Millions know fashion photographer Nigel Barker as a judge on America's Next Top Model. But Barker, who has had a photography studio in New York City for over a decade, is also spokesperson for The Humane Society of the United States' Protect Seals program and visited the Canadian seal hunt earlier this year. On Friday, an exhibit including his photographs and a documentary from the hunt, "A Sealed Fate?," will open at 401 Projects (running......

Unsurprisingly, the Humane Society has issued a statement saying they strongly approve of Leona Helmsley's posthumous wish to put her entire trust towards the welfare of dogs. The group asks that the trustees to honor her wish, creating a better world for the pups--and people--of the planet. Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society, noted that "While there are 10,000 or so humane organizations in this country, many are poorly funded and overwhelmed......

Police broke up an alleged dogfighting operation in the Tremont section of the Bronx last night, arresting seven men on charges of gambling and animal cruelty. 17 dogs were also removed from the building on 179th St. and they all showed signs of abuse. The bust comes approximately eight months after an investigation by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) alleged that NYC was practically the dogfighting capital of the world. That report......

In anticipation of tonight's Elephant Walk and Ringling Bros.' Madison Square Garden stay until April 6, a number of animal advocates held a rally outside MSG today to support City Council Introd. 389, which would prohibit "the display of wild or exotic animals for public entertainment or amusement." “We have been educating the City Council about the plight of wild animals in the circus for the last two years and Intro 389 is now......

The California based Westland/Hallmark Meat Company is recalling all its raw and frozen beef products distributed since Feb. 1, 2006 – a total of 143 million pounds of ground beef. The largest beef recall in history was announced after an undercover Humane Society video showed workers kicking sick cows, jabbing them in the eyes and using forklifts to force them to walk to slaughter. (See the video here.) Federal regulations require meat companies to keep......

Georgia's been on a lot of people's minds since news of her disappearance became public in January, but she is now safe at home. The black cat escaped owner Ashley Phillips' pet carrier while they were waiting on the platform at 59th St. for a 6 train, on their way home from the Humane Society where Georgia had just been spayed. She survived 25 days in the subway tunnels before being found and rescued. The......

Video of "Meat and You: Partners in Freedom" from The Simpsons episode, Lisa the Vegetarian After the Humane Society revealed a tape of mistreatment of cows at the nation's "No. 2 supplier of ground beef to the National School Lunch Program," burgers and other beef products were temporarily yanked off NYC schools' menus. The U.S. Department of Agriculture had put an "administrative hold" on all products from Hallmark Meat Packing Packing in Chino, CA......

Mets pitcher Pedro Martinez, as well as the Mets organization, made statements about the video of Martinez appearing at a cockfighting event in the Dominican Republic.From Pedro Martinez: "I understand that people are upset, but this is part of our Dominican culture and is legal in the Dominican Republic. I was invited by my idol Juan Marichal to attend the event as a spectator, not as a participant." From the Mets: "We do not......

One cat owner is hoping that her kitten will turn up after escaping at the 59th Street uptown 6 platform earlier this week. Ashely Phillips had just gotten black kitteh Georgia (pictured) spayed at the Humane Society when the feline somehow escaped her carrier "and just took off." Phillips told the Daily News a train was pulling in when Georgia "jumped onto the tracks": "I'm hoping she's down there somewhere and she's okay...but I'm also......

After City Council member Simcha Felder announced he would propose legislation to ban feeding pigeons, bird lovers joined forces and, yesterday, held a rally at City Hall. Armed with posters like "Save Our Right to Feed Wildlife," "Have U Known Anybody Killed by a Pigeon?", "Pigeons are Beautiful Birds," and "Felder's Pigeon Bill is Poop!", the pro-pigeon protesters spoke out for their feathered friends. One demonstrator told City Room, "We are voices for the......

City Councilman Simcha Felder's proposed legislation to fine people $1,000 for feeding pigeons has struck a nerve. Felder and other elected officials claim that pigeons' poop is harmful to New Yorkers and, therefore, various ways to limit pigeons' eating and procreating should be explored. But some pigeon lovers are unhappy with the level of vitriol directed at the city's unofficial bird. Hence the video from Animaniacs, "Goodfeathers" (it's 10 minutes, so settle in to......

Citing the unsightly damage that pigeon poop does to the city, City Council Member Simcha Felder announced a bill proposal to fine people $1000 for feeding pigeons. Some of Felder's key remarks and findings: "Stop feeding pigeons!" "If people like pigeons... feed [them] in your house and let them crap all over the place in your living room." A pigeon creates about 25 pounds of poop annually. "[The pigeons] may go elsewhere. Let them......

The Bronx DA's office is investigating Ralph Reyes, a Bronx man who was singled out by the New York Post last week as the center of New York City's dogfighting world. The Post was acting on information provided by the Humane Society of the United States, which has an Animal Fighting Task Force that investigated Reyes and dogfighting in the city, but abandoned its project when it was unable to get much cooperation from local......

The Giants are heading south to play Atlanta this evening and the Falcons won't have their star quarterback, after Michael Vick was caught running a dogfighting ring out of his Virginia home. It turns out that New York City might be the nation's dogfighting capital though. The New York Post reported yesterday that Bronx resident Ralph Reyes runs an unlicensed kennel out of the basement of a residential walk-up building on Valentine Ave. That's where......

