2008 is only the second year this particular award has been given.  In 2007, the winner was Public Insight Journalism, a branch of American Public Media who produces programming for public radio.

CNN saw competition this year from three other news outlets, The Northwest Herald for their series The McCullom Lake Brain Cancer Lawsuits, The Match, an interactive news article from Newsday.com and Politifact.com a division of the St. Petersburg Times.

CNN’s win was due, in part, to the creation of iReport.  iReport is an entirely user-generated news section of CNN’s website.  According to their statistics, the site generated 102,423,915 reports world-wide last month.  They are currently in the process of adding a feature which lets users know exactly where the posts they read are being reported from.

One of the media conference’s general sessions discussed the importance of citizen journalism, like what’s practiced on iReport.  The session, which focused on social networking and the media’s ability to connect with its users, was paneled by Beth Murphy, Director of Marketing at Digg.com, Jim Sexton, Senior Vice President and Editorial Director of SPC Digital and Kim Patrick Kobza, President and C.E.O. of Neighborhood America. 

The panel agreed that partnering news with getting people involved in their communities was important and key to the future of online reporting.  Kobza said that he felt citizens had to work with the government in this way to continue to deal with problems like the economy and national security and the threat of terrorism.  “We’ve got to be good at it,” he said, “we have no choice.”

The 13th annual EPpy Awards were given out during the Interactive Media Conference and Trade Show, held this week at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. 

The award for Best Entertainment Blog went to Pop Candy, a section of USA Today.  The blog, maintained by staff writer Whitney Matheson, began as a weekly column and is now in blog form, often updated several times a day.  The other nominees included Copious Notes, a blog of Kentucky.com and LexGo.com, HandStamp and Kristin2Go, both blogs featured on chron.com of the Houston Chronicle, and Stuck in the ’80s featured on Tampabay.com.

Best Sports Blog accolades were given to The FanHouse, an America Online sports column.  AOL employs a staff of sports writers who maintain the blog on a daily basis.  FanHouse won out over three competitors, the Brewers Blog, hosted by the Journal-Sentinel Online, ChicagoSports, a division of the Rosenblog and The Memphis Edge, featured in Commercialappeal.com. 

The Best Business Blog category had three contenders, Marketbeat.com a division of the Wall Street Journal Online, NYTimes.com/DealBook from the New York Times Online and USA Today.  NYTimes.com, edited by Andrew Ross Sorkin, came out on top.  Sorkin acknowledged the award on the blog Thursday saying, “Many thanks to all our loyal readers who have stuck with us since we started this crazy little experiment back in 2001.”

The final blogging category was for Best News and/or Politics Blog.  In the running were Adam Radwanski, blogger for globeandmail.com, CNN Political Ticker at cnnpolitics.com, PoliticsWest.com, Stumper at Newsweek.com and The Swamp at chicagotribune.com.  The winner in this category was The Swamp.  The website has many contributing reporters and is updated several times daily.

All of the EPpy nominees were evaluated this year by a panel of 49 judges, all from various media outlets across the country.  They are awarded on an annual basis by Editor and Publisher Magazine and Mediaweek.com, both publications dedicated to the media industry.

Now, May of 2008, the same bacterial strain is being detected in dogs at another shelter, almost 2,000 miles away.

The Humane Animal Welfare Society of Waukesha County in Wisconsin reported that seven of their current shelter dogs died this week as a result of a bacterial infection called streptococcus equi zooepidemicus.  This bacteria affects the respiratory system of the dogs and can cause death if not properly treated.  Kate Hurley, director at the University of California-Davis’ Kort Shelter Medicine Program was interviewed by a reporter for the Associated Press and said that the bacteria affected “dogs of all kinds and ages and [that she] couldn’t rule out cats as being susceptible to it.” 

The Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in Madison reported to the shelter in Waukesha County that the animals there succumbed to the same strain of bacteria found in the Las Vegas shelter animals from 2007. 

So far the Wisconsin shelter has seen seven dogs die as a result of the disease.  They are currently treating two other dogs at the shelter as well.  All of the shelter’s dogs have been isolated and the shelter will remain closed for the next three weeks to ensure that the bacteria will not be passed any further.

