An Arkansas Democrat-Gazette file photo

KRISHA WILLIAMS TURBEVILLE

Feline Rescue and Rehome of Little Rock received a $600 grant last week from Petfinder.com Foundation to vaccinate cats in its care for a year.

“This grant will make a huge difference toward ensuring the cats seen in our clinics will receive their vaccinations when owners cannot afford them and ease the burden for so many abandoned and homeless cats coming through our program,” said FURR President Lynn McAllester.

The money will buy feline viral rhinotracheitis vaccine, which protects cats from three contagious diseases: rhinotracheitis, calcivirus, and panleukopenia. (more…)

KRISHA WILLIAMS TURBEVILLE
RESCUE IN THE ROCK

Natural Balance Pet Foods is recalling Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Chicken Dry Dog Food with the “Best By” date of June 17, 2011, in 5-pound and 28-pound bags because it could contain salmonella.

The company said in a release that recalled products were distributed in pet specialty stores in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

No illnesses have been reported, the company said, but a product sample with a “Best By” date of June 17, 2011, had a positive result for salmonella in a random sample test conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (more…)

THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

For more than 37 years, the Hot Spring County 4-H Club and its members have sponsored an annual rabies vaccination clinic as a public service to aid Hot Spring County residents.

The Hot Spring County Extension Service, the Hot Spring County Department of Health and the Hot Spring County 4-H Clubs will host a countywide Rabies Vaccination Day on Saturday. Following is a schedule of vaccination times and sites: (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas health officials are trying to locate a potentially rabid puppy last seen in Bryan, about 100 miles northeast of Austin.

The Texas Department of State Health Services on Monday announced the search for the animal and its new owner.

DSHS says the original owners say the male blue heeler was given to an unknown man April 14 in the parking lot of a food market in Bryan, after he showed an interest in the pup. The man indicated he was moving to Arkansas or Oklahoma. (more…)

ST. PETERSBURG TIMES

First lady Michelle Obama and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver have declared war on childhood obesity. Now, Dr. Ernie Ward is waging war on another society ill: canine corpulence.

Ward is founder of the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention and author of the new book Chow Hounds: Why Our Dogs Are Getting Fatter — A Vet’s Plan to Save Their Lives. He’s also resident veterinarian on the Rachael Ray Show.

According to Ward, 45 percent of America’s dogs are overweight. And we’ve made them that way. Here are some tips to help man’s best friend slim down: (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

RENO, Nev. — Two environmental groups are joining ranchers in an unusual coalition supporting the government’s contentious removal of about 2,500 wild horses from the range north of Reno.

The Sierra Club and Friends of Nevada Wilderness, which have been at odds with ranchers on past issues, agree with the need for the ongoing roundup of mustangs in the Calico Mountain Complex.

The organizations, in a joint news release with the sportsmen groups Safari Club International and Coalition for Nevada’s Wildlife, said an over-population of mustangs is harming native wildlife and the range itself. (more…)

SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON — A man in an astronaut suit stood outside the National Air and Space Museum.

Normal enough, given the contents of the building before him. But he was not promoting an exhibit Thursday, nor was he affiliated with the museum. He and other People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals activists were brandishing signs and distributing pamphlets protesting a NASA program.

NASA is planning to radiate squirrel monkeys. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Nine sea turtles rescued from the cold along the Gulf of Mexico have died as dozens of others are cared for at the Texas State Aquarium and a rehab site.

Experts say blankets and warm-water baths are being used to nurse about 40 sea turtles back to health after last week’s cold snap. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARLINGTON, Texas — A judge has granted custody of more than 27,000 animals to the city of Arlington after they were seized last month from an exotic animal dealer.

Municipal Judge Michael Smith ruled Tuesday that U.S. Global Exotics owners Jasen and Vanessa Shaw cruelly treated hundreds of species of exotic animals at their Internet-based wholesale business. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

VALLEJO, Calif. — A couple charged with animal cruelty and other crimes after more than 90 purebred puppies were confiscated from their home and business face a hearing in Solano County Superior Court on Monday.

