July 24, 2009

Handler Sue Chipperton and Gidget are shown in Los Angeles. Gidget lived with Chipperton for 15 years and hit stardom with a Taco Bell advertising campaign. (ZT Pet News Photo Courtesy of Studio Animal Services)

PETA: Circus Elephants Abused; Other Pet News Briefs:Today's news includes: shocking undercover video footage of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey elephants allegedly being abused; A hunting dog nurses six piglets; A cat survives a bullet in the brain; Taco Bell dog, Gidget, dies

NEW YORK -- Six months of undercover work was compiled into a video and released to the public on Wednesday by PETA showing questionable elephant handling practices by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus.

From January to June, an undercover stage hand filmed various staff -- including the animal super intendant and the head animal trainer -- beating the 8,000-pound animals as they stood waiting to perform, said Debbie Leahy, PETA's director of captive animals.

Leahy also told ZooToo Pet News, the footage shows that this was not one or two trainers having a bad day, rather "violence is very much of the culture of Ringling Bros. for training, and it is the animals who suffer the consequences."

Ringling Bros. released a statement saying it is reviewing the video produced and distributed by PETA, but they believe the footage is "questionable in its context regarding the portrayal of the animals handlers."

Yet, Leahy said the footage documented that before the 11 elephants would go on stage to perform "a number of employees were just randomly pounding on them.

"The elephants were just standing there, waiting to go in and perform their routines and it seemed that these trainers were reminding the animals that when they go into the arena 'if you don't perform you will get much more hurt when you get out.' "

Ringling Bros. contends, in its statement, that the licensed traveling exhibitor was in compliance with federal, state and local regulations during the alleged time covered in the video.

While Leahy said trainers often use bull hooks which often lacerate and puncture elephant skin -- the wounds covered by gray powder dust -- Ringling Bros. say "a team of accredited veterinarians and an animal care staff that ensures the animals’ needs are met and that they are in a safe and secure environment."

PETA balks at this notion, claiming evidence of long-term effects of abuse with the circus' 25-year-old female elephant, Tonka, displaying text book signs of severe psychological distress -- such as swaying from side to side while also bobbing her head and swinging her right foot.

While it might seem that an 8,000 pound animal might need extra force to command its attention, Leahy says elephants have extremely sensitive skin -- that the giant mammals can even feel a fly land on their backs.

"When you see a elephant take a batch of hay and throw it on their backs, it is to protect their skin from a fly," Leahy said. "They are very smart and typically gentle animals, so they are very much effected by this constant battering and beating."

The animal rights group has now filed a formal complaint with U.S. Department of Agriculture and is petitioning the USDA to confiscate the animals and place them in elephant sanctuaries.

In light of the accusations, Ringling Bros. has highlighted the work the organization has done to increase the population of the endangered Asian elephant through its Center for Elephant Conservation.

For more information on the Ringling Bros. Center for Elephant Conservation, visit ElephantCenter.com. For more information on PETA's investigation, visit PETA.org.

Rottie Nurses Six Little Piggies

James Favreau was surprised when his sow, Funny Face, gave birth nearly a week earlier than expected. But the surprises on the Roostin' Pig Farm in Buckingham, Fla., a rural community on the outskirts of Ft. Myers, didn't stop there.

Just after the six piglets were born early Monday morning, the heavy rains began to flood their pen. Favreau pulled the piglets, one-by-one, from the deepening mud.

"There was Snowball, Junior, Mud -- he was so stuck in the mud he was nearly dead," Favreau said of the rescue. "He quit breathing, and so I did resuscitation five or six times, 'til he coughed stuff up -- he's the spunkiest one there is.

"Then there is Freckles, Wilbur and Spot."

All six of the piglets came inside his home, to stay in a crate to get dry and warm. Ironically, the piglets were near to Favreau's Rottweiler-Pit Bull mix, Tequila, who also gave birth around 5 a.m. on Monday to a litter of eight.

"Tequila wanted out of her cage and thought she had to go to the bathroom, but then she went to the piglet cage, scratching at it -- and so I thought what the heck,"Favreau told ZT Pet News. "So she went right in and laid down and the piglets latched on like no tomorrow and she's been nursing them ever since, and her puppies, too."

Since keeping 14 babies feed might be more than Tequila's body can handle, Favreau only let's the infants suckle long enough to get enough colostrum and critical nutrients to boost their immunity.

Favreau says the phenomenon has left him shocked, especially since barely two weeks ago, Tequila helped his bull dog, Boot Strap Bill, corner a 180-pound wild boar while the trio were out hunting.

"She knew they were in need of feed, so the motherly instinct took over and that was that -- a mother's love, I guess," Favreau said.

