RED BANK: DOWNTOWN DEER
A pair of whitetail deer was spotted crossing Wallace Street in downtown Red Bank Monday.
RED BANK: PAWSING TO ENJOY ‘DOG DAYS’
Check out redbankgreen’s photos from the annual sniffathon known as Dog Days, held Saturday in Red Bank’s Marine Park.
RED BANK: WE’RE HUNGRY, MOMMY DEEREST
Twin fawns spent a sun-dappled afternoon in adjoining backyards on Madison Avenue in Red Bank Monday, watching other wildlife and awaiting the return of their mother.
RED BANK: DOGS AGAIN FROLIC IN PARK
Like a dog aroused by the smell of food, Red Bank’s pandemic-interrupted Dog Days of Summer series snapped back to life in Marine Park Saturday.
The gathering, organized by the borough’s Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, featured live music by the Wag, displays by pet care organizations and several hundred wet noses.
Check out redbankgreen‘s photos from the event below.
(Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
RED BANK: FOXES, DEER MOVE ON IN
As a trio of deer chowed down on a front lawn, at right, a red fox crossed Madison Avenue in Red Bank just a few doors away shortly after dawn Wednesday morning, perhaps in search of its own breakfast.
Sightings of both deer and foxes are becoming more common on the Greater Green, residents say. redbankgreen also saw a dead fox on Branch Avenue in Little Silver over the past weekend.
Are they relative newcomers to your neighborhood? What other wild creatures have moved in? (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
RED BANK: A HEAD-TURNING SIGHT
A cyclist did a double take when a vehicle with what appeared to be the head of a deer or elk strapped to the roof passed by on Bridge Avenue in Red Bank Wednesday afternoon.
From a distance, it wasn’t clear if the large-antlered animal head was real. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
RED BANK: PUPPY MILL LAW WITHDRAWN
The owner of Bark Avenue Puppies on West Front Street had threatened to sue the borough if it enacted the proposed ban on dogs supplied by breeders. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
After seven months of controversy, Red Bank’s proposed ban on the sale of “puppy mill” pets was withdrawn over a failure to win council backing Wednesday night.
RED BANK: WHAT NEXT FOR ONE-EYED ROBIN?
For the past week, Lisa Keele of Red Bank and her family have cared for a fledgling robin they found lying in the road outside their Branch Avenue home. Named ‘Sam,’ the bird cannot fly and was born without a right eye.
RED BANK: ‘DOG DAYS’ ROMPS IN PARK
Whelped on Monmouth Street five years ago, Red Bank’s Dog Days of Summer returned for the first of two 2018 installments with a romp in Marine Park Monday night.
RED BANK: PUPPY MILL BILL RETURNS… MAYBE
Amanda Hager of Bark Avenue Puppies with one of the shop’s French bulldogs in 2016. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A month after it was tabled to allow for a possible compromise, a controversial proposal to regulate puppy sales may return to the Red Bank council Wednesday night.
RED BANK: ‘PUPPY MILL’ BILL TABLED
Bark Avenue owner Gary Hager listens as Vyolet Jean Savage speaks in favor of a puppy mill ordinance in January. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank council averted, for now, a showdown over a controversial proposed ordinance that would ban the retail sale of puppies and kittens unless they come from animal shelters and rescue organizations.
At its semimonthly meeting Wednesday night, the council postponed a vote on the measure until June 27 to allow for a possible “compromise,” Councilwoman Kathy Horgan told redbankgreen.
RED BANK: PUPPY LAW MAY END UP IN COURT
Toy poodle pups at Bark Avenue Puppies in February, 2016. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s only puppy retailer threatened to sue the borough Wednesday night if the council passes an anti-puppy-mill law that he said will put him out of business.
“I must ask how much of our taxpayer money are you willing to spend on this unconstitutional ordinance?” Bark Avenue Puppies owner Gary Hager asked the council at its semimonthly meeting. “I’m willing to spend a lot, because I have right on my side.”
RED BANK: ‘PUPPY MILL’ LAW ON AGENDA
A proposed ordinance that Red Bank’s only puppy store claims will kill its business is up for adoption by the borough council Wednesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
RED BANK: ‘PUPPY MILL’ BILL DEBATED
Bark Avenue owner Gary Hager cuddles Winston, a puppy brought to the council meeting by one of Hager’s customers. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
An effort to limit the sale of dogs sourced from so-called puppy mills sparked extended debate at the Red Bank council’s first regular meeting of 2018 Wednesday night.
For nearly 90 minutes, supporters of the town’s only puppy retailer, Bark Avenue Puppies, argued that the proposed ordinance would kill the shop and reduce consumer choice while having no impact on the underside of the industry.
Proponents of the bill, however, said such concerns were overstated.
RED BANK: ‘DOG DAYS’ RETURN
Getting a later start than in years past, the 2017 edition of he popular, canine-centric Dog Days of Summer returns to Red Bank this month.
