Here is another example of what is happening at Houston’s high kill pound, BARC (over 10,000 killed or lost in 2014 alone). Even after the current mayor made campaign promises to do “everything in her power to transition Houston to a No Kill city”, THIS is the type of person that is running BARC.
“GREG DAMIANOFF AGREED TO ALLOW EXPERIMENTATION ON BARC PETS
I recently sent a Public Information Request (PIR) to the City of Houston for several years’ worth of minutes of meetings of Houston’s Animal Shelter Advisory* (ASA) committee. I was curious about what this committee actually did for shelter pets. I assumed that the purpose of this “Animal Shelter Advisory” committee is to come up with ideas to help Houston’s shelter pets; as in how to save more of them from being killed at Houston’s five kill shelters.** At the very least, I expected the ASA committee to work on programs and services to help save more lives at Houston’s high kill pound, BARC .
As an example of what other cities have accomplished, Austin’s Animal Advisory Committee worked with their city council to create ordinances which mandated that their pound save at least 90% of the animals…. a Save Rate that Austin’s pound has met or exceeded every year since the ordinances were passed. However, as I was reading through the minutes of a January 2013, Houston ASA committee meeting, I came across information that was shocking beyond belief.”
Apropos of recent discussion of whether or not animals feel emotions, articles on a recent study on how horses express emotion in their whinnies have been making the rounds. Here’s a link to the original paper:
‘Segregation of information about emotional arousal and valence in horse whinnies’ http://www.nature.com/srep/2015/150421/srep09989/full/srep09989.html
It includes information on how emotional states in animals (and of course, specifically horses) are identified and measured. Also, it turns out whinnies are biphonal, that is, they contain two separate, non-harmonic sound frequencies, something that’s very rare in mammalian calls, and each of those frequencies expresses a different parameter of emotion, currently identified as positive/negative and intensity. I also found it interesting that the cross-comparison with other studies showed that some specific characteristics of tone and duration of calls associated with these broad emotional states are apparently shared by other studied mammalian species including ourselves. Not that I’m too surprised given how similar most mammals are to one another, but still.
Thanks for that – most especially for the summary. I am probably not smart enough to fully comprehend the paper. It is amazing that even in the face of scientific studies such as this, the myth that “it’s just an animal, it doesn’t know its puppies/kittens are dead, it doesn’t grieve, it doesn’t feel pain, etc” is still so widespread.
How sad. The dog was probably like “Hey, you forgot this important thing you always carry around with you! I’ll bring her to you.” Another reminder about never leaving dogs and babies alone together – for everyone’s safety. I hope AC didn’t dual-chokepole the dog into the truck and then into the bite quarantine cage at the pound.
I hope the family is allowed to visit the dog every day; he or she must be so frightened and lonely. It’s too bad they weren’t able to get the dog out of the house and come up with some alternate story as to how the child got injured, but I guess it would have been hard to come up with something plausible.
![[x]](https://yesbiscuit.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/mikey-and-kittens.jpg)
YesBiscuit! 
Please share and sign this petition. “After the adoption event, a CACC employee drove the van back to the pound and parked, leaving Missy inside. She wasn’t discovered until six days later. Her condition is unknown.
This is not the first time negligence by a CACC employee resulted in severe harm to a dog in CACC’s custody. Nor is it the first time that law enforcement has brushed off the incident as an “accident” and refused to press charges.”
https://www.change.org/p/chicago-police-superintendent-garry-mccarthy-chicago-and-mayor-rahm-emanuel-demand-criminal-charges-against-chicago-animal-control-officer
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Here is another example of what is happening at Houston’s high kill pound, BARC (over 10,000 killed or lost in 2014 alone). Even after the current mayor made campaign promises to do “everything in her power to transition Houston to a No Kill city”, THIS is the type of person that is running BARC.
