Frequent travelers have no doubt seen some strange things in passenger cabins, including a surprising variety of so-called “emotional support animals” (ESAs) – critters that are allowed to fly with human companions who say they just can’t travel without their furry friends close at hand. But now some airlines want to kick the menagerie off the plane. According to Aviation Daily, carriers including United, JetBlue and Delta are asking the Transportation Department to amend its rules to ban emotional support animals from passenger cabins. What kind of animals are we talking about? The most common, of course, are dogs – and there are plenty of stories about passengers falsely claiming their canines are support animals so that they can fly with them in the cabin instead of the cargo hold, or just to gain access to an up-front seat. Or they are simply trying to avoid the additional cost or burden of shipping the animal in the cargo hold? To read more on this story, click here:Kicking “Support Animals” Off the Plane
Aleppo, Syria - Abandoned and stray cats in Aleppo, Syria, have found a friend in Mohammad Alaa Jaleel. The ‘cat man,’ as the BBC is calling him, cares for more than a hundred felines without homes in the city destroyed by civil war. In a video shot by the BBC, the animal lover says his cat sanctuary will “protect” any cat that needs it. The sanctuary began with about 30 cats, but a year later that number expanded to more than a hundred. “Some people just left them with me knowing that I love cats,” he said. Other stories of pets left behind are much more heartbreaking. “One time a little girl brought me a cat. Her parents wanted to go abroad. So they came here — they knew there was a cat sanctuary here. The girl had brought the cat up since she was a kitten,” he said. “She cried as she handed her over to me and they left the country. I’ve been taking photos of the cat and sending them to her in Turkey. She begs me, ‘Send me photos of her. I miss her. Please promise to return my cat back to me when we come back.’ ” With so many of his human friends leaving the war torn city, Alaa Jaleel told the BBC the kitties are his newfound friends. “I’ll stay with them,” he said, “no matter what happens.”
Sunday, November 6 will be “Pay What You Want Day” at the National Aquarium. The day is a continuing effort to provide access to the Aquarium for Maryland residents. The day allows visitors to name their own price for aquarium admission. “We are committed to connecting our local residents to the aquatic world and our conservation mission,” said John Racanelli, National Aquarium CEO in a statement. “’Pay What You Want Day’ is part of a series of programs that ensure our communities have the opportunity to visit the Aquarium and be inspired by their 20,000 aquatic neighbors,” he said. In the past, the National Aquarium welcomed more than 7,500 guests to each of the previous Pay What You Want Days. The day is supported by T. Rowe Price, who is the Aquarium’s official community engagement partner. “’Pay What You Want Day’ enables families across Maryland with any budget size to visit and engage with the variety of species living in the National Aquarium,” said Renee Christoff, head of Corporate Social Responsibility at T. Rowe Price. To further help with the cost of a visit to the Aquarium, their official partner parking facilities are pleased to offer $10 parking to those attending “Pay What You Want Day” 2016. Guests can bring proof of their Aquarium visit to the LAZ Inner Harbor Garage at 100 S. Gay Street or Lockwood Parking at 124 Market Place for the discounted parking. For anyone who can’t make “Pay What You Want Day,” the Aquarium also has other opportunities for discounted admission. There are year-round Half-Price Friday Nights (Friday nights after 5 p.m.) and discounted Maryland Mornings for Maryland state residents visiting before noon Sundays through Fridays now through February 28. There are also Dollar Days coming in December. For more information about The National Aquarium and “Pay What You Want Day,” visit their website.
Two weeks ago, Kimberley Pearce of North Carolina had to have her 12-year-old cocker spaniel, Sadie, put to sleep. While getting some video of her new dog, a strange figure appears to walk across the screen. Is it a camera glitch, a hoax, or do you think it’s really Sadie’s spirit? This is Pearce’s account of the scenario: It was only a few days after when I was showing the video to a friend that I saw her appear. I just knew it was her. That was my dog. I was in shock – I went outside and started to cry. But then I started to smile. I had been begging for her to give me a sign. You can see it’s a white and caramel color, and so was my little girl. The video had been taken around lunchtime and no cars go past my house to make a reflection, and no birds for a shadow or anything. We live quite far out in the country. There was nothing else it could have been. Before I kind of did and didn’t believe in ghosts. Now I really do believe. It might sound strange, but a couple of days after Sadie died I finally went and sat out on the porch and had a half hour conversation with her. I felt so guilty because I was the one who made that decision to have her put down. I signed the papers. I was shaking even just writing my name on them. And I just wanted to tell her, ‘Sadie, I’m so, so sorry and please forgive me for what I’ve done.’ In that conversation I just begged and begged for her or God to send me a sign so that I knew she was okay. To read more on this story, click here: Woman Apparently Captures Video of Her Dog’s Ghost
The federal government said this week that it will not consider a suggestion to euthanize the animals or sell them to slaughter. The pronouncement, issued by the Bureau of Land Management, followed a public outcry over an advisory board’s recommendation on Friday that the agency kill or sell all of the 45,000 horses and donkeys in its custody that cannot be adopted. In a statement and blog post in response, the Humane Society of the United States described the recommendation as “unhinged advice,” “a complete abdication of responsibility,” and “a sort of ‘Final Solution.’ ” An online petition has collected more than 118,000 signatures so far. But a spokesman for the bureau made clear in an interview that it had no plans to act on the advice. “We’re making no change in our current policy,” the spokesman, Tom Gorey, said on Thursday. “We’re not going to sell to slaughter or put down healthy horses.” The bureau will reinforce its contention at the next meeting of the group that made the recommendation, the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board. The recommendation was adopted by seven of its members, with one dissenting and another absent. It meets again in the spring. The advice, however, puts into focus what some have described as a crisis for the program: The bureau takes in more and more animals as the population in the wild swells, using money that could be spent on dealing with population growth in the first place. The federal agency houses more than 45,000 horses and burros in corrals, pastures or sanctuaries at a cost of more than $49 million annually. In addition to the animals in captivity, there are more than 67,000 wild horses and burros roaming on federal land in the West, about 2.5 times the level the agency deems ideal for them to “thrive in balance with other public land resources and uses.” The imbalance is most severe in California, where the current population is 3.8 times the sustainable level, according to the bureau’s estimates.
