A Second Arrest in Miami Horse Slaughter Case

Some good news out of Miami: a second person has recently been arrested in a case of horse slaughter. The presumed criminal has been charged with multiple felonies including animal cruelty.

The black market for horse meat has prompted the slaughter of about 20 horses in the Miami-Dade area. This particular criminal and his accomplices slit the horse's throat and legs and had planned to sell the meat. He was arrested near a horse pasture with a duffle bag stuffed with a butcher knife, a rope and garbage bags. He is eighteen years old.

Horse owners in the Miami area have been on tenterhooks regarding the safety of their steeds since many horses have been butchered literally in their pastures or not far from their homes. "I'm delighted--so happy, so pleased, so proud that the police nabbed the guy," said Jeanette Jordan, president of the South Florida SPCA, which has joined with the Florida police to lend their expertise to these investigations.

The arrest was actually made as a result of a community effort. The suspect asked one of his neighbors for a ride to a nearby pasture where he said he was going to slaughter two horses. He also asked the neighbor if he was interested in buying any horse meat.

The neighbor played along and then called the police. They put a wire on him and then followed him to a cafeteria where an undercover officer, pretending to be the neighbor's uncle, negotiated the illegal sale of horse meat. Then police moved in and nabbed the suspect.

"This typifies what can happen when the community gets involved," said Captain Scott Andress, of the Miami-Dade Police Agricultural Patrol.

While many are breathing a sigh of relief, police continue to warn horse owners to remain vigilant and take precautions to secure their horses with tamper proof locks and consider installing video surveillance cameras.

Please No Comeback Kid

Word has come that Lava Man, the eight year old gelding, who retired last summer, is back in training. For all the reasons that this is not a good decision, I refer you to Jeremy Plonk's wonderful article on ESPN.com and will try to para-phase his very valid points.

For starters, a comeback would be a good story but highly unlikely. Plonk gives the example of George Washington, the horse that the Jacksons bred, who was un-retired from the breeding shed and subsequently broke down and was euthanized on the track during the 2007 Breeder's Cup classic.

While a tragic ending is only conjecture, it is not too far from reality since Lava Man has a history of "bad" feet, as Plonk points out. It is difficult to believe that this decision was based on money since racing is such a precarious source of income. Plonk bases the decision on emotion on the part of the owners and it is sad if this is the case. Because, as Plonk so eloquently puts it: "this is about the horses."

Bravo Jeremy Plonk! You've said it all and I can't say it any better. The spirits of Barbaro, Eight Belles, Pine Island, George Washington and Ruffian, whom he invokes in the article, are smiling.

Seven Deadly Sins

Remember Oscar the seagull who used to steal the remains of diner's outdoor meals at our summer get-away in Maine? Well, he has met his match in the gulls that populate Jamie Wyeth's new series of paintings entitled the Seven Deadly Sins. Wyeth, who spends his summers on Monhegan Island in Maine, portrays each of the deadly sins acted out with the seagulls who share his island retreat. They are currently on view at the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, PA. where Wyeth spends the rest of the year.

The exhibit is striking not only because of its realism (there is a tape playing that provides background noise of squawking gulls) but also because of the ferocity of the images. Seagulls are true scavengers and Wyeth has done nothing to romanticize their dispositions. There is a video that accompanies the show in which he remarks that many painters portray seagulls as white doves. To him, nothing could be farther from the truth. These are angry, nasty, mean scavengers and all the years he has spend observing them has made him a true scholar of seagulls. He knows his subjects inside and out probably better than they know themselves.

My only complaint with the show is that many of the paintings could represent more than one vice. Anger, pride, envy, and gluttony are close cousins since in these depictions they involve food--the driving force in a seagull's life. It is hard to discern whether or not the seagull chowing down on the lobster above is proud of his accomplishment or merely feeling ravenous. And the spectators could just as easily have been angry or envious of his accomplishments. The painting, by the way, is titled Pride.

Which may be the point. These vices are inches away from each other and very primal in nature--although I am not sure the need for food is as omnipresent in human existence as it is in the gulls' world. Nonetheless, by placing these seagulls within the larger context of a well established subject, long associated with Christian art, Wyeth has taken the gulls out of their natural habitat and made us look at them for what they truly are.

If you get a chance to see this exhibit--it does tour--I highly recommend it. Art that makes you think is always worth seeing.

Dogfighting Remains in the News

I know you are tired of the topic of dogfighting, but apparently all the publicity surrounding the Eagles' hiring of Michael Vick has done little to up the ante in terms of punishment for others convicted of the same crime. Michael Vick spent 18 months in federal prison for operating an illegal dogfighting operation. A man accused of running a smaller, yet significant, operation in Philadelphia was given house arrest.

Dogfighting is illegal in all 50 states but sentencing guidelines vary state by state. In Pennsylvania, for example, the crime is considered a third-degree felony, punishable by 3 1/2 to 7 years in prison. But sentencing guidelines take into account prior convictions, which means that first time offenders usually get a token punishment.

Vick was running a multi-state operation--the highest level of offense involving thousands of dollars being wagered--and therefore received a stiff penalty. Local, smaller operations, in which dog owners stage fights, apparently happen more than the average dog lover might want to believe. Those perpetrators, however, are rarely caught and even more rarely punished.

In Philadelphia, as in many cities, it is often a question of manpower. According to George Bengal, the Pennsylvania SPCA's director of law enforcement, "I just don't have the bodies and the resources to address all of these the way they should be. I could have a full-time police force working 24 hours a day and still have calls waiting."

Finding fighting dogs is not hard, according to Nicole Larocco, the PSPCA's director of animal training. What is hard is penetrating the underground world that surrounds the behavior and arresting the individuals behind the operation. Dogfighters often house their paraphernalia in a different location from where they stage their fights.

