The Puppy Mill Bill, shelter critters and horses with rabbit ears...

Monday, April 25, has arrived like most Mondays – a bunch of questions about the fate of mankind and a great need for more sleep. Here’s today’s report:
THE PUPPY MILL BILL AT A CRISIS POINT: The Texas Puppy Mill Bill is scheduled for a key vote on Tuesday. You can read about it at the Texas Humane Legislation Network site at www.thln.org. The bill is aimed at keeping unscrupulous breeders from abusing animals through overbreeding and neglect for the sake of profit.
OLD CAT, OLD DOG: Inexplicable, sometimes, why these animals wind up in shelters..
The Collin County Animal Services shelter in McKInney is the current home of Simba, a 15-year-old blind cat. According to a note forwarded to us by shelter monitor DeDe Whitcombe, Simba “was surrendered by an owner because they no longer wanted him.” (Simba is #291997 in the shelter. Fifteen? Barely past middle-age for some cats.)
And there this old dog – not even a name listed. He had a name at some point and probably would love to hear someone call him again. For now, he’s 291264.
According to the note sent by DeDe, the person who assessed him wrote, “This guy will rip your heart out. He is ancient but so sweet.  It took him several seconds to get up and come over to see me, but once he did he was all wags and kisses.  He is neutered already and needs to leave shelter ASAP! Would love to see someone give him whatever time he has left with a nice home and soft dog bed.”
These older former family pets are competing against young, lively, cute animals for a place in a home. About all they’ve got left now is a prayer.
Call the shelter at 972-547-7292 or e-mail [email protected] or [email protected].
THE FACE: You never know what’ll turn up in a city animal shelter. This fab-faced female is Teri, said to be a Border Collie mix. She came into the Carrollton Animal Shelter as a stray. She’s one of many strays who, lately, have managed to wind up in the Carrollton shelter – on the streets, the danger is great. In the shelter? Sometimes there are breaks that go the way of a dog or cat.
Teri is short, stout (maybe 40 pounds) and young – probably about 2. She’s friendly. She’s nobody’s dog right now. Maybe she thought she was someone’s dog at some point.
Call Carrollton at 972-466-3420 or e-mail [email protected] . See video HERE.
THREE ON THE LIST: The weekly Dallas Animal Services “Very Special Pet” euthanasia list of dogs and cats has, by virtue of rescues and adoptions, been whittled to just three dogs. They’re scheduled to die on April 29 – that’s Friday.
They are on the VSP list because they’ve been in the shelter for 45 days. They’re healthy, up-to-date on all shots and have the veterinary “ready to go” stamp. Which way they go – a home or a needle – depends on people. Hate to be in that fix.
All three of these dogs are young adults, two (Honey “lounging” and “Haley”) are under 40 pounds and Hemmi is a long-legged girl who is just under 60 pounds.
Papers? Do they come with papers? If you’re just interested in papers, you’re not good enough to live with these dogs.
To ask about adopting any of these three, contact [email protected] or [email protected]  or call 214-671-0249 or 214-670-8312.
Rescue groups should contacted [email protected] or call 214-670-8298 or [email protected] or call 214-671-0308.
And a reminder: These are not the only 3 animals at the Dallas Animal Services Shelter, they’re just the only three left on this week’s VSP list. There are hundreds of cages at the shelter – they hold dogs, cats, puppies and kittens. All of them are on the clock. They, too, depend on people to escape death-by-injection.
A suggestion: The key to saving all the dogs and cats is getting people outside of the rescue community involved. Copy this entire report and send it to friends you know who have no interest in animals – yet. You may touch a heart. You may save the life of a dog or cat that you have never met.
Don’t be part of the traditional Texas animal solution: Let’s kill it.
CONTEMPLATIONS: It was Easter Sunday in Dallas and I was in the mood for an afternoon drive around town. Kiest Park, where I usually do my stumbling and gasping exercise, was full of families celebrating the holiday together. Deep Ellum was virtually deserted. Some car washes were closed – figuring, I guess that if you waited ‘till Sunday to wash your car for Easter, you’ve got a scheduling problem that cannot be overcome and you need to just go on to church and pray for serene guidance.
The great Stevens Park Golf Course in Oak Cliff, usually a vibrant place on a Sunday, has been bulldozed and is under reconstruction – may reopen in the fall, weather permitting.
And, of course, as so many of you know, the crowds were thick along the Trinity River near downtown to view, with awe, the Calatrava Bridge and Sewer Pipe Arch and the magnificent Easter Aquafest being presented beneath it – water skiers, acrobats hanging from the span, performing seals, a manatee swim-through in formation... Fort Worth sent over a herd of Longhorns who two-stepped into the low-flow river. And, of course, Dallas, ever so sophisticated, arranged the festival highlight, the Furzakistan Russian Beaver Ballet performing a specially written hour-long rhythmic-paddling creation called “Clearing the Texas Prairie, Damming the Mighty River.”
Meanwhile, unable to get tickets for the Aquafest, I drove through the West End – also not all that busy – where I spotted these two horses ready to pull carriages along the city streets. I saw them soberly so I knew right away that the rabbit ears were holiday accessories. I’m not sure what people who weren’t sober might have thought. If they’d just come from the Aquafest after watching the Beaver Ballet, then, probably horses with rabbit ears were not much of a surprise.
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