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…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PHILADELPHIA — A group of central Pennsylvania dog breeders are suing two animal rights organizations claiming they conspired to violate the breeders’ civil rights.

In a lawsuit filed Friday in Philadelphia, the breeders claim the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Main Line Animal Rescue conspired to bring baseless charges of animal cruelty against them.

The suit claims the organizations bought 12 dogs at an Ohio auction and filed cruelty charges against the breeders in Pennsylvania in an attempt to solicit donations. All charges were later dropped. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BETHEL, Alaska — Police in this southwest Alaska city will seek authority to shoot dogs on the spot unless residents do a better job of keeping their pets from running wild.

Fed up with reports of dogs biting people, police have already started giving tickets to those with roaming dogs. If that doesn’t convince citizens to keep their dogs on leashes, Chief Larry Elarton said he will ask city council to impose an emergency law allowing officers to shoot to kill.

“We’re going to zero tolerance, unless the owner is actively looking for a dog, or they call it to us and report it, or there’s some other extenuating reason,” Elarton said. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

RENO, Nev. — Animal rights activists are calling on U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to investigate the high number of deaths of animals in research laboratories due to negligence over the past two years, including dozens of research monkeys in Nevada.

Leaders of the Ohio-based Stop Animal Exploitation Now say at least 64 animals have been killed in at least 18 different U.S. facilities since the beginning of 2008.

That includes at 43 monkeys — 32 of which died at a Charles River Lab in Sparks in 2008 due to a heating system malfunction. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BARNHART, Mo. — The Jefferson County Animal Control center has been ordered by the state to stop euthanizing animals, following a St. Louis Post-Dispatch story revealing that the center used controlled substances to euthanize dogs without a veterinarian present.

The Post-Dispatch reported Thurday that in response to the order from the state agriculture department, animal control workers are no longer accepting animals surrendered by owners. The county is responding to calls for strays and will seize dangerous animals.

The state agency has given the county 30 days to prove that a vet would supervise euthanasia procedures involving controlled substances, as required by law. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MARIETTA, Ga. — A 26-year-old Cobb County man says he had “no fear” when he stopped a 100-pound dog from attacking a 7-year-old girl in a Marietta mobile home park Tuesday.

The child was later transported to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, where she was treated for a severe leg wound. Errol Jones later was identified as the good Samaritan who pulled the animal away from the child.

Cobb County Sgt. Dana Pierce says the unidentified girl was walking alone Tuesday shortly after 3 p.m. in the Valley View mobile home park near Marietta when the dog approached her. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WOODSTOCK, Ill. — An Algonquin man has pleaded not guilty to allegations he ordered his trained guard dog to attack his wife during a domestic dispute at the couple’s home late last year.

At his arraignment Wednesday in McHenry County Circuit Court, 29-year-old Jonathon Richard also asked for a jury trial on charges of aggravated battery, unlawful restraint, domestic battery and obstructing justice.

Police say the charges stem from the early December incident that police said left his wife hospitalized briefly with superficial bite wounds. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

FRANKFORT, Ky. — In Kentucky, sleek thoroughbreds are venerated as a state symbol, but existence can be grim for some horses lacking such stellar bloodlines.

A group of veterinarians urged lawmakers Wednesday to create a state board to help ensure the health and safety of Kentucky’s equine population — from racehorses to plodders.

The measure won easy approval from the House Agriculture and Small Business Committee. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Driving a truck packed with dog food, bowls, squeaky toys and ready-to-assemble doghouses, among other items, Kate Quigley recently went in search of dogs suffering from abuse or neglect.

“All right,” she says, “Let’s go save some dogs.”

Quigley — known widely as “the dog lady” and “Miss Kate” — works six days a week, driving into high-poverty neighborhoods to look for animal abuse and neglect. Knocking on doors, talking to owners, leaving supplies. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ST. LOUIS — The state Department of Agriculture has begun investigating an eastern Missouri county’s practice of euthanizing dogs without having a veterinarian present, a possibly illegal practice officials say may be widespread.

The action appears to violate Missouri’s euthanasia laws, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Monday, but Jefferson County officials said the county can’t afford to have a vet on site every time a dog is euthanized and that the practice is not illegal.

Facilities in neighboring St. Charles County, St. Louis and St. Louis County say a vet always is present when a dog has to be euthanized. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SEATTLE — At least five sea lions, including one listed as endangered, were shot to death near Seattle, authorities said Friday.

One was a Steller sea lion protected by the federal Endangered Species Act. The remainder were smaller, more common California sea lions listed under the Marine Mammals Protection Act.

National Marine Fisheries Service spokesman Brian Gorman said an investigation was under way because it’s illegal in most cases to shoot any kind of sea lion. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PORT CLINTON, Ohio — Rescue groups have agreed to end their legal battle over the fate of dozens of emaciated Arabian horses taken from an Ohio woman who has pleaded not guilty to multiple animal cruelty counts.

A tentative agreement between the Humane Society of Ottawa County, which rescued the animals last month in northern Ohio, and the Sussex, N.J.-based Arabian Rescue Mission will send the horses to foster homes in Ohio within 40 miles of fairgrounds where they are currently being cared for.

The two groups had been fighting in court for custody of 36 horses after their previous owner signed them over to Arabian Rescue on Feb. 3. That was a few days after the humane society said it acted on a tip and found them severely malnourished on a farm near Oak Harbor, about 25 miles southeast of Toledo. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — A graphic designer accused of surreptitiously killing a series of his girlfriend’s cats pleaded guilty Monday to aggravated animal cruelty, ending an eerie case in which authorities said the unsuspecting woman kept replacing her dying pets.

Sean Lynde said little during a brief hearing in a Manhattan court, where he also admitted violating an order of protection by posting online messages aimed at his now-ex-girlfriend.

State Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus adjourned Lynde’s case in contemplation of dismissal, meaning it’s set to be closed without jail time or probation if he attends weekly therapy sessions, stays away from the woman and meets other conditions. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DETROIT — The Detroit Zoo is serving as a sanctuary to more than 1,000 mammals, reptiles and spiders seized from a Texas exotic animal dealer.

The Macomb Daily reports that the 1,100 animals now at the Detroit Zoo home were among nearly 27,000 animals seized Dec. 15 in the nation’s largest exotic animal rescue effort.

After a judge ruled the animals will not be returned to U.S. Global Exotics, Detroit Zoo employees spent seven weeks helping care for the animals at a temporary site in Dallas. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A day after three former workers at the Memphis Animal Shelter were indicted on animal cruelty charges, police say the shelter’s former director has been arrested in New Mexico.

Shelby County authorities say former Memphis Animal Shelter director Ernest Alexander was arrested Friday in Albuquerque, where he also used to manage an animal shelter.

The Commercial-Appeal reported that the other two former employees, a supervisor and a veterinarian, turned themselves in Thursday and were released on $25,000 bond. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

HOUSTON — A judge in Houston has ordered 18 months in state jail for a man convicted over the 2008 killing of a tame deer known as Mr. Buck.

Brandon Eugene Gregory in August pleaded guilty to taking a wildlife resource without landowner consent in an incident involving the friendly deer in a sanctuary.

The remains of Mr. Buck were located on Nov. 25, 2008, at Bear Creek Pioneers Park. (more…)