Green Options

Dogs and their guides have been transported to the Galapagos Islands as part of a K9 project to track down poachers and reduce crime against wildlife.

The K9 units are now set for regular inspections, beginning at airports, harbors and random checkpoints on all three islands in order to halt illegal poaching activities which have plagued many of the islands’ unique flora and fauna.

The Central Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) in India has launched a plan to sterilize over 8 million dogs over the next ten years. The mission: to eradicate rabies from India as quickly as possible. It is estimated that each year over 20,000 people die of rabies in India while at the same time over four billion rupees (close to 80m USD) worth of vaccines against rabies are being imported by the country every year.

The move, which has so far received a good response from society as well as animal welfare organizations is indeed a right step and a better option than the mass-slaughter practice currently used in neighboring China.

In Luanda, the capital of Angola, at least 93 children have died from rabies. They contracted the disease from stray dogs in the community.

A World Health Organization official called for action, “The high number of deaths in Luanda within the short period of time is a cause for serious concern and calls for a thorough investigation.”

Within a matter of months, activists have succeeded in changing a store from a puppy mill vendor to an animal rescue venture.

A pet store in the small town of Elyria, Ohio was the target of intense protests by animal rights activists for months before deciding to close down. Now, a new owner is opening a pet store in the same location that will only have rescued cats and dogs available for adoption.

Is your family pet going green with eco-friendly pet care products?

Green pet care products are healthier choices for your family because they’ll likely be less toxic for your home, your pet and the environment.   While buying organic food and treats is easy, it can be challenging to source other eco-friendly pet care products.

Recently, I’ve discovered Marmalade pet care, a pet product design firm that emphasizes renewable/recyclable materiality.   The firm addresses ‘good design’ practices with “domestic sourcing; sustainable materials; efficient production and eventual recyclability of the product.”

City officials in Houston, Texas have fired a veterinarian who has acted as a whistle-blower against botched and cruel operations on pets in the past.

But Kathy Barton, a health department spokesperson, said Gil Costas has been fired because he failed to file registration to handle controlled substances and drugs with the Department of Public Safety for his secondary, part-time job at the Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care.

He held the certification for his primary job, which in the past has been sufficient — leading Costas to accuse the department of firing him because of his loud mouth.

Fifteen-year-old Bostonian Jordan Star has emerged as the surprise driving force behind a bill to ban the cruel practice of ’surgically silencing’ cats and dogs by removing their vocal cords.

Star, a freshman at Needham High, decided to take action after coming across a dog that had been debarked and abandoned. “It was just horrible,” he said of the dog’s struggle to get his attention. “It was just like a hoarse, wheezy cough. In a shelter, all they are is a mutilated animal, which makes them harder to adopt.”

While Slumdog Millionaire will likely make quite a showing at the Oscars, actual dogs in Mumbai can now breathe a bit easier.

After pressure from PETA and frequent supporter Pamela Anderson, the Indian Supreme Court ruled that dogs must be sick, injured, or dangerous in order to be put down — much like the guidelines many shelters in the United States follow.

Anderson was instrumental in pushing for the new regulation. In a letter to the Mumbai municipal commissioner, she asked that the city consider a spay and neuter program to decrease the nuisance stray dog population instead of their current euthanasia routine.

Walmart Canada removed slippers containing real fur from their inventory after receiving a complaint from The Animal Defense League of Canada. The slippers, made in China, had been labeled as faux fur. It was determined that the slippers were in fact made of rabbit fur. Walmart has a no-fur policy and immediately removed the offending item from their shelves when the mistake was brought to their attention.

This is yet another instance of the deliberate mislabeling of a Chinese-made product involving fur.

Conservationists have brought in two Maremmas sheepdogs to watch over a small colony of fairy penguins on Australia’s Middle Island. The effort has been so successful that Middle Island is recommending sheepdogs be used to protect other endangered species across the globe.

“We are now starting to see some great results,” said Middle Island Maremma Project manager Ian Fitzgibbons. “We have had our best penguin count since we began in 2006 with over 80 birds counted in one night and I think we have about 26 chicks on the island too.”

CNN is reporting that 1,500 Chinese Raccon Dogs have died because of a tainted food supply.

Apparently melamine was found in the dog food supply. Melamine is the same deadly chemical that was added to the dairy supply last month and sent Chinese babies to the hospital with kidney stones. Four Chinese babies’ deaths have been blamed on infant formula that was laced with melamine. Some 54,000 other children were sickened.

Zhang determined that the animals died of kidney failure after performing a necropsy — an animal autopsy — on about a dozen dogs. He declined to say when the deaths occurred but a report Monday in the Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper said they had occurred over the past two months.

“First, we found melamine in the dogs’ feed, and second, I found that 25 percent of the stones in the dogs’ kidneys were made up of melamine,” Zhang told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. (from CNN)

We have a problem. We have 1,500 dead dogs but let’s take a look at what these dogs are. These dogs are bred for their raccoon like coat which is used for trim on coats. Are we as a global economy okay with the slaughter of dogs, man’s best friend, for ornamental fabric? Is it acceptable that Melamine is added to the food supply of both humans and animals?