NEWSANIMAL ABUSE

While Christmas shopping at a Green Earth store in Windsor, Ontario, last month, Dan MacDonald noticed products called Frog-O-Spheres — plastic tanks containing live frogs. Some of the frogs were pressed up against the plastic, while others floated lifelessly. MacDonald watched in disbelief as some kids and their father shook one of the aquariums. “Is this thing real?” the dad asked a store clerk as the frog’s limp body rolled around the tank.

“The disrespect to this animal on every level was unbelievable,” MacDonald said. “I was outraged a place called Green Earth could demonstrate such a blatant and pathetic exploitation of a living thing.”

MacDonald knew something had to be done, so he started a campaign on Change.org calling for Green Earth stores to stop selling the Frog-O-Spheres. “I've been an animal activist for many years, so I took it upon myself, because I was so touched and disturbed by what I saw,” he said.

Mercy For Animals revealed the findings of its latest undercover investigation today. The expose offers a rare look into a Butterball turkey facility in Shannon, North Carolina.

According to Dr. Temple Grandin, the world's leading expert on farmed animal welfare, the investigation documents "abuse and cruelty" to turkeys, and Mercy For Animals has video footage which seems to support such a bold claim. Workers were caught kicking and stomping on turkeys, dragging them by their wings and necks, and throwing birds onto the ground or into transport trucks in view of company management. You can learn more at ButterballAbuse.com.

It's a pet owner's worst nightmare: their senior, arthritic dog gets out of the yard, but instead of finding his way home or to the safety of a friendly neighbor, he's shot and killed by police. That's what happened to Boomer, the 12-year-old golden retriever of Lauren and Roy Glass of St. Petersburg, Florida.

Boomer was less than a block from his home when he died. According to Roy Glass, not only did the police fail to call him, they never even called Animal Services as they should have done per Pinellas County Ordinance. Instead, Boomer became the seventh dog shot by St. Petersburg Police this year.

When Nancy Smith heard Boomer's story, she started a petition on Change.org, with the help of the internet-based volunteer group Hand4Paws, asking St. Petersburg officials to establish new training protocols and policies for police dealing with dogs. Even though she doesn’t live in St. Petersburg, Ms. Smith felt compelled to act because she too owns a senior golden retriever who now growls when you try to lift him on the bed or into the SUV. But that shouldn’t be a death sentence.

The sad reality is that, although there is roughly one dog for every four people in the United States, most police officers receive little or no training in canine behavior.

This isn't the first time that the A'Famosa Resort in Malacca has been in the crosshairs of animal activists. The resort was previously accused of drugging a tiger to let tourists pose with it for photos. And over a year ago, when the use of orangutans in circus-type shows was banned in Malaysia (thanks to the tireless advocacy of the international group, Nature Alert), a directive was issued specifically to A'Famosa to cease its animal shows.

It should have been great news for the eight orangutans of A'Famosa. But instead of rehoming them to a sanctuary, the resort imprisoned the apes in dark, cramped cages, where they've become malnourished and suffer from stress and depression. Officials know about the conditions, but haven't done a thing about it.

"These orangutans have been locked up for 18 months straight now, in a disgusting state, their cages totally barren and they sit on cold cement everyday," said petition starter, Shiva.

More than 42,000 people have joined a viral campaign on Change.org calling on Google to remove KG Dogfighting, a dogfighting game created by Kage Games, LLC, from the Android Market.

In recent weeks, several news outlets had mistakenly reported that Google had removed the app amid public outcry and it was just re-released. The unfortunate truth is that the game only went on a brief hiatus back in April over a name copyright issue. But once it was re-released within days as "KG Dogfighting," it stuck around, and Google has yet to weigh in on the controversy.

Robert Pregulman, author of the Seattle DogSpot blog and the campaign on Change.org, said, "Contrary to media reports, Google never removed any version of KG Dogfighting from the Android Market. The patience of dog lovers waiting for Google to take this cruel game off the market is running out fast.”

Adolfo Sansolini, Coordinator for the 8hours campaign, shared with me the story of Antoine, a young bull on a recent transport truck from France to Morocco. The itinerary covered a total of three trucks, one with 60 bull calves and the other two with 4 or 5 adult bulls for breeding. The route would take a travel time of over 62 hours, or 2.5 days.

