Balmy weather Sunday afternoon brought

out a large, diverse crowd of families, friends,

and furry creatures to the 27th annual Pooch
Parade at Robert E. Lee Park. Easter in Lee
Park and the popular Pooch Parade have be-
come a longtime beloved tradition in Dallas,
particularly among dog owners in the nearby,
LGBTQ-heavy Oak Lawn area.
Hundreds of parade goers gay and
straight, two-legged and four-legged lined
up along Turtle Creek Boulevard as more than
100 dressed-up dogs and their owners show-
cased costumes designed to win top dog
prizes. Winners were determined by a panel of
guest judges that included Dallas City Council
members Adam Medrano and Philip Kingston.
Chief among this years Pooch Parade par-
ticipants: 19 animal rescue groups and local
no-kill shelters, representing roughly a third of
the dogs that were in competition (and up for
adoption). One group, the Bernese Mountain
Dog Rescue of Garland, cleverly integrated
some grassroots fundraising of its own via $1
pooch smooches to beneft rescue efforts.
Also marching in the parade was Dallas
Animal Services shelter manager Jody Jones,
who, in the three years since becoming man-
ager of Dallas animal services department,
has been working to promote pet adoption and
vaccination, and reduce the citys animal
intake and euthanasia rates, which have be-
deviled Dallas for ages.
I brought along an adopted angel of my
own, Billie, a good-natured Pit Bull mix res-
cued in late 2011 from southwest Fort Worth
where she was used, cruelly and inhumane-
ly, as a bait dog in one of the dog fghting
rings that plague communities throughout
North Texas (in many cases as part of larger
criminal enterprises).
Billie, like the pooches on parade today, is
a lucky one. Amid the Pooch Parade revel-
ry and our/our pets own charmed lives, its
easy to lose sight of the many dogs far
too many that are victims of animal cru-
elty, be it benign neglect or vicious abuse.
Dogs like Pappy in Oak Cliff and Nathan,
who two years ago this month became a ca-
sualty and a symbol of the horrors of dog
fghting in North Texas.
Its a heartbreaking memory that does not
exist in the minds of most people or prompt
tributes and moments of silence at pooch
parades, but it is one Ill never forget that
saddens as well as emboldens. Its an oppor-
tunity to give voice to the fallen and, akin to
victims of hate crimes, stand strong for and
with the kindest, most vulnerable among us.
Woofington Post
Expensive Flying
Animals
A carry-on bag is included in Lana Jo-
sephs ticket price whenever she fies from
Cleveland to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on United
Airlines. But if that carry-on includes Molly,
her 6-pound Yorkshire terrier, Joseph has to
cough up an additional $250 round trip.
Thats way too much for a bag that goes
under the seat, says Joseph, a retired hairstyl-
ist from Akron, Ohio, who spends her winters
in South Florida. I can see a small charge, but
not an exorbitant fee.
Welcome to the topsy-turvy world of pet
travel, a world that some say shouldnt even
exist. Americans spent an estimated $55.7 bil-
lion on pets last year, according to the Amer-
ican Pet Products Association, most of it on
food and veterinary care. But an unknown por-
tion of
t h a t
amount
a l s o
paid for
p l a n e
t i cket s
and ac-
c o m -
mo d a -
t i o n s
for mans best friends.
Depending on your perspective, the travel
industry has either accommodated that trend
by offering pet-friendly rooms, restaurants
and fights, or it has preyed on them by add-
ing fees and surcharges that do little more than
line its pockets.
Certainly, accommodating a live animal can
be an extra burden on any company. Airlines
are required to fle monthly reports with the
Transportation Department on pets that were
lost, injured or that died during transport.
David McAvoy is a registered nurse from
Fresno, Calif., who vacations with his pugs
Niko, Suki and Bitsy. What I dont get are the
places that charge a fee each night you stay,
he says. There are some places that charge
$20 extra per night per pet. That can add up
fast with three small dogs.
