Opinion

Moving toward a humane community will require more pet friendly landlords

March 29, 2013

What’s one of the things shelters and rescuers hear all too often? I’m moving and I can’t take my pet. Pease help me find a home for it. Why? Because so many apartment complex owners simply don’t allow pets, or if they do, they limit their size and their breed. A recent study indicates only 9% of pet-friendly apartments allow pets without any significant restrictions. One of things that’s going to have to change for Dallas to become a more humane community is we’re going to have to convince more landlords to become “pet friendly”. Firepaw co-founders Dr Joshua M. Frank and Dr. Pamela Carlisle-Frank may be able to help. They created CARP, the Companion Animal Renters Program. CARP materials, available on their website at www.firepaw.org include a Tenant Information Book, a CARP for Landlords brochure, and the results of the CARP study conducted in 2005. They’ve also written...

Starbucks drops the ball on dog adoptions; PetSmart saves the day

September 3, 2012

Let me start by saying, I like Starbucks. I like the coffee, the stores are a great place to meet, and they’re generally socially conscious. They don’t mind if people bring their dogs and sit on the patio to sip their coffee – some stores even encourage it. So when the manager for the West Village store called last week looking for a rescue group to set up at the store’s "re-grand-opening" today, I wasn’t surprised. We talked for a few minutes and I contacted a couple of rescue groups to see if they were interested. Some of them already had a Labor Day event going on, and others would have liked to help out, but didn’t have time to put it together with everything else they had going on this weekend. I stayed in touch with the manager and let him know I was still looking for a...

Some thoughts on Reverend Wright, Sadie, and the bond for Darius Ewing

May 9, 2012

When Darius Ewing, the man accused of burning a puppy in Pleasant Grove last month, turned himself in a judge set his bond at $ 100,000. His lawyer has since requested a bond reduction hearing because his family can’t afford the money necessary to get him out of jail. That hearing is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. on the 6th floor of the Frank Crowley Courts Building. In a recent NBC5 report, the Rev. Ronald Wright, of the group – ironically named - Justice Seekers Texas, is quoted as saying “A bond to be set at that is an insult. It says that dogs are more important when it comes to African-American men.” Let’s think logically through the Reverend’s statement, and try to ignore the race card he’s clearly playing. I don’t recall ever hearing of an instance where someone intentionally and maliciously murdered someone and...

Westminster viewers don’t want to see homeless pets in shelters, even in commercials

February 11, 2012

Have you seen the latest news from the famous Westminster Dog Show? Turns out their viewers are turned off by Pedigree’s ads promoting dog adoption. You know – the ones featuring dogs left in shelters because someone didn’t spay/neuter their pet, or someone thought “forever home” meant just until their dog got to be too much trouble? So Westminster dumped Pedigree and their dog adoption drive. Yes, I know there’s a lot to be said for upbeat messaging in promoting pet adoptions. But this still makes me angry. We’re fighting so hard every day to save more and more lives and Westminster and their viewers want to sweep it under the rug. Something is wrong with that. According to a Yahoo! News story posted yesterday, “Pedigree was ‘surprised and disappointed’ when it was dropped by Westminster”, senior brand manager Lisa Campbell said. Campbell said Westminster had made it...

RPOA joins AKC, TVMA, CFA, etc. opposing “sentimental value” for dogs

December 1, 2011

Remember RPOA? They’re b-a-a-a-a-c-c-k-k. Responsible Pet Owners Alliance, and it’s legislative arm, RPOA Texas Outreach, led the breeders who opposed the package of ordinances passed by the Dallas City Council in 2008. They, and their friends in the AKC, NRA and TRA, fought long and hard against ordinances that banned chaining dogs, prohibited auctioning off pets as prizes, and required permits for intact animals and breeders. Now they’re joining up again, this time with the Texas Veterinary Medical Association, to fight a recent Texas appeals court ruling that allows for a family whose dog was mistakenly euthanized to recover, not just the dog’s market value, but its sentimental value as well. They would prefer Texas courts rely instead on an antiquated (1891!) court ruling that doesn’t allow for any damages other than the animal’s actual market value, or what it “earns” for is owner. At the time that 1891...

AVMA, TVMA, AKC, and others oppose Texas appeals court ruling that pets have “sentimental value”

November 30, 2011

It was just a few weeks ago when animal welfare advocates celebrated a Texas appeals court ruling that allowed a family whose dog was mistakenly euthanized to recover, not just the dog’s market value – as is the case with other types of personal property – but its sentimental value as well. It was the first time in Texas, where pets are considered property under the law, that someone was able to sue for a pet’s sentimental value. Randy Turner, who represented the dog’s owner (pro bono) in the case, told the Star-Telegram “No matter how attached they were to their pet, and no matter how devastated they were by its death….they were only entitled to the ‘market value’ of the animal.” For Texas courts to now acknowledge that a pet’s value is greater than the cost to acquire it, was truly a victory for animal advocates...

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