News for Florida animal advocates

On Monday, Florida’s Attorney General Bill McCollum announced the launch of a dedicated toll-free tip line for animal fighting: (877) 847-4787. Callers may remain anonymous and be eligible for a reward of up to $5,000.
“Now Floridians will have an easy, anonymous way to help make their neighborhoods safer and perhaps receive a substantial reward for […]

This week the Vero Beach Press Journal profiled local resident and ARFF Board member Laura Guttridge and her annual protest against the Fellsmere Frog Leg Festival. Laura’s protests have a simple message: instead of promoting frogs as food, the festival should instead celebrate these amazing amphibians. The newspaper estimated that 80,000 frogs are killed each […]

How about a gift that will deliver a positive message, and help to decrease the number of dogs and cats killed in Florida’s shelters?
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles offers gift certificates for any specialty tag in Florida, including the $25 Florida Animal Friend license plate.
Money from the sale of the Animal […]

Last night the Escambia County Commission voted 3-2 against a proposal that would have allowed poker at the Pensacola Greyhound Track. We would like to thank Commissioners Marie Young, Kevin White and Wilson Robertson for voting against the proposal. Commissioner Young said her vote was based on hearing from constituents. (Thank you to everyone who […]

The 17th annual Florida Senior Games State Championships wrap-up this weekend in Lee County after nine days of competition in 23 sports. Among the 2,000 athletes was 68-year-old (4-foot-10, 107-pound) powerlifter Joan Schmidt of Bonita Springs.
Joan won gold medals, and set records for her age group, in both the bench press and dead lifting events. […]

The Pensacola Greyhound Track is one of the lowest-performing greyhound tracks in Florida (only the Jefferson County Kennel Club has brought in less money so far in 2008). Greyhound racing is a dying sport (literally!), so it is not surprising that the track is looking to add poker cardrooms as a way to keep its […]

Florida Senator Bill Nelson has made some meaningful contributions to help animals during the current meeting of Congress. For example, he cosponsored the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act, which created felony-level penalties for dogfighting and cockfighting violations. Senator Nelson also signed onto a group letter seeking increased funding for enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act […]

Christine Abrams, who has sentenced yesterday for abandoning her dog “Ella” to die in a locked kennel without food or water, found a lawyer who was perfect for her. This is not because the lawyer, Andrew Stine of West Palm Beach, helped her very much- Abrams received a jail sentence just four months short of […]

A good general rule is that wildlife should be left alone. There are exceptions, but albinism is not one of them. This week Florida Today reported on a Rockledge woman’s misguided efforts to protect an almost completely white raccoon (click here to view a photo). The woman (the paper agreed to conceal her identity) is […]

For months, state agriculture officials have been scrambling to contain an outbreak of equine piroplasmosis, a potentially-deadly disease that is usually transmitted by a certain type of tick. Since August, 25 horses in Florida have tested positive for the disease. 17 horses have been euthanized, and hundreds more have been placed under quarantine. But invesigators […]