Pet Portraits - Sat, May 9th Winston Salem NC

Purina buys Petfinder

 

June 05, 2013 10:00 am • By Lisa Brown lbrown@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8127

4

Related Photos

«

• 

»

Nestle Purina PetCare

Handout

Nestle Purina PetCare employee Karita Wynn with her dog, Titan, at Nestle Purina PetCare's St. Louis headquarters.

 

Nestlé Purina PetCare is buying the Petfinder pet adoption website, a move expected to strengthen its role as a leading online provider of pet-related information.
The St. Louis-based maker of Purina ONE, Beneful and Beggin’ Strips pet food and snacks announced the purchase from Discovery Communications LLC on Wednesday but did not disclose financial terms.

Oversight of the website that attracts 100 million visits annually will shift to St. Louis after the acquisition closes in July, Nestlé Purina said. Petfinder has 19 employees.
It’s the first time Nestlé Purina’s parent company, Swiss-based Nestlé, has acquired a website, company executives said.

Since it launched in 1996, Petfinder.com has led to the adoption of 22 million pets in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The website provides information about local animal shelters and rescue centers with the goal of linking animals to new owners.
Nestlé Purina sees the purchase as an opportunity to broaden its support for pet welfare organizations.
“Petfinder is all about helping homeless pets find homes, and that’s a core mission of Nestlé Purina,” Steven Crimmins, chief marketing officer for Nestlé Purina, told the Post-Dispatch.
Nestlé Purina plans to add content from its nutritional experts to the site to increase the information available to pet owners.

“Over time, it can be a vehicle for us to share the vast knowledge we have about pet nutrition and pet care,” he said.

Crimmins said the broad reach of Petfinder’s audience in North America also made it an attractive purchase.

“Petfinder’s traffic is equal to Nike.com and larger than Starbucks.com, which is really remarkable,” he said.

Once the transaction closes, Petfinder.com will link to Nestlé Purina’s other websites.
“We’ll be connecting everything,” Crimmins said, so it’s “liquid and linked” and easy to navigate with other corporate sites online.

Discovery Communications, which is based in Silver Spring, Md., and which owns the Animal Planet and Discovery Channel television networks, acquired Petfinder in 2006.

Also on Wednesday, Nestlé Purina announced a new perk for its employees — $200 to assist with costs when adopting or purchasing a dog or cat. The company has about 2,000 employees in the St. Louis region and 11,000 in the United States, Canada and Latin America.

“We are excited to take this step to not only promote the joy that pets bring to people’s lives, but also to make it easier for our associates to welcome a pet into their home,” Steve Degnan, Nestlé Purina’s human resources vice president, said in a statement.

Dog Fighting Tags to be on the look out for

Most of the time it's better to have info prior and to be on the look-out rather than to hear about it after the fact. For all those dog owners, please take notice and be on the look out. Let's keep our family pet's safe from these types of situations.

Upcoming Vaccination Clinics at Pet Supermarket for North Carolina

Click on the picture to enlarge the print or click on the following link for more info:
http://www.vetwellcare.com/services-and-clinics/clinic-locations-and-schedules-ip/

Who do I contact about a County Animal Shelter Violation in North Carolina

Have you seen a violation towards the animals in a County Shelter and you didn’t know who to contact? In NC the Dept. of Agriculture overseas our County Animal Shelters. Here's a list by County, however you can call the main office in Raleigh to notify them of your complaint or what you are concerned about. If you don’t make the call, who will? These animals need your voice when abuse is thrust upon them, they can’t speak for themselves.  Email AGR.AWS@ncagr.gov or Call Phone: (919) 733-7601; FAX: (919) 733-2277

Diggin' Your Dog Treat Recall

                     Yes another recall on dog treats. Diggin' Your Dog is now on the list:
                                 http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm342968.htm

Recall -- Firm Press Release

FDA posts press releases and other notices of recalls and market withdrawals from the firms involved as a service to consumers, the media, and other interested parties. FDA does not endorse either the product or the company.

Diggin' Your Dog Recalls Strippin' Chicks Pet Treats Distributed in Colorado and Nevada Due to Possible Salmonella Hazard

Contact
Consumer:
1-775-742-7295

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - March 7, 2013 - Diggin' Your Dog™ announced today that they are voluntarily withdrawing one lot of its Strippin' Chicks™ Pet Treats produced on 8-30-12 because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. The sample was obtained in Colorado and the company has accounted for its distribution in Colorado of this lot.

No other Diggin' Your Dog™ products, lots, or production dates are affected.

The lot being voluntarily withdrawn is: Strippin' Chicks™ Pet Treats 5 oz Bag. Lot Code 250322 Use By Date: 2-23-14.

