Photo courtesy of Little Rock Animal Village

KRISHA WILLIAMS TURBEVILLE

Turbo, a gray-and-white great dane, often complains about wanting outside to find his new family, staff at Little Rock Animal Village say. After months of recovery from starvation and abuse, Turbo won’t have to wait much longer.

The shelter is sponsoring an essay contest to choose the perfect home for the dog whose owner was the first person in Pulaski County to be charged with felony animal abuse, says Tracy Roark, manager of Little Rock Animal Services.

“This is an amazing dog,” Roark says. “It is what animal welfare is all about, a dog that has had a bad bad life now with a chance to live out the rest of his life in a loving home. Makes me proud of what we can do.” (more…)

THE NEW YORK TIMES

ST. LOUIS — Scientists and animal rights advocates have enlisted DNA evidence to do for man’s best friend what the judicial system has long done for human crime victims. They have created the country’s first dog-fighting DNA database, which they say will help criminal investigators piece together an abused animal’s history by establishing ties among breeders, owners, pit operators and the animals themselves.

Called the Canine Codis, or Combined DNA Index System, the database is similar to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s digital archive containing the DNA profiles of criminal offenders. Scientists say that by swabbing the inner cheek of a dog, they will be able to determine whether the animal comes from one of several known dog-fighting bloodlines.

“People are not generally going to the pound and buying pit bulls to fight — these dogs are from established bloodlines,” said Tim Rickey, senior director of field investigations and response for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. “And if a suspected dog fighter’s animal matches one of those bloodlines that would be a key piece of evidence.” (more…)

THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

A homeless man used a kitchen knife to stab the throat of a puppy, killing it, as he burglarized a southwest Little Rock house early Wednesday, taking only a deck of cards and a ball cap emblazoned with a skull, police said.

As detectives led Adam Lee Waller, 28, to a police truck headed to the Pulaski County jail, a television news cameraman asked him whether he was guilty.

“Man, I didn’t kill any f *****g dog, no!” Waller said. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BECKLEY, W.Va. — Her first name was borrowed, appropriately as time would tell, from Summer Bartholomew, the 1975 winner of the Miss USA Pageant.

Her last name is Wyatt.

“Just like Earp,” she smiled, explaining the spelling that mirrors that of the legendary lawman who joined his brothers and Doc Holliday in the famed Gunfight at the OK Corral. (more…)

THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE

In the wake of the beating of a puppy, a California lawmaker has proposed the creation of a registry of animal-cruelty offenders, akin to those that list sex offenders.

California Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez, a Bakersfield, Calif., Democrat, has proposed legislation to create an animal abuse registry, the first in the country if approved. People convicted of felony animal cruelty would be required to list their address and criminal history on a registry.

The bill follows the recent conviction of a former Los Angeles County firefighter who beat his neighbor’s dog so severely it had to be euthanized. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missourians seeking new restrictions on the state’s dog breeders delivered tens of thousands of signatures in more than two dozen boxes to get their proposal before voters.

The group was among several that are trying to beat the clock and deliver their initiative petitions before the 5 p.m. Sunday deadline. Two already have been filed — on dog breeding and earnings taxes in the state’s major cities — and several more could be submitted.

Supporters of the dog breeding restrictions took photographs and posed with several dogs outside the secretary of state’s office building near the state Capitol. Boxes were wheeled in on carts and given to state election officials. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court, with only one dissenting vote Tuesday, struck down a federal ban on videos that show graphic violence against animals. The ruling cheered free speech advocates, but it raised concerns that more animals will be harmed.

The justices threw out the criminal conviction of Robert Stevens of Pittsville, Va., who was sentenced to three years in prison for videos he made about pit bull fights.

The law was enacted in 1999 to limit Internet sales of so-called crush videos, which appeal to a certain sexual fetish by showing women crushing to death small animals with their bare feet or high-heeled shoes. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — A Hurley dog breeder accused of abusing animals took possession over the weekend of five puppies born to dogs he owned that were seized in a raid last September.

A judge earlier ruled that the puppies born to dogs since they were taken from Dan Christensen belong to him.

The dogs that were seized remain in the custody of Second Chance Rescue Center as evidence in the case against Christensen, who faces more than 170 counts of inhumane treatment of animals. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WILKES-BARRE, Pennsylvania — A woman convicted of animal cruelty for marketing “gothic kittens” with ear and neck piercings has been sentenced to six months of house arrest.

Luzerne County Judge Tina Polachek Gartley also ordered 35-year-old Holly Crawford to close her dog-grooming business for more than two years.

Gartley allowed her to keep her pets, which include a dog, three cats and three snakes. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ST. LOUIS — Prosecutors say a man from rural Illinois possessed and sold DVDs of himself hitting, maiming and killing deer with his vehicle.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that 38-year-old Jarrod Lee Hayn of Kampsville, Ill., was arrested last week on two federal animal cruelty charges.

Although he had been indicted last month in federal court in St. Louis, the document remained sealed until he was taken into custody. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

FREDERICK, Md. — A Maryland man who threw a Chihuahua off a bridge has pleaded guilty to animal cruelty and could face prison time.

