Seal Videos Brings National Spotlight On Animal Abuse : Videos From YouTube

“Isn’t it strange, that it’s ok to set up video surveillance to catch animal abusers on this beach; yet it’s not ok to set up a camera to catch animal abuse in a slaughter house…without being called a TERRORIST!!”

(CNN) — The images of seals being harassed on a California beach are perplexing and disturbing.

In the middle of the night, two women sit on harbour seals, kick them or pull their flippers, all the while snapping flash pictures. The animals eventually flee into the water.

Seals harassed at La Jolla Children’s Pool beach, February 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Video camera captures instances of abuse against seals on a California beach
• Other incidents of animal cruelty include people putting beer cans on sea birds
• Some people abuse animals due to peer pressure, but some enjoy doing it, ASPCA says
• Conservationists say more enforcement is needed, not more laws

A newly installed video camera captures that attack and others on the seals, who have been using the beach at Children’s Pool in La Jolla for decades.

Sara Wan of the Western Alliance for Nature said her organization installed the camera after years of people who are opposed to the seals’ presence on the beach being cruel to the animals, trying to scare them off the sand.

“One of the things we found with the camera is it shows what we knew was going on before,” she says. “Now people are seeing what is going on and saying, ‘You’re right, that’s wrong.'” 

San Diego Mayor Bob Filner placed a sunset to sunrise curfew on the beach, saying people can disagree about how a beach should be used, but they cannot abuse animals, CNN affilate KGTV reported. The restrictions end May 15 after pupping season is over.

The beach was a popular spot for parents to take their children for a safe place to swim, but harbour seals took over the beach in the early 1990s, KGTV said. Beach-access advocates want the area returned to its original use, the station reported.

Our Seals – The story of the Children’s Pool Seals of La Jolla

Uploaded on 30 May 2011

This award winning documentary follows the controversy of the Children’s Pool Seal Colony of La Jolla, California. It covers the history of how the pool was built for the children of San Diego by Ellen Browning Scrips to how the pool evolved to become the only “natural” marine haul-out site in Southern California. We interview lifeguards, scientists from Hubbs Research, volunteers from Friends of the seals, and tourists, and along the way learn important trivia like waters off La Jolla are the birthing ground for the Pacific Great White Shark. Written, Produced, Filmed and edited by Patrick Rea

Because most cases of animal abuse or neglect are never reported, it is difficult to say whether the number of incidents are increasing.

But with enhanced technology and social media, some of the most egregious cases have recently caught the attention of the media.

There were cases where people apparently were ignorant of the law, such as the woman in Florida who rode a manatee, and other more serious ones where people showed wanton disregard for wildlife, as in the case of two sea birds found struggling to breathe after someone forced beer cans over their heads.

In December, at least 10 dead dolphins washed up on beaches in the Gulf Coast. Some were shot, while others were stabbed.

It makes you wonder, what is wrong with people?

“I really don’t understand how someone can be deliberately cruel to an animal like that. It’s really baffling,” says Sharon Young, marine issues field director with the Humane Society of the United States. “They know it’s illegal, they know it’s wrong.”

Studies have shown that people who have little or no empathy for animals often have none for other humans, activists say.

Animal cruelty is a crime that mostly goes unreported. A 1997 report from the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says that only 40% of people who witness abuse ever report it.

The same study found people who committed violent crimes against animals were five times more likely to commit violent crimes against humans than were other people who lived in the same neighbourhoods.

According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, there are three reasons people abuse animals.

Most people, the ASPCA says on its website devoted to children, “don’t think about or realize what they are doing.” Take, for instance, the pet owner who doesn’t understand how cruel it is to tie a pet up all day on a chain that is too short.

Another type of abuser is the person who is bowing to peer pressure. In those cases, the person, usually someone young, doesn’t hurt or harass animals but a few times. Eventually, they learn to feel for the animal, the organization says.

The third category is people who enjoy hurting animals. These people are often looking to demonstrate their power, the ASPCA says.

Sometimes, people feel they are at odds with the wildlife, Young says. It’s a clash, where a growing human population wants the same space as the animal population, Wan says. The pressure is growing. “And more and more we are taking it out on wildlife,” she says.

Both Wan and Young agree that there isn’t a problem with the legal penalties for animal cruelty, but with catching and convicting the bad guys.

“We don’t need stronger laws, but clearly there is a need for stronger enforcement,” Young says. “We need to make proverbial examples of some people.”

Her organization works with groups to educate the public. In the case of the seals, the cruelty has “accelerated so rapidly” that activists are scrambling to do something, she said. They hope to create a video that draws attention to the problem.