Healthy people infected with Salmonella should monitor themselves for some or all of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever. Rarely, Salmonella can result in more serious ailments, including arterial infections, endocarditis, arthritis, muscle pain, eye irritation, and urinary tract symptoms. Consumers exhibiting these signs after having contact with this product should contact their healthcare providers.

Animals with Salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some animals will have only decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. Infected but otherwise healthy animals can be carriers and infect other animals or humans. If your animals have consumed the recalled product and have these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian.

Diggin' Your Dog™ takes the matter of consumer protection and safety very seriously and strives to deliver only the safest products available.

Diggin' Your Dog™ is committed to providing the highest-quality pet treats possible to their customers. As a precautionary measure, Diggin' Your Dog™ will continue to produce all products in very small, handmade lot batches.

No Other Diggin' Your Dog™ products are affected by this voluntary withdrawal. Customers who have purchased this lot code are urged to stop feeding the product to their pet, remove the lot code from the packaging, and discard the contents.

A full refund, plus $1.00 to cover postage will be received by mailing the UPC and lot code to:
Diggin Your Dog, LLC, PO Box 17306 Reno, NV 89511.
All refunds will be processed within ten business days (plus postage time).

Diggin' Your Dog™ values the efforts of all agencies dedicated to the safety of the industry and is committed to consumer safety at all levels.

For questions or more information, contact Diggin' Your Dog™.
By phone at 775-742-7295 Mon-Fri 8:30AM - 4:00PM Pacific Standard Time
Email us at info@dydusa.com.

###

RSS Feed for FDA Recalls Information¹ [what's this?²]

Photo: Product Labels³

Recalled Product Photos Are Also Available on FDA's Flickr Photostream.⁴

Loophole lets accused puppy mill operator sell dogs online

SEATTLE -- A controversial commercial dog breeder who has been repeatedly fined, had her license suspended, and served jail time near Seattle for animal-related violations continues to sell dogs over the Internet because of a loophole in federal regulations, a KOMO News Problem Solvers investigation has found.

In fact, Wendy Laymon, who has since moved to Missouri and opened a commercial breeding facility with as many as 100 dogs, according to government documents, also runs a website that purports to be a "non-profit, rescue adoption agency" for dogs in puppy mills. However, several sources say she’s selling her own dogs and others for $1,000 or more.

"The most petrified animal I’ve ever seen in my life." That’s how one angry dog lover describes Frankie, a French bulldog she found on the "adoption" website for $900 plus shipping.

Jennifer Izzi, of Selbyville, Delaware, says when Frankie arrived in a rickety van filled with 50 other dogs nearly a year ago, he was "skin and bones," afraid to walk on grass or on the stairs, and scurried under furniture whenever human feet came near. Her vet said Frankie had incessant ear infections, severe kennel cough and was malnourished. Izzi believes it gave her a glimpse into Frankie’s past.

"I was looking to rescue. I was looking to adopt," says Izzi. Now that she believes Laymon’s website was deceptively portraying itself as a traditional dog rescue charity, she feels completely duped. "I’m glad I have him, but she needs to be stopped. And people like her." Several leading national dog rescue groups agree with Izzi.

The Humane Society of the United States calls Laymon’s operation a puppy mill, a term generally describing large commercial kennels where dogs rarely touch the ground, live their lives in cages, and are rarely fully socialized. Animal welfare experts say puppy mill dogs have a higher propensity for illness and genetic defects.

"They’re literally dog-breeding machines," says Dan Paul, of the Humane Society of the United States, "and it’s just not right."

The Humane Society called Laymon’s operation in 2010 and 2011 one of Missouri’s "dirty dozen" puppy mills and describe a long list of animal care violations.

Missouri state inspectors have repeatedly found serious violations of animal care regulations, including a period of nearly two years where they found no inspections by an attending veterinarian as law requires, cages and grounds in shabby condition, outdated medicine with some labeled for cows – not dogs.

Laymon failed to show up for scheduled inspections and, in one case, flatly refused to let an inspector look inside one of her out buildings. The State of Missouri still issues her a commercial breeder’s license but a spokesperson said they have no record for a special dog rescue license under her name or company. She often used aliases.

Laymon signed a federal consent order admitting to willfully violating the Animal Care Act. As part of that agreement, she lost her USDA license to sell to pet stores, was fined and ordered to improve conditions.

Several new kennels were built on her property near Rogersville, Missouri since that consent order that appear to include heating and cooling. When KOMO News visited her property, Laymon refused to show us a number of out buildings behind her home that could be clearly seen from nearby.

So, even without a USDA license – which requires inspections – federal regulations do not prevent her from selling directly to dog buyers via the Internet.

