A week or so ago, about the time that Gina composed her outstanding post from the North American Veterinary Conference on the forensics of SickVick’s victims, Steve Dale of Chicago Now reprinted his syndicated piece opposing President Obama’s support of the Eagles’ signing and eventual promotion of Vick. The fun started when the HSUS made the unforced error (as they say in the sports world) of responding to Dale’s opinion piece. They could have, and I’d say should have, let well enough alone. But for reasons that will be clear in just a minute, I’m glad they didn’t. “AnneHSUS” posted the first comment after Dale’s post went up.
“Dale got it wrong by saying that Vick’s speaking engagements are court-ordered. They are voluntary.
[...]
Regarding the question of Vick getting a dog for his daughters, what our president and CEO said in entirety was that now is not the time for Vick to have a dog. That decision will and should be made after his probation is up. All of our work at The HSUS is predicated on the fact that we are all capable of change, of showing more compassion, of doing the right thing. If we didn’t believe people could change, there would be no point to any of our work.”
That allowed Dale to respond, in essence, “Liar, liar, pants on fire”.
Thank you for your interesting response. I don’t deny that people can change…but let’s back up a bit…I’ve linked in previous blog posts to your President’s remarks so people can read them in full, and that I am not taking them out of context. Here is a part of what Mr. Pacelle, your president and CEO says – directly lifted, word per word:
“It’s now a well-established principle within our movement that those convicted of malicious cruelty should not be permitted to have pets, at least for a number of years after a cruelty conviction, and sometimes even for life. It’s a precautionary policy, grounded on the notion that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior and that it’s just very hard to know if someone has been rehabilitated. Together as a society, we are responsible for placing animals in homes where they are loved, and where they are safe.”
Judges typically don’t allow those who are convicted of dogfighting to have dogs, often for life, for a reason. The judge in this case didn’t say that…It’s not because of Vick’s wonderful work. How could the judge have known what Vick would do or not. Of course, Vick’s fame has nothing to do with it. By the way, that community work’ was, in fact, a negotiated part of ‘the deal’ arranged by lawyers, and later your President, as I understand from several sources.In fact, the HSUS was not approached first. At least one (perhaps two) other organizations turned down the offer to support Vick in community appearances.
Later on in the comment flow came what I thought was Dale’s best comment of all, referencing perhaps the greatest single Freudian statement SickVick could have uttered.
One more thing….at a press conference after the Packer/Eagles games, which the Eagles lost because Vick threw an intercepted pass…he said the pass was the biggest mistake of his life.
Really Mr. Vick?
“AnneHSUS” hasn’t been heard from since.
Nathan gets to chew on the AHA: Dale’s comment wasn’t the best recent response to a patently absurd public statement. Few people do a better job of shooting down misinformation than Nathan Winograd. This time, the lie was heard on New York’s WABC 77 Radio, the No. 1 talk radio station in the country based on listenership. Nathan appeared Sunday morning to talk about shelter killing. Before Nathan’s appearance, the host spoke with Dori Villalon, Vice President of Animal Protection for the American Humane Association. From here, let’s hear from Nathan in his recent blog post.
The Vice-President of AHA argued that pet overpopulation was responsible for the killing of half of the “six to eight million animals” impounded by shelters every year. But when asked how many people were looking to get a dog or cat this year, the “demand” side, she said “Gosh, um, I don’t know that number.” And when further asked how she could be so adamant that pet overpopulation was real given that she didn’t know, she said that it was because we are killing four million, a hopeless tautology. But she went further, claiming that for us to end the killing “every person in American right now [would have to] adopt eight animals” and they would have to do so every year. My jaw hit the floor.
Today, the human population in the U.S. is just over 300,000,000. If everyone adopted eight animals every year, that would be 2.4 billion animals—six hundred times the number of animals being killed in shelters every year. Here was a leader of the first national companion animal advocacy organization in the U.S. which has claimed a leadership position since 1877, and not only did she demonstrate a profound ignorance on the core issue of the humane movement which is used to justify the needless slaughter of almost four million animals a year, but she was willing to go on the radio and do so, apparently unaware of just how ignorant she was.
