Animal Rights

PETA Attacks Washington University's Use of Live Cats With "False Advertising" Complaint

Last month, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals released an "undercover video" inside one of Washington University's labs, which the group says reveals the school's mistreatment of live cats in one of its courses. Soon after, PETA made more of a splash with an announcement that The Price Is ... More >>

Bob Barker Writes to Washington University: I'll Pay You $75,000 to Stop Abusing Cats

Bob Barker -- yes, Bob Barker -- is pressuring Washington University in St. Louis to end its controversial practice of using live cats in medical school training classes. "I love cats. I love all animals," the television host tells Daily RFT in a phone interview. "It's upsetting to me.... There's ... More >>

Washington University: PETA Goes Undercover to Expose the "Cruel Cat Lab" (VIDEO)

Is it necessary for Washington University to use live cats as part of a medical training program? That question was raised again last week when People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals released an "undercover video" that gives viewers a look inside the medical school's practice of intubating anes ... More >>

It's Cruel Not To Be Kind

Memo: Wash U. Medical Center "On High Alert For Potential Terrorist Activity"

With militant animal-rights activists converging on St. Louis for a national conference this weekend, security personnel at Washington University are warning staffers at the Medical Center "to be on high alert for potential terrorist activity," according to a campus memo obtained by the Riverfront T ... More >>

Cennitra Fowler, 22, Charged With Abuse and Neglect of "Our Little Boy" and "Our Little Girl"

Just hours after the criminal sentencing of an admitted dog-torturer, the Mayor's Office is announcing what could be yet another blow against animal cruelty: Police have arrested and charged 22-year-old Cennitra Fowler of the 2100 block of Stansbury (in the Marine Villa neighborhood) with two misdem ... More >>

Reward Offered for Dog Found In North St. Louis With Burned-Off Ear

The Humane Society of Missouri calls it one of the worst cases of animal abuse its task force has ever encountered. Yesterday the agency received a call about an injured dog near the intersection of Martin Luther King Drive and Hamilton Avenue. When task force members arrived a short time later, the ... More >>

Burger King Goes Cage-Free, Man Makes McDonald's Mummy

Oh, Burger King. For many years Gut Check called you the perpetual fast-food bridesmaid because your Jan Brady burgers could never catch up to McDonald's Marcia. Then earlier this year Wendy's passed you to become the No. 2 fast-food chain. What to do, BK? What to do? Own the animal-welfare issue. ... More >>

Bill Would Repeal "Punitive" Tax on Missouri Animal Shelters

​State Rep. Jeanne Kirkton (D - Webster Groves) has proposed a bill to restore certain tax exemptions to animal shelters that were lost during the heated fight over puppy mills back in 2010. Legislators opposed to the Prop B campaign to rein-in dog breeding facilities in Missouri slipped the new ... More >>

Medical Catfight: PETA Sinks Claws into Wash. U.'s Pediatrics Program

There are a few skills every aspiring pediatrician needs to master. Some, such as remaining straight-faced while insisting that a shot won't hurt, are relatively easy to pick up. Others, like intubating an infant -- a notoriously difficult procedure that involves inserting a plastic tube into a baby ... More >>

McRib Targeted by the Humane Society

Wikimedia CommonsMcRib judgement got you down? Disguise it! ​It's the most wonderful time of the year - McRib season! But not everyone's thrilled with the pressed pork patty's annual appearance. The Humane Society of the United States has filed a complaint against pork giant Smithfield Foods, ... More >>

North St. Louis has a people problem, not a dog one, says Randy Grim

Animal Neglect Rampant in North St. Louis, Says Stray Rescue

Photo courtesy of Stray Rescue"Our Little Boy" moments after being pulled from a dumpster in north St. Louis. The dog would die that same day.​Whom to believe? St. Louis politicians who say their communities are overrun with feral canines? Or the man who's been left the task of managing stray dogs ... More >>

Animal Shelters Face Devastating New Tax in Missouri

​A fat new fee increase proposed by the Missouri Department of Agriculture would cripple non-profit animal shelters, animal welfare groups say.The new proposal would treat shelters exactly the same as for-profit breeders, requiring them to pay annual licensing fees as well as a surcharge on each a ... More >>

Francis Slay Asserts Alpha Dog Status at City Hall; Lewis Reed Refuses to Play Bitch

Slay strikes first; Reed counters.​A dog fight has broken out in City Hall, and it could last another 21 months. Today, Mayor Francis Slay's office struck first when it released an email blaming Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed for Stray Rescue's decision this week to stop serving as the cit ... More >>

Dog Daze: Randy Grim Unleashed!

