We’d like to share a moving story from our friends at Animal Rahat, the PETA-supported working-animal rescue group in India, about a bullock who had a hard life.

When he came to us, Shilya was a 22-year-old cart-pulling bullock whose owner, Santosh Masal, loved him. When Mr. Masal realized that Shilya had become too old to work, instead of selling him for slaughter, which is what most cart owners do to their long-suffering cattle (so as to squeeze the last bit of money out of them), he visited Animal Rahat. He was very happy to see that all animals at our retirement facility were free to wander around without any ropes and spent their lives socializing, napping, relaxing in the shade, listening to the birds’ songs, and eating very well. Mr. Masal told our vets that Shilya had done a lot of work for him for two decades, and now that he was too old to work, he wanted to retire Shilya. And that’s what happened.

According to our vets, Santosh Masal was the very first bullock owner who was that kind and who thought of the well-being of his animal first. This week, Shilya lost his strength, and the vets made him as comfortable as possible in his final hours. With Mr. Masal at his side, Shilya slipped away to dance with Krishna and Shiva, and his body is buried at Animal Rahat.

Posted by Sanjay Mehta

gothamist / CC

This certainly gives new meaning to the term "cat fight."

Project Runway finalist Kenley Collins has reportedly used her cat as a weapon by throwing the animal at her sleeping fiancé's head. Oh yeah, she also allegedly chucked a laptop and three apples and slammed a door on his head as he crawled across the floor. I guess her precious sewing machine was too valuable to throw. Police have charged Collins with assault and criminal possession of a deadly weapon (i.e., her cat). Thankfully this alleged assault is being investigated, but c'mon, what about the cat?

We are so disgusted that Collins has reportedly endangered her feline companion that we think, if Collins is found guilty, she should be barred from owning any animals in the future. Anyone who would throw a cat in a fit of rage should not be trusted with the care of another life.

Her fiancé might want to watch his back, as well. More than one killer got started by hurting animals. I'm no Doctor Phil, but I'd venture a guess that these two love birds won't be walking down the aisle anytime soon.

Posted by Jennifer Cierlitsky

image.examiner / CC

Back in October, we told you about the geniuses (sarcasm alert) in Clay County, Florida, who decided that the best way to figure out whether a dog had died from heatstroke when an animal control officer left her in a sweltering truck was to—wait for it—put another dog in the sweltering truck and see if that dog would suffer horribly too. (Fortunately, he survived and was returned to the city animal shelter.)

Like I said: geniuses.

As you might expect, we filed a criminal complaint, but the prosecutor's office refused to take the case. So, because the Clay County brain trust had decided that they were qualified to conduct experiments on animals, we filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) because this impromptu experiment appeared to violate numerous Animal Welfare Act (AWA) regulations.

Now, the USDA has cited Clay County Animal Control for no less than five—count 'em, five—violations of the AWA. From the USDA's memo:

Clay County Animal Control does not have an IACUC [Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee]. No protocol was prepared, and a veterinarian was not consulted for this project. There were no searches for alternatives, nor were there any attempts to demonstrate that this project did not unnecessarily duplicate previous experiments.

The animal control brainiacs said that they didn't think that this kind of atrocity experiment was regulated, but, as the USDA official dryly noted, "I explained to them that this was." Apparently, the explanation was slow enough and used one-syllable words, because the violators understood it well enough to assure the USDA that "they will not perform any research activity in the future." Phew!

Clay County's dogs (and other animals) should be able to rest easier—and so should the human residents, as it's now likely that county officials will think twice before deciding that they're qualified to, say, perform open-heart surgery.

Posted by Jeff Mackey

By now, you've probably heard about our latest undercover investigation—and you were probably as horrified as we were. Sadly, though, we weren't shocked—because this kind of abuse has happened before, many times.

Abuses like the ones seen at the Iowa pig factory farm should be the exception—but they're not; they are the rule. Look at our investigation of a North Carolina factory farm; just like at the Iowa farm, the pigs were beaten, were spray-painted, and had their eyes poked with sharp objects. In Oklahoma, the pigs were also beaten and "thumped"—and treaded on, starved, and left to die of illness. At a factory farm in North Carolina, the pigs were, again, beaten daily, kicked, and vaginally and anally penetrated—in addition to being skinned alive. Another group found pigs in Nebraska to be suffering from extreme neglect and mistreatment, drowning in their own excrement and covered in open sores. They found similarly neglected pigs in South Dakota, where the conditions were so inhumane that death rates in barns reached as high as 60 percent—and where some pigs were killed by having a water hose placed in their mouths until the animals burst.

Beatings, castration without any painkillers, drowning in excrement, wasting away with illness, and vaginal and anal penetration—these shouldn't be everyday occurrences, but they are. All over the country, pigs on factory farms are suffering just like pigs in Iowa, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and South Dakota are—and each time someone buys bacon, ham, sausage, or a hot dog, that person is saying that he or she agrees with how these pigs are treated.

Please, if you are appalled by the pain and suffering inflicted on these pigs, there is one very simple way to help them—don't eat them.

Posted by Amanda Schinke