The agency takes more in each year, but it can’t keep up with explosive growth: The wild population expanded by 15 percent last year and 18 percent the year before. While the agency adopts out thousands of animals each year and administers birth control to hundreds more, neither of these methods makes for a viable long-term solution to the population problem, Mr. Gorey said. The best hope is to improve birth control. “What we need is a deus ex machina; we need a longer-lasting fertility-control agent and right now that’s not to be seen,” Mr. Gorey said. Current methods last about a year. In the meantime, he said, the agency will just have to do the best it can to keep the booming population down.
A Missouri State football star was suspended indefinitely after allegedly punching a dog three times and breaking its jaw, according to reports Sunday. Bears quarterback Breck Ruddick, 20, hit the 42-pound Australian shepherd so hard, the pooch, Luca, lost teeth and was rushed to a vet with a shattered jaw, the Daily Mail reported. The player was suspended Friday for “conduct detrimental to the team” just hours after a Facebook post detailing the attack emerged, the paper reported. The player lost his cool, punched the dog and let him “run off, all alone and bleeding profusely,” Shelby Filbeck, a friend of the dog’s owner, Katie Riggs, wrote in a Facebook post Friday afternoon. Riggs “spent the whole night looking for her dog,” Filbeck said, according to the Daily Mail. On Saturday, the college said the suspension was linked to the animal abuse allegations. Reddick won’t play again “until the situation is resolved,” said athletic director Kyle Moats. To read more on this story, click here:College Football Star ‘Suspended Indefinitely’ Over Animal Abuse Investigation
Kelontre Barefield, 23, received the sentence after pleading guilty to charges related to the police dog's death and other charges in an unrelated robbery case, a spokeswoman for the Stark County Clerk of Courts told ABC News today. Barefield's attorney, Steven Reisch, didn't immediately respond to ABC News' requests for comment. Jethro was killed in January after suffering multiple gunshot wounds while responding to a burglary at a grocery store, according to Officer Eric Stanbro, head trainer of Canton PD's K-9 unit. The death of the 3-year-old German shepherd devastated Canton PD Officer Ryan Davis, who had been Jethro's partner since he was an 8-week-old puppy.
In March, an 11-year-old girl donated all of her allowance money to help get bulletproof vests for all of the department's dogs. "Officer Davis has received 2,000 letters since Jethro's death, and he was catching up with them over the weekend," Stanbro previously told ABC News. "He came across this girl's letter and donation, and it really touched him." In the letter, an 11-year-old girl named Allison tells Davis, "I sorry about Jethro. So here is my allowance for the bulletproof vests. God bless you and the dogs."
An 11-year-old girl named Allison donated her allowance money to the Canton Police Department to help get bulletproof vests for dogs in the department's K-9 unit. On Wednesday, the Canton PD's K-9 Unit shared a video of some its dogs and handlers on Facebook "[i]n honor of Jethro's killer being sentenced to 45 years in prison." To video video, click HERE.
We’ve all heard that we shouldn’t do it: inviting your dog into your bed. People believe it’s dirty, and it’s just not good for you. People have been saying it for years. But, what if we told you that maybe that isn’t entirely true. There are actual health benefits to letting your four-legged best friend spend the night, and it isn’t just you who’s better for all that cuddle time. It’s better for your dog, too! And who doesn’t want to do everything they can to make sure their little one is as happy as possible? So to all you dog lovers who love snuggling up with their warm, fluffy buddy at the end of the day, keep doing what you’re doing. Chances are, you’ll sleep better at night and we all know that better sleep leads to a better day. It really is a win-win situation for everyone involved! They Give You Comfort
Whether it’s their warm body or rhythmic breathing, there’s just something so comforting about a dog. They make your bed feel even cozier! They Fight Insomnia
Their presence promotes calm, stress relief, and a feeling of safety. So, basically, they take away all of the things that keep you up at night! Snuggling With Them Relieves Stress And Anxiety
As therapy dogs have shown, a pooch’s presence is a great stress reliever. Their positive outlook seems to be contagious, and their attentive nature can be very reassuring. They Provide Warmth
Their warm bodies and tendency to curl up as close to their humans as possible work as a little radiator in the bed. While this can be tough in the summer, who doesn’t love a little bit of natural warmth on a chilly night? They Help Fight Depression
One thing that dogs offer without question is unconditional love. For someone battling depression, this type of connection can feel hard to come by. To receive it, with no questions asked, can work wonders during a particularly tough time. They Make You Feel Safe
Knowing that there is another presence watching over you when you’re at your most vulnerable is such a comforting feeling. Their super hearing and tendency to bark at strangers are all factors in this. It's Good For Your Dog, Too
There’s nothing in the world that your dog loves more than you, so allowing them to spend that extra snuggle time will make their day. They receive comfort from you in the same way that you do from them, so this sleep arrangement is good for everyone!
