Recent reports of rabies-positive skunks in Washington County, Maryland offer an important reminder for pet owners everywhere: keeping pets up to date on their rabies vaccinations protects both animals and people. Rabies is a viral disease that attacks the nervous system and is almost always fatal once symptoms develop. It can affect wildlife as well as domestic animals, including cats and dogs.

A Dayton-area cat recently returned home after an extraordinary six years apart from his family, offering an important reminder about the value of microchipping pets. Fourteen-year-old Booger disappeared in 2020. Six years later, he arrived at the Humane Society of Greater Dayton as a severely ill stray. After months of recovery and a microchip, he finally made it home.

A tiny kitten rescued from a piece of construction equipment in Northeast Ohio has found a home and a place on the crew. The kitten was discovered in July when Chase Guello, an operating supervisor with RiverReach Construction, heard cries coming from an excavator while checking the equipment. After removing the skid plates underneath the machine, the crew was able to safely free her.

For many people, pets are family and their needs can influence decisions about housing, finances and even health care. A recent Perspective published in the New England Journal of Medicine, “Human–Animal Bonds as Social Determinants of Health Care Access,” explores how responsibilities to pets can affect whether and how people seek medical care.

A proposal to add a constitutional right to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife to the Ohio Constitution has stalled in the Ohio General Assembly. For advocates, this is an important win for Ohio’s wildlife and science-based wildlife management.

The monarch butterfly’s remarkable migration depends on something surprisingly simple: milkweed. In a recent Animal Politics article, The Milkweed Principle, Ed Boks explores the relationship between monarch butterflies and milkweed as a larger lesson for animal welfare and conservation. Monarchs rely on milkweed to reproduce and survive. When that essential habitat disappears, populations suffer.

Daniel A. Miller, the Loudonville-area commercial dog breeder previously charged following the removal of 72 dogs and puppies from his property, now faces 10 additional charges, including a charge involving alleged sexual conduct with an animal.

Ohio Animal Advocates is powered by people who care deeply about improving the lives of animals across Ohio. We sat down with OAA Board Member Niki Johnson, whose background in animal rescue gives her firsthand insight into both the emotional and operational sides of animal welfare. From transporting and fostering dogs to helping start RESCUEDohio, Niki has spent years seeing what it takes to help animals in need and why preventing that need in the first place is so important.

Animal Charity of Ohio has suspended its humane investigations and animal intakes, citing financial and capacity challenges that organization leaders say have made it impossible to continue the services for now. The organization had already suspended animal control services in June, but continued conducting humane investigations and accepting animals from abuse and neglect cases.

For people experiencing homelessness, entering a shelter or housing program can sometimes mean facing an impossible decision: accept services or stay with a beloved pet. A fellowship opportunity from My Dog Is My Home is helping organizations build a different model.

Ohio ranks among the states with the highest number of reported cases involving both animal cruelty and other forms of violence, according to a new analysis from the National Link Coalition. The August 2026 LINK-Letter from the National Link Coalition reviewed 1,066 U.S. news reports involving animal cruelty alongside crimes such as domestic violence, child abuse, homicide and other offenses.

Ohio Animal Advocates is excited to introduce Scott Mills, Chief Dog Warden and Humane Agent for Marion County in Ohio and a member of the OAA Board of Directors. Scott has spent more than a decade working directly in animal welfare and brings firsthand experience in humane enforcement, animal cruelty investigations, community resources and legislation to OAA.