Thanks for that, Nathan.
Bunnies in danger: From Mary Cvetan, an alert about the expiration of the permit that has been saving bunnies in Victoria, British Columbia.
A key to contagious cancer: There’s a particular form of cancer in dogs, Canine Transmissible Venereal Tumor (CTVT). While it’s understood how the disease is transmitted, it hasn’t been known how it can keep regenerating itself. Discover News has the answer.
“It is possible that when dogs were first domesticated, they were highly inbred, and so different individuals were genetically very similar, and this might have helped cancerous cells from one dog to be able to grow on another.” study co-author Austin Burt told Discovery News.
“Then, as dogs were bred in many different directions and became genetically diverse, the cancer would have evolved to be able to grow on a diverse array of genotypes,” added Burt, a professor of evolutionary genetics at Imperial College London.
He and colleagues Clare Rebbeck and Armand Leroi analyzed the cellular structure of a geographically diverse sample of CTVT samples. They noticed that the cancer would sometimes acquire the “powerhouses,” or mitochondria, of host cells in order to repair itself in response to accumulated genetic mutations.
To determine if this was really the case, the scientists studied the evolutionary development of dogs and wolves. That investigation further supported their determination about the host-hijacking cancer. The research was published in this week’s Science
Thanks to Schnauzer Fan for the link.
Beagle rescue! Susan Fox forwarded a story from SF Gate about beagles used in laboratory research who need a home when their research time was up. Often, lab animals are killed when work with them is completed, but it isn’t always necessary. Hence, the birth of the Beagle Freedom Project in California.
My fair doggies: A story in the New Bedford Standard-Times features two insanely adorable cockapoos, named Higgins and Eliza. They’re the principal stars of “Cockapoos in the Classroom,” a volunteer pet-assisted therapy program in southeastern Massachusetts. I have to mention how this story found its way to my attention. Dr. Brenda Stone, featured in the article, is the mother of a friend I knew back in grade school. Through the wonders of Facebook, Maggie (I knew her as Margaret) and I reconnected, and she sent me the link. And no, you can NOT ask for stories about what I was like in fourth grade.
Revenge of the cats: This link from Science Blogs, features a video from the Moscow Cat Theater. There really are no words that would suffice to describe it, so I’ll just have you watch, and you can discuss it in the comments. (tip of the cap to Marge for the link).
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I always like to hear from readers, especially if you have tips, and links for interesting stories. Give me a shout in the comments, or better yet, send me an e-mail.
Photo credit: Pants on fire, looneytunes09.wordpress.com.
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Folks, I’m just so in love with my little Amazing Gracie I’m probably going to embarrass myself in this post. But I can’t help it.
Gracie spent her whole life since puppyhood in a shelter — they gave me this photo of her, taken on admission — so this is her first experience of being a beloved family pet. I’m so glad Shakira’s here to show her how it’s done!
Don’t tell the other dogs (or Teresa or Mikkel, for that matter), but when I give all the dogs a treat every morning, I give Gracie two. Okay, three. I figure she needs lots of spoiling if she’s ever going to catch up.
Gracie is a black, two-year-old Lab/Pit bull mix with deformed knees who has spent almost her entire life at the 
Now in paperback, AMAZING GRACIE is a moving, funny, and inspirational canine rags-to-riches story. "Tears will stain the pages as you read about Gracie," says USA Today. The Chicago Tribune advises, "If you're short on inspiration, read Amazing Gracie." "You don't have to be obsessed with dogs to love this story" (Philadelphia Enquirer), "Two paws up" (Portland Oregonian), "humorous yet poignant" (ASPCA Animal Watch). Booklist comments that "Dog-loving teens, especially reluctant readers, will eat this up." AMAZING GRACIE was nominated as a Young Adult Choice for 2002 by The International Reading Association-proof that it's a great crossover book.