South Korean scientists claim they have cloned pet dog

South Korean scientists have confirmed that they have completed the first ever commercial cloning of a dog to take place.

Bernann McKinney, who ordered the cloning for US$50,000, has said that she is pleased with the result of the cloning. "They are perfectly the same as their daddy. I am in heaven here. I am a happy person," she said in a press conference delivered earlier today. The regular charge will be up to US$150,000, but was discounted for the first customer.

Police capture escaped monkey in Wisconsin, USA

Thursday, August 9, 2007 Police apprehended a 18 inch tall monkey that is reported to have bitten a 20 year-old woman outside State Street Brats, a Madison, Wisconsin nightclub.

The long-tailed, black and white monkey, which was wearing a diaper, was leashed in a beer garden outside the nightclub on State Street when people began to pet the animal. When the woman approached the monkey around 1:00 a.m. CDT (UTC-5) on Wednesday morning and put her hand out to pet it, it bit her then escaped the garden and led police on a seven hour 'monkey hunt' before it was caught.

Contaminated pet food causes massive recall

At least 10 pets, 9 cats and 1 dog have died as a result of eating contaminated pet food, says the United States Food and Drug Administration, or FDA. The contamination caused cats and dogs to both go into kidney failure.

At least 51 brands of cat food and 40 brands of dog food have been recalled. The manufacturer of the food is Menu Foods, which is based in Mississauga, Ontario in Canada. The brands include: Iams, Nutro, and Eukanuba pet foods. Nestle, Purina PetCare Co., Procter & Gamble and Hill's Pet Nutrition Inc. are voluntarily recalling their pet foods as a precaution. The FDA says that only wet food has been reported to have caused the deaths. The food was sold between December of 2006 and March 3 of 2007. The recall includes pouches and cans of wet food that total over 60 million.

Dog's throat cut in Cairns, Australia

In what the RSPCA calls a "horrific" case of animal cruelty, a dog's jaw was taped shut, and its throat cut, in Cairns, Australia.

The Staffordshire mix, who was found by police in a critical condition last Thursday, was reportedly struggling to breath and bleeding heavily due to her throat being slashed and her muzzle being bound.

"The way they cut was almost down to the larynx, so muscles were cut but luckily they missed the jugular veins," said Sarah Gill, the vet who stitched the 10 cm long, 3 cm deep cut.

In a statement reported on Tuesday, Inspector Cameron Buswell, a law enforcement officer with the RSPCA animal welfare charity, said it is hard to comprehend that there are people in the community capable of this level of cruelty.

Amsterdam pet shop owner creates beer for dogs

A woman in The Netherlands who uses her dogs to hunt in Austria has decided to give her dogs a new kind of treat: beer.

Terrie Berenden, a woman who owns a pet shop in Amsterdam, created a non-alcoholic beer for her dogs which is made from malt and a beef extract. The beer is called Kwispelbier ('kwispelen' means "wagging of a  tail" in Dutch), and was put onto shelves just last week.

"Once a year we go to Austria to hunt with our dogs, and at the end of the day we sit on the verandah and drink a beer. So we thought, my dog also has earned it," said Berenden.

Mad Cow disease confirmed in U.S.

John Clifford, Chief Veterinarian of the United States Department of Agriculture, confirms that tests done on a sample from a cow on a farm in Alabama indicate bovine spongiform encephalopathy or mad cow disease. The original results were confirmed by a Western Blot Test.

"We received a positive result on a Western blot confirmatory test conducted at the USDA laboratories in Ames, Iowa, on samples from an animal that had tested 'inconclusive' on a rapid screening test performed on Friday, March 10, 2006. In this instance, the inconclusive result from the contract lab in Georgia was confirmed through a second rapid test at the National Veterinary Services Laboratory. Now, the Western blot test has returned a positive result, and that is sufficient for us to confirm this animal to be positive for BSE, which is why we are making this announcement today," said Clifford.

Cloned cattle's milk and meat seem safe, according to new study

A National Academy of Sciences report (.pdf) last year said that while the milk and meat from cloned animals would not likely make anyone sick, more research should be performed. Now, a new US-Japan study published in the April 11 online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says that milk and meat from cloned cattle does indeed appear to meet industry standards and appears to be safe for human consumption.