Devin Hogue, editor
May 2014
Dog Lover Parade
After two years of wrangling, the General
Assembly gave its fnal approval Thursday to
legislation that overrules a state high court rul-
ing that pit bulls are inherently dangerous and
must be held to a stricter liability standard for
bites than other breeds.
By an overwhelming margin, the House sent
a Senate-passed bill to Gov. Martin OMalley
that eliminates the distinction between breeds
created by the Court of Appeals in 2012 in the
case of a child who was nearly killed by a pit
bull. The bill would create a uniform stan-
dard for all breeds, easing the burden of proof
for dog bite victims to show that a pet owner
should have known the animal was dangerous.
The legislation is the result of a compro-
mise that eluded the House and Senate during
fatal mistake, he said. These things are not
tame animals, theyre wild animals.
Owners of wild animals typically have a
two-section cage, allowing them to isolate
the animal behind a locked gate while they
clean the other part, Conway said.
Michael Walz is listed in state corporation
records as the president of World of Reptiles
Inc. The business was created in 1988.
A man who answered the phone at a list-
ing for Michael Walz said the family did not
want to comment.
Kelly Ann Walz went into the bears
15-by-15-foot steel and concrete cage about
5 p.m. Sunday, throwing a shovelful of dog
food to one side to distract the bear while she
cleaned the other side, Conway said. At some
point the bear turned on her and attacked.
Her children and the neighbors children
saw the attack and summoned help, and the
neighbor shot and killed the bear while it
was atop Walz, Conway said.
Why this woman chose to go in the same
area that the bear was in is beyond me. Its a
a special session in 2012 and last year, when
it died on the House foor in the fnal hours of
the 90-day session.
Animal advocates said the court ruling,
which exposed landlords to greater liability
for their tenants who own pit bulls, has been
prompting property owners to force renters
out of their homes unless they got rid of their
dogs.
Harmful Pitbulls?
Woman Killed By Her Huge
Black Bear Pet !
Did Dogs Domesticate
Humans First?
When her abusive husband left for work
last fall, she grabbed her kids, her dog and her
bags, only to run up against a heart-wrenching
obstacle: None of the citys more than 50 do-
mestic violence shelters would accept the pet.
Should I still leave? the 34-year-old wom-
an asked herself before feeing and ultimately
fnding a foster home for her Chihuahua.
Now, after months apart, the family and
Peppah the Chihuahua recently moved into
the citys frst pet friendly domestic violence
shelter, one of a growing number across the
country that address a common reason victims
are reluctant to leave they dont want to
leave their pets behind.
Ranging from urban apartments to West-
ern ranches, their numbers have shot up from
four in 2008 to at least 73 now, with 15 more
planned, according to Allie Phillips, a former
Michigan prosecutor who has become a lead-
ing advocate for such shelters.
Behind the nondescript walls of a New York
City building that quietly harbors about 120
adults and children, pet-friendly apartment
signs mark units outftted with such special
features, such as a dog run built in a side al-
ley, intended to keep residents from having to
walk their pets on local streets, lest their bat-
terers learn where they are.
Because of safety concerns, The Associat-
ed Press is withholding residents identities,
except for information they agreed could be
used.
View galleryPeppah, a pet chiquawa, wears
a doggie coat while being …
Peppah, a pet chiquawa, wears a doggie
coat while being carried by her owner to their
apartment, ins
The shelter, run by the Urban Resource In-
stitute, began allowing cats and pocket pets
like gerbils and hamsters in June and dogs last
month, with veterinary and other help from
the American Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals and a Purina PetCare Co.
donation for the dog run.
Animal welfare and domestic violence
groups have found common cause in recent
years amid growing interest in connections
between animal cruelty and family abuse.
Those links have spurred about two dozen
states to start letting pets be included in pro-
tective orders since 2006; others are consid-
ering it, including New Hampshire and Ohio.