Entire Dog Blog

I've read the claim that PETA killed 97% of the animals in their care during 2006 a couple of times over the past few weeks. I wasn't going to touch it. Honestly, I don't find getting in the middle of a fight between interest groups all that appealing. But then I've seen it noted here and noted there and it seems to keep coming up. I figured I'd present the information and let the readers decide.

At the center of the claim is a PDF document that purports to show the "dispositions" of the animals taken in by PETA. I do not know if it is an actual PETA document. The document shows that, in 2006, PETA took in 3,061 animals (not counting those accepted to spay/neuter) and wound up euthanizing 2,981 of those animals. That sure is 97% if the numbers are accurate.

From July 1998 through December 2006, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) killed over 17,400 dogs, cats, and other "companion animals." That's more than five defenseless creatures every day. PETA has a walk-in freezer to store the dead bodies, and contracts with a Virginia Beach company to cremate them.

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In 2000, when the Associated Press first noted PETA's Kervorkian-esque tendencies, PETA president Ingrid Newkirk complained that actually taking care of animals costs more than killing them. "We could become a no-kill shelter immediately," she admitted.

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PETA rakes in nearly $30 million each year in income, much of it raised from pet owners who think their donations actually help animals. Instead, the group spends huge sums on programs equating people who eat chicken with Nazis, scaring young children away from drinking milk, recruiting children into the radical animal-rights lifestyle, and intimidating businessmen and their families in their own neighborhoods. PETA has also spent tens of thousands of dollars defending arsonists and other violent extremists.

PETA claims it engages in outrageous media-seeking stunts "for the animals." But which animals? Carping about the value of future two-piece dinners while administering lethal injections to puppies and kittens isn't ethical. It's hypocritical -- with a death toll that PETA would protest if it weren't their own doing.

Other pet blog writers seem to have taken this information at face value. I'm not so sure. Take it for what it's worth. It may be hard fact, it may be two interest groups going at it.

The stray 50-pound female retriever mix who gained nationwide notoriety when she survived being mauled by a tiger after jumping into the Cat Country exhibit at the Memphis (Tennessee) Zoo will be taken in by a local rescue group.

The stray, whose owners have not yet stepped forward, has been determined to be suffering from heartworms. She's been named Tiger. Sunny Meadows Safehaven for Pets, the rescue group saving the dog, will provide medical treatment for this dangerous condition.

Anyone wishing to adopt Tiger or donate money to help with her medical treatment can visit Sunny Meadows Safehaven for Pets web site or contact them via telephone at 901-363-7233.

A stray 50-pound female retriever mix led workers at the Memphis (Tennessee) Zoo on a chase before swimming a 12-foot moat to find herself in the jaws of a 225-pound Sumatran tiger. And she lived.

The stray found her way into the Zoo through a service entrance. She was in the tiger's mouth for a few minutes. After the tiger, which was born in captivity, let her go, the stray dog was treated by the Zoo's emergency medical staff before being transported to Animal Emergency Medical Center.

Zoo workers, who were close on the dog's trail, used fireworks and air horns to distract the two tigers in the exhibit and get them into their night enclosures behind the exhibit's viewing area.

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"She's resting comfortably," said clinic manager Clarita Atkinson. "She's fairly unscathed for the amount of damage that could have been done."

The dog was wearing a collar that did not include an address, [zoo spokesman Brian] Carter said, and zoo officials were trying to find the animal's owner. The zoo is in a large park in a residential area of the city.

FOLLOW-UP: Dog Mauled by Tiger Finds Home With Rescue Group

I know that, if I were going to become a psychic, I would want to speak psychically to beings who in no way could ever tell anyone I was wrong. I'm not the first one with that idea, though, because this concept of pet psychics keeps making its way around. Most recently, in an article at Associated Content.

My dogs communicate with me in all kinds of ways: Eye contact, whining, pointing, running around an object, sitting in a specific spot and staring at me. I get what my dogs are trying to tell me in any number of ways. I do not believe, however, that they are sitting around sending out telepathic mind waves to inform me of their deepest feelings.

How do animal psychics do this? Many of them seem uncertain about how the process actually works, but they've simply learned to trust their intuition, gut feeling, or sixth sense. They typically claim that the communication is not verbal like human speech; even messages heard mentally are not presented with words but rather some concrete feeling impressions. Perhaps we could refer to these people as "animal interpreters", because one of the real miracles they perform is the translation of these inner impressions into accurate observations.

Right. "Miracles." Like John Edwards or the Psychic Friends Network.

I understand the desire to want to communicate better with your dogs and to better understand their needs. I go through that every day. Everyone with a dog should want the best relationship possible with their dog. The best relationship realistically possible.

I don't even fault the people with dogs if they fall for this kind of thing. People from all walks of life are confused about all kinds of things, and people with dogs are not exempt from that. I fault the so-called psychics (who are really just people trained in observation) for bilking folks out of money that could be better spent.

The state of Texas has seized a child whose mother claimed his genitals were severed by the family's Dachshund after doctors stated that the 5-month-old's injuries "don't appear to be dog bites."

Harris County Child Protective Services took emergency custody of the 5-month-old Wednesday, spokeswoman Estella Olguin said.

"Someone did this to this baby, and according to doctors it couldn't have been the way the mama says it happened," Olguin said.

I've heard of blaming the dog for passed wind or a broken vase, but this is a new one on me. The child is apparently in critical condition at this time. Best wishes for a speedy and full recovery. I hope they get to the truth on this one.