Daily Archives: November 16, 2023

Worrying data from the Shelter Animals Count (SAC) reveals that thousands of homeless dogs are currently at risk of euthanasia. The reason? Dog adoptions have declined across the country, leading to most shelters nationwide grappling with an overcrowding crisis.

Sadly, euthanasia seems like the only way out for animal shelters and local surrenders already running at full capacity.

Referring to new data from the Shelter Animals Count, the MSPCA-Angell stated that euthanasia rates in 2023 are 22% higher.

According to the organization, the number of homeless dogs currently at risk of euthanasia is 96,000 more than last year. Without serious interventions in place, this figure may continue to rise into 2024.

The director of adoption centers and programs at MSPCA-Angell and Shelter of Animals Counts board chair, Mike Keily, noted that the increasing lack of adopters for the ever-rising number of homeless dogs in U.S. shelters is to blame for the euthanasia risk.

We saw this coming and have been working for months to try to reduce the risk for homeless dogs across the country, Keily said. Were at capacity right now with dozens of dogs in our care who need and deserve to find great new homes.

Weve actually been operating at capacity basically all year to maximize as many opportunities as possible to save dogs.

The Coronavirus pandemic may have worsened the dog adoption crisis. Things havent been this bad for dogs in years, stated Keily. We started making progress before the pandemic, and we were even able to continue that through 2021. He further commented, But theres been a major backslide since then, and now we are in a really bad place.

Lockdowns during the COVID-19 era pushed millions of Americans to adopt a furry member for companionships sake.But when life returned to normal, cases of post-Covid pet regret rose. Most people opted to abandon or surrender their pooches, causing many animal shelters to fill up at an alarming rate.

Besides the end of the COVID-19 era, other factors, such as tough economic times, have led to a drop in dog adoption.With too many canines coming into shelters way more than the number of available adopters shelters are struggling to offer adequate care to all the dogs under their roof.

The post Euthanasia Rates on the Rise as Dog Adoptions Slow Down appeared first on DogTime.

Read more here:

Euthanasia Rates on the Rise as Dog Adoptions Slow Down - Yahoo Life

On Nov. 9, 2023, Mouse Trap News published an article positing that Disney had confirmed it would be building a "euthanasia" ride meant to "'peacefully' kill people, in a fun and exciting way." The article began:

Confirmed: Disney is Building a Euthanasia Roller Coaster

Disney World is home to some world-class roller coasters. One example is Space Mountain, which you can soon sleep in as we reported here. Also, Disney has plans to build a new roller coaster that actually jumps the track. This is a very exciting proposal. However, the next roller coaster to be built at Disney World is a euthanasia roller coaster, designed to kill you.

The article claims that the concept is based on Lithuanian artist Julijonas Urbonas' design, which we've previously reported as being real, albeit only as a conceptual art project. However, Disney will not be building such a roller coaster, and this article was not a factual recounting of real-life events. Mouse Trap News describes its output as being humorous or satirical in nature, as follows:

A day later, the TikTok account of Mouse Trap News posted a video showing what it would look like to ride such a rollercoaster from a first-person perspective. "Fittingly, as guests ride the euthanasia roller coaster they'll be treated to the song 'Remember Me' from 'Coco.' Also their family members will get to enjoy the song too as they watch you take your final ride," the narrator said. The video notes that the ride will only be available for terminally ill patients with a doctor's note, but that there are ethical concerns.

On Urbonas' website, he describes the Euthanasia Coaster as being:

...a hypothetic death machine in the form of a roller coaster, engineered to humanely with elegance and euphoria take the life of a human being.

Riding the coaster's track, the rider is subjected to a series of intensive motion elements that induce various unique experiences: from euphoria to thrill, and from tunnel vision to loss of consciousness, and, eventually, death. Thanks to the marriage of the advanced cross-disciplinary research in aeronautics/space medicine, mechanical engineering, material technologies and, of course, gravity, the fatal journey is made pleasing, elegant and meaningful.

