Humane Society

Among the ranks of the nation's renters? Here are a few considerations: • You're a tenant. You have a dog or a cat. Those used to be mutually exclusive situations — that is, landlords were known for banishing pets from apartments. That began to change a few years ago when landlords caught on to the reality that pet ownership is huge in this country: Thirty-nine percent of U.S. households own at least one dog, and 33% own at least one cat, according to the Humane Society of the United States.

A Pennsylvania egg farm is under fire from the Humane Society of the United States after the animal rights group conducted an undercover investigation that it says netted secret footage of hens living in filthy, cramped conditions that put public health at risk. Kreider Farms did not respond to repeated requests from The Times for comment. But Ron Kreider, the company president, told the Associated Press that the society's report, posted on its website Thursday, was “a gross distortion of Kreider Farms, our employees and the way we care for our birds.” He said Kreider has “state-of-the-art facilities” and “more than 80% of our chickens are housed in larger, modern cages.” For six weeks in February and March, the Humane Society had someone on the inside at Kreider Farms who used a hidden camera to document conditions there, society president Wayne Pacelle told The Times.

The Humane Society of the United States is accustomed to criticism. As the country's largest, richest and most powerful animal welfare organization, it is a big target. Its successful 2008 campaign in California to pass Proposition 2, which outlawed battery cages for egg-laying hens, was fought hard by the egg industry, which protested that the new law would cripple egg farmers throughout the state. But a series of public attacks by a group called HumaneWatch.org , which have appeared on the group's website and in the media over the last year and a half, takes the debate to a troubling place.

The tragic carnage and panic that unfolded this week outside Zanesville, Ohio, after a man set free the 56 wild animals he kept on his property were clearly extraordinary events set in motion by a deeply troubled person who later killed himself. But the fact that Terry Thompson — who had been convicted of animal cruelty in 2005 — was even allowed to own lions, tigers and wolves, among other dangerous animals, spotlights the disturbing inadequacy of Ohio law on the issue. Two years ago, the Humane Society of the U.S. singled out Ohio along with Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina and Oklahoma for having the fewest restrictions on keeping wild animals as pets.

A Pennsylvania egg farm is under fire from the Humane Society of the United States after the animal rights group conducted an undercover investigation that it says netted secret footage of hens living in filthy, cramped conditions that put public health at risk. Kreider Farms did not respond to repeated requests from The Times for comment. But Ron Kreider, the company president, told the Associated Press that the society's report, posted on its website Thursday, was “a gross distortion of Kreider Farms, our employees and the way we care for our birds.” He said Kreider has “state-of-the-art facilities” and “more than 80% of our chickens are housed in larger, modern cages.” For six weeks in February and March, the Humane Society had someone on the inside at Kreider Farms who used a hidden camera to document conditions there, society president Wayne Pacelle told The Times.

California has the strongest animal protection laws in the country, with wide-ranging regulations shielding animals from harm in homes, on farms, at racetracks and in the wild, the Humane Society of the United States reported Monday. In an analysis of laws in all 50 states, the animal welfare advocates ranked the Golden State No. 1 for the legal protections it has enacted across the animal kingdom. New Jersey, Colorado, Maine and Massachusetts also scored high in the national rankings.

Re "Cats Held at Shelter," March 18 letter by Henry Naughton. Mr. Naughton neglected to mention that several other animals, outside the scope of the warrant for the cats, were also seized by the Humane Society from Glenda Brunette. A "minuscule" technicality, I suppose. The "wonderful" attorneys were not responsible for the incarceration of the cats for three years; they simply represented their respective clients' differences in a court of law. The Humane Society is not empowered to unilaterally disenfranchise people of their rights or make up their own rules as they go along.

Two animated productions -- the feature film "Bolt" and the Fox TV series "The Simpsons" -- have picked up top honors at the 23rd annual Genesis Awards, presented by the Humane Society of the United States to honor media presentations of animal protection issues. "Bolt," the story of a pampered, sheltered dog suddenly thrust into the outside world on its own, was cited in part for its depiction of "the sad truth about unwanted and abandoned cats and dogs," while "The Simpsons" won for its episode "Apocalypse Cow," which the Humane Society praised for "telling it like it really is about the fate of 4-H club animals and the bleak, inhumane nature of factory farming."

I am appalled at your recent stories attempting to discredit the Humane Society of Ventura County. It seems as if there is some sort of vendetta going on. To address a few of the incorrect accusations: We have hired an architect and plans are drawn for our spay/neuter clinic. Our next step is to obtain permits. We are not "sitting on this money," but moving ahead. Naturally, this "controversy" dredged up by a small group of new members has put the clinic on hold and caused us to spend thousands of dollars on attorneys instead of the animals.