UNR’s president, Milton Glick ordered a disciplinary investigation on Hussein earlier this year.  Glick appointed Peter Breen, a former Washoe County District Court judge, to investigate Hussein’s alleged misuse of laboratory funds and alleged plagiarism of his graduate students’ work.  Glick has stated that the report filed by Breen following the investigation was the reason behind Hussein’s dismissal.

Hussein says that he believes the motivation behind his termination was based on a report he filed in 2004 to federal officials reporting improper hiring procedures and animal abuse at the university’s agriculture research farms.  His information led to a federal investigation and eventual $11.400 fine paid by UNR.

Since his dismissal, Hussein, an internationally known animal nutritionist, has had 11 separate civil lawsuits filed on his behalf against UNR by his attorney, Jeffery Dickerson.  They call for Hussein’s reinstatement, full retroactive pay and benefits and an injunction to recind Glick’s order banning him from the UNR campus. 

On March 28, U.S. District Court Judge James Mahan found Hussein and Dickerson in contempt of court and ordered a $25,000 fine for filing what he called, “vexatious or annoying litigation“ with these civil suits.  Hussein and Dickerson are currently attempting to appeal those charges.

A group of about 30 citizen activists organized a rally todayon Hussein’s behalf at the UNR campus, holding signs and calling for Governor Jim Gibbons and the Nevada Board of Regents to get involved in an investigation into the alleged mistreatment of UNR’s research animals.  They also demanded his reinstatement.

Hussein is asking The Nevada Board of Regents to consider his reinstatement at their June 12 meeting.

Sadly, during her cool-down following the win, she collapsed.

Suffering from breaks in both her front ankles, the dark gray thoroughbred was euthanized on the track by a staff veterinarian.  Churchill downs has offered her owners a place on the track to inter her ashes; however, the staff at Fox Hills have yet to comment.

The injury and death have put a dark cloud over the world of horse racing and the derby itself which posted record television ratings on Saturday.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals posted a statement on its website shortly after the race, urging supporters to sign a petition directed at the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority, urging them to make “sweeping reforms that would prevent needless, preventable suffering and cruelty in the racing industry.” 

Their proposed reforms include age restrictions on horses allowed to race and making changes to racing surfaces to softer materials.  Both these proposals, PETA says, will present less chance for injury to all race horses.

The organization is also calling for the suspension of Eight Belles’ trainer Larry Jones and jockey Gabriel Saez, from further racing and for the banishment of whipping as a racing practice.

Jones feels that PETA is out of line and, “trying to capitalize on a sad situation.”

Other critics are looking to the thoroughbred industry as part of the problem.  Andrew Beyer, columnist for the Washington Post writing as “someone who loves the game” wrote in his commentary on Sunday that “America’s breeding industry is producing increasingly fragile thoroughbreds.” 

PETA has also been at the top of the list of speculators that performance-enhancing drugs like steroids may have been the cause for the filly’s collapse.  Eight Belles’ owner, trainer and jockey continue to deny the allegation.  The filly’s body was submitted for an autopsy complete with drug testing before being cremated to remove all suspicion.

“We’re being accused of steroid abuse because she was so large,” Jones said in a press conference Tuesday, “I guarantee there were no steroids ever on the horse.”

All proceeds from the event will go directly to the shelter and the hundreds of animals they serve every day.

All leashed animals are welcome to join their families. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for kids.

According to Lied’s director, Darin Landlum, the shelter takes in between 168 and 200 animals a day including turtles, fish, rodents, pigs, chickens, ducks, snakes and various exotics along with domestic cats and dogs. Typically, they only adopt out between 200 and 250 per week.

The shelter is always looking for donations in the way of pet and office supplies or cash. Check their website for their list of wishes.

David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at Standard and Poor’s/Case-Shiller’s United State’s National Home Price Indextold the AP, “Seventeen of the [20] metro areas the index tracks reported record annual declines led again by Miami and Las Vegas.”  According to Realty Trac Inc., “one in every 54 Nevada households received a foreclosure filing during the first quarter [of 2008], 3.6 percent above the national average and up 137 percent from the first quarter of 2007.”  The phenomenon has become so tremendous in the Clark County area that John and Ruth Ahlbrand, local realtors and co-founders of, Re/Max Central have begun offering bus tours of foreclosure properties to prospective buyers in the Las Vegas area. 

