Pets at Home Investigated by Watchdog

The BBC consumer programme Watchdog has investigated the chain of pet stores Pets at Home and found it wanting.

When buying a new pet you want to be sure it’s happy and healthy when leaving the shop. Pets at Home say its animals are all bred in comfortable and caring surroundings and that their pets are then looked after by staff dedicated to their welfare. It’s all very reassuring but in reality do they live up to their promises?

Christina Sage bought guinea pigs Batman and Robin from Pets at Home in the Cardiff Ty Glas store as a present for her 4 year old son Dylan. But within three days, Robin fell ill, losing all the hair on the side of his face. A vet later confirmed that both he and Batman were infected with the painful fungal infection, ringworm. As a result, Dylan is forbidden from playing with them whilst they undergo treatment and Christina can only handle them if she wears plastic gloves.

Ringworm is highly infectious and can spread easily between animals. But as 12 year old Chloe Cameron discovered, it can also be passed to humans too. She bought two guinea pigs from the Pets at Home store in Carlisle. They too fell ill, and shortly after their diagnosis with ringworm, Chloe noticed a circle up on her neck.

This circle spread, leaving her with painful sores all over her body. Unfortunately, Chloe already suffers from a condition that affects her immune system, so she collapsed and ended up in hospital, where she was treated for several days. To make matters worse, her dad then caught ringworm too. Thankfully Chloe, her dad and her pets made a full recovery, but the experience was a very distressing one for all concerned.

Unfortunately, some animals don’t recover. Caroline Parkes bought rabbits Frank and Wonky from the Pets at Home store in West Drayton. Both animals sadly died within 11 days and Caroline believes that they should not have been sold the way that they were.

After talking to unhappy customers, we decided to test out Pets at Home for ourselves. Vet Mike Jessop, former president of the Small Animal Veterinary Association, joined a team of Watchdog secret shoppers on visits to eight of Pets at Home’s stores across Britain.

In every store, our team came across fish that appeared to be suffering from disease. In four of the stores, we found fish with ‘white spot’, a parasitic and infectious disease of the skin that could have affected all of the other fish sharing the tank. In seven of the eight stores tanks contained dead fish – we counted over 50 in total. Some of the worst conditions were in New Malden and Stockport, stores that proudly advertise themselves as specialist ‘aquatic centres’.

In the West Drayton store, Mike Jessop was so concerned about the welfare of two of the rabbits for sale that we decided to buy them so they could be taken away for treatment. Later examination confirmed that one was underweight, while another had an obvious skin condition. We also bought a Guinea Pig in Cardiff Ty Glas store that later turned out to be suffering from scurvy.

Throughout our mystery shopping trips we found evidence of some Pets at Home staff members failing to follow their own welfare advice. A sign in the Carlisle store clearly states that you shouldn’t keep an Aquatic Dwarf Frog with small fish, yet we found one in a tank along with, you’ve guessed it, small fish. We also found a sign in the Durham store that says Syrian hamsters must live alone or else they’ll fight. So why did we spot three in one cage?

As well as the conditions of the animals, we’ve also had complaints about Pets At Home’s after-sales service. Before leaving the store with a new pet, staff are supposed to give customers all the care information they need, checking off everything they tell you on a tick list on your receipt. But, in half the stores we visited, the staff asked us to sign to say we’d received information that they simply hadn’t given us.

Sick and dead pets, hazardous conditions and staff failing to do their job. Not so reassuring afterall?

Read Pets at Home's response.

Muslim Kills Horse By Anally Raping Him

A North African Muslim, an illegal immigrant living in Spain, killed a horse by anally raping him with a wooden handle.

The Guardia Civil has arrested a 53-year-old North African resident of El Ejido accused of abusing to death a horse that was with others on a farm in the municipality. The man arrested, identified as M.A., had been arrested in May 2011 for a similar episode and sentenced by a judge for abusing a female horse.

This latter arrest followed a complaint by the horse farm's owner, who reported that unknown persons had got into his farm by jumping the fence in the early hours of the 13th, although nothing seemed to be missing. The complainant reported that one of the horses had been immobilised with ropes tied to a storage room and that a wooden handle 70 cm long and 5 cm wide had been introduced into his anus.

