Serial Puppy Thieves On Loose In Delaware

Three women — see, it wasn’t me — stole a West Highland White Terrier puppy from a pet shop, which is a place you shouldn’t pay to get a dog from, let alone steal. The Pet Place is Hockessin, Del, is now missing a $600 female pup, the second Westie taken from the store in just over a month.

According to The Early Show, though, police departments are now using CSI-type tools and, uh, special effects to solve animal crimes. Animal CSI, they’re calling it.

“I have to be the voice. I have to be the voice of the animal… It is very much just like ‘CSI,’ except our victims cannot testify,” says the forensic vet of the New York ASPCA. Of course, prosecutors have decried the CSI effect, which makes it harder to get convictions since jurors are expecting slam dunk cases. It’s best to just help the animals, though.

[Image licensed via Creative Commons]

Foie Gras Protesters Turn On Each Other

Yeah, not only are there two foie gras protest groups in Philadelphia, but the two separate groups are feuding with each other.

Michael Klein writes the Wynnewood home of chef Guillermo Pernot was protested last Saturday morning by Philadelphia Advocates for the Animals. The nine animal lovers chanted at eight in the morning until the cops told them they were too loud. Pernot, you see, served foie gras while working at Pif in South Philly.

Only, ah, he’s never worked at Pif. And he’s never served foie gras. Klein talked with the Pennsylvania Advocates for the Animals people and apparently the rival group, Hugs for Puppies, gave them bad intel.

Asked for comment, Christopher Semick of PAFA said it was [Nick Cooney of Hugs for Puppies] who had tried to “throw us under the bus” by force-feeding “his unfounded research” to other activists.

“What happened at Mr. Pernot’s home is an embarrassment and is going to do nothing but hinder the achievement of our goal,” Semick said by e-mail.

Soon no one in Philadelphia will be safe from the 15 or so people who are strongly against foie gras. Everyone will have to take a turn being protested in the morning due to these rival groups.

Ducking the issue [Inquirer, 2nd item]
Friday: Free Speech Zone Set Up For Foie Gras Protesters (Includes incredibly cute puppy photo)

You may have my ‘Oregon Trail’ — but you’ll pry ‘Carmen Sandiego’ from my cold, dead hands

There’s an article in today’s Inquirer about Pennsylvania’s animal welfare lobby, a small group of activists who fight for animal rights interests. Their adversaries are things like hunting and fishing industries.

Despite their small budget and even smaller lobbying power — no animal rights activist is taking Joe Lawmaker out for dinner — the Inky says they have enjoyed some recent victories.

Like, for example, this bill:

Despite the odds, the animal lobby has racked up a string of victories, with the passage of more than a dozen bills benefiting wild animals and pets. In October, the legislature passed a bill banning so-called Internet hunting - in which people from the comfort of their homes use computers to trigger weapons that fire at animals many miles away.

This isn’t good. Now everyone’s going to have to choose the banker since they’ll have to buy food (since they can’t hunt). Then they won’t have money to hire an Indian guide to help them cross the river and little John will die of dysentery.

Animal activists get Harrisburg’s ear [Inky]
Oregon Trail [ClassicGaming.com]