YouTubeRandy Grim says he's now "liberated" from "nutcase" aldermen. ​Perhaps the weather is to blame, with this being the dog days of summer and all. Whatever the case, a pissing match between a local drama queen and a few politically incorrect politicians reached its zenith yesterday when Stray ... More >>

Your Vote Counts: Humane Society, Grover Norquist Backing Missouri Initiative

Wayne Pacelle: The Humane Society is backing a new initiative in Missouri.​As the CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, Wayne Pacelle, told us last week, his organization plans to back a constitutional amendment on the 2012 ballot in Missouri called Your Vote Counts. And Pacelle wasn ... More >>

Joplin Humane Society Hosts an Adopt-a-thon for 600 Remaining Homeless Animals

Joplin Humane SocietyAnimals like this cutie, known on the group's website as only 13236782, share a home at the Humane Society -- and would really like a new one. ​Karen Aquino's workplace is surrounded by animals. The Joplin Humane Society is literally full of dogs, cats, rabbits, ferrets, b ... More >>

Humane Society's Wayne Pacelle Fires Back Over Puppy Mill Compromise

Wayne Pacelle of the Humane Society of the United States​Governor Jay Nixon yesterday announced new measures (and $1.1 million in funding) to monitor dog-breeding operations here, in light of the "Missouri Compromise" that he signed into law earlier this year. The compromise gutted key parts of Pr ... More >>

Joplin Tornado: 600 Animals Still in Limbo

Toto's not the only dog whose life was upended by a tornado -- rescue workers in Joplin have helped 900 animals.​You can see their faces on the web site for the Joplin Humane Society: eager, sad, hopeful.They are the animals of Joplin, Missouri, displaced by the tornado that tore through town two ... More >>

Kinky Friedman on Animal Rights

Nicole Weingart ​Sharp-tongued Kinky Friedman is back in St. Louis for the first time in years, playing Off Broadway tomorrow night. We talked to Friedman about his music and his failed political ambitions. He also spent some time talking about his stand for animal rights: He hosts Utopia Ani ... More >>

Governor Nixon Caves To Dog Breeders; "Missouri Solution" Weakens Prop. B

Nixon: The great compromiser solutionizer.​Yesterday Governor Jay Nixon announced that he'd brokered a "Missouri Solution" to the fight over the state's notorious puppy mills. Working with animal rights activists and commercial dog breeders, the governor forged a deal that would keep just a few pr ... More >>

In Missouri, it's one puppy mill down, and how many more to go?

The ASPCA's Tim Rickey on Dog Fights, His New Unit -- and Finch Fighting?

Keegan HamiltionTim Rickey's job is to stop animal fighting.​In December, the ASPCA, or American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, hired former Missouri State Highway Patrolman Terry Mills for a new position as Animal Fighting Specialist.As RFT staff writer Keegan Hamilton detailed ... More >>

Terry Mills, Cop Behind Dogfighting Bust, Joins ASPCA

Terry Mills, the Missouri state trooper whose undercover work led to the biggest dogfighting bust in American history, is taking his show on the road.Keegan HamiltonTerry Mills​We're not talking about a book deal or the lecture circuit, mind you. This dude is a badass! And so he's going to keep bu ... More >>

Peter Young, Controversial Animal Rights Activist, Speaks at St. Louis University

​Peter Young has been called a terrorist. He's been called a hero. And, for two years, from 2005 to 2007, he was called a guest of the federal prison system for his guilty plea in the covert, illegal release of thousands of mink from fur farms in Wisconsin, which caused almost a quarter-million do ... More >>

Anti-Puppy Mill Effort Raises $3.2 Million

Supporters of a Humane Society-backed initiative to crack down on puppy mills in Missouri have put their money where the dogs are -- with $3.2 million in contributions as of September 30.The anti-puppy mill effort has been raking in contributions.​The new totals were first reported by the Missouri ... More >>

