Action Alert – MSN in CA: It’s baaaack!
A SC couple stopped by the city shelter in Columbia and got so depressed, they donated $1.5 million to help build a new, no kill shelter. Construction begins in the fall of next year.
Debunking the oft quoted – but not so oft investigated – outrageous cat stats
Police responded to complaints of a strong odor coming from a house in Memphis. Upon arrival, they found a man living with 11 dogs in a house full of feces – including on the man’s bed – and the carcasses of 8 dogs piled in the backyard. The man told police he knew nothing about the heap of dead dogs. All dogs, living and deceased, were removed from the home and an investigation is underway.
The spiraling mess that is the Toronto Humane Society vs. the OSPCA results in a withdrawal of all charges in the case
Short vid clip of AAFCO president talking about dead pets used in pet food
Egg recall continues to grow, some of the names to look out for: Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph’s, Boomsma’s, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms, Kemp, Hillandale Farms, Sunny Farms, Sunny Meadow, Wholesome Farms and West Creek.
An observer relates a charming encounter between a resident park cat and a gentleman in Japan (Thanks Valerie for the link)
My entry for Favorite Animal Friday
That extra buck fifty for a dozen locally raised free ranged eggs suddenly seems pretty cheap.
Off to fax yet more opposition letters to stupid, harmful, expensive, pet killing MSN bill. Sigh.
I’m not good with the idea that one producer that messes up is representative of an entire industry. Why don’t we look at how safe the product is overall, industry wide?
Also, salmonella is a bacteria that is everywhere and you simply expect it to form on food that is left out. It also happens to be summer. A sensitive test should reasonably be expected to show salmonella on every egg that exists unless it has been subjected to a strong antiseptic bath and even then it is normal for some salmonella to be inside the egg. A fair testing regimen would test for a certain count of salmonella and you will want to compare those counts with counts from comparable testing of eggs from other brand names.
I do not expect free range to be cleaner, generally, than “factory farm” eggs and factories generally tend to cleanliness pretty well. They use a cleaner system than “free range.” Greed that causes factories to cut corners and to use low-paid staff that are few in number will still exist with our “organic” farmers. The mantle of virtue if anything will encourage abuses because fewer people are looking behind that curtain.
Actually I try to generally buy eggs from a local farmers market. I know the farm owner and have seen her set up. I live in a rural area so there are a fair number of other small egg producers about as well.
Frankly, what makes it to our local big chain markets is often lacking in freshness or has had handling issues.
I am very aware that all eggs can carry salmonella. I have had surgery which makes it physically impossible to, well, throw up. Trust me, going through a stomach upset or two since that has made me VERY food safety aware.
I do buy Clover eggs and milk from the supermarket. I don’t paint every one with the same brush, but I’ll buy fresh as heck, locally raised meat and produce including eggs when it is reasonable to do so.
–MSN is awful! If the money used to pass and enforce MSN was used for low-cost and free speuter services, then there would be either no problems or a lot fewer problems with intact pets. And the community would not view animal control/dog warden as “the people who take your pets away.”
–Thank you for sharing the story about the SC couple. That’s awesome!!
–I get my eggs from my landlord. The chickens are free range, and I get to see where they live and what they eat. There is a gov’t website with the most updated info on recalls: http://www.recalls.gov
It’s no surprise that the charges against Tim were dropped. The OSPCA had long been accused (and rightly so) of overstepping their bounds. This entire issue should have been handled by the police, with the OSPCA overseeing the animals, and NOTHING ELSE.
For those of you who are unaware, in Canada the OSPCA (a private organization) essentially has police powers concerning all things animal.
Their power is abused, and the end goal is money and power, not welfare. The fact remains that the THS was an affiliate of the OSPCA themselves. If this is going on in the Toronto Humane Society, a very open and heavily trafficked shelter, what is going on in the other OSPCA branches and affiliates?
An independent team should be put together to investigate the goings on of both the OSPCA and Jim Sykes, including their financials, the state of the animals in their care and a close audit of the last several years worth of goings on in every single shelter.
The OSPCA should have its status as the “animal keepers” of Canada revoked, and law enforcement should be left to law enforcement officials specially trained to deal with animal issues, but who are trained as police.
The pile of dead pets that the OSPCA has left in its wake over the last decade is deplorable.
The similarities between the OSPCA and the HSUS are remarkable if you really look into both organizations – except that the HSUS has less power.