I spoke with NKAC director Nathan Winograd, who said the judge’s order in the case, known as Urban Wildlands Group vs. the City of Los Angeles, was unconstitutional, ignored state law, and was incredibly far-reaching.

The judge issued a writ that prevented the city from even telling people that there were services available anywhere in the community. It prohibited the city from waiving trap rental fees for trap-neuter-release programs. It ordered city shelters to stop releasing feral cats to rescue groups.

The court even went so far as to tell city shelters they could not change any laws that would allow any kind of TNR initiative in the future. The order oversteps the authority of the court, telling legislators they can’t pass laws. It also violates California’s Hayden law, which explicitly gives rescue groups right to take those cats who are going to be killed.

The ruling is so far-reaching that all the shelters were ordered to remove from their premises any literature that even expresses support for TNR, including independent magazines in the shelter waiting rooms. We think this order is unconstitutional, and we are going to make that argument in court.

Representing us pro bono is national law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP, and they have filed an emergency motion in superior court asking the court to allow us to intervene as defendants in the case, as if they sued us instead of the city. We have heard the city may not appeal, so we would appeal the court’s order as the intervener-defendant. Even if the city does decide to appeal, we believe that the law impacts our interests in a very significant way, and believe we will provide a more vigorous defense of the cats.

We believe we have an incredibly strong case both as to our motion to intervene and the legal merits of the court order, which is so wide ranging and ignores several facts of law.

One, we don’t believe the city actually has a TNR program. It’s being done by rescue groups and volunteers. The city only provides low cost vouchers for spay and neuter.

Even if the court finds that constitutes engaging in a TNR program, the claims by the Wildlands Group is barred by statute of limitations, as the city has been doing it for years. Their action was not filed in timely manner.

Last, the order went too far and impinged on the sovereignty of the legislative branch in telling it that it can’t make laws that are constitutional.

Aside from the legal issues, we want to make it clear we’re not willing to allow the Urban Wildlands Group to turn back the clock on shelter policies to the dark age of catch and kill, and make it the official policy of the city of Los Angeles. We also don’t think it addresses the real cause of bird species decline, namely, human activities and pollution.

One of the other things we’re going to cite is that Urban Wildlands takes great pains to say they’re not advocating for the killing of cats, but that is exactly the effect of the ruling. One of the studies we’re bringing before the court is a 2006 study in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, looking at all shelters in Ohio over an 8-year period. It found that only one shelter had cat deaths dropping instead of rising, and it was the only one with a TNR program.

In 2008 or 2009, there was a study Alley Cat Allies brought to light, a national study conducted by the Harris Poll that found that over 80 percent of respondents thought it was more humane to leave a cat in the street if they knew animal control would put a cat to death.

Given that L.A. city shelters can’t discuss TNR, or refer people to a rescue group, or offer low cost spay/neuter vouchers, or release a feral cat back to the person calling animal control about the cat, the net effect will be an increase in the number of free roaming ferals in the city of Los Angeles. So even if the goal is to reduce numbers to reduce predation, this ruling acts in opposition to that goal.

Winograd said that one of the attorneys involved in the case also represented the NKAC in its previous successful lawsuit against the county of Los Angeles about the rights of access for rescue groups to animals in the county shelters. They expect a fairly rapid ruling on their request to be recognized as an intervener-defendant, which will be heard by the same judge who issued the order. If he rejects it, they’ll appeal, and a different judge would hear the case at that time.

Birds and other wildlife are not threatened because of feral cats — certainly not the feral cats of that sylvan wilderland known as the city of Los Angeles. And feral cat colonies don’t exist because people wuv kittehs so much they can’t bring themselves to control them.

No, wildlife is threatened and feral cat colonies exist for the same reason — because people screwed up.

I feel a distinct fondness for many members of my own species, but I have to confess, we haven’t been the most forward-thinking, big-picture kind of creatures when it comes to development, deforestation, habitat destruction and air and water pollution. And those are the things that have pushed many species of bird and wildlife to and over the edge of extinction.

It’s also our lack of big-picture thinking that has allowed the problem of unowned cats to exist in the first place, as we have failed to implement simple and effective programs designed to manage their colonies and reduce their numbers through sterilization.

I understand that to a lot of people on the outside of the feral cat advocacy community, the thought that feral colonies might require some environmental review seems reasonable, even seductively so. Why not study it before funding it? Right?

