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Since we couldn't get Clint to pose
for a photo, we got "Danny" to stand in. We think
he's got the expression down. Danny is
from Mr. Eastwood's town of San Francisco and can be adopted from the San
Francisco SPCA.
I haven't watched the
classic 1967 western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (aka "Il Buono,
il Brutto, il Cattivo"), but then again, I haven't watched Titanic
either (I'm allergic to Leonardo DiCaprio).
But from what I've heard,
the great spaghetti western is a tale of three incongruous forces
forced to share the same goal (and the same planet). I'm not
sure how it ends, but I sure hope the dogs get to ride off into
the sunset.
IL BUONO
(THE GOOD)
or "Queen
of Spayeds"
Mysore, India
"Don't die, I'll get you
water. Stay there. Don't move, I'll get you water. Don't die until
later."
Tuco (Eli Wallach)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
MYSORE (India) — Until
1998, the government of Mysore had been putting strays to sleep.
But studies showed that this was not an effective way of containing
the stray dog population.
Proposing a superior solution, the non-governmental organization People
for Animals (PFA) has taken up the project of sterilizing
stray dogs, treating them and releasing them back where they had been
found.
"It is an attempt to check the canine population and also prevent
the inhuman killing of these dogs, as was being done by the civic
authorities," says Geetha Manja, who is heading the drive.
A mobile surgery clinic like this one is equipped to carry out
on-the-spot sterilizations and treatment of strays in India.
This particular van, operated by the Blue
Cross of India, was made possible through grants by the Animal
Welfare Board, Humane Society of the U.S. and the RSPCA, England.
Operating on a budget comprised entirely of public donations, the PFA
announced last week that it has set a goal of spay/neutering 25 strays
per week. Each dog will also receive 10 days of post-operative
care at a veterinary clinic before being taken back to her/his old
neighborhood.
The Times
of India reports that the total cost of sterilizing,
post-operative care and transport of a stray dog amounts to about Rs
800 ($16.38 USD) per pooch. In contrast, the average cost of
euthanizing an animal (from a study conducted in Orange County, FL,
USA) is $146 USD (Rs 7139), nearly ten times as much.
Similar methods of population control (known in India as the Animal
Birth Control programme - ABC) have been successfully embraced by a
number of major cities worldwide: Bombay,
Pune,
New Delhi, Bangkok and Moscow.
San Francisco is reportedly flirting with the idea.
PFA also deals with stray elephants. Question: How do
you know if there's an elephant in your refrigerator? Answer:
There are footprints in the butter.
Bad joke, but someone had to tell it.
(Photo: People for Animals)
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For links to animal
welfare groups in India, click
here. |
§§§
|
IL CATTIVO
(THE BAD)
Shanghai, China
"God
is not on our side because he hates idiots"
Man
with No Name (Clint Eastwood)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
SHANGHAI (China) — Yesterday,
China's largest city began its promised extermination of all dogs found on the streets
without a license.
Police spokesperson Fang Dinghua told reporters that all dogs found
in Shanghai without city-issued tags will be destroyed. First to
be killed will be the 7,100 unclaimed dogs already held by the
police animal-control unit.
Unless someone pays for this pooch's registration fee of 2000 Yuan
(equal to a month's salary or $250 USD), she'll receive an unjust fate
at the hands of the Shanghai Police. (Photo: AP)
Chinese animal-lovers have been fighting the mandate in vain
since mid-April when the May 1 deadline was announced.
"The city government says the restrictions are necessary to
protect public health. But they're overkill. They're
uncivilized," said Lu Di, head of the Beijing-based China Small
Animals Protection Association.
Lu points out that affluent urban Chinese are becoming more
interested in owning pets. He says: "The officials don't
understand that dog ownership itself is a sign of a modern middle
class."
|
For links to animal
welfare groups in China, click
here. |
§§§
IL BRUTTO
(THE UGLY)
or "Dogs in the Noose"
Madrid, Spain
"There are two kinds of people in the world, my friend: Those with
a rope around the neck, and the people who have the job of doing the
cutting."
Tuco "the Rat" (Eli Wallach)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
MADRID (Spain) — When
Greyhound racing season ends in Spain, the trees take on a
particularly gruesome burden. Each year, thousands of Spanish
Greyhounds (gaigos) are unceremoniously taken into the woods and hung,
according to last month's shocking discovery by the World Society for
the Protection of Animals (WSPA).
The WSPA learned that "dogs that have raced badly are typically
hung low in a slow death known as 'the piano player' due to the
frantic scrabbling of their legs in a vain attempt to touch the
ground. Those who have raced well are hung high, resulting in a
quicker death." (see the WSPA's full report here).
This is the most inoffensive photo we could find: the
skeletal remains of a dog found with a noose still wrapped around its
neck. For the full horror pictures, please visit animals.de.gs.
Spain has no national animal protection laws, and therefore it is
perfectly legal to hang, drown, stone or burn a dog to death in many
rural areas.
Where's Clint Eastwood when you need him?
§§§
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