For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.

Go here to read the rest:

Is Disney Building a New Roller Coaster Designed To Kill You? - Snopes.com

Paw it Forward

In our actions toward people, animals and the planet, everything is connected.

What we do to the web, we do to ourselves. (Chief Seattle)

Harm done to one is harm done to all. (Restorative Justice principle)

We are connected not only in body, but in spirit. (Rudolfo Anaya, Shaman Winter).

Nothing exists in a vacuum. Everything we do has a consequence, a trickle-down effect thats so big most people dont realize it, or if they do, they dont want to think about it.

So, what does that have to do with euthanizing animals? In the August article, Adopt versus Shop, we learned the euthanasia rate at the Valencia County Shelter has hovered around 50 percent every month for the past year. The number of animals being brought into the shelter is averaging 500-700 every month. That means that every month, 250-350 animals are put to death, one by one, in the small euthanasia room at the shelter, by people who are your neighbors, family members and friends.

Sit with that for a moment, because its easy to turn away. Nobody wants to do it, but those who want to help animals in their community, take them in when theyre lost or unwanted, hopefully find them homes, or if theyre suffering from injuries or illness to ease their pain, know that in most cases euthanizing the overflow is part of the job.

Its no secret that the trauma, depression and suicide rates of animal welfare workers are very high. Years ago, I myself lost one shelter coworker to suicide and another to addiction-all within six months. Thats certainly not something most people think about. The fact that they dont think about it is the real problem because it allows the community to keep doing what its doing, even though people and animals are suffering.

Believing that an animal (or a person) has no feelings or that their feelings dont matter, and that our own needs outweigh those of another living being even if it means that being is going to suffer or die, is a dangerous mindset. We see it played out in our world every single day. Its not only toxic, its contagious.

It starts with the person whos just dropped off the family dog because the family is moving or surrendered another litter from their unspayed dog or cat, knowing but ignoring the fact that those beings may die before theyve even driven back home.

Then it hits the shelter workers for whom overcrowded conditions, the constant drone of peoples excuses for surrendering up to 30 or more animals a day, and having to decide by days end which 15 of those will not live to see tomorrow, is a brutal, soul crushing reality.

You see, in order to behave in these ways we have to lose our capacity for empathy. Were not supposed to lose that its what makes us able to live amongst each other, create things and support life. Its what makes us feel guilty when weve hurt someone and apologize, or better yet, not do something to hurt someone in the first place, but our brains are pretty amazing things.

Through a variety of cognitive tricks and thinking errors, we can justify almost any behavior, and sweep all kinds of uncomfortable facts and feelings right under the rug. Problem is, they dont go away just because theyre out of sight. They come back to haunt us, and our continuous efforts to keep them hidden leak out in all sorts of nasty ways including violence, abuse, righteous indignation, passive aggression, apathy, inaction and, yes, even depression and anxiety.

It can happen to anyone. I recently learned that one in five Americans is on some type of psychotropic medication for anxiety, depression or PTSD. Some of those are animal welfare workers, some are all the rest of us. Its all connected.

Valencia County faces many issues preventing a sustainable let alone regenerative animal welfare system, but clearly the current state of affairs is not only disheartening, its unhealthy, and not sustainable. In mental health we refer to something called radical acceptance. Thats when you stop pretending a problem doesnt exist or being angry that it does, and instead of fighting with it, you turn all that energy into fuel to create real solutions.

Valencia County needs a new paradigm, not more Euthasol. Thatll take effort and cooperation from everyone citizens, community leaders, animal health care practitioners, shelter personnel and rescue organizations. Because everything is connected, those efforts will help not only the animals, but the entire community.