“GREG DAMIANOFF AGREED TO ALLOW EXPERIMENTATION ON BARC PETS
I recently sent a Public Information Request (PIR) to the City of Houston for several years’ worth of minutes of meetings of Houston’s Animal Shelter Advisory* (ASA) committee. I was curious about what this committee actually did for shelter pets. I assumed that the purpose of this “Animal Shelter Advisory” committee is to come up with ideas to help Houston’s shelter pets; as in how to save more of them from being killed at Houston’s five kill shelters.** At the very least, I expected the ASA committee to work on programs and services to help save more lives at Houston’s high kill pound, BARC .
As an example of what other cities have accomplished, Austin’s Animal Advisory Committee worked with their city council to create ordinances which mandated that their pound save at least 90% of the animals…. a Save Rate that Austin’s pound has met or exceeded every year since the ordinances were passed. However, as I was reading through the minutes of a January 2013, Houston ASA committee meeting, I came across information that was shocking beyond belief.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE. http://bit.ly/1QQzOBg
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Great photo above — took me a moment to discover kitten#3. Didn’t miss any, did I?
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Yes, 3 adopted kittens. There are more photos at the source link, all very lovely.
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Ray, one of the Vicktory Dogs, passed this week to the Rainbow Bridge. His mom wrote a loving tribute to Ray. All dogs should be loved so well.
http://raythevicktorydog.com/2015/05/16/hearts-torn-asunder/
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I didn’t hear this, but Lucas passed away this week too.
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Lucas, who was Vick’s champion, passed away on June 13, 2013. He suffered from babesia as did Ray.
http://www.pblnn.com/news/features/324-the-michael-vick-dogs-from-bad-newz-to-good-life.html
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Georgia owner leaves dog in hot car, veteran busts window to get the dog out, owner demands he be arrested (charges have since been dropped):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/13/man-saves-dog-arrested-michael-hammons_n_7271370.html
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Apropos of recent discussion of whether or not animals feel emotions, articles on a recent study on how horses express emotion in their whinnies have been making the rounds. Here’s a link to the original paper:
‘Segregation of information about emotional arousal and valence in horse whinnies’
http://www.nature.com/srep/2015/150421/srep09989/full/srep09989.html
It includes information on how emotional states in animals (and of course, specifically horses) are identified and measured. Also, it turns out whinnies are biphonal, that is, they contain two separate, non-harmonic sound frequencies, something that’s very rare in mammalian calls, and each of those frequencies expresses a different parameter of emotion, currently identified as positive/negative and intensity. I also found it interesting that the cross-comparison with other studies showed that some specific characteristics of tone and duration of calls associated with these broad emotional states are apparently shared by other studied mammalian species including ourselves. Not that I’m too surprised given how similar most mammals are to one another, but still.
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Thanks for that – most especially for the summary. I am probably not smart enough to fully comprehend the paper. It is amazing that even in the face of scientific studies such as this, the myth that “it’s just an animal, it doesn’t know its puppies/kittens are dead, it doesn’t grieve, it doesn’t feel pain, etc” is still so widespread.
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Sad/happy story:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/dog-found-dead-owners-arms-texas-tornado-home/story?id=31156605
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Very touching PSA about a man and his dog and organ donation – I’d recommend a couple of handkerchiefs:
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Just –
*swallows down lump in throat*
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A family dog was trying to help an infant and accidently injured the child. I hope this poor dog will not be killed by AC.
http://6abc.com/news/infant-injured-by-family-dog-in-ocean-county-nj/733159/
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How sad. The dog was probably like “Hey, you forgot this important thing you always carry around with you! I’ll bring her to you.” Another reminder about never leaving dogs and babies alone together – for everyone’s safety. I hope AC didn’t dual-chokepole the dog into the truck and then into the bite quarantine cage at the pound.
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I hope the family is allowed to visit the dog every day; he or she must be so frightened and lonely. It’s too bad they weren’t able to get the dog out of the house and come up with some alternate story as to how the child got injured, but I guess it would have been hard to come up with something plausible.
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As with all comedy, Amy Schumer’s brand of humor is not for everyone. But I know some readers will enjoy this bit:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/05/21/amy_schumer_doggy_daycare_sketch_spoofs_self_righteous_rescue_dogs_owners.html
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