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.

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CANTON, Texas — A judge has granted custody of more than 60 starving longhorn cattle to the SPCA in McKinney.

An attorney for the owner of the cattle said Tuesday’s decision will be appealed.

Van Zandt County Justice of the Peace Ronnie Daniell says the animals were “unreasonably deprived of food.” (more…)

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Charleston’s Municipal Beautification Commission says it won’t oppose a request from People for the Ethical Treatment Animals to display a statue of a shackled, weeping elephant in the city.

But there are conditions.

The animal rights group has put the 4 1/2-foot fiberglass statue in cities around the country to protest what it calls animal cruelty in circuses. (more…)

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NEW ORLEANS — The Louisiana SPCA says a 16-year-old has been booked with aggravated animal cruelty for allegedly kicking a cat to death.

Spokeswoman Katherine LeBlanc said Friday that the youth’s family was staying with a relative who called the SPCA Feb. 3. LeBlanc says the woman told investigators the teen repeatedly kicked her cat Tigger into the air like a ball on Jan. 10, ignoring her attempts to stop him.

She took Tigger to a veterinarian Jan. 13. After two weeks of outpatient treatment, the cat died during surgery Jan. 27. (more…)

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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…)

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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…)

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MIDDLE TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Police say a southern New Jersey man who posed as a female veterinarian tried to kill himself with a thread from his sweater.

Middle Township police say a dispatcher revived Daniel Tyce after finding the thread wrapped around the 27-year-old’s neck.

Tyce is held on $25,000 bail in the Cape May County Jail on charges of trying to pass bad checks. (more…)

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ST. CLAIR, Mo. — Nearly 125 animals living in filthy conditions have been rescued from an eastern Missouri property.

The Humane Society of Missouri said Thursday it and the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department rescued 102 domestic rabbits, three dogs, five cats, a guinea pig, three baby goats, four hens, two roosters, two pigeons, and two ducks.

It said the rabbits were housed in feces-filled, wire-bottom cages without shelter. The dogs and fowl had no shelter or water. (more…)

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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…)

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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…)

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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…)

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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…)

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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…)

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FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Sixteen snakes, 26 lizards, five turtles, 10 red-spotted toads and 69 hamsters seized from an exotic animal dealer in Texas in December have arrived in Colorado.

They were delivered to the Larimer Humane Society on Wednesday.

The creatures were among about 27,000 that animal services workers took during a raid of U.S. Global Exotics in Arlington, Texas, in December. The animals had been housed in a 5,000-square-foot building where city officials say hundreds of animals were found dead or dying. (more…)

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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…)

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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…)

KRISHA WILLIAMS TURBEVILLE
RESCUE IN THE ROCK

A south Arkansas breeder surrendered 143 dogs to the Humane Society of Pulaski County on Saturday, leaving the shelter past capacity and low on supplies, said Director Kay Simpson.

All the dogs suffered from mange; many from eye infections, which in some cases will result in eye removal; and many had hair matted to the bone.

“One dog was so matted it was like concrete on both legs,” Simpson said. (more…)

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LAS VEGAS — Federal land managers said Monday they’ll delay a roundup of most of the nearly 600 wild horses in a range in eastern Nevada, at least until after the herd’s spring foaling season.

Advocates fighting to stop mustang roundups in the West said they think their threat to file a lawsuit stopped the U.S. Bureau of Land Management from beginning a roundup next week of almost 500 wild horses in the Eagle Herd Management Area.

“We’re pleased that the BLM has postponed another ill-conceived, illegal and inhumane wild horse roundup,” said William Spriggs, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer for In Defense of Animals based in San Rafael, Calif. (more…)

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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…)

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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…)

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RENO, Nev. — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is seeking public comment on the proposed roundup of about 1,800 wild horses from the range north of Reno.

Agency spokesman Jeff Fontana said the roundup in the 800,000-acre Twin Peaks Herd Management Area is tentatively set for August and September.

About half of the area is in Washoe County and half is in Lassen County, Calif. (more…)

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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…)