SEA BRIGHT: CAT RESUSCITATED AFTER FIRE
Sea Bright volunteer firefighters revived an unconscious cat at the site of an apartment fire early Tuesday morning, the fire department reported on its Facebook page.
According to the post, stations 43 and 33 were dispatched to a townhouse in the Sea Bright Village for a reported structure fire. There, they encountered a blaze in the second story of a middle unit.
RED BANK: PET SHOP CITED FOR NOTICE ISSUES
A Red Bank pet shop was among more than two dozen retailers statewide cited for violating a law aimed at giving consumers more information about animals for sale, the New Jersey Attorney General’s office said Monday.
Bark Avenue Puppies, on East Front Street, was cited for 50 alleged violations of amendments to the Pet Purchase Protection Act that went into effect last year, according to the state.
Gary Hager, who acquired the shop last summer, told redbankgreen that he had been unaware of the law, and “immediately rectified” the problems upon being notified by the Department of Community Affairs in August.
LITTLE SILVER: DEAD-BIRD HIDER SENTENCED
Gretchen Rell with a bird she called “Monty” in a selfie posted on her Facebook page in January. (Click to enlarge)
A volunteer animal rescuer who stockpiled hundreds of dead birds and other animals in her mother’s Little Silver home was sentenced to five years probation, the Monmouth County Prosecutor announced Friday.
Gretchen Rell, 56, an Ocean Township resident, had previously admitted to neglecting the birds and being responsible for their deaths.
LITTLE SILVER: BIRD HOARDER PLEADS GUILTY
Gretchen Rell in a 2011 photo on her Facebook page. She described the bird she’s holding as a survivor of a pigeon shoot. (Click to enlarge)
A volunteer animal rescuer who kept hundreds of dead birds and other animals in her mother’s Little Silver home pleaded guilty to animal cruelty Monday, according to NJ.com.
At a hearing in Superior Court in Freehold, Gretchen Rell, 56, an Ocean Township resident, admitted she neglected the birds and was responsible for their deaths.
As part of an agreement with the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s office, a second charge of cruelty contained in an indictment handed down by a grand jury in May was dismissed, the news site reports.
RED BANK: MEET, GREET, LIE DOWN, PANT
MIDDLETOWN: WILD TURKEY KILLING PROBED
Wild turkeys in Fair Haven in 2011. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Middletown police are investigating a report that a man killed a wild turkey with a police officer’s baton, redbankgreen has learned.
LITTLE SILVER: DEAD BIRD HOARDER INDICTED
Gretchen Rell with a bird she called “Monty” in a selfie posted on her Facebook page in January. (Click to enlarge)
A volunteer animal rescuer who kept hundreds of dead birds and other animals in her mother’s Little Silver home was indicted on animal cruelty charges Monday, authorities said.
Gretchen Rell, 56, an Ocean Township, was charged with two counts of third-degree animal cruelty in an indictment handed down by a grand jury in Freehold, according to an an announcement by Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.
LITTLE SILVER WOMAN ‘HOARDED DEAD BIRDS’
Gretchen Rell in a 2011 photo on her Facebook page. She described the bird she’s holding as a survivor of a pigeon shoot. (Click to enlarge)
A volunteer animal rescuer is expected to face animal cruelty charges after authorities found numerous dead birds in a Little Silver home she shared with her parents, NJ.com reports.
Gretchen Rell, 54, a Mitchell Place resident who also has a home in Ocean Township, will be charged with failure to provide proper care to animals, Monmouth County SPCA Chief Law Enforcement Officer Victor “Buddy” Amato told NJ.com.
SHREWSBURY: VEAL PLANT ‘GOOD NEIGHBOR’
The Catelli Brothers slaughterhouse on Broad Street.
By JOHN T. WARD
The shutdown of the Catelli Brothers veal slaughterhouse over allegations of animal abuse “shocked” Shrewsbury officials, Mayor Donald Burden said Tuesday.
The suspension of operations ordered Friday by the United States Department of Agriculture followed a complaint and undercover video purporting to show “egregious inhumane handling of calves in violation of federal law,” according to the Humane Society of the US, which prompted the action.
“It’s operated there for years, and we’ve never had any complaints from neighbors or to the police department,” Burden told redbankgreen.
COMPANY ‘COOPERATING’ IN PROBE OF ANIMAL ABUSE AT SHREWSBURY SLAUGHTERHOUSE
Warning: graphic video, which the Humane Society cites as evidence of cruelty at the Broad Street abattoir.
By JOHN T. WARD
The Catelli Brothers veal slaughterhouse in Shrewsbury has been shut down by federal regulators pending an investigation into allegations of animal abuse, the Humane Society of the United States said Monday.
The shutdown, effective Friday, followed a complaint, accompanied by undercover video, submitted by the society to the United States Department of Agriculture alleging “egregious inhumane handling of calves in violation of federal law,” the society said in a press release.
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