Written by PETA
"Britney needs a new puppy about as much as Lindsay Lohan needs a drink. She can barely look after herself and her kids, and she's tossed away so many dogs before. The only dog Britney is responsible enough to care for is a stuffed toy."
Spears, who was awarded the title of World's Worst Celebrity Dog Owner in 2006 by The Hollywood Dog Magazine, has already been photographed carrying her new Yorkie like a handbag, and spotted bringing the unfortunate animal to an L.A. night club, which is about as suitable a place for a puppy as it is for a recovering alcoholic mother of two.
MSNBC covered the story, and you can read that here.
The company—whose reaction to the 2005 investigation was to use its lawyers to try and strongarm PETA and PETA Europe into removing the footage from the Web—was eventually cited for numerous violations of the Animal Welfare Act. In a separate case, five Covance facilities were cited by the USDA for instances of animal abuse, including deliberately starving a dog and depriving her of veterinary care. These guys are the world's largest breeders of dogs for experimentation, and you can bet that there were more horrors in store for the dogs made to suffer through the 28-hour-long trip in a Japan Airlines cargo hold. A Covance promotional pamphlet recently obtained by PETA shows dozens of beagles in rows of cages, with the tagline "Helping to bring miracles to market sooner."
Thanks to Covance, it's too late for these particular beagles, but we're asking Japan Airlines to follow the lead of Air Canada and other compassionate airlines by refusing to transport dogs and other animals to vivisection laboratories in future. No responsible business should associate with monsters like Covance, and we're working very hard to ensure that Japan Airlines gets that message. If you'd like to help out, you can write to the airline's CEO through this form.
"Everything that is alive is going to die someday (even you). What matters is the quality of life while something is alive. The fact that food animals are going to eventually die to feed humans doesn't mean that the quality of their lives is therefore irrelevant and should be ignored (since you are also mortal does the quality of your own life not matter either?). Quite the opposite. All sentient beings are worthy of being treated with respect and consideration IMO and that includes lobsters. Minimizing their pain is a worthy and admirable goal IMO. I admire Whole Foods for having animal welfare standards and for continually evolving them--and their ban on selling live lobsters is another positive evolutionary step on behalf of animals. . . .”
Amazing. You can check out the full story here.
I'm no football expert, and this isn't exactly a sports blog, but I thought I'd start off the day with three great reasons why Ladell Betts should start instead of Clinton Portis as the Washington Redskins Running Back this year:
For those of you who haven't heard about that last part yet, here's what Portis said to reporters about the Michael Vick dogfighting scandal:
"I think people should mind their business, you know. I don't know if he was fighting dogs or not, but it's his property, his dog, if that's what he wants to do, do it. … It can't be too bad of a crime. There's a lot of stuff that's crimes, you know. It's killers on the loose over here and you want to hunt down Michael Vick over fighting some dogs."
Clinton, buddy, I stuck by you through your lousy, injury-ridden season last year, but I think this may be the end of the road for us. There's a great article about the story on Fox Sports, which you can check out here. And you can watch a little bit more about what dogfighting is all about here. I'm thinking Portis should be made to review that video while the rest of the team is watching game tape next year.
You've probably heard by now about the alleged dogfighting ring that was uncovered in a raid on Michael Vick's property last week. Vick has been vigorously denying any involvement in the operation, and I really, really want to believe him, because he genuinely is a fantastic quarterback. Unfortunately, the man's versatility in the pocket is at best dubious proof of his innocence in this case, and things are looking even more bleak for the Falcons QB after Deadspin reported on another apparent link between Vick and the property. According to info published on Deadspin:
"A Web site associated with a Michael Vick company, MV7, LLC, professes to be in the business of breeding pit bulls and other dogs as pets not for fighting. VicksK9Kennels.com states that, "We do not promote, support or raise dogs for fighting and will not knowingly sell, give, or trade any dog that may be used for fighting." The property Vick owns in Virginia where dozens of dogs were confiscated last week in a dog-fighting investigation is listed as the address for the Web site and the company, 1915 Moonlight Road, Smithfield, Va."
Um, yeah. We're still calling on the Falcons to suspend Vick until this has been cleared up, and to release him from the team if animals on his property are found to have been neglected or used for fighting. For my own part, unless he is able to absolve himself completely of all this, I will not be selecting Michael Vick for my fantasy football team this year. It's called tough love, Michael.
See Also:DeadspinUSA Today
Like most people, I love to watch the man play football, but if the allegations I heard today are true, I'm not sure I ever want to see Michael Vick suit up for a game again. According to news reports, local and state law enforcement discovered more than 60 pit bulls and other dogs on Vick's property in Surry County Virginia yesterday, who showed signs of serious abuse that is consistent with having been used for fighting. Officials also evidently discovered dogfighting paraphernalia, including a “rape stand” on the premises. These are deadly serious allegations, and it's immensely distressing to see such a high-profile athlete accused of this kind of cruelty. PETA is calling on the Atlanta Falcons to immediately suspend Vick pending the outcome of the investigation, and if animals on his property are found to have been neglected or used for fighting, we're asking that he be released from the team.” You can help out by clicking here to write to the Falcons about this issue, and for more information you can read our letter to Falcons Owner Arthur Blank.
The Atlanta Falcons should be kicking themselves right now that they traded away backup QB Matt Schaub this offseason, but even a year with Joey Harrington at the helm is better than having your team led by someone with a mark like this on their record.
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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