That might be fine if it was coming from a place of genuine scientific curiousity. It might be fine if there was an actual concern that the best solution be found that enables both wildlife and cats to thrive. It might be fine if the information would be gathered and used to find good, non-lethal solutions for conflicts between two different groups of animals in a given location.

But I just don’t buy it.

The groups that brought the lawsuit know perfectly well the city of Los Angeles has no funds and little desire to pay for an EIR. This is, in short, an effective death sentence for those cats, disguised as a reasonable proposal for scientific study.

In fact, the issue of feral cats is always treated like a zero sum game by those who oppose TNR programs. They believe it’s a case of “kill cats, or wild creatures will die.”

But plenty of feral programs have shown that’s not how you do the math. Look at Project Bay Cats in Foster City, Calif., where the local Audubon Society and a feral cat group got together and designed a model feral cat and wildlife management program in 2006:

To protect birds and their habitat and reduce debris along the levee pedway, 10 cat feeding stations were built by Homeless Cat Network and installed along the trail. Appropriate locations for the stations were jointly identified by the three groups, with special consideration given by Sequoia Audubon Society to insure that the stations were placed away from bird habitats. The program’s effectiveness is a result of keeping the cats well-fed and concentrated away from avian nesting sites.

“There are fewer cats on the Foster City Bay Trail now, and those that remain appear healthier,” says Robin Winslow Smith, Conservation Committee Chairperson of the Sequoia Audubon Society. “Thanks to the feeding stations and the spay/neuter effort, the cats seemed to have settled into the program and don’t need to hunt for dinner since they have it in their feeding stations.” As further evidence of the program’s effectiveness, Sequoia Audubon Society recently found that the endangered California Clapper Rail, which lives in a marsh on the border between Foster City and San Mateo, is thriving and is not impacted by the cats. In fact, the Rails are quite easily seen and heard there at high tide.

Alley Cat Allies has been organizing against the Los Angeles court ruling that not only stopped the city from funding sterilization for feral cats in some very ugly and egregious ways (including forcing rescuers or Good Samaritans to “prove” a cat being brought to a spay/neuter clinic is really theirs — this, in a city with a mandatory spay/neuter law!), but stopped the city from even telling rescuers about sources of private s/n funding.

Yeah, that’ll cut the feral population down. Well played, conservation groups. Well played.

They apparently don’t care, because they want the cats killed anyway. Because wow, no one’s ever tried that before! I mean, if groups hadn’t gone in there and started sterilizing those cats, they’d all be gone now. Because that’s just how it works.

Yeah.

It’s idiotic for wildlife advocates and feral advocates to fight like this. Our communities are huge wrecks of poverty, fast food and non-sustainability. Many kids never eat a piece of fruit in their lives. Urban sprawl spun out and is now painfully contracting, leaving wastelands of concrete and stripped-down abandoned suburban neighborhoods behind. And the corporations are using the current economic meltdown as an excuse to weaken environmental regulation on all kinds of industries.

We need to stop fighting and find ways to work together, as the two groups did in Foster City, and make it work. Neither has to die — not the ferals and not wildlife. We have these big frontal lobes and opposable thumbs. I think we can figure this out if we try.

And then we can focus on the real issues. Because that’s what’s going to kill wildlife, and cats, and us.

Lower your cholesterol — get a cat! An article courtesy of my friend Pete Hansen, who acquired a cat a few months back.  You’ve probably seen essays and news stories saying that owning a pet relaxes you, therefore lowering blood pressure.  Now there’s some evidence indicating it helps your cholesterol, too!

The cat who came in from the cold:  The first paragraph of this heartwarming story from the Edmonton Journal, by way of Gina, made me reach for my parka and boots, while still sitting in my living room:

Bob the cat showed up at Air Canada cargo services’ warehouse at the international airport on a morning when a Siberian front swept through Edmonton, plunging temperatures into the -30s.

I don’t care if it is celsius, thirty below is still way too cold.   Bob, who the airport workers soon learned is female, settled in over time.  Now,

there’s never any doubt she runs the place, though, and that she has the men wrapped around her little paw.

Always be prepared.  It’s not expensive, and could make all the difference. You may have a first aid kit at home for your adults and non-furry children, but do you have one for the ones with tails and paws?    You should.   I admit that I don’t, but I’ll be using this well organized, easy-to-follow post from Smartdogs to create one.   It’s a great idea, because you never know.  Don’t wait.  Please take advantage of the great hints here.  I know I will.