Christopher John Derek Ellis and Leanna Rachelle Kamp, both 29, of Dixon, were arrested Dec. 17 after the Solano County District Attorney’s Office received numerous complaints that the couple had been selling sick and sometimes dying puppies. The breeds included Yorkshire terriers, Shiba Inus, Maltese and Shih Tzus. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PHILADELPHIA — A report of dogs living in unsanitary conditions led animal control officers to a gruesome scene: remains of dozens of animals that appear to have been sacrificed in religious rituals.

The grisly discovery was made about 4 p.m. Sunday at a house in North Philadelphia.

After unsuccessful attempts to contact the homeowner on Christmas Eve, officials with the Pennsylvania SPCA obtained a warrant to remove the dogs from the home. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A large animal triage operation has been set up at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds in Nashville to treat dozens of dogs, horses and mules.

The animals were found emaciated during two different animal rescues in Tennessee, so the Humane Society of the United States put them together at the fairgrounds, which has plenty of pens, barns and space. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ALBANY, Ore. — On the afternoon before the Oregon Ducks beat the Oregon State Beavers in the annual Civil War football game, a male mallard was found in Albany, spray-painted Beavers’ orange with its legs duct-taped together.

The duck survived, but its feathers no longer shed water. If set free, it couldn’t swim.

“Insane,” said Jeff Picton, executive director of the nonprofit Chintimini Wildlife Center, where the bird must spend the winter. (more…)

Animal shelters across the nation are overloaded with pit bulls, muscular terriers with a reputation for violence and fighting.

Media reports on pit bull maulings are commonplace.

Yet rescue groups are rallying around hundreds of “pits” seized from a dog fighting operation in Missouri, vowing to “rehabilitate” as many as possible and find them new homes. More than two-dozen of the animals have been trucked to Sacramento to be placed in “foster homes” and, eventually, adopted. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LINCOLN, Neb. — A Lincoln teenager has been ordered to serve probation until he turns 19 for helping torture and kill a cat.

Seventeen-year-old Jacob Weichel received his punishment Friday. He’s also banned from having a weapon or owning pets during his probation period and must complete 50 hours of community service. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WALNUT, Calif. — Lukas was all bite, buck and bitterness before Karen Murdock adopted him six years ago and made him an Internet star.

Murdock introduced the 16-year-old Thoroughbred to carrots and kindness, helped him forget years of abuse and taught him tricks: He can smile, yawn, kiss, nod, identify shapes, numbers and letters, fetch, wave, salute, pose and stretch — and he does some of it with his front feet on a pedestal. (more…)

PITTSBURGH POST- GAZETTE

They may be kept with the best of intentions, but exotic pets can create havoc at home and in nature.

Sometimes they turn on their owners, as happened to Kelly Ann Walz, 37, of Saylorsburg, Pa., who was mauled to death Oct. 4 by a 350-pound black bear while cleaning its cage.

Walz reportedly had thrown a shovelful of dog food to one side of the cage to distract the bear while she cleaned the other side, instead of putting the animal into a separate area. (more…)

DAVE HUGHES
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

CLARKSVILLE — Two Johnson County women have been charged with felony cruelty to animals after a large dog-breeding operation was discovered earlier this month, authorities said.

Christine Yarrington, 60, and Lynn Elise Burkett, 51, both of rural Lamar, were each charged in Johnson County Circuit Court on Thursday with eight counts of aggravated cruelty to animals. Authorities previously had not identified the women. (more…)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SALEM, Ore. — Tammy Thompson lives in a tarp-covered tent on Salem’s fringe, sharing her “little spot in the woods” with three much-loved dogs.

“They’re my children. They’re everything to me,” said Thompson, 44.

That’s why she was grateful for a local program that provides free exams, vaccinations and medications for the pets of homeless people. The aim is to improve public safety and show compassion for homeless people. (more…)

THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

JULIE STEWART
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

MOUNTAIN HOME — An old-fashioned law enforcement tool helped authorities catch William and Tammy Hanson, who officials said were on the run for more than three years in a notorious animal cruelty case in Baxter County.

Tipsters turned them in, officials said Wednesday. (more…)