Consumers Energy meter readers may soon start making their rounds with a police escort.
The Jackson-based utility announced it is implementing a new aggressive dog policy.
Spokesman Roger Morgenstern says last year more than a dozen Consumers meter readers were attacked or threatened by dogs.
“The fact is this is the customer’s home. The customers have a right to have pets,” says Morgenstern, “So we’re hoping this would strike a right compromise.”
A state lawmaker wants to open the doors of Michigan restaurants to dogs of all shapes and sizes.
Currently, only service animals, like guide-dogs, are allowed in restaurants.
Margaret O’Brien wants to change that. The Kalamazoo County Republican wants to let local communities and restaurants decide whether they will permit dogs to sit with their owners at outdoor tables.
“Some pet owners say they love their pet more than their children, because they give so much love,” says O’Brien, “This will allow them to take them to the restaurant.”
As part of Michigan Radio's Seeking Change series, Morning Edition Host Christina Shockley talked with Terran Frye. He’s a veteran of the Marine Corp and had two deployments in Iraq. He’s now the veteran liaison for an organization called Stiggy’s Dogs, based in Howell Township. It trains psychiatric service dogs to help military vets who suffer from PTSD or Traumatic Brain Injury.
FLINT, Mich. (AP) - After a brief amnesty, Genesee County officials are sending a small army of enforcers door to door to find dogs that don't have a license.
The Animal Control Department predicts the crackdown could raise more than $250,000 in fees this summer. There are 18 full-time workers who will sell licenses on the spot or write tickets.
Chief animal control officer Walt Rodabaugh tells The Flint Journal (http://bit.ly/MfgUWd ) that many roads "have never been touched before." He says some residents haven't seen someone from his department in decades.
More than 300 of the animals have ended up in shelters across the state to help the over burdened shelter in Allegan County, and to get the dogs through the adoption process quicker.
The owners were breeding the small dogs for sale. This report came from the Associated Press.
The sheriff's department said Cheri and George Burke, both 64, were arraigned Wednesday (April 11th, 2012) at the Allegan County jail on felony animal cruelty charges following an investigation by animal control officers and sheriff's officials. According to authorities, some of the dogs were covered in feces and fleas, and some had eye problems.
Some hope the cruelty case will help get the public to push lawmakers behind a bi-partisan effort to license large scale commercial breeders. It’s called the “puppy protection act”.
“Something like this bill would give us the authority to make sure it doesn’t get to this point,” said Dr. Steve Halstead, the Michigan Department of Agriculture's State Veterinarian.
The proposed state bill would’ve given his office authority to inspect the dog’s conditions before getting a state license. “It’s working with the proprietors to make sure that the animals never suffer,” Halstead said.
The Detroit Dog Rescue, an organization devoted to Detroit’s estimated 50,000 stray dogs got a huge boost to start the New Year.
Detroit Dog Rescue received more than $1.5 million from an anonymous donor.
Early this year, Detroit officials quashed an effort to make a TV documentary about the city’s stray dog population.
But out of that effort, the Detroit Dog Rescue was born. The group rescues abandoned dogs from the streets, then works to place them in permanent homes.
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