If you live in California and like to dine out with your dog, you’re in luck.
Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill yesterday that will allow dogs to join their pet parents in restaurants’ outdoor areas, as long as the dining establishments and local ordinances are into it.
Many areas of California, including Los Angeles County, already allow doggie diners in restaurants’ outdoor areas. And some restaurant owners in not so dog-friendly areas have been letting canines join their two-legged customers, even though it’s illegal.
The new bill will allow Chows, etc., to chow down in restaurants statewide, as long as health codes and local ordinances are followed.
Dogs (with the exception of service dogs) will still not be permitted inside restaurants. They will be required to enter the outdoor dining area through a separate entrance. And there will be no wandering around and begging other diners for handouts — dogs must be kept on a leash or in a carrier, and won’t be allowed to sit on chairs or benches.
The bill was introduced by Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada. It goes into effect Jan. 1.
“With Governor Brown’s signature, restaurateurs in California will see more businesses catering to their customers and the canine companions they love,” Yamada stated in a press release.
We’ve all seen them by now — videos of celebrities and civilians getting a bucketful of ice water dumped on their heads to raise awareness of ALS (aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease). The dumpee then nominates someone else to go through the same ordeal — hence the name “Ice Bucket Challenge.”
But in what TIME refers to as a “cutesy turn,” dogs — including Sutter Brown, the Corgi belonging to California Gov. Jerry Brown — are now being subjected to having ice water dumped on their heads.
What’s so cute about that? The dogs have no idea what’s going on, and most of them look downright miserable in the videos.
Jennifer Fearing, deputy director of the Humane Society of the United States and a friend of Sutter’s, told Carla Hall of the Los Angeles Times that she doesn’t think the dog dunkings are cruel.
“I wish people would worry more about serious animal abuse issues,” she said. “Would you like a list? It’s unfortunately long.”
If humans want to participate in this insanely popular fad, fine. Overnight Wednesday, $6.1 million was donated to the ALS Association, which has raised $31.5 million in just one month. That’s 16 times more than the association raised in July and August 2013.
But please, people, even if it’s not considered abuse, don’t subject your dogs or other pets to an ice dunking. Just go ahead and donate the money to the ALS Association — or perhaps to your favorite animal shelter or rescue group — instead.
One of the most horrific and disturbing animal abuse cases I’ve ever written about was that of Kiya, a young Pit Bull better known as Puppy Doe.
Kiya’s original owners had given her away via a Craigslist ad when their landlord decided to ban Pit Bulls due to high insurance rates. She eventually ended up with Radoslaw Czerkawski, who starved her and inflicted what the Boston Herald called “medieval-style torture” on the helpless dog — he systematically pulled her limbs apart, split her tongue in half, stabbed her in the eye and burned her.
Czerkawski, a Polish national living in the U.S. on an expired work visa, was the live-in caretaker for an elderly woman with dementia in Quincy, Mass. When the woman died in late August 2013, Czerkawski dumped Kiya in a nearby wooded area. She was discovered there by someone who thought she’d been hit by a car — her injuries were that severe.
This was “unquestionably … hands down” the worst case of animal cruelty she’d ever witnessed, Dr. Martha Smith-Blackmore, vice president of animal welfare at the Animal Rescue League of Boston, told the Boston Herald.
“When I saw how vulnerable she was and I understood immediately the duration of her suffering, my heart collapsed,” she said.
Kiya’s injuries were so extreme that she had to be euthanized. But first she was treated to a feast and lots of loving attention from Smith-Blackmore and her staff.
“Within hours of being found she had pain medication, food and love,” Smith-Blackmore told the Herald. “She experienced some tenderness and some care at the end of her life.”
Two months later, Czerkawski was arrested after Kiya’s blood splatter was found in the elderly woman’s home. His cell phone records indicated he had bought Kiya from her second owner via a Craigslist ad.
Czerkawski was charged with 12 counts of animal cruelty. He was also slapped with a larceny charge for stealing more than $100,000 from the elderly woman.
A trial date for the animal cruelty charges will be set Nov. 7, the Boston Herald reported today.
In the meantime, “Puppy Doe’s” tragic ordeal has led to legislation for tougher animal cruelty laws in Massachusetts.
Governor Deval Patrick is expected to sign a bill that will increase prison sentences and fines for animal abusers; require veterinarians to report suspected animal abuse to authorities; and create a task force that will review how the state handles animal abuse cases.
