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Sean Bushell-Clarke, a 26 year old man from Liverpool, has been jailed for four months and banned from keeping animals for five years after a court heard how he stabbed and punched a puppy to death.

Bushell-Clarke killed Benji, a Labrador x Husky, after he received a rejection letter for a job he had applied for, magistrates in Liverpool heard.

He then buried the dog’s body in a shallow grave in his garden.

He admitted punching the four-month old puppy approximately 10 times before stabbing the animal in the back.

The RSPCA were called by a  member of the public.

An RSPCA inspector remarked:

“This was a shocking and wanton act of cruelty, carried out mercilessly and without provocation. The sentence reflects the callous and cruel nature of this case, and I’m very pleased with the result.

“There’s no excusing what this man did. He showed complete disregard for the life he was taking, or the suffering he caused in doing so.”

Help Us in Call For Tougher Sentences for Animal Abusers 

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The first ‘pet therapy’ programme to be held in Nepal has proved to be an outstanding success.

Kathmandu Animal Treatment centre (KAT) and Bal Mandir children’s home teamed up with the help of Mitrataa Foundation to hold the first ‘Dr Dog’ session at the home.

Mango (the loveable Tibetan Terrier KAT mascot) and Tara (a paraplegic dog) were the stars of the show for the tiny children at Bal Mandir.

For some of the little tots who had never before interacted with dogs, it was at first frightening, but within a very short time both dogs and children were tumbling and playing.

Jan Salter, KAT Founder, said: “The response from the children that were physically and mentally challenged was a joy to watch. The exchange, which lasted over an hour and a half, left the children with radiant smiling excited faces. Wow, what a success! By the reaction we have had today, I hope we can attract other institutions to follow Bal Mandir’s lead.”

Bal Krishna Dangol, deputy director of Nepal Children’s Organization at Bal Mandir, said: “It has been my dream to have this kind of interaction between animals and the children at Bal Mandir. Animals help stimulate minds and communication. And as we have just seen so clearly today - it has been far better than I expected. We will make this a regular feature for our children.”

KAT and Bal Mandir were first introduced by Adam and Rebecca Ordish of Mitrataa Foundation. Mitrataa had been approached by Bal Mandir seeking support for this type of program. “After extensive research and some fundraising the Foundation, which conducts many projects in Nepal focusing on education initiatives for women and girls, we introduced Bal Mandir to KAT and the result has been beyond our wildest dreams”, said Adam.

In the UK and many other countries Pet Therapy is well-established at venues ranging from hospitals to homes for the elderly. Well-respected scientific studies have also shown that peoples’ mental and physical health shows a quantifiable improvement after regular interaction with animals.

KAT was founded in 2004 and carries out a programme of animal birth control and rabies vaccination amongst street dogs to reduce suffering and benefit the community.

Street and community dogs are caught each day, taken to KAT Centre, treated for conditions such as worms, fleas and mange, and then sterilised and vaccinated against rabies. Once they are fully recovered they are released back where they came from with an identity mark on their ear.

KAT receives no government funding and is reliant on donations.

Since it began, KAT has sterilised and vaccinated over 5,400 dogs – preventing around 55,000 unwanted puppies being born.

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An official report filed by People for The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) with the Virginia government shows that the organisation put to death more than 90 percent of the dogs, cats, and other pets it took in for adoption during 2007. During that year, the well-known animal rights group managed to find adoptive homes for just 17 animals.

A non profit group, the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF), has called on PETA to stop its routine condemnation of Americans who believe it’s perfectly ethical to use animals for food, clothing, and medical research.

This comes on the heels of last week’s Newsweek report, which revealed that since 1998 PETA had killed, “more than 17,000 animals, nearly 85 percent of all those it has rescued.”

Not counting animals PETA held only temporarily in its spay-neuter program, the organization took in 1,997 “companion animals” during 2007, of which it killed 1,815. According to Virginia’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS), the average euthanasia rate for humane societies in the state was just 36.2 percent in 2007. PETA killed 90.9 percent of the animals it took in.

“Pet lovers should be outraged,” said CCF Director of Research David Martosko. “There are thousands of worthwhile animal-welfare organizations that deserve the support of compassionate Americans. PETA is not one of them. This is the kind of cold, heartless behavior that would draw a naked PETA protest if anyone else were doing it.”

