R.I.P. Shamrock

You deserved so much better.

___________________

The Kiss

Mom found this on Rescue Ink's MySpace page.. Posted by Linda (Animal Lover). She asked me to post it here so she'd always have it. It makes Mom happy for obvious reasons, but also because "it's a Dobi, a so-called "vicious" dog. Take that you fucking animal stereotyping bastards!" (Mom's words, not mine. I don't use expletives.)







She is pregnant;


he had just saved her from a fire in her house, rescuing her by carrying her out of the house into her front yard, while he continued to fight the fire.


When he finally got done putting the fire out, he sat down to catch his breath and rest.


A photographer from the Charlotte , North Carolina newspaper, noticed her in the distance looking at the fireman.


He saw her walking straight toward the fireman and wondered what she was going to do.


As he raised his camera, she came up to the tired man who had saved her life and the lives of her babies and kissed him just as the photographer snapped this photograph.

Introduction

I don't think I ever properly introduced myself. Hi, my name is Mr. Dingo Muttley, but you may call me Dingo. I live with my Mom, Vixen; little brother, Nugget; and 18 Betta fish. Mom thinks I'm probably about 8 years old, but I didn't start keeping track until I came to live here. This makes me 5 years old. For the full story of how I came to live with my People, please go to Mom's blog and read this. For the full story of how brother Nug came to join us, read here.

Sometimes, I post on Mom's blog, but Mom said I could finally have my own because I like to post helpful hints and reminders for other animals who might not be as fortunate as some of us. Mom said someday Nugget may have something important to say too, but right now he's too busy chewing on shoes and phone cords to be of much use.

Mom's in the process of helping me find the perfect layout for my blog. I wanted the one with the lasagna background, but Mom said it'd make everyone hungry, so I decided against it. I want your focus to be on what I have to say.

So that's it. I'm Dingo, this is my blog, and you need to read it.

Thanks,
Mr. Dingo Muttley

Her name was Ella. This is her story. I don't want her to be forgotten.

As written in the Orlando Sentinel by Walter Pacheco on March 14, 2008:

"The Cocoa woman who admitted to starving her 2-year-old dog to death is out of jail this morning, jail records show.Brevard County Jail officials said that Christine Dawn Abrams, 29, walked out of jail Thursday at 11: 30 p.m. on pre-trial release. Court records show that her next appearance before a Brevard County circuit judge is set for April 24.

Cocoa police arrested Abrams on Thursday on a charge of cruelty to animals in the death of her dog, Ella. Her bail was set at $1,000.

Abrams told police she starved her German Shepherd to death by leaving her locked in a metal crate in an empty house for two months without food or water, the police report shows.

Detectives said a large bag of dry dog food sat untouched just a few feet from the crate.

Neighbors told police that Abrams loved the dog.

"She spent a great deal of time walking and playing with the dog," the Cocoa Police Department report shows.

A check of her MySpace social networking page shows photos of Abrams holding and playing with Ella when the dog was 3 and 5 weeks old. Another photo shows the dog at 5 months old.

Police searched the area for five hours and located Abrams at her new address on Parapet Drive, less than six miles from her former residence.

Abrams told detectives that the water had been turned off at her former residence in January and she had to move. She locked Ella in a crate at the old home because her new roommate did not like dogs.

Investigators said Abrams admitted that she knew what would happen if Ella was left alone without food or water for an extended period of time. "She showed no remorse over the dog," the detective wrote in his report.

Police spokeswoman Barbara Matthews said, "This was a dog that was current on all of his shots. All she had to do was leave the door open."

She also could have dropped the dog off at a shelter. The Central Brevard Humane Society, which takes in pets people can no longer care for, is less than three miles from the Peachtree Street home."

Taken from Voices for Ella

Go light a candle for Ella.

In Sorrow,
Dingo

How You Can Help Stop the Fur Trade

1. Shop with compassion. Always choose garments and accessories free of fur and fur trim.

2. Sign up for free alerts. Contact the FFA member organization in your country to sign up for email updates and find out about anti-fur events in your area.

3. Educate fur wearers. If you see someone wearing fur, whether it is a full-length coat or trim on the cuffs or hood, talk to them about the cruelty of fur, or hand them a brochure or card. If you are in North America, you can order Fur-Free Campaign Materials free of charge from The HSUS website. For all other areas, contact the FFA member organization in your country.

4. Write to department stores that sell real fur and tell them that you prefer to shop at stores that do not contribute to animal cruelty. Email us to find out which stores in your nation sell real animal fur.

5. Hand out leaflets for an hour. Good locations include in front of department stores that sell fur, the opera, the theatre, and other places where fur wearers gather. If you are in North America, you can order Fur-Free Campaign Materials free of charge from The HSUS website. For all other areas, contact the FFA member organization in your country.

6. Write a letter to decision makers. If your nation, state, province, county, or city has pending legislation dealing with trapping, fur farming, or any other aspect of the fur industry, write to your decision-makers and tell them you support protecting animals from the fur trade.

