In July 2009, nearly 500 sick, emaciated, and injured dogs (some of whom are shown in the photos below) were rescued from a hellish Bowie, Texas, puppy mill called Maggic Pets/Heddins Kennels. But more than a year later, the county attorney's office has yet to file even a single criminal charge against Cloyce and Carol Heddins, the owners of the facility. Worst of all, the Heddins are rumored to be back in business with a new hoard of dogs!

During the 2009 rescue, teams reportedly found dogs who were locked in cages with no water, dogs who were missing legs, four dead dogs, and the bones of others. An elderly Chihuahua suffering from a broken jaw could only eat by softening his kibble with saliva before swallowing, and an elderly poodle had become virtually blind because the fur around his eyes was severely matted and his eyes were encrusted with discharge.

We can join the howls of protest over this injustice by sending a letter to Montague County Attorney Ronald Walker, urging him to file cruelty-to-animals charges against the Heddins immediately. And for the sake of the dogs who are suffering in other nightmarish facilities across the country, let's remind our friends and family that this is what they are likely supporting if they are buying animals from pet stores.

Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post

Every day, Emily, Amanda, Christina, Kelly, and Misty of PETA's Community Animal Project (CAP) respond to pleas to help abused and neglected animals in impoverished areas of southern Virginia and North Carolina. They're often a caller's last hope. Here are just three recent cases to give you an idea of their work:

By a fluke, PETA's CAP staffers happened upon Ridge while checking on other neglected, chained dogs in his neighborhood. The elderly dog was suffering from a severe skin condition, multiple tumors, arthritis, and seizures. Winter would have been pure hell for him. His guardian said that she was praying he would just die in his sleep. Ridge would almost certainly have frozen to death if one of his other illnesses didn't claim him first. Our staff convinced her that it was cruel not to take action, and she agreed to let the poor old fellow be put out of his misery after a wonderful meal and a lot of attention.

We learned about the plight of this little bunny, Ms. Bunkins, when her guardian called PETA to ask for assistance with neutering her cat (assistance that we readily provided). The bunny was kept confined to a tiny wire cage with another rabbit who was suffering from a severely deformed leg (and who was later euthanized). Neither rabbit had been spayed or neutered—their guardian didn't even know their sexes! Perhaps most dangerous of all, she was feeding the rabbits cat food.

PETA supplied Ms. Bunkins with fresh greens, hay, and a larger new enclosure, and we gave her guardian some important information about proper rabbit care. We also scheduled spay surgery.

Our relationship with Lady goes all the way back to when she was a puppy, chained up with her mother in a backyard. PETA's CAP staffers managed to get both mother and daughter spayed, and they recently returned to euthanize Lady's elderly mother after she had a stroke. Soon afterward, Lady's guardians called to say that they were worried Lady was lonely after the death of her mother. Thrilled that our efforts to educate the family were at last bearing fruit, we encouraged them to bring Lady inside and arranged for her to be bathed, groomed, and treated for fleas. Upon her return, Lady was taken inside the house for likely the very first time in her life.

Written by Alisa Mullins

What better way to honor Simon Cowell, American Idol creator and staunch spay-and-neuter advocate, on his 51^st birthday than by taking action on an issue that he so strongly supports?

Mr. Cowell has proved that he is a true friend to animals—and as a birthday present, PETA's "Spay and Neuter Immediately, Please!" (SNIP) mobile veterinary program will add 51 more, (for FREE), surgeries to the 7,300 that we've already done so far this year—and the whopping 64,721 sterilizations that we've performed since 2001.

Consider that just one unaltered female dog and her offspring can produce 67,000 puppies in only six years—and that in seven years, one female cat and her offspring can produce 420,000 kittens! Then consider that a very simple, inexpensive (or even free) spay or neuter surgery can make a huge dent in the number of homeless animals who are cast into the streets or left at animal shelters.

If you haven't already, do as Simon says: Have your companion animals spayed or neutered. And please wish our caring idol the best birthday ever—leave your message for him in the comments section below! Happy birthday, Simon!

Written by Karin Bennett

Animal hoarding was a dirty secret until hoarders began to appear on our TV screens and showed us how they are compelled to collect so many dogs, cats, or parrots that the animals end up living in cages that are only inches bigger than the animals' own bodies—for their entire lives.

Imagine what it must be like for these animals—stuck in a see-through box, sitting in their own filth, unable to take a step, never comfortable, constantly being yelled at to be quiet, or ignored because their captors are so accustomed to hearing them crying, whining, and working away at the cage bars?

Now, though, the cat's out of the bag, and perhaps more cats will soon be out of hoarders' hands.

But, like a virus, the hoarding impulse has morphed into something even more insidious. Hoarders are trying to take over our animal shelters.

One hundred years ago, New Yorkers stopped stray dogs from being drowned in the Hudson. Forty years ago, humane societies stopped municipalities from killing unwanted dogs and cats by using hot, unfiltered truck exhaust fumes, causing the animals to choke to death.

Today, while some primitive pounds remain, great strides in humane sheltering standards have been made. There are places where behaviorists work to reduce abandoned animals' separation anxiety, groomers cut away matted hair to make animals comfortable and adoptable, and walkers are employed to ensure that no cage paralysis sets in. There are municipal animal shelters that cope with tens of thousands of animals a year yet still provide a comfortable, caring environment.

