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Crazy dog lady? Woman adopts 27 hounds
Woman says she has learned her lesson about her impulsive decision
updated 7:42 a.m. PT, Wed., Dec. 17, 2008

A Spanish Springs woman who went to a California dog pound looking for pet to replace her own dog that was hit by a car admits she went overboard when she brought home 27 dogs that were facing euthanasia. But she didn't expect to run afoul of the law.

"I didn't realize I was going to be in so much trouble or that so many people would be so angry at what I did," Colleen Spalioni told the Reno Gazette-Journal on Monday. "But after I lost my dog who gave me so much unconditional love, I couldn't leave these dogs to die."

Spalioni said she was trying to find another dog who looked like Barney, her 2-year-old pointer that was struck and killed by a car in November.

Browsing DogsinDanger.com, a Web site that posts photos of dogs in shelters and the number of days until they are euthanized, she found what she was looking for at shelter in Delano, Calif., outside Bakersfield.

But when she arrived, her heart took over, and she ended up bringing home 27 dogs that were about to be killed, including 10 Chihuahua mixes, one purebred Chihuahua, a Jack Russell, a poodle, two shepherd mixes, two miniature pinschers and an Australian cattle dog mix.

"I didn't realize so many animals were dying every day until I saw it with my own eyes," she said.

She said animal control officers helped her and her traveling companion load the dogs in her pickup. Some fit in the cab, the others rode in the truck bed with a down blanket and a tarp over the top.

But once home, neighbors complained of the barking, and she was told local ordinance prohibits more than three dogs per household.

After her story was posted on a newspaper blog, Spalioni said she had found homes for all but four of the dogs as of Monday.

She's hopes to find homes for the remaining dogs before her husband, who is out of town, returns home Wednesday.

"I learned my lesson. I promise I won't do this again," Spalioni said.

Top dog and cat names of 2008
See which names were paw-down most popular and most unusual too

It's raining names
Move over, Fluffy and Fido. There's a new batch of pet names in town: "people" names!
Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI), the nation's largest and oldest provider of pet health insurance, scoured its database of more than 466,000 insured pets to find the most popular dog and cat names of 2008. (Animals not insured by VPI were not included in the survey.)

But for those who like to think outside the (litter) box, VPI also came up with a list of unusual pet names, like Meatwad and Miss Fuzzbutt. The company's employees selected 50 unusual dog names and 50 unusual cat names, and then voted for the top 10 in each category. See which names were up to snuff.

Most Popular Dogs
1. Max
2. Bailey
3. Bella
4. Molly
5. Lucy
6. Buddy
7. Maggie
8. Daisy
9. Sophie
10. Chloe

Most Unusual Dogs
1. Rush Limbark
2. Sirius Lee Handsome
3. Rafikikadiki
4. Low Jack
5. Meatwad
6. Peanut Wigglebutt
7. Scuddles Unterfuss
8. Sophie Touch & Pee
9. Admiral Toot
10. Spatula

Most Popular Cats
1. Max
2. Chloe
3. Tigger
4. Tiger
5. Lucy
6. Smokey
7. Oliver
8. Bella
9. Shadow
10. Charlie

Most Unusual Cats
1. Edward Scissorpaws
2. Sir Lix-a-lot
3. Optimus Prrrime
4. Buddah Pest
5. Snoop Kitty Kitty
6. Miss Fuzzbutt
7. 80 Bucks
8. Sparklemonkey
9. Rosie Posie Prozac
10. Toot Uncommon

How many meerkats? London Zoo critter count
Information collected is sent to a global animal-monitoring database
By Gregory Katz
updated 12:14 p.m. PT, Thurs., Jan. 8, 2009

LONDON - How do you count scorpions?

Very gingerly, it turns out.

"You use tongs and pick them up by the stinger," London Zoo senior keeper Tony Dobbs said. "You avoid the pincers at all costs. You could get a nasty nick if you're not counting carefully."

Thursday was counting day at the London Zoo, so Dobbs not only had to count scorpions (13) but also the zoo's meerkats, millipedes and many other animals.