For now, she and Wan hope the beach closure will help give the seals a respite from the types of incidents caught on camera.

News Link:–http://www.kctv5.com/story/21751923/seal-video-brings-national-spotlight-on-animal-abuse

Pug Owner Charged with Animal Cruelty

The Attleboro woman allegedly failed to seek treatment for the dog whose abdomen had been cut from one to the other.

An Attleboro woman pleaded not guilty to a charge of animal cruelty last month after she was accused of failing to seek veterinary treatment for her pug whose abdomen had been cut from one end to the other.

The charge against 41-year-old Jennifer Kelly was filed by the nonprofit animal advocacy group MSPCA-Angell, which issued a press release about the case Friday. Phone calls to Kelly’s home by Attleboro Patch were not answered.

Attleboro’s animal control officer had taken possession of the dog named Jasabelle in September after Kelly’s neighbour reported her belly was slashed and had been wrapped in a dirty bandage, according to the MSPCA‘s release.

“Multiple conversations with Kelly revealed that the dog was slashed in June—but because Kelly would not divulge additional information, further details about the incident remain unclear,” the MSPCA’s release states. “What is certain, however, is that the injured dog suffered without veterinary care—which is a violation of the state’s animal cruelty law.”

Jasabelle is living at Pug Rescue of New England where she is waiting to be adopted, according to the MSPCA.

Kelly is expected to return to court later this year for a pretrial hearing. “I will try to keep my eye on this one, whoever did this is sick & needs to be locked up!!”

News Link:–http://attleboro.patch.com/articles/pug-owner-charged-with-animal-cruelty

Brockton police seize 10 pit bulls they say were mistreated

BROCKTON — Animal cruelty charges will be lodged against a city resident after authorities seized 10 pit bulls from a Cairn Road home this week, police said.

The pit bulls – a mother dog and her nine puppies – were removed from 73 Cairn Road on the city’s East Side after police received a call at 5:19 p.m. Sunday reporting animal cruelty.

The caller told police the mother dog was being beaten and mistreated and “yelping in pain,” according to police reports.

Richardson denies the dogs were mistreated.

When officers arrived, they found the dogs in the back yard contained in a small dog cage, said Lt. Paul Bonanca. Police said the dogs were malnourished.

“There’s going to be charges of animal cruelty,” Bonanca said Tuesday.

A witness told The Enterprise on Tuesday the dog could be heard in the backyard “screeching” in pain in recent days, including during the torrential rain on Friday.

The witness said the dog owner was overheard saying he was going to kill the dog and bury it in the backyard. The dog owner was seen digging a hole in his yard, the witness said.

At 73 Cairn Road on Tuesday afternoon, an empty dog pen surrounded by a chain-link fence could be seen in the backyard. Other debris was strewn around the gray-colored, single-family home in a quiet residential neighborhood.

Hakeem Richardson, 22, the owner, denied abusing his dogs.

In an interview with The Enterprise, he said the female blue-nosed pit bill, which is almost 3 years old, got stuck under the kennel fence in the backyard, police were called, they removed the dog from the fence and took her and the puppies.

She is unregistered, he said.

Richardson also said he had just sprayed the house for fleas so he put the dogs in the backyard for three hours until it was safe for them to go back in.

All 10 dogs are being cared for at Brockton Animal Control on Court Street.

Animal Control Officer Darren Hand said an animal cruelty investigation is ongoing. He declined further comment on Tuesday.

News Link:- http://www.enterprisenews.com/answerbook/brockton/x186673715/Brockton-police-seize-10-mistreated-pit-bulls-plan-animal-cruelty-charges#ixzz23dlSkPBe

Abused Brockton pit bull euthanized

BROCKTON — Eliza, one of three pit bulls rescued from squalor and starvation last month, has been euthanized.

Jeni Mather, founder of the Brockton Blue Dog Shelter, said she and dog trainers and volunteers worked with the abused dog for a month, but he did not show any progress in learning to trust humans and was deemed too much of a threat. For the public’s safety, she said, the dog was euthanized on Wednesday morning.

Darren Hand, of Brockton Animal Control, works to catch the last of four pit bulls, three living and one deceased, from 1007 Montello St. in Brockton on Sunday, July 1, 2012.

“It was really, really difficult for everyone,” she said. “He practiced being aggressive and dangerous for a long time and it’s disturbing that someone did this to him.”

