Thanks for coming out to Petsmart Walk

Thanks to all the runners, walkers, tablers, two-legged and four-legged ADLA people who came-out to support the Spay/Neuter Hotline at the First Annual PetWalk. Here's some of the 5K runners/walkers at the starting line. Then a very happy Sonia Hernandez at the finish line with her son, Robert Zaragoza (ADLA's fastest runner) at the finish line.

Score one for the dogs!

Score one for the dogs!! Proposition 401, the Tucson Dog Protection Act, passed 402 to 373. Winning an election by 29 votes makes this starkly obvious: everything we did for the dogs was necessary to our success. Thank you, thank you, thank you to those who stepped forward!

There are hundreds of people and organizations who deserve thanks for their assistance to the campaign and the dogs. Among them are: Animal Defense League of Arizona, Carmen Arrison, Laura Burchette, Carol Burney, Bill Carnegie, Diana Chapin-Tsai, Kayla Coe, Dr. Phil Comer and the other 101 endorsing Tucson veterinarians, Cynthia David, Linda Dills, Christine Dorchak, Elsa Duarte, Joan Eidinger, Marion Erickson, FBI agents Mike and Jeff, Dr. Janet Forrer, Mary Gay, Greyhound Adoption League, Greyhound Network News, Greg Hale, Cindy Hall, Sandra Heater, Pete & Marilyn Kaniowsky, Bonnie Kay, Jeanne Keller, the Kislak family, Claire Klingler, KrisAnn Kokes, Janet Lang, Dona LaSchiava, Ashleigh Letofsky, Lisa Markkula, Maggie McCurry, Karen Michael, Krista Nelson, Carolyn Olson, Penny Orth, Jean Pace, Pima County Democratic Party, Joan Randles, Jim Shea, Angy Shearer, J.D. Shulec, Lorri Tracy, Jerry Tucker, Marcie Velen, Gary Vella, Susan Via, Jeff Vifquain, Maru Vigo, Chris Wencker, Ron & Roberta Wright, and Karyn Zoldan.

For those of you who weren't able to follow the campaign, we used your donations for three direct mailers to South Tucson voters, two door hangers that we passed throughout the community, 100 yard signs, and 176 radio spots on 4 Spanish stations. That may be impressive, but I'm sure what put us over the top were the intrepid volunteers who went door-to-door and talked with voters.

Kennel operators will have to either cook the diseased meat that they use or buy commercial pet food, they'll have to segregate the males and the females, and they'll have to find ways to get the dogs out of their cages at least six hours a day. If they try to get away with doing nothing, they're in for a rude awakening. We intend to offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone violating the new law.

We're also staying on top of investigations by the Department of Racing and the Arizona Veterinary Examining Board. There is so much wrong with the abuse of anabolic steroids at the track that this matter won't be going away any time soon.

In other wonderful news, Massachusetts voters banned greyhound racing and California voters passed the most significant ballot initiative in U.S. history, protecting more than 20 million animals and almost certainly setting into motion a momentous change in the way that Americans view and treat animals raised for food.

Our bottom line is that we're elated at the good sense of the voters, we're enormously grateful to all of you who helped make this possible!

Your Office Manager

Jamie Massey

Mountain Lion Killed South of Tucson

The Arizona Game & Fish Department (AZGF) killed a female mountain lion in the Coronado National Forest (CNF) near Madera Canyon, south of Tucson, on October 26. The day before the lion reportedly aggressively stalked a hiker and his dog. The Animal Defense League of Arizona is in contact with AZGF and has attempted to reach the CNF. We will continue to follow-up, and update you on new information.

Here's what we know. The lion was a female of normal weight and health. She was not rabid. She had scars on her neck. The University of Arizona Veterinary Diagnostics Laboratory has conducted a necropsy. AZGF applied its Protocol aka AZGFD Action Plan for Minimizing and Responding to Lion/Human Interactions. That was officially adopted in 2005, after the bungling of some poorly documented lion sightings in Sabino Canyon by CNF and AZGF.

