Welcome to this week’s edition of Hisses and Purrs, where our resident experts Hissy Fit Jones and June Buggie run down the good, and the not-so-good, news in the world of animal welfare. First up, Hissy Fit Jones is really hot- and he’s not even a government employee forced to work without pay!
Hisses to Ary Borges of Brazil, who is currently fighting in court for his right to keep the large cats he maintains in his small home in a southern Brazilian city. Borges has a license to keep the two lions, two tigers, and monkey that he owns, but he illegally bred the tigers, and now Brazilian wildlife officials want to take away his right to keep the large cats. Borges is trying to make himself sound like a hero, but if he’s breeding, he’s a loser in my book.
Hisses to Australia’s livestock lobby, who is pressing Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to remove the charity status of Animals Australia. The lobbying group claims AA caused damage to Australian farmers and Australia’s international trade reputation through its’ campaign to ban live exports, and that it does not spend any money on actual animal welfare. Sounds like they’re playing the same game the US agricultural industry lobby plays.
We continue to hiss at the poachers at the Zimbabwe, Hwange National Park, who placed cyanide-laced salts around a watering hole frequented by elephants. The death toll has reached over 100 so far, and that is just the elephants. Other animals will also most certainly die as they visit the watering hole or dine on the elephant carcasses. Death by cyanide is slow and painful, and the poachers remove the tusks while the elephants are still dying.
And hisses to Malcolm Walter, founding director of Australian Centre for Astrobiology School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences. In a recent opinion piece on Iran’s plans to send a Persian cat into space published in The Conversation, Walter wrote, ” What a good idea – how about launching Australia’s whole cat population on a one-way mission to nowhere! It would save millions of native animals from ending up as catfood.” Gee, Australia, you really got it out for us animals lately, don’t you?
I think I want to puke after all that, Hissy! Please, June Buggie! Give us some good news!!!!
Purrs to the Maryland jury that awarded a Frederick County family $620,000 in their lawsuit againt Frederick County sheriff deputies for an unconstitutional search of the family’s home and for shooting the family dog. The dog survived but will require special medical care for the rest of its life. Not surprisingly, the deputies are appealing. What IS surprising is that The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), the American Kennel Club (AKC), and the Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA), have all filed Friend of the Court Briefs asking that the award for emotional distress be thrown out.
Purrs to NBC Sports Network for cancelling the show Under Wild Skies, a show sponsored by the NRA and hosted by NRA gun lobbyist Tony Makris. Animal welfare advocates rightfully became outraged when a recent episode showed Makris shooting and killing an elephant in Botswana, and then drinking champagne. When animals rights advocates began petitioning NBC Sports to cancel the show, Makris replied that advocates are “animal racists,” and compared us to Hitler. And THIS is why I don’t like the NRA.
Purrs to the The Assiniboine Park Conservancy in Winnipeg, for accepting 16-month-old Hudson the polar bear into it’s zoo program. Hudson had chased and bit a man in Manitoba last month, and therefore was deemed to dangerous to remain in the wild. Had the not agreed to do so, Hudson would have been euthanized.
And this one gets neither a hiss or purr, but I just have to share it with you. Kentucky woman Patricia Ritz, convicted multiple times on animal cruelty charges, recently died, and, ironically, got her comeuppance. Her death left her 39 wolf-hybrid dogs without food, so….. they ate her. After her past convictions, Ritz was still allowed to keep animals, provided they were spayed/neutered, and yet no one followed up, because the numbers of dogs she owned kept rising. The dogs will not be made available for adoption, but will instead be placed in sanctuaries.
Thanks guys!
Your turn. Do YOU have any hisses or purrs to add this week?
Dogpaddling Through Life 
The majority of Australians abhor the live export trade..the Prime Minister is now Tony Abott and the Opposition is still undecided as to who they are going to have as leader…the live trade export is disgraceful and should be stopped the treatment of these animals is appalling and inhumane both prior to boarding on board and god hekp us at the other end…we need to stop bowing down to overseas demands for this.And as for the remarks about the cat population…typical…cats killing wild life is the owners faukt if the aniamls are roaming,the human faukt of non desexing and the human fault if a cat is feral and hungry it has to eat..i am a wildlife lover and am responsible but I still believe that if these people want to talk about the deaths of wildlife then surely this is natural behaviour of predating …they don’t say anything about natural predators killing wildlife. As an Australian I am again hissing with you !
Really! Where’s the uproar about humans as natural predators. They kill far more than any other species on earth.