Tiger Ranch operator sentenced to 27 years probation for cruelty: Sorry, I didn’t promise these would all be happy stories.   A tip of the cap to Mary Mary for the final chapter of this terribly sad saga from Pittsburgh.  She and I are both convinced that the Tiger Ranch venture probably started out as a terrific idea, but quickly spun out of control.  Now, almost two years later, it stands as a tragic cautionary tale.  My personal belief is there was likely some mental illness in play as well, but in any case, the judge’s words at sentencing remain accurate:

“I came into this case thinking … you were most likely a woman who had good intentions but became overwhelmed. From that perspective until today, I have learned quite a lot,” said Rangos, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “You have chosen not to cooperate and spew vitriol in others’ direction without taking any personal responsibility for the disaster that Tiger Ranch became.”

Kudos to Amy Worden at Philly Dawg for her work on this story.  She has followed it from the beginning, and Amy is always worth reading.

Three new breeds at Westminster: Petville tells us there will be three new breeds shown at the 2010 WKC Dog Show at Madison Square Garden on February 15 & 16:  the Irish Red and White Setter (pictured: not just a color variant, but a different breed from the Irish Setter), the Norwegian Buhund, and the Pyrenean Shepherd.  If I may say so, these are three gorgeous dogs, and I’m looking forward to seeing them in the show.

Have a great morning.  I’ll be back later today with something completely different. And don’t forget: If you have something good to read, add a link to the comments, or e-mail me.

Photo credit: Codie McLachlan, edmontonjournal.com

So he was when we reached out and begged him to be the lead photographer on our “The Ultimate Dog-Lover” and “The Ultimate Cat-Lover” (Equine photographer Sarah K. Andrew, whose RockandRacehorses blog is on the left rail, is the lead photographer on our “The Ultimate Horse-Lover.”)

The photography was just about my favorite part of the books — full-color glories that celebrate what our Dr. Becker calls “The Bond,” that special connection we have with animals.

Troy is drawn to the less fortunate of our animals. He has spent countless hours on the streets of post-Katrina New Orleans, caring for and documenting the animals struggling alongside the people there.  The warm weather and boom of rodent populations in the months following the disaster triggered geometric growth in the feral cat population, some kittens born to cats already wild, some to pets left behind when the neighborhoods were washed away.

This morning’s mail brought a note from Troy. He is again using his camera to help animals, this time with modest project: “CATS: Feral Felines by Troy Snow,” a calendar for 2010 with proceeds to benefit the work of Alley Cat Allies.

He apologizes for it being a tad expensive ($17.49), which is also so very Troy. He lives on a shoestring, and is well aware of how many others do, too.

But he needn’t apologize: Having a year of Troy Snow images to enjoy and knowing that the calendar meant a donation for a really good group, well, that’s a bargain at prices far higher than this.

Buy. Buy. Buy.

There are certain attitudes, biases, assumptions and cliches that just won’t shift, no matter what real world, documented evidence or reasoned argument is put before them.

—Pets are a luxury, if you ever can’t afford something for your pet, you’re bad and unworthy and don’t deserve a pet.

—S/N is the MOST important measure of pet owner responsibility. Whether you could not afford the procedure or have a health screened titled dog you’ve chosen not to alter, you are bad and irresponsible

—Being intact is cruel. Sorry, being intact, with normal healthy organs is cruel? Nope. But intact pets do need a bit different management and those organs are inconvienent for many owners and after a certain age, the pet will be fine without them. so long as the decision is between a vet and owner I sure as hell have no issue with spay/neuter. Most of my pets are or will be altered, but a male dog in possession of his testicles does not equal suffering

—If you breed a litter you have automatically killed the same number of pets in the shelter. Does not matter that there are more than enough homes and if shelter were able to gain just a small amount more market share, 5-10% depending on regional circumstances, we could get all placeable pets into homes.

—there is no such thing as a responsible breeder, they’re all the same

—All the opposition to MSN is from the wicked breeders

—Breeders ALL make a lot of money (HaH! Ha hahahha We could have bought another HOUSE on what has gone into the dogs over 20 years. I am NOT exaggerating )

—Feral cats are all the fault of bad owners, they are all only one generation out of homes and if we make the bad owners spay and neuter them then the feral problem will magically disappear. And if you click your heels together and wish really hard…

—Those kittens flooding the shelters every spring all come from bad owners cats, because feral cats don’t have kittens where you can find them and remember, the moms weren’t really feral.