The annual count is a legal requirement for all British zoos, and it's also a useful tool for monitoring animal conservation efforts. Zookeepers say it makes sense to have a census.

"We have to tell the zoo licensing authorities exactly how many animals we have," said zoological director David Field, standing next to the manmade otters' pond. "It's not just the number of animals, it's who we've got, because many of our animals are individually identifiable."

Counting some of the London Zoo's more than 650 species is easy. There's only one giraffe — hard to miss. But other tasks are not for the squeamish: who really wants to spend hours determining if the population of 612 cockroaches has grown since last year?

All the information collected from British zoos is sent to a global animal-monitoring database run by a nonprofit group, the International Species Information System, or ISIS.

This treasure trove of updated data about animals throughout the world is used by the London Zoo and hundreds of others trying to monitor the threat to various species.

"This information forms the essential scientific foundation for the management of our conservation breeding programs," said Field.

The tally is particularly important when dealing with species that have become extinct in the wild.

Miranda Stevenson, director of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums, said the information can be used to help develop breeding programs for species like the Socorro doves, which are no longer found in the wild.

"When zoos submit data to these central databases, it means that we can run detailed and scientifically based breeding programs to safeguard these valuable and threatened species," she said.

Some of the counts are a snap. Dobbs had no trouble tallying three meerkats in a spacious enclosure Thursday, although they did seem nervous when he walked in carrying a clipboard. They hid in tunnels and behind bushes until they saw the scraps of food he was carrying. After 10 minutes, they were practically sitting in his lap

"Once they realized there was no threat, they were fine," said Dobbs.

But other species offer a formidable challenge.

Piranhas, for example, are very difficult to count, not just because of their strong jaws and impressive teeth, but because of their speed in the water.

"They can be quite tricky because they move around the tank very fast," said Dobbs. "It can be a nightmare to count 20 fish. But to be honest, they're not as dangerous as people think, as long as they're well fed."

He said keepers are cautious, nonetheless, about getting too close to the Amazon fish during the counting process. "We tend to avoid putting too much flesh into the tank, just in case."

They count each of the fregate beetles and rare partula snails one by one, but with some species, zookeepers have to compromise.

No one is required to count each and every leafcutter ant, for example — an estimate based on the exact number of ant colonies will just have to do, Field said.

He is particularly proud of two new additions to this year's census: Harry, the first warthog born at the London Zoo in roughly a century, and Conchita, an extremely rare white-naped mangabey monkey born in April by Caesarean section.

The survival of her species is very much in doubt because of the threat to its habitat in West Africa, making Conchita even more important, Field said.

"She's so endangered we needed to hand-rear her," he said. "She's now been integrated back into the group. That's a tremendous success."

Removing cats to protect birds backfires on island
By MICHAEL CASEY
Tue Jan 13, 9:18 am

BANGKOK, Thailand – It seemed like a good idea at the time: Remove all the feral cats from a famous Australian island to save the native seabirds.

But the decision to eradicate the felines from Macquarie island allowed the rabbit population to explode and, in turn, destroy much of its fragile vegetation that birds depend on for cover, researchers said Tuesday.

Removing the cats from Macquarie "caused environmental devastation" that will cost authorities 24 million Australian dollars ($16.2 million) to remedy, Dana Bergstrom of the Australian Antarctic Division and her colleagues wrote in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology.

"Our study shows that between 2000 and 2007, there has been widespread ecosystem devastation and decades of conservation effort compromised," Bergstrom said in a statement.

The unintended consequences of the cat-removal project show the dangers of meddling with an ecosystem — even with the best of intentions — without thinking long and hard, the study said.

"The lessons for conservation agencies globally is that interventions should be comprehensive, and include risk assessments to explicitly consider and plan for indirect effects, or face substantial subsequent costs," Bergstrom said.

Located about halfway between Australia and the Antarctic continent, Macquarie was designated a World Heritage site in 1997 as the world's only island composed entirely of oceanic crust. It is known for its wind-swept landscape, and about 3.5 million seabirds and 80,000 elephant seals arrive there each year to breed.

