The Best Of … Animals

I’m going to be honest, this post is part lazy blogging (because I really need to spill my thoughts here more than once a month) and part shameless self-promotion (just in case you’re somehow reading this blog and unaware that I’m now the Editor of Change.org’s animal welfare and wildlife community). But mostly, I hope, it’s informative about some of the issues animals have faced over the past month.

So, in the spirit of last week’s announcement of the latest Webby Award winners (Congratulations, ASPCA!) and to celebrate my awesome new job, here are some recent highlights from the last month on the Change.org Animals blog:

Best Animal Story: Where There’s a Protest, There’s Riot Dog - It’s said that this stray dog in Athens, Greece, hasn’t missed a major political protest in two years. And he’s not just a mascot; he barks at the police, dodges tear gas, runs from the scene … it’s almost as if this guy believes in the cause. He may be a stray, but I think he’s living the life that many spirited dogs I’ve known would have loved.

Most Fun to Write: Zynga Removes Pit Bulls From Mafia Wars - When Mafia Wars announced the addition of  a pit bull weapon to the game, more than 500 Change.org community members signed a petition and contacted Zynga, asking them to protect the pit bull image. Zynga contacted Change.org, letting us know they were removing the pit bull. During the email exchange, I found out that they’re a pretty cool dog-friendly, pit-friendly company. Campaign victory + positive image for pit bulls = Win!

Best Overdue Idea: Animal Shelters Go Green - Even though I’m leaving you, Ecology Center, I’ll always have a soft, green spot in my heart (that’s environmentalism, folks, not Michigan State or some strange disease). It was only a matter of time before the green building movement hit animal shelters, and some sweet upgrades are being incorporated into new shelters that help animals and the environment.

Most Disappointing: Will Obama Sell Out Whales on Earth Day? After a series of sketchy back-room talks, including an Earth Day meeting, Obama seems to be backing the legalization of commercial whaling. Even George W. Bush upheld the moratorium on whaling. ‘Nuff said.

Most Disturbing: Animal Sex Tourism - A man in Washington state was busted for running a bestiality farm. There are a lot of sick things that happen to animals, but pimping them out as a tourist attraction is about as twisted as it gets. This abuse stays far behind closed doors, so bringing it out in the open spurred a lot of conversation in the comments.

Biggest WTF?: Senator Says Gas Chamber Is Most Humane Way for Animals and People to Die – How do you make it through life, get elected into office, and not realize that making comments about how great death-by-gas is for animals and humans is sort of frowned upon? (That’s a rhetorical question.)

(Not far behind in the WTF? category was Oil Spill Wildlife Threatened by Media Coverage … except I’m really not surprised that the news outlets covering the oil spill were insensitive enough to tromp all over protected wildlife refuges to get good-n-close to the action.)

Last, but not least, fellow blogger Martin Matheny deserves a shout-out for Best Breakdown of a Wonky Subject: Supreme Court Decides Free Speech vs. Animal Cruelty – It was an important case, a complicated law, and a frustrating outcome. Martin did a great job laying it all out.

Keep up with (me and) all the best-of and worst-of animal news at Change.org!