Animal Rights

Leah Purcell: Is the Alleged Animal Cruelty Queen Back in Business?

Authorities in Montgomery County are investigating if former Spindletop Dog Refuge owner Leah Purcell is boarding dogs again, in violation of a court order. Officials and Humane Society personnel raided her Willis property last year and seized nearly 300 dogs who had been kept in filthy conditions. ... More >>

D'AHHHHH: Largest Donation Of Pet Food In Houston History Set For Today

The husband and wife team behind local pet store chain Natural Pawz are set to donate 100,000 pounds of pet food to the Houston Humane Society today at their new Almeda Road location. Biff Picone and his wife Nadine Jolie-Coeur collected the lion's share of the food from vendors they work with, in ... More >>

Cover Story: Is Biomedical Testing on Primates Still Necessary?

On October 24, scientists from around the world will come to San Antonio to discuss how testing on monkeys might one day lead to an AIDS cure. They'll be talking baboons, macaques, and vervets at the 30th Annual Symposium on Nonhuman Primate Models for AIDS, not chimpanzees. Once thought to be the ... More >>

Spindletop Dog Refuge For Pit Bulls: What Went So Horribly Wrong?

For at least twenty years, Spindletop Dog Refuge was known as one of the few places in the country where rescued pit bulls had a second chance for a happy life. But somewhere along the way, Spindletop's owner, Leah Purcell, lost control and the refuge appears to have turned into a place where dogs w ... More >>

PETA Asks Joel Osteen to Hang a "Go Vegan" Banner in His Church

We guess there's no harm in trying. PETA has written a letter asking Joel Osteen to hang a large "Go Vegan" banner in Lakewood Church, for which in return they will "prepare a delicious Easter Sunday faux-ham meal with all the trimmings for his parishioners." Why Osteen? PETA seems to think he's h ... More >>

Comment of the Day: Oh, NOW I Get It

​We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>

BARC Handling String of Startingly Bad Animal Abuse Cases (With Graphic Photos)

Cesar, in recovery mode​The world has completely gone to hell in the last 36 hours, based on the shocking display of animal cruelty cases that Houston's Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care is dealing with. Authorities are investigating the following, according to BARC: -- A man shot a Yorks ... More >>

Humane Society President Speaks On Texas's "Puppy-Mill" Bill

Humane SocietyWayne Pacelle likes the proposed bill, naturally.​In advance of Humane Society of the United States President Wayne Pacelle's May 15 Houston book-signing stop, we thought we'd ask about Texas's so-called "Puppy Mill bill." Introduced by State Representative Senfronia Thompson (D- ... More >>

UTMB Forced to Give PETA Documents on Animal Experiments

UTMB must hand over more than 1,000 pages, AG says.​Attorney General Greg Abbott has ruled that the UT Medical Branch in Galveston must turn over documents sought by PETA regarding experiments done on animals. A PETA whistleblower alleged in January that animals were used in painful and dead ... More >>

Facebook v. Leaky Boob

Houston mom in a FB face-off.

Comment of the Day: Animal Experiments Aren't All Bad

​We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>

PETA's New Target: UT-Medical Branch in Galveston

UTMB gets hit by PETA complaints about experiments​PETA, fresh off claiming a victory over NASA about monkey experiments, has a new target in its sights: The University of Texas medical branch in Galveston. PETA has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture alleging "abuse and ... More >>

Chihuahua Invasion: Brace Yourself For Cuteness, Houston

I, Chihuahua​The Houston SPCA is about to get hit with an airlift of 30 homeless Chihuahuas from Los Angeles. Officials are unsure if the city can handle the sudden influx of cuteness, but apparently have determined it is worth the risk. Chihuahuas are as common in LA as independent movie pro ... More >>

Intelligent Life

When NASA employee April Evans questioned animal experiments, her career fell apart.

FAIL: Morrissey, Scott Weiland, Whitesnake, Conspiracy Theorists

​Morrissey Loves Animals So Much It Makes Him Racist: Morrissey has been one of the biggest ambiguously snarky pussies in all of rock music for some years now, popular among 15-year-old bisexuals of all races and creeds. Sometimes, however, the former Smiths frontman likes to make a straightf ... More >>

Turning the Screw: Bertell, Skillz, Diddy, Teddy Riley, Kid Sister, The Kanye, Cudi, Raekwon, Reflection Eternal and More

Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off's weekly rap post. It probably won't rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies. Single of the Week: "She Bad," Bertell feat. Bun B Wire to Wire Before we get started with beginning this year's goofiness, ... More >>