A day after departure, the trucks reach the first control post in Spain. Despite adequate space, fresh water and food, many of the calves were suffering from respiratory problems. Antoine was observed lying down and foaming at the mouth.

Arriving 1.5 hours late, the veterinarian quickly determined that Antoine was not fit for travel and would remain at the control post for observation. The vet also noted that Antoine was most likely not fit for transport at time of departure. Ten minutes later, Antoine was dead.

Antoine’s story is only one of 50 billion animals slaughtered each year. Across the European Union, an alarming number of livestock still travel for days at a time to reach the slaughterhouse. The 8hours campaign aims to change current EU legislation to limit transport of animals for slaughter to eight hours. "[The campaign] has the potential to bring to an end additional and easily avoidable suffering of millions of farmed animals in Europe,” said Adolfo. 

Late at night on Sunday, August 6, in Anaheim, Calif., as the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus was loading its performing animals onto boxcars, an elephant named Sarah fell from a ramp and collapsed on the ground (video).

Ringling is claiming that the stumble was entirely accidental — the 53-year-old elephant simply lost her footing while boarding the train and unsuccessfully trying to back down the ramp.

But that’s not what it looked like to eyewitness Ameer Sanghvi, who told NBC LA, "They were struggling to get her on the ramp. She finally managed to get on the ramp and that's when she collapsed on her back, on the gravel with rough rocks.”

Just last month, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) reported that the USDA had cited Ringling in June for violating the Animal Welfare Act by failing to provide proper treatment for the same elephant. Sarah has a history of having a pus-like discharge in her urine and an elevated white cell count. Per the USDA inspection report, her handlers ignored Ringling's senior veterinarian’s orders to treat the infection, which could become fatal if neglected.

A five-month old American bulldog, described by veterinarians as an "absolute doll, very sweet and [gives] kisses," apparently posed such a frightening threat to her owner that he felt the need to stab her repeatedly in the face.

The puppy's name is Diamond and she survived the violent attack from 19-year old Matthew Davonn Weatherspoon. She is now safe and healing at VCA Alameda East Veterinary Hospital in Denver, Colorado. Weatherspoon is currently spending his days behind bars, awaiting trial.

Weatherspoon stated that Diamond bit and cornered him in his apartment and he was forced to defend himself. Not surprisingly, Diamond was the only one who suffered injuries. No bite marks were discovered on Weatherspoon. After stabbing Diamond five times in the face, Weatherspoon became angry that she was bleeding all over the apartment. So he did the only logical thing and put her outside. At some point during the scuffle, Diamond received additional lacerations on her stomach and broke her leg.

In “EcoQuariums” sold by Learning Express and other retailers, live African dwarf frogs spend their lives encased in 4-square-inch plastic cubes.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute professor and animal activist John Sanbonmatsu told WCBV-TV last October, "In the wild in equatorial Africa, these animals would enjoy a rich life of sensory experiences and pleasures. But entombing them inside tiny plastic prisons is to condemn them to a lifetime of slow torture.”

In its November 2009 undercover investigation of Wild Creations, the company that manufactures EcoQuariums, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) documented rampant abuse of the frogs. Employees grabbed the amphibians by the handful, picked them up by their fragile legs, tossed live frogs onto piles of dead ones, or dropped them on the floor and left them there to die. Weeks went by between feedings, leading some of the frogs to chew off each other’s legs.

Not only is it a miserable existence for the frogs, but recent reports indicate the EcoQuariums are making people, mostly children, very sick. A strain of Salmonella poisoning has been traced to one of the suppliers of the African dwarf frogs.

In the Rocky Show Circus, a kangaroo, decked out in gloves and trunks and restrained by a leash, is forced into a staged boxing match with a man.

The Kissimmee, Fla.-based circus, run by exhibitor Javier Martinez, is "as educational as it is entertaining," at least according to its Myspace page. The boxing match "provides audiences with some fun-filled animal antics as well as a close-up look at one of Australia's animal oddities. ROCKY holds the title of being the only boxing kangaroo currently performing in the United States.”

In the wild, National Geographic notes that male kangaroos sometimes "box" each other over potential female mates by leaning back on their tails and striking out with their hind legs. In the Rocky Show Circus, a kangaroo "boxes" Martinez solely for the purpose of making money for the exhibitor.