In April of this year, Pet-Abuse.Com was honored to speak at the Desert Paws Animal Law Conference in Palm Springs, California. During the conference, we met a lady with a passion for stopping animal fighting, and the tenacity and organizational skills to make it work.

Hanna Gibson has put together an extraordinary package for the LAPD Regional Animal-fighting Investigations Division (RAID) pilot program.

In this presentation, Hanna addresses the impact that illegal animal fighting has on communities, and illustrates how forming a taskforce can benefit the city. She clearly shows how a well-formed taskforce can SAVE the city money and increase efficiency between many departments.

She has made her presentation available online for you to download and use in your own efforts to get a taskforce formed in your own city. Download the MS Publisher or Adobe PDF files today and add a powerful weapon to your arsenal against illegal animal fighting.

Experts are frequently called upon to assist cruelty investigators, law-enforcement officers, court officials or mental health professionals in evaluating the significance of an individual's involvement in a particular act of animal cruelty as an indicator of dangerousness or possible risk for involvement of future acts of violence against others.

The relatively low level of attention given to even the most serious acts of animal abuse has made it difficult to systematically or quantitatively assess the various factors that should be considered in evaluating the potential significance of various violent acts against animals.

Dr. Randall Lockwood, a world-famous expert and author of many books on the subject of animal cruelty and interpersonal violence, has compiled a guideline checklist on risk factors related to animal cruelty.

John Weinhart, who was recently convicted on 56 felonies of child and animal abuse, will be back in court on Monday, June 20, 2005, at 8:30am. Tippi Hedren, who testified against him in his trial, will be there.

We are urging everyone local to this case to attend the sentencing hearing to show your support for a sentence that fits the crime. If you are not local to southern California, please consider writing to the judge in this case to voice your opinion:

Judge Ronald Taylor
Riverside Criminal Courts Department
Hall of Justice
4100 Main Street
Riverside, California 92501

Dog stolen from airport : Jun 10, 2005 - San Fransico, CA
A $3,000 reward is now increasing to $5,000 available for information leading to the safe return of a championship show dog stolen from the San Francisco International Airport. Ryland, ...

Dog neglect : Jun 9, 2005 - Lake Worth, FL
A woman was arrested June 9 on animal cruelty charges after police found at least two sick dogs in her garbage-strewn home, officials said...

Three pit-bulls found dead : Jun 9, 2005 - Alton, IL
Prosecutors charged Sharon K. Copeland, 27, of Alton with animal neglect June 9, after three pit bull mix dogs were found dead in her yard. A fourth dog, a ...

Cockfighting - Four Arrested In Poaching Sting : Jun 9, 2005 - Mountainair, NM
Rampant poaching, fighting-rooster raising, jerky making and widespread- and apparently illegal- commercial wood cutting. All this, the Game and Fish Department believes, was being done by a group of ...

110 starving animals seized : Jun 9, 2005 - Pueblitos, NM
The state Livestock Board has seized 110 animals from a Belen-area property, many of them starving. Rescuers found 30 emaciated goats 32 aggressive Chihuahua dogs in a mobile home, ...

Man Charged -Trying To Feed Cat To Gator : Jun 9, 2005 - Columbus, OH
Shawn Wright was charged with animal cruelty, and faces the possibility of a 90-day jail sentence. Witnesses allegedly saw a kitten climbing up the cage, hanging on to the ...

Horse dragged behind truck : Jun 8, 2005 - Gentry, AR
The Benton County Sheriff's Office arrested Trevor Allen McKinley after he dragged the animal behind his truck because he was "training the horse to lead." McKinley is out of ...

Horse neglect : Jun 8, 2005 - Opelousas, LA
43-year-old Lucille Owens says she and her daughter Crystal did not abuse their horses. Combined both women were charged with ten counts of cruelty to animals. On June 8, St ...

Dog shot and killed : Jun 7, 2005 - Glocester, RI
Glocester police arrested a man accused of killing a neighbor's dog, which he apparently considered a nuisance. Glenn Coutu, 42, is accused of shooting to death a 3�-year-old poodle ...

Hoarding - 40 dogs, 20 cats seized : Jun 7, 2005 - Marion County, TN
A Marion County, Tennessee woman is behind bars facing 40 counts of animal cruelty. Dozens of the animals were found last night at the Perry Link Humane Memorial Society

Dog stabbed, hanged : Jun 6, 2005 - Scottsdale, AZ
A 23-year-old Mesa man upset with his wife tried to kill her dog by stabbing and hanging the animal six feet in the air with an electric cord, barbell and ...

Geese intentionally hit with boat : Jun 4, 2005 - Van Nuys, CA
A 19-year-old man was arrested Saturday after sheriff's personnel saw him intentionally hit a flock of geese on Bass Lake with his boat. One of the geese was killed. ...

Animals Seized for Neglect : Jun 4, 2005 - Magnolia, TX
Michael Brown, 38, owned the deceased American Quarter Paint horse in addition to a 7-year-old Paint horse that was found malnourished on his nearly five acre Spencer Terrace residence, said ...

Dog neglected, abandoned : Jun 3, 2005 - Bowling Green, KY
An abandoned black terrier was found in a home at 1705-D O'Shea Avenue by the property manager, Steve Fields, after neighbors complained of a foul odor coming from the ...

Rabbits abandoned, 1 found dead : Jun 2, 2005 - Philomath, OR
Chance, the female mixed-breed rabbit, now has a second chance, thanks to the help of a good Samaritan. Her companion was not so lucky. Chance and her rabbit ...

Thank you for your ongoing support - without you, the work we do would not be possible. As always, please feel free to crosspost this newsletter and forward it on to other animal advocates that may be interested.

Best Wishes,
Alison L. Gianotto
[email protected]
Director
www.pet- abuse.com