Dan Schultz, operator of American Loss Mitigation Inc., specializes in helping people avoid home foreclosure.  He says that foreclosure can mean so much more than just losing a home.  Men and women in this situation face loss of equity, lawsuits, credit troubles, increased taxes, job loss and loss of self-esteem and self worth which can lead to depression and other mental health issues.  These problems mount into larger issues that effect the entire nation.  According to Haya El Nasser, a columnist at USA Today, the foreclosure crisis in the U.S. has “caused a drop in cities’ revenues, a spike in crime, more homelessness, and an increase in vacant properties,” which is according to a national survey of elected officials published by The National League of Cities in March.

One thing these organizations have yet to recognize: the effect this crisis is having on the four-legged population of the U.S.

One of the first publications to nationally address foreclosure pets was Business Week.  In a June 2007 article by Maya Roney tells the story of animal rescue worker Gail Silver and her first encounter with animals, cats in this case, abandoned in a foreclosed home. 

See a photo slide show with highlights from Roney’s article.

In January 2008 the Associated Press made the problem even more national with a story picked up by papers across the country.  The author, Evelyn Nieves, brought the term ‘foreclosure pets’ to America’s front pages.  Other, smaller publications followed, focusing their reporting on the impact of smaller and even rural communities.

The story remained untouched in Las Vegas or Nevada until March 2008 when a Las Vegas Review Journal reporter, Sonya Padgett wrote her article, “Overwhelming Situation: Innocent Victims” focusing on the problem throughout Clark County.  Through her reporting, suddenly it seemed like the skyrocketing foreclosure numbers in Las Vegas were connecting to the foreclosure pet phenomenon.  Shelters reported to Padgett that their numbers had jumped and one local realtor, Linda Pelaez, recognized that abandoned animals in the foreclosed properties she inspected were quite common. 

But exactly how common is it here in the Vegas valley?

D.J. Cotswell, self-proclaimed ‘pencil pusher’ at the Nevada Association for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, says its very common but hard to nail down specifically.  “Unfortunately most of the time we can’t get accurate statistics because there is no one to ask or people don’t want to give us their names.  Or, they say, ‘oh, its not my dog, I found it’ so we can’t say for sure.  We ask, but they won’t always say.”  According to Padgett’s article, the SPCA’s Executive Director Doug Duke reported that he estimated about 150 animals a week come to them due to a foreclosure.  Cotswell thought that estimate was probably pretty accurate.  “It seems like it went from, sort of like, 50 a day to over 100 a day overnight, ” he says.

Lied Animal Shelter, the city’s main shelter and Clark County Animal Control say they are seeing a different trends.  According to Darin Landrum, Lied’s Director of Operations, their numbers have stayed steady since the mortgage crisis hit the country.  David March, Animal Control Supervisor for Clark County says his numbers have actually gone down in the last year.  They impounded 929 animals in March of 2008 compared with 985 in March of 2007.  March does say, however, “We don’t collect specific information concerning the source of an abandoned animal.  It’s not generally obvious that a home has been foreclosed when we arrive to remove an abandoned animal.”

When animal control picks up a wayward animal they take it immediately to Lied.  Lied practices euthanization on animals that cannot or will not be adopted.  Shelters like the one operated by the SPCA are no-kill facilities.  Typically, people want to help the animals they find or have to surrender and avoid contacting shelters that may eventually put them down.  This is part of, Cotswell feels, the reason for this contradiction in reporting numbers.  “We get as much information as we can on the animals we take in; Lied may not because of the way they get them.  I try to never turn an animal away, either, but I’m almost to capacity right now.  If things don’t turn around soon, more and more animals are likely to turn up on the street and that may cause Lied’s numbers to rise.” 

The Nevada SPCA is well aware of the problem and addressed their concerns on page two of their spring, 2008 newsletter, ”Paws Pause,” directly,

“The home foreclosure crisis has strained our volunteer and staff resources, coming in the midst of what is already southern Nevada’s most severe animal overpopulation crisis.  But we have been in overdrive rescuing the often physically and emotionally injured domesticated animals of all imaginable species who are too often left behind and forgotten, incapable of fending for themselves in conjunction with the thousands each year already being rescued – when owners die or go to nursing homes, animals run out of time or space at other shelters, animals are thrown away in the desert or city parks, renters move into homes which reject companion animals, and the countless other reasons that trigger the need for urgent resuce - our whole community is in a state of emergency with innocent lives at enormous risk.”

