A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME??
Legislation in Louisiana calls for the placement on the form used to file state individual tax returns of a checkbox that can be used to donate part or all of any refund due to Louisiana Animal Welfare Commission. The legislation, for which the Louisiana legislature voted unanimously, also calls for individuals to be able to indicate on the form the specific amounts of money they wish to contribute. Twenty percent of each donation received will be used to cover processing expenses. The remainder will be paid to the Commission "on or before March 1st of the year following the year in which the tax return was filed." Much of the funding obtained will be used to create and operate spay/neuter clinics intended to reduce the number of homeless cats and dogs in the state. "Louisiana has a tremendous (animal) overpopulation problem," said a representative of the American Society for the prevention of Cruelty to Animal. "Stray cats are everywhere."
-Animal News Center, Inc.

PETS USED TO SUPPORT MEDICAL RESEARCH
NEW YORK, NY, July 18, 2003 -- SWANKY NYC has formed an exclusive partnership that will provide the Donaldson-Atwood Cancer Clinic at the Animal Medical Center in New York with proceeds from the sale of two SWANKY NYC couture necklaces, "IN HONOR OF JAKE"  and "IN HONOR OF OLYMPIA."

The two pink-beaded necklaces, "IN HONOR OF JAKE" and "IN HONOR OF OLYMPIA" are named respectively in honor of a dog and cat that have undergone intensive cancer treatments and have survived.

Interesting Pet Tid-Bits

• Dogs have been enlisted to help search for missing people for a long time.   Bloodhounds have historically been used for tracking. Their long ears dust up scent particles from the ground, which are then collected in their generous skin folds.   But nowadays, many different breeds are trained to track missing persons, among them Labradors, German Shepherds, Australian Shepherds, Doberman Pinchers, and mixed breeds.

• Different dogs are trained to track humans in different ways.    Area dogs search large, low-populated areas, searching for the freshest human scent.   The dogs track a "scent cone" left by human skin cells that are constantly shed and left to float to the ground.   As they
  drift in the air, they are carried backward in an inverted cone shape.   An area dog crisscrosses from one edge of the cone and back to the other edge until the cone narrows and the lost individual is found.

• Trailing dogs follow a path of fallen skin cells that are similar to an article of clothing or a belonging of the missing person.   These dogs can track through highly populated areas because they are scent-discriminating
  and are not distracted by other scents (even other people's).

• Disaster dogs use a number of different techniques.    In an earthquake, for example, Search and Rescue dogs are trained to indicate and locate human scent beneath rubble by barking as close to the location as possible.    Dogs can distinguish between living and dead humans and give off corresponding signals.   This is important when time is of the essence.