As BBC News reports, the scientists, led by Professor Jerry Yang from the University of Connecticut, compared the produce from two beef and four dairy clones, all derived from a single Holstein dairy cow and a single Japanese black bull, with the produce from normal animals of similar age and breed.

The meat was analysed against more than 100 physiological, tissue and cellular components, while the milk was analysed for protein, fat and other variables. No significant differences between the produce of cloned and normal cattle were found. Higher levels of fat and fatty acids were found in the cloned cow meat, but they still fell within beef industry standards.

Florida man accused of threatening to bomb animal shelter

A Florida man was arrested after he allegedly left multiple phone messages with a local animal shelter in Brooksville, threatening to blow them up. Peter Dalessandro, 52, surrendered himself to authorities around 11:00 p.m. (local time) on Wednesday.

Dalessandro has been charged with multiple counts of threatening to place or discharge an explosive device and multiple counts of assault. Dalessandro allegedly made six calls after a puppy the shelter had taken in was euthanized quickly. He called the shelter several times on April 20 and threatened to kill anyone who was there and stated that a bomb was on the property. A search of the property, however, revealed no bomb.

Pet parrot saves owners' lives

It turns out that dogs may not be the only 'man's best friend.' A parrot in Muncie, Indiana is being credited with saving the lives of its owners.

According to the owner 33-year-old Shannon Conwell along with his 9-year-old son were watching television when they both fell asleep on the living room couch when a fire began to spread through the house around 3:00 a.m. on Friday October 19.

The Amazon, yellow-headed Parrot named Peanut reportedly imitates the sounds of several objects and began to emit one very similar to a fire alarm, waking the family from their sleep.

image source: http://buberel.org/gallery/

Nigerian "free puppy" scam revealed on the internet

A Nigerian "free puppy" scam has been circling the internet for months without any reports on television or on the radio. Just yesterday the Toronto Star reported about a Mississauga, Ontario, Canada woman, on September 10, who was scammed by a Nigerian man (Paul) claiming to be a Christian missionary who could no longer take care of his puppy.

In April, the CBC reported that the Toronto Humane Society issued a warning for residents to watch out for the new scam, and to not respond to them. Humane Society communications officer Lee Oliver told the CBC that the only contact method, for an ad about a "free" puppy published in a newspaper, was email. After he emailed the person he received an email response in broken English saying the customer would have to pay $500.

Large creature loose in London suburb

Police organized a search in the Sydenham Park area of south-east London after a local, Anthony Holder, was attacked by a 6ft long black animal while looking for his kitten in his back yard that borders a woodland.

Holder said the animal pounced, knocked him to the ground, and then he was "in its claws for about 30 seconds. Its teeth were out and I tried to defend myself and eventually I got the thing off my body." Holder was scratched all over his body and suffered swelling and bruising to his hand and the back of his head. He called the police at about 2:15 am while the animal sat in the garden next door.

While Holder was being treated by paramedics, the Metropolitan Police conducted a search of the area. A citizen and a police officer saw the creature, believed by some to be a panther. Another officer also believed he saw the animal and reports it as approximately the size of a Labrador Retriever. The neighbourhood is being patrolled by an armed police response vehicle staffed by officers equipped with rifles and Taser stun guns.

Missing dog's severed head found by 17-year old girl

A $2,500 reward has been issued by the Humane Society of the United States for information on an "implied terroristic threat", according to Sergant Jim Gray of the St. Paul Police Department.

According to Crystal Brown, 17 year old owner of the dog, a gift-wrapped box with a note saying "Congratulations Crystal. This side up. Batteries included.", was left on her doorstep along with the severed head of her dog, Chevy, and a Valentine's Day candy.

The dog, an Australian shepherd mix called Chevy, went missing in February and Crystal, his owner, spent weeks searching for him, posting fliers, going door to door, and visiting the local animal shelter.

Dale Bartlett, Deputy Manager for the Humane Society said that "This case was extremely heinous. I deal with hundreds and hundreds of cruelty cases each year. When I read about this case, it just took my breath away."

"This was so cruel," Crystal said. "We're dealing with one sick, twisted person."