According to the account of the owner, the horse had bruises on various parts of his body, and anal bleeding and internal injuries that had caused his death. The Guardia Civil began an investigation which discovered that the detainee had a previous record for a similar act committed in the same farm. Once the police interviewed M.A., who showed obvious signs of nervousness and gave contradictory answers, they arrested him on suspicion of a crime of animal abuse. The proceedings will take place in the capital's second court.

The previous similar crime committed by the same man in the same farm mentioned was perpetrated when he tried to rape a mare, who kicked him back, smashing his face bones and causing multiple hematomas.

And that was not the first time either. The farmer had caught the same individual twice before sneaking into the farm to have sex with the animals but hadn't filed charges against him.

After he was admitted to hospital and underwent an operation, the Muslim was identified by the police as an illegal immigrant and was expected to be deported to his country for an offense against the Immigration Law. Obviously - surprise, surprise - that didn't happen and now a horse is dead because of that negligence.

The practice of having sex with and raping nonhuman animals is much more common than we think in Muslim countries.

In Pakistan, a donkey was honour killed after being raped, a treatment ususally reserved to Muslim women. From Wikipedia:

Karo-kari is part of cultural tradition in Pakistan and is a compound word literally meaning “black male” (Karo) and “black female (Kari), in metaphoric terms for adulterer and adulteress. Once labeled as a Kari, male family members get the self-authorized justification to kill her and the co-accused Karo to restore family honor, although in the majority of cases the victim is female, while the murderers are male.

Live Goat Fed to Lions for Entertainment in Chinese Zoo

Throwing a live goat into an enclosure of hungry lions and watching the poor animal trying to run, being caught and then torn to pieces is considered a form of entertainment for children in China.

"Oohs" and "aahs" filled the air as the children watched the goat being ripped limb from limb. Some started to clap silently with a look of wonder in their eyes.

The scenes witnessed at Badaltearing Safari Park in China are rapidly becoming a normal day out for many Chinese families.

Baying crowds now gather in zoos across the country to watch animals being torn to pieces by lions and tigers.

Just an hour's drive from the main Olympic attractions in Beijing, Badaling is in many ways a typical Chinese zoo.

Next to the main slaughter arena is a restaurant where families can dine on braised dog while watching cows and goats being disembowelled by lions.

The zoo also encourages visitors to "fish" for lions using live chickens as bait. For just £2, giggling visitors tie terrified chickens onto bamboo rods and dangle them in front of the lions, just as a cat owner might tease their pet with a toy.

During one visit, a woman managed to taunt the big cats with a petrified chicken for five minutes before a lion managed to grab the bird in its jaws.

The crowd then applauded as the bird flapped its wings pathetically in a futile bid to escape. The lion eventually grew bored and crushed the terrified creature to death.

The tourists were then herded onto buses and driven through the lions' compound to watch an equally cruel spectacle. The buses have specially designed chutes down which you can push live chickens and watch as they are torn to shreds.

Once again, children are encouraged to take part in the slaughter.

"It's almost a form of child abuse," says Carol McKenna of the OneVoice animal welfare group. "The cruelty of Chinese zoos is disgusting, but think of the impact on the children watching it. What kind of future is there for China if its children think this kind of cruelty is normal?

"In China, if you love animals you want to kill yourself every day out of despair."

But the cruelty of Badaling doesn't stop with animals apart. For those who can still stomach it, the zoo has numerous traumatised animals to gawp at.

A pair of endangered moon bears with rusting steel nose rings are chained up in cages so small that they cannot even turn around.

One has clearly gone mad and spends most of its time shaking its head and bashing into the walls of its prison.

There are numerous other creatures, including tigers, which also appear to have been driven insane by captivity. Predictably, they are kept in cramped, filthy conditions.

"Zoos like this make me want to boycott everything Chinese," says Emma Milne, star of the BBC's Vets In Practice.

"I'd like to rip out everything in my house that's made in China. I have big problems with their culture.

"If you enjoy watching an animal die then that's a sad and disgusting reflection on you.

"Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised by their behaviour towards animals, as the value of human life is so low in China."

