HARRISBURG -- Gov. Tom Wolf said Wednesday that Pennsylvania demonstrated marked improvements as two national organizations recently issued reports ranking animal protection laws in all 50 states.

Both the Humane Society of the United States and the Animal Legal Defense Fund report that Pennsylvania’s Act 10 of 2017, the animal abuse overhaul package Wolf signed into law in June 2017 was a key reason why Pennsylvania’s rankings improved.

“With the signing of Act 10 of 2017, we began to hold our pet and animal owners to a higher standard of humanity,” Wolf said in a news release. “Recognition of Pennsylvania’s efforts by the Humane Society and Animal Legal Defense Fund confirms that my administration, our General Assembly, and strong advocates worked well together to establish laws that protect the pets and animals we love and whose care we have been entrusted with.”

According to the Animal Legal Defense Fund report, titled “U.S. Animal Protection Laws Rankings,” Pennsylvania was the most improved state in 2017, jumping 20 places to No. 24 on the list ranking the animal protection laws of all 50 states.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund noted, “This achievement is thanks to major improvements like a new felony provision for first-time offenders of aggravated animal cruelty (including torture), and granting civil immunity to veterinarians who report suspected animal abuse.”

For the 10th year in a row, Illinois ranked first, followed by Oregon, California, Maine and Rhode Island.

Pennsylvania’s position moved up from No. 18 to 15 on the Humane Society of the United States’ Humane State rankings.

Animals are protected by a combination of state and local laws, which vary widely in terms of strength. Act 10 of 2017, Pennsylvania’s comprehensive animal protection law, was the first significant strengthening of Pennsylvania’s animal protection statutes in nearly 30 years.

The package of bills included Libre’s Law, named after one dog whose shocking story of mistreatment and miraculous recovery helped spur a broader discussion of animal protection.

Five key components of the legislation included improved tethering conditions for outside dogs, additional protections for horses, increased penalties for animal abuse, provisions that mandate that convicted animal abusers forfeit abused animals to a shelter, and granting civil immunity from lawsuits for licensed doctors of veterinary medicine, technicians, and assistants who report animal cruelty in good faith.

TIMBLIN – Two Jefferson County residents face charges after they were accused of abandoning two dogs at their home without food and water.

David Williams, 39, and Gia Weyandt, 34, both of the 100 block of Church Street, Timblin, face aggravated cruelty to animals and neglect of animal charges as a result of the new Libre’s Law restrictions regarding animals in the state.

According to a criminal complaint, officials found one dog dead upstairs, and another was seized from the property and is currently at Willow Run Animal Sanctuary in Brookville.

The complaint said state police contacted Jefferson County’s humane police Officer Debbie McAndrew on Dec. 22 concerning a complaint about an abandoned dog.

Officials said they found the dead dog and rescued the other.

McAndrew said that the three upstairs rooms were covered in feces.                                                                                                                                                                                http://wjactv.com/news/local/2-jefferson-county-residents-charged-after-dog-found-dead-another-rescued

WAPWALLOPEN, Pa. -- Three dog breeders in Pennsylvania are facing 130 criminal counts stemming from a raid in which authorities said some dogs were found outside in freezing temperatures and others were inside in squalid conditions.

State police say they were called to the Conyngham Township property Dec. 31 after a report that 11 dogs were outside in temperatures that neared zero degrees.

Wayne Harvey, a humane officer with the Luzerne County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals who filed the charges, says the dogs' water was frozen solid and "they were licking it for moisture."

The SPCA and state police later served a search warrant and reported finding 19 more dogs in filthy conditions. Authorities say the defendants face multiple counts of aggravated cruelty to animals and animal neglect.

