AIC is going to lay low over the summer and come back revamped by fall.  Here are two unmitigated downers to mull over in the meantime.

Statistics . . .

On Friday, Manitou RCMP went to the property in the RM of Lorne. Officers discovered as many as 500 dead pigs, along with about 160 that were so sick that they had to be put down. Many of the animals were found living without proper food, water or ventilation.

 RCMP said evidence of “severe neglect” was observed. About 2,000 animals were rescued.

. . . tragedy.

I’m very sad to say that Sunny also had to be put down recently. Sunny was surrendered to the shelter back in August 2009, and he was a super-sweet, cuddly older boy. He was finally adopted in December, only to be returned two months later. He was clearly depressed to be back in the shelter, and his awesome personality quickly disappeared. He stayed in the corner, not moving, not interested in people. And then recently, he started biting people when they tried to pet him. Four months had passed since he’d been returned, it was clear no one was going to adopt him, he was depressed and he was going to hurt someone.

Real teeth

ALDF releases annual report on best places to be an animal abuser in Canada.

Alberta, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Quebec are the best provinces and territories in Canada to be an animal abuser, according to a new report released today by the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Based on a detailed comparative analysis of the animal protection laws of each jurisdiction, the report recognizes the provinces and territories where laws protecting animals have real teeth, and calls out those like the Northwest Territories and Nunavut—tied again for worst in Canada this year for animal protection laws—where animal abusers get off easy.

High-fear

Vet says neither Viande Rischelieu Inc. nor Bouvry Exports up to horse-slaughter standards.

Horses were whipped, struck across the head and poked with electrical prods at the Quebec plant. And some of the horses that were hung to bleed at the Alberta plant showed signs of consciousness, Dr. Zimmerman said.

In addition, she said, the footage shows instances at both facilities when it took more than one shot to take a horse down.

Horses are high-fear flight animals, Dr. Zimmerman said. “What sets them off is anything that is unusual to them, or a sudden noise. As well, they will have great anxiety when they feel they are trapped in a small space.” When they panic, it is difficult to get off a clean shot.

Not just some $600 animal

Embryo implant purebred Simmental calf apparently shot, then stolen.

“We didn’t see the blood at first, but the mother cow of the calf that was shot was refusing to move and was quite agitated. She kept wanting to go back to a certain spot, so we followed her and that’s when we saw the blood,” said Vern.

The calf’s dam and sire from Alberta and Saskatchewan based purebred Simmental operations, were valued and previously sold at auction for $32,500 and $32,000, respectively, so their offspring was “not just some $600 market animal,” said Vern.

Anti-Cartesian

Prof comments on husky who mauled infant in Saint-Barnabe-Sud.

“An animal is always somewhat unpredictable. They’re not machines,” said Andrew Luescher, a professor of veterinary behaviour at Purdue University in Indiana.

Bunny ban

Coquitlam can keep selling rabbits, but must be spayed or neutered first.

Coun. Mae Reid ended up voting against her own motion after amendments were tacked on by her council colleagues that would allow for the sale or rabbits, providing the animals are fixed.

“I want the total prohibition or nothing,” Reid said during Monday’s meeting.

An increasing number of rabbits are found in local parks, she said, often left behind by people who have grown tired of taking care of the animals. It is cruel that bunnies are being released to end for themselves, she said, often making them food for larger animals such as coyotes.

Shelter dogs

National poll finds 43 per cent of Canadians buy dogs from breeders, and most don’t know how many homeless dogs we’ve got.

The largest proportion of the poll’s 1,008 telephone respondents — 11 per cent — put the number of unwanted dogs brought to shelters in Canada every year at 10,000.

According to the survey’s statistics, the actual number of dogs admitted to shelters annually is over three times that, at more than 36,000. Many of these animals are destroyed when homes cannot be found for them.

Tipping point

Biologists predict Manitoba’s polar bears will disappear within thirty years.

The increasing length of the ice-free season on Hudson Bay will soon reach a tipping point where 20 to 30 per cent of Manitoba’s polar bears will begin dying off every year, according to a mathematical analysis released by Stirling’s colleague, University of Alberta biologist Andrew Derocher, who has studied polar bears for 28 years.

The predictions mean the province that calls itself the polar bear capital of the world may no longer be able to count the iconic Arctic animal as a resident species within a generation.

Desperate situation

Coombs’ World Parrot Refuge reeling from loss of gaming grants.

The Coombs sanctuary remains open and refuge co-founder Wendy Huntbatch hopes a tourist boom later this month will allow her to hire back employees. For now, the sanctuary is struggling to care for more than 800 birds, more than 100 extra compared to the same time last year, as more continue to arrive.

Huntbatch has been using her own credit card for the last five months to help care for the parrots, many of whom require expensive veterinary care. A thrift shop on the Coombs property opened last month to help alleviate some of the pressure but it is a desperate situation, said Huntbatch.

“We’ll keep on struggling,” said Huntbatch. “I spend every penny I’ve got supporting them.”