Time for another edition of Hisses and Purrs. Most every week, June Buggie and Hissy Fit Jones catch you up on the good, and the not-so-good, news on the plight of animals around the world.
This week Hissy Fit Jones has lots of hissing to do, so best let him get to it!
We’re hissing all over the Dallas Safari Club for auctioning off that permit to kill a black rhino for $350,000. Of course, they’re not telling who made the winning bid, but the UK newspaper The Daily Mail has named the winner as Corey Knowlton. The hunting club claims the money will go toward conservation and the rhino to be killed is old and aggressive. I hope the hunter is not allowed to bring his trophy back into the states, but then again, I doubt anything will be done about it. After all, it’s just an animal, right?
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Hisses to Florence, Alabama, Police Chief Ron Tyler, who also oversees the Florence-Lauderdale Animal Shelter. The chief has banned volunteer Debbie Rappuhn from the shelter for 30 days for what he called repeated insubordination toward staff at the shelter. This is the shelter that botched the gas chamber euthanasia of Daniel, the miracle beagle that rode in the Rose Bowl parade this year. The chief defends his decision, as stupid as it was. I guess when you are more interested in being a bad ass than in caring for animals, you do stuff like this. I say let Rappuhn run the shelter and boot the police chief!
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Hisses to Survival Outreach Sanctuary, located near Tampa, Florida. Recently a 7-year-old lioness escaped from her enclosure and had to be shot with a tranquilizer gun to get her out of a tree. The so-called sanctuary was cited by the USDA last February for improper caging and noted the lion was digging under her enclosure. Also, last Friday, the director lost an eye when a deer held at the facility gored her. Florida allows private ownership of big cats with a USDA permit, which apparently is easy to get and to maintain.
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Hisses to the Japanese whaling boat, Nisshin Maru, for hunting whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, within New Zealand’s protected waters. The boat was observed by anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd with whale carcasses on the deck during whaling season. Japan claims the animals are hunted for “scientific research,” yet Sea Shepherd observed the ship’s crew cutting up the minke whales and discarding the organs. Doesn’t sound like scientific research to me.
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Oh Hissy! I’m afraid to even visit Grandma after reading about that police chief, and she’s in the next county over! Better let June Buggie give us some good news!
Purrs to Sergeant Shirley Jew of Canada for calling out Air Canada airlines when they refused to allow her service dog, Snoopy, to fly with her because the airline doesn’t recognize PTSD as a condition requiring a service animal. Instead, they offered to let the sergeant pay $50 to have her “pet” accommodate her in the cabin. Sgt. Jew rightfully requested a refund and flew WestJet airlines. Air Canada has since apologized and have asked for more information. Here’s some information, Air Canada: your airline is manned by asses!
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Purrs to China for publicly crushing 6 tons of ivory last week in Nanangzhen, a small town near Guangzhou, as a group of officials, diplomats, conservationists and journalists looked on. China is the biggest consumer of illegal ivory, and many Chinese don’t realize the elephants are killed to obtain the ivory.
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Purrs to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who has ordered aides to study placing price caps on pet food. This action is a part of the government’s Mission Nevado campaign to address the high number of homeless animals in the country. According to Maduro, taking care of neglected animals represents the noblest sentiments of the revolution. And he’s doing more than just talking a good game; at a recent event, Maduro adopted a cat.
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We’re sending purrs, prayers, good thoughts and all the healing energy we can muster to India, as they battle Canine Distemper Virus in the tiger population. So far 4 tigers have died of the virus that is life-threatening to the large cats, as well as to other large animals.
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Thanks, June Buggie! I do feel better now.
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Do YOU have any hisses or purrs to share this week?
Dogpaddling Through Life 
What a lot of hisses and purrs. We are sending big hisses to Pets At Home here, for covering up a story. A blog was set up full of photographs of neglects and sick animals allegedly taken inside the Pets At Home stores. Pets at Home discovered it and immediately had it taken down then said that the claims were being investigated. Despite repeated requests for information, nothing has been heard since regarding this and the blog site with the photos are still down. If they had done nothing wrong, then wouldn’t they outright deny it? There should be far more transparency to these investigations and members of the public should be able to find out what was discovered and the outcome.