News Date: Thursday, March 15, 2007

Man banned from keeping animals after forcing cat to inhale cannabis

A 19 year old from South Tyneside, England has been banned from looking after animals after stealing a cat and forcing it to inhale cannabis.

Mark Kane, from South Shields, England, was banned from looking after animals for 10 years after causing "unnecessary suffering" to a tabby cat in January 2009. Kane was originally sentenced to three months in jail which was suspended two years. Kane also has to pay £100 (US$167) in fines.

Kane had stolen the cat from a friend of his girlfriend. A mobile phone camera recorded the incident and showed Kane putting the cat into a bag, inhaling some cannabis and blowing it into the bag. He then swung the bag around his head in a similar fashion to a lasso. The cat survived the attack but it ran off afterwards and has yet to have been found. During the video Kane is quoted as saying "This cat is getting stoned off its head" and "Get it stoned to ****".
Kane was prosecuted by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in a court in South Shields. He was found guilty and sentenced to twelve weeks in prison, two years suspension and a ten year ban from looking after animals as well as being ordered to pay £100 costs. In a previous court hearing, Kane had also admitted two counts of cruelty to animals.

Oldest duck in UK dies at age 22

A duck named Edwina, believed to be the oldest recorded living duck in the United Kingdom, has died at the age of 22.
The mallard was first discovered by Ian Knight and Christine Christopher in a lake near their residence in the market town of Ringwood in Hampshire, England. Edwina, as she was later called, had been attacked by her family and abandoned by her own mother. Ian helped the duck to recover its health and, after a failed attempt to release the creature back into the wild, the duck was adopted as a family pet. She was originally given the male name Edward; however, when — to the shock of Christopher and Knight - it was discovered that she had the ability to lay eggs, her name was changed to Edwina. Some of the habits of the duck included drinking tea and swimming in a sink.

The creature gained popularity upon her 22nd birthday when the British Trust for Ornithology rendered Edwina the oldest recorded mallard in the United Kingdom. The Trust said that the oldest recorded age for a creature of that type in the wild in the country was 20 years and 5 months.

Edwina died peacefully on Monday inside her pen. Ian Knight commented, "She hadn't been well over Christmas. Her legs were a bit wobbly and we were concerned that she wasn't her normal self. We had been planning to take her to the vet's when we discovered that she had passed away. It might sound silly to some people but 22 years is a long time to have a pet and we are heartbroken to have lost Edwina." Knight also explained that "he had become a bit of a celebrity and, after we appeared on television on her 22nd birthday, someone recognised me at Palma Airport in Majorca."

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

World's oldest dog dies at age 20

The world's oldest dog, who answered to the name of Otto, has died at the age of 20. Otto, who was a Dachshund, was born and lived in Shrewsbury, in the county of Shropshire in England.

The dog had to be put down by a vet on Thursday after it was discovered that the animal had developed stomach cancer. The dog's date of birth was February 14, 1989, which means that Otto would have been 21 years old 31 days after his death occurred. Lynn Jones and her husband Peter had both owned the dog since he was six weeks old. Otto was officially declared the oldest dog in the world by the Guinness Book of Records in October 2009. He was cremated on Friday.
Now Lynn Jones has payed tribute to her pet. "I have cried all morning, I am devastated," she said. "He died at 10:10AM and I feel like I've lost my right arm. I know I sound like a wuss, but he was like the son I never had, my baby boy. I am glad he is not suffering any longer but I wanted him with me forever. We found out yesterday that he had a very large tumour in his stomach and last night I felt that he was trying to tell us something. He couldn't sit or lie down comfortably and he was trying to tell us that he'd had enough, so we made the decision to end his suffering and took him to the vet Thursday morning."

News Date: Monday, January 18, 2010

Animal rights activists demand British coffee chain withdraw advertising campaign

 Costa Coffee

 Image Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Mtaylor848

Animal rights activists have demanded that the largest coffee chain in the United Kingdom pull a new advertising campaign because they fear that it will encourage viewers to buy monkeys as pets. The demands are likely to irritate Costa Coffee, who are determined to turn over a larger profit that their arch-rival, Starbucks. Five animal welfare groups have demanded that the advert, which features a futuristic room full of monkeys attempting to use coffee machines, be withdrawn.