East of Badaling lies the equally horrific Qingdao zoo. Here, visitors can take part in China's latest craze, tortoise baiting.

Simply put, Chinese families now gather in zoos to hurl coins at tortoises.

Legend has it that if you hit a tortoise on the head with a coin and make a wish, then your heart's desire will come true. It's the Chinese equivalent of a village wishing well.

To feed this craze, tortoises are kept in barbaric conditions inside small bare rooms.

When giggling tourists begin hurling coins at them, they desperately try to protect themselves by withdrawing into their shells.

But Chinese zoo keepers have discovered a way round this: they wrap elastic bands around the animals' necks to stop them retracting their heads.

"Tortoises aren't exactly fleet of foot and can't run away," says Carol McKenna.

"It's monstrous that people hurl coins at the tortoises, but strapping their heads down with elastic bands so they can't hide is even more disgusting.

"Because tortoises can't scream, people assume they don't suffer. But they do. I can't bear to think what it must be like to live in a tiny cell and have people hurl coins at you all day long."

Even worse is in store for the animals of Xiongsen Bear and Tiger Mountain Village near Guilin in south-east China.

Here, live cows are fed to tigers to amuse cheering crowds. During a recent visit, I watched in horror as a young cow was stalked and caught. Its screams and cries filled the air as it struggled to escape.

A wild tiger would dispatch its prey within moments, but these beasts' natural killing skills have been blunted by years of living in tiny cages.

The tiger tried to kill, tearing and biting at the cow's body in a pathetic looking frenzy, but it simply didn't know how.

Eventually, the keepers broke up the contest and slaughtered the cow themselves, much to the disappointment of the crowd.

Although the live killing exhibition was undoubtedly depressing, an equally disturbing sight lay around the corner: the "animal parade".

Judging by the rest of the operation, the unseen training methods are unlikely to be humane, but what visitors view is bad enough.

Tigers, bears and monkeys perform in a degrading "entertainment". Bears wear dresses, balance on balls and not only ride bicycles but mount horses too. [Emphasis added]

Any comment would fail to describe the horror of this. Despite its economic advancements, China has a few millennia to catch up with the West in terms of civilization. So much for Buddhism being an animal-friendly religion, if these are the results! In fact, the irony is that some of the world's worst countries for animal abuse - China, Korea, Japan - have a Buddhist tradition.

Source: Daily Mail

Man Faces Animal Cruelty Charge for Abandoning Dog on Colorado Mountain

We are on the right track. Charges like this should be levelled more often, followed by just punishments.

A man left on the mountains his dog Missy, who was then found moribund by a couple who intend to adopt her although the man would like her back.

Upon their return, the hikers entrusted the dog to a local vet, who told Washburn that it was “the miracle dog of the century, and although she was severely dehydrated she has, miraculously, no long-term or permanent damage.”

... The sheriff’s department also has a rescue team, and other hikers told them about Missy being stranded on Mount Bierstadt during the weekend. However, the rescue team was unable to respond because it is solely reserved for human rescues.

It shouldn't be. That is obviously not right.

What is particularly shocking in this story is that Missy would probably, like so many other dogs, have given her life for her human companion who abandoned her to what he knew was a probable death.

Source: ABC

Enforce Punishment for Abhorrent Crimes on Animals

This is the photo of Dinos Koukos preparing to burn a kitten's eyes with his cigarette.

The petition to enforce punishment for this Greek man is now closed, after having collected over 3,000 signatures, but there are still many more, similar petitions around, which you can easily find on Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, www.change.org, www.care2.com, www.thepetitionsite.com, www.ipetitions.com, tweetmeme.com and others.

Crimes of this severity committed against animals just because they are vulnerable and defenceless and the perpetrators know that they are likely to get away with it are crimes of cowardice of the worst kind.

Let's make sure that they can't get away with it. Let's make sure that serious punishments for these crimes are enforced, so as to act as powerful deterrents.

Woman Arrested for Bringing Water to Animals in Scorching Heat

Incredible but true.