If you are a U.S. citizen, you can learn about the current status of fur-related legislation by going to The HSUS Government Affairs website. Here you can click on your state to find out about the situation of any animal-related state legislation, including trapping and other fur-related bills.

7. Write a letter to the editor. The letters to the editor section is one of the most commonly read sections of newspapers and magazines, so it's a great way to reach a very large audience. Letters to the editor are widely read by community leaders and lawmakers trying to judge public sentiment. You can use such letters to challenge information or views about fur not accurately addressed in a news article or editorial.

When sending a letter, remember to provide your full name, address, and daytime phone number; keep it short and focused on only one subject; and refrain from openly attacking the paper, writer (if responding to an article or previous letter), or other readers. You'll have the best chance of getting your letter published if you send your letter within one or two days after the original story was published.

8. Wear an anti-fur shirt, necklace, or button, and put a bumpersticker on your car.

9. Show videos to your friends and relatives. A good choice is The Witness.

10. Donate to the member organizations of the Fur Free Alliance and help support our anti-fur campaigns. Visit the Member Info page to find the FFA affiliate in your nation.

Fur Statistics

Each year the fur industry kills over 50 million animals for fashion, not including rabbits (no reliable data on rabbits killed worldwide for fur is available).

Number of Animals to Make a Fur Coat:

12-15 lynx

10-15 wolves or coyotes

15-20 foxes

60-80 minks

27-30 racoons

10-12 beavers

60-100 squirrels

Fur Factory Farms

More than 45 million animals worldwide, including raccoon dogs, rabbits, foxes, mink, and chinchillas, are raised in cages and killed each year for their fur. Not only are cage-raised animals killed inhumanely, but they suffer from numerous physical and behavioral abnormalities induced by the stress of caging conditions. After spending their short lives in squalid conditions, animals raised on fur farms are killed by cruel methods that preserve the pelt, such as gassing, neck-breaking and anal electrocution.

Further information:

Caged Fur: The Inside Story
Respect for Animals: Fur Factory Farming
Trapping
Millions of wild animals, including bobcats, coyotes, foxes, lynx, raccoons, and wolves, suffer and die in traps each year. Countless dogs and cats, deer, birds and other animals—including threatened and endangered animals—are also injured and killed each year by the indiscriminate traps. Traps, including steel-jaw leghold traps, body-gripping traps, and wire neck snares, are inhumane devices that inflict great pain and suffering. Both the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the American Animal Hospital Association have declared the steel-jaw leghold trap to be inhumane.

Further Information:

Animal Protection Institute
Get The Facts - The Truth About Trapping
Fact Sheet: Trapping on National Wildlife Refuges

Even companion animals like dogs and cats are at risk of severe injury and death in traps and snares. A sampling of HSUS case history reports reveals just how traumatic the experience can be, both for pets and their owners.

Cat and Dog Fur
A 1998 investigation by The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) exposed the international fur industry'..'s annual commercial seal hunt is the largest slaughter of marine mammals on the planet. Over 300,000 harp and hooded seals are killed for their pelts each year, with many skinned alive, according to independent veterinary reports. The last time this many seals were killed—in the 1950s and 1960s—the harp seal population was reduced by as much as two-thirds. In 2005, 98.5% of the seals killed were just two months of age or younger. At the time of slaughter, many had not yet eaten their first solid meal or taken their first swim. They literally had no escape from the "hunters."

Further Information:
www.protectseals.org
www.boycott-canada.com
www.stopthesealhunt.ca
Newborn and Fetal Karakul Lambs
Garments made from the pelts of newborn karakul lambs—often referred to as "Persian lamb," "karakul," and "astrakhan,"—are a staple of the fur fashion world. So too are garments made of fetal karakul lambs (known as "broadtail"), which the fur industry claims are crafted from animals born prematurely due to accident or exposure. In March 2000, investigators with The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) toured a karakul sheep farm near Bukhara, in the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan, and found that pregnant ewes are in fact routinely slaughtered for these fetal pelts. Graphic videotape shot at the farm shows a pregnant ewe held down, her throat slit and her stomach slashed wide so that a worker could remove the developing fetus—the "raw material" for coats, vests, and other broadtail fashions. What's more, contrary to the industry's claims that karakul lamb fur is merely a byproduct of meat production, HSUS investigators videotaped newborn lambs displayed as "samples" of pelt colors before being sent to their death. The pelts were saved, the tiny carcasses discarded as trash.

Further Information:
See the video or read the report on The Humane Society of the United States' investigation into karakul lamb fur production
Fur Trim
The fur industry is working on a whole new line. No longer limited to full-length mink coats or fox-fur jackets, fur trim is the rage. From suit collars to glove linings, fur trim is being used as an accessory for many fashion items. Fur-trimmed items currently are a half billion-dollar industry. Fur trim is a frivolous luxury responsible for the deaths of millions of animals each year. The number of animals killed for fur trim is expected to overtake the number of animals killed for full-fur garments. Because the trim trade doesn't place as much emphasis on pelt quality, color, and uniformity, the quality of care given to furbearers is diminished.

Fur is DEAD!



http://www.infurmation.com/