Mather has set up a fund to help two other pit bulls – Sadie and Blue – that were rescued from a Brockton apartment house July 1 after being left outside with no water or food as temperatures reached 91 degrees. A fourth pitbull died outside the building.

Animal Control officials and police arrived at 1007 Montello St. and found the dogs in a feces-filled backyard.

Days later, officials deemed the dogs too aggressive and said the three surviving pit bulls would be destroyed. But a public outcry to save the animals won over Mather, who is now caring for and rehabilitating Blue and Sadie. The dogs “have come a long way,” she said.

Read more of this story :–http://www.enterprisenews.com/answerbook/brockton/x356062684/Abused-Brockton-pit-bull-euthanized

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Heat killed 9 Westfield dogs in kennel

WESTFIELD, Mass. – An investigator says nine dogs at a Westfield kennel died from heat stress caused by a malfunctioning air conditioner.

Westfield Animal Control Officer Kenneth Frazer tells The Republican newspaper of Springfield Friday the deaths were “a tragic accident.” Frazer said he, an MSPCA investigator, and an air conditioning technician found the unit’s coil frosted over, causing it to blow hot air.

MSPCA spokesman Rob Halpin also said it appears the July 5 deaths were an accident.

Brenda Coggin of Coggin Creek Stables said the air conditioner was emitting a mist and chemical odor when she found her Australian shepherds. They had bled through their noses. Investigators said that likely was from broken blood vessels, not the chemical.

Frazer said the dogs were well cared for but he may give Coggins a written warning for an unlicensed kennel.

News Link: http://www.wcvb.com/news/local/central-massachusetts/Heat-killed-9-Westfield-dogs-in-kennel/-/11983998/15484908/-/gnpcxv/-/index.html#ixzz20jXHYkf1

MSPCA-Angell – Update On Hero Dog Lilly Doing Well

We have an extraordinary update to share about Lilly the hero Pit Bull! As her story has gone ‘round the world, so many of you have contributed towards her care. We have now raised about $60,000 for our Pet Care Assistance fund.

This fund, which is always in need of donations, helps support families such as Lilly’s, and helps pay medical care costs for homeless animals in our Adoption Centers, as well as for animals who arrive at the MSPCA as a result of cruelty cases.

We are thrilled beyond measure that all of Lilly’s care here at Angell will be paid for, and that her story will live on in all of the animals she will help in the future.

Thank you so much for your contributions, your well wishes and your many messages of support for Lilly, her family and the medical staff at Angell Animal Medical Center.

Oh, and here she is gettin’ her exercise on at Angell 🙂

News Link:- https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150833590618853&set=a.180212288852.123704.8818063852&type=1&theater

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The dogs on death row in paradise: One English woman’s battle to take on a holiday island which cruelly kills thousands of pet dogs a year

• More than 20,000 pet and stray dogs are brutally slayed annually in Mauritius
• Undercover investigation after alarm raised by the British-based charity
• Up to 80 per cent are much-loved pets snatched from doorsteps
• Pound can only be described as a concentration camp for dogs

The dog is flat on his back, trussed up with a rough rope, his paws scrabbling frantically in the air as a man in a red baseball cap rams a needle deep into his heart.

There is one last desperate struggle then a monstrous howl that rips  through the muggy tropical morning, startling nearby market traders and silencing the birds.

When the howl splutters into a whimper, the dog is dragged and kicked into a kennel to die alongside three others. It is a slow and painful death, the result of a botched lethal injection by a canine-killing squad.

And it takes place in the so-called tropical paradise of Mauritius — the palm-fringed holiday destination of more than 200,000 Britons each year.

Away from the white, gleaming beaches — where the sea is impossibly blue and tourists sip cocktails while lazing on luxury sunbeds — more than 20,000 pet and stray dogs are slayed annually in this sickening way

These horrific images of the slaughter were taken during an undercover investigation by the Mail after the alarm was raised by the British-based charity International Animal Rescue.

The Mauritian government claims it is a humane way of controlling the island’s stray dog population, but it is neither humane nor honest.

Cruel: An MSPCA dog catcher nets a dog before throwing it into the van where it will be taken off to the pound

Death sentence: When it arrives at the pound the dog has three days before it is thrown into a mass grave at the grave yard in Port Louis

Some of the animals are strays but many more — up to 80 per cent — are much-loved pets that have been snatched from their doorsteps, with collars and security tags clearly marking their addresses.

They are captured as part of a ‘clean-up’ campaign, despite pleas from animal welfare organisations across the world.

