Hearings on Taking Gray Wolves off Endangered List Rescheduled

Perhaps gray wolves were the only beneficiaries of the government shutdown because prior announced hearings on taking them off the endangered species list had to be rescheduled.  Also, the comment period, previously set to end on October 17, has now been extended to December 17, 2013.  A two-month reprieve, for what it's worth.  New hearing dates were announced on the website of the Fish and Wildlife on October 23 and in the Federal...

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Qualifying for Disability Benefits: Applicant's Need for a Service Dog Must Be Taken into Account

In Service and Therapy Dogs in American Society, I describe (pp. 235-6) how expenses for a service dog are taken into account in determining whether an applicant is below the income threshold for certain types of benefits, including disability insurance benefits.  The expenses for the service dog are deducted from the applicant's income in determining whether he or she has too much income to qualify. Another aspect of qualifying for disability concerns the applicant’s capacity to work.  Generally, applicants must establish that it would...

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Sniffing Car Trunks and Tennis Shoes: How an Arson Dog Helped Catch a Serial Arsonist

Accelerant detection dogs are usually used at fire scenes to make an initial—sometimes the only—determination that gasoline or another accelerant was used to start a fire.  In a case coming out of Maryland in September, however, the dog was used to identify accelerants on and inside a car belonging to a suspect, in his bedroom, and on shoes he wore when attempting to set fire to a car in the driveway of the house where a former girlfriend lived.  Although a Maryland appellate court determined that the testimony of the handler of the arson...

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More on the Cancer Sniffers: Dogs vs. Electronic Noses

Dogs have been taught to screen for cancer, alerting to individuals who may have a cancer but whose diagnosis will have to be verified by biopsy and histopathology.  A review article recently appearing in The Netherlands Journal of Medicine (Bijland et al., 2013) finds that electronic noses, at least as to the detection of some cancers, may be better than dogs.  Nevertheless, recent studies on lung and ovarian cancer found dogs uniquely effective, and able to detect smaller concentrations of cancer odors than any other technique. ...

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