ANIMAL WATCH

ANIMAL WATCH - Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz has used his political influence to gain passage of widely publicized animal-related measures and gain media attention and the approval and camaraderie of some of the nation’s largest and most affluent charitable organizations. 

ANIMAL WATCH - On March 21, 2022, a 38-year-old mother of three, Kyleen Waltman, was walking to her home in Honea Path, SC, around 10:30 a.m. when...

ANIMAL WATCH - The merciless bombing of Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin has now continued for over a month, with news broadcasts making the tragedy and pain of innocent human and animal victims unbearably palpable and arousing our need to help in the only way we can—by sending a donation to an organization that promises help. 

ANIMAL WATCH - On-line betting on cockfights, called E-Sabong, was approved by the Philippine Congress in 2021 to collect governmental revenue from gambling on this brutal and deadly blood sport in the Philippines.

ANIMAL WATCH - With the recent and ongoing tragic attacks by Pit Bulls in Los Angeles Animal Services’ shelters and in homes to which they are adopted,

ANIMAL WATCH - This is just one in a long string of attacks at Los Angeles Animal Services’ shelters by Pit Bulls and other dogs with a known history or aggression.  

ANIMAL WATCH - Before the 1990's Pit Bulls were rarely kept as pets; and, if so, they were carefully confined for the protection of the community and dogs involved in unprovoked attacks were immediately euthanized.

ANIMAL WATCH - California claims to be the capital of humaneness to animals, but no creatures are more victimized by political ambition and election ploys than dogs and cats; and AB 1881, introduced by Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, is just the latest example, following in the footsteps of Councilman Paul Koretz’ disastrous pet shop ban in Los Angeles.

ANIMAL WATCH - Breast cancer survivor Alicia Barton will struggle for the rest of her life with the pain, crippling injuries, and panic attacks she suffers after a vicious attack by four Pit Bulls last month.  

ANIMAL WATCH - Over three hundred rescued dogs and cats evacuated from war-torn Kabul, Afghanistan, arrived at the Vancouver International Airport in British Columbia, Canada, on February 1, 2022, to be reunited with owners or adopted to new homes, after a quarantine period, CBC News reported. 

ANIMAL WATCH - Actor Travis Van Winkle, most recently known for the TV thriller series, You, captured images and video of two coyotes which he reports attempted to attack his dog, Karen, on January 23, as they were hiking during daytime at Griffith Park in the Hollywood-Los Feliz area of Los Angeles. 

ANIMAL WATCH - A savage attack by two Pit Bulls killed the beloved tiny pet dog  of a woman in Koreatown, a community just west of downtown Los Angeles, while they were on a morning walk, according to KTLA News on January 25, 2022. 

ANIMAL WATCH - In the midst of bloody, vicious Pit Bull attacks across the nation that are maiming and killing residents and their beloved pets, on January 21, 2022, KNAU news announced: 

ANIMAL WATCH - The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) reported last week that five people died in the U.S. from rabies during 2021, which is the highest number since 2007, and follows a two-year lull—2019 and 2020—in which no human rabies deaths occurred in this country. 

ANIMAL WATCH - On January 30, 2022, an AKC-backed law to prevent insurance companies from denying or increasing premiums on homeowners or renters who own Pit Bulls or other dangerous dog breeds, will go into effect in New York state.

ANIMAL WATCH - The U.S. Postal Service is being urged by Illinois lawmakers to crack down on the transport of fighting roosters used for illegal cockfighting activities in the U.S. and its territories—especially Guam.

ANIMAL WATCH - Two dog lovers on different continents, both parents of minor children, were called “heroes” by some when both died within one week from unrelated violent attacks by Pit Bull-type dogs they rescued and thought they could “save.”  

ANIMAL WATCH - Shame on Larry Gross, President of the Los Angeles Animal Services Commission, for introducing and lobbying for endorsement of H.R. 5828, a Bill by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) with the misleading, if not intentionally deceptive, title—“Pets Belong with Families Act,” rather than the actual descriptive intent, which is “Pit Bulls Belong in Low-Income Federal Rentals/Housing.” 

ANIMAL WATCH - On January 1, 2022, a new California law goes into effect to crack down on fraudulent emotional support animals.

ANIMAL WATCH - Luke Westerman, Pit Bull Activist, “No Kill” advocate and former-Executive Director of the Humane Society of El Paso, pleaded guilty in October to 19 charges of securities fraud and grand theft in Ohio and was ordered as part of sentencing on November 18 to pay $1,105,369.29 in restitution. 

ANIMAL WATCH - Cockfighting and breeding “gamefowl” for export is rampant in California, “with fights occurring from San Diego to Monterey to Del Norte counties and with the sale of thousands of fighting animals to Mexico, Guam, the Northern Marianas Islands, and other destinations throughout the world,” according to Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action (AWA), in a media release this week. 

ANIMAL WATCH - Los Angeles Animal Services General Manager Dana Brown issued two media releases during the escalating canine influenza outbreaks at LAAS West Valley and West LA shelters, 

ANIMAL WATCH - Our last report on this topic, Dog Fighting is Thriving in U.S. - Hundreds of Pit Bulls Seized, was posted on Jun 13, 2021, when 42 pit bulls were seized in a Florida dog-fighting ring bust.  It didn’t take long for another arrest and the many more to be reported in 2021.  

ANIMAL WATCH - A recent series of unprovoked attacks by Pit Bulls on adult men of all ages—and, especially, the elderly—has been captured in shocking surveillance footage and news videos all over the country.

ANIMAL WATCH - In Dog Theft: Popular Campaign Relaunched, it was reported on October 6, 2021, that the UK government announced earlier this year that stealing dogs and other pets will be made a new criminal offense. 

ANIMAL WATCH - If you volunteer or adopt a Pit Bull or other aggressive dog from a Los Angeles Animal Services shelter, you may be taking far greater a risk than expected with your life and safety and that of your family, friends, pets, neighbors and your entire community. 

ANIMAL WATCH - The death of the brutal and atavistic ‘sport’ of cockfighting--and other blood sports, including dog fighting—in all U.S. states and territories was signaled this week,

ANIMAL WATCH - Pit Bull rescuer/’No Kill” activist Luke Westerman, a former "sidekick" of indicted Los Angeles County dog trainer Steffen Baldwin, was fired as Executive Director of the Humane Society of El Paso the day after he was arrested and booked into jail on 19 charges of fraud and grand theft in Ohio.

ANIMAL WATCH-In opposing a motion by Best Friends Animal Society (BFAS) to dismiss a lawsuit discussed on CityWatch on August 29, 2021, resulting from the savage Pit Bull attack on volunteer Eve Karasik at Best Friends’ No-Kill LA (NKLA) adoption center, Los Angeles attorney Ronald M. Papell states: 

ANIMAL WATCH-Dangerous Pit Bulls recently have been the greatest threat to the safety of adopters at Los Angeles Animal Services “No Kill” shelters because even a history of severe aggression was not a deterrent to allowing unsuspecting individuals or families to interact or adopt them, but the recent post-COVID reopening of the East Valley shelter revealed another terrifying hazard -- packs of RATS.