CHICAGO (AP) — Are poinsettias really poisonous? Are snowflakes really pure as the driven snow? Does feasting really put on the pounds? Sure as sugarplums, myths and misconceptions pop up every holiday season. Here's what science says about some of them:

FLOWER POWER

Poinsettias, those showy holiday plants with red and green foliage, are not nearly as harmful as a persistent myth says. Mild rashes from touching the plants or nausea from chewing or eating the leaves may occur but they aren't deadly, for humans or their pets. Poinsettias belong to the same botanical family as rubber plants that produce latex, so some skin rashes occur in people allergic to latex. According to a Western Journal of Emergency Medicine research review, the plants' toxic reputation "stems from a single unconfirmed death of a 2-year-old in Hawaii in 1919."

Poison control centers report getting lots of calls about exposure to poinsettias, but treatment is rarely needed.

The anglicized name comes from Joel Poinsett, a 19th century U.S. diplomat who brought the plant back from Mexico.

THE WHITE STUFF

To form snowflakes, moisture high in the atmosphere is frozen by clinging to particles that may include dust specks and or soot. Add germs to that list. University of Florida microbiologist Brent Christner has found that bacteria commonly found on plants are surprisingly abundant ice "nucleators" present in snow from populated areas, barren mountain peaks and even Antarctica.

So is catching snowflakes on your tongue a bad idea?

"There's a yuck factor," Christner said. "It's better than yellow snow."

He said the number of bacteria in snow would probably be about 100-fold less than same amount of bottled water.

"There are a lot more things to be worried about in making you sick than ingesting snowflakes," he said.

MOODY BLUES

The same things that can make holidays merry — great expectations and family time — can also be stressful. Holiday blues are a real thing for many people grieving loss or absence of a loved one, and wintertime can trigger true but transient depression in some people, a condition sometimes called seasonal affective disorder. It's linked with lack of sunlight in winter and some scientists think affected people overproduce the sleep-regulating hormone melatonin. Research suggests it affects about 6 percent of the U.S. population and rates are higher in Scandinavia. But contrary to popular belief, suicides peak in springtime, not winter. No one has figured out why.

HAIR OF THE DOG

Forget that bloody mary. If extra shots of bourbon in your eggnog have you feeling lousy the next day, drinking more alcohol — hair of the dog — won't cure you.

Here's what George Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, has to say about that:

"You are in a sense self-medicating a mild withdrawal syndrome by drinking more. The problem is that's going to wear off and you're going to have an even worse hangover."

Alcohol is dehydrating so replenishing with lots of water or other non-alcoholic drinks can help relieve the symptoms. But experts emphasize that prevention is the healthiest cure.

Says Koob: "It all boils down to, don't drink too much."

So what about that saying, "hair of the dog?" According to an old folk remedy, a dog bite could be cured by putting the animal's hair in the wound.

DOUGHN'T EAT IT

Bakers beware: sampling holiday cookie dough, or any raw dough, can make you sick. And recent research says it's not just because dough often contains raw eggs, which may harbor salmonella bacteria. Flour is another culprit. A New England Journal of Medicine study published last month details a 2016 E-coli outbreak that hit dozens of people in 24 states that was linked with flour. Some patients had eaten or handled raw dough made with flour contaminated with that bacteria. Authorities recalled 10 million pounds of flour, some of which had been sold to restaurants that allow children to play with raw dough while waiting for their meals. Baking generally kills any bacteria.

A headline on a Food and Drug Administration consumer update sums up the agency's advice: "Raw dough's a raw deal."

THE BOTTOM LINE

The truth about holiday weight gain depends on whether your Champagne glass is half empty or half full. One often-cited study says it's commonly assumed that the average American gains 5 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. But the study authors found the average was a little less than 1 pound. Other studies have found it's closer to 2 pounds, still barely enough to make your pants feel tight. An extra piece of pie or one gigantic holiday feast won't doom you, says Dr. Rachel Vreeman, an Indiana University pediatrician who has studied holiday health myths. The problem, she says, is that the extra pound or two at holiday time becomes a pattern year after year and adds up.                                                                                                                                                                                        http://wjactv.com/news/offbeat/science-says-are-poinsettias-poisonous-some-holiday-truths