(Colleen Doughertys history in animal welfare includes work in a veterinary clinic, shelters in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, and as a volunteer for the Valencia County Animal Shelter. She has been a speaker at the N.M. State Humane Conference on three occasions, presenting talks on caring for small mammals in the shelter setting, and compassion fatigue in animal welfare. She holds degrees in art and counseling therapy, and certificates in eco-psychology and feline massage therapy.)

See the original post:

Euthanasias effect on culture and society - Valencia County News Bulletin

Find us: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Amazon Music / iHeart Radio / TuneIn

On this episode of Daily Paws Presents: Warm Fuzzies, host Karman Hotchkiss talks with Tyler Van Leer, a fire marshall with the Millville (New Jersey) Fire Department, about his partner Hansel, the country's first-ever pit bull certified in arson detection.

Equipped with his all-star sniffer, Hansel searches fire scenes for accelerants, letting Van Leer know if he finds anything by taking a seat. But early in his life, there was no indication Hansel would help solve crimes. In fact, there was no indication he would live any kind of life.

"He essentially broke this case wide open and we were able to connect all these dots because he literally just came in out of nowhere and said, 'Hey, there's something here.'"Fire Marshal Tyler Van Leer

Daily Paws Presents: Warm Fuzzies is a new six-episode podcast featuring heartwarming stories that highlight special furry family members. Well share tales of unlikely friendships, hero pets, miracle rescues, and more make-you-smile stories that celebrate the joy animal companions bring to our lives. Hosted by Karman Hotchkiss, certified cat lady (dont tell her dog).

Editors note: This transcript does not go through our standard editorial process and may contain inaccuracies and grammatical errors.

You can find a transcript of this Warm Fuzzies episode here.

Read the original here:

Arson Detection Pit Bull Hansel Escaped Euthanasia - Daily Paws

How Then Should We Die?: Two Opposing Responses to the Challenges of Suffering and Death by s. kay toombscolloquium press, 170 pages, $10

In 1936, C. S. Lewiss friend and physician R. E. Havard penned a letter reflecting on the newly-introduced Voluntary Euthanasia Bill, a proposal rejected by the House of Lords later that year. Viewing attempts to legalize medically-sanctioned suicide as the logical sequel to the secularization of society, he mused that its legalization would add to, not reduce, the distress . . . surrounding death.1 Permitting euthanasia, Havard argued, would not only defy the medico-ethical tradition expressed in the Hippocratic oath and thereby harm the patient-physician relationship, but also worsen the suffering of the severely ill themselves, causing patients to feel that it was their duty to spare others the burden of witnessing their suffering.

Nearly ninety years later, physician-assisted suicide (PAS) has become legal in over ten countries and a growing number of states in the U.S.: Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Colorado, California, Hawaii, New Mexico, New Jersey, and Maine. (It remains illegal in the United Kingdom.) The Western social imaginary surrounding medicineand deathhas clearly shifted. Have Dr. Havards predictions come to pass?

Invoking Francis Schaeffers 1976 classic, How Should We Then Live?, S. Kay Toombss How Then Should We Die? dissects prevailing cultural attitudes toward illness, disability, and death. She draws two distinct portraits: 1) disability and illness as understood in a culture that considers autonomy a cardinal value and embraces physician-assisted suicide as death with dignity, and 2) how disability and terminal illness are accommodated in covenantal Christian community. Each likeness reflects its own predominant methodology. Parts one and two, Cultural Values and a Loss of Dignity and Dying with Dignity: A Cultural Perspective, draw on bioethics, popular media, survey data, and the legal landscape surrounding physician-assisted suicide, while the final part, A Culture of Healing: Living and Dying with Dignity in the Context of Christian Community, is pastoral and personal in tone. Throughout, Toombs draws from her own multi-faceted experiences: as a Christian living in a nondenominational Christian community for more than twenty years, as an associate professor emerita of philosophy, as an individual who has lived with disabilityin the form of Multiple Sclerosisfor decades, and as a wife who supported her husband, Dee, through the terminal stages of cancer.

