Many horses are needin' help

by @winecountrydog Tilin Corgi

Soon cold weathers and big rains and winds will come, and the horses will still be standing out there in the fields ... with no shelter or blankets ... with no feed, just acres of mud. They are the thousands of neglected, abused, and unwanted horses in today's American West.

Mywoofself has always loved tall neighing furriends. Since puppyhood, myself has met many rescued horses in California and Oregon.

It is good to be gettin' to know some of da most needy horses. It is comfortin' to learn about caring humans who rescue the horses or collect hay bank money to feed them.

Pawleeze document and report horse neglect, abuse, or starvation when you see it! You can contact a rescue organization for advice on how to do this properly. Also ask county sheriff's department and animal control the best way to get help for the horse who's in trouble.

Here are some good folks to know about:

Colorado Horsecare Foodbank
provides feed grants + emergency hay

Oregon Hay Bank
helps horses in Oregon + Northern California

Safe Haven Horse Rescue
horse rescue in Northern California

California Coastal Horse Rescue
horse rescue in Central California

Neigh Savers
California’s Thoroughbred Rehab/Rehoming

Equamore Horse Sanctuary
horse rescue + sanctuary in Oregon

Mustang Meg
Wild Mustang advocacy in SE Oregon

Buck Brannaman
natural horsemanship training
("starting" colts, not breaking them.)

RIP Lennox dog

by winecountrydog Tilin and family

Today, 11 July 2012, Lennox dog was destroyed by Belfast City Council.

Lennox was not a 'dangerous dog.' He was a victim of humans who had the power to apply BSL in the cruelest way possible.

We hope that Lennox's legacy will be to galvanize solidarity for BSL repeal. May there be a new era of dog laws that focus on curtailing 'dangerous owners' rather than on banning dog breeds.

We will remember Lennox always.

Condolences to Caroline and Brooke Barnes.
RIP Lennox.

This little pig did not go to market

by winecountrydog Jackie Nippers

Have you ever spent time talking with a pig, or running across a farm field together on a sweet summer afternoon?

Pigs are wonderful, smart, playful, social animals. They deserve to be regarded with respect and treated humanely!

So then why does the popularity of factory-farmed bacon continue to grow?

Sadly, not often do humans stand up and say publicly "Eating bacon and other meats is one thing. But if you can't get meats from pastured farm animals who've been humanely raised, we don't want any of it!"

Maybe everybody just needs to see the truth of how pigs are confined and abused on "factory farms" -- intensive industrial facilities that are not farms at all.

Mum sez she does defy anyone to go on eating factory-farmed bacon, ham, and pork once they've seen what those pigs endure.

Howl. Let us now visit with a happy pig. Furhaps you remember Bella the Piglet, rescued from a factory farm back in 2004?



Bella became a spokespig for the Australian campaign SaveBabe.com, which works to bring an end to factory-farming practices there.

Compassion changes the world, and it all begins with taking a closer look at what's in our food bowls.

Paw-notes: If you're interested in learning about sustainable humane pig operations in the U.S. (free-range animals, raised without antibiotics or hormones), have a look at Sonoma County's Black Pig and the Food Alliance certification organization.

One bird saved!

by pawlitico

My feathery furriend Scrubby is on the fence beyond my window. She's jreeing hello.

Scrubby, aka Ms. Jay, chose not to disappear after dog-ma released her. I guess she'd like us to put a door in the window so she can come in fur meals. I think she's going to have babies, judging from how big and round she is.

Too bad Ms. Jay couldn't eat her special meal while she was staying with us. Dog-ma made exactly what veterinarian Dr. Jona Jordan suggested.

But Scrubby was in too much shock to eat. Last evening, she nearly suffered a horrible death, hung upside down by her leg, swinging from a tree branch. A tangled bracelet of fish-net plastic around her left ankle had become a lethal handcuff.

Thank dogness that, just before dark, a pair of anxious birds nearby caught our attention with their frantic cries. Tilin Corgi and I hailed dog-ma, who came running with a tall ladder.

We watched dog-ma lean the ladder against the tree, pull on a pair of gloves, and turn on a flashlight. She climbed quickly.

We held our breath as she stretched out her hands to the Scrub Jay. She embraced the bird with her right hand, holding her fairly immobile as she broke off branches around the bird's leg with her left hand. We hated seeing how twisted the Jay's leg was. What a long, tense minute. We feared the leg would crumple or pop out of the hip socket.

Suddenly dog-ma was descending with Scrubby safe in hand. I noticed that Scrubby had put the bite on dog-ma's right index finger and wasn't lettin' go. Smart bird. We followed them into the house. Dog-ma closed the home office door behind her to talk to Scrubby in private.


