Kyrgyzstan officials plan to shoot 10,000 stray dogs in 2011
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) — Officials in the capital of Kyrgyzstan say budgetary constraints are forcing them to shoot the city’s estimated 10,000 stray dogs rather than build shelters for them.
Bishkek city hall spokesman Pavel Klimenko told The Associated Press on Tuesday that around 5,000 strays were shot last year because the impoverished Central Asian nation couldn’t afford kennels that would have cost $300,000.
He said the dogs this year are being killed in the early morning and in the evening by a team of 10 shooters and dog catchers.
Klimenko urged the world not to consider the act barbaric.
 
British Prime Minister finds new ally: Tabby cat to battle rats
LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister David Cameron turned to a new recruit Tuesday to help fend off his foes — an ally armed with whiskers, claws and sharp teeth.
Larry, a 4-year-old tabby cat, arrived at his new home at 10 Downing Street, tasked with warding off a pack of rats seen scuttling close to the British leader’s official residence.
The former stray, adopted from London’s Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, is the latest pet to be appointed Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office, an unofficial pest control post.
Television cameras had captured several sightings of rats around Downing Street — a common problem in London, where the trash on sidewalks provides a constant supply of food.
“I’m delighted to welcome Larry to his new home,” Cameron said in a statement. “I’m sure he will be a great addition to Downing Street and will charm our many visitors.”
 
Berkeley considers welcoming released Guantanamo detainees
BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — The Berkeley City Council is considering a measure that would welcome freed Guantanamo Bay detainees to resettle in the college town.
The resolution set for a vote Tuesday night would invite “one or two” detainees to live in Berkeley once they are cleared of wrongdoing and released from the U.S. detention facility in Cuba.
It would also ask Congress to allow cleared Guantanamo detainees to resettle in the U.S.
 
Montana gov. blocks slaughter of diseased Yellowstone bison
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer on Tuesday signed an executive order blocking the shipment of hundreds of Yellowstone National Park bison to slaughter.
The Democratic governor said he was worried the shipments could spread the disease brucellosis, now largely confined to Yellowstone’s wildlife, to Montana livestock.
Park officials had planned to slaughter potentially hundreds of bison testing positive for exposure to the disease, which causes pregnant animals to prematurely abort their young.
 
Man is first convicted on recent La. movie bootlegging law
(AP) — Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell says a relatively new law that aims to prevent individuals from utilizing recording devices in movie theaters was used to convict a Baton Rouge man of movie bootlegging.
Kevin Casey of the Motion Picture Association of America says the conviction is a first under the law passed by the legislature in 2005.
The attorney general’s office says 55-year-old Terry Lee Briggs was convicted Feb. 10 on six counts of unlawful operation of a recording device.
 
Jindal proposes standstill funding for public education next year
(AP) — Gov. Bobby Jindal said Tuesday he’ll propose no cuts in the $3.3 billion funding formula for public schools next year, even as colleges and health services are on the chopping block because of budget shortfalls.
The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is expected to vote on the 2011-12 school year funding plan this week, to divvy up money among the state’s 70 school districts in the new budget year that begins July 1.
 
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