Updated: 08/27/2010 11:11:51 AM EDT

The power of words isn’t lost on the York County SPCA — especially the power words can have over those who can’t speak for themselves.

That’s why in late 2009, the Emigsville shelter changed a simple term in its adoption contracts.

Instead of being “owners,” people adopting dogs, cats and other pets from the shelter are now referred to as “guardians.”

The change has no legal ramifications, Executive Director Melissa Smith said, but the hope is that it will make a difference in the hearts and minds of adoptive families.

“Those two terms are so different in meaning,” she said. “I think it sets a different tone. You own your car, but your car is not a living thing. I think the term ‘guardian’ suggests a higher level of (moral) responsibility.”

The York County SPCA embraced the idea, which was introduced about eight years ago by retired veterinarian Dr. Elliot Katz, president and founder of In Defense of Animals, an international animal-rights group.

“We needed to change the language, just as so many other movements have done,” Katz said, including the civil-rights and women’s-rights movements.

“It’s clearly evident that action will oftentimes follow language,” Katz said. “My feeling was the term ‘owner’ denigrated the animal companions we share our lives with.”

‘Rhetoric’: If animals are viewed as property, it’s far easier “to think of them as a commodity that could be bought and sold,” Katz said. “There’s always the same rhetoric that protects the status quo.”

Katz said there are hundreds of animal shelters around the country that have adopted the “guardian” term.  In July 2000, Boulder, Colo., was the first city to do so.  Since then, 44 other U.S. cities have followed suit, as has the entire state of Rhode Island, replacing “owner” in codes, ordinances and legislation, according to Katz.

The campaign has been met with mixed reactions from members of the American Veterinary Medical Association, according to the group’s website. Some AVMA members have expressed concern about “the unintended legal implications” of pet owners being identified as guardians, specifically a flurry of malpractice lawsuits filed against veterinarians that could lead to “skyrocketing” malpractice insurance that forces vets to increase their costs to clients, according to the AVMA’s website.

Change doubted: Gary L. Francione, professor of law at Rutgers University and author of numerous books on animal rights and the law, isn’t opposed to using the term “guardian.” However, he said it isn’t going to change anything.

“The bottom line is, is the legal status of animals changing? … I don’t regard them as property, but the law does,” he said. “Can I still chain them outside? The answer is, of course I can. So I’m not sure what these campaigns do.”

Francione also disputes Katz’s philosophy that tweaking language can effect change in how animals are treated.

“It may work when you’re talking about civil rights or women’s rights, but it doesn’t work when you’re talking about property,” he said. “You don’t go from non-personhood to personhood through incremental changes … (including) language changes. Once somebody has achieved personhood, then you can improve that status and ameliorate the lack of equality through various means.

“I hate to be negative about this, but … in a lot of ways these changes just make us feel better. They (let us believe) we’re progressive, that we’re humane,” Francione said. “It’s not really going to change things.”

SPCA hopeful: Smith said she knows some people will never feel a moral responsibility to their animals.

“But I do believe I’ve seen a slight change in mindset — that more people are adopting pets to be companions,” she said. “And that’s why we felt this change in language, while it may seem minimal, will evoke a feeling of guardianship.

“We just feel it’s imperative that people view animals in a different light than they have before. And we hope the change expresses our philosophy of how people should view their pets.”

– Reach Elizabeth Evans at levans@yorkdispatch.com, 505-5429 or twitter.com/ydcrimetime.

http://www.yorkdispatch.com/news/ci_15912654

By Jessica Ryen Doyle

An animal rights group dedicated to “end animal exploitation, cruelty, and abuse by protecting and advocating for the rights, welfare, and habitats of animals” says the salmonella outbreak that has sparked a massive egg recall is not an isolated incident and demonstrates the danger of consuming animal products.

In Defense of Animals (IDA), which is based in San Rafael, Calif., issued a press release Friday afternoon that warned against eating sick birds or their eggs.