I heard dog-ma gently whisper, "Hold on, Scrubby. Just a bit more. Argh, that horrible plastic is hard to cut. . . . Okay, you're free now."


After a while I heard fluttering — the sounds of Scrubby flyin' around the room till she settled on a pawsition on top of the bookshelf, a good place to hide and roost.


Dog-ma came out of the room and told us that our new furriend was resting. Off to the kitchen shuffled dog-ma, sadly wailing something about cruelty to animals.

We took comfort in what Dr. Jordan had said about The Bird Rescue Center being a good place fur Ms. Jay to get well. Dog-ma planned to take her there, and to ask the rescuers if we could release our furriend back home here when she was well.

Pawsitive thoughts allowed us to sleep through the night.

We were awakened at 7 o'clock by our Siamese, who jumped up in the air with surprise. We saw that she was listening hard to something — a repeating thumping sound.

We all jumped out of bed and ran to the office room. Dog-ma opened the door slightly and the sound got louder. She slipped into the room, closing the door behind her.

Sitting outside, I smiled. I could tell that Scrubby was awake and energized. The sounds were comin' from her attempts to break through the glass window to freedom!


In a low voice, dog-ma exclaimed, "You, you can stand on both legs! . . . How could this be possible?"

Scrubby just continued jumping at the window.

After a couple of minutes, dog-ma declared, "Dear sweet amazing bird, I'm going to set you free!"

And so she did.

Escape The Meatrix!

by pawlitico

Factory farming is a horrible thing!

As Moopheus, the star of The Meatrix, points out, "In the mid-twentieth century, greedy agriculture corporations began modifying sustainable family farming to maximize their profits at great cost to humans and animals."



Remember what Moopheus says: "It's you, the consumer, who has the real power. Don't support the factory-farming machine."

Paw-leeze, if you eat meat and dairy, shop for humanely-farmed food!

'Humane Dog' not waiting fur the world to change!

by winecountrydog

I was out this past weekend puttin' paws up for the humane treatment of farm animals. I, Tilin Corgi, was hangin' out with Jack Corgi and one of our dog buddies, in Petaluma — northern California's once-upon-a-time egg capital, still strong in egg and dairy farming.

Here are some of my other cool buddies at PET Out the Vote for YES! on Prop 2 in Petaluma.

On Sunday, I went to Sebastopol. Dog-ma and I walked around outside the wonderful farmers' market in the heart of town.


Walking back past Brown St., I spotted the message "PLEASE DO NOT BLOCK THIS DOOR." I took this as a metaphor for my humane campaign.


Pawleeze don't block the door to the humane future 'cuz we need to change!

Here's my open paw-letter explaining my humane pawsition.

I'm an 11-year-old Corgi who had a history of spinal disc pawblems. Last year, my holistic veterinarian got me to change my diet. I and my pet buddies started eating fresh organic animal, egg, and dairy protein from ONLY humanely-treated farm animals. Geez, good riddance to kibble and horrible factory-farmed food.

Long story short: The tremendous increase in my strength and vitality literally saved my life when I later needed emergency surgery!

How did this amazing experience change my family? Not hard fur you to guess! It raised our food-consumer consciousness to the max.

Out of gratitude for my life being saved, I started paw-writing about different stuff. Then I got involved in helping to pass California Proposition 2, the ballot initiative for setting standards for confining farm animals.

Can you imagine my going back to eating the flesh of animals or the eggs of hens who've suffered unnatural lives in tiny indoor cages? Oh howl, how ungrateful would I have to be to continue to stay on the old petfood animal-torture trail?

But this dialog about humane eating habits doesn't end at the polls in November 2008. As a dog, a companion animal, I'm not vegetarian or vegan. I've got to continue to have humanely-farmed animal-protein sources for myself and my furry friends.

My dog-ma and I hold a vision of the future. It's a future in which pets join humans as humane consumers. And it's a future in which consumers support humane farmers in their region. Everywhere in the world, we all need our regional humane farm economies to be strong.

Change starts with consumers refusing to buy or eat inhumanely-farmed poultry, meat, eggs, and dairy products!

I'm not waitin' fur the world to change. I'm going forth as Humane Dog.

Pawnote: Woof thanks to everybuddy who came out to PETaluma to put paws up fur YES on Prop 2! And woof thanks to Katie at KRSH.com fur being a super-compassionate purrson.

California 'Prop 2' egg battle

by pawlitico

Here in California we're having an egg battle. We're not throwing eggs: We're throwing comments back and forth between factory farmers and humane-farming advocates.

In the middle is the future of millions of hens and the California egg industry.