More Allegations Of Sexual Harassment And Abuse At The Houston Humane Society

Edward Perez​In the wake of a sexual harassment lawsuit against Houston Humane Society Shelter Director Edward Perez, former HHS employees have told Hair Balls they were driven to quit because of Perez's verbally assaultive behavior, condoned by Executive Director Sherry Ferguson and at least one ... More >>

On Top? It's Not Rape, and Full-service Journalism

Highlights from the Blog at HOUSTONPRESS.COM

This Is One Way To Report A Story, We Guess

​All the BARC brouhaha today brought us an interesting bit of e-mail correspondence, forwarded to us from a chain that began with a Houston Chronicle reporter.Rebecca Maitland, a freelancer who writes occasionally for the Chron's Fort Bend zoned edition, was doing a story on animal shelters in tha ... More >>

BARC Puppy Literally Washed Down The Drain

​A stray puppy at BARC was placed in the wrong cage and washed down the drain last Thursday night, Health and Human Services Spokeswoman Kathy Barton confirmed today. She would not give the name or position of the person who placed the puppy in the cage, but said the person has been susp ... More >>

Complain About BARC, Find Yourself Charged With A Crime

Photo by bf_photos The Harris County District Attorney's Office has charged a BARC volunteer for filing a false police report regarding animal abuse he said he heard while at the city's animal control facility. Shelby Kibodeaux was charged July 1 with the class B misdemeanor, which ca ... More >>

Behind The Scenes At The Circus Whether PETA Likes It Or Not

Photo by Katharine ShilcuttIt's  circus time in Houston! A joyous time of annoying protests from PETA and magic for boys and girls of all ages!!Take a look behind the scenes as they set up the ring at Reliant Stadium in this slideshow. And then: Kids, get your cotton candy!! PETA people, get yo ... More >>

The Foie Gras Problem

Photo by J.C. ReidI love foie gras. Is that bad? Foie gras is the fattened liver of a goose or duck. The fattening is brought about through the technique of gavage, or force-feeding the animal, in this case with corn. The resulting food product is a true delicacy which has a rich, meaty/salty flavo ... More >>

The BARC Survey The City Should Be Conducting

Photo by Daniel KramerBARC is asking for the public's input on how to improve the shelter by completing an online survey. According to the preamble, the Mayor's office is ready to roll up its sleeves and get to the bottom of the "complexity" of BARC's problems. (Apparently, the 2005 Mayor's Task For ... More >>

Nathan Winograd, No-Kill & BARC

Since its inception, Houston's Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care has been defined by mismanagement. Relegated to an unsightly corner of Houston's Fifth Ward, the facility, which operates with a staggeringly high 80-percent euthanasia rate, has been a historically low priority for Houston's leader ... More >>

Fighting Over Dogfighting Dogs Continues

We wrote Friday about how the Houston SPCA is killing all those dogs who were "rescued" when a major dogfighting ring was broken up recently.The local SPCA is clear that it does not adopt out pit bulls or fighting dogs because it thinks they are harmful. They made an exception of sorts after Hurrica ... More >>

Those "Rescued" Dogs Are Dead, Or Lining Up To Die

When the feds and local law-enforcement agencies busted a big dog-fighting ring a while back, there was much talk of the more than 100 dogs that had been "rescued." If by "rescued" you meant "Sent to Doggie Death Row," then they were indeed rescued. A commenter to our item on the arrests said ... More >>

Two Houston Athletes Donate Their Brains To Science

Ike's Fuzzy Animals

All kinds of cuties are showing up

Humane Society Helps Galveston Animals After Hurricane Ike

Open Season on Pit Bulls’ Genitals

Dog Abuse Bad. Cow Abuse Awesome.

Not Exactly a Hallmark Moment: Video of California Meat Packing Plant Ain't Pretty

Dog Day Afternoon. Evening and Morning, Too.

Re: Breaking News: Death to the Dogs

Good Place to Chase Tail

Beating a (Nearly) Dead Horse

Today in Public Semi-Nudity

Nekkid Bunny

Horse Flesh

Texas struggles with what to do with its overabundance of Equus caballus, while Europeans wait with open mouths

You Better Watch Out

These Saint Nicks can be real pricks

My Life in Oils

David McGee gives good autobiography at DiverseWorks

(East) Indian Summer

A local community celebrates its heritage

Kitty Litter

Toyya Braskey lives with 100 cats. They are her life. Now the city says they have to go.

The Dogs of War

Foster programs try to save departing soldiers' critters from becoming casualties

Babe's Bad Night

Feral hogs are on the increase. And so are those who hunt them.

Night & Day

April 22-28, 1999

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