Thirty-five-year-old David Beers told investigators he got angry after he pulled into the dog owners’ driveway to make a cell phone call and was ordered off the property. Beers returned when the dog owners were gone and grabbed Zoey, the Chihuahua.

Beers pleaded guilty Monday to aggravated animal cruelty, a felony, and theft under $500. He faces up to 4 1/2 years in prison and $5,500 in fines at his sentencing June 7. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PENSACOLA, Fla. — Animal control officers have removed 161 cats from a Florida Panhandle home.

Escambia County deputies found the animals, along with eight dead cats in a freezer, on Saturday in Pensacola.

Sixty-one-year-old Larry Kruger has been charged with animal cruelty. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Police say an Anchorage man shot and killed his neighbor’s 10-year-old Chihuahua this week, escalating a long-standing dispute over roaming dogs.

Lowell Mueller, 74, has been charged with reckless endangerment, cruelty to animals and fourth-degree misconduct with a weapon. Police say he has been released on $500 bail with the condition that he not possess any firearms.

The shooting Sunday afternoon grew out of previous meetings between the 8-pound male dog and a larger female he couldn’t seem to resist. (more…)

PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE

Police have been assigned to investigate the case of the spray-painted chickens.

A Carnegie Mellon University police detective has been assigned to help investigate the discovery on campus of nine malnourished farm chickens, some apparently spray-painted, the school says.

The Thursday statement came as an upstate New York wildlife sanctuary offered to take the birds in, said Beth McMaster, a wildlife rehabilitator on whose Butler County farm the birds have been receiving care since they were discovered over the weekend. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DECATUR, Ga. — Authorities in DeKalb County say the owner of the dogs that attacked a young girl has been charged with reckless conduct.

Eight-year-old Erin Ingram was playing in her front yard last week when she was attacked by two dogs belonging to Twyann Artell Vaughn.

A DeKalb County police officer had to shoot one of the dogs. The other dog ran off but was eventually caught by animal control. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BROOKFIELD, Ohio — An Ohio woman who had her 97-year-old mother and 200 animals taken from her filthy home has been prohibited from having pets for five years.

Fifty-nine-year-old Kathy Witzman of Gustavus Township in northeast Ohio’s Trumbull County was put on probation Thursday on her guilty plea to misdemeanor animal cruelty.

She says her pet ban will mean unwanted animals will go to a shelter that will kill them because it lacks room. The animal shelter in her area says it has no intention of doing that. (more…)

(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette file photo)

THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

A Judsonia man is challenging the constitutionality of a year-old animal-cruelty law that makes the ownership of fighting chickens a felony.

Jerry Myers is worried that his hobby will get him arrested, his attorney, John Ogles, said. Myers raises chickens that are typically used in cockfighting, Ogles said, although the attorney wasn’t immediately able to describe the particular breedMyers favors.

“These aren’t Tyson chickens,” the attorney said. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BOSTON — The Massachusetts House has voted overwhelmingly to ban the surgical “debarking” or silencing of dogs or cats.

By a 150-1 vote, the House on Wednesday approved the bill with prohibits the devocalization of dogs and cats unless a licensed veterinarian certifies that the procedure is medically necessary to relieve an illness, disease or injury.

Animal rights groups pushed for the bill, saying the practice amounts to animal cruelty and poses only risks to the pets.

Some dog owners opt for the procedure as a last ditch effort to try to quiet chronically barking dogs.

The bill now heads to the Senate.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN DIEGO — A man who allegedly choked his Labrador retriever puppy as punishment for biting has pleaded not guilty to one count of felony animal cruelty.

The 10-week-old dog, named Coco, died several hours before 50-year-old David Hale Warner appeared in court on Friday.

Warner’s bail was set at $35,000 and his next hearing was scheduled March 9. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

POWELL, Wyo. — Abandoning two dogs in rural Powell has resulted in financial penalties for a 42-year-old woman.

Lisa Manweiler of Powell was ordered to pay $180 in fees and costs to the court and $145 of restitution to the Powell animal shelter after she pleaded guilty to misdemeanor animal cruelty in Circuit Court on Feb. 16.

Manweiler had pleaded guilty to the charge as part of part of a plea agreement in which another count of cruelty was dismissed. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CATSKILL, N.Y. — A trial is starting for a prominent thoroughbred breeder who was banned from racing after more than 170 malnourished horses were seized from his upstate New York farm.

Ernie Paragallo’s non-jury trial is beginning Tuesday in Greene County Court in Catskill, 20 miles south of Albany.

The Long Island resident was charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty after state police and welfare investigators raided his Center Brook Farm last April. He could face jail time and fines if convicted. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PORT ARTHUR, Texas — Three rescued puppies are recovering after being thrown over a seawall and on to some rocks in Port Arthur.

Firefighters rescued the crying pups and placed the creatures with animal control.

KFDM-TV reports the man who tossed the animals on Sunday was heard saying he was “turning them into soldiers.” A bystander noticed the abandoned puppies and summoned help. (more…)