The cats, rabbits, rats and mice are all nonnative species to Macquarie, probably introduced in the past 100 years by passing ships. Authorities have struggled for decades to remove them.

The invader predators menaced the native seabirds, some of them threatened species. So in 1995, the Parks and Wildlife Service of Tasmania that manages Macquarie tried to undo the damage by removing most of the cats.

Several conservation groups including the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Birds Australia said the problem was not the original eradication effort itself — but that it didn't go far enough. They said the project should have taken aim at all the invasive mammals on the island at once.

"What was wrong was that the rabbits were not eradicated at the same time as the cats," University of Auckland Prof. Mick Clout, who also is a member of the Union's invasive species specialist group. "It would have been ideal if the cats and rabbits were eradicated at the same time, or the rabbits first and the cats subsequently."

Liz Wren, a spokeswoman for the Parks and Wildlife Service of Tasmania, said authorities were aware from the beginning that removing the feral cats would increase the rabbit population. But at the time, researchers argued it was worth the risk considering the damage the cats were doing to the seabird populations.

"The alternative was to accept the known and extensive impacts of cats and not do anything for fear of other unknown impacts," Wren said. "Since cats were eradicated, the grey petrel successfully bred on the island for the first time in a century and the recovery of Antarctic prions has continued since the eradication of feral cats."

Now, the parks service has a new plan to finish the job, using technology and poisons that weren't available a decade ago.

Wren said plans to eradicate both rabbits as well as rats and mice from the island will begin in 2010. Helicopters using global positioning systems will drop poisonous bait that targets all three pests. Later, teams will shoot, fumigate and trap the remaining rabbits, she said.

Some of the earlier critics are now behind this latest eradication effort, saying it should help the island's ecosystem fully recover because it would remove the last remaining invasive species.

"Without this action, there will be serious long-term consequences for the majestic seabirds which nest on the island including the four threatened albatross species, and for the health of the island ecosystem as a whole," said Dean Ingwersen, Bird Australia's threatened bird network coordinator.

"We believe that the process they are going to follow uses best practice for this type of work," Ingwersen said. "And that all possible ramifications have now been considered."

Man accused of stealing shark from pet store
Also used a stolen credit card to buy eel from a different shop, police say
updated 4:31 p.m. PT, Fri., Jan. 16, 2009

FRANKLIN SQUARE, N.Y. - A New York man is accused of going fishing in a pet store aquarium — catching a $350 shark and smuggling it out under his jacket.

Police say the bizarre shark heist took place Dec. 12 at Total Aquarium in Lynbrook.

The man went up to the tank where the shark was swimming and “just grabbed it and put it into his jacket,” store employee Jared Goldenberg told the New York Post.

“And then he just walked right out. It didn’t take long.”

The Freeport man released the contraband shark into his home aquarium, where he also kept a green moray eel he had purchased for $300 with a stolen credit card from a different pet shop on Jan 2, police said.

Police tracked down the man, a frequent patron of the pet stores, and arrested him Wednesday at his job as a food-service worker in Brooklyn, the Post reported.

The 30-year-old suspect was expected to be arraigned on charges of grand larceny and petit larceny. The fish are being cared for at the pet shop where the eel was purchased.

How You Drive With 22 Dogs In Car

On Monday, the police in Pottsboro, Texas seized 22 dogs in a car, locked in and the driver woman inside.

The 22 dogs were crammed in a station wagon type of car. The owner refused to open the doors when a constable tried to serve her a warrant for the seizure of the dogs early Monday, said SPCA spokeswoman Maura Davies.

How can you drive with 22 dogs in your car. Can you imagine the potential risk that driving with 22 dogs in a car can cause to other drivers.

Here is what the Society for The Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals of Texas and Grayson County have made available for the public.

Under the authority of the Grayson County Constable, Pct. 2, the SPCA of Texas seized 22 dogs, all Papillons, the morning of Monday, February 9, 2009, from a location in Grayson County.

