Good news out of New York: Following September's flood in which nearly 100 animals died when they were left to drown, PETCO has announced that its Johnson City store will not sell any animals upon reopening this month. The announcement is music to the ears of Johnson City residents, dozens of whom joined a PETA-led demonstration last September aimed at keeping PETCO from reopening. 

This decision will save many animals from being bred and warehoused to supply the store, which seems appropriate considering all those terrified animals who perished in the dark, cold waters. But PETCO still doesn't deserve our business until it does the right thing and stops selling animals in all its stores nationwide, given the neglect and cruelty that occur at those locations and that are rife within the chain's animal suppliers, in addition to the fact that the animal-homelessness crisis—which PETCO itself cites at its dog and cat adoption events—affects the very species the chain sells, too.

Kudos to Johnson City for forging such progress for animals in the pet trade from the devastation that struck there. And remember, folks—there's still a criminal investigation pending concerning the events leading up to those animals' horrible deaths …

How You Can Help Animals in Pet Stores

Please buy supplies for your companions only from retailers that do not sell animals.

Courtesy of USDA

Hey, Soul Sister! PETA has sent an urgent letter to the rock band Train urging the group to cancel their performance at KFC's franchisee convention in San Antonio—or else face the music from PETA supporters—because of KFC's refusal to stop its suppliers' cruelty to chickens.

Many of the top names in music have taken a strong public stand against KFC, including Sir Paul McCartney, Pink, the Smashing Pumpkins, and Chrissie Hynde. Let's hope that Train gets on board, too, but if they take KFC's dirty money, they must carry the company's baggage—and PETA will protest their show.

How You Can Help Chickens

Even those of us who are not quite famous can tell KFC to take cruelty to chickens off the menu. Sign Pink's petition demanding that KFC require its suppliers to stop abusing birds (and don't eat at its restaurants until it agrees).

After someone with a sharp eye and a kind heart spotted a thin horse confined to a small pen, the person contacted PETA's Emergency Response Team. We immediately got in touch with the local humane society, which was on the case right away! The horse was rescued from her pitiful little mesh prison and transported to a stable, where she can now walk freely for perhaps the first time in months, maybe even years.

I wonder how many people passed by this horse every day without giving her a second thought. Yet all that her happiness depended upon was the intervention of one concerned passerby. Please, if you see an animal you believe is being neglected or abused, be that one wonderful person who takes a few minutes out of the day to make a crucial difference.

Not sure what to do when you suspect cruelty or neglect? PETA can help.

Loz Flowers | cc by 2.0

Dworkin Furs in Ottawa has been peddling pelts for more than a century. But 100 years of cruelty is coming to an end as Dworkin Furs sells off the last of its skins and shuts its doors.

While management at Dworkin is staying mum, business professor Ian Lee said fur sales are down because PETA and other groups have exposed the cruelty of the fur industry. "[PETA] have made it less fashionable—or less acceptable, I should say—to wear fur," he told news sources. "You don't close your doors because you're making lots of money … you close your doors because you aren't making money."

Thanks for showing retailers that fur is headed the way of the stagecoach. Let's keep the pressure on by sharing the Pledge to Be Fur-Free on Facebook and adding to the long list of people who wouldn't be caught dead wearing dead animals.

For the past 65 years during Yellville, Arkansas' annual "Turkey Trot Festival," residents have hurled live turkeys out of airplanes at high altitudes for the "pleasure" of watching the wild birds—who naturally only fly short distances at low altitudes—drop to the Earth. Many are badly injured or killed, and others are tackled and taken home to be eaten for Thanksgiving dinner. But this year, not only were no turkeys tossed, two lucky birds were also rescued and are now living in a loving home!

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) swarmed the area, promising that any pilot caught throwing turkeys would risk losing his or her license. Apparently, the would-be turkey-tossers decided it wasn't worth the risk—not one turkey was dropped! PETA is also offering a $5,000 reward (which still stands) for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone caught throwing turkeys out of airplanes.