The people at Care 2 Make a Difference are doing a good job at hightlighting many serious animal issues:

Three years ago, I was driving home and noticed a farm with very thin horses without water. I stopped my car and got out and all the farm animals, goats, chickens, ducks, miniature horses called to me. It was 103 degrees on a sweltering summer day and I could see from the road that all of the water troughs were tipped over and empty. There weren’t even puddles near the troughs so these animals had been without water for a long time and were desperately thirsty. I called 911 and was put through to Animal Control who told me they would check on the farm within the next few days. Desperately thirsty means “Need water now, not in a few days.”

I climbed the fence and gave all of the animals water (photo above depicts the animals months later, after their rescue). I found distress of a level that I had never seen in my life. I couldn’t stop crying as I ran around and watered everyone. There was a bad smell, like dead animals and I found a dead rabbit rotting in his cage. Two skinny kittens ran after me screaming for food.

They Denied Everything

A few days later, Animal Control called me and told me they had checked the farm and everything was all right, my concern was ill founded. I felt like I had stepped into the Twilight Zone!

Some like this one are safe now and healthy but the offender continues to have animals on her property.

I continued to keep a close eye on these animals and found them all again without water two weeks later. I got the same response from Animal Control and proceeded to climb the fence and water them all again. This time I was arrested for trespassing and made headlines in the North County Times and Valley Roadrunner.

It took 9 months, several court appearances, a useless Public Defender, and then an Animal Rights Attorney stepped in and helped me.

Seven miniature horse died of dehydration and starvation and the owner, Mary Johnson, was eventually charged with six counts of Animal Cruelty and I was fined $50 for trespassing.

Would I climb that fence again knowing that a legal battle would ensue? You bet your ass I would! I had a group of solid supporters that the newspaper termed my entourage.

In the end, four animal rights activist attorney’s stepped in and put an end to the nonsense. I wrote a book about my life and my arrest that will soon be published entitled “My Wild Ride.”

Seal Slaughter Starts in Namibia

An alarm bell is rung by the WSPA and Care 2 Make a Difference:

Namibia’s annual seal massacre began this weekend for a culling season that will last from July to November in what is the second largest seal hunt on earth and the largest slaughter of wild animals in Africa.

This year’s goal is to kill 80,000 pups and 6,000 bulls for their coats, fat and genitalia, which will be used in Asia as an aphrodisiac. ...

Yet, a few continue to literally make a killing from this suffering with the small market that remains. One furrier, Australian-based Hatem Yavuz, reportedly controls 60 percent of the market and has a contract to continue killing seals with the Namibian government that extends through 2019.

“Each year up to 85,000 baby seals are killed in Namibia to make just a few dollars from their furs; this report highlights that they would be worth so much more to the Namibian economy alive. Eco-tourism is a growing part of Namibia’s identity but tourists will be shocked to find that a seal they photograph one day may be killed the next morning. There is a clear economic case for the government to protect these animals,” said Claire Bass, WSPA International Oceans Campaign Leader.

Hatem Yavuz may be "Australian-based", but doesn't sound very Australian to me.

Read it all and sign the petition against this atrocity.

Photo of Egg-Laying Hen at the End of Her Laying Life

This is the photo of an egg-laying hen at the end of her laying life.

Her emaciated, exhausted appearance is typical of all hens at the end of their productive life.

This particular hen was rescued; but most commercial laying hens (including free range) are slaughtered at only 72 weeks of age, because, as their egg production drops, they are not considered profitable enough to keep alive.

Man Jailed in UK for Fox Hunting

Critics of the law banning hunting with dogs in Britain said it would not be enforced. They were wrong.

Richard Atkins jailed after admitting nine charges of animal cruelty. RSPCA say it was 'incredibly malicious and sadistic cruelty to animals.'

Caught by his own camera: The sickening photograph of grinning thug who used his dog to hunt and kill foxes and badgers

California Bans the Sale of Pate de Foie Gras

For once California has done something right, showing the way to the rest of the world, banning the sale of pate de foie gras, produced by force-feeding and making ill geese and ducks.

California bans sale of fatty gourmet treat

KATE WINSLET: Foie gras is sold as an expensive delicacy in some restaurants and shops, but no-one pays a higher price for foie gras than the ducks and geese who are abused and killed to make it.

To produce foie gras, ducks and geese are force-fed enormous amounts of grain and fat which causes their livers to swell to many times the normal size.