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Newspaper

New York Times

A Patchwork of Food Assistance for Pets
By CARLA BARANAUCKAS November 12, 2009
“ANIMAL shelters have reported a steep rise in the number of cats and dogs being surrendered as owners face unemployment, home foreclosures, evictions and other financial hardships. But animal welfare groups and even churches are stepping up with bags of kibble and containers of cat litter to help owners keep their pets and to prevent more from being sent to shelters, and sometimes death. . . No national network coordinates pet food assistance. Instead, efforts have sprung up at a grass-roots level as individuals and groups have recognized the problem. The means of offering aid to pet owners varies with each organization. The Humane Society of the United States keeps a long list of programs on its Web site headlined “Having Trouble Affording Your Pet?” And the society acknowledges that there are probably many more programs the organization is not aware of.”  Here is the Florida list.

Love for a Dog That’s No Bark and All Yodel

By N. C. MAISAK November 14, 2009
“Yodel-ay-hee-hoo! The number of French bulldogs, a small breed with a language of its own, is growing in one Queens neighborhood.”

Online

BBC News

Rare birds monitored by dog GPS

“Dogs wearing global positioning systems (GPS) are being used to help monitor one of Scotland’s rarest birds. Wildlife Ranger Ally Macaskill is using two German shorthaired pointers to help him track breeds such as black grouse at Perthshire’s Schiehallion estate.”

Shock dog collars ‘complete ban’
“A proposed ban on electric shock dog training devices in Wales will be re-written to make it a complete ban, says the minister who wants to bring it in. ”

Time to eat the pets?

Justin Rowlatt Sunday, 15 November 2009

“Trying to make my home more carbon efficient taught me a very important lesson – the only way to get significant cuts is if you look at all aspects of your home. . . . But one area of our home lives always tends to escape under the ethical radar – our pets. I think it is time to give them the “ethical” attention they deserve. . .

. . . The issue of carbon pawprints has been in the news recently thanks to a new book: Time to Eat the Dog. The authors have attempted to estimate the environmental impact of a range of popular pets. Their most startling conclusion is that dogs are significantly more damaging to the planet than SUVs.  The authors claim that keeping a medium-sized dog has the same ecological impact as driving a 4.6 litre Land Cruiser 10,000km a year”

Expo puts hundreds of pets into loving homes

By KEVIN WIATROWSKI | The Tampa Tribune  Published: November 14, 2009

“Nearly 400 animals found homes today at the Humane Society’s 2009 Pet Expo . . . Alex Wright didn’t come to the Humane Society of Tampa Bay’s 2009 Pet Expo looking for a new pet. The airman 1st class was part of the honor guard that opened the event.  But then Chardonnay, a 3-month-old mixed-breed puppy caught his eye. He was hooked.”

Radio

Talking Animals - the recent Talking Animals show, 11/04/09,  featured: “  Sue Martino, Executive Director of The Pet Project, an Oakland Park, FL-based organization that helps serve the needs of pet owners who are living with HIV/AIDS, have a terminal illness, are disabled, or seniors on low, fixed incomes–discusses the history of The Pet Project and its specific focus in the earliest days; describes the organization’s growth and widening out of both the coverage area and clientele served, as part of longer range plans to operate not just statewide, but nationwide; outlines the scene of a quintessential Pet Project client and the products and resources provided her; addresses the group’s corps of volunteers; and fields a handful of calls from listeners offering to help The Pet Project in one way or another, and more. [www.PetProjectForPets.org] COMEDY CORNER: Brian Regan’s “Dog Barking” (www.BrianRegan.com)