Day: December 12, 2007

Changes proposed to horse transportation rules

The Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is looking to close a loophole in its regulations on the commercial transport of horses to slaughter facilities. Current regulations protect horses that are being commercially transported directly to slaughter. A proposed rule in the Nov. 7 Federal Register would amend those regulations to extend protection to horses that are bound for slaughter but delivered first to an assembly point, feedlot, or stockyard. The USDA-APHIS stated it believes “that equines may be delivered to these intermediate points en route to slaughter for the sole purpose of avoiding

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Lethal injection opponents use AVMA euthanasia guidelines to make their case

Early next year, the Supreme Court will tackle the question of whether death by lethal injection violates the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. The high court agreed to hear the appeal of two Kentucky inmates suing the state over its three-drug lethal injection procedure, saying it causes unnecessary pain and suffering. Unwillingly caught up in the debate is the AVMA, whose Guidelines on Euthanasia are cited by lethal injection opponents arguing that even veterinarians won’t subject their animal patients to the same deadly cocktail used on condemned criminals. No one at the AVMA knows which

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AVMA Releases Latest Stats on Pet Ownership and Practices

  SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — Did you know that there are more dog owners than cat owners in America, but more cats than dogs in those homes? According to the 2007 “U.S. Pet Ownership and Demographic Sourcebook” (Sourcebook) published by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) there are 43 million dog owning households compared with 37.5 million cat owning households, but 81.7 million cats compared to 72 million dogs. Not surprisingly, women were the primary caregivers to most of them. About 64% of all pet-owning households owned more than one pet, and those pet owners spent a total

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Search is on for the next APHA World Show artist

FORT WORTH, TEXAS—Can you paint or draw an equine that is one breath away from leaping off the canvas? Or does your unique use of color and technique capture the emotion that Paint Horse enthusiasts feel for their breed? Then you may be a perfect fit for the American Paint Horse Association’s next official World Championship Paint Horse Show artist. The premier horse show is set for June 22–July 5, 2008 in Fort Worth, Texas. The winning artist’s original work will be reproduced as a commemorative fine art print, on the cover of the /World Show Program/

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