The AP has this great photograph of a dog named Rocky at the Atlanta Humane Society. The Humane Society explained that Rocky had a #7 Michael Vick t-shirt because the society has been taking donated Vick clothing and using them as rags and bedding. Vick, the star quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges related to running a dogfighting ring at his Virginia home. Vick will appear in court on......

What is wrong with people? The director of the Mount Vernon Animal Shelter found three boxes full of kittens (63 of them!!!) on her doorstep. Paula Young believes that the kittens were used as bait during dogfighting in Westchester and possibly the Bronx. She told the Journal News, "It is impossible for one person to have all these kittens, calicos, tabbies, males and females." A few days earlier, animal shelter workers found an older......

During the summers, city shelters see a spike in unwanted pets, and this year is no different. NYC's Animal Care & Control is "taking in 85 cats and kittens a day - up from about 50 a day just a few months ago," according to the Daily News. Animal Care & Control is worried they will have to start euthanizing adoptable cats and dogs, because they are, as director Richard Gentiles says, "being inundated." From......

If you see some adorable border collies bothering Canada geese in Central Park this April, you may have seen the Geese Police. The Parks Department will be conducting a one-month pilot program "using an environmentally-safe method to attempt to reduce the number of geese in Central Park": Using border collies to drive geese away! The border collies, part of the Geese Police, Inc (motto: "Call Us to Get the Flock Out"), never touch the geese......

High profile chef Wolfgang Puck has taken foie gras off his menus. Farm Sanctuary, a organization dedicated to the protection of farm animals, had targetted Puck for an aggressive campaign beginning in 2004, and engaged him and his companies in conversation last summer along with the Humane Society of the United States. Puck's changes aren't limited to foie, but extend to more animal-friendly food practices across the board. According to the New York Times: He......

Last week, we had a brief mention about a terrible dog cruelty case in NJ. A pit bull puppy was critically injured after being sodomized; she was found in a pool of her own blood in a Newark apartment building. The Humane Society was looking for information to find who committed the crime, and now it turns out that many people were so moved by the story that another $7,000 was raised. A total of......

People Who Make Us Sick - This past weekend, a Queens man was arrested for animal cruelty. Oswald Joudan faces up to a year in a prison and a $2,000 fine for a number of terrible things he did to his Chow Chow "Lumpy" (pictured). A neighbor called the ASPCA, which found the dog so badly beaten that its face is distorted. The dog was also starved to the point of being 30 pounds (!!)......

People tend to buy faux fur because it's not only less expensive but also more humane. But what happens when the faux fur is actually the fur of dogs? Macy's has yanked certain Sean John coats whose faux fur is actually "raccoon dog" fur. The Humane Society actually tests the fur on fur-trimmed clothing from many different brands and retailers and has found the faux fur to be real fur - check out this......

I need to find a good vet for my cat, but I have no idea where to start. Where should I look? We would always start by asking friends and coworkers for referrals and checking out the reviews of various clinics on Citysearch. The Humane Society of the United States gives a thorough checklist for choosing a veterinarian, including things such as the state of the facilities and special interests of the veterinarians there......

Gothamist has never had a taste for foie gras (although, some of us do) as we can't get past the fact that we're eating liver, but animal rights activists are trying to get the delicacy banned entirely. In an appeal to the state legislature, groups including the Humane Society asked the state's Department of Agriculture and Markets to label foie gras as an "adulterated" food, which is defined as food that is "diseased, contaminated, filthy,......

Can you imagine the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus without elephants? The fight between Ringling Bros. and various animal advocacy groups, including the ASPCA, the Humane Society, and Animal Protection Institute, may be closer to a trial after six years of various lawsuits and court orders between the two sides. The animal groups claim that Ringling Bros. abuses its elephants, using sharp hooks and chairs for training, and separating babies from mother......

We've been looking for a way to discuss the newly opened Buffalo Exchange in Brooklyn. The vintage chain just opened recently for all of your thrifty needs. They're also a bunch of do-gooders, teaming up for the next few months with the Humane Socieity to give the fur back to the animals! So take off that fur coat Cruella and bring it, and your faux fur apparel (including fur trims, fur accessories, hats, gloves, and......

The story of tabby cat Emily, who ended up far from her Wisconsin home when the cargo container she wandered into wound up in France, has captured the country, because it involves gracious airline service, something good with the French, and a fuzzy feline. When employees of Raflatac in Nancy, France found Emily dehydrated and probably extremely freaked out in a crate of paper bales, they used Emily's tags to call her veterinarian. Hooray for......

New Yorkers are reacting to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in a number of ways. Shipments of supplies have headed to the region, and firefighters with disaster training have gone to help as well. However, there are the realities what Hurricane Katrina has done to impact resources: City taxi drivers, hurting under the high gas prices, are lobbying for a surcharge of $1.50 for rides while gas prices are $2-4 or a surcharge of $2......

- The Bowery Residents' Committee refuses to renew CBGB's lease! The BRC says it "believes it is in the best interest of our clients — the homeless and neediest New Yorkers — to sever this relationship" - The Museum of African American Cinema is $5 million away from being a reality, and when it does, it will be in Harlem - Weiner and Ferrer mocked each other's baseball teams (Weiner is a Mets fan and......

The discovery of many "skinned and eviscerated cats" on a Queens rooftop is alarming the ASPCA and the local police. Construction workers found various cat body organs and carcasses near a construction site and then called the police. ASPCA Special Agent Joseph Pentangelo told the media, "It's macabre, horrible. We don't know yet whether they were beaten to death or euthanized - whether it was ritualistic or if this was somebody's ideas of a biology......