sutton078

Recently, professional athletes are using  Twitter to unload their family pets .  courtesy Google images Kendrick Perkins   (basketball), Anthony Davis (football) and Isaiah Stanback (football) all posted the desire to sell their dogs on Twitter, and at least Perkins and Davis sold their family pet in under an hour with the requirement by Davis to " Just don't be mean to him ". As I am willing to defer to the professionals in sports, I would ask that they, in turn, let me and other credentialed professionals find unwanted pets new homes. Notwithstanding the difference between merely getting rid of a pet to the first bidder and actually finding a pet a new home-(The former accepts the tweet for the highest bid while the latter searches, screens and tries to assess compatibility with the family)- there are darker issues at play here. Is the allure of the pet the fact that is belongs to a famous athlete? Is the intention to re-tweet and resell to the highest bidder? Wha...

courtesy Google images When California voters passed Proposition 2 which requires egg farmers to give egg-laying birds room to stand, spread their wings and move around, then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) added an additional requirement that all eggs sold in California must come from farms that meet California standards - a decree in keeping with the republican mantra of less federal government and more state sovereignty. Permitting assault weapons, governors refusing to enact the Affordable Care Act, regulating abortions and same sex marriages, to name a few, are all example of issues and instances where the tenet of states' rights was and is invoked as sacrosanct. Yet, in this case,  Republican Senator Steve King has added a section to the proposed farm bill that would prohibit states from imposing conditions on another state's agriculture production thereby effectively allowing big government to trounce California's law and Californians message that basic humane tr...

Your spcaLA and the Juvenile Division of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office have united to bring spcaLA’s award winning  violence prevention program to the Los Angeles juvenile system. This mandated, alternative sentencing program,  jTLC™.works by re-instilling empathy into teens with the aim of "curing" violence. In a  two-day, court-mandated course, teens are paired with shelter dogs and offered intensive sessions designed to help at-risk youth identify and break the cycle of violence.  The jTLC ™  candidates are carefully selected by the District Attorney’s Office along with the Juvenile Court judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys.  These children learn coping and anger management skills and gain self-esteem with the help of our shelter dogs. We instill in them compassion and empathy – which steers them into a more positive direction. For the last two years, spcaLA has pilot-tested the jTLC ™  program with juvenile offenders from communi...

courtesy spcaLA -rescued from breeder NBC just reported that " AKC-registered breeders raising dogs in 'miserable" conditions ". Really? What do AKC (American Kennel Club) breeders, puppy mills, pet shops, professional breeders, and opportunistic breeders (those that cater to fads or animal movie stars) have in common?  They profit from the sale of these pets. Ergo, the more they invest in care and husbandry the less the profit or the higher the prices must be. Essentially, the pets are considered inventory and not feeling, suffering living things. Consumers are outraged when they spend a small fortune for a registered, certified and papered pure bred that either dies shortly after purchase or requires costly medical care with no promise that there will be no lingering disabilities. What do you expect if neither the mother nor the puppies, while living in filth, receive proper nutrition and essential medical care. Even the "bargain hunters" who will hand ov...

Courtesy Google Images During Wednesday's Lakers game the ESPN commentators could not stop wailing about the tragedy that Kobe Bryant was seen in this photo with a little dog. They ranted, wept and prayed for someone to "say it isn't so" that such a "macho" guy would have a lap dog. They lamented that any dog that could be "cradled" in one's arms was not an acceptable companion for such a man as Kobe. Finally, to their relief, Kobe contacted them during half time and comforted the hysterical commentators with the news that he had 4 dogs - two of which were German Shepherds. The commentators were outright thanking the almighty for this proof that the world is right again - that- their hero had 2 "manly" dogs which generously excused the presence of the little dog. First, the size of a man's dog is not indicative of the size of his penis. Second, let's not force men into behaving in projected stereotypical ways. Strong men can b...

  UPDATE - The "Ag-Gag" bill, sponsored by the California Cattleman's Association was  withdrawn by Assemblymember Jim Patterson. It will be technically dead after after the first week of M ay deadline. We were heard!! It is once again legislative season and your spcaLA is working on bills that will prevent animal cruelty. To that end, I will resume nagging you to voice your support or disgust to our employees - our elected officials.       Remember: The power of the people is greater than the people in power -Wael Ghonim Assemblymember Roger Dickinson introduced Assembly Bill 339 , which, in its current form, strives to ban the sale of live animals in swap meets and flea markets.  Husbandry, veterinary treatment, and often basic humane care are often non existent in these venues, which, unfortunately were excluded from recent enacted legislation prohibiting street corner sales of animals. This bill passed the Assembly Public Safety Committee th...

Courtesy Google Images On March 6th a five foot long white-tipped shark flown from New York to Los Angeles to be used in the filming of a Kmart commercial exhibited signs of stress on the set and ultimately died. The shark was treated on set by the trainer and then taken to a specialist to no avail. According to a source cited by the Los Angeles Times , Kmart's request for a replacement shark to be brought out for the shoot was refused by the production company, Boxer Films, who instead substituted an animatronic hippopotamus. The group American Humane Association (AHA) who certifies that "no animal was harmed in the making of a film" ,who receives funding from the film industry to monitor animal actors, and who is currently under fire for the fact that three horses died on set of the HBO show "Lucky" is investigating the matter. Notwithstanding the vigor of an actual shoot, the travel back and forth to and from the location, the living in strange quarters...