Dogfighters, however, don't have to be caught in the act to face charges. Cases are often built around the equipment seized in raids in which dogs may not be present. This includes chains, veterinary steroids, cages, and rape stands on which female dogs are restrained during breeding.

Dogfighting is almost always linked to illegal drugs. And chances are that if a dogfighter is actually caught with drugs, he will get a stiffer penalty.

For the time being, dogfighting remains a high priority of both the SPCA and the Humane Society of the United States, for the simple reason that it is so prevalent. Which means that regardless of whether or not we are sick of hearing about Michael Vick, the message still has a long way to travel.

Who Gets the Dog?

Superior Court Judge John Tomasello couldn't wait to flee the bench and return to the business of deciding what he considered to be more significant matters. But to Eric Dare and Doreen Houseman, owners of Dexter the six year old pug, Tomasello's decision could not have been more important.

You see, Tomasello decided the first case of dog custody in New Jersey. And according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the decision to split custody of Dexter was hardly inconsequential to Dare, who considers himself to be Dexter's "rightful" owner. His lawyer, James Carter, put it this way: Dare "purchased [Dexter], paid for his food, and took him to the vet. What she [Houseman] did was dress him up in goofy outfits."

Ask Houseman, however, and you will learn that she is "very happy, very relieved." In fact, she couldn't wait until she could "have him [Dexter] in [her] hands again." Since the couple split up over two and a half years ago, Dexter has lived with Dare and Houseman has not seen him.

Her turn, however, commenced yesterday and will last for five weeks. At the conclusion of which, Dexter will be returned to Hare who lives nearby. The judge said the visitation schedule could not be modified and that the drop-offs could be handled through a third party.

It is no wonder that Tomasello couldn't wait for this case to be over. In the Spring of 2007, he decided in favor of Hare and ordered him to pay Houseman the $1500, Dexter's price tag, to satisfy her claim. But Houseman appealed to a three-judge panel who ordered Tomasello to retry the case.

After seven hours of testimony focused on Dexter, Tomasello agreed that both parties loved the dog, even though he was technically still considered property. He asked both lawyers for guidance in the form of official briefs on Dexter's fate.

In ruling that Dexter should shuttle between owners, Tomasello remarked once again that the dog, "although cute and furry" is still property. He expressed his hope that the split custody should continue until Dexter goes to the "Great Kennel in the sky" at which point he fervently hoped that the owners could amicably split his ashes and leave the matter out of court.

Keeneland Yearling Sales Down

The results from the Keeneland September yearling sales are extremely disappointing. According to the Louisville Courier Journal, "During the first four days of the 14 day sale--a period when the finest horses are usually auctioned--buyers spent 42.52 percent less on yearlings than last year." Many feel that this trend is indicative of a doomsday scenario being played out across the entire industry.

"We're going to see farms close," said Keeneland sales director Geoffrey Russell. Others are predicting lower stud fees across the board and the ripple effect will mean lower state sales taxes collected on stud fees. Last year, those fees fell 14 percent. The money from those fees is pumped into a fund for breeder incentives, so that, too, will continue to suffer. In addition, businesses that supply hay and feed to horse farms may face hard times along with smaller boarding operations.

It is a crash that many saw coming. Like many other industries, the horse industry had become infatuated with making big money, fast. Horses sold for big bucks, stud fees were astronomical and too many foals were being born. Investors popped in and out of syndicate deals where big bucks could be raked in, quickly.

"The speculators, two years ago, they were here," noted Case Clay, president of Three Chimneys Farm. "We're not hearing that much from them right now."

Many are at risk and none more so than breeders who sold yearlings way under the cost of their stud fees as well as investors who may have borrowed money to pay those stud fees.

The bright side may be that if the industry learns its lessons, breeds fewer foals (ideally mating the best to the best) at reduced stud fees, the correction will ultimately result in fewer, stronger horses selling for realistic prices. The other point to note is that there are bargains to be had if you have the cast to spend on horses, a luxury in any economy.

Dare I say it is no different from what happened on Wall Street? The big question will be who wises up going forward to prevent this from happening again and again.

Exit, Stage Left

At various times during my children's scholastic careers, they would participate in musical productions that included a dog. And at various times, they would volunteer one of ours. Luckily, no one made the cut because I don't think any of our dogs, past or present, would have the patience to be a "stage" dog. Trust me. It is not as easy as it looks.

I know this because who do you think had the job of "babysitting" the dog who did get the role in a middle school production of Oliver? Of course, none other that yours truly, who got a glimpse into the life of a canine thespian.

First of all, the entire time that the dog is not on the stage, he or she needs to be in a crate, and not always a crate safely sheltered from all other distractions. It might be a crate in an empty office or then again it might be a crate in the middle of a room of other "off-stage" actors, in this case, kids, who are not exactly quiet or disinterested in the dog.

In the case of my charge, she was a model dog. Nothing fazed her and she was just as happy in her crate as on the stage--which she was for all of three minutes in one scene towards the end of the play. At that point, she would have to walk on a leash, pay attention to her "owner" and look adorable, all of which this dog did beautifully and without much rehearsal. As I said before, model dog even though she was not the breed specified in the play. In a wise move, the director went with substance over style.

I was reminded of all of this by a recent article in the Philadelphia Inquirer about canine auditions for a local production of Oliver. In this case, the dog had to look and act the part of a bulldog.

About a dozen dogs tried out for the part, some of whom had prior acting experience (commercials) and some of whom had show credentials. Ultimately two dogs will be chosen and no word yet on who got the part.

I'm wondering if I should volunteer my talents as a dog-minder. After all, I have experience....