But "institutional hoarders" now threaten to turn back the clock on these hard-won reforms by bullying authorities into adopting magical-sounding "no-kill" policies that do animals no favors. Inside such hoarding facilities (many of which eventually end up in the news after raids by law enforcement agencies), dogs and cats—sick or healthy, old or young—are reduced to withdrawn and pathetic wrecks because of the crowding and neglect that they endure.

In well-run animal shelters, managers know that you can't store animals as if they were oranges. Tough decisions must be made about who remains on the adoption floor and who goes to sleep forever. As long as people fail to spay and neuter their animal companions, continue to acquire and dispose of animals casually, and buy from breeders and pet shops instead of adopting, there will be far more dogs and cats than there are good homes for them all. Millions more.

Many hoarding facilities leave the dirty work to others, refusing to accept sick, aged, or "unadoptable" animals. In order to avoid euthanasia, they reduce operational hours to prevent drop-offs and adopt animals into bad homes. Severe crowding means that diseases flourish, causing misery and, ironically, often leading to mass euthanasia of all the animals, even those who entered the facility in good health.

In New Jersey recently, a no-kill group that had been in charge of a particular animal shelter left the shelter to another group's management. Their successors had this to say about what they found when they took over:

Giving an animal a quiet, painless, and peaceful death is a sad indictment of our throwaway society, but a life in a cramped, filthy cage is not a "rescue."

Last month in Virginia, PETA ran an ad pleading for homes for 28 cats. Three people responded. In the same area, PETA has spayed or neutered more than 63,000 dogs and cats. Birth prevention never completely staunches the flow of unwanted animals, but "fixing" one dog or cat saves countless more animals from homelessness and misery.

Municipalities need to stand firm. Time and money must go into mandatory spaying and neutering as well as guardianship education—not into warehousing animals. The no-kill movement is harmful to humane sheltering.

Written by Ingrid E. Newkirk

… to publicly thank The Pretty Reckless vocalist and Gossip Girl star for making the compassionate, responsible decision to have her pooch neutered.

It's no secret that we at PETA are nuts (geddit?) about the pluses of spaying and neutering—two safe, simple procedures that help to reduce the number of homeless dogs and cats.

So we at PETA would like to submit the following poem in Momsen's honor:

Oh, Taylor Momsen!
You're sure to see
A media spectacle
'Cause you lit your dog's (detached) testicles

But at PETA, we stand and applaud
The choice you made, it should be law
To neuter your friend
And help put an end
To the homelessness of millions who have paws

Written by Karin Bennett

Coming soon to a billboard in Big Pine Key, Florida:

PETA's offer to pay $1,500 for the right to erect the above image at a new dog park in Hampton, New Jersey, may have been rejected by fundraising Girl Scouts there, but organizers of a dog park in the Sunshine State who read about the rejection found our proposal irresistible. They asked for a similar deal—and now their new dog park will be getting the funding, and park visitors will be giving paws pause to consider the fact that a resolution to spay and neuter their companion animals would help decrease the number of animals who are forced to live in animal shelters or on the streets.

Meanwhile, our billboard could still grace Hampton's new dog park. City Council members there are currently mulling over our proposal.

Written by Karin Bennett

UPDATE: The University of Utah has announced that it no longer will purchase animals from North Utah Valley Animal Shelter or any other shelter for experiments!

Remember the North Utah Valley Animal Shelter (NUVAS)? You know, the only animal shelter in Utah that still betrays dogs and cats by selling them to the University of Utah for invasive, painful, and deadly experiments? PETA recently obtained photos of nearly 50 dogs whom NUVAS had sold for experiments, and here are two of them:

These sweet dogs, who were probably once someone's companions, may have ended up like other dogs who were recently purchased from NUVAS: killed and dissected after having holes cut into their necks and chests and pacemakers implanted in their hearts in order to induce an irregular heartbeat.

How many more animals like Chance and Scout will NUVAS betray? Perhaps none—if we all share these dogs' photos online and call for an end to NUVAS' shameful practice of selling animals for experiments—and get our Facebook friends and Twitter tweeps to do the same.

Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post

Shortly after PETA's German affiliate received information from a Bosnian whistleblower who claimed to have identified the girl caught on video hurling puppies into a river, Bosnian police reportedly also identified the girl, whose actions had prompted an international outcry. In the video (which was allegedly shot by the girl's brother), she can be seen cheerfully chucking the whimpering puppies to an almost certain death.

Earlier this week, PETA offered a $2,000 reward—and film director Michael Bay offered a $50,000 reward—for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for this heinous act.

If convicted, the puppy abuser would face a fine of $6,400 under a newly adopted Bosnian animal-protection law.

Written by Alisa Mullins

PETA is offering a reward of up to $2,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for drowning a litter of helpless puppies in the video above. Members of 4chan were able to track down the owner of the Bosnian YouTube account that originally uploaded the video and we currently have six possible leads, but the identity of the girl has yet to be confirmed. If you have information regarding this case, please contact PETA's Cruelty Investigations Department.

Written by Shawna Flavell

mioi / CC by 2.0

Courtesy of California's Department of Motor Vehicles, drivers in the Golden State will soon get a refresher on the importance of not leaving their canine companions in ovens-on-wheels hot cars. Starting next year, the California Driver Handbook will include text warning drivers never to leave dogs in hot vehicles and pointing out that doing so is illegal and can result in fines and jail time (not to mention a dead dog or an expensive vet bill).

California is the first state in the nation to include this warning in its driver's manual—PETA will be pushing other states to follow its lead! And since the dog days of summer are still going strong, let's continue to be watchdogs for animals whose guardians flunked driver's training 101 or have become distracted inside a store.

Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post