Humane society officials Thursday ordered the closure of what they called an "abysmal" kennel at a Gardena house, where 10 dogs and a cat died in a fire earlier in the week. Officials found pools of urine and feces collected at Fantasy Kennels on La Salle Avenue and "declared the property uninhabitable for animals," said Sgt. Cori Whetstone of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

The air was hot and smoky. Tyler looked up with horror at the boundary of the red, glowing tongues of brush fire that started that afternoon. At school, his gym teacher had said, "The fire department has ordered immediate evacuation. Get home, locate your family, grab a couple of things you value most and leave!" He was home now, but what should he grab? His DVDs, His Gameboy, his iPod? When his brother Walt went off to the Army, Tyler promised to take care of his black Lab Sarge.

For years, the Humane Society of the United States and United Egg Producers have been adversaries over the treatment of the 280 million egg-laying hens in the U.S. As one might expect, the Humane Society has fought to protect hens from mistreatment — most live in cages so cramped they can't even spread their wings, and the air they breathe is suffused with ammonia created by their own excrement — while egg producers have argued against measures that...

The Humane Society of the United States is accustomed to criticism. As the country's largest, richest and most powerful animal welfare organization, it is a big target. Its successful 2008 campaign in California to pass Proposition 2, which outlawed battery cages for egg-laying hens, was fought hard by the egg industry, which protested that the new law would cripple egg farmers throughout the state. But a series of public attacks by a group called HumaneWatch.org , which have appeared on the group's website and in the media over the last year and a half, takes the debate to a troubling place.

Wayne Pacelle, the president and chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States, discusses his call for a new humane economy in his book, "The Bond: Our Kinship with Animals, Our Call to Defend Them," being published April 5. You wrote that 35 years ago, there were only 65 million pets in this country. Now there are nearly triple that at 170 million dogs and cats, but there are only 50% more humans. What accounts for that? Americans have a love affair with dogs and cats, and they're becoming part of the fabric of our culture.

An incident in Central California last week was so bizarre that the headlines it generated wouldn't be out of place in a supermarket tabloid next to tales of alien babies and Elvis sightings: "Man Killed by Rooster. " More specifically, one of the feathered contestants in an illegal cockfight in Tulare County, armed with a blade attached to its leg, apparently stabbed 35-year-old Jose Luis Ochoa in the calf, and Ochoa was declared dead of "sharp force injury" two hours later. This isn't the first time someone has died in what is supposed to be blood sport for birds; last summer in Merced, two men got into an argument over a $10 bet, one pulled out a gun and killed the other, and the victim's brother and another man allegedly beat the shooter to death.

Our new dog is a real looker. She's a husky, Siberian or Alaskan I'm guessing, with maybe even a bit of California coyote mixed in. I'd promised my 6-year-old daughter a dog ages ago, though it fell to my wife to actually search for one. She contacted dog rescue groups and shelters until she finally found a dog she liked at the San Gabriel Valley Humane Society. The dog, named Sandra by the people who found her, joined our family with several stories attached. One was told to us by the worker at the Humane Society.

"Fast Food Nation" was named best feature film of 2006, and Oscar winner "Happy Feet" also was honored at the 21st annual Genesis Awards, presented by the Humane Society of the United States to honor media presentations of animal protection issues. "Fast Food Nation," Richard Linklater's fictionalized adaptation of the book by Eric Schlosser, was lauded by the Genesis judges "for an uncompromising look at the link between the abuse and exploitation of people and animals in a slaughterhouse."

The Humane Society of the United States has released undercover video footage shot at two of the nation's largest egg farms showing workers slamming chickens into metal bins and dead birds littering cages -- the latest salvo in an escalating war between the food sector and the country's leading animal-rights organizations. At stake, both sides said, is regulating how livestock are treated and how Americans' food is produced. Since California voters passed Proposition 2 in 2008, Humane Society officials have ramped up their campaigns to alter state laws regarding animal welfare.

My dog is dumb as a stick, but that doesn't necessarily make him a bad person. He's just gifted in other areas ? such as chewing himself raw or hurling himself across the dinner table in pursuit of scraps. Trust me, the guy would Fosbury Flop across the Panama Canal to acquire the dead end of a stale French fry. I love him still, in that way you love things that need you a little more than you need them ? bosses, hamsters, street mimes. Michael Vick, former resident of the federal penal system and now a contributing member of the Philadelphia Eagles, one of those win-at-all-costs football organizations that Nietzsche could have coached, knows the value of a dog as well.

If you’ve dreamed of seeing lions, zebras and elephants on their own turf, now you can help them while watching them. Humane Society International has launched Humane Travels, which organizes trips to sites where the nonprofit group has worked with animal protection programs. A portion of participants' fees will help fund these efforts. The first trips, starting in January, will be to a wildlife sanctuary that is a short flight from Johannesburg, South Africa . Sixteen travelers, accompanied by a Humane Society staff member, will spend a week at  the SanWild wildlife sanctuary , where they can enjoy the reserve’s gardens, swimming pools and wildlife-viewing drives and walks.