"The law was written before the Internet. So now there’s a giant loophole for sellers that want to sell directly to the public via the Internet," says Paul. "No inspections. And the Internet is the 'puppy miller's' best friend."

Laymon initially agreed to an interview but abruptly cancelled. In conversation, she is courteous, proud of her kennels and says she has lots of happy customers nationwide.

She blames animal welfare groups for harassing her for years.

Cydney Horne of Sammamish, Washington, and Julie Hallan of Stanwood, Washington, beg to differ. In 1999, they lead an impassioned news conference at a Lynnwood, Washington animal welfare facility after they bought Mandy and Betty from Laymon when she ran a dog selling and breeding operation near Arlington in Snohomish County.

Eyewitnesses describe "horrific" conditions, with dogs matted with feces, the stench of urine everywhere, and "cages and cages and cages stacked on top of each other.

That news conference lead authorities to raid Laymon’s operation, seize hundreds of mistreated dogs, and sentence Laymon to several weeks in jail.

Fourteen years later, Horne and Hallan were stunned to learn Laymon remains in business. "I was appalled," says Horne, "to say the least."

"I thought that when she left Washington," says Hallan, "I don’t know why, I thought that she’d stop."

Back then, Laymon told KOMO she blamed her accusers for her problems. "Of course they’ve lied about me," she said in 1999. "It’s their job."

Last Friday, the State of Missouri issued Laymon yet another formal warning letter for violations found during the most recent inspection.

All major animal welfare groups urge people considering a pet to never buy online. They underscore that hundreds of thousands of pets are euthanized each year at shelters when not enough people opt to adopt

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Loophole-lets-accused-puppy-mill-operator-sell-dogs-online-192901401.html

 

Dancing With The Stokes Stars

Let's Dance and support the Stokes Humane Society. This is going to be a fun night, grab those dancing shoes and head out this Saturday Night:

North Carolina's 72 hour hold policy

Lately many animal lovers have been waking up and seeing animals being killed in North Carolina County Shelters the same day of intake, did you know even if it's an owner surrender this is not allowed?

This is why it's so important prior to screaming that animals are being killed in less than 72 hours in a North Carolina Shelter on Face book or another social media outlet SAVE THE EVIDENCE. Get a copy of the intake card from the Shelter ( It's Public Record in case you didn't know).  If the Shelter Employee's posted a picture of the animal or any info of the animal on Face book, screen shot it all prior to alerting them that you are watching. You don't want all your evidence being removed or deleted prior to you collecting it all for evidence.

To help you further understand not only the issues we have in North Carolina Animal Shelters, you have to understand the law as it is written or should I say the loop holes it has that need to be closed.

In North Carolina to be a knowledgeable Animal Advocate, it is imperative that you understand the NC Animal Welfare Act and our North Carolina State Statues.

 

 

 

 

 

North Carolina Kills on Thanksgiving Week

A Shelter Pet’s reality during a Holiday week in NC. Most County Animal Shelters will close for of a total 4 days this week, which means Wed, Nov 21, 2012 many NC Shelters will KILL every animal in their facility. Why? As the staff does NOT want to come in to feed & water or clean their kennels. Welcome to North Carolina where you better pray you never lose your pet close to a Holiday as the 72 hrs. rule doesn’t seem to apply.  See how many dirty little secrets we hold in our Country Animals Shelters in NC, is this the state you want to move to, drive thru, give them your money or even come for a Holiday at? BTW, NC still believes in GASSING their animals to death, so hold tight to your little one while at the rest stop, the last place to want to misplace your family pet is North Carolina !!  We are a High Kill State, where about 14 of our Counties still refuse to report their kill numbers and more than 65% of them do NOT have a microchip scanner to even try to reunite these lost pets with their family before they shove them into a Gas Chamber. Again Welcome to North Carolina, where we put laws on the books that are unenforceable due to we place them under the wrong department. Example GS_130A-192. Looks wonderful on paper but it’s unenforceable as it was placed under the incorrect dept. which is regulatory and hold no enforceable power. Thank you Floyd McKissick Jr (Demo no less). For refusing to ever return a phone call or email on your own bill and correct your mistake that cost so many animals their lives every day. 
 http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/members/viewMember.pl?sChamber=Senate&nUserID=228

Rabies & Mico-Chip Clinic in Winston Salem NC November 10, 2012

Where will 250 animals go now as a County Shelter Closes?

