Category: Animals

Cat Arrested In Prison Escape Conspiracy

220px-Cat_eyes_2007-2Brazilian jail guards nabbed the ultimate cat burglar last week at the northeastern Brazilian jail in Alagoas. The cat was found to be smuggling in escape tools after being trained by inmates who where digging out of the prison. It is not clear if the cat will now receive nine consecutive life sentences.

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Two Boulder Police Officers Under Investigation In Shooting Of Giant Elk

220px-Rocky_Mountain_Bull_Elkpolice_badge_smallBoulder Colorado has been embroiled in a rather bizarre investigation into the killing of a bull elk.  Reports showed pictures of Boulder police officer Sam Carter allegedly posing with the elk which neighbors considered a local celebrity. They even held a vigil in its honor. Two Boulder police officers are now under investigation by the police department and a criminal investigation by Colorado Parks and Wildlife in the shooting. It is now believed that one officer shot the animal while on patrol. Another officer is then believed to have taken it home for the meat.

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Is Selfishness A Brain Defect?

By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

120409-rhesus-monkey-130p.grid-4x2Duke neuroscientist, Michael Platt, has an intriguing theory. What if altruism isn’t just learned at your mother’s knee but is really a result of evolved brain chemistry? In a study he co-authored and published in the journal, Nature Neuroscience, Platt wondered why certain primates act unselfishly. Animal behaviorists have long known that monkeys will go without food rather than see a member of their species shocked, and mice will starve to avoid hurting other mice. Major news stories around the world  have told the tales of animals risking their own safety to protect humans and other animals. In one recent episode,  Binti Jua, a female gorilla saved a three-year-old boy from other gorillas when he fell into the gorilla enclosure at the Brookline Zoo.  In another, a dog in Chile dodged traffic on a busy freeway to drag his canine companion to safety after it  had been struck and rendered unconscious.

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Chicago Police Let Dog Out Of Backyard and Then Shoot The Family Dog On Christmas Eve

kobi-1226We have yet another case of a police shooting of a family dog. This case involved a particularly tragic
occurrence on Christmas Day. Kobi, a 70-pound Rhodesian Ridgeback mix was shot dead by a Chicago police officer. Chicago has previously appeared on these pages for dog shootings. The family says that the police opened the gate to the backyard where Kobi was being kept and then shot him when he came out. They were looking for a suspect. The police department insists that the officers acted appropriately.

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Bird Brained: Chicago Alderman Moves To Make Feeding Pigeons A Crime

220px-JCappleman250px-Rock_dove_-_natures_picsIt appears that Chicago has emerged wiped crime, the bad economy and the educational crisis. Even a district attorney who seems to spend much of her time stripping rights from citizens as opposed to locking up criminals appears to has appeared as a danger. The only issue left it appears for Ald. James Cappelman (46th) (my old ward in Chicago) is to criminalize feeding pigeons. That’s right, Cappelman wants to make feeding the bird a crime — joining a national movement toward the criminalization of annoying or commonplace acts that I have previously criticized in columns (here and here) and numerous blogs on the criminalization of using artificial turf to growing vegetable gardens to eating french fries in the subway. Politicians like Cappelman are turning America into a nation of felons as everyday acts are regulated through the criminal code.

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Pennsylvania Couple Charged In Horrific Dog-Fighting and Child Endangerment Case

pitbullring_121212_Santiagopitbullring_121212_AcamporaThere is another dog fighting arrest this week, though with an added chilling twist of the involvement of children. Shane Santiago and his wife Laura Acampora are charged with endangering the welfare of children in addition to animal cruelty charges because they were raising five children in the rented home while dogfighting was going on in the basement. The children are with other family members and presumably officials have inquired into whether or how other family members were not aware of this large operation before handing over the children. In a twisted irony, police found a copy of parenting magazine in this house of horrors.

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Yes, I Took The Car But . . .

9UMJ4 just look me in the eyes . . . This is why dogs get away with so much. Of course, the combination of cuteness and color-blindness (as well as the absence of fingers or the ability to read) would seem to create a hazard for dog drivers, but you can’t tell that to a bunch of trainers in New Zealand. It appears that you will now have to shop for that perfect ride for your Range Rover.

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Gunning Down “The Colonel”: Chicago Puppy Shot Twice By Police . . . Family Then Ticketed Three Days Later After Speaking With Media

colonel-phillips-1204We have been following a growing trend of alleged unjustified shootings of pet dogs by police officers. We can now add a case out of Chicago where a 7-month-old miniature bull terrier, called “The Colonel” by neighbors, was shot by a police officer. A lawsuit names Officer Brandon Pettigrew as the cop who twice shot The Colonel, which weighs less than 30 pounds. According to witnesses, the officer then calmly returned to writing the ticket and handed it to the distraught owner. The police returned three days later, according to media reports, and asked why the owners were speaking to the media . . . and proceeded to give them a ticket for having a dog off a leash.

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14,000,000

One hour ago, our blog passed the 14,000,000 viewer. The fact that we only recently passed the 13,000,000 viewer mark reflects the impressive growth of this blog. Congratulations everyone. Now if we could only get .000001 of those viewers to vote for us on the ABA blog competition we could crush the competition! If you (are any distant relative, incompetent ward, or pet) has not voted, you can vote here and cast your vote today!

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A Question of Justice: Houston Couple Charged With Distributing Films Showing the Torture and Killing Of Puppies

crushvidmugs-660x485Brent Justice, 51, and Ashely Richards, 22, have been indicted in the latest case involving “snuff film.” In this case, prosecutors say that the Houston couple distributed films showing the torture and killing of puppies and other animals. The case could raise a question over the scope of the federal law. According to PETA, which revealed the films to authorities, one film allegedly shows Richards “cutting the leg and slashing the neck and throat of a puppy before beheading the struggling animal with a meat cleaver.”

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