As the USA economy collapses, people are losing their jobs and their savings, so how will they be able to care for their dogs and other pets? If our animals are not trained, socialized, healthy, and inside our homes, what will our streets be like? What kind of increase will we see in number of people bitten, and the severity of dog bite injuries?

The numbers paint a bleak picture. The deficit in fiscal 2007 was $162.8 billion, in 2008 was $454.8 billion, and in 2009 is expected to be $1 trillion.

This week, a joint report by the White House budget office and Treasury Department showed an estimated $56.4 trillion in debts, liabilities and promises for Medicare and Social Security versus a total household net worth of $56.5 trillion. In other words, U.S. debts and liabilities are close to passing the value of the U.S. population's net worth. (See Federal spending soars 25% before bailout, at the website of the Washington Times.)

The situation is grim and getting worse. This means that we are going to see increasing numbers of dogs and other pets on the street. The population of stray, sick, injured and uncontrolled animals will rise. The number of dog attacks upon people also will rise, because the factors associated with such attacks include lack of training, lack of socialization, poor health, injuries, and roaming in a pack.

We need to plan for the coming tide of roaming, hungry, suffering animals -- the other victims of the economic collapse of the United States and nations dependent upon us.

A common, senseless mistake by animal control workers is to release dogs that have mauled people. These are dogs that have proven themselves and, often, their owners, of being unfit and untrustworthy. By releasing them back into the community, animal control workers act negligently and with conscious disregard for the safety of children and the public in general.

A current example of this can be read about here. A pit bull trespassed into a neighbor's yard and mauled an 8-year-old Illinois boy. The child had injuries on his head, eyes and back of his neck. Animal control picked up the dog, held him for 10 days, and then gave him back to his owner. All the city workers were interested in was rabies.

Attorney Wayne A. Ritchie II and I have filed suit against animal control and law enforcement officials in Knoxville, TN, following the horrific death of Jennifer Lowe last November. The pit bulls that killed her had been declared dangerous by animal control, which was a good start. However, when officers saw -- with their own eyes -- that the dog owner was allowing the dogs to run at large, they did not impound the dogs or take action of any kind (other than to remind the owner that he was violating the law). The dogs brutally killed Jennifer days later.

Officials need to understand that releasing dangerous dogs is a bad example to dog owners (telling them that the animal control laws are a joke), and unacceptably risky to the public. Just as dog owners need to be held accountable, public officials also need to be held accountable. We are hoping to scare animal control departments into doing the right thing: take the bad dogs off our streets for good, not just for 10 days!

Today Michael Vick appears in a court and will probably receive a sentence reduction which will enable his release from prison next summer.

From David Whitley, writing for the Orlando Sentinel:

"It turns out the guy was even more of a scumbag than we imagined. He'd put family pets in the ring with fighting dogs and laugh as they were mauled. When one his flunkey friends suggested they give away dogs that wouldn't fight, Vick ordered them killed.

"He even did the honors to one poor mutt, 'slamming it to the ground several times before it died, breaking the dog's back or neck,' the report said. Vick paid someone $100 to dig graves for the dog carcasses."

Click here to read the article.

"Four-legged friends" Georgia, Handsome Dan, Curly and other pit bulls rescued from Michael Vick’s dogfighting operation are getting a shot at fame as stars of a line of boutique red wines.

The Vicktory Dogs Wine Collection features colorful portraits of 22 dogs confiscated from Vick’s kennels that now live at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in southern Utah. (Click here for the story.)

“As a signature collection, it’s through the roof,” said the co-owner of the winery that is promoting the collection.

The owner of two pit bulls that viciously mauled a petite 71-year-old woman pleaded not guilty in court on Wednesday. Travis D. Cunningham, 36, has been charged with a felony count of possessing a dangerous dog. He could serve up to 13 years in prison if convicted as charged.

Cunningham is an ex-convict whom prosecutors say was negligent in allowing the dogs to escape and run free repeatedly, even though he knew they did not like people. The article about the attack is filled with details and very much worth reading.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Eric John Makus, the son of the victim of Cunningham's dogs, was drowned out by pit bull lovers as he tried to state his position before at a Monroe City Council meeting. (Click here to read the article about this meeting.)

"It's human dismemberment is what these dogs tried to do. It's not a little puncture wound. They rip and tear. They tear ears off," said Makus, whose mother had to have both ears reattached following the pit bull attack.

Slade Phillips, 7, was mauled in a pet store in Vernon, British Columbia. The 7-year-old handed a bone to the store-owner's boxer. "Slade picked up a bone to give it to the dog and the dog jumped up and bit half his face," said the boy's mother, Julie Carloff. (Click here to read the article.)

I am contacted almost every day by a dog owner whose dog was attacked in a pet store. I also receive inquiries from dog bite victims who were bitten at pet stores. I myself have stopped shopping at a well-known pet store because of having to avoid pit bulls, rottweilers and all kinds of other dogs which crowd the aisles. Target doesn't present such obstacles and dangers.

Years ago, a California court ruled that a department store can be held liable for injuries caused by falling over a dog in the aisles. The court said that people who are shopping should not be expected to also be on the lookout for dogs and leashes. That case did not involve a bite, but nevertheless would be used against store owners in any animal-related injury claim.

What is the benefit of allowing people to bring their animals into pet stores? My dog is incapable of selecting pet food, water dishes and leashes, and I am sure all these other dogs are equally incapable of it. They have no purpose there, and are causing damage to people and other pets. Service animals are one thing, but taking your dog for a walk down aisle 5 should be out of the question.