—TNR does not work. And even if it works, it’s cruel because the cats would be better of dead than be at risk outdoors. And even if being outside is not cruel, they kill wildlife.

Side note here: Yes, they do kill wildlife. Not to the extent that they are blamed probably. Feral colonies do not belong near endangered species breeding grounds etc.. But in most urban and suburban settings the real killer is development. I’m rural and help manage a colony and because the wildlife has natural habitat, it is thriving in spite of the cats. plus as ferals age, they tend to eshew the birds for the kibble, word.

And even if cats are responsible for every crime they are accused of A century of catch and kill has utterly failed to eliminate ferals. TNR has documented success in reducing numbers and numbers of kittens. Go with what works folks!

—If you ever go into a shelter and see the animals there, you would never breed, oppose MSN blah blah… Sorry, I’ve been in a lot of shelters. Like MANY dedicated breeders I pull dogs from shelters and rescue other breeds and mixes and species when they cross my path.

—Pets are all interchangeble. If the person who wants a small lap dog can’t find one they will be happy to come adopt an 85 lb lag mix or a cat instead.

—People who buy a pet are evil or ignorant. people who adopt acquire automatic virtue. Does not matter what kind of home they actually are.

There are more but you get the idea. And it does not matter what arguments are brought forth or how much hard evidence you present.

Being that rock solid sure of a conviction must be nice for them, but it’s not constructive. We need real-world solutions and strategies that actually work. If something has failed for decades, it’s failed, time to move on and evolve.

Amen, Jen!

The two-hour session featured three speakers: Sue Cosby, executive director of the Animal Welfare Association in New Jersey (and fellow Twitterer); Bonney Brown, executive director of Nevada Humane Society; and Mike Fry, executive director of Animal Ark in Minnesota. They shared their strategies for keeping animals moving through the shelter system, limiting disease, increasing adoptability through socialization and marketing, and keeping animals with their people.

Here’s Cosby:

The most important thing you need to think about with no-kill sheltering is a sense of urgency for the animals coming into your shelter. Decide on a shelter model. Who are you taking in? Come up with a business plan on who you can/must take in and who else can take them. Work with rescue groups to take animals off your books, so to speak.

That’s a radical change from so many shelters that aren’t willing to work with purebred or other rescue groups. I can hear them screaming now that shelters working with rescue groups aren’t playing fair and are manipulating their numbers by doing so. Fail. Anyway, back to Cosby.

Feral cats don’t have any option when they come into your shelter. If you’re not re-releasing them because you’re not allowed to by law, you need to proactively get into the community and prevent those cats from coming into your shelter to begin with.

When I spoke with Alley Cat Allies a couple of years ago, Becky Robinson estimated that 70 percent of the cats in shelters were feral. That’s what helps to drive up the numbers of animals euthanized–when communities don’t institute TNR programs and instead prefer to euthanize feral cats. As a side note, one of the books in our goodie bags included TNR Past Present and Future: A History of the Trap-Neuter-Return Movement by Ellen Perry Berkeley. I’ve just skimmed it, but it looks like an excellent read and, among other things, addresses the belief that feral cats are a danger to songbirds. Check it out. Next, Cosby addresses the issue of vaccination. We’re all aware of the concern over excessive vaccination, but for shelter animals she has a different point of view.

Vaccinate immediately upon entry. Animals are not dying in shelters from overvaccination. Vaccination keeps them healthy. Shelters are often shut down from vaccine-preventable diseases. Put effort into keeping the shelter clean and animals healthy.

Toward that end, she recommends using disposable litter boxes and disposable food and water dishes. French fry trays make good food dishes and styrofoam soup cups make good water containers. What about the environment? Cosby would rather save a cat’s life today and figure out later how to do it in a more environmentally friendly way. She notes that no one likes to scrub litter boxes, so using disposable ones is a better way to prevent the spread of disease. Another favorite disease-prevention tool: gloves, gloves and more gloves.

We’d rather buy gloves than antibiotics and euthanasia solution. Handle every animal as though it’s diseased when it comes into your shelter. Spend your efforts on keeping animals safe, healthy and happy. Provide opportunities for people to stay clean in your shelter.

