A family who took in a stray dog in Glynn Co, GA had her spayed and vaccinated but ultimately surrendered her to the county pound due to destructive behavior. As sometimes happens, the family changed their minds after surrendering the pet and returned the next day to retrieve her. Pound staff had already killed the dog for being “timid”. After a citizen’s complaint was filed, the county terminated the director, who had been on the job less than 2 weeks. But the county has 1001 excuses for killing animals so I wouldn’t hold out too much hope for whoever is hired next.
Amarillo, TX – Four ACOs working in the field lack current certifications and haven’t had them in years. (Thank you Clarice for the link.)
In Las Vegas, AC impounded a puppy with a severely mangled leg in need of amputation. The surgery was delayed for 72 hours with the shelter citing the stray holding period as the reason. The puppy has since been rescued, had her surgery and been adopted. (Thanks Clarice.)
Feline audiogenic reflex seizures aka “The Tom and Jerry Syndrome” connects sound sensitivity to seizures in senior cats.
Fifteen bison who escaped from a NY farm were shot to death by “hired guns” under supervision of county deputies and with permission from the owner. Determined to be a public safety risk, one animal was left “flailing in the creek” after being shot. (Thanks Susan.)
The state of MN has ended a $1.7 million moose research project which involved fitting both newborn calves and adults with GPS collars. More than a dozen of the collared calves were abandoned by their mothers and five of the collared adults died. (Thanks Clarice.)
The Las Vegas story is interesting. I’m not familiar enough with Nevada law to know, but many states/municipalities have strict laws about what can and cannot be treated without “owner” approval. ie, if a shelter were to sterilize an animal prior to the hold period being up, they could be held liable if an owner comes forward. The laws are often pretty fuzzy for medical treatment even including vaccinations on intake. While the laws are often designed to protect owners, they often prevent shelters from doing the best thing for the animal. I’m not defending the shelter here, because I’m not familiar with the law, but I know this has come up in other places as well. The law of unintended consequences…
I live “down the road” from another buffalo farm, and not that far from the one whose stock escaped.
With very rare exception buffalo are wild animals. They aren’t handled the way cows are.
They don’t trailer well. Have been known to destroy the trailer trying to transport them.
They’re quite literally capable of jumping heights that an animal that size should never even consider going over. Fences for buffalo start at a minimum of 6feet, and 8 is more standard, usually with the addition of electric fencing, since they’ll knock over the ones they can’t jump. Although I’ve not seen that farm in person I know there had been power outages due to thunderstorms during the time they escaped. Even if the fence was solar powered an electrical strike can fry the fence.
Hitting a buffalo on the road, at any speed, but especially highway speeds is going to result in fatalities above and beyond the buffalo’s. Think about how bad it is when you hit a deer, now multiply that by 13, literally.
Add in the fact that the stupid public was harassing them trying to get close to get photos.
That the buffalo had already crossed the Thruway once, and swam the Hudson River.
From what I understand the men hired to put the buffalo down could have done better, and no one who’s worked with the animals was even remotely happy that they’d had to be put down. But at that point it had come down to who dies first, the idiot kid who got too close to a young buffalo trying to get a picture? The mom and kids on their way to school who come around the corner in the road to discover a ton of buffalo staring down the car? Even a school bus going 30, hitting a buffalo, would have resulted in a large number of injured kids…….
I don’t like the idea of raising animals for slaughter to begin with but certainly raising animals who present such a massive, unchecked public safety threat when they get out seems like a very bad idea to me.
Many years ago when I lived in Seattle, someone in a rural area north of the city got some buffalo. They were visible from the freeway. Idiots were shooting at them from their cars for sport. I think the owners gave up on the idea of keeping buffalo.
There was a herd of bison near Baltimore who escaped from their farm a few years ago and were rounded up at a park in Pikesville (the Washington Post had a picture of them on the tennis court; one was jumping over the net), loaded on trucks, and taken back to the farm, so it can be done, but the owner decided they were too much trouble and sent them to slaughter, even the calves. Considering how big bison are, I would think a driver who is paying attention would see them and not hit them. I see deer crossing the road as I drive to the train station in the dark almost every morning, and I don’t hit them.
I just wanted to add this link (Thanks Arlene), for more info on the Las Vegas puppy story. I would especially encourage everyone to scroll through the photos of this absolutely adorable pup and her new owner.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/dog-s-lost-leg-fuels-las-vegas-animal-shelter-dispute-photos