Gah, I set myself off again! Purrs this week are for the teenager who stopped a group of unruly children from stamping on snails that were out due to the rain. It’s respecting all animals that makes him a hero in my book.
~ Amy
Whoa! Pets at Home sells animals? I certainly hope folks don’t shop there regardless of what they claim.
Yep, I believe every single one of their shops sells animals. Unfortunately it is the only pet shop most people can get supplies at and plenty have ‘in-store’ vets that people visit and get something on the way through.
xxxx
Do you have any more information on this story? I’m interested in how they managed to get an independent blog taken down. I assume they used legal pressure. As bloggers we are Citizen-journalists and many of us expose corporate and even government wrongdoing. As much as it hisses me off about the animal abuse, it makes me even madder that cyber-journalists can be intimidated by these companies. I would imagine the Free Press clause of the 1st Amendment can be invoked here.
This is the blog which as you can see no longer shows up – http://nopetsforchristmas.tumblr.com/?og=1
For some time it did say “Pending legal action from Pets At Home this blog is temporarily unavailable.” but now nothing
They tweeted about it at the time – https://twitter.com/PetsatHome/statuses/411097041377304576
Unfortunately the blogger who created this exposing blog has vanished and the company are saying nothing. It’s very frustrating
~ Amy
Thank you very much for your reply. I think it’s tragic when WE allow ourselves to be bullied by companies and government. My site steps on quite a few toes. So far (thank dog) we’ve had no threats.
Well, these Hisses and Purrs were very educative. Thanks for sharing! I can’t believe the use gas chambers to kill dogs… so cruel!
Yes, they are still used in some places in the US. To be as advanced as we claim to be, in many ways we still operate like a third world country.
‘Corey Knowlton has hunted widely on 6 continents taking more than 120 species, including a Super Slam of wild sheep and the big five in Africa.’ it states. ‘ uh oh! I had tears in my eyes as I read about this whale killing, “scientific research” ha, as if! What a lame excuse. Thanks for all the informations, Hissy. I’m glad we have some good people in those world too…
It’s pretty sick stuff to be sure!
Every time I read your hisses I am literally in shock,..,I mean, I know that these things happen, just hearing about them puts things in sort of a bigger perspective I suppose.
Love your purrs, you always pick the purrfect ones!
((Husky hugz))
“Love is being owned by a husky”
What the… You keep hissing!! Someone has to and doesn’t seem that very many voices get heard where they need to but I have faith in your voice of sanity and wisdom.
Well, it is nice that the idiots are stepping forward so we can easily identify them!!!!
A large crowd protested outside the Dallas Convention Center where the black rhino auction was held. The Dallas Safari Club claimed they received death threats and felt compelled to contact the FBI, which took the matter seriously. DSC stated the targeted rhino is an elderly, non-breeding male that won’t let younger males near his female harem. Thus, by their reasoning, eliminating the old male will enhance the future of the overall herd. I don’t see why safari officials in Namibia can’t just euthanize the rhino instead of letting self-righteous hunters from halfway around the world take him out with a rifle blast. But, avid hunters – who comprise barely 6% of the U.S. population – don’t seem to think so reasonably.
Oh no….auctioning that permit to kill a black rhino is terrible…..I can’t believe there are still so stupid humans who enjoy hunting innocent animals for their satisfaction…..
Also, so sorry to hear about Japanese “Nisshin Maru”….in Japan, it’s very rare to eat whale meat…….I don’t see whale meat sold at the supermarket,,,,so I wonder why some people still continue this insane sthing…..very disappointing…and shameful…. 😦
Once again so much guud n so much bad!! Mum n me saw da Rhino story on da newz n online n Mum waz ravin like a lunatick bout diz!! We agreez diz iz pawful n guttin sharkz n all da other stoopid stuff iz just wrong…n dat poor beegle Daniel…he ended up dere?? What da KAT???
Me finkz we shuud throw da evil stoopid peeple to da Rhinoz n Crocodilez n let dem see how pawfull life can bee fer creeturez…. 😉
Poor tigerz also…
*sighz* we iz so sadz now…
Lub Nylablue n Sherriellen Mum xoxo