Pasadena Humane hosts Wiggle Waggle Walk & Run to support pets and raise vital funds

Excitement filled the air as the 27th annual Wiggle Waggle Walk & Run kicked off in Pasadena, with thousands of participants and their furry companions bringing an infectious energy to the event.
Hosted by
Pasadena Humane
, the event had already raised an impressive $350,000, with more than 2,000 participants expected to gather at Brookside Park, located at 360 N Arroyo Boulevard, at the Rose Bowl.
One of the day's highlights was the highly anticipated doggy costume contest. Registration opens at 8 a.m. on Sunday, with the walk scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. A mobile adoption unit was also on-site, featuring five or six dogs available for adoption right at the event.
"There's a lot of dogs and people and a lot of volunteers," said Kristin Sullivan, a volunteer. "There is so much energy, there is so much excitement."
For Pasadena Humane, the event is one of their largest annual fundraisers, supporting vital programs like foster care, a kitten nursery, animal ICU, wildlife care, and more, all aimed at saving the lives of animals in the community.
"Animals are expensive to care for in kennel. And we have a fantastic community. We have an amazing support group. We are still getting in a number of strays. We are occasionally getting in some custody dogs. The fundraisers are vital to the mission," Sullivan added.
The event is of particular importance this year due to the aftermath of the Eaton fire, with Pasadena Humane playing a key role in caring for lost pets.
"We are still caring for about 140 animals whose families just don't have a home to go back to. We are doing that at no charge to them, of course, but that is only possible because of the generosity of our community," said Kevin McManus, a spokesperson for Pasadena Humane. "We have participants from all over. We have adopters from all over. We have supporters from all over . . . it is a really fun day, I am so excited."

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Newsweek

12-06-2025

• Newsweek

Cat Returned to Shelter for Being Too Needy—Then Everything Changed

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A 7-year-old cat named Art has finally found his forever home after being returned to shelter for being "too needy." Art first arrived at the shelter in California after being found alone in Altadena following the Eaton Fire in January, a spokesperson for the Pasadena Humane, Kevin McManus, told Newsweek. "We suspected that he was an outdoor community cat, but no one came forward to reclaim him. While he was here, he interacted with our volunteers positively, but would occasionally give indications that he was a little nervous with people," McManus said. Art was eventually adopted by an experienced cat owner seeking a chilled-out lap companion, and although the cat did show his sweet side to her, she couldn't deal with his behavior when overstimulated, and decided to take him back to shelter. "He would sometimes play bite or swat at the adopter. She was concerned that she was not the right person for him, and, quite frankly, this was a wise decision as he ultimately (accidentally) bit her to the point of drawing blood," McManus said. So Pasadena Humane took to Facebook to help Art find a better match for his affectionate and playful energy. "If you're looking for a Velcro kitty who always wants to be the center of attention (and will show off his perfectly fluffy belly to make sure that happens), seven-year-old Art is probably the cat for you!" Pasadena Humane said in a post shared on Friday. After the message went viral, Art the cat was quickly adopted by another very experienced family looking to add a new feline to their home. "[They] had a feisty cat previously, so his behavior did not faze them," McManus said. While Art was lucky enough to find a family willing to give him a chance, for many other felines in shelter things don't always go this way. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says that, of the 2.9 million cats that entered U.S. shelters in 2024, about 2.2 million were adopted, 362,000 were returned to their owner or the field, 369,000 were transferred to other organizations, and 273,000 were euthanized. The majority of animals in shelter, about 60 percent, enter as stray; however, almost 30 percent are surrendered by owners who can no longer care for them. An image shared by Pasadena Humane shows Art lying on a bed of towels. An image shared by Pasadena Humane shows Art lying on a bed of towels. @pasadenahumane The video quickly went viral on social media and has so far received over 21,000 likes and 1,900 comments on the platform. One user, Myra Austin Cochran, commented: "Who turns in a cat for 'being too needy?" Lakin Danielle Sizemore posted: "How could a person return him for being too needy? THEY ARE NOT A TRUE CAT PERSON! Because … I beg for my cats to come snuggle with me and they ignore me." Tina Banks added: "A pet that loves you, and loves to be near you and show affection? how hard that must have been for them. Maybe they should just get a pet rock instead." Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@ with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.