Now that motherly love has earned Tequila -- who Favreau says has been an amazing dog here whole life -- a special place in the hearts of six piglets.

"They follow her around like puppy dogs, I kid you not," the farmer said. "I let them out of their cage and they run right over to her. Even if they are full, they lay around on her sleeping and stuff. So there already is that bond between the dog and the pigs."

Although Favreau had planned on raising the Yorkshire-Hampshire cross pigs, which grow between 600- to 800-pounds, to be sold for meat, he is now not sure what to do with this litter.

But he's already been getting some interest from local farmers to buy a couple of the piglets as pets -- a concept Favreau is familiar with as he breeds teacup and potbelly pigs as indoor pets.

He is just surprised that requests would come for such a large breed, yet, then again, "I've never heard of some thing like this, it's pretty cool."

As for Funny Face, Favreau says she seems to be moving on with life without an indication of missing her piglets, as her milk is drying up.

Cat Survives Second Gun Shot Wound

Defying the odds in Great Britain, a black-and-white tom cat, named Bobby, took a bullet to the brain and survived. Incredible, yes, but for the 4-year-old cat, this trick is almost routine.

Living in Bolton, a town in northwest England, with owner Susan Stone, Bobby had been shot in the leg about two years ago.

"We do see this from time-to-time -- every couple years," veterinarian Archie Cumming told ZT Pet News. "But to survive a second shot to the head is pretty remarkable."

Cumming treated Bobby on July 9, after Stone saw the cat stumbling through her backyard and took him to the animal clinic, A Regan and Colleagues.

"Initially, he came in and he was in quite a bit of shock. His breathing was very labored," Cumming said. "I thought he had been hit by a car, so we stabilized him with oxygen and he settled down after that."

After two rounds of X-rays, Cumming found that Bobby had been shot.

"This was quite a nasty pellet injury -- a nasty shot to the head."

Cumming attempted to remove the bullet in surgery, but the smooth pellet evaded being extracted.

With the bullet lodged in his brain, Bobby's condition was "touch-and-go" for about 48 hours, with the biggest concern being possible brain damage.

"If the pellet had gone in any further there would have been, but he is a strong cat and he is doing so well. I expect him to make a full, uneventful recovery.

"He should live -- unless he gets shot again -- a normal life. He's a very lucky boy."

In 2007, Bobby took a pellet to the leg, which required surgery to remove it. With the two wounds being consistent to an air gun, Cumming and Stone both suspect the same person shot Bobby.

"Hopefully, the police will find out who did this and the likelihood is that the same person is doing it," said Cumming, who also related that Stone has now been contacting local media about the incidents, hoping to gain attention to the crime.

"Her first priority was to get Bobby over it, and then she contacted the local newspaper and then regional TV got involved," Cumming said. "It's been a slow process."

Taco Bell Dog, Gidget, Dies

Made famous for saying "Yo quiero Taco Bell, Gidget, a 15-year-old Chihuahua died of a massive stroke in her Los Angeles-area home late Tuesday evening.

"It was all over within an hour and she didn't suffer," Sue Chipperton, Gidget's handler, told ZT Pet News. "Until then, she was her happy normal self, so it was a relief that she didn't suffer.

"It was a shock obviously -- one minute she was completely normal and happy running around."

Gidget was a rescue dog, owned by Studio Animal Services, but it was Chipperton, whom she lived with from the time she was 8-months-old.

"She had a great life -- traveling all over and opening the New York Stock Exchange and she met a lot of people, who gushed at her like a celebrity which was always funny to see the reverse -- a celebrity go 'oh my gosh is that really the Taco Bell dog?' "

Chipperton said Gidget didn't just travel, but she lived the high life with private jets and limousines.

"She was always pandered to wherever she went, so she got a little bit of an attitude during that time," Chipperton said of the "Yo Quiero Taco Bell" ads ran from 1997 to 2000.

"I remember after the first commercial aired, I was on set the next day and everybody was talking about it -- 'hey did you see that Taco Bell commercial?' " Chipperton said. "And, you don't hear industry people going off on something like that -- about how much they liked it and how cute it was. So it didn't take long for them to shoot more."

Gidget also played other roles in Hollywood, including the mother of Bruiser in Legally Blonde 2 and in the 1998 film, Godzilla.

But after the melee of the Taco Bell commercials died down, Chipperton said Gidget began to mellow and the cockiness began to disappear.

"Her life at home was just very relaxed and she would love to lay in the sun," Chipperton said. "But she would come alive when you put her in front of the camera.

"She really was one of those dogs who really enjoyed it."

Robin Wallace is the editor for Zootoo Pet News and can be reached at rwallace@zootoo.com.

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