Inside This Issue:
- Unlicensed Rescue Owner Who Imported Sick and Aggressive Animals Sentenced to Federal Prison
- Colorado Supreme Court Rules 6-0 that Elephants Cannot Sue Zoo
- Giving a "Lonely" Fish a Ray of Sun
- News Bites: Iowa Shark Bill, Mighty Hummingbirds, and Photo Winners
Unlicensed Rescue Owner who Imported Sick and Aggressive Animals Sentenced to Federal Prison
The health and behavioral problems of the unlicensed rescue's animals were greatly misrepresented.
Samantha Miller, an Oregon woman who called her business a “rescue” while woefully neglecting the dogs and cats in her care, lying to adopters, and illegally dispensing prescription animal drugs has been sentenced to three years in federal prison. Miller has a long and sordid history, and we’ve shared her stories before – most recently, after she was sent to jail for violating the terms of her probation.
With the federal sentencing complete, we are reminded of two good reasons to dredge this story up again.
The first issue is the outrageous and callous dishonesty Miller demonstrated to folks who just wanted to adopt a family pet. Miller deliberately sought out dogs and cats with known health and behavioral issues from out-of-state shelters that were all-too-willing to ship their troubled animals to her. She ignored the animals’ medical problems or treated them with questionable “home remedies.” Then, she lied to adopters about the animals’ health and behavioral issues – sometimes even providing adopters with falsely labeled medicine. The heartbreak of adopting a pet, only to be forced to euthanize it after realizing it is too sick or aggressive is unimaginable. The price tag of countless visits to the veterinarian and behaviorists is more tangible, however, and this evidence definitely contributed to Miller’s prison sentence. While it is painful to recount stories like this, potential pet owners need to be aware that their love of animals can be exploited by folks like Miller. A lot of times, it is faster and easier to fall in love with a dog or cat than it is to get to know a local rescue or breeder, but taking that extra time is worth it. Knowing the source of our pets – and that the operators are legit – is vital for the health, safety, and sanity of everybody.
The second issue is perhaps a bit NAIA-centric, but the way Miller took advantage of lax pet importation and reporting regulations to achieve her ends shines a light on why we take such a dim view and firm stance on this issue. Her business was never even licensed as a rescue, yet she was still able to import hundreds of animals from various shelters across the country. Animals that would bite, animals that might spread disease. This is absurd. Nobody wants to euthanize dogs and cats. It's painful and it sucks, and it can be politically dicey to do so in the no-kill era – but this is no solution. You can’t tell us that the organizations passing their sick and aggressive dogs on to Miller believed their animals were actually adoptable – more likely they just didn’t want to be credited with the euthanasias. This is a very cynical – and dangerous – way of kicking the can down the road.
Colorado Supreme Court Rules 6-0 that Elephants Cannot Sue
Highly intelligent and majestic, and still unable to sue.
In a decisive 6-0 ruling, Colorado's Supreme Court rejected a habeas corpus claim on behalf of five elderly African elephants, which would have forced the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo to surrender those elephants to a sanctuary. This case was brought forth by the Nonhuman Rights Project, an animal rights organization with seemingly inexhaustible energy (and funding) based on the number of times it has tried to get courts to grant human rights to animals. Fortunately, this effort was yet another failure.
The case centered on Jambo, Kimba, LouLou, Lucky, and Missy, with the Nonhuman Rights Project claiming these intelligent creatures were suffering from stress that could lead to "brain damage" due to their confinement. They argued that the elephants deserve liberation through habeas corpus - a legal principle reserved for human beings who have been unlawfully detained. Justice Maria Berkenkotter, while acknowledging these "majestic animals," made it clear: elephants aren't legally persons, regardless of their sophistication. The ruling mirrors a similar 2022 decision about Happy, an elephant at the Bronx Zoo, highlighting a pattern of failed legal campaigns by the Nonhuman Rights Project. This latest case represents just one chapter in the organization's years-long crusade to secure human rights for elephants and apes through the courts - a strategy that has consistently fallen short while racking up substantial legal expenses. The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo expressed frustration at having spent 19 months defending against what they called a "frivolous" case, rightly noting that the resources consumed by these legal battles could have been directed toward actual animal welfare initiatives. It should also be pointed out that despite the Nonhuman Rights Project railing about this “injustice” of the court's ruling, little would have changed had they won their case: the elephants would remain in captivity – the main difference would be that the elephants' homes and their current keepers (who they are no doubt attached to) would be changed. In other words, "brain-damaging confinement" becomes "justice and liberation" once animal rights activists are charge of the animals. How convenient!
