State agriculture chief Jim Zehringer, seen in front of an Ohio Historical Society photo, acknowleges that the process was a struggle but credits public input in the sweeping result.
In one of those rare events in government, calmer heads prevailed, averting a costly, divisive political campaign in 2009. Now, two years later, the result is comprehensive farm-animal rules that catapult Ohio to the forefront of the nation…more
Open Season on Cats in Lebanon, Ohio
You’re just about ready to leave, when a human with a gun strides into the yard and points it at you. Since you’re a pet cat and you’re not feral, you’re not afraid of humans, and of course you have no idea what a gun is. So you just lie there, not knowing you’re about to get shot in the head and die. What was your crime? You lay down and panted in a neighbor’s yard, in the city of Lebanon, Ohio, where policemen with no veterinary knowledge whatsoever can execute cats on sight just for looking sick.
This is what happened to Dori Stone’s cat, Haze, who went missing Friday, August 19, and was shot one day later by a police officer whose identity has been withheld…
“We love our cats, do you know what it was like to pull your pet . . . out of the garbage bag and his head is bloody with a bullet hole in it?”
says Stone…
…Stone says that Haze was well-groomed and obviously not a stray. He wasn’t wearing tags, but she had reported her missing cat to the Humane Association, who the police never contacted. According to WKRC, Stone and her husband “plan to lobby for changes in the police policy.” Hopefully, it will be in time to save the next supposedly sick, stray cat…more
…Cockfighting is a centuries-old [blood] sport in which two or more specially bred birds, or gamecocks, are placed in an enclosed pit to fight, according to information on the Humane Society of the United States site…
…Ohio is one of only a handful of states where cockfighting is considered a misdemeanor, Mr. [John] Dinon [executive director of the Toledo-Area Humane Society] said. He added that there is a bill up for consideration in the Ohio legislature that would make the crime a felony.
House Bill 260 would charge a first-time offender with a fifth-degree felony…more
WEST UNION, Ohio -- Assured by Evelyn and Joyce Nixon they would no longer have pets, Adams County Court of Common Pleas allowed the women probation following a 2010 animal hoarding case which saw more than 60 animals seized the week of March 23, 2010 in West Union, Ohio and Lynx, Ohio.
The women have been arrested again, charged with probation violation after about 30 dogs were found in their possession, official said.
Evelyn Nixon, 73, was allowed to enter an Alford plea in November 2010, which acknowledged there was evidence sufficient to convict; Joyce Nixon, 56, was found guilty and was sentenced in January to probation, with the same stipulations, officials said…more
