Ever since dogs have moved into our homes and hearts to become members of the family, they’ve enjoyed a lot of good times but also lots of bad ones. To answer the need for dogs in our lives and make a big profit in the process, abusive, neglectful puppy mills have sprung up in the U.S. and other countries, and foreign puppy-mill dogs are sold on the Internet to avoid the usual health regulations for imported animals. Although there is a brand new federal law banning the importation of dogs for resale, it hasn’t made a significant impact on the problem just yet. In the meantime, the abuses continue.

For example, about five months ago a shipment of dead and ill South Korean puppy-mill puppies was confiscated at LA International Airport. Only ten were still alive. They were returned to health at the city shelter and recently put up for auction along with other shelter dogs to raise money for that shelter. Read about the happy ending to their unbelievably tragic beginning here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98688596

Ah, Texas, home of our lame duck president and more than its share of animal abuse. Here’s a hard-to-believe story about the little town of Ferris, Texas, which has issued a directive to shoot “dangerous” feral dogs on sight. It seems that dog owners in the area like to use Ferris to dump their unwanted dogs, which is nasty enough.

But the shoot-to-kill method, which is often employed in third-world countries in a futile effort at canine population control, has gotten a lot of animal lovers all over the country very upset, particularly since it’s already known that killing stray dogs will not ultimately reduce their numbers, only spaying and neutering them will do that:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/122508dnmetferrisdogs.8430a41.html

According to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), Forty-five states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands have laws making certain types of animal cruelty a felony offense. That sounds very comforting, until you realize that most animal cruelty cases never even make it to state court. And sadly, many judges who review these cases don’t take animal cruelty seriously enough, letting some of the worst perpetrators go with just a slap on the wrist. Here’s an article from the Connecticut Post about what is really a national problem:

http://www.connpost.com/ci_11314959

Lastly, snow’s over for now in Santa Fe, but it’s really, really cold out there. Luckily the sun’s back, and there’s nothing in the world as gorgeous as New Mexico sunshine and blue skies. Happy Weekend, and enjoy your new toys (mine is a snow shovel).