When humane Californians vote YES! on Proposition 2 in November, they'll be ensuring that California eggs will be cage-free eggs.

In other words, 'Yes on Prop 2' voters will be casting a vote in favor of enforcing the cage-free ethic for all egg farming.

Opponents of Prop 2 say this'll kill the California egg industry. No way! We believe those who say this'll convert it to a more profitable industry. We say this knowing that many of us in California — both we pets and our humans — already consume only regionally-produced cage-free eggs.

Here's an egg-cerpt about the egg battle from a piece by The CA Majority Report's Donald Lathbury. It's entitled "No on Prop 2 Campaign Funded by the Same Out-of-State Egg Producers that the Campaign Claims would Benefit if Prop 2 Passes?"

Surely out-of-state egg producers are chomping at the bits to see Prop 2 passed then, since they anticipate a flood of new business as California's egg producers are put out of business, right? Curiously, no:

"Thirteen Iowa companies have made nearly a quarter of a million dollars in donations to 'Californians for SAFE Food - No on Prop 2,' a coalition organized to fight a ballot measure amending the state's health and safety code in relation to the confinement of livestock."

Ok, I'm confused. Riddle me this, factory farmers: why would 13 Iowa egg producers dump a quarter million dollars into an opposition campaign to a California proposition that would increase Iowa egg producers' market share? If the No campaign's talking points were true, Iowa egg producers (along with donors from factory farms in Nebraska, Maine, Colorado, Utah, Missouri, Arkansas, Alabama, and well, every state in the country with battery cage egg production), if anything, would be giving money to the Yes side. That's business, right? Make your profits where you can by digging into the markets of your competitors.

Something doesn't fit here. Maybe, just maybe, the outside egg producers that have dominated the finances of the No campaign are afraid that the old adage, 'as California goes, so goes the nation,' applies in this situation.

And if that's the case, then far from exporting our egg production to other states, Prop 2 actually exports our more humane farming practices to other states, hence the fervent opposition from folks who love to squeeze as much profit as they can from stuffing six-to-eight hens in cages so small that they cannot turn around or expand their wings. . . .

Howl, we want California to export humane business ethics, thereby promoting humane farming practices everywhere.

Under the Prevention of Farm Cruelty Act, pigs and veal calves will be humanely treated too.

Now's the time for conversion to cage-free production.


California humans, paw-leeze end the inhumane-ity and the egg battle: Cast your YES vote on PROP 2!

When Labor Day is a disaster

By winecountrydog

I've been "MIA" 'cuz of readin' and compilin' info about animal rescue and evacuation before, during, and after the hurricane.

I'd planned this Labor Day to enjoy and then paw-write about Sonoma Wine Country Weekend. This has been the first weekend in months that I felt up to visiting wineries with dog-ma.

Instead, I've been pawing and twittering about pet evacuation and disaster survival. Now I'm looking at post-Gustav animal rescue efforts.

Some news made me growl. After Gustav made landfall, there were reports of abandoned dogs in the New Orleans area. Best Friends Rapid Response Team went around to houses to follow up on the reports. Many dogs weren't just left behind: They were left tied up in yards, left to suffer and die!

The team's field leader, Rich Crook, has been still compiling lists of confirmed addresses with dogs abandoned and dogs chained in the yards. Mr. Crook and a Jefferson Parish Animal Control officer go out and check on the dogs' well being, and, if need be, rescue and hold them until their guardian/owners return.


I have to ask: Do they really return the dogs to the same humans? . . . And what can rescuers do about all the abandoned pets inside evacuees' houses?

Oh howl, I won't dogress into pain and controversy. It's not gonna help right now. Besides, many compassionate humans refused to evacuate and weren't about to abandon their pets.

Oscar the dachshund, who lives in St. Bernard Parish, told roving reporters today that his human, Gerald LeBlanc, has a boogie board fur him and a life preserver jacket fur himself. They aren't going anywhere. Oscar munched on bacon as Mr. LeBlanc, whose home had been destroyed once in Katrina, explained, "I'm staying right here. I'm tired of running."

In another part of the same parish, which has been under 24-hour curfew, a human named Anthony Stipelcovich risked arrest today to make several miles-long round trips on foot. Mr. Stipelcovich used a gardening cart to ferry his dog, his seven cats, and his aquariums of hamsters and mice to his sister's house.

When sheriff's deputies came upon Mr. Stipelcovich at one point, he had to talk his way out of being arrested. He says, "I guess they were just being compassionate, being merciful. I'm glad they didn't do that. I'm saving my pets."

Woof! What a nice human.

