As pointed out by Opposition Members of the Provincial Parliament (MPPs) in Ontario, the McGuinty revisions to our outdated Animal Welfare Act are problematic, to say the least.  I posted some notes about it in May.

While checking a few of my favourite blogs today, I read that a very similar type of legislation is being discussed for the Schenectady area of New York State.  In Ontario I don't think the plan is to have SPCA employees carry weapons or use Mace or body armour because we tend to be somewhat less escalated that way compared with the US.  Other than that distinction, both scenarios have the same rancid AR smell about them.

Blue Dog State and Smart Dogs' Weblog have excellent posts about the granting of police powers to civilians employed by a private organization which is not subject to public scrutiny or oversight.

I wonder if this is what they talk about at those H$U$ Expos?  There is certainly a lot of similarity among certain pieces of pet-related legislation that are popping up here and there across the continent lately.

Somehow, I doubt it, unless what we see - a duplicitous, avaricious Lord High Executioner for millions of helpless animals - is the real 'Humane Wayne'.

There's a good post over at Nathan Winograd's blog about Pacelle, his batty aunts at Peta and the travesty that was H$U$ Expo 2008 - held, of course, in Orlando Florida - the home of Disney World.

"According to HSUS as presented in statements, media quotes, and workshops at their conference, dogs and cats can and should be killed in shelters (it is a “necessity” and the “kindest option”); No Kill is hoarding; and cronies come before the animals being needlessly killed.

So we are left to conclude that this is the real Wayne Pacelle, and that this will be his enduring legacy to the millions of animals needlessly being slaughtered in shelters each year. When someone shows you over and over who they really are, what they really believe, and what they stand for, it behooves all of us to believe them."

 

Read the whole thing here.

KC Dog Blog has an interesting post explaining how dog bites, according to researcher Karen Delise, have actually declined over the past few decades. 

As a commenter said in a recent post here at Caveat, facts won't win this war.  I fully agree.  Since the antagonists are avoiding facts and going straight for lies, hyperbole and deliberate fear-mongering, logic and reason are unlikely to counterract the strategy they have used (and continue to use) in their march to exterminate pet dogs and erode civil rights - the latter being the actual goal, in my opinion.

I doubt that high sterilization compliance (as mentioned by Ms Delise) has a lot to do with the decline, since studies have shown that gonadectomy can increase anxiety, reactivity and territorial aggression.  However, more study is obviously needed before we can reach a firm conclusion.  I believe, as I have always believed, that this is a red herring which has been accepted without proper scrutiny.  It leads to mandatory neutering for pets, which is of course a key talking point of the radical militant animal rights agenda.

I agree with KC Dog Blog that having a sterilized pet is an indicator of routine veterinary care, which an irresponsible or negligent owner is less likely to seek.  I don't think it's the surgery itself which explains the observed reduction in dog bites.

I've noticed that the famous "four million (or whatever number sounds sexy to media at press time) dog bites per year" in the US keeps being reported differently as time goes by.

Originally, it was just a guess based on a very small number of bites.  I've seen the number reported as 'bites requiring medical attention' and lately, as 'reported bites'.  I can't believe that fact-checkers and copy editors are so expensive that media outlets can't afford to hire them.  If they want to run sensationalized stories, they should get the nuts and bolts sorted out first.

These are not small errors and they are not accidental, of that I'm convinced.

Repeat after me:  Dogs are the safest animals around.  They are safer than cows, horses, deer, mosquitos and many other dangerous creatures.  They are absolutely safer than humans which are the most deadly and dangerous animals on Earth.

Dogs are safer than guns, knives, automobiles, lightning, arthropods, ladders and as Janis Bradley so nicely pointed out in her wonderful little book, they are much safer than balloons and slippers.

Will we ever get back on an even keel, or will the constant media fear-mongering and the much-too-rapidly increasing human population lead to the end of rationality and civilization?

I guess we'll have to wait and see but I'm getting the feeling that we are more than halfway down the long slide into widespread ignorance and lack of common sense.

Which is just the way the tyrants like it.