In Cosby’s shelter, cleanliness is next to catliness. Her advice sounds obvious, but of course that’s where most of us run into problems with anything: thinking that what we know is obvious to everyone else as well. She advises using appropriate disinfectants–Lysol is harmful to cats, for instance–and keep hand sanitizer everywhere. At this point, she demonstrated just how long it was necessary to rub sanitizer on damp hands for it to be effective. It went on for at least a minute. Good to know in these flu-ridden times. She goes on to discuss privacy issues, and no, we’re not talking Roe v. Wade or the constitutionality of school strip searches.

Don’t house dogs and cats together; the dogs will scare the cats and they won’t act adoptable. Give cats a nice, quiet room and blankets, towels and hiding places like boxes. This is for animals just coming in; give them some chill time. Teach staff how to recognize stress and disease and when there might be a problem. Be creative in coming up with ways to give animals privacy.

Other factors to consider: The question is not is this animal adoptable but is this animal savable? Upper respiratory infections, fungal infections, injured/hit by car, mange, parvovirus, panleukopenia, FIV/FeLV–Cosby says in most cases these animals are savable. Her goal is to build an isolation area with lots of big windows so the public can see all the animals that are available and show them what their donations are doing.

Be able to say to the public: Look at the animals we’re saving right now. Make those animals available for rescue and adoption. The power is not what you do in the four walls of your shelter; it’s what the community does.

After discussing her shelter’s Free to Great Home program, which adopts animals older than 8 years or that have expensive medical problems at no charge, she ended with advice on how to know when to euthanize. Hint: it’s not when animals look bad or sound bad. It’s only when they’re diagnosed bad: they are irremediably suffering, or their condition is unmanageable or has a poor or grave prognosis.

I had hoped to finish this tonight, but it’s almost midnight, I’m tired, and I want to do justice to Bonney Brown and Mike Fry, so more tomorrow.

But more details later about that, as I said.  Instead, I was thinking about what our ever-professional contact at Aspen, Kelly Nelson, wrote recently in sending over the information on the prizes. “TGIF!!!,” she wrote. “What a whip of week!”

That phrase has really stuck with me, and this has been one whip of a week.

If I weren’t so darn busy, I would stay in bed and pull the covers over my head.

It started Sunday when my brother hit some road debris on the Interstate. His car’s front tires shredded under him, but he was able to pull to the shoulder without further damage or — most importantly — without any injury to himself. But the arrangement of the tow truck, the moving of people and vehicles here and there, the decisions (two tires, or all four?) just seemed to be a yawning vortex of time-suck that the whole family was dragged into. And the expense — not covered by insurance — was considerable, $1,100 to put four new shoes on the T-bird, plus alignments of various sorts. My brother’s a teacher, and that kind of dough is never easy to turn over. But what can you do?

The news wasn’t better on Monday, even if I wasn’t personally involved. And all animal-related, in one way or another:

• The ongoing deaths of babies in China proves for sure that certain elements in the Chinese manufacturing community and the government didn’t care about the death of thousands of pets from adulterated ingredients in 2007. They don’t care about their own children, so you know they didn’t care about our pets … or American children, for that matter. The Wild West of Chinese capitalism continues to run amok, and the powers that be there don’t care about anything  except money. (Here’s the latest.)
• The leveling of entire communities along the Texas/Louisiana coast, by the one-two punch of hurricanes Gustav and Ike. These people are suffering, and so are many animals, domestic and wild, and this will continue for a long, long time, no matter how much help they get.
• The financial meltdown on Wall Street, which means the housing market isn’t getting any better any time soon.  When people leave their homes, their pets suffer, too. This week I’ve already gotten an significant uptick of e-mail (some meant for me, some meant for the rescue group of the same name in the Kansas City area) from people who are looking for options that will let them keep their pets when they lose their homes — or looking for places to take their pets when they can’t find pet-friendly housing. Not to mention: With so many people living on the razor’s edge of solvency, it’s easy to predict that even for those who can keep their pets, there may be sacrifices in terms of the care those animals get.

There’s more behind my malaise, but that the most of it.  Whip of a week? You betcha.

But then …

Our editor at Universal Press, Greg Melvin, rescued a feral kitten over the weekend. He was helping to handle a death in the family, on a farm a few states away. One of the barn cats had a litter with her, and she and her babies were all too wild to be pets, except one little kitten who walked right up to Greg and started purring. That little guy earned himself a plane ride back to Missouri and a great new home. Greg and his veterinarian are working to get the newly named Harry through the next couple of days. The kitten is loaded with every imaginable parasite and extremely malnourished. Dr. Becker and I both talked to Greg yesterday, to answer questions and offer encouragement.

