Macrobolic’s BodyBlog

On June 30, a grey filly was found roaming the desert near Round Mountain, an isolated mining community roughly 235 miles southeast of Reno, NV, close to the Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDA). The two-year-old horse had been the victim of a horrendous act of animal cruelty—the hide of her left hip, where the owner’s brand was located, had been cut off in a six-by-eight inch patch, and the skin removed to make sure the filly could not be traced back to her owner.

NDA officials gently rounded up the horse and transported her to their emergency holding facility, where she was fed, watered and her wound treated by a vet. The mare was later transported to Return to Freedom, a wild horse sanctuary that eventually contacted her new forever home, a horse sanctuary outside of San Diego called Horses of Tir Na Nog. (Both are recipients of the ASPCA Equine Grant Fund.)

Efforts have now shifted from the mare’s rescue to finding the person responsible for her mutilation and abandonment. The ASPCA has joined forces with the Humane Society of the United States in offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to the conviction of the perpetrator, bringing the total reward to $5,000.

Says ASPCA President & CEO, Ed Sayres, "Abandoned horses are the result of a struggling economy and the unscrupulous overbreeding of horses around the country. The solution involves educating breeders and owners about responsible horse care.”

Questions regarding this case should be directed to the Nevada Department of Agriculture at (775) 738-8076.

As the heat of summer sets in, neglected backyard dogs face soaring temperatures, the scorching sun, and energy-sapping humidity as well as the wind and pounding rains from powerful summer thunderstorms.

For many of these animals, a sturdy doghouse with an overhanging roof that provides shade can mean the difference not only between abject misery and a little comfort but also between life and death. That’s why PETA’s “Angels for Animals” program is so wonderful—and so important. Can I count on you to be an “angel” for a lonely, unfortunate dog this summer?

As an “angel for animals,” you can sponsor a specially designed PETA-built doghouse that will provide a needy dog with shelter to see him or her through scorching summers—and cold winters—for years to come.

Your sponsorship can immediately change the life of animals like Chow and Pit. When PETA first met these two neglected animals, their North Carolina “owner” had had them for more than a year yet had been too lazy even to name them. He simply called them “Chow” and “Pit” (after their breeds).

Each of these sweet dogs was tethered by the neck with an extremely heavy chain at the center of a large dirt circle—created by the dog’s restricted range of movement at the end of the chain. The dogs could never escape their “prison yard.” Pit had only a damp plastic barrel for shelter, and Chow called a grossly inadequate plastic doghouse “home.” (Plastic doghouses are like ovens in the summertime.) Both dogs had dug holes in the ground in an attempt to escape the relentless summer heat.

The harsh reality is that some people cannot afford to take proper care of their dogs and cats, while others don’t know how or just plain don’t care. Sometimes, PETA can legally remove the dogs and even bring criminal charges against their “owners.” But sometimes, we are prohibited by local laws from taking such actions. That’s when we do everything we can to help reduce their daily suffering. We returned to check on Chow and Pit, and when we did, we took them PETA custom-built doghouses filled with soft straw bedding. The doghouses provided Chow and Pit with some urgently needed shade and protection from intense thunderstorms, a common occurrence in North Carolina on summer afternoons.

Since we started the program, PETA has distributed more than 4,300 doghouses, thanks to generous “angels for animals.” Now, with more dogs in urgent need of shelter and temperatures at or near their year-long highs, I very much hope that we can count on your support.

No matter how much you can afford to give, I urge you to respond today. It is in economic tough times like these that unloved animals suffer the most. Nearly all the dogs we reach with our “Angels for Animals” program live in underprivileged neighborhoods. I promise you that PETA will fight as hard as we can to make sure that these dogs are not mistreated, forgotten, or ignored.

Thank you so very much for coming to the rescue of at least one sorely neglected dog this summer. Your simple act of kindness can bring one of these dear animals years of shelter, lasting them through many changing seasons, from bitter winters to scorching-hot summers.

Kind regards,

Ingrid E. Newkirk
President

Yesterday went to the dogs – some 450 of them – when federal law enforcement agencies, along with The HSUS, The Humane Society of Missouri, and the ASPCA raided multiple dogfighting operations around the country in what was the largest single day of actions against this blood sport in American history.

Clearly, the law is on our side – and with organized dogfighting illegal everywhere and a felony in all 50 states, never in our five-decade fight against this vicious and bloody activity has our message been stronger: dogfighters are a dying breed.

The following statement from Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund President Rodger Schlickeisen is in response to the resignation of Alaska governor, Sarah Palin:

"Governor Palin’s surprise resignation comes at a crucial point for wildlife and wild places in Alaska. In the just two and a half years of  her term, she has made a series of decisions that prove she had absolutely no interest in being an environmental steward of the unique natural treasure that is Alaska.

"Instead, Governor Palin ignored our nation’s leading wildlife laws and filed senseless lawsuits to pursue her anti-wildlife agenda. Palin’s increasingly extreme anti-wildlife management policies included shooting wolves from airplanes and helicopters, using airplanes to track black and brown bears then shooting them from the ground, and the gassing of wolf pups in their dens. She even targeted wolves that had been part of a fifteen year long scientific study conducted by the National Park Service. All this, as well as her decision to fight much needed protections for both polar bears and Cook Inlet beluga whales, shows her blatant disregard for both science and environmental laws.

"Her efforts were, and still are, a threat to the natural integrity of America’s last frontier, a state that boasts many national wildlife refuges, forests, parks and other federal lands, covering more than 200 million acres of the state. And if this isn’t enough, Palin’s persistent denial of global warming is sure to fast make her a political relic.

"Palin’s successor, Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell, must now decide whether he intends to extend Palin’s devastating and destructive wildlife legacy even further, or whether he intends to chart a new path, by removing politics from wildlife management and restoring science to the decision making process. He can be sure that Defenders will be paying close attention to his decisions."