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Social media helps save animals still in shelters

Social media helps save animals still in shelters

Millions of dogs and cats are put to sleep in animal shelters across the United States each year.

But imagine if you could save some of them with just a couple clicks of your mouse? Thanks to social media, it's not as farfetched as you may think.

It's hard to believe a tail-wagging, yellow Lab named "Splash" was once on death row in an animal shelter.

With the clock ticking, the rescue group "Lucky Lab" posted his picture on its Facebook site in hopes of finding him a home ASAP. One thousand miles away, Peter Christmas and Janet Belsky fell in love with the lab.

"He was an older dog that's hard to adopt and we kinda figured that he was not going to have a very good shot at getting adopted," Christmas said.

Janet soon typed this response on the Facebook post: "With a name like Splash he belongs here on the lake. We would love to take him."

UAB: Driving with the dog not a good idea for seniors

UAB: Driving with the dog not a good idea for seniors

From the University of Alabama at Birmingham

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Senior drivers who always take a pet in the car are at increased risk for being involved in a motor vehicle collision, said University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) researchers. In a study published in Accident Analysis and Prevention on May 2, 2013, the research team said both overall and at-fault crash rates for drivers 70 years of age or older were higher for those whose pet habitually rode with them.

Beware of online pet sale scams

Beware of online pet sale scams

December 25 will be here before you know it, but you may want to think twice before buying that Christmas pet online.

Fox 6 was contacted by a viewer who says his daughter wanted a Yorkshire Terrier from a website. The viewer did a little research and decided it would not be a good idea to send money. When he contacted the company directly, he realized that crooks were using the name of a legit business to conduct a scam.

Today, the International Fund for Animal Welfare released its study into 10,000 ads from six websites. The group found that "62 percent of the ads are likely puppy mills."

Currently, the Federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA) regulates commercial breeders selling to pet stores. They must be licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), but not breeders that sell directly to the public or over the internet.

This allows many puppy mills to operate without a license and without fear of an inspection.