Greg promises kitten pictures later just sent me a pic!

The Saving of Harry has been the only bright spot on what has been and likely will continue to be a Whip of Week. Never will I be so glad to see Friday come along.

I don’t support PETA, and I think only sheer laziness explains why the media keeps calling them for comment on any animal issue.

Why is anyone still listening to PETA?

But my view on the Humane Society of the Unites States is a lot more complex. I’ve known and respected many of their staffers for more than a quarter-century, and I’ve on balance agreed with the organization more then I’ve disagreed with them on a wide spectrum of issues. Not to mention: I see in them the ability to recognize a better way, which is very difficult sometimes for a large organization to do.

That’s why I was delighted to read this, on HSUS top dog Wayne Pacelle’s blog:

[Trap, Neuter, Release] is an idea whose time has come, and The HSUS strongly supports this active, humane management strategy.

Our March 2006 policy statement on TNR makes this support plain, but we’ve also made our commitment real by publishing works like Margaret R. Slater’s “Community Approaches to Feral Cats” and Bryan Kortis’ “Implementing a Community Trap-Neuter-Return Program,” designed to help cat advocates succeed with TNR programs in their own communities.

As part of our collaboration with Neighborhood Cats, Bryan Kortis and The HSUS’s Nancy Peterson provide daylong training sessions for TNR advocates through Humane Society University. We’ve also provided financial support to Neighborhood Cats and other groups to advance their work on TNR.

I’m pleased to report, too, that at our Animal Care Expo in May, we’ll debut a new CD/DVD on how to run a good community-wide TNR program.

We are also working hard on SafeCats, a program designed to keep household cats safe and indoors … and on our general spay and neuter work focusing on feline overpopulation. The HSUS has also done its best to bridge the gap with individuals and organizations in the birding and wildlife rehabilitation community, who view cats as an exotic species predating upon birds and other native wildlife. We’ve argued that a two-pronged program that focuses on 1) people keeping their household cats indoors and 2) cat allies and humane organizations managing outdoor colonies through TNR offers the best opportunity for maximizing public participation and helping cats and wildlife.

We’re not alone, of course, and I’m personally grateful to see Alley Cat Allies, Alley Cat Rescue, Neighborhood Cats, Best Friends, the ASPCA, and other groups working so hard on this front. A major challenge like this requires that kind of organizational unity, along with the contributions of literally thousands of volunteer cat advocates on the front lines in communities across the nation.

Here’s the rest. Good for you, Mr. Pacelle. Good for you. Now … care to talk about why laws that mandate the forced sterilization of the pets of responsible, loving pet-owners and reputable, ethical breeders isn’t the answer to getting shelter pets into new homes? Call anytime. You have the number.

Image: Let every cat be as loved as my beautiful little Clara, who is (as you can tell) part of the slight majority of cats who react strongly and happily to catnip!

***

Insomnia update: Oh, this is one great story of how much people care about animals! We all need a happy ending now and then.

Update from Christie: Another great story of how much people care. A friend of mine in Florida put out the call for help for Safe Harbor Animal Shelter and Hospital in Jupiter, Florida, which was destroyed in a fire earlier this week. I was out of town and missed his personal fundraising drive, but he raised $1500 in one day. That’s certainly inspiring, but then he told me that as of yesterday, the shelter had raised over $50,000 in donations, and all the homeless dogs (being kept in crates in the parking lot) had been adopted or fostered! They still have cats in need of shelter, so if you can help out and are anywhere near there, please consider giving them a hand.

Thousands of pet cats in Beijing are being abandoned by their owners and sent to die in secretive government pounds as China mounts an aggressive drive to clean up the capital in preparation for the Olympic Games.

Hundreds of cats a day are being rounded and crammed into cages so small they cannot even turn around.

Then they are trucked to what animal welfare groups describe as death camps on the edges of the city.

The cull comes in the wake of a government campaign warning of the diseases cats carry and ordering residents to help clear the streets of them.

And yes, this is the same government that clubbed dogs to death, all to present a pretty face for the Olympics:

But the crackdown on cats is seen by animal campaigners as just one of a number of extreme measures being taken by communist leaders to ensure that its capital appears clean, green and welcoming during the Olympics.