Her goal is not to provide a comprehensive history of physician-assisted suicide but a primer for a Christian audience that examines the patterns of thought surrounding the practiceincluding the role of media and the rhetorical undertones of the right to die movement. Language is important here: Is it physician-assisted suicide, or something that avoids the connotations of suicide, a word whose meaning has remained stable since its English appearance in Thomas Brownes Religio Medici (1643)? What happens when we shorten physician-assisted suicide to PAS or roll down the slope of euphemism? In Canada, for example, where medical assistance in dying has become MAID, persons suffering exclusively from mental illness will be eligible to end their lives next year.

Toombs understands this shifting language as symptomatic of a new culture of death, a social imaginary that shapes not only the lived realities of those experiencing illness and disability, but also our societys attitudes toward medicine and personhood writ large. Her judgment of physician-assisted suicide is harsh, yet her approach is sympathetic; she feels a certain uncomfortable kinship with patients who seek medically-furnished deaths.

The first two sections of How Then Should We Live? rehearse a story familiar to those acquainted with the controversies tied to physician-assisted suicide. Toombs quotes the usual spectrum of bioethicists and discusses several notable cases, including that of Brittany Maynard, a twenty-nine-year-old American woman who ended her life in 2014 following a battle with brain cancer. Toombss book, however, is distinct for its implicitly phenomenological focus, reflecting her previous scholarship on the experience of living with illness and disability (including her 1992 The Meaning of Illness: A Phenomenological Account of the Different Perspectives of Physician and Patient). She stresses how contemporary discussions of death emphasize autonomy in a way that diminishes the mutuality of caregiving relationships, generating both caregiver resentment and self-recrimination on the part of the cared-for. When physician-assisted suicide is normalized, she argues, a natural death becomes unnatural, unimaginable, and abject. Confirming Havard's predictions, Toombs links the increasing push for physician-assisted death with our collective desire not to bear witness to suffering, suggesting that we self-kill out of obligation to spare others. She fears that while physician-assisted suicide is now elective, a sense of duty will transform it into an expected, even compulsory, path.

The final portion of Toombss book rejects the almost magical confidence our culture places in medicine and describes how covenantal Christian living transforms illness, disability, and death. In a community characterized by self-sacrificial love, she argues, the incurably ill and dying are not separated from the community of living, but . . . remain at the center of a web of intimate and supportive relationships that continue to affirm the value of their existence. She draws evidence from the experience of her community: Stevie, a child who suffered a rare form of muscular dystrophy; Perry, a young father with Lou Gehrigs disease; Dee, who was cared for by church members for the final three months of his life. When he became too weak for Toombs to care for him alone, fifteen women from their community volunteered for round-the-clock shifts. In a context of radical self-giving, Dees growing physical limitations were not perceived as a burden but as an opportunity to enact love, transforming even his own perception of his illness. Toombs recounts a day in which Dee recast physical distress itself as a healing experience, an apparent paradox furnished by the experience of supernatural love . . . expressed through the self-sacrificial service of others.

Such accounts of suffering-unto-death may sound aspirational to jaded ears; in claiming witness to supernatural grace, Toombs states that friends who faced terminal illness died with grace and peace, without exception. Yet Toombss willingness to bear witness to the realities of human suffering and deathand contextualize them in the Christian Storychallenges her reader to see differently, to understand terminal disability through the reality of the cross, the ultimate symbol of dislocation and shared vulnerability described by Michael Mayne. In affirming the centrality of the cross, Toombs does not romanticize the rigors of dying or turn away from the grim realities of physical suffering. If the Crucifixionand the command of Matthew 16:2426radically changes the significance of human suffering, it also demands that we imagine death differently: not as an intolerable defeat or the violation of our cherished idols of self-determination, but as an opportunity to affirm and deepen our relationships with God and each other.

In providing a Christian response to euthanasia, R. E. Havard wrote of the courage to face suffering, a courage that only Christianity can give. In re-imagining death in the context of Christian covenantal community, Toombss courage is more than evident.