AZGF has learned a lot from its mistakes. First, it held extensive public meetings in 2004 after Tucson expressed outrage at the agencies' actions and statements. Second, it developed a reasonable (although certainly not perfect) policy in the Protocol. Third, it has actually followed the Protocol. The bonus is that Gerry Perry the former head of the Tucson regional office retired. His replacement is Leonard Ordway, a long time AZGF employee. Ordway is certainly an "old school" wildlife manager in many ways. However, he has integrity and is responsive. Moreover, he is a biologist and will listen to suggestions made with data to back them up. Tucsonans should take the opportunity to get to know Ordway, and give him the benefit of the doubt.

On the other hand, the CNF is a complete disappointment. Its spokesperson continues to spread the myth that lions have a "natural fear" of people. They don't. Let me set the record straight. There is no scientific evidence that mountain lions have a natural fear of people. To the contrary, a study by Linda Sweanor indicated that mountain lions have no natural fear of people. It's very sad that a lay volunteer with an animal protection group knows more about the natural history of lions than the agency that manages the land where lions live, but that's the state of affairs in Arizona- at least at the CNF.

Update on Prairie Dog Reintroduction

Here's an update on the prairie dog colony from volunteer Landon Vincent :

“I just wanted to write with a bit of an update on the black-tailed prairie dogs down in Las Cienegas. Last week I camped out spending four straight days monitoring the colony. Every hour (of daylight) we would do a visibility count and compare that with previously known percentage ranges for what's been observed in healthy colonies elsewhere and our colony seemed to be doing really well. Our counts were right within the expected range, depending a bit on the weather. During windy days we saw a few less, but I guess that's understandable when they rely upon scent and sound for defense. The dogs were really active at already building their own natural burrows as well as exploring up the far hillside.”

The Tucson Citizen has an article on the prairie dog release: and AZ Game & Fish has posted an article . And check out our slideshow on the release . It takes awhile to load – wait until the control panel shows up on the right corner of the screen.

AZ Game & Fish needs volunteers over the next three months to monitor the prairie dog colony. If you can help please contact us.

Thanks to Landon for the update and to all of the volunteers for their efforts to return this keystone species to its home in Arizona!

Karen Michael

Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project Party

Here are some pictures from the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project's Wolf Without Borders Party in Flagstaff on October 18. Congratulations to Project Director Paula Lewis and all the hard-working volunteers. It was a great party for a great cause. To learn more visit the ADLA website and go to GCWRP link.

Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs Back in Arizona

Big news for Arizona's wildlife and grassland habitats in southeast Arizona. After 50 years of extirpation, black-tailed prairie dogs were reintroduced in Arizona this week. So many groups supported this effort, including Animal Defense League of Arizona (see October 4 Blog).
In an e-mail message, Bill Van Pelt, Grassland Coordinator of Western Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies said

I am pretty confident this will not be a lead story on the front page of any newspaper. Today [October 7], at 11:17 a.m. after nearly 50 years absence on the Arizona landscape, 73 black-tailed prairie dogs were placed in release cages on the Las Cienegas Grasslands near Sonoita, Arizona. This has been a project in the making since 1965, when the first discussions about re-establishing this species began in Arizona. While part of the success story today is the return of the prairie dog, the other part is the number individuals, and entities working together for grassland conservation...

Bill may be right, but this is front page news for Animal Defense League of Arizona!

Prairie Dog Reintroduction

Last weekend Animal Defense League of Arizona volunteers helped the AZ Game & Fish Dept. with constructing release pens and nesting chambers for black-tailed prairie dogs, which will be reintroduced in southern Arizona.
The job was finished earlier than expected, thanks to hard-working volunteers who drilled, dug, and cut weeds around the tunnels.

Thanks to everyone that volunteered on the black-tailed prairie dog reintroduction project. It’s exciting to see this keystone species being returned to its rightful place.

ADLA is a member of the Prairie Dog Coalition. Visit the website for more information on these remarkable animals.

(Photo: Volunteers Landon Vincent and Darlene Handley)