Free Republic

A Fairfax County judge has sanctioned six attorneys representing the owners of the Ringling Bros. circus and ordered them to pay $51,000 in fines to the animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for contempt of court and other violations. PETA sued Vienna, Va.-based Feld Entertainment -- which produces the Ringling circus, the defunct Siegfried and Roy show in Las Vegas, Disney on Ice and other well-known shows -- more than four years ago. The group claimed that Feld Entertainment ran an extensive corporate-espionage campaign against it and other animal-rights groups. According to PETA, Feld went so...

A Madison County mother believes her daughter's death could have been prevented if an Anderson police officer had not shot her dog to death last month. Andrea Hill, 26, died after suffering an epileptic seizure Saturday, RTV6's Jennifer Carmack reported. Hill's mother, Linda Hall, said her medically trained black lab, Max, alerted her whenever her daughter was having a seizure. "My dog wasn't here to let me know she had a seizure and she suffocated," Hall said. Max was shot to death by an Anderson police officer Feb. 6. It all started when Hill's 6-year-old son didn't come home, so...

Cops shoot family dog Family upset after incident in backyard By Melissa Pinion-Whitt Staff Writer Thursday, May 26, 2005 - ONTARIO - A police officer investigating a fraud case shot and killed a dog in a residential backyard Wednesday. The 6-year-old boxer named Rocky charged at the officer when he entered the backyard in the 900 block of West G Street around noon. Police were at the home to interview a man suspected of credit card fraud and walked into the backyard because they saw him and suspected he might try to flee. "The officer felt the dog was going...