To "get back at PETA" for objecting to this cruel tradition, one woman tried to buy two flightless, domesticated turkeys so that she could hurl them from the roof of the town courthouse! A PETA activist quickly intervened, warning the sellers that they would be aiding and abetting in a crime by selling the birds for this purpose, and she convinced them to give the birds to her instead. After getting veterinary care for one of the birds, who had suffered injuries to her face and neck, likely from abuse, PETA found the birds a wonderful home. Now named Lori and Walfredo, the turkeys are living the good life on a spacious farm with a loving family.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

Ducks and geese in North America are a bit safer, now that "celebrity" hunter Jeff Foiles has been banned from hunting for three years in Canada and two in the U.S. following convictions for cruelty to animals.

Foiles, who sells videos of his hunts online, was reportedly seen in one of his taped hunts holding up a wounded duck, wrenching the duck's neck, and opening the bird's mouth while making quacking sounds. According to a news report, "In another hunt videotaped the next day, Foiles manipulates a wounded duck for four minutes, whacking it on the head with a duck call, covering its head with an empty shell box and playing peek-a-boo. He later places his fingers over the bird's nostrils and holds its beak closed while asking 'Is this how you want to die?'"

schrodingersduck | cc by 2.0

Reportedly, a wildlife expert testified during Foiles' hearing that the birds he abused were "conscious, alive and suffering extreme pain and stress."

Considering that people who find it fun to torture and kill animals often take their issues out on human victims as well, we should all be thankful that Foiles is spending 13 months behind bars.

Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post

Ralph and Jenny/CC by 2.0

If you think that animals who are used in movies are trained with a magic wand, consider the latest charges lodged against two British animal trainers who supplied a tawny owl named Cuddles for the production of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The RSPCA is taking the pair to court for alleged cruelty to animals.

Just last year, another U.K. trainer who provided some of the owls for the popular movie series pleaded guilty to 17 cruelty-to-animals offenses after humane authorities found dozens of emaciated and dehydrated birds with severe injuries, overgrown beaks, and swollen and clubbed feet at the trainer's facility. The birds were confiscated.

Always speak up for animals who are used as acting props and remind companies that there is no reason to use wild animals in ads when animation, animatronics, computer-generated images, and other highly advanced technologies can produce realistic substitutes without supporting cruelty.

Written by Jennifer O'Connor

When Michael McLeod pleaded guilty to shooting and killing his Norfolk, Virginia, neighbor's dog, Rex, because he was annoyed at the dog's barking, he may not have thought he'd get a long prison sentence for cruelty to animals. But he was facing Circuit Court Judge Karen J. Burrell, a self-described "judge who has compassion for animals." She handed down the maximum sentence: 11 years for felony cruelty to animals, discharging a firearm in a public place, and failing to appear in court (McLeod dodged his original sentencing hearing in 2003 and was on the lam for seven years). McLeod will serve five years behind bars, with six years suspended. If he violates the terms of his probation after being released, he could serve that extra time too.

"When judges hand down sentences like this, they deter people from being cruel to animals," PETA Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch told a reporter. They also deter people from being cruel to people, as there is a known link between cruelty to animals and violent crimes against humans.

If you know any people who leave their dogs or cats outside unattended, please share Rex's story with them. It only takes a few minutes for animals to become victims of people with short fuses and long rifle barrels.

Written by Alisa Mullins

And, this week's 10% Wool "Tag and Release" winner is ... Beth Ann! Congratulations.

So I see that Ringling Bros. is trying to expand its "Greatest Show on Earth" slogan …

Don't forget to check out the archive of past 10% Wool comic strips here. Get more information on the series and the writer here, and learn how to get Jeff's other comic, DeFlocked, into your local paper here.

All animal abuse is despicable, but some abuses are so outrageously dumb and mind-blowingly cruel that I can only guess that they were thought up by drunk, heartless buffoons trying to "out-cruel" each other in a bar bet. Case in point:

"Entrepreneurs" in Southern Russia could face two years in jail for animal abuse after allegedly forcing a donkey to parasail over the Sea of Azov. Horrified beachgoers reported that the terrified donkey screamed nonstop—the animal was so high in the air that crying children asked why a "doggie" was tied to a parachute. But as a police spokesperson noted, "No one had the brains to call police."

The donkey's terrifying ordeal didn't end there: After crash-landing in the water, she was dragged behind a boat for several meters before she was finally pulled out of the water, barely alive.

Police are investigating the incident, which has made headlines all over the world and prompted an international outcry. Please make sure that officials at the Russian Embassy hear from you too.

Written by Karin Bennett