(CNN)Animal rights activists are again calling for races to be suspended at Santa Anita Park amid a string of horse deaths that forced the park to temporarily shut down earlier this year. The famed Arcadia, California, racecourse, which will play host to this year's Breeders' Cup World Championships in November, recorded its 26th death since December when Kochees was injured during a race Saturday. The 9-year-old gelding had to be put down Sunday. Track spokesman Stefan Friedman told CNN the track is safe and there will be consequences in Kochees' death. He would not go into detail but said the rules at Santa Anita require that every horse who races be seen by a trainer's veterinarian and by the track's vet. He said two trainers also got the boot last week, again declining to provide details. "Everybody's got to be pointed at the fact that the horse comes first," he said. "If you do not put the safety of the horse first at this track, you will not be welcome here." To read more on this story, click here:Horses Keep Dying At Santa Anita Racetrack. Here's What We Know
FOLLOW US!
Unfortunately, there have been many cases in which animals have been kept in terrible conditions by humans. Cala, a pit bull mix was kept on a leash so short, she choked whenever she sat down. Liam, was abused, neglected, and kept on a chain for years. Another beautiful dog was kept chained to a wall for 15 years and was never even given a name. A dog and cat in Calgary, Canada were discovered in a storage unit where they were being kept by their owner. To read more on this story, click here:Woman Imprisoned Dog and Cat in Storage Unit
People have loved–and even worshipped cats–since the beginning of time. We know Cleopatra of Ancient Egypt and her love affair with cats. In fact, the term “cat eyeliner” was another thing she was famous for. But there are a number of cat lovers throughout history that you may not know. Here we will take a look at some of the most famous cat lovers throughout history. Let’s see how many you already knew! Many of us know the 16th President of the United States for his untimely death and Gettysburg Address. But what you don’t know is that this impressive man was also a crazy cat lover! And better yet, Lincoln was the first president to bring cats to the White House. To read more on this story, click here;Famous Cat Lovers In History
Rare pink dolphin mom gave birth to a cute baby dolphin. People call her Pinky, and the animal has been spotted in the Calcasiey river in Louisiana. The pink calf was there, too. The pink mammal became popular 12 years ago. Captain Erik Rue was the first to spot her. The video of Pinky and her baby was posted on Pinky’s Facebook page. The dolphins were swimming in front of a big boat in the Calcasieu Ship Channel. According to experts, Pinky is a Rare River Dolphin who got the pink color from a rare genetic mutation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed river dolphins as endangered. It’s population is decreasing.
The birth of the calf gives us hope that calves have inherited their mother’s genetic mutation which would help in the effort of increasing the population of rare species.
A once perky pooch may now be listless and withdrawn. Or a dog who previously had the tolerance and patience of Job might have turned aggressive, snapping at the kids or destroying furniture. Could these be signs of depression? “It’s hard to know for sure because we can’t ask what they’re feeling, and have no tests to specifically gauge depression in dogs,” says Bonnie Beaver, DVM, of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists and a professor at Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. “That’s why it’s important to see a vet whenever your dog experiences any sudden change in behavior — to rule out a possible medical condition ranging from GI upset to cancer. But certainly, there are situations where depression seems to be the only explanation.” Leading the list, perhaps to no surprise, is loss of a family member. “We definitely can say we see depression in dogs when there’s a death of a person or another pet in that household, or someone moves out,” notes John Ciribassi, DVM, of the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior and co-editor of the book Decoding Your Dog. To read more on this story, click here: Is Your Dog Depressed?
A Niagara Falls, Ont., man has been fined $15,000 after he was caught flying into Canada with a suitcase full of leeches. Ippolit Bodounov tried to smuggle 4,788 live, medicinal leeches in his carry-on luggage on Oct. 17, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). He'd just flown from Russia to Toronto's Pearson International Airport. Bodounov carried the leeches in a large reusable grocery bag, said Gerry Brunet, operations manager of ECCC's wildlife enforcement directorate, based in Burlington, Ont. Within that bag were 10 smaller, dampened cloth bags. A dog working with border agents smelled the leeches, Brunet said. "This is our first large-scale illegal leech import," he said, though the ministry sees a lot of illegally imported reptiles, turtles, tortoises and snakes. The ministry sent the leeches to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, where Sebastian Kvist, curator of invertebrate zoology, identified them as Hirudo verbana, a threatened medicinal leech. To read more on this story, click here:Man Caught Smuggling Nearly 5,000 Leeches In Luggage
Number one canine problem behavior is “home alone.” Don’t panic if someone tells you that your dog suffers from separation anxiety. It’s probably not the case. Anxiety is a serious disorder and most dogs don’t have any anxiety when left alone. They are either under-stimulated and burn their surplus energy by wrecking the furniture, they’re having fun and don’t know that it is wrong to destroy human possessions, or the owners have not taught them the desired routines when left home alone.
'This is unacceptable behavior for dog owners. Why is it OK for cats?' asks Grant Sizemore, a conservation biologist with the American Bird Conservancy. UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — Marian Parker pulled her small Hyundai into the parking lot of an Upper Marlboro, Md. strip mall and started her daily mission. In the cluttered back seat, rested an empty cat cage, several bags of dry pet food, and cases of 22-ounce 'Paws and Claws Turkey and Giblets' dinner cans. Parker comes daily to feed a colony of about 20 feral cats. The animals live in a trash-filled, muddy, no-man’s land in the forest behind the shopping center along the banks of the Western Branch near the busy intersection of Routes 301 and 4. Parker and others have set out overturned plastic storage tubs filled with flea-infested straw in the muddy woods to shelter the cats. Holes are cut in the plastic for the cats to enter. To read more on this story, click here:Feral Cat Colony Crisis Pits Environmentalists Against Humane Groups
