LancasterOnline.com:Oprah features grim video of county's puppy mills
April 5, 2008
Oprah Winfrey's
daily talk show airs in 117 countries, from Zimbabwe to Australia.
So when she featured grisly images of Lancaster County's infamous puppy mills on Friday's show, there was a little shame, but a lot more relief that the word is out.
"I'm not real proud of being a Lancastrian right now," said Lititz resident Shane Long, who tuned in to the 4 p.m. broadcast on NBC affiliate WGAL. "The images spoke for themselves. I'm hoping that something politically happens now that we're on the national news. Oprah was just the vehicle to get the word out there."
Winfrey featured correspondent Lisa Ling's hidden-camera footage of more than a dozen Lancaster and Berks county puppy mills on her hourlong talk show.
The footage was grim — so grim that Winfrey warned viewers, but asked them not to look away from the truth.
While the footage rolled, audience members could be heard gasping at the sight of filthy breeder dogs crammed into cages, dogs with chains embedded in raw neck wounds and a Plain farmer lifting large dogs off their feet by their collars.
Winfrey told the audience she saw a billboard in February just blocks from her Chicago studios asking her to feature puppy mills on her daily talk show, which is viewed by an estimated 49 million Americans a week.
The billboard was paid for by Main Line Animal Rescue, a Chester County shelter where thousands of breeder dogs have been rescued after being cast out from mills when too old or too sick to turn a profit.
edmontonsun.com: 'Kennel from Hell' say animal-rights activists
From edmontonsun.com:
By NELSON WYATT, THE CANADIAN PRESS
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MONTREAL — The Quebec government should crack down on puppy-mill owners in the wake of a stiff sentence given to a man who operated what was described as the “kennel from hell,” say animal-rights activists.
Nicole Joncas, who runs an animal refuge in Ontario and has long fought against Quebec puppy mills, was unequivocal when she was asked how such operators should be sentenced.
“Jail,” she said in a telephone interview as dogs barked in the background. “Jail time, to send a very powerful message.”
Judge Jean Sirois rendered one of the stiffest sentences possible under current laws Tuesday to Marc-Andre Lapointe who owned a puppy mill in St-Jerome, north of Montreal.
The judge said the attitude of the kennel owner, who wanted the return of his best-producing dogs, played a part in the harsh sentence.
Sirois says Lapointe showed no remorse about his mistreatment of the 97 filthy dogs, mostly fox terriers, that were seized from his bungalow in 2005. Twenty dogs were immediately euthanized. Laporte, who was charged with two counts of animal cruelty after police raided his puppy mill, was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine and do 200 hours of community service, just short of the maximum of 240 hours set out in the law.
Read more ...Alarm Bells over Eight Belles: Wayne Pacelle: A Humane Nation
Wayne Pacelle in A Humane Nation writes:
It's happened again. A horse breaks down in one of the signature events of horse racing, precisely at the time that average Americans briefly turn their gaze to the spectacle and become fans or followers for a day. Their interest in horse racing is as fleeting as one or two mad dashes of horses in a Triple Crown race. But now, rather than remembering the pomp and circumstance and getting a positive dose of the sport, they remember the names of the poor creatures who break down on national television.
For those only mildly interested in horse racing, it certainly appears that something is wrong with the sport. First Barbaro. Now Eight Belles, a 3-year-old filly. And for those immersed in the sport—the breeders, trainers, owners, veterinarians, and the fans—there's been a history of denial, but now perhaps a grudging acknowledgment of the problems with horse racing.
PETA: "Eight Belles" Should Sound the End of Racetrack Betting
PETA:
ust after crossing the finish line in the Kentucky Derby on May 3, 2008, a young filly named Eight Belles collapsed when both of her front ankles snapped. She was euthanized in the dirt where she lay, the latest victim of the dirty business of thoroughbred racing.
Eight Belles' death is yet another reminder that these horses are raced when they are so young that their bones have not properly formed, and they are often raced on surfaces that are too hard for their bones—like the hard track at Churchill Downs. Eight Belles' jockey whipped her mercilessly as she came down the final stretch. This is no great surprise, since trainers, owners, and jockeys are all driven by the desire to make money, leaving the horses to suffer terribly.
PETA is calling on the racing industry to suspend the jockey and trainer, to bar the owner from racing at the track, and, at the very least, to stop using young horses who are so susceptible to these types of horrific injuries. We're also demanding that the industry stop racing horses on hard tracks and switch to softer, synthetic surfaces, which would spare horses' bones and joints, in addition to calling for a permanent ban on the use of whips. Help PETA call for an end to cruelty masquerading as sport by using the form below to take action today.
Read more ...
Newsday: Eight Belles' death leads some to seek changes
"It was a sad scene, but what can I say? ... It's a part of the sport," said Robinson, 57, of Queens Village, as he sat watching the races in Belmont Park yesterday. He has been betting on horses for more than 40 years.
To him, the filly's catastrophic injury, which led to her being euthanized on the track, was the result of a strategic blunder by her handlers and not an inherent flaw in the sport.
"I don't think they should've started the filly with 19 colts in the race," Robinson said. "It takes a lot out of the fillies to run with the boys."
Eight Belles' fatal fractures - coming after a second-place finish to Big Brown in a field crowded with male horses, who are often bigger and faster than fillies - cast a pall through the crowd of more than 157,000 at Churchill Downs and millions more who watched on television screens. It also prompted some to call for more research and reform to prevent these injuries.
"When something like this happens, it's terrible for the image of the industry," said Dr. Dean Richardson, chief of surgery at University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa. Richardson oversaw three major surgical procedures for Barbaro, the Kentucky Derby winner who was euthanized months after fracturing his hind right leg in the 2006 Preakness.
"It should provide more impetus for the industry to find out how to prevent these types of injury. But it's never going to be perfect. These are horses that are working at their physiological limit," he said.
While Eight Belles' injuries were exceptional in their timing and severity, several experts said, fatal injuries in racehorses are not that rare. No nationwide statistics are available on thoroughbred breakdowns, but a 1992 Kentucky survey found 1.4 fatalities occurred for every 1,000 starts.
Read more ...