Latest Animal cruelty News

Oklahoma's push to weaken penalties for cockfighting is frustrating opponents of the bloodsport

Mar. 14, 2024 17:14 PM EDT

WILSON, Okla. (AP) — Before Oklahoma became one of the last places in the U.S. to outlaw cockfighting in 2002, it wasn't uncommon to see hundreds of spectators packed into small arenas in rural parts of the state to watch roosters, often outfitted with razor-sharp steel blades, fight until a...

Kansas will pay $1 million over the murder of a boy torture victim whose body was fed to pigs

Mar. 13, 2024 16:06 PM EDT

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas will pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit over a 7-year-old boy's murder in 2015 alleging that the state's child welfare agency should have removed him from an abusive home before he was starved and tortured and his body was fed to pigs. Gov. Laura Kelly...

Maryland House OKs juvenile justice measure in response to rising auto thefts, gun possession

Mar. 01, 2024 17:29 PM EST

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — The Maryland House approved a measure on Friday designed to improve accountability and rehabilitation in the juvenile justice system in response to an increase in some crimes like auto theft and handgun violations in parts of the state. The House, which is...

Bail set at $1 million for couple accused of hundreds of counts in animal cruelty investigation

Mar. 01, 2024 15:20 PM EST

BEDFORD, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania couple accused of animal neglect and cruelty were charged Friday with hundreds of offenses and jailed with bail set at $1 million. The 99 felony counts of animal cruelty and other allegations against Nyal and Renee Piper were filed two months...

A ship carrying 19,000 cattle caused a big stink in the South African city of Cape Town

Feb. 20, 2024 15:55 PM EST

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — What stinks? Authorities in Cape Town launched an investigation Monday after a foul stench swept over the South African city. City officials inspected sewage facilities for leaks and an environmental health team was activated before the...

Charges filed against man accused of shooting 3 Washington police officers

Feb. 16, 2024 17:00 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — Prosecutors have filed assault and gun charges against a Washington, D.C., man accused of shooting three police officers trying to serve an animal cruelty warrant, touching off a daylong standoff. The officers were treated for leg and arm wounds at hospitals in...

3 officers shot in Washington, leading to daylong standoff before suspect's arrest

Feb. 14, 2024 22:06 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three police officers were shot trying to make an animal cruelty arrest that touched off an hourslong standoff in the nation's capitol on Wednesday, which ended late at night with a man's arrest. The officers were hospitalized and expected to recover from gunshot...

Some charges dismissed after man charged in Dallas Zoo caper is found incompetent to stand trial

Feb. 09, 2024 17:44 PM EST

DALLAS (AP) — Animal cruelty charges were dropped this week against a 25-year-old man accused of taking two monkeys from the Dallas Zoo after he was found incompetent to stand trial, but he remains in custody and still faces two burglary charges related to what had been mysterious incidents there...

Mexico's president wants to guarantee people pensions equal to their full salaries when they retire

Feb. 05, 2024 21:46 PM EST

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president said Monday he will propose guaranteeing people pensions equal to their full salaries at the time they retire, something done by no other country, not even those much richer than Mexico. It was among a raft of 20 constitutional reforms that...

Maryland leaders propose juvenile justice bill to boost accountability

Jan. 31, 2024 16:58 PM EST

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland's top political leaders unveiled legislation Wednesday meant to increase accountability for juvenile offenders and the adults who run the juvenile justice system, which one leading lawmaker said was struggling in an “abundance of confusion" without meaningful...