The SPCA of Texas received a call from a concerned citizen regarding the welfare and living conditions of the dogs. When an SPCA of Texas investigator followed up on that call, the dog owner first indicated that they did not have the dogs. However, upon further assessment of the area, all 22 dogs were found to be cruelly confined in one vehicle. The SPCA of Texas is also concerned about the welfare of the dog owner and is planning on following up with Adult Protective Services.

SPCA of Texas vehicles will transport the animals to the Perry Animal Care Center at 8411 Stacy Road/FM 720 in McKinney, TX 75070, later today (exact time to be determined), where they will be cared for until the custody hearing. The date and time of that hearing will be determined this morning.

If the SPCA of Texas is awarded custody at that hearing, the animals would be individually evaluated for potential adoption or placement on a case by case basis.

Based on materials from Texas SPCA.


Police find 22 dogs in station wagon with owner
Edition Date: 02/09/09

POTTSBORO, Texas — North Texas authorities seized 22 dogs found crammed inside a station wagon with their owner. The owner locked the car doors and refused to come out when a constable tried to serve her a warrant for the seizure of the dogs early Monday, said SPCA spokeswoman Maura Davies.

Two puppies and 20 dogs were taken to a shelter until a judge decides who gets custody, the SPCA said. A hearing on the custody of the animals is set for Feb. 16 in Denison.

The dogs were in the car along with a pot of water, blankets and waste.

"The car was soaked with urine and covered in feces. The ammonia level in the vehicle was 23 parts per million even after the doors had been opened for several minutes. As a frame of reference, humans start experiencing health issues at 12 parts per million," Courtney Stevens, SPCA of Texas rescue and investigations supervisor, said in a news release.

The owner does not face charges, Grayson County constable Michael Putman said. She was not coherent and the SPCA said it has contacted Adult Protective Services about the woman.

Pottsboro is about 70 miles north of Dallas.

Clintons bid farewell to Socks the cat, age 20
The former first feline died Friday after battling throat cancer
updated 3:07 p.m. PT, Fri., Feb. 20, 2009

Former First Cat Socks, one of the world’s most famous felines, died Friday at the age of 20 after battling throat cancer since November. A stray cat rescued by the Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, Socks lived in the governor’s mansion in Arkansas and later moved with the family to the White House.

"Socks brought much happiness to Chelsea and us over the years, and enjoyment to kids and cat lovers everywhere," the Clintons said in a statement, released first to PEOPLE.COM. "We're grateful for those memories, and we especially want to thank our good friend, Betty Currie, for taking such loving care of Socks for so many years."

Currie, the president's personal secretary, and her husband, Bob, took over care of Socks after the Clintons left the White House. It was near their home in Maryland that Socks was put to sleep Friday morning. "He could no longer stand and wasn’t eating," according to family friend and presidential historian Barry Landau.

His pal Buddy the Lab
Though much was made of the fact that Buddy, the family’s beloved brown Labrador retriever – who died after being hit by a car in 2002 – remained with the Clintons while Socks did not, Landau says, "The truth be known, Betty asked if Socks could come live with her. The Clintons didn’t abandon Socks. They were totally conflicted. It broke their hearts, but they knew it would be the right thing for Socks’ welfare.”

"Betty had lost a close family member and a dog and they wanted to do something nice for her," continues Landau, noting that Hillary Clinton had just been elected to the U.S. Senate.

During the family's days in the White House, Socks had become attached to Betty, with whom he spent many hours every day. "Socks was always curled up on a blue striped silk chair, next to Betty," in her office outside the Oval Office, Landau says. "Socks didn’t act like a cat. Socks was very dog-like, and Buddy and Socks got along well.” Landau adds that even visiting heads of state asked to have pictures taken with the cat.

A taste for chicken
In the years since he left the White House, Landau says, "Socks had an incredible life. Betty cooked for Socks," he said, noting the cat loved chicken. He was also the subject (along with the family dog) of a book by Hillary Clinton titled Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids’ Letters to the First Pets.

On Thursday, Currie took Socks for one last walk; she plans to have the cat cremated.