And they are killed by an organisation with a name so ironic it would be laughable it wasn’t true — the Mauritian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Kitted out in jaunty red caps and wielding giant fishing nets, MSPCA dog-catchers snatch animals wherever they see them — sleeping on street corners, lingering in alleys or lazing on their own doorsteps.

They are scooped up and hurled into cages in the back of roasting-hot vans where they remain — often bleeding and with broken bones — while the officers continue their rounds.

Caged: MSPCA personnel march around in heavy boots, brandishing sharp metal rods to punish disobedient animals. In the filthy concrete cages, most of the dogs shrink to the back, shivering and terrified

Their destination is a pound that can only be described as a concentration camp for dogs.
MSPCA personnel march around in heavy boots, brandishing sharp metal rods to punish disobedient animals. In the filthy concrete cages, most of the dogs shrink to the back, shivering and terrified.

Others edge forward, hopeful and trusting, unable to understand their predicament.

The worst corner is the puppy cage — rusty, squalid with faeces, and utterly desolate.

Only animals with owners have any hope, and even then it is slim. If residents suspect their pet has been snatched by the MSPCA, they can come to the pound and pay a ransom to rescue it. But the charge is £30, which is beyond the reach of most people, as the average worker earns less than £60 a month.

Nearly all the dogs spend three days in the cages before a lethal injection and a slow, painful death.

The still-warm bodies are hurled into a mass open grave in a stretch of wasteland. Clumps of fur, tails and ears are visible in the red soil. Skulls and bones create splashes of white.

The MSPCA insists only stray dogs are exterminated but this is a lie. The truth is that the organisation has a quota of more than 100 stray dogs to capture every day in a bid to reduce the island’s estimated 200,000 population

Helpless: The worst corner is the puppy cage - rusty, squalid with faeces, and utterly desolate. Only animals with owners have any hope, and even then it is slim

And officers will happily take pets to achieve this figure.

British woman Alicia Browne can testify to this, after her two dogs were snatched while she was walking them.

Alicia, who is staying in Mauritius for nine months to visit a friend, adopted two stray dogs — whom she called Mira and Wanda — on the waterfront near Riv du Rempart in the north-east.

She recalls: ‘I was with them on the beach in December, throwing sticks, just having a nice day, when these two guys ran down with their nets and threw them over Mira and Wanda.

‘I screamed, “What are you doing! These are my dogs!” Mira and Wanda could not have been more than 4ft away from me. But one of the dog-catchers said I was breaking the law: because they weren’t on a leash, they were strays, and that was that.’

Alicia, from Redhill, Surrey, adds: ‘I was in tears and ran after them and saw them dumped in the van like trash. Mira’s leg was cut — you can see the scars and she has a limp now.

‘I followed the van in my car for the rest of the morning while the men scooped up pet after pet then went to the pound where they were unloaded.

‘I had to pay to get my dogs back. Wanda will never be the same again — she was severely traumatised by the experience.’

Jacqueline Woodridge, a British expat living in Mauritius, lost her pet dog in January and went to the Port Louis MSPCA compound to try to find him.

Lucky ones: Alicia Browne (35) from Redhill Surrey with her two dogs Wanda (left) and Mira (right) who she saved from the dog pound after the dog catchers snatched her pets from the beach.

Her search was unsuccessful — and shocking. She said: ‘What I saw was horrific. There were so many beautiful dogs, many, many with collars, including puppies, squeezed into dirty kennel chambers covered with urine and faeces.

 ‘They were trembling, whining, and terrified. There was just one bowl of bread and water in each kennel.’

While the population of strays is undoubtedly large and growing, the dogs are not dangerous: there is no rabies on Mauritius, and the strays shun human contact.

Local and international vets agree that sterilisation would stem the problem — indeed, three years ago French actress Brigitte Bardot offered to pay for a mass sterilisation for all the island’s strays. But the government will not consider it. 

Yesterday, phone calls to the MSPCA were not returned. German vet Birgit Wellmann, who had to rescue her own dog from a pound, said: Sterilisation is the way forward but no one will listen. It is heartbreaking.’

She claims people on the island won’t criticise the MSPCA for fear of veiled retribution. Foreigners worry about losing residency and work permits, and locals are vulnerable to arrest if they defame the government.

Authorities say the strays are an eyesore and jeopardise the lucrative tourism trade. But as one European vet who used to work on the island points out: ‘For most tourists, these dogs are less dangerous than sunburn.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2127922/The-dogs-death-row-paradise-One-English-womans-battle-holiday-island-cruelly-kills-thousands-pet-dogs-year.html#ixzz1stdh3ELA