A FEW POST-GUSTAV RESOURCES:

• Best Friends Animal Society - team in NOLA


• Broadbent Wildlife Sanctuary - help from Kentucky!


• Gustav Wiki - Animal Rescue Page!


• The Hurricane Information Center (A. Carvin)


• LA/SPCA Louisiana SPCA - evac guide, tips & updates


• LSART Louisiana State Animal Response Team


• SPCA of Texas - breaking news

We need to share info and resources to help animals to find temporary shelter, to get through the next storm, to get back their proper homes, and to stay safe and fed.

Pawleeze me and I'll post what you find.

You want to do the funky chicken?

By pawlitico

I want to do the funky chicken. Look, I can do it without moving my legs or turning around!

I don't want to be free — I don't want to have to cross the road and then put up with humans asking me why I did it. I want to party like a battery-caged factory-farm chicken.

Doggoneit, I was looking furward to shackin' up with some cute local chickens in a claustrophobic yet cozy cage. But in November 2008, Californians will vote on Prop 2, the ballot initiative for the Prevention of Farm Cruelty Act (see PDF).

The Act requires that "an enclosure or tether confining specified farm animals allow the animals for the majority of every day to fully extend their limbs or wings, lie down, stand up, and turn around."

When the Act becomes law, it will, among other things, require CA egg farmers to move their 19 million caged chickens into cage-free facilities by 2015.

Egg and poultry farmer Arnie Riebli is a smart human. He saw this cage-free day coming. His family's been in the egg business in Sonoma County for 100 years. They're Sunrise Farms, the county's largest egg farm, producing one million eggs a day. Mr. Riebli's prepared whether or not the new law passes: Some of his chickens are cage free and some are not.

You can see egg farmer Riebli, and also Hope Bohanec, coordinator for 'YES! on Prop 2' for Sonoma County. The video makers labeled this a "debate" and "a look inside the egg industry." Woof? In reality, it's a look inside Sunrise Farms, with some sensible commentary from the two interviewees.

Palweeze learn more and join in supporting the initiative at the official 'YES on Prop 2' website.

Pawnote: You want to "Do The Funky Chicken"? Download this hit song by the late R&B/soul legend Rufus Thomas, who also did "Walking The Dog." Let's get funky for freeing the chickens!

Compassion Day August 8th

By pawlitico

When a young dog like myself reads the news, it can make me howl in a way that isn't funny. I need to be pawsitive, so I am declaring August 8, 2008, the first annual Compassion Day for Humane and Human rights.

I came up with the idea after reflecting on the need for stronger protection of human rights and humane rights in the world. I'm having a moment of compassion meditation with my family to remember everybuddy who suffers.

Today is opening day of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This makes me remember the May '08 earthquake in China that killed almost 70,000 people and countless animals.

This Beichuan pig survived in the rubble of her home.


Today is also the day after the world's attention was drawn to a statement made by a U.S. mayor whose two Labrador dogs were slain by police.

Below you can see the Labrador retrievers walking with Berwyn Heights, Maryland, Mayor Cheye Calvo and his wife, Trinity Tomsic, in an old photo. That's Chase, on the left. He was a four-year-old Lab. Payton, on the right, was a seven-year-old. They were shot and killed by a sheriff's SWAT team during a "drug raid" of their home on July 29, 2008. No one in the home was involved in drugs; all were innocent victims.


According to a Washington Post interview with Mayor Calvo, when the police went in, they shot Payton near the front door and followed Chase as he ran into a back room.

In the Mayor's August 7th statement, he gave further detail: "Payton was shot some distance from the front door. He was shot where his body was found, near the entrance to the kitchen. After Payton was shot, Chase reacted to the gunfire and ran away from the deputies. He was hunted down and shot in the back while he fled. His body was found in the rear of the house."

Such inhumane-ity. Such a violation of human civil rights.

Turning to the Olympics, everybuddy knows that China's hosting of the Olympics has been controversial. Controversy is fine with this dog. But I don't want humans to forget why there's controversy: Criticism stems from China's policies on Tibet, its lack of human rights for its citizens, and its lack of humane protection for animals.

The photo below says it all. A Beijing human is mimicking the Statue of Liberty at Miniature Manhattan in World Park, one of the three Beijing parks where Olympics protests have been permitted by Chinese authorities.


Chinese authorities have probably nixed many protests. One was Amanda Beard's event at Athlete's Village. But cancelation didn't stop Beard, the Olympic 200-meter breaststroke champion, from protesting outside the hotel: She unveiled a poster of herself naked in support of the anti-fur movement.

Pawnote: Our hearts go out to Mayor Cheye Calvo and Ms. Trinity Tomsic.

