Archive for July 9th, 2009

Monkeying around: AC responds to Colbert

Afer getting a good ribbing from Steven Colbert for the AC 360 report on Michael Jackson’s former chimp, Bubbles, CNN’s Anderson Cooper aired nearly the entire piece on his show.

Now maybe Colbert can run a segment on Cooper’s segment on Colbert’s segment on Cooper’s segment. That would be more than a 360 — an actual 720, if my math is right.

Cooper called the Colbert Report bit both “very funny” and “well-deserved.”

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Michael Jackson’s chimp is alive and well

Amid the all the other Michael Jackson overkill, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, or at least one of the reporters that works for him, tracked down Bubbles, Jackson’s former pet chimpanzee, and reported that he enjoys eating bananas and making faces.

Bubbles and Jackson split up when the chimp got too big and hard to control. He lived with an animal trainer until 2005 when he was sent to an animal sanctuary in Florida.

That’s where CNN caught up with the 26-year-old chimp and filmed this report.

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Almost Heaven owner faces 230 charges

beau-and-dogs-281x225The owner of the Almost Heaven Kennel in eastern Pennsylvania has been fined more than $150,000 and is facing over 230 charges of violating the state’s dog laws.

Breeder Derbe Eckhart has 15 days to appeal the $152,900 fine from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, according to the Associated Press.

The fines and charges stem from a raid on Almost Heaven Kennel in Emmaus last month by the department and the Humane Society of the United States .

A Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture spokesman said Eckhart failed to get rid of 216 dogs after he lost his kennel license. Almost Heaven was also raided in Oct. 2008. At that time, animal welfare officials said hundreds of animals were living in filthy conditions. Eckhart faces animal cruelty charges from that raid.

(Photo: A Humane Society of the United States staff member removes two of the hundreds of dogs seized from Almost Heaven; courtesy of HSUS)

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Contractor charged with spray painting dog

A Georgia prosecutor says he intends to aggressively prosecute a contractor who allegedly sprayed fluorescent orange paint on a barking black lab mix that was in a fenced backyard.

“To spray paint a dog in the eye makes no sense,” DeKalb County Solicitor Robert James told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution yesterday. “It was gratuitous. The animal was behind a fence. Its really something we take serious and were going to try to make this thing right. We’re going to take this very seriously.”

Dario Harris appeared in DeKalb County State Court Tuesday on two counts of animal cruelty, a charge that could mean as much as 12 months in jail.

Harris was dispatched in March to mark gas lines in preparation for scheduled digging along the residential street. A homeowner, Jeffrey Tompkins, heard his dog, Bear, barking and then saw a truck driving away. A few minutes later, he found his dog rubbing her eyes with her front paws.

Tompkins said there were “seven individual spray marks” low on the fence about the height of the dog’s eyes.

“It wasn’t like he just sprayed one time across [ the fence],” Tompkins said in an interview Wednesday. “He [Harris] went up to the fence. He had no reason to go in the backyard.”

Harris said he “reacted to the dog coming to the gate and scaring me. It wasn’t anything intentional. I wasn’t out to do any harm. I was just doing my job.”

A vet flushed Bear’s eyes and provided antibiotics, and Harris said he would repay Tompkins for those expenses.

“This is making me out to be a criminal,” Harris said. “I’m not.”

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N.J. town to review allowing dogs on beach

Delaware Bay beaches in Lower Township, New Jersey may soon see more restrictive dog rules.

The Lower Township Council is reviewing regulations after an increase in complaints about dogs running loose and poop going unscooped. Dogs are currently allowed on the beaches, but must be leashed, and law requires that owners clean up after them.

Both sides spoke out on the issue at at Monday’s Lower Township council meeting, the Press of Atlantic City reported.

“I pay $8,000 a year in taxes to the township, and I have to go down to Cape May and buy beach badges because there are no dogs on their beaches. I shouldn’t have to sit on the beach and watch a dog take a dump right in front of me,” said Bill Conners, of Shore Road.

Bill Greenfield, a Villas resident and dog owner, took exception to the remark: “I think you’re painting dog owners with a pretty broad brush. A lot of people are responsible. Dog owners pay taxes, too,” Greenfield said.

With dogs off limit along many Atlantic coast beaches, many pet owners head to the bay. A recent Philadelphia Magazine identified the township’s Town Bank area as a good place to bring dogs to the beach.

“I don’t think this is a distinction Lower Township really wants. We’re known as dog beach,” said Conners. “I ask you to please enforce some laws or pass some laws that don’t allow these dogs to run wild on the beach.”

Some council members said the problem could be handled by enforcing existing rules, but others said stricter measures are needed, such as time restrictions.

No action was taken but the situation will be monitored in the coming weeks.

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FBI agent gets probation for killing Chihuahua

An FBI agent was sentenced yesterday to two years’ probation and 300 hours of community service for killing a neighbor’s Chihuahua last year.

A state district judge in Waco placed Lovett Leslie Ledger Jr. on “deferred adjudication probation,” meaning no conviction will appear on his record if he successfully completes probation, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported.

Ledger had entered a plea of no contest to animal cruelty charges.

Ledger fatally shot his neighbor’s 3-pound dog with a pellet gun last year as it walked near his house.

FBI spokesman Erik Vasys said that the agency will conduct an internal inquiry to determine whether Ledger will faces any sanctions, ranging from suspension to dismissal.

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