Sarah ODell is an MD/PhD candidate and medical humanities scholar in Southern California.

Footnotes

1 Letter from R. E. Havard to Miss G. Cobb, November 30,1939. Robert Havard Papers, Folder 6, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL. Used with permission.

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Imagining Death | Sarah O'Dell - First Things

Editor's note: The article has been updated with comments from Shelter Director Rene Vasquez and Kaila Williams, director of communications for Fort Bend County Health & Human Services, clarifying comments made Nov. 15 regarding Fort Bend County Animal Services' policy on euthanizing animals for space.

Updated 12:15 p.m. Nov. 16

Fort Bend County officials said they are not considering euthanizing animals at the animal shelter for space, despite being more than 250% full.

What you need to know

A Nov. 15 Facebook post from the Fort Bend County Animal Services Facebook account stated that "to meet the demand for shelter space that we do not currently have, we will be making the very difficult decision to euthanize animals in our shelter for those who need to come in."

However, Shelter Director Rene Vasquez and Kaila Williams, communications director for Fort Bend County Health & Human Services, said the post is inaccurate, and the county does not euthanize animals to save space at the shelter.

"We dont do that, and we havent done that in probably seven years. We have not had to euthanize for space, but weve also not ever encountered .... what we are right now," Vasquez said. "We're trying to use our tactics ... to show the community we need help."

A closer look

Vasquez said euthanasia is possible for animals who are sick, injured or aggressive, but the shelter has implemented a number of strategies to get animals adopted to avoid euthanizing animals for space.

A Nov. 9 news release from FBCAS introduced the department's Pets Urgently Seeking Homes initiative, or PUSH list. The 10 dogs on the list have been with the shelter for over a year, Williams said. Two have been adopted as of Nov. 16.

"Being in a shelter that longit's not healthy for the animals in a sense. Numerous medical issues, behavioral issues can arise," she said.

Although she said those dogs may be "more susceptible" to euthanasia because of their time in the shelter, Williams said in email that FBCAS "has not made any decisions nor is considering euthanizing any animals on our recently shared PUSH list."

In addition to the PUSH list, Vasquez and Williams said the department is using other methods to get pets adopted, including:

Posted 6:22 p.m. Nov. 15

Fort Bend Countys animal shelter is more than 255% fullleading shelter officials to consider euthanizing dogs to make room for others.

We have had an abundance of animals just continue to come through our doors, ... and unfortunately we just can't find a way or source to get the animals out, said Rene Vasquez, shelter director of Fort Bend County Animal Services.

By the numbers

The shelter has enough room to house about 90 dogs, but as of Nov. 15 the shelter held 230 dogs. Dog cages cover the shelters hallways, and theres now no more room for the cages, Vasquez said.

Weve been full maybe for a year or a little under, but not like this," he said. "Right now, we dont know where to put dogs. Do we line up black crates outside in the courtyard where they're exposed to the weather? ... Yesterday we [took in] 23 dogs, so what do we do if tomorrow it's another 15?"

If things don't improve by the end of November, Vasquez said staff may have to make the difficult decision to euthanize dogs to create more space. Before this, he said the shelter has maintained a 90% save rate for the last five years, meaning 90% of the animals who enter the shelter leave alive.

How we got here

The Rosenberg facility provides animal services for unincorporated Fort Bend County, which Vasquez said equals about 875 square miles. Vasquez said the animal services industry has gotten worse since the COVID-19 pandemic began and has exacerbated shelter crowding issues.

Vasquez said he believes inflation has contributed to the overcrowding, as it's harder for residents to afford care for their animals.

If a person comes and says that [cost is] the reason that they want to relinquish an animal, we will help them; like we'll find a kennel for them or we'll find dog food for them. We will help vaccinate animals for free, he said.

