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Buffalo police rescued a cat from a Cheektowaga man who apparently was planning to make a meal out of his pet because he thought it was ill-tempered, authorities said Monday. When Ferry-Fillmore District officers pulled over a car driven by Gary L. Korkuc on Sunday night during a traffic stop, they said they heard a cat crying from inside the trunk and investigated. What they found has left animal lovers at the SPCA Serving Erie County in shock. The cat, according to police, was in a cage “marinating” in a mixture of crushed red peppers, chili pepper, salt and oil....

The man accused of arranging for the killing of 32 bison on a neighbor's property struck a deal this morning in which he'll face minimal or no jail time but will have to open his wallet wide. Jeffrey Scott Hawn, CEO of Seattle-based software firm Attachmate, pleaded guilty to a class 3 felony of criminal mischief and to a misdemeanor charge of cruelty to animals in Park County Court. At his Jan. 28 sentencing he could get up to two years of probation and up to 10 days in Park County Jail. Four generations of the Downare family, in cowboy...

Texas businessman Jeff Hawn was charged May 8 in the March slaying of 32 bison near Hartsel and faces one count of class 3 felony theft, one count of class 3 felony criminal mischief and 32 counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, each a class 6 felony. Hawn turned himself in to the Park County Jail on May 12 and bonded out... Kobe Bryant's attorney The arrest warrant affidavit indicates that the bison had been killed over the course of a number of weeks. For instance, it states that on April 1 officers "retrieved a spent bullet from one of...

The man accused in the deaths of 32 bison who strayed off his Park County neighbor's property has hired a prominent Denver defense attorney. Pamela Mackey is representing Jeffery Scott Hawn, of Austin, Texas, who was charged last week with theft, criminal mischief and cruelty to animals. Mackey previously represented ... Kobe Bryant...

An arrest warrant has been issued for Austin, Texas, businessman Jeffrey Scott Hawn in connection with the shooting of 32 bison in Park County in March. The warrant says Hawn is wanted on one count of felony theft, one count of felony criminal mischief and 32 counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, a Class 6 felony. The bison were shot and killed on private ranches and state and federal lands about 15 miles southeast of Hartsel. At the time of the shootings, Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener said his deputies had never seen anything like it. "There are just hundreds...

PETA Animal-Cruelty Trial Date Finally Set On November 13th, nearly 18 months after their arrest, two employees of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) will face a felony Superior Court trial on animal-cruelty charges in Hertford County, North Carolina. The defendants, Andrew Benjamin Cook and Adria Joy Hinkle, were each indicted on 22 counts of Cruelty to Animals and 3 counts of Obtaining Property By False Pretenses. The Honorable Cy Grant will be presiding. Police in Ahoskie, North Carolina arrested Cook and Hinkle on June 15, 2005 near a shopping-center dumpster, from which they recovered 18 dead pets...

THE secret slaughter of at least 10,000 racing greyhounds by one man has been exposed by an undercover investigation. For the past 15 years David Smith, a builders’ merchant, has been killing healthy greyhounds no longer considered by their trainers to be fast enough to race. He buries them in a one-acre plot at the back of his home in Seaham, Co Durham. Last week The Sunday Times covertly filmed Smith on two consecutive days receiving greyhounds from trainers before killing them with a bolt gun, dumping them in the plot and covering over the “graves” using a mechanical digger....

An animal rights group and six of its members were convicted of terrorism and Internet stalking yesterday by a federal jury that found them guilty of using their Web site to incite attacks on those who did business with or worked for a British company that runs an animal testing laboratory in New Jersey. The case was the first test of the Animal Enterprise Terror Act, enacted in 1992 to curb the most aggressive tactics used by activists. The verdict, which came after 14 hours of deliberation, was called an insidious threat to free speech by some activists, but was...

Tango wants to wish all of my friends and family on FreeRepublic a Happy Blue Year!!

MIRAMAR, Fla. -- A man was arrested on charges of killing his son's 2-month-old black Labrador puppy by throwing it five stories to the ground after it urinated and defecated inside their apartment. Josper Sanon, 49, took the dog and flung it 25 feet through the air off their fifth-floor balcony, the arrest warrant said. A police officer found Sanon's 16-year-old son Steve screaming and crying in the parking lot of their apartment. Josper Sanon was arrested on charges of cruel death, pain and suffering of an animal, a third-degree felony. He was being held on $2,500 bail. He faces...

An 8-week-old Jack Russell terrier mix puppy is recovering after he was found tortured and abandoned next to a dumpster in Pueblo. The puppy appears to have cigarette burns on his body and was spray-painted when he was found behind a convenience store along Highway 50. A store employee found the puppy and called Pueblo Animal Services, which treated his injuries. "His wounds seem to be healing and he's eating better all the time so we're hoping another week or so and he'll be ready to go," veterinarian Keith Lorensen told KOAA-TV. The dog has been named "Trooper" by animal...

Michael Schiavo in Hell (a play in one paragraph) By Tom Smith MS: Where am I? Gosh it is so hot here! Man with No Eyebrows: But I think you will agree it is a very dry heat. MS: Dry! I'll say! I'm so thirsty! I don't think I've ever been so thirsty! MNE: Just you wait. MS: What? MNE: You said you were thirsty? MS: So thirsty . . . MNE: Would you like some nice, cool water? MS: Please! MNE: Let me just check outside. (Goes to door.) Why, how curious. There are hundreds of people out here...

TOWNSVILLE, Australia (AFP) May 11, 2004 Six soldiers were facing the likelihood of dismissal here Tuesday after outraging Australia by admitting to a court that they tortured to death a litter of kittens. Amid continuing shock in Australia over allegations of US and British soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners, colleagues of the six men, local residents and animal welfare groups have all expressed horror at the soldiers' cruelty. The six, from an army support battalion based at Townsville's Lavarack Barracks, were fined by the local magistrates court Monday after pleading guilty to cruelty to animals charges. But a spokesman for the...

YOUNGSTOWN — Fourteen dogs in Youngstown are known to have frozen to death outdoors this month, and Dave Nelson, Animal Charity humane agent, said he is preparing to file charges against their owners, wherever he can. "If you can't get out there and give your dog proper food, proper water, proper shelter, there's something really wrong," Nelson said. Nelson said he will assemble his reports and photos and confer with the city prosecutor about the charges in each case and expects to charge more than half of the owners. "We will start prosecuting them as soon as I get the...

Wildlife: Courts focus on state of mind of defendants: Were animals seen as threat? When a security guard in Tustin discovered an opossum on a wall one night, he beat it to death with his flashlight.