Source: Elephants cannot sue to get out of the zoo, Colorado's top court rules
Giving a "Lonely" Fish a Ray of Sun
Hey, a hello wouldn't kill ya, would it?
Hey, aquarists: have you ever felt like your fish get lonely when you aren’t around? That was the conclusion reached by the staff at a Shimonoseki, Japan Aquarium after their sunfish became ill. The aquarium closed for renovations last month, and almost immediately after visitors stopped appearing, the sunfish stopped eating and began showing signs of distress.
After running through all the usual diagnostics, the sunfish’s caretakers were unable to help the ailing fish – or even discern the source of its problems. Then, one of the staff members suggested the fish, which was known to be very curious about people, might simply be lonely because visitors were no longer coming to the aquarium. The idea was taken half-seriously and indulged. Not so much because anyone believed the company of humans would actually cure the fish, but more out of a sense of “Hey, nothing else has worked, so why not?”
So, the staff placed cardboard cutouts of human faces and worker uniforms against the aquarium glass, got some rest, and when they came in the next day… the fish was miraculously cured! Now, the staff is making sure to engage with the “lonely” fish while working, and the sunfish is maintaining its appetite and health.
While the correlation is easy to spot here, there’s no way we can be sure of what caused the sunfish to suddenly become ill and then recover overnight. There’s no way anyone can definitively say it was just lonely. It does make for a nice fish story, though. And even if everything is just a coincidence, we can still use this as a reminder of how important stimulation is in maintaining the health of the animals we keep (and that some of them really do just like to be around us).
Source: Japanese aquarium cheers up lonely sunfish with cardboard cutouts of people
News Bites: Iowa Shark Bill, Mighty Hummingbirds, and Photo Winners
Coming to a feeder near you.
A proposed Iowa bill would place sharks on the state’s dangerous wild animal list. Why Iowa of all places, you ask? It stems from an incident at a private aquarium last summer where an employee was bitten by a bamboo shark. Sadly, the shark was euthanized. This is an unusual, if not one-off event, as bamboo sharks rarely bite humans. But just to be sure, the aquarium changed its handling protocols to minimize the risk of a recurrence. Of course, corrective measures did not appease the anti-animal exhibition agenda of HSUS, who viewed the shark bite an opportunity for yet more legislation.
Anna's hummingbird, a delightfully pugnacious West Coast denizen, has greatly expanded its range over the last century. In the 1930s, the northern end of its range ended in southern California. But since then, it has taken advantage of a combination of human hospitality (i.e. feeders), climate change, and our addiction to non-native ornamental plants, and quite simply exploded northward. To punctuate how dramatic this bird’s migration up the west coast has been, there were 21 Anna’s hummingbird sightings in December of 2021 in Ketchikan, Alaska (granted, these sightings were all near feeders, but still)!
Now that it has captured the west coast, Anna’s hummingbird is moving inland, and has recently been spotted all the way in northern Michigan. Wow! Local birders have been cheering on the hummingbird, hoping it survived this week’s nasty cold snap (hang in there, buddy). Even if you aren’t a birder, this unusual sighting is pretty fantastic and speaks to the bird’s resilience... and our love of feeding them.
The “animals” category of New Mexico Magazine’s 24th annual photo awards features some stunning photos. These beautiful animals, captured forever on film are more than a collection of pretty faces, they’re a poignant reminder of how important it has always been to humanity to see and interact with animals. Whether it is saving an image on a cave wall or within a collection of ones and zeroes, the need to record our experiences with animals has always been there. Nearly all of us feel an undeniable emotional impact upon seeing images of animals and for a lot of people, this is the only interaction they will ever have with most types of wildlife.
Also in the News...
★ Animal Welfare Board Meets to Address Animal Care (Maintaining No-Kill Status; Community Concerns & Cooperation)
★ Injured deer at Indiana petting zoo dies after another deer, 2 chickens died (Under Investigation; Same Petting Zoo We Covered Last Week)
★ Citations handed out across Central Texas for leaving animals outside during winter weather (Animal Care; Enforcing Responsible Pet Ownership)
★ Wolf dogs on loose in Sacramento neighborhood, putting residents and animal control on alert (Wolf-Dog Hybrids; Public Health & Safety)
★ Dozens of animals removed from Warrick Co. home, not the first rodeo for owners (Cruelty & Neglect; Alleged Repeat Offenders)
★ Darwin and Bateman thought female animals weren't promiscuous—they were wrong (Evolutionary Biology & Confirmation Bias)
★ The 11 Most Famous Animal Statues in the World (Fun & Goofy Lists: Sculpture Edition; Revered, Feared, and Beloved Animals)
Click here to see what is happening legislatively