Elephants Stroll The City, Humane Officials Jog Along

He'd really rather not dance in a costume, thanks.​Check out Todd C. Frankel's really terrific article in today's Post-Dispatch about an unusual alliance here in St. Louis between animal control and the ever-controversial PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The group, which advocate ... More >>

100 Dogs Removed from Breeder in Mid-Mo, Rescuers Urge Public to Vote Yes for Prop. B

Because we're tired of those sad photos of caged dogs that always accompany stories like this one, behold: a literal "puppy mill". ​A dog breeding facility in Camden County voluntarily surrendered its animals to the Humane Society today. According to the American Society for the Prevention of Crue ... More >>

To pull off the biggest pit bull fighting bust in U.S. history, investigators went deep undercover. So did their dogs.

Humane Society of Missouri Takes 15 Pit Bulls From Accused Dogfighter Near Branson

Humane Society of MissouriA pit bull named Fay, rescued in July 2009, lost its lips to dogfighting injuries.​In July 2009 the Humane Society of Missouri teamed up with the FBI, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and several other law enforcement agencies to bust the largest dogfighting ring in U.S. ... More >>

The Golden Age of Airline Food Revisited, and the West's Gift to Southeast Asia

The state of Ohio reached an agreement with the Humane Society of the United States to enact animal-welfare legislation. The HSUS had Ohio's agriculture industry by the scruff of the chinny-chin-chin, having gathered half a million signatures on a petition to put a factory-farm ban to a public refe ... More >>

CSI Puppy Dog: Bust of Regional Dogfighting Ring Leads to Pit Bull DNA Database

Image sourceAnimal Cruelty investigators are ready to draw blood. So is this dog.​Last July, several law enforcement agencies combined forces with the Humane Society of Missouri to conduct the largest dogfighting sting in U.S. history. They raided 22 locations in 8 states, arrested 26 people and r ... More >>

Where Are All of St. Louis' Self-Righteous Animal Lovers?

Everyone loves adorable pets, right?​C'mon, we know you're out there -- crazy animal lovers. You gotta be. Why else would television stations always bait their newscasts with sob stories about injured puppies and wet kittens? It's because you're a sucker for those heart-wrenching tails tales. And ... More >>

RFT readers debate the rights of animals, Dumpster divers, pregnant women and mustachioed men

The Humane Society and big agriculture slug it out over animal rights

Humane Society: Missouri Ranks 43 For Laws to Protect Animals

​The Humane Society yesterday released its Humane State Ranking, a comprehensive report rating all 50 states on a wide range of animal protection laws dealing with pets, animal cruelty and fighting, wildlife, animals in research, horses, and farm animals.Missouri tied with several other states a ... More >>

Imagine If You Will a Robotic Punxsutawney Phil on Groundhog Day

For the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, every day is Groundhog Day. This of course means that every day is a new day to summon yet another spasm of outrage and cite a further example of man's inhumanity -- to animals. On this particular Groundhog Day, PETA has outdone them ... More >>

Well Red: Readers debate the effectiveness of traffic-light cameras and the fate of taggers

PETA Supporters Bare Beliefs Downtown

Those familiar with animal rights organization PETA know the group puts out risque advertisements in order to draw attention to their cause. It's not often though, that they take to the streets of the Gateway City.After the jump, two PETA protests spotted today at 9th and Olive streets downtown.

What You Missed: Beer School

Press Release of the Day

Hot Air

Unreal sees what all the inflatable fuss is about, learns why kitties are bad presents and talks to a man who loves hotties-but-smarties; plus, the second installment of Local Blog o' the Week!

Letters

Week of September 1, 2004

Letters

Week of November 26, 2003

Bully on the Block

The Humane Society stands in the way of a grant that could step up spay-and-neuter efforts in St. Louis

Heavy-Pawed Politics

Humane Society arrogance thwarts efforts to reduce killings of dogs and cats

Letter to the Editor

Published the week of March 8

Letters to the Editor

Published the week of March 1

High Society

It's flush with money and has a grand new building, but the Humane Society of Missouri is doing little to prevent the growing euthanasia rate for unwanted animals