Hamilton Spectator

11-06-2025

• Hamilton Spectator

Another ‘summer of stink?' Resident odour complaints spike around Stoney Creek landfill

Not everyone living within sniffing distance of the GFL-run landfill in Stoney Creek describes the recent olfactory onslaught in the same way. Some describe an intense odour of cat pee or dead fish. Another associates it strongly with the rotting stench that wafts out of a wet garbage can. A sulphurous 'rotten egg smell' is cited repeatedly. The descriptions differ, but the conclusion remains the same for frustrated residents who have filed more than 400 landfill odour complaints to the province this year — even before summer begins. 'They have not fixed the problem and I'm afraid we're heading for another summer of stink,' said Louise Thompson, who lives more than two kilometres away — 'but apparently not far enough' — from the Green Mountain Road landfill. The retired teacher is also worried about a proposal to build a new elementary school within view of the former Taro dump . 'I just want it to shut down. The odours are persisting, summer is coming and no one can be in their backyard … We can't continue like this.' The landfill, which has switched owners and names periodically since the late 1990s, suffered an infamous stinky stretch in 2023 — dubbed by residents the ' Summer of Stink. ' Current operator GFL was charged last month with 10 provincial offences linked primarily to that time frame and separately fined $15,000 — although the company has since appealed those penalties. GFL, which did not respond to Spectator requests for comment for this story, has previously said it made changes to help lessen the odour issues that dominated 2023. Independent air monitoring done the next year by the city showed no exceedances for sulphurous gases commonly associated with the rotten egg smell. But residents in residential neighbourhoods around the landfill — and some of those housing developments are a literal stone's throw away from the operation — say odour problems never went away entirely and have worsened again this spring. As of the first week of June, the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks said it had logged 440 odour complaints linked to the landfill in 2025. That was before last weekend, when an apparent spate of intense odours spurred a furious reporting spree by outraged residents who have started posting screenshots of their submitted complaints to a Facebook group devoted to shuttering the former Taro dump. The Spectator counted at least 20 photos of posted complaint reports between June 6 and 10. 'It seems to be getting worse and worse and everyone is nervous about what that means for the summer,' said Kathie Farraway, who helped organize protests against the landfill operations at the height of the 2023 odour woes. She described the odour issue in recent weeks as 'intermittent,' with a low-level 'musty smell' often noticeable — but with occasional bouts of 'cat box mixed with rotten eggs.' 'I won't go out on my bike when it's like that because I don't want to be gulping in big breaths of whatever is in that air,' she said. 'It may not be unhealthy, but it feels like it's unhealthy.' Nelson Faria, who has lived in a suburb off Green Mountain Road for eight years, has filed multiple complaints in the past two weeks. It only gets worse when the weather gets hotter,' he said in a recent interview. 'I think the only solution is to shut it down … That was what we were told was supposed to happen when we bought here in the first place.' Ironically, the latest round of odour woes may be due in part to the province's own order to GFL to reduce the height of its piled waste, which is beyond the allowed limit. Ministry spokesperson Gary Wheeler said via email the occasional odours are 'likely linked' to the waste relocation ordered last year. That worries residents, who say they've been told by GFL that relocation could continue throughout the summer and fall. Wheeler said the ministry is conducting 'regular site visits' to do odour surveys and will 'take any necessary measures to address issues of noncompliance.' He added the province is also requiring GFL to put into place a 'supplemental odour control plan' and extra air monitoring during trash relocation. GFL did not respond to requests for comment on that work, recent odour complaints or its plan to build a treatment plant for leachate, the garbage juice created by rainfall filtering through trash. But the company held a virtual community liaison committee meeting last week that provided some updates on the work, including 'daily' waste relocation activities at the landfill, which is bordered by Green Mountain Road, Mud Street, First Road West and Centennial Parkway. The minutes of that meeting reflect 128 complaints to the company between March and May, with the largest monthly number — 66 — in April. That month, a 'hose-fitting failure' resulted in a spill of leachate that prompted odour complaints and sulphurous gas 'exceedances' on that date, reads the minutes report. The minutes also include an update from GFL site general manager Lorenzo Alfano, who said the company is 'close to finalizing' site approval from the city for a new leachate treatment facility. A discussion on a potential 'health study' for the area surrounding the landfill was put off until the next CLC meeting in September. But residents are hopeful they'll get more news, sooner, as a result of motions from ward councillor Brad Clark passed by city council early in 2025. Those motions asked city staff to examine the prospect of tax relief for odour-affected residents — and whether the city could apply through the courts for a temporary shutdown of the landfill if the chronic stink cannot be resolved. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .

Los Angeles Times

09-06-2025

• Los Angeles Times

Raising school fees torments many Africans. Some expect the Catholic Church to do more to help

