Inside This Issue:
- Rescue Offering Pups, Doodles, and Purebreds Spurs Investigative Report
- Massive Pet Insurance Cancellation Leaves Pet Owners Furious
- Three Fowl Tales
Rescue Offering Puppies, Doodles, and Purebred Dogs Spurs Investigative Report
When a rescue offers lots of puppies, doodles, and purebreds, it's going to raise some questions.
A recent Los Angeles Times investigation features a rescue offering a suspicious number of puppies, doodles, and purebred dogs for adoption while painting a picture of California as the Wild West of pet rescue.
This piece is lengthy but definitely worth a full read. The main story, in a nutshell, is that a popular rescue has been accused of buying dogs from shady breeders and even auctions in the Midwest, then flipping those dogs as high-priced “rescues.” This is not the first time this practice has been covered, but it may be the most audacious, high-profile example of “Rescues Gone Wild” yet.
Along the way, the exposé covers infighting between rescue groups, disgruntled clients and former employees, and of course, lawsuits. NAIA’s president is even quoted at one point (don’t blink or you might miss it). The issue of rescue importation, while not featured, is also touched on – as it should be. Because if California's shelters are as overrun with homeless pets as reported, why on earth are rescue groups importing dogs?
Finally, we are offered hope that there may be solutions. Solutions that NAIA and even the most fervently anti-breeder rescue activist can agree on: that we need to have reasonable regulations for private rescues. In particular, requiring documentation and transparency when it comes to the source of a rescue’s animals.
Massive Pet Insurance Cancellation Leaves Pet Owners Furious
Will this claim count against them when it's time to renew their coverage in 2033?
Citing rising veterinary costs and a general lack of profitability, Nationwide Insurance announced it will not be renewing coverage for about 100,000 pets in spring and summer of 2025. Many pet owners with the company were already annoyed over recent premium increases (in at least one case, doubling over the course of two years), but the prospect of no insurance at all is far more than an annoyance – it’s downright scary.
According to Nationwide, a dog’s age, breed, and claims history does not factor into whether coverage is canceled. However, numerous pet owners with older and sicker dogs that have received cancellation notices have connected online to commiserate over their shared experiences. While the insurance cancellations may follow the letter of the law, some of these pet owners are looking into legal remedies. They feel like they’ve spent years paying into a policy while their pets were generally young and healthy, and now – just when their pets are (or are about to) need more regular veterinary care – the rug has been pulled out from beneath them. Oh, and good luck hopping to a new provider with a pet that is older and/or has pre-existing conditions!
Whether or not Nationwide’s decision fully complies with the law and regardless of the financial sense it makes for the company, these policy cancellations have left a bad taste in the mouths of countless pet owners. A lot of pet owners with pet insurance, even if they are currently happy with their plans, must be wondering about the actual long-term value and viability of their policies right now.
Three Fowl Tales
It's been a rather fowl week for animal news, so with that in mind…
At a popular micro farm in Georgia, 12 hens were torn to pieces after stray dogs broke through the fence of a chicken coop. The attack was caught on camera, and the dogs were picked up by animal control. The dogs were (surprise!) not microchipped, and nobody has claimed them. For people who keep chickens, predators are a constant concern. Doing what we can to keep our chickens safe is part of being a responsible owner. And do you know what else is an important part of being a responsible animal owner? Keeping your dogs off other people’s property and out of their chicken coops!
In Peoria, Illinois, the question of allowing citizens to keep backyard chickens won’t be answered just yet. The city council wants 30 days to research best practices and to get a better handle on the nuances of the issue. While this is probably a little frustrating to people who want to keep chickens – especially since the answer will most likely be yes – thirty days isn’t an intolerably long wait. Also, while we don't want to offer unsolicited advice, things may have gone a little more quickly if “But everyone else is doing it!” wasn’t one of the primary arguments from the pro-backyard chicken side.
Finally, since we all love a heartwarming animal rescue story (and in this case, a video), a Texas business owner and several laundromat customers worked together to herd a family of 13 lost ducks off the street and into a laundromat. Once inside, the ducks were kenneled, then driven to a local watering hole and released. The ducks are now safe from being run over, and no doubt feel more comfortable in the water than walking on the blistering pavement. It must have been a lot of fun to help them out, too!
Note: we will be out of the office for the 4th of July holiday, so the next newsletter will be published on Wednesday, July 3rd. See you then and have a great weekend!
Also in the News...
★ How is Oklahoma's heat wave impacting animals? (Care & Welfare; Pets & Livestock; Keep 'Em Hydrated)
★ Clean up your yard and help feed animals at Fresno Chaffee Zoo (No Better Way to Help a Hungry Rhino)
★ Wildlife 'tourons' put themselves and animals in danger (Can We Please Not?)
★ Six Million Animals Make Moves In The World’s Largest Land Mammal Migration (Wildlife & Conservation; Sights to Behold; How Many Legs Is That?)
★ 4 people bitten by marine animals in Virginia Beach's Sandbridge, officials say (The Great Outdoors; It’s Beautiful, but It’s Not All Disney)
★ SuperAnimal: A deep learning model for automated animal behavior analysis (Science & Technology; AI Behavioral Analysis)
★ 32 of the most dangerous animals on Earth (Lists We've Done Before; The Top 10 Rarely Changes)
Click here to see what is happening legislatively
