Stolen Puppy Returned to the Humane Society

UPDATE: Ivan has been returned. The Humane Society said he appears to be in good health but will receive a full check-up. The Humane Society did not disclose the circumstances of Ivan's return.

Humane Society officials are reaching out to the public for help finding a pitbull puppy stolen from a shelter Monday afternoon.

 The Washington Humane Society is now offering a $1,000 reward for the return of 4-month-old Ivan. The Humane Society told News4’s Craig Melvin that three men can be seen on surveillance tape walking into the New York Avenue shelter about 2 p.m. Monday.

"These three individuals made their way in to a restricted area. Removed the dog from the rear side of its cage, slipped out through a back gate, and then to finally get out of the enclosed area, kicked their way through a wooden fence," Scott Giacoppo, of the Washington Humane Society, told Melvin.

After snatching Ivan, the men simply sauntered away.

“Like they own the world, they came in, saw what they wanted, walked into a restricted area and grabbed him,” Giacoppo said.

Now employees are worried about what will happen to Ivan, especially with all of the tragic ways they’ve seen animals treated.

“Is he going to be used in dog-fighting activities?” Giacoppo wondered. “Is he going to be used to train other dogs? Is he going to be used for breeding? Is he going to be used as a guard dog?”

The Humane Society hopes that the $1,000 reward will encourage whoever took Ivan to return him so that he can be placed in a safe, loving home.

"Our main concern is the return of Ivan,” Giacoppo told Melvin. “We want to make sure that he gets what he deserves, and that is a loving home and a good family.”

The Washington Humane Society said they are also using this as an opportunity to review their security procedures and the process by which potential pet owners look at the pets.

If you have any information about Ivan or who took him, you can contact the Washington Humane Society

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Facts of life behind cute animal faces - CNN

Facts of life behind cute animal faces - CNN

November 22, 2010|By Andrew Bleiman, Special to CNN

An elephant calf runs through a sprinkler, trunk held high with excitement. An orphan sea otter pup cries noisily until keepers join him in the pool for a swim. A tiny tiger cub sneaks up on its mother and pounces, only to be subjected to a thorough licking.
Scientists believe humans are programmed to find big watery eyes, wobbly first steps and rambunctious play in baby animals cute because it reminds us of our own young. This makes zoo babies especially well suited for connecting people with animals. They are perfect ambassadors for their species.

While they might look small, baby zoo animals are a big deal. Every year, more than 175 million visitors pour into accredited zoos and aquariums in North America. That's more than the annual attendance at NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB events combined. Seeing a baby animal at a zoo is a rare highlight but one that keeps visitors coming back for more.
But behind those big eyes and floppy ears is a secret world of rarely shared stories about how these babies came to be. Zoos are mastering the science of animal breeding in an effort to conserve endangered species. It is part science and part soap opera, at times truly romantic and sometimes just downright weird.
Flamboyant flamingos
In case their bright pink feathers didn't tip you off, flamingos love to be the center of attention. In fact, some might even consider them dirty birds.
While flamingos are loyal to just one mate, they seek out an audience when it's time to make chicks. Without a large flock, they just can't seem to get in the mood. That is because they're a social species with highly ritualized courtship displays that some might call a dance (dirty dancing?).
According to flamingo expert Megan Ross, Ph.D., with Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo in Illinois, "One zoo surrounded their small flock of flamingos with mirrors to trick them into thinking the flock was bigger and spark mating behavior. It worked."
The siamang serenade
These lesser apes in the gibbon family are true romantics. Not only are males and females monogamous -- creating a pair bond for life (something not altogether common in the animal kingdom) -- but they also serenade each other with a special song that is all their own.

The siamang song can be heard for miles, and while a version is used daily as a territorial "keep out" notice to other siamangs in the forest, each couple also creates their own unique duet, which they sing to each other. It doesn't take baby siamangs long to learn their family's special song and join the chorus.
Talk dirty to me
Female cheetahs like dirty talk. Correction, they don't just like it -- they biologically require it in order to make cheetah cubs. Scientists at the San Diego Zoo in California recently discovered a specific vocalization male cheetahs make that actually triggers females to ovulate. Thanks to this Barry White-inspired research, the zoo has successfully bred dozens of these critically endangered cats.

The fertility doctor is in
Anyone who has faced fertility challenges can probably relate to the beloved giant panda. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, there are fewer than 2,500 of these iconic creatures left on the planet, and making babies is downright difficult.
With only three fertile days per year, an ill-timed panda "headache" can be a major problem for species survival. Zoos are mastering the science of wildlife reproductive physiology in order to save the species from extinction.
Lucky for them artificial insemination has been successful. Did I say lucky for them? I meant lucky for us: Who can resist the black and white ball of fluff that is a baby panda?
When in doubt, adopt
In spring, a wild wolf briefly left her den to forage for her two young pups. When she returned there were four pups! One must wonder what she was thinking, but the biologists watching her cared only about what she would do with them.
Thankfully, she adopted them as her own, as nearly all critically endangered red wolves have done since the beginning of the Red Wolf Recovery Project in the late 1980s. This reintroduction program works to restore the wild red wolf population with the participation of institutions like Lincoln Park Zoo, where the two adopted pups were born.
While seeing baby animals makes many of us go all warm and fuzzy inside, there is some serious science behind the softies, and breeding is controlled in accredited zoos through species survival plans to ensure healthy, genetically diverse populations.
The zoos' bottom line is to ensure the world continues to have these beautiful babies for many, many generations ahead.

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Deer Crashes Through MD Home

Price Tag for Chesapeake Bay Cleanup: $10 Billion | NBC Washington

Price Tag for Chesapeake Bay Cleanup: $10 Billion NBC Washington


-Getty Images

Maryland's new plan for speeding up cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay would cost $10 billion or more for pollution reduction measures.

The 234-page plan was submitted Friday, four days after a federal deadline.

The plans lists measures state officials vow to take over the next seven years for 70 percent of pollution reductions needed.

Proposals include requiring retrofits of storm drains and other projects in cities and suburbs to reduce polluted rainwater washing off and requiring about 28,000 households near the bay and its river tributaries to upgrade their septic systems.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation said in a statement that the plan postpones difficult decisions.

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