Dog Tuxedo Doesn’t Add Up On Government Expenses

by Lori Ennis

Published: October 31st, 2016

dog tuxedo doesnt add up on government expenses

People will indulge their pets in fru-fru clothing and accessories because, hey, why not? An Arkansas woman took it too far though, using an official government credit card to buy her dog a tuxedo and now faces up to 100 years in prison.

Kristi Lyn Goss of Hot Springs, Arkansas, was an administrative assistant for the county judge in Garland County, Arkansas. As such, she had access to an official county credit card, and unfortunately used it inappropriately.

Spending nearly $200,000 in unauthorized and illegal purchases (including things like $4,400 utility bills and $5,000 cellular bills), Goss has allegedly been embezzling money since December 2011.

Some of the things Goss bought with the credit card were sequined pillows for her home, a diamond bracelet and Arkansas Razorbacks game tickets, but what we find funny is the purchase that finally drew attention to the fraud. Turns out that earlier this year, around the time that Goss’s children attended prom, Goss used the county credit card to purchase a tuxedo. Pretty typical for prom season, right?

Except the tuxedo she bought was for her Pug.

That’s right, Goss allegedly used the credit card to buy her dog a tuxedo (because, hey, prom apparently is a family affair!) and that purchase triggered an investigation with county auditors and put them hot on her trail of fraud.

The judge for whom Goss was an assistant, Judge Ricky Davis, said that once they discovered all the irregularities, they took action to collaborate with authorities and investigate. Goss began employment with the county in 2004, but was terminated June 3, not long after the dog tuxedo purchase was discovered.

Goss was arrested and released on $50,000 bail, and faces charges that would keep her in prison for 100 years if sentenced to the full penalties of the law.

The amount she paid for her Pug’s formal wear is unknown, but we are pretty sure that a suit designed by Louis Vuitton himself is not worth that price tag! Sure hope she got pictures!

Lori Ennis

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Humans Are Getting Their Pets Sick – Here's What You Need To Know

Zoonosis are diseases that can be transmitted from other vertebrate animals to humans, such as rabies or Lyme disease, and has been around ever since we started domesticating animals. However, recent studies reveal that a new and lesser-known form of zoonose is becoming increasingly common: the reverse zoonose. This is the latest phenomenon, where disease can be transmitted from humans to their pets. Dr. Benjamin Anderson from the University of Florida was amongst the first to warn about the increase of reverse zoonoses. He said that more attention should be paid to disease transmission “in the opposite direction”, and that both pets and their owners can be threatened by it, especially when sharing close quarters with one another.“We’re starting to see a lot of examples of reverse zoonosis. Pets are more susceptible than, maybe, we previously thought,” he said. “Typically, the viruses that I will have as a human are not going to fit into the receptors that a dog or cat has.”This means that reverse zoonoses typically appear when a pathogen in humans mutates and then adapts to a new animal host. In the past, however, it was much rarer for this to happen, because humans and animals have a totally different biology.But now, the viruses like  coronavirus or influenza have a much higher chance of cross-species transmission. This is mainly due to their RNA-based genetic material, which is more likely to mutate or have replication errors. According to Dr. Anderson, there are several diseases that have been documented to transmit from humans to their pets. These include COVID-19, tuberculosis, swine flu, dengue, human-norovirus, and other viral, fungal, parasitic, and bacterial infections.To make matters worse, the highest chances for this to happen is with pets such as dogs, cats, horses, and ferrets, as they have the most genetic similarity to humans, being mammals. “We have to first ask how the pathogen gets into those animals in the first place,” said Dr. Anderson for  Phys.org. “The pathogen doesn’t develop out of thin air in animals before suddenly spilling over into humans. While pathogens certainly can move from animals to other animals and can be picked up from the environment, exposure to humans also plays an important role. It’s this constant back and forth exchange that happens over time, increasing the probability of a mutation taking place that allows the pathogen to infect a new host.”Dr. Anderson also noted the difficulty in tracking reverse zoonoses, as it is a big challenge to link the transmission of diseases between humans and animals. Because of this, Dr. Anderson advises pet owners to be cautious around pets, particularly if they are sick with communicable diseases, like COVID-19 or the flu. Maintain good hygiene around your pets, and avoid direct contact.

Mice Have Passed the Mirror Test: What It Means

The “mirror test” is used by scientists to help them determine if an animal is self-aware—if an animal looks in the mirror and recognizes themselves in it, rather than thinking that there’s another animal looking back at them, they pass the test and are considered self-aware.Several animals have passed this test, such as primates, Asian elephants, and bottlenose dolphins, among others. More recently, a study has shown that mice can also recognize themselves when they look in the mirror.The Experiment That Proved Mice Can Pass the Mirror TestTo figure out if mice can pass the mirror test, scientists put some white ink on the foreheads of black mice. Then, they let the mice look into a mirror. What they discovered was fascinating: the mice recognized themselves in the reflection and started grooming themselves once they realized that there was something on their head that shouldn’t be there.Also, if the mice didn’t realize that something was on their forehead (when black ink was used so it would match the color of their fur or when the spot of ink wasn’t large enough), they didn’t start grooming themselves. This shows that there was a reason the mice groomed their heads after looking in the mirror, and it was an attempt to clean themselves of the ink stain.In addition to looking at their behavior, the scientists also used gene expression mapping to see which neurons in the brain became activated when the animals saw themselves in the mirror.  Findings Shed Light on Self-Recognition in MiceThis research shows that mice may be self-aware, but there are some things to consider. For example, the mice who groomed themselves to remove the ink were already used to mirrors, while mice who weren’t familiar with mirrors didn’t groom themselves. Also, mice who were socially isolated didn’t groom themselves during the experiment with the mirror, unlike mice who lived with other mice that looked like them.There’s still more to discover and learn about these animals, so scientists are planning on doing more research in this area.  Join the PetGuide community. Get the latest pet news and product recommendations by subscribing to our newsletter here.

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