In January, CCF petitioned VDACS to consider officially reclassifying PETA as a “slaughterhouse” instead of a “humane society” and an animal “releasing agency.” VDACS Commissioner Todd Haymore responded in a January 25, 2008 letter that while PETA’s rate of killing animals is “extremely high,” the state’s laws “do not provide the authority for [VDACS] to ’strip’ PETA of its designation as a ‘humane society’ or ‘releasing agency.’”

“It’s horribly ironic that PETA kills so many animals” Martosko added. “PETA raised over $30 million last year, and it’s using that money to kill the only flesh-and-blood animals its employees actually see. The scale of PETA’s hypocrisy is simply staggering.”

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Bans For Greyhound Suffering

Rebecca Hagger (20) and Rosemary Hagger (51) both received 10-year bans at Peterborough Magistrates Court on 28 April after previously pleading guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to three greyhounds and failing to meet the welfare needs of another four greyhounds.

Rosemary Hagger was banned from keeping dogs for 10 years and her daughter Rebecca was banned from keeping all animals for 10 years.  Rebecca was also ordered to do 200 hours of community service and Rosemary was given a 12-month conditional discharge.  The pair from Edgerley Drain Road, Peterborougn, were each ordered to pay £250 in costs.

The RSPCA was contacted in September 2007.  Inspectors found three greyhounds which were emaciated and had infected sores, contrary to section 4 of the Animal Welfare Act, 2006.  The remaining four were underweight and had flea infestations and were living in dirty conditions with no food or water available, contrary to section 9 of the Animal Welfare Act, 2006.

A vet estimated that two of the dogs had been made to suffer unnecessarily for at least two months and one dog for at least one month.

In mitigation the defendants said that the dogs had belonged to Rosemary’s husband (Rebecca’s father) who had passed away.

The court heard that both defendants had worked in the greyhound racing industry and decided to impose a ban, despite Rebecca still having a job in the industry.

RSPCA inspector Kat Parfitt said:  ”Animals deserve much better than the conditions these dogs were kept in and should have access to veterinary treatment when they need it.

“The RSPCA believes that the government must introduce effective national standards to ensure the welfare of racing and ex-racing greyhounds.  We also feel that those in the industry must be compelled to ensure provision is made for retired dogs.”

Three of the dogs from the case still need new homes.  White and black Boris and Tyler and Wilson, who are both black with white chests, are lovely, friendly dogs who are happy to laze around with just short bursts of exercise.  Anyone who feels they can give a greyhound a good retirement home should call the RSPCA Peterborough & District Branch on 01733 248116.

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A recent article in the Ealing Times mentions that Police Community Support Officers (PCSO’s) in the Acton area of London have been speaking to dog owners about keeping their dogs on leads and muzzled.Since when have Staffordshire Bull Terriers needed to be kept on leads AND muzzled?

Has a new law been passed by government and they have not told the rest of us?

Apart from those legally and lawfully prohibited breeds that have to be muzzled, of which the SBT is certainly not one, the only dogs that have to be muzzled in public are those that have a Magistrates Court imposed control order. These dogs can be of any breed or crossbreed, from a Chihuahua to a Great Dane to a ‘Heinz 57′.

The difference is that a recognised legally composed gathering of Magistrates, Legal Advisor and lawyers have listened to evidence, formed an opinion and reached a verdict based on the evidence.

Where has this occurred with PCSO’s simply ’speaking’ to dog owners about their dogs being muzzled, where is the legally imposed requirement here?

By focusing on the SBT, the Metropolitan Police demonstrates the breed specific targeting of a dog that is not on any prohibited list. However in accordance with the law of the land, like all other dogs in the UK the SBT may be subject to any dog control restrictions in designated areas.

If there is a requirement for dogs to be excluded from a specific place, it applies to all dogs and does not mean, all other dogs apart from your own.

If an irresponsible dog owner fails to comply with such an order, then quite rightly they risk enforcement action for failing to comply.

The specific targeting of one breed of dog by PCSO’s appears to show a breed specific slant towards SBT, do the PCSO’s ’speak’ to the owners of other dogs too?

Until such time as the UK becomes a police state and the police instead of upholding the law start making it, would the PCSO’s of Acton please stick to it and remember that the SBT does not have to be muzzled in public.

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