruelty."
(6 comments, 441 words in story) Full Story
Everyone Needs a Pet
skeeter1.
Posted to Etcetera on Tue Jan 22, 2008 at 01:46:28 PM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.
OK, I know that many of you have offspring and think that's all the pets you need...
(15 comments, 342 words in story) Full Story
Dead Dog Wagging
MayorBob.
Posted to Etcetera on Sat Dec 01, 2007 at 08:51:03 AM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.
When a person is subjected to an unprovoked mauling from a dog, most communities would show a little sympathy for the human victim. Some of them might want to know when the dog will be euthanized. Some might even want the owners to face criminal charges. But Princeton, New Jersey is not your average community - it's a well-to-do Ivy League town. And the human victim isn't your average Princetonian - he's a landscaper from Honduras. Thus, the community's rallying around the dog while the victim's the target of anti-immigration invective.
(5 comments, 570 words in story) Full Story
What Would Jesus Stalk, Kill, Stuff & Mount?
MayorBob.
Posted to Etcetera on Fri Nov 23, 2007 at 07:59:14 AM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.
When you think Brigham Young University (BYU) you think Mormons or maybe football quarterbacks. You don't think commissioning the slaughter of rare animals. But this is exactly what BYU did. A rare white rhino skin is destined to be mounted in the school's natural history museum. While this seems just peachy to the benefactor who killed the animal and BYU officials, it's gotten under the skin of animal welfare activists.
(5 comments, 462 words in story) Full Story
IM IN UR TRASH CAN LOOKIN 4 FUD
MayorBob.
Posted to Etcetera on Wed Sep 12, 2007 at 06:30:19 AM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.
Bill Fountain was sure he had a raccoon problem at his Lexington, Kentucky home. He put out a trap as he was tired of the putative pest raiding his trash can. One morning he finds a critter inside the trap. Said critter jumped out at him. Fearing for his life, Fountain drowned the critter in a barrel filled with water. Turns out he was tragically mistaken and now he's facing criminal charges of animal cruelty.
(5 comments, 503 words in story) Full Story
Keeping The Family Jewels Attached To Spot.
MayorBob.
Posted to SciTech on Tue Jul 17, 2007 at 08:52:36 AM EST (promoted by 1fastdog). RSS.
Most people view their pets as friends and members of the family. Most animal experts strongly suggest that, if you're not thinking about breeding your pet, the responsible thing to do is to have it spayed or neutered. Most responsible pet owners agree and will have the necessary operation performed soon after they buy their pet. But some animal owners find it cruel and barbaric to have Spot's testicles removed. For them, there's a new approach to neutering - an approach which allows the animal to keep all of his original equipment and still protects against overbreeding among dogs. But, it's a method which has any number of veterinarians uncertain about its efficacy.
(11 comments, 545 words in story) Full Story
Making A Legal Mountain Out Of A Mole Hill.
MayorBob.
Posted to Legal on Mon Apr 09, 2007 at 12:16:25 PM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.
This is a story about how heartfelt and noble concerns for reducing cruelty to animals get a bit warped in transferring from notion to reality. This is also a story about difference between laws as written and laws as enforced. Ultimately, it is the story of the "Mole Guy" and his ongoing fight to help homeowners rid their properties of vermin in the form of moles. It's also about how his insistence on doing his job in the most effective and efficient manner has turned him into a criminal in the eyes of the wildlife police in Washington state.
(2 comments, 592 words in story) Full Story
He's Knut (That Rhymes With Cute). Question Being, Is He Too Cute To Shoot?
MayorBob.
Posted to Etcetera on Sun Mar 25, 2007 at 06:49:05 AM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.
Knut, the Berlin Zoo's polar bear cub, is one cute animal. He's so cute and lovable that he's become the main attraction at the zoo and an object of adoration for Germans. That adoration deepened due to the fact that his twin brother died shortly after birth, Knut's mother rejected him, and he's been hand raised by zoo personnel since. Now he's just taken his inaugural public walk and the oohs and ahs are flying. One woman, who has been following Knut's progress since birth expressed thankfulness that zoo authorities didn't follow the advice of one animal activist and have Knut killed.
(7 comments, 393 words in story) Full Story
The Elephants Not In The Room - 23,000 Since Last Year.
MayorBob.
Posted to Etcetera on Sun Mar 04, 2007 at 12:42:06 PM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.
African elephants are under threat again despite a 1989 ban on poaching the animals for their ivory tusks. About two years ago, reports began to emerge that, following a limited suspension of the ban in 2002, poachers had resumed their grisly activities. Now it seems, in a war between survival of an animal species and the need to outfit humans with all form of ivory jewelry and gewgaws, pachyderms are losing out.
(4 comments, 461 words in story) Full Story
I'd Like A Mastiff, Only Make It Fit Into A Pocketbook And Color It Blue.
MayorBob.
Posted to Etcetera on Wed Jan 10, 2007 at 11:51:19 AM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.
The Japanese latch onto fads and ride them for all they're worth. Gigantic film monsters used to ravage Tokyo and other Japanese cities with impunity. Golf, a sport requiring a lot of space is a national obsession for a people short on space. Within the last decade and a half, fads have swept over the Japanese. It happened with tamatgotchi (literally digital pets). Sometimes they pass beyond Japanese shores. Both Hello Kitty and Pokemon are fads the Japanese embraced and then loosed upon the rest of the world. As fads go all of these are probably harmless. But, it appears the Japanese are embracing a new fad -- one which most definitely has a dark side to it. That would be the fad of the cute inbred puppy dog.
(8 comments, 529 words in story) Full Story
Me And My Monkey Would Like A Table For Two
MayorBob.
Posted to Etcetera on Wed Sep 20, 2006 at 08:41:52 AM EST. RSS.
Debby Rose says her anxiety is disabling at times. The Springfield, Missouri woman says public activities, like eating in a restaurant are enough to give her high blood pressure and send her into panic attacks. Yet, she claims that restaurants in her hometown won't let her do the only thing which will allow her to function normally - bring a service animal onto the premises. And now, the county health department sides with the restaurants because they have determined that Debby's service animal isn't a service animal, it's a pet and they have ruled thus. Because of this, Rose has filed a complaint with the federal government to get them to make it possible for her to go out for dinner with Richard, her bonnet macaque monkey.
(33 comments, 547 words in story) Full Story