The countys shelter isnt the only local facility that has faced capacity issues. In August, the Sugar Land Animal Shelter was also over capacity, with officials planning adoption events in October and considering stopping animal intake to combat the issue.

Long term, Vasquez said county staff have discussed opening other shelters across the county to help alleviate overcrowding.

The takeaway

The main way community members can help the shelter is to adopt dogs, Vasquez said. To encourage adoptions, the shelter has waived its adoption fees. Additionally, all animals are spayed or neutered, up to date on vaccinations and microchipped.

For those unable to adopt, Vasquez encouraged residents to share adoption information with friends and family. However, the shelter will also accept donations of blankets and dog food.

"We're not even asking for donationswe just need help. We don't want to do the alternative," he said. "I'd rather get animals adopted and rescued instead of having to do something different."

See the rest here:

UPDATE: Fort Bend County animal shelter over 250% of capacity ... - Community Impact

Two dog sisters who raised 13 puppies together while living on the streets are facing an uncertain future after failing to be adopted.

Staff at the Special Needs Animal Rescue & Rehabilitation (SNARR) Northeast in Brewster, New York, took to Facebook to appeal for help in finding a new home for Ella and Emma.

"We're on the brink of despair for Ella and Emma, two sister dogs whose lives have been filled with nothing but hardship and pain," the appeal read.

Lauren F from SNARR Northeast told Newsweek: "They were found as strays wandering the busy, relentless streets of Houston with their combined 13 puppies. The shelter staff couldn't even tell the litters apart. All the puppies were nursed by both moms and both of them cared for them."

The canine siblings ended up in an overcrowded city shelter, where they were ultimately saved from near-certain death by SNARR Northeast. "They were 30 minutes away from being walked back to bay dock, where they euthanize at this kill shelter," Lauren F. said.

Little is known about their life before the shelter, though Ella, in particular, has endured a torrid time. She has already lost one limb due to a gruesome injury and was later discovered to be struggling with an undiagnosed megaesophagus. This is a disorder affecting the esophagus, which made it difficult for her to eat food.

Yet, through their time on the streets, both Emma and Ella worked hard to provide for the puppies that relied on them to survive. "They selflessly raised their pups while going hungry themselves, and now they're facing a cruel twist of fate," SNARR said.

Because while each of their young puppies has now been adopted into new and loving homes, Ella and Emma have been left behind, waiting and hoping that someone will take a chance on them.

Lauren F. added: "They haven't been adopted yet because, unfortunately, not everyone is looking for two adult dogs, especially one with medical needs."

Ella and Emma's plight is a painfully familiar one. While young puppies tend to be snapped up by shelter visitors, it's a different story for adult dogs.

It is a situation that a 2015 study conducted by Priceonomics previously highlighted. Based on data compiled from the website Petfinder, the researchers found that, while 95 percent of puppies listed for adoption ended up finding new homes, just 68 percent of senior dogs had the same success.

Emma and Ella come as a pair but, without finding a home, they would have to remain at the SNARR shelter indefinitely. Lauren F. said, though, that they have all the qualities needed to make great pets and just need to find the right kind of owner.

"Ella and Emma are sweet girls who would do best in a home with a patient adopter," she added. "It takes them time to trust. Once they do, belly rubs and cuddles are their favorite things. They would love to be your only dogs. They thrive on all the love you can give."

After spending so much of their lives without the love and affection afforded to so many dogs, Ella and Emma deserve a chance at a peaceful life. They just need someone to give it to them.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Continued here:

Sister Dogs and Their Puppies Spared Euthanasia Face 'Cruel Twist ... - Newsweek

A French woman who was suffering agonies after doctors implanted vaginal mesh has died of euthanasia in Belgium.

In 2019 a woman named lodie was fitted with the product after bearing two children. It would supposedly help with incontinence and prolapse. But from the moment she woke up after the operation, She felt that her pelvis had been torn apart, like a collapse from the inside, her husband Thomas wrote in Le Parisien on November 10. She began to get painful infections.