Humane Society votes to close shelter

by Mallory Brown and Dawn M. KurryRichmond County Daily Journal

25 days ago | 22918 views | 11 | 28 | |

Valerie Davis

slideshow

Kenneth Robinette

slideshow

Thad Ussery

slideshow

Time is running out for the Humane Society of Richmond County’s local animal shelter.
In a meeting on Thursday, the Humane Society board voted unanimously to cease shelter operations as of Oct. 31, 2012, according to Director Valerie Davis.
Davis said the decision is due to a lack of funding.
“A couple of months back, I began presenting to the board,” she said. “I kept telling them that it’s really bad. We’ve been running about a $35,000 deficit for over a year. We need to start making some decisions.”
According to Davis, shelter maintenance requires approximately $26,000 a month, and expenses have been piling up.
The Humane Society of Richmond County formed in 1981 as a small cat shelter, she said. In 1999, the officers of the Humane Society approached the county government and proposed the county aid them in operating a shelter. In 2002, doors opened to the new animal shelter located at 529 U.S. Highway 74 West Business, in Rockingham.
“For the last ten years, it has hung in there,” Davis said on Friday. “But there have always been budget constraints and tough times … In our contract, if we can’t function and operate the shelter on the funds we get, it reverts back to the county.
“Last night I asked the board, as a group, to please make a decision tonight. I asked them if they were going to pull out, because, as the director, not only am I going to be unemployed, but I have 11 other employees. I need to start making provisions,” said Davis.
Humane Society Board Chair Evonne Swanson confirmed on Friday that a vote had been taken.
“We have voted as a board that we will not operate in that shelter and continue the contract with the county,” Swanson said. “We won’t be there unless the county assists us in some way … We cannot continue as we have been. There has to be a change.”
Swanson said the shelter can still continue just as it is, but it becomes the county’s responsibility.
Although Davis and Swanson both said Friday that the Humane Society’s plans to withdraw from the shelter had been finalized, a letter from Humane Society Attorney Kelly G. Williams of Deane, Williams & Deane to county officials hints at other options.
The letter to county officials reads, “It has become painfully obvious to the Humane Society of Richmond County, Inc. that it can no longer operate its animal shelter under the current income/expense projections for 2012 through 2013.”
However, toward the end of the letter, Williams wrote, “Time is of the essence for the Humane Society to restructure its income base. If the Society has not received firm commitments from the local governments by October 31, 2012, it will be forced to close its shelter and dissolve its corporation.”
According to the letter, the shelter could stay open with monetary contributions from local municipalities each month. Proposed allocations include $300 from Dobbins Heights, $500 from the Town of Ellerbe, $800 from the City of Hamlet, $250 from the Town of Hoffman, $100 from the Town of Norman, $1,000 from the City of Rockingham and $22,000 from Richmond County. Those figures are based on the number of animals that the Humane Society received from the city limits of each city or town and within Richmond County, the letter said. Municipalities could opt to be billed monthly per animal, each of which would cost $76.50, according the letter. It goes on to list the average number of animals received from each jurisdiction per year, for example 150 from Rockingham.
The letter also reads: “After careful review of past income/expense reports and the projected income/expense report for 2012-2013, the Humane Society estimates a deficit of $53,000.00. Currently, the Humane Society has a deficit of $44,000.00 from Fiscal Year 2011-2012.”
Richmond County Board of Commissioners Chairman Kenneth Robinette said Friday that if the county has to take over the shelter, it would do so.
“Our staff has been monitoring this over the last few weeks and has offered ideas and suggestions to the Humane Society,” said Robinette. “I understand they have sent a letter, which I have not yet seen. If the county takes over the shelter, I promise we’ll run it as efficiently and effectively as we can.”
Robinette also said, “The board will continue to support the Humane Society.”
County Commissioner Thad Ussery said, “I really hate to hear this, but we were trying to help them through their budget crunch. But if they won’t take advice, I don’t know what else they can do. If they give it up, we will have to take it over and run it more efficiently. There are some things that could be changed.”
“There are so many people in the community who have supported us for so long, that have a right to know what’s going on,” Davis said. “We want the community to know that the Humane Society isn’t going to cease to exist. We’re still an organization — we’re just not going to be operating the animal shelter.”
Due to its Oct. 31 closing date, Davis said the animal shelter is working to find a home for all 250 of its animals.
“We’re taking it week by week now,” she said. “We’re going to encourage folks to come and pull — to rescue. We probably will waive adoption fees. We’ve got extra dog houses and transport kennels that were donated to us, and I’m going to donate those with the dogs.”
Davis said the shelter will also adopt new shortened hours, and will be closed to the public on Sunday through Tuesday. It will remain open on Wednesday through Saturday from 12 to 3 p.m.
— Staff Writer Dawn M. Kurry can be reached at 910-997-3111, ext. 15, or by email at dkurry@heartlandpublications.com. Staff Writer Mallory Brown can be reached at 910-997-3111, ext. 16, or by email at mallorybrown@heartlandpublications.com.

Read more: Richmond County Daily Journal - Humane Society votes to close shelter