Exactly Rumpy top order predators we are..any animal starving will kill to eat..unaware that it is wildlife or endangered but humans do this without any thought.
Reblogged this on hadassaab.
Hisses to the lady who abandoned her elderly chocolate Labrador to a local rescue because it no longer matched the decor in her house (yes, seriously, she has changed to black and white from brown and cream). Hisses to the hoomans who dumped a box of guinea pigs outside a rescue late one night last wheek, where they were not discovered till morning leaving eight dead and one fighting for his life.
Whee haven’t got and purrs ourselves but luckily yours soothed us!
Nacho, Noah, Buddy & Basil
xxxx
I understand being upset with the woman that surrendered her dog to a rescue, but to be honest, if she sees her animal companion as decor, he is far better off at a rescue. So I’m glad she did what she did. As for the guinea pigs, I hope that one day will stop stigmatizing people for surrendering animals, and then perhaps they won’t resort to such actions as overnight abandonment.
It is very upsetting. I cannot understand why she is abandoning a dog she has had since it was a puppy. Now he is older and doesn’t match the sofa?! Poor thing. He has health issues too so it’s going to be hard to find him a new home. Some people should not be allowed pets. I am not against surrendering pets but I am against people giving silly excuses.
xxxx
Better give silly excuses than leave the dog to fend for himself in the street.
A very good point. I just wish people thought through whether a dog or other animal is right for them. And whether they can give that animal a home for life. (unexpected things happen and accidents happen and thing change for people but not decor)
Reblogged this on delia1979.
Thanks Delia!
YW Rumpy
How sad, I will hiss with you! And I will hiss for Romania, where they passed a legislation for killing stray dogs. The other criminals of the EU see no “demand for action” – of course that are just animals and there is no chance to earn money. What a shame.
That is horrific!
Do you have to pay to leave an animal at the humane society? People are strange, very strange, they can justify any kind of behaviour. and believe absolutely what they say. It is called pathological…
Some rescues and even animal shelters DO charge a fee for a voluntary surrender.
Good one HF! Mom tryded to add tihs post to her Stumble Upon but teh site sed she cant bcuz it’s ben added too much. Wha??? Ennyways she put a link on mai club on FB & Pinterest. Well, wher we livs we has a leesh law fur cats. Ai dont git it & Ai dont do leeshes. Good fing fer big bak yard & Poppa going owtsides wif me in bak yard! Anudder fing iz Ai livs bai a zoo wher we kin heer teh elumfants singing. Mom luvs elumfants. Nebber seend wun but mai cat nose knos wher tehy iz. In anudder town, Durham Conn,, tehy has “Elumfant Encounter” at a fare! Hoo ever herd ov sech?? Iz almos ez bad ez a cirkis! U duznt need elumfants at a fare. Fares iz fur rides and showing off prize farm aminuls and prize punkins and eating ebberfing sumbody kin dip in batter & fry! Elumfant acts not needed. Lucky tehy haz udder peepuls taht cares abot teh elumphants hoo iz mad abot tihs! http://www.nhregister.com/general-news/20130928/animal-advocates-protest-new-elephant-encounter-act-at-durham-fair
It’s really sad that humans call themselves the more evolved animals. I think they’re wrong.
Wow – that Ritz story is just… bizarre. I’d never heard of the NBC show, but I’m glad it’s cancelled. It boggles my mind that the NRA has such an influence in the US when it’s actually quite small, proportionately speaking.
Welcome to the US, where a small minority rules the world. Kinda like old feudal Europe.
Wow. I read about the woman getting eaten. One word: karma. As for the hisses, for every step forward we got two back. What a shame.
I think we are moving forward more than back. But we must be mindful of challenges we still face.
I’m hissing mad, right with you, on all of those hisses. Yes, I had read about those poachers in Zimbabwe, and it made me just sick.
The hisses just prove what I’ve always said – sometimes it’s hard to call humans “mankind”, because there’s no kindness in some people.
My brothers and I give angry growls (we are dogs, don’t hiss) to all the bad hisses listed on this. That lady who was eaten by those poor starving wolf-dogs – yeh! They finally were able to get back on a nasty person. Sad for the poor dog who didn’t match the decor – she could have given it a dog safe dye job to match instead of tossing it out.
yeah well, some humans aren’t as smart as we are!
Hisses to the U.S. Congress who shut down the government rather than compromise. Somehow, they’ll be the only non-essential federal employees who will get paid.
I’m glad to hear that Hudson was saved!!!
But….a little sad to read about Ritz….I
wonder what she would think if she was still alive…