KAMPALA, Uganda — A crying parent with an unpaid tuition balance walked into the staff room of a Catholic private school and begged the teachers to help enroll her son. The school's policy required the woman pay at least 60% of her son's full tuition bill before he could join the student body. She didn't have the money and was led away. 'She was pleading, 'Please help me,'' said Beatrice Akite, a teacher at St. Kizito Secondary School in Uganda's capital city, who witnessed the outburst. 'It was very embarrassing. We had never seen something like that.' Two weeks into second term, Akite recounted the woman's desperate moment to highlight how distressed parents are being crushed by unpredictable fees they can't pay, forcing their children to drop out of school. It's leaving many in sub-Saharan Africa — which has the world's highest dropout rates — to criticize the mission-driven Catholic Church for not doing enough to ease the financial pressure families face. The Catholic Church is the region's largest nongovernmental investor in education. Catholic schools have long been a pillar of affordable but high-quality education, especially for poor families. Their appeal remains strong even with competition from other nongovernmental investors now eying schools as enterprises for profit. The growing trend toward privatization is sparking concern that the Catholic Church may price out the people who need uplifting. Akite hopes Catholic leaders support measures that would streamline fees across schools of comparable quality. Firm fee ceilings need to be set, she said. Kampala's St. Kizito Secondary School, where Akite teaches literature, was founded by priests of the Comboni missionary order, known for its dedication to serving poor communities. Its students come mostly from working-class families and tuition per term is roughly $300, a substantial sum in a country where GDP per capita was about $1,000 in 2023. Yet that tuition is lower than at many other Catholic-run schools in Kampala, where many students report later in the term because they can't raise school fees in time, Akite said. One of the most expensive private schools in Kampala, the Catholic-run Uganda Martyrs' Secondary School Namugongo, maintains a policy of 'zero balance' when a child reports to school at the beginning of a three-month term. This means students must be fully paid by the time they report to school. Tuition at the school was once as high as $800 but has since dropped to about $600 as enrollment swelled to nearly 5,000, said deputy headmaster James Batte. On a recent morning, there was a queue of parents waiting outside Batte's office to request more time to clear tuition balances. Daniel Birungi, an electrical engineer in Kampala whose son enrolled this year at St. Mary's College Kisubi, a leading school for boys in Uganda, said the emerging risk for traditional Catholic schools is to cater only to the rich. There is hot water in the bathrooms, he said, describing what he felt was a trend toward levels of luxury he never imagined as a student there in the 1990s. Now, students are prohibited from packing snacks and instead encouraged to buy what they need from school-owned canteens, he said. That has 'put us under a lot of pressure,' he said. Tuition at St. Mary's College Kisubi is roughly $800 per term, and Birungi doubts he will be able to regularly pay school fees on time. 'You can go there and see the brother and negotiate,' he said, referring to the headmaster. 'I am planning to go there and see him and ask for that consideration.' The World Bank reported in 2023 that 54% of adults in sub-Saharan Africa rank the issue of paying school fees higher than medical bills and other expenses. That's partly because education is largely in private hands, with the most desirable schools controlled by profit-seeking owners. Schools run by the Catholic Church are not usually registered as profit-making entities, but those who run those schools say they wouldn't be competitive if they were run merely as charities. They say they face the same maintenance costs as others in the field and offer scholarships to exceptional students. Regulating tuition is not easy, said Ronald Reagan Okello, a priest who oversees education at the Catholic Secretariat in Kampala. He urges parents to send their children to schools they can afford. 'As the Catholic Church, also we are competing with those who are in the private sector,' said Okello, the national executive secretary for education with the Ugandan bishops conference. 'Now, as you are competing, the other ones are setting the bar high. They are giving you good services. But now putting the standard to that level, we are forced to raise the school fees to match the demands of the people who can afford.' Across the region, the Catholic Church has built a reputation as a key provider of formal education in areas often underserved by the state. Its schools are cherished by families of all means for their values, discipline and academic success. In Zimbabwe, the Catholic Church operates about 100 schools, ranging from dozens in impoverished areas where annual tuition is as low as $150 to elite boarding schools that can charge thousands of dollars. But a legacy of inclusion is under pressure in the southern African nation due to fee increases at boarding schools and efforts by Catholic leaders to fully privatize some schools. Many boarding schools already charge tuition fees between $600 and $800, prohibitive for the working class in a country where most civil servants make less than a $300 per month. Privatization will raise tuition fees even higher, warned Peter Muzawazi, a prominent educator in Zimbabwe. Muzawazi, who attended Catholic schools, once was the headmaster of Marist Brothers, a top Catholic school for boys in Zimbabwe. That school in Nyanga is among those earmarked for privatization. 'I know in the Catholic Church there is a lot of space for reasonable fees for day scholars, but for boarders there is need to be watching because the possibility that they would be out of reach for the vulnerable is there,' he said. The church needs to be actively engaged, he said. 'How do we continue to guarantee education for the poor?' Efforts to privatize church-founded schools have sparked debate in Zimbabwe, which for years has been in economic decline stemming in part from sanctions imposed by the U.S. and others. Authorities say privatizing these schools is necessary to maintain standards, even as critics warn Catholic leaders not to turn their backs on poor people. 'Schools have now turned into businesses,' Martin Chaburumunda, president of the Zimbabwe Rural Teachers' Union, told The Manica Post, a state-run weekly. 'Churches now appear only hungry for money as opposed to educating the communities they operate in.' Rather than privatizing old mission schools, the church should invest in building new ones if it's useful to experiment with different funding models, said Muzawazi, a lay Catholic who serves on the governing council of the Catholic University of Zimbabwe. 'The bright people who advance the cause of countries are not the rich ones,' he said. 'We want every church and every nation to tap the potential of every person, regardless of economic status.' Muhumuza and Mutsaka write for the Associated Press. Mutsaka reported from Harare, Zimbabwe.