'Pet trusts' and 'no downer' legislation

By pawlitico

There's a lot going on in California pawlitics these days. Governor Schwarzenegger's Labrador Retrievers, Spunky and Gustav, along with Cockapoo Sarge, say their guardian/governor signed two important animal protection bills into law this week.

The first is California Senate Bill 685 (SB 685) for the enforcement of pet trusts. The bill was authored by Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo), and its passage brings peace of mind to people who need to know that the trusts they establish for the care of pets will be legally enforceable.

According to the office of Senator Yee, SB 685, which goes into effect January 1, 2009, is "expected to reduce the burden on pet shelters, conserve public services and funds, protect defenseless animals, and guarantee that people’s wills are carried out as intended."

The San Francisco SPCA and the American SPCA (ASPCA) sponsored this bill, with support from the following groups:

• Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)


• 2nd Chance 4 Pets


• Action for Animals


• Animal Legal Defense Fund


• Animal Switchboard


• Marin Humane Society


• United Animal Nations (UAN)


• Wildcare


• Horse Trusts


• Companion Animal Trusts


• Pets Are Wonderful Support (PAWS)


• San Francisco Dog Owners Group


• State Humane Association of California (SHAC)


• Trusts and Estates Section of the State Bar of Calif.


• Calif. Federation for Animal Legislation (Raasch et al)

The second piece of animal protection legislation is "no downers" Assembly Bill 2098, introduced by Assemblymember Paul Krekorian (D-Burbank). AB 2098 will prohibit any slaughterhouse, stockyard, or animal auction from selling meat or products from downed animals for human consumption. The law imposes stiff criminal penalties on those who sell such products. It also requires immediate action to either humanely euthanize a downed animal or provide veterinary treatment.

The AB 2098 bill is a great step forward in protecting animals as well as human food safety. It strengthens the initial downer legislation passed in California in 1994.

This legislation came about as a direct result of the 2008 downed-animal abuse scandal at a meat packing company. In January, the USDA learned of inhumane handling of downed cattle (non-ambulatory or disabled cattle) at Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company in Chino. In February, the company "voluntarily" recalled over 143 million pounds (65 million kilograms) of raw and frozen beef products because of the USDA's investigation into its animal cruelty practices.

Animal lovers who'd like to increase farm animal protection in California or other states and also nationwide should consider supporting Farm Sanctuary. This organization works to stop cruel practices in the "food animal" industry through research, investigations, legal and institutional reforms, public awareness and education projects, rescue efforts, and by providing lifelong refuge for hundreds of rescued animals.

eBay bans some sales of pet fur

eBay Inc. banned the sale of dog and cat pelts on its German-language websites, effective July 15, 2008. This was after animal rights groups hounded the online auction giant about concerns that pet pelts show up in goods labeled as other kinds of fur. . . . Like other kinds would be better?

The new eBay pet fur ban will extend to France, Italy, and Spain — with other Euro countries to follow, said eBay spokesman Alexander Witt. But it does not cover the United States. What the woof?

International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) program leader Peter Pueschel was quoted by AP as saying he welcomed eBay's decision as an important step in animal protection. He added, "We hope that others will follow worldwide, and that such products will be taken off the market." (At IFAW.org, you can read what the org has to say about the Internet animal trade.)

On another level, there's the China syndrome: Undercover investigators from Swiss Animal Protection toured "fur farms" normally closed to prying eyes in China's Hebei Province. The investigators concluded that 'Conditions on Chinese fur farms make a mockery of the most elementary animal welfare standards. In their lives and their unspeakable deaths, these animals have been denied even the simplest acts of kindness.'" They tell of the worst horrors — documented in words and pictures for those with strong stomachs.

How much slaughtered pet stuff does eBay sells on its Asian websites? Good question. But before we harpoon eBay, we need to line up and sniff out eBay rivals and other little Asian Net auction houses. The Net era has brought big Silk Road traffic with Chinese as well as U.S.-owned auctions in the China market. In the broader Asian market, there's Gmarket, Yahoo's pan-Asian Net dragon. (Business Week called the eBay–Yahoo Asian rivalry "ferocious.")

On July 10, 2008, the Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) announced that Overstock.com has become the hundredth retailer to make a pawlicy of not selling any products containing animal fur. As a dog who dreams of an ideal world, I'd like to wear pelts of animals who died of natural causes to help stay warm in the winter — such an energy-saving idea! But I realize that humans can't stop the cruelty-based fur trade unless consumers and advocate groups take a stand against wearing, buying, and selling fur clothing.

Check out the HSUS list of Fur-free Retailers and Designers to see which companies decide to ban fur sales and avoid bad publicity and legal battles.