The use of vaginal mesh was restricted in France three months after lodies operation.

An American surgeon removed the mesh, but the pain continued. In despair, lodie sought euthanasia in Belgium. Her husband acquiesced although he tried to persuade her not to take this drastic step. She died on August 23.

Requests for euthanasia after physician error and botched operations are a neglected area for research. It has happened before. In 2012 a 44-year-old Belgian woman named Ann G was suffering from anorexia. Her psychiatrist, a man with an international reputation as an expert in anorexia, sexually abused her, sending Ann G into a dark spiral of despair. Another psychiatrist euthanised her. Her abuser went back to work. In 2013, a 44-year-old Belgian transman, Nathan Verheist, was euthanised after three sex-change operations. The first time I saw myself in the mirror I felt an aversion for my new body, he said.

Read more from the original source:

One way to escape malpractice lawsuits: euthanise the patient - BioEdge

Maricopa Animal Care and Control

A dog at a Maricopa County Animal Care and Control shelter.

An Arizona legislative study committee held a meeting Monday, Nov. 13, looking into animal control facility standards, or lack thereof.

Dr. Nancy Bradley, who's worked for years with Maricopa County shelter and Arizona Humane Society, testified that there are no licensed shelters in Arizona.

"If theres any oversight from the Veterinary Examining Board thats going to be only if its a larger shelter, like say Maricopa County or Humane Society, where they actually have veterinary hospitals."

She says dog euthanasia is increasing. City and county shelters also aren't required to have a vet on staff, and overcrowding has led to disease and mass euthanasia.

The meeting comes amid two high profile animal cases in Arizona.

Chandler officialsare close to expanding the citys animal-cruelty ordinance to include the crime of animal hoarding. The update would make it illegal to keep any number of animals at such quantities and circumstances that the health and welfare of any animal or person is harmed. The Chandler City Council is expected to vote on a final adoption of the ordinance next month.

In September, Chandler police said they rescued a senior and 55 dogs from filthy conditions at one womans home. The case against her is ongoing.

San Diego Humane Society

Several small animals from the San Diego Humane Society are prepared to be transported to the Humane Society of Southern Arizona in Tucson.

In August, the San Diego Humane Society transferred 300 small pets to their Southern Arizona counterparts. Those animals were later sent to an individual whose business includes selling live and frozen animals for reptile feed. While several animals were eventually returned, most were not and remained missing.

The Humane Society of Southern Arizona fired its CEO last month and also accepted the resignation of its chief operating officer.

Its board reportedly did not learn of the reptile farm owner's involvement until weeks after the animal transfer.

Link:

Arizona legislative committee meets on animal care standards - Fronteras: The Changing America Desk

Wild hippos spend most of the day immersed in water and can be difficult to capture.Credit: Fernando Vergara/AP Photo/Alamy

Colombia has begun a new campaign to sterilize its invasive hippos, showing signs that it is taking the threat the animals pose to the countrys biodiversity and local communities seriously. The plan is to capture, anaesthetize and sterilize an initial 20 hippos by the end of 2023 as part of a three-pronged approach the government is taking to reduce the rapidly expanding population that has established itself along the countrys Magdalena River.

Colombias cocaine hippo population is even bigger than scientists thought

The other prongs involve shipping hippos abroad to sanctuaries and zoos, and more contentiously culling some of the animals. Colombias environment minister, Susana Muhamad, announced the plan at a press conference on 2 November.

Earlier this year, researchers feared that Muhamad would not take the action needed to curb the hippo population after she met with animal-rights groups and created a new division of animal protection within the ministry, and the publication of a government-commissioned study on the hippos was delayed. Although some still have concerns, they are glad the ministry is taking action.

There are questions around how all this will be carried out, particularly the euthanasia, but it seems that the government is generally going in the right direction, says Jorge Moreno-Bernal, a biologist at the University of the North in Barranquilla, Colombia.

