Making the News

“BONNIE is missing” blared the e-mail subject line. A 2-year-old female pit bull weighing 55 pounds, with gray and white markings, she was last seen on the corner of Maple Avenue and Myrtle Street in my community, wearing a chain collar. “I am asking for your help in finding my lost dog,” her owner pleaded.

Pfizer Animal Health and the American Humane Association wrapped up a literature review and a series of focus groups and interviews as part of the first phase of a research study on the benefits of animal-assisted therapy on pediatric cancer patients, Pfizer Animal Health reported today.

My husband and I are expecting our first child. My mother-in-law is pressuring us to get rid of our pets because she's worried they will transmit disease and scratch or bite her first grandchild. We have two house cats and a well-mannered Westie, and we foresee no problems. Can you help mediate this family squabble?

The American Humane Association created Be Kind to Animals Week in 1915 to encourage compassion toward animals, to raise awareness about animals in the community, and to celebrate the unique bond between humans and animals. Celebrating 97 years, it is one of the oldest special week long observances in the United States being celebrated May 6-12 in 2012. It is generally recognized that kindness to animals extends to humans. In today's violent society it is known that the reverse is true as well.

American Humane Association, which for 135 years has been the chief force behind nearly every major development and advance improving the welfare of the nation's children and animals, is paving the way for another century of growth and creative ground-breaking work by bringing in Paul Raybould as its new Chief Innovation Officer and Senior Vice President of the American Humane Association's Humane Hollywood™ program. Raybould is the twelfth in a growing roster of major thought leaders who have been recruited and promoted over the past 12 months as part of a transformative agenda championed by new American Humane Association President and CEO Dr. Robin Ganzert to help more of the most vulnerable among us.

DEAR FRIENDS: I would like to take time today to talk to you about a very important animal-related holiday that is coming up. No, it’s not Hairball Awareness Day, although that day will arrive on April 30 — mark your calendars! I’m talking about Be Kind to Animals Week, which is May 9-12.

It was introduced today at the Annual Belmont County Child Abuse Prevention Luncheon. Approximately 140 professionals in social work, law enforcement, the courts and medicine gathered to focus on the fight to keep children safe.

Hallmark Channel, a division of Crown Media Family Networks, announced today the launch of "Hallmark Channel's Pet Project", a cross-company campaign designed to celebrate the joy and enrichment pets bring to our lives, while shining a spotlight on this country's epidemic of pet homelessness and encouraging the public to adopt.

The Front Porch Project
American Humane Association's Front Porch Project is a national prevention initiative focused on educating and training communities about what individuals can do to prevent child abuse and neglect and strengthen families. For the past 10 years, Devereux Kids in Pinellas County, FL, has implemented the Front Porch Project. To help other organizations interested in implementing the prevention initiative, American Humane produced an issue bulletin outlining the six elements for success as experienced by Devereux Kids.

Thanks to a school in Plano, Texas, a retired military dog named Nouska is coming home.

Prince of Peace Catholic School held bake sales and a dodgeball tournament to raise the $1,800 it costs to reunite the pup named Nouska with her original handler, a New Jersey resident living off of the GI Bill while he finishes college. In Nouska's case, her only other option after retirement would have been to be euthanized, starlocalnews.com reports.