Polluting factories in and around the city are being ordered to shut down or relocate during the Games to ease Beijing’s choking smog and drivers are allowed out on to the roads only three times a week.

Fares on the city’s underground network have been cut to just two yuan (14p) for any journey – a six-fold reduction on some routes – to keep people off buses, and beggars and street sleepers are being moved to out-of-town camps or given train fares back to their home provinces.

[...]

The cull of Beijing’s estimated 500,000 cat population is certain to provoke international outrage as it comes just over a year after the Chinese were criticised for rounding up and killing stray dogs across the country.

Is it any surprise that the deadly faking of pet-food ingredients has been going on for years? Until the Chinese companies got a little too ambitious/greedy and went so far as to kill thousands of pets in the United States and Canada last year, everything was hunky-dory in China’s Wild West economy.

***

Just when I have weaned myself nearly entirely from bottled water (the bottles are causing a huge waste problem, plus using fuel to fill and transport), the AP reports:

A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe.

But the presence of so many prescription drugs — and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen — in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health.

And animal health as well:

Veterinary drugs also play a role. Pets are now treated for a wide range of ailments — sometimes with the same drugs as humans. The inflation-adjusted value of veterinary drugs rose by 8 percent, to $5.2 billion, over the past five years, according to an analysis of data from the Animal Health Institute.

Um, AP? It’s not just pets. Think livestock. This news is yet another reason to reform the practice of factory farming, because drugs are used to keep animals “healthy” in jam-packed conditions. And thanks to regular reader Pat for pointing out the patronizing official response in this story:

Water providers rarely disclose results of pharmaceutical screenings, unless pressed, the AP found. For example, the head of a group representing major California suppliers said the public “doesn’t know how to interpret the information” and might be unduly alarmed.

Yeah, because we’re sooooo stupid. Nothing to see here folks, move along.

Give that official a ticket to the Olympics. Buh-bye.

And finally: Hartz is again recalling some of its cat vitamins. Salmonella.  Details here.

The Los Angeles City Council voted 10 to 1 Friday to approve mandatory sterilization of most dogs and cats at the age of 4 months or older, and city officials pledged low-key enforcement driven by complaints. The ordinance must get a second reading in a week, but it is expected to pass.

The measure, initiated by Councilman Richard Alarcon, offers exemptions for animals of licensed breeders, show animals and service animals.

Veterinarians who believe that sterilizing certain dogs and cats is too risky, or that four months is too young an age, can provide a letter to get the animals exempted.

The council decision Friday was greeted by cheers and a standing ovation from about 100 supporters, most wearing bright yellow stick-on badges proclaiming their position.

Proponents as well as dozens of critics filled the Van Nuys City Hall room where the council met Friday. Those in favor of mandatory sterilization and those against the measure spoke passionately and staked their positions on their concerns for healthy dogs and cats.

“The bottom line . . . is that all of you are here to save animals’ lives,” said Councilwoman Wendy Greuel.

Yes, because those of us who support no-kill solutions  (Maddie’s Fund and NoKillAdvocacyCenter) and the responsible, ethical breeding of healthy, well-socialized dogs and cats by breeders who remain responsible for those animals for life are all about killing animals.

Pretty interesting that L.A. goes this direction, considering that the L.A. Times is the news organization that has done the most to expose the selling of sick, underaged puppies from Mexican puppy-mills.

The winners in this bill? Meth-heads who abuse their pit bulls litter after litter and sell the puppies for cash aren’t going to be affected. Puppy mills who sell through the Internet or retail puppy boutiques — hello, Paris! — aren’t going to be affected. Feral cats … will keep producing more feral cats.

We’ve written about this legislation before. Click to read it all.

People who don’t pay attention to the laws now won’t in the future. And instead of a community-wide no-kill effort to truly reach the people who are causing the problems, we get feel-good crap legislation that punishes people who aren’t the problem.

Simple solutions rarely are either simple or solutions, and California is where the laws of unintended consequences are always the strongest.

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This week I’ve got the third of three different but nonetheless extraordinary DogCars — the Honda Element SC, the new Volvo XC70 wagon and the new Mazda Tribute. I’m writing up my reviews of them all for the DogCars.com Web site today. The Tribute would be a wonderful DogCar by any measure, but the model I’ve been driving is even more spectacular — it’s a hybrid! (Alas, the hybrid model is in very limited production for 2008.)