“Hens in intensive agriculture are forced to live in miserable, frustrated existence crammed into tiny battery cages, where they are unable to walk or spread their wings,” the group claimed. “They live covered in feces, often forced to share cages with the bodies of deceased neighbors. These unnatural conditions produce sick birds, which increases the likelihood of infected eggs.”

But animal products are not the only foods to be recalled due to pathogens. Vegetables have been recalled in past years due to E. coli, and in some cases, these illnesses have led to death.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest identified 363 outbreaks linked to iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce, spinach and other leafy greens, variously contaminated with E. coli, norovirus, or salmonella, which caused 13,568 cases of illness between 1990 and 2006.

In 2006, tainted spinach caused one death and 98 hospitalizations, according to the FDA; in 2007, it led to three deaths and 206 illnesses.

The FDA determined that the spinach originated from an organic spinach field. It was speculated that the spinach was tainted by irrigation water contaminated with wild pig feces.

In 2005 and 2006, tomatoes were implicated in four multistate outbreaks of salmonella, sickening hundreds of people. The CSPI found tomatoes were involved in 31 outbreaks involving 3,292 reported cases of people falling ill.

But Hope Bohanec, grassroots campaign director of IDA, said all of these vegetable outbreaks stemmed from the mistreatment of animals.

“For instance, when the spinach was recalled in California (in 2006), it was the result of a neighboring livestock yard and the manure that had run off into the spinach field,” she said.

Nearly 1,300 people in 10 states have been sickened recently by salmonella in eggs, sparking a nationwide recall of 380 million eggs.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday said it had not yet found clear evidence of contamination, although heavy rainfall near the Galt, Iowa, company that produced the eggs may have raised the risk of salmonella infestation from rodents.

“Yes, in this case, rodents may have defecated in the feeds,” Bohanec told FoxNews.com. “It still comes back to the cruelty of animals, because of the intensive confinement that they keep animals in.

“Egg-laying hens are kept on top of one another, they can’t even spread their wings and the bacteria is going to spread like wildfire – so if they had enough room this wouldn’t be an issue. Imagine living your whole life in a crowded elevator, that’s how these animals live.”

Read the original article here.

While promoting her new reality/hunting show “Goin’ Country,” Cook — who placed 7th on “Idol” in 2008 — recently said, “I never used to like killing animals until I got out and experienced it.  It’s the food chain.  Animals are here for us to eat.”

Obviously, the statement didn’t sit well with the group In Defense of Animals, who see things a little differently … saying, “Contrary to Kristy Lee’s beliefs, animals are meant to live out their lives in peace, not to be killed for our enjoyment.”

So we gotta ask …

Read the article and take the poll, here.

By Tina Susman, Los Angeles Times

August 2, 2010

Reporting from New York

They have their own Facebook page, where fans post photographs of them in their best light. They have loyal lawmakers who defend them against critics who say they are messy, noisy and menacing neighbors. Until recently, they had a lakefront home in one of New York’s most desirable areas.

But the Canada geese living in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park also had the bad luck to fall on the losing side of a battle sparked by the drama of Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger III. His safe landing of a US Airways jet in the Hudson River after geese flew into its engines last year made him America’s newest hero and turned the ubiquitous, black-eyed birds into every flier’s nightmare.

On a warm July morning along the shores of Prospect Park’s placid lake, federal wildlife officials rounded up hundreds of Canada geese and took them away to be gassed to death. Feathery tufts and plastic strips used to bind the birds were all that remained.

It was one of several mass goose killings nationwide this summer by the Department of Agriculture in response to local concerns about everything from airline safety to piles of dung. Timed to coincide with the annual molting season — when the birds shed old feathers and are unable to fly — the killings are part of an effort to cull Canada geese, which bordered on extinction in the early 1900s but now number in the millions in the United States.

“To a certain extent, the resurgence was a conservation success story, but perhaps more than anticipated,” said USDA spokeswoman Carol Bannerman, noting that in New York state alone, the population has increased twelve-fold in the last 30 years.

