Dog Adoption Network - DAN's New Year New Beginnings

Dee and Tom Howe -True Animal Heroes

With the completion of the new Thomas J. O'Connor Animal Adoption Center, many people have been recognized for their work with animals, but few deserve more praise than Dee and Tom Howe for their work with domestic and wild animals. In an interview with Dee about her website that features dogs at the new Center, she says "We started the T.J. O'Connor site in January of 1997. My daughter found an old dog wandering the streets. We wanted to find an owner, so Tom designed the site to help this dog make it back home". Although Dee and Tom did not find that dog's owner, they did place it with a nice family. Wanting to do more for the dogs at the shelter, Tom designed the T.J. O'Connor website that is still online today at: www.tjoconnor.net .

Some of the many dogs AND cats available at TJO Connor.
Please visit their site for more details.

The Howes' often wondered how many people logged onto their website. Dee said "A few years ago I posted a shephardX and got 15 emails from all over the world including England and New Zealand. The shephard mix turned out to be a duck-tailed terrier. The little website started for an elderly dog, saved a weird-breed dog, and has now helped hundreds of dogs find homes."

Today Dee and Tom Howe are expanding their animal welfare activities to include wildlife. Dee stated their love for saving wildlife includes racoons (their passion), fox, squirrels , and other wild animals. Read more about their new endeavors at: www.urbanwildliferehab.netfirms.com .

Fighting Animal Abuse

By Angeliqe Fiske (student)

Did you know that in Ohio the maximum punishment for animal abuse is only 90 days in prison (Possible Convictions for Animal Cruelty, Each State, www.catsinthenews.com, p. 1,7 Jan. 2004)? Well, I think punishments for abusing animals should be stricter than that. Animals are a huge part of society and just because they are a lower part of society, it doesn't mean we can take advantage of them. There are also some ideas that could help this problem.

My most important reason is that animal abuse is a crime so the criminals should suffer for their doings. When you abuse an animal you should get ten years in prison, like in Louisiana (Possible Convictions for Animal Cruelty, Each State, www.catsinthenews.com, p. 1,7 Jan. 2004). Dr. Stephen Dean, who is the founder of The [Dog] Adoption Network, says that punishments should be higher because prisoners in jail sometimes abuse animals before humans, so we should stop them before they can try to abuse us later on. He also said that if you killed a dog it would be considered a misdemeanor and you would serve no jail time. Having more strict punishments for animal abusers might make them think twice before doing wrong. Animals give us their trust and some people lose the trust. Animals should not be treated this horribly.

There are also many ideas that can help prevent animal abuse. For example, we could get a "license" to buy an animal, and if you abuse your animal, your pet and the license will be taken away. So please, look for a petition to sign so my opinion can become a reality, because animals deserve a chance too. And it's all up to you.

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