The maximum sentence for a first offense, which is currently five years, will increase to seven years. Subsequent offenses would have a maximum sentence of 10 years. The fines will be raised from $2,500 for a first offense to $5,000, and up to $10,000 for subsequent offenses.
“These are felonies, these are very serious crimes, and I think the penalties should reflect that,” Mary Nee, president of the Animal Rescue League of Boston, told the Boston Globe.
Until the bill was created, “animal rescue and welfare organizations were steadily working to chip away at animal cruelty in the state, largely unnoticed,” Rob Halpin, spokesman for MSPCA-Angell, told the Globe.
“It’s almost like we’re in this period in animal cruelty that’s ‘before Puppy Doe’ and ‘after Puppy Doe,’” he said. “Puppy Doe made a large and permanent crack in the status quo.”
Back in 2005, Curtis Young wondered why Sabrina, his 11-pound Miniature Pinscher, would constantly bite and dig at the back of his head while he was laying on the couch.
The Brevard County, Fla, firefighter told Florida Today Sunday that he’d wondered if he had dandruff.
But an MRI revealed something much more serious: Young had a brain tumor the size of a bullet.
If Sabrina’s persistent behavior hadn’t led Young to see a doctor, he could have been paralyzed within six months, and dead within a year.
“She’s an angel,” Young told Florida Today.
Even now, at the ripe old age of 13, Sabrina’s nose is still in top form. Two weeks ago, she began nibbling a spot on Young’s back when he wasn’t wearing a shirt. He felt a lump there, which turned out to be basal cell skin cancer.
“As far as special, she’s beyond special,” Young told Florida Today. “There’s nothing that comes between me and her. She comes before anything and everything.”
Sabrina is not alone in her cancer-detection skills. Other dogs have sniffed out breast cancer in their dog moms, and in a study last year, dogs were able to sniff out prostate cancer in urine.
In December 2009, Sabrina herself got very sick from the bacterial disease leptospirosis. In tears, Young called his mom, telling her he’d probably have to have his beloved little lifesaver euthanized.
Although one vet had called Sabrina a “dead dog walking,” Young got a second opinion, and another vet was able to save her life.
Young and his ex-wife found Sabrina years ago at a flea market. “She’s the daughter that I never had,” Young told Florida Today.
“She’s not my little girl — I’m her little boy. And she knows it.”
Residents of Norwalk, Calif., were concerned when a homeowner’s security video camera captured what appeared to be a mountain lion roaming the street late at night.
The homeowner sent the video to the California Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, which confirmed the animal wasn’t a mountain lion. But officials couldn’t determine exactly what it was.
Norwalk city spokesman Jeff Hobbs told City News Service Aug. 1 that the animal appeared to have a mane, and looked more like a lion.
“Yes, it certainly does look like an African lion. It’s not a cougar,” Craig Packer, a professor at the University of Minnesota Lion Research Center, told the Los Angeles Times.
Joel Almquist, executive director and founder of the Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary, told the Times that at first he thought the animal in the video was a dog. “But upon closer inspection, said he thought it was a leopard, noting its movement and height,” the Times reported.
The Dept. of Fish and Wildlife told Norwalk residents to use caution, stay indoors and notify authorities if they saw the mystery beast.
Many Norwalk residents wondered how the heck a lion ended up in their Southern California city, which is miles away from any wilderness areas.
The story got international news coverage earlier this month. “At first glance the creature, which ambles slowly and calmly past the security camera, appears to be an African lioness or mountain lion,” wrote the Daily Mail Aug. 4. The article went on to say that officials and experts “have suggested it is — among other things — a mountain lion, an African lion, some type of hybrid dog, a leopard or a large domestic cat. Some have even speculated it could be the mythical Chupacabra.”
But when Brendan Mriz, dog dad of a 4-year-old Pit Bull mix named Buddy, saw the video, he thought he recognized the mystery animal. Could it be his Buddy, who had escaped from the yard that very same night?
Two local security surveillance companies recreated the video using Buddy, and then compared it with the video of the “lion.” Buddy’s gait and physical appearance were a perfect match.
Hopefully Mriz will keep his yard better secured — not only for Buddy’s safety, but to prevent Norwalk residents from having to deal with any future “Chupacabra” sightings.
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