We are in a race against time in terms of permanent impacts to the environment and ecosystem, Muhamad said at the press conference.

Colombias hippos considered the largest invasive animals in the world flourished in the countryside after escaping from drug-cartel leader Pablo Escobars estate. Escobar illegally imported four hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius) in the 1980s. Left alone after he died in 1993, the male and three females reproduced rapidly thanks to a lack of droughts and predators, factors that normally keep hippo populations in check in their native sub-Saharan Africa.

Pablo Escobars cocaine hippos spark conservation row

A study commissioned by Colombias environment ministry and published in April estimated that there are now 181215 hippos in the country. One model of their population growth estimated that, by 2050, they could number more than 1,000 if measures arent taken to control them1.

Ecologists have been concerned that the highly territorial animals, which can weigh up to 3 tonnes, are altering the composition of Colombias main river with their excrement, and are outcompeting other species, such as the capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), for habitat and resources.

Following the April release of the study, which detailed evidence of the damage being caused by the hippos and recommended solutions, the government decided to take action, Muhamad said.

One of the key conclusions is that there is not a single strategy to control the hippos population and their environmental impact, Muhamad told Nature.

The first step is the sterilization campaign, for which the government has put aside 808 million pesos (US$200,000) this year. Each surgical castration will take a team of eight including veterinarians, technicians and support staff between six and eight hours. So far, three sterilizations have been completed, according to David Echevveri, head of biodiversity management, protected areas and ecosystem services at Cornare, the regional environment authority tasked with the campaign. In the coming years, the goal is to ramp up to sterilizing 40 hippos a year.

Landmark Colombian bird study repeated to right colonial-era wrongs

Researchers have pointed out that this will be a slow and costly endeavour. Sterilization is only a prerequisite for the other strategies. They must execute the three simultaneously, says Rafael Moreno, an ecologist who participated in the ministry-commissioned hippo study while at the Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute in Bogot.

Muhamad told Nature that a more effective strategy would be to export the animals. During the press conference, she said that the ministry has had a concrete offer from a buyer in India willing to take 60 of the animals, and that Indias environmental authorities are considering it.

Researchers who spoke to Nature are sceptical about the exportation plan because they think it could be costly and logistically challenging. According to Ernesto Zazueta, the owner of the Ostok Sanctuary in northern Mexico who has expressed interest in taking some of the animals, to export 60 hippos to India and another 10 to Mexico would cost a total of about $3.5 million.

The Colombian government will cover the costs of sterilization, and probably the costs of euthanasia, but exportation would be paid for by the zoos or sanctuaries importing the hippos, Muhamad told Nature.

Although the researchers Nature spoke to are glad the government is moving ahead with its plan to control the hippo population, they are concerned that it will rely too heavily on sterilization, because fewer details have been offered about the other two, more effective strategies. After sterilization, the animals would ideally be confined or exported, Moreno says. Returning them to the countryside to roam would allow them to continue to inflict damage on the environment, he says. In the past, sterilization efforts havent been effective, because the hippos bred faster than they could be caught and operated on.

Moreno is also concerned by the ministrys announcement that it will consult citizen groups about the process of euthanizing the animals. It is a technical matter that should be taken by experienced professionals, he says.

Ecologists say that culling will be necessary. But that part of the initiative will probably be met by legal challenges, says Elliot Doornbos, a senior lecturer in criminology at Nottingham Trent University, UK. A public outcry occurred after a photo of a dead hippo was shared online in 2009 and caused efforts to rein in the population to be halted.

Muhamad told Nature that the environment ministry is working with experts to draw up an ethical euthanasia protocol that will be consulted in different expert committees to ensure its efficiency and rigour.

Depending on how many we export and how many we can sterilize, we will see how many we will have to cull, she added.

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Colombia begins sterilizing its invasive hippos: what scientists think - Nature.com