Stevens , the Supreme Court last year overturned a 1999 law banning depictions of animal cruelty on the grounds of overbreadth. These videos, the subject of House legislation and of a bill that we plan to introduce, are beyond “disgusting”—and go beyond conventional conceptions of animal cruelty. To the Editor: Re “ Disgusting but Not Illegal ” (editorial, Aug. 2): We disagree with your contention that the First Amendment protects animal “crush” videos. MORE

In my earlier post "Children and Heart Disease" available here , I noted that, in the seventh and final edition of Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care: A Handbook for Parents of the Developing Child from Birth to Adolescence , Dr. Benjamin Spock no longer recommends feeding animal products to children after two years of age. According to Dr. Spock: Most families have become more conscious about the fat content of meats, and many are choosing the lower-fat cuts. MORE

The justices said they would review, at the request of the federal government, an appeals court decision that said Congress's broad attempt to discourage animal cruelty by outlawing its depiction violates the First Amendment. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in Philadelphia voted 10 to 3 last summer to find unconstitutional the rarely used law passed by Congress in 1999. You'd think it would be a no-brainer, but no. MORE

Dogs: • 25% (1 in 4) of un-spayed female dogs will get mammary cancer. Less than 50 percent of canine mammary tumors are malignant. Spaying a dog before their first heat will reduce the chance of breast cancer to almost zero. Surgical removal is the first treatment method and chemo is sometimes a secondary treatment, depending on the severity of the tumor. Around 90 percent of feline mammary tumors are malignant. of Omaha, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. MORE

The All American Pet Company™, makers of super premium dog food brands Bow Wow Breakfast™ Cereal and Grrr-nola™ Natural Dog Food, announces its first ever Bow Wow Million Dollar Look-a-Like Contest. Starting Monday, June 1st 2009, dog owners will have the opportunity to submit a picture of themselves and their dog to show the world how much they look alike. The finalists from these submissions will be given the chance to win the grand prize of $1 million dollars. MORE

In April 2016, eBird added “Profile Pages” and the announcement stated (lightly edited): This first version of your public eBird dashboard focuses on showcasing your eBird activity with tools that visualize all your sightings and highlight your recent media contributions—all updated with each new eBird contribution. You must opt-in before you get a Profile Page, so I dutifully set one up and it contained much of the same information, but organized and displayed in different ways. MORE

The coastal subspecies of California Gnatcatcher ( Polioptila californica californica ) can be found in sage scrub that was once abundant from Ventura County to northern Baja California. range largely consists of valuable real estate along the Southern California coast and urban development around San Diego and Los Angeles has eliminated much of its habitat. A critical aspect of the listing was a finding by the U.S. FWS released a 5-year review of the species in 2010. MORE

It is not always obvious which side of a bird-related conservation lawsuit is the right side. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in the 1980s to be part of a captive breeding program. Both parties — FWS and Audubon — wanted the same thing: preservation of the California Condor. According to the court: Until December 1985, FWS viewed as critical to the Recovery Program the continued maintenance of a wild population. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. MORE

Further advancing its leadership in human-animal studies, Humane Society University, an affiliate of The Humane Society of the United States, announced today that it has received a license as a higher education degree-granting institution by the District of Columbia Education Licensure Commission. The degrees are designed to educate students to qualify them for employment with one of the more than 17,000 U.S. Very cool! MORE

AutoAnything lets you choose one of the four fashionable Cesar Millan pet travel products below. Each of the pet travel products are built for heavy duty usage and they deliver on all your travel needs. AutoAnything will not use any contact information provided in the sweepstakes for promotional use or sales, nor will any of your contact information be given/sold to third parties. The pack has spacious storage to hold up to 8lbs of kibble, not to mention 1.5L of water. MORE

I worry it won't pass the DC district court for some wacky reason. I don't like to celebrate until I'm sure of something. Animal research facilities will be required to disclosee more information online about their experiments under a court settlement signed Wednesday by the Humane Society of the United States and the Agriculture Department. The settlement will now be submitted to the federal district court for the District of Columbia for final approval. MORE

In this morning's New York Times editorial " There Is No 'Humane' Execution ," we have an imperfect yet nevertheless baby step toward acknowledgment of the HumaneMyth. The most recent execution, of Kenneth Biros, involved 30 minutes to find a vein for the single-drug and "the execution only reinforced that any form of capital punishment is legally suspect and morally wrong.". Three drugs, one drug, 30 minutes, one minute, none of that matters. MORE