In case of Divorce, Pets Will Be Treated Like Children in Alaska Courts

Divorce between husband and wife can be convoluted and it can affect the whole family and it almost always end up in a fight on who gets what house, children, TV, and pets. A lot of times pet lovers are asking, can you consider your pet to be your child? However, in law, animals are treated as property. So although pet custody battles are often passionate and ugly courts consider pets as part of the “property distribution” in a divorce.

In Alaska they have amended their divorce statutes that took effect last week, which is trending in the world of animal law. It makes Alaska the first state in the U.S. to require courts to take “into consideration the well-being of the animal” and to explicitly empower judges to assign joint custody of pets. In a blog post, the Animal Legal Defense Fund called the well-being provision “groundbreaking and unique.”

“It is significant,” said David Favre, a Michigan State University law professor who specializes in animal law. “For the first time, a state has specifically said that a companion animal has visibility in a divorce proceeding beyond that of property — that the court may award custody on the basis of what is best for the dog, not the human owners.”

Unfortunately for fish lovers, law does not include it.

Pensacola Man Accused Of Repeatedly Sexually Assaulting a Pit Bull

Bradley Jean Hubbard, 23 of Pensacola was arrested after being accused of allegedly raping and sexually assaulting a Pit Bull for over 3½ years. He was arrested on Monday at his Pelham Drive address after a family member reported the ongoing sexual assault of the family pet, a pit bull or bull dog mix named "Baby Girl."

Hubbard lived with his father and his father's girlfriend during the period of the offenses, which allegedly had continued for more than three years.

A family member who lived in the home reported the incident, saying she had physically seen Hubbard take the animal to his bedroom and engage in sexual contact with the dog, estimating it to have happened more than 100 times in the past several years. She had been able to witness the attack as Hubbard's bedroom door has a hole in it, as a result of a violent outburst. She also said that she heard the dog cry out in pain during episodes that she said escalated during 2016. She told police Hubbard brushed off questions by saying the victimized animal was in heat.

Hubbard’s roommate told officers she didn’t report it earlier because she “did not want to get Hubbard in trouble.

GoPro-Wearing Guide Dog Shows the Struggle of a Blind Person and his guide dog

A blind British man, Amit Patel who works in London, depend on his guide dog named "Kika" to get him through his busy commute each day. He strapped a Gopro on her vest to record everything she sees throughout the day. Kika is a 3-year-old Labrador.

Mr. Patel lost his eyesight five years ago due to a disorder called keratoconus. Keratoconus is when the shape of one's cornea changes, causing limited sight, blurred vision and glare.

Patel said Kika has changed his life tremendously, Kika have been helping him navigate the sometimes tough streets on London to commute to work. He volunteers at The Royal National Institute of Blind People.

He said "99% of my journeys are absolutely fantastic. There are so many nice people out there, but it's that 1 percent that makes life difficult." There are times they encounter rude people during his commute. He said sometimes people will "budge her," "poke her or push her," and one terrible incident when other commuters told him, "'Oh, that lady just hit your dog with an umbrella.'".

Patel started a Twitter account, @Kika_GuideDog, to raise awareness of the importance of guide dogs. He even recently strapped a Go Pro camera onto Kika so people can see what it's like for a guide dog to do its tough job.