This made me sick to my stomach so if you’re sensitive to this kind of thing don’t read further. Yuck.

A Pennsylvania woman apparently thought she’d had a flash of brilliance when she began selling “gothic kittens” on Ebay from her home. The auction showed kittens with heavy ear piercings, as well as neck and tail piercings.

A man who came across the Ebay auction called the number and went to the house to see the kittens before reporting it to police. The homeowner, who runs a pet grooming business in her basement, apparently told one of the officers that she thought it was a great idea to pierce kittens.

[image: flickr]

Holiday air travelers who plan to bring their pets with them on a flight need to be especially careful if their pet is a Persian cat or short-nosed dog such as a bulldog or pug.

Reports of pet deaths during flight by the Department of Transportation - who put out the report each month - have people wondering about the number of unexplained deaths with short-nosed, or brachycephalic, breeds that had no problems prior to take off.

It’s speculated that these particular breeds have a harder time breathing in the first place, and the combination of this and the atmosphere in an airplane cargo hold can spell trouble. Some airlines already refuse to allow these breeds to fly with them during the warm summer months.

The article does point out that there’s no way of knowing how many short-nosed pets have been transported safely, and there’s no hard evidence or active investigation either.

What do you think?

[image: flickr]

So the news just broke yesterday that after an 8-month investigation by the Humane Society it’s been found that PetLand pet stores use puppy mills to breed the dogs they sell while telling customers that they come from upstanding breeders.

I thought everyone knew this already? I first heard it years ago when I was going to buy rat supplies at one of their stores and a friend told me that she won’t buy anything there because their dogs and puppies come from mills. A little research online revealed that a lot of people knew this then, too. Just looking in a window at one of their stores should tell you all those dogs are not coming from reputable breeders, you know?

You don’t need a pet store to be the middle man for a specific breed! Do a little legwork and find a breeder you can work with directly, or better yet go check out your local Humane Society and animal shelter and adopt a homeless pet instead.

[image: flickr]

Specialist Gwen Beberg, serving in Baghdad, rescued and “adopted” Ratchet, a stray dog, this past May. She has tried to get Ratchet to the U.S. but so far hadn’t been successful — until an online petition with 50,000 signatures and SPCA International’s Operation Baghdad Pups stepped in to help. Ratchet will now be heading to his new home as early as this weekend!

U.S. soldiers are not normally allowed to bring home animals though exceptions have been made. So far, more than 50 dogs and six cats have made their way back to the U.S. to be with the servicemen who took care of them.

Ratchet will be joined by six other dogs and Specialist Beberg, who returns home next month, has said she’ll do a happy dance when that happens. I can’t say I blame her!

[image: sxc]

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An ex-corrections officer and a sheriff deputy on administrative leave claimed to have found the remains of a bigfoot last week in rural Georgia. They not only concocted an entire story about the incident - including having a “scientist” announcing that the remains were authentic who later turned out to be the deputy’s brother, and using a rubber Halloween costume for the body - but even after they admitted to the hoax they carried on as if the body had just been stolen. I know, it doesn’t make much sense to me either.

Pictures of the body, which looked like a gorilla suit stuffed into a freezer (imagine that), circulated on the news and in newspapers all last week.

Do you ever kind of hold out hope that things like this might be real or just write them all off as hoaxes in the first place?

This is sad all around.

Michael Gonzalez and his girlfriend Crystal Hernandez were rushing to the emergency vet to get their choking teacup poodle Missy some medical attention.

On the way they were pulled over by officer Paul Stephens who clocked them driving at 100mph, and then kept them at the side of the road for over 20 minutes, even after the couple tried to explain what was going on and asking if they could leave.

At one point, officer Stephens said “It’s a dog. It’s OK. You can get another one. Relax.” The whole incident was caught on tape from the officer’s patrol car. Missy died as Gonzalez waited for Stephens to issue a citation.

Stephens’ superiors did not find him guilty of misconduct, but have ordered that he attend counseling.

I agree that driving at over 100mph is way too excessive and puts not only the owners and the dog at risk but everyone else on the road as well. I don’t think the cop needed to drag the ordeal out after he found out what was happening. I doubt counseling is going to change that.

What do you think?

[image: sxc]

This really just gets more and more bizarre.

So, after selling her house to scrape up the $50,000 needed to clone her long-dead pitbull Booger, getting herself to South Korea for the birth of the five puppies, and then admitting that she is the same Joyce Bernann McKinney that kidnapped and raped a Mormon missionary in the 70’s, Bernann McKinney has left South Korea without the cloned puppies.

She’s apparently on the lam yet again after being identified as the mastermind behind a 2004 burglary plot in Tennessee. She supposedly got a 15-year old boy to break into a house to steal some money so she could… get her three-legged horse a prosthetic leg. She was arrested but skipped out on her court date and her lawyer hasn’t heard from her since.

The biotech company that cloned the dogs said she’ll be back sometime in November for the dogs, though there were reports earlier this week that she’d already left the country with at least one of the puppies.

So maybe it’s not so weird after all that the woman who paid for the first commercial pet cloning shelled out so much to have it done: she may have a history of not being able to let go!

She raised some interest this past week not just for the cloning of her dog Booger, but because she bears a striking resemblance (and name) to a woman who kidnapped a Mormon missionary in the 70s and held him against his will for a few days in the UK.

Joyce McKinney was a softcore porn model that jumped bail after being arrested for the kidnapping, though when she was later found in the US the UK failed to extradite her. Bernann McKinney says that while she bears a striking resemblance to Joyce McKinney that the story is trash.

The mouth and the eyes are very distinct - I definitely think it’s her. What do you think?

Updated to add: McKinney has admitted to being one and the same.

Remember “Princess” Chunk from last week? Turns out it’s Prince Chunk and he’s been adopted!

Apparently Chunk started out life ten years ago as Powder, which was discovered when the former owner revealed that they’d lost their home in foreclosure and Chunk was more or less kicked to the curb too.

Nearly 400 people applied to adopt the tubby kitty and next week he’ll be going to live with a New Jersey family who will give him a vet prescribed high-protein, low-carb diet. He’s perfectly healthy otherwise!

Five puppies born from the skin cells of “Booger” the pit bull terrier made their debut as the first ever commercially cloned pets at the Seoul National University in Korea this week.

“Booger,” who died in April 2006, belonged to California resident Bernann McKinney. McKinney, who rescued Booger 12 years ago, said the dog had become an indispensable part of her life and that she chose to have Booger cloned because “losing a pet is a terrible, terrible loss to anyone.”

The five puppies, whose names all contain the word “Booger,” cost McKinney $50,000, which she sold her house to raise.

While I know the loss of a pet is devastating, I hope I’m not the only one who thinks this story is, to be kind, stupid. $50,000 and your house, for puppies? Especially given that while the animals may be physically identical their personalities are not.

Of course it’s her money and her life to do with as she pleases, but I can’t help but think of how many other existing dogs in shelters (where she got Booger in the first place!) could have been helped with that much money.