Whatever the case, the shelters are filling up and, Cotswell says, adoptions are down.  “With the economy the way it is,” he says, “people can’t afford it.”

The Humane Society of the United States says, “abandoned animals face a grim future.  Many pets trapped inside abandoned homes aren’t found until they’re on the brink of starvation.  Those lucky enough to reach a shelter have about a 50 percent chance of being adopted.”

In March, the organization began the Foreclosure Pets Grant Program, a national campaign offering grants of up to $2,000 to shelters, rescues and control agencies in the hopes to assist families in keeping their pets during the economic downturn.  They are currently taking applications from qualifying shelters and hoped to begin the notification and funds distribution process sometime in late April.

Stephanie Shain, director of outreach for Companion Animals at the HSUS, states on their website, “Dealing with a financial crisis is scary enough.  We hope to ease the burden in some way for families by helping their local shelter help them keep their pet home and part of the family.”

Now, the city of Reno, Nevada will benefit from their generosity and care as Lyon County Animal Services has recently received a $20 million grant, in part, from Maddie’s Fund, The Pet Rescue Foundation established in 1999 by the Duffields.    The grant will be put toward a comprehensive spay and neuter program which will be administered through the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Northern Nevada.  In return, Animal Services must present and publicly publish the county’s animal statistics, including the spay/neuter impact. 

According to the Maddie’s Fund website, their community grants goal is to help, “comprehensive community-wide projects that will guarantee a home for every healthy shelter dog and cat in the target community within five years and for every treatable shelter dog and cat within ten years.”  During the 2006-2007 fiscal year, Maddie’s Fund awarded over 80 grants totaling $10 million in 16 states to community and veterinary college programs.  They have also recently developed a new program in cooperation with the Humane Society of the United States to raise almost $1 million for new programs in the areas of the country hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina.

Snickers’ saga first appeared in the March 24th edition of ‘Lectronic Latitude’ section of Latitude 38, a west coast sailing and marine magazine.  Snickers and his family, which included Gulliver, a five year-old Macaw Parrot, had shipwrecked on Fanning Island in the south pacific after drifting in their boat, the Darla Jean for 95 days.  After almost two weeks on the island, Snickers’ mom and dad, Jerry and Darla Merrow, negotiated a ride back to their home in California on a supply ship but the ships crew refused to take the animals with them. 

Local officials on Fanning Island had apparently tried to contact the Merrows in an attempt to return the animals to them with no luck.  Local officials then began talks of destroying the animals.  News stations and print publications began running stories about the peril of these animals.

That is when Joslin stepped in.

He had just put his beloved Border Collie down after 15 years together a few days before he read about Snickers.  He put in the adoption request immediately and gained custody of him about a month later.  He hopes to get permission from island authorities to adopt Gulliver in the future as well.   

In February, 2007 the shelter was shut down for a week after testing of its animals revealed that hundreds were suffering from Parvovirus, a virus affecting dogs that can lead to death, Canine Distemper, a virus similar to human Measles and Feline Panleukopenia, a gastrointestinal bacteria in cats. After mass euthanizations of all the animals deemed non-salvageable and an overhaul of some staff, the shelter once again opened its doors to the city’s wayward animals; but not to the capacity it had originally maintained.

The business of taking in missing, abandoned and surrendered animals started again almost immediately. The shelter also began holding its shot clinic six days per week by appointment, as well. Their most important endeavor though, their spay and neuter clinic, will finally be re-opened this summer, although they are unsure of the exact date.

Landlum says Lied employs three full-time and four part-time veterinarians who spay and neuter each of the 168-200 animals per day brought to them immediately. However, at one time, they held an additional low-cost clinic for any Las Vegas resident and their animal. Since the shut-down they have been unable to maintain this service.

Landlum adds, “Its a vital service to the community. There is no way any city will be able to adopt their way out of the overpopulation problem. The key is always going to be spaying and neutering.”

CORRECTION:

I have amended a previous paragraph to elaborate on my previous statement as it was misleading. The Lied shelter spays and neuters dogs prior to their adoption. All animals are evaluated both in health and behavior and are only set for euthanization if one of those evaluations is not deemed acceptable for placement in a home or with a rescue facility. If they are satisfactory in these areas then the shelter appropriately prepares them for life with a family including vaccinations and a spay or neuter. I apologize if my previous statements were misleading.