After Sullenberger guided Flight 1549 to a water landing Jan. 15, 2009, minutes after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport, city officials announced plans to cull geese in the name of aircraft safety.

But for every municipality that considers the large, honking birds the equivalent of flying rats capable of spreading disease and downing aircraft, there are people who view them as familiar neighbors who introduce urban children to wildlife and whose lazy, loafing presence softens a city’s edges. After the Prospect Park culling, distraught locals held a memorial service along the lake. By Sunday, a Facebook page dedicated to the geese had 494 friends.

Angry readers flooded newspapers with letters condemning what many called the “murder” or “execution” of the flock. Canadian media declared it a “deadly summer” for Canada geese south of the border. A Huffington Post columnist even compared the incident to the Swiss government’s decision not to extradite filmmaker Roman Polanski to the United States to face rape charges. “There’s something very wrong with society when a court sets a child rapist free while 400 law-abiding geese … are summarily executed,” Andy Ostroy wrote.

The controversy shows no sign of slowing down, either in New York or in states such as Oregon, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Wisconsin, where recent goose culls have sparked angry responses. The Humane Society of the United States last month called on New York to stop the culling and said that if the city had heeded its advice earlier to scare geese away with dogs or hamper hatchings by coating eggs in oil — a process called addling — birds could have been saved. Killing geese only clears space for new ones to move in, it says.

David Marcks, whose Geese Police company uses border collies to chase off clients’ troublesome goose populations, agreed. “Rounding them up and killing them? They’re just going to get replaced anyway,” said Marcks, who started Geese Police 23 years ago in New Jersey and now has offices in 11 states employing more than 40 dogs.

Like many critics of culling, he said it was the government’s fault the geese became a problem. As it sought to rebuild the dwindling population, it moved Canada geese to areas that offered ideal living conditions, creating the nonmigratory resident populations that now are targets for removal.

Bannerman said the government preferred nonlethal approaches. In the last fiscal year, she said, 14,041 Canada geese were killed nationwide by federal agents, but 444,059 were dispersed using harassment methods that included dogs, paintball guns and toy boats that chased them from ponds.

Critics, though, say officials have been too quick to kill birds and are taking the easy way out rather than spending time on egg-addling or educating people not to feed geese or do other things that acclimatize them to urban settings. They also say migratory birds, not resident flocks, were likely to blame for the US Airways crash.

“I think aviation safety is just an excuse” to cull, said Barbara Stagno of In Defense of Animals, which is planning a rally Aug. 12 at City Hall to press New York to stop culls.

Chio Flores, who launched the Facebook page for the Prospect Park geese, said she wanted the park to erect signs urging people not to feed the birds and to improve education about the birds and other wildlife so they didn’t end up becoming nuisances.

“It’s about much more than just the geese,” said Flores, who doesn’t consider herself an animal rights activist but was drawn into the issue after seeing how the goose deaths distressed regular park visitors.

“These are the wrong lessons for kids to learn,” she said of the gassing. “How do I solve a problem? I kill the geese.”

As long as geese are living just a few miles from New York’s major airports, though, it appears doubtful next summer’s molting season will pass without more culls, because dispersal methods aren’t advisable near low-flying aircraft.

“The last thing we want to do is try to make birds fly when a plane is landing or taking off,” Bannerman said.

One person whose opinion might help influence the debate’s outcome isn’t speaking. Through a spokeswoman at the agency representing the retired pilot-turned-author, Sullenberger declined to comment on the issue.

Read the entire article here: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-geese-20100802,0,1263692.story

tina.susman@latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

In the video, elephant handler Don RedFox enters Louie’s stall twice. The first time, he’s carrying treats for the 7-year-old bull elephant, which appears startled and acts aggressively toward the handler he has known since birth.

Mr. RedFox retreats from the cage, returning moments later with a hooked stick used in elephant training. The young bull turns his back on the handler, but when Mr. RedFox touches Louie with the stick, called an elephant guide or bullhook, the elephant pushes him against a wall of the enclosure, backs off, then moves forward again, crushing Mr. RedFox against the wall. When Louie backs off a second time, the handler is able to stumble out of the cage.

