her face and body as she was chained in her enclosure. The film of 57-year-old Asian elephant Annie was taken
by Animal Defenders International and has triggered a joint investigation by local police and a British animal
agency. Annie was beaten some 48 times in a single month while the film was being shot, according to Animal
Defenders, which is seeking to relocate the animal to a sanctuary. Owners of the Bobby Roberts Super Circus
said they were horrified by the actions of Annie's minder, who has since left his job, reports the Guardian.
2. It's brotherly revenge gone terribly wrong: When Sean Mulcahy learned that his brother Ryan had slept with his
fiancée, he slit the throat of Ryan's cat, dumped it in a ditch across the street, and then texted Ryan a photo of
the grisly deed, reports the Chicago Tribun. Sean pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges yesterday and got
30 months of probation and 150 hours of community service. As he summed it up for the judge: "It was
definitely fueled by out-of-control emotions as well as alcohol."
3. Animals die at the Kiev Zoo... a lot. In recent years, zookeepers have done such a spectacularly poor job at
keeping their tenants breathing that animal rights groups have begun wondering aloud if it's some kind of plot to
destroy the facility, the AP reports. When new management took over in October, it said that nearly half the
zoo's animals had either died or mysteriously disappeared in the past two years alone—and the management
change hasn't stopped the bodies from piling up since. Animal rights groups say animals are malnourished and
mistreated. "The zoo is in such a condition that it's no longer a zoo, it's a concentration camp," said one
activist. A government audit of the zoo has found that animals had been illegally sold off, and that the money
allocated for their food and care had vanished. Some activists even suspect the deaths are a deliberate attempt
to destroy the zoo, so that its prime central-Kiev real estate can be sold off.
4. For three decades, human DNA has been used in court; now, abused cats and dogs are benefiting from their
own genetic evidence. Thus far, only a few cases have been won with help from DNA, but its use is “becoming
more and more common,” an expert tells the New York Times. In addition to helping win a few convictions—two
of which were returned this month—the genetic material has prompted many guilty pleas. Scruffy the cat was
put down after being brutally burned by a pair of teens; DNA from burnt tissue helped identify the animal and link
them to the crime. “When the vet comes in and testifies about the extent of the injuries, the gruesome nature of
the way the flame was applied, the extraordinary way the cat suffered—this is the cat,” says a deputy DA. In
most cases, defendants “end up pleading,” said a lab director, “because their lawyers know what would happen
if they brought that kind of cruelty in front of a jury.”
5. In America, a 19-year-old can be arrested for killing a hamster—yet we are allowed to inflict great cruelty on
animals kept, not as pets, but for food. That’s because of state laws called “Common Farming Exemptions” that
allow the industry, instead of lawmakers, to basically define cruelty by making any common practice legal. “In
short, if I keep a pig as a pet, I can’t kick it. If I keep a pig I intend to sell for food, I can pretty much torture it,”
writes Mark Bittman in the New York Times.
“We ‘process’ (that means kill) nearly 10 billion animals annually in this country,” Bittman continues. Many of
those animals are raised in conditions that have been compared to concentration camps. You can't kick a pet
dog, but anyone who raises animals for food can legally castrate calves and piglets with no anesthetic, skin live
animals, or put chicks through grinders. “It’s time to take a look at the line between ‘pet’ and ‘animal,’” Bittman
writes. “We should be treating animals better and raising fewer of them; this would naturally reduce our
consumption. All in all, a better situation for us, the animals, the world.”
6. In America, a 19-year-old can be arrested for killing a hamster—yet we are allowed to inflict great cruelty on
animals kept, not as pets, but for food. That’s because of state laws called “Common Farming Exemptions”
that allow the industry, instead of lawmakers, to basically define cruelty by making any common practice legal.
“In short, if I keep a pig as a pet, I can’t kick it. If I keep a pig I intend to sell for food, I can pretty much torture
it,” writes Mark Bittman in the New York Times.
“We ‘process’ (that means kill) nearly 10 billion animals annually in this country,” Bittman continues. Many of
those animals are raised in conditions that have been compared to concentration camps. You can't kick a pet
dog, but anyone who raises animals for food can legally castrate calves and piglets with no anesthetic, skin live
animals, or put chicks through grinders. “It’s time to take a look at the line between ‘pet’ and ‘animal,’” Bittman
writes. “We should be treating animals better and raising fewer of them; this would naturally reduce our
consumption. All in all, a better situation for us, the animals, the world.”
7. Turns out that kicking an opposing team's mascot wasn't such a great idea: A Colombian soccer player who
booted his opponents' lucky owl may face a fine and possibly even prison time after the creature died. The bird
had wandered onto the field and been struck by a ball, at which point Panamanian Luis Moreno—whose team
was losing 2-1—kicked the stunned bird off the pitch, the AP reports. It was taken to a vet, but died of shock
two days later.
7. Turns out that kicking an opposing team's mascot wasn't such a great idea: A Colombian soccer player who
booted his opponents' lucky owl may face a fine and possibly even prison time after the creature died. The bird
had wandered onto the field and been struck by a ball, at which point Panamanian Luis Moreno—whose team
was losing 2-1—kicked the stunned bird off the pitch, the AP reports. It was taken to a vet, but died of shock
two days later.
Moreno claims he was actually trying to help the owl. "I was not trying to hurt the owl," he said. "I did it to see if
it would fly. What I wanted to do was get it off the field. The kick was a product of tension on the field at the
time." He has been ordered to pay the vet's bill and do volunteer work at a zoo. Outraged fans are calling for
Moreno to be prosecuted under Colombia's animal cruelty laws, which carry a maximum sentence of three
months in prison.
freed from her frightening work, and spent only a few months living in luxury, munching fresh fruit and veggies in
an animal sanctuary outside Moscow. Anapka became an animal rights celeb after the donkey was spotted
over the Azov Sea last year, floating through the sky in a parachute harness and braying in fright as part of a
promotion for a parasailing company. She was saved after plunging into the sea, and finally delivered to the
green fields of the sanctuary, reports AP. But the stress apparently was already too much for the 18-year-old
donkey. She became ill recently and died of heart trouble.
9. Big milestone in Michael Vick's comeback: He's landed his first national endorsement deal since the dog-
fighting scandal that landed him in jail. The Eagles quarterback will be the spokesman for Unequal
Technologies, a maker of sporting equipment—including the rib protection he wore this season, notes Yahoo
Sports. The company says it's a "sizable" deal but didn't disclose details.
10. Monkey-fighting is off the agenda and monkey meat is off the menu at zoos and circuses in China. An animal
welfare law taking effect this month bans animal performances at zoos and other attractions, and bans zoos
from serving dishes made from rare animals, the Telegraph reports. Wildlife parks will no longer be allowed to
sell guests live chickens to chuck at lions and tigers. The law also requires zoos to provide animals with
adequate housing and keep them away from "disturbance or irritation."
Animal welfare campaigners had long complained of cruel practices at wildlife shows. "A zoo in my city had a
show where they forced an adult lion to stand on the back of a horse for a sort of animal acrobatic
performance,” said the chairman of an animal protection association in southern China. “I also saw one
entertainment park where the monkeys seemed to have wounds all over their bodies. The manager told me the
monkeys got hurt during live monkey-fighting shows." Campaigners say most zoos and circuses appear to be
complying with the new law.
~More news coming soon~