Read the entire article here.

Toledo Zoo patron Jennifer Kohler and her family walked up to an exhibit hoping to see 4,000-pound Louie the elephant go through some training exercises, she told The Blade Friday.

What the Findlay woman ended up doing instead that July 1 afternoon was to call 911 for help after she saw an elephant trainer – Don RedFox – in distress.

“I’ve been in the elephant cage at the Toledo Zoo, and the zookeeper here has just fallen over. He’s been attacked by an elephant. …” she told a dispatcher.

“He’s all by himself, and there’s nobody here. We’ve got people running for help, but we need an ambulance out here now.”

Ms. Kohler, along with her three children and her sister, had just walked up when they saw Mr. RedFox close a gate to an inner area to secure the animal that had just attacked him.

Read the entire article here.

This ritual, which played out in Anaheim’s council chambers this week, has gone on for years in city halls nationwide. But what is different this year is that the activists are armed with more direct evidence of the abuse than they’ve ever had before.

And this new evidence seems to be resonating with political leaders, including those in Orange County and Sacramento. But not so much in Anaheim.

Among the revelations changing officials’ minds are detailed accounts and pictures of the abuse left behind by a former circus worker who died late last year. The evidence was given to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and was the subject of this Washington Post story in December.

The story of the dead man’s experiences, to at least some degree, are helping PETA and other animal rights groups change policy.

Tuesday night, while the activists were showing the Anaheim City Council photos of alleged abuse of baby elephants, the Sacramento City Council was adopting an ordinance to regulate the treatment of animals in visiting circuses and rodeos.

Read the entire article here.

BOSTON – Unfortunately, when it comes to the worst zoos in the world, the stories are pretty much all the same: small cages and living spaces, unnatural surroundings of concrete and iron, under-feeding and under-watering and well, cruelty in general.

However, some zoos go above and beyond expectations of horrible.

Ever hear of a zoo misplacing a few animals? How about one that slowly turns into a taxidermy museum? Animals being shipped two-by-two on a “Noah’s Ark” to a different country?

The zoos listed here are places you don’t want to bring the kids. Or yourself for that matter.

Read the entire article here.

MILFORD – The international animal protection organization In Defense of Animals of California offered a $2,500 reward Thursday for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the burn injuries to “Ginger”, a two-year-old Staffordshire terrier.

Animal Control Officer Rick George and members of the city’s Animal Control Office found the dog on July 11 after they responded to a complaint of a burned dog roaming in the area of Colonial Avenue.

The dog’s owner has been ruled out as a suspect in the injuries. Police spokesman Officer Jeff Nielsen said Thursday there are no new leads in the case. He said police still hope someone will call 203-877-1465 with information about the incident. Ginger went missing July 9 from the owner’s home, which is not in Milford, police said.

Ginger is undergoing hydrotherapy treatments on the burns, which covered about 30 percent of her body, including her head, shoulders and front paws, but is improving, officials have said. Ginger’s litter of pups are currently at home with the owner and are doing well on their own.

United Way of Milford and the Animal Control Office have raised $10,000 in donations to help Ginger recover.

“It is unconscionable that someone would commit such acts of depraved cruelty upon any animal,” IDA president Scotlund Haisley said in a prepared statement.

Citing the connection between violence to non-human animals and violence to people, Haisley added, also in the statement, that “someone who would commit such acts against animals is a threat to society and belongs behind bars.”

IDA hopes its $2,500 reward offer will produce information leading to the arrest, prosecution, and conviction of whoever burned Ginger.

Linda Marino, an attorney who lives in the Milford area and is working with IDA on the case, said, also in the prepared statement, “The person who did this despicable act must be identified and brought to justice. Such cruelty to one of our fellow beings cannot be tolerated and must be severely punished.”

Read this entire article here: http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/07/22/blotter/doc4c48c20b575a2351484854.prt

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