Editor's Note: Links to sources will be in Spanish, as they originate from Cuba.

Another arrest has been made on a member of the animal abuse ring brought to light in September. According to Cubanos en Defensa de los Animales (CEDA, or Cubans in Defense of Animals), Rubén Marrero Pernas, using the fandom pseudonyms "Woof" and "Warg" (amongst others) was arrested on November 24, after details of his involvement in the group had been shared on social media. CiberCuba has more details surrounding the story.

In late September, the furry world was rocked by a leak of telegram chat-logs that revealed an organization of those that practiced extreme forms of animal abuse in the real world. On October 25th, 2018, police in Oregon have made the first arrest of a member of this zoosadist ring, Levi “SnakeThing” Simmons. They have been initially charged with sexual assault of an animal, animal abuse in the first degree, and animal neglect in the first degree.

Levi, who went by several pseudonyms in the furry community including 'Nelizar', became infamous soon after this leak. The logs were released to the public by a fellow zoophile who felt their peers had gone too far in their crueler abusive behavior towards animals. While SnakeThing was quickly overshadowed by a more famous individual caught within the ring, furry Youtuber Kero the Wolf, most of the evidence tied to Levi. This was because the leak was centered around his account that the whistle-blower had gained access to and downloaded the data from. It was Levi's own logs that was eventually shared with the internet.

Update 11/1: Furvengers noted on Tuesday 10/30, that Mr. Simmons was released from prison due to apparent statue of limitations on charges and evidence presented at this time. State charges have been revoked.

Following the trail of several corpses seemingly killed by wild animals, Holmes and Watson stumble upon the experiments of Doctor Moreau.

Moreau, through vivisection and crude genetic engineering is creating animal hybrids, determined to prove the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin. In his laboratory, hidden among the opium dens of Rotherhithe, Moreau is building an army of 'beast men'. Tired of having his work ignored -- or reviled -- by the British scientific community, Moreau is willing to make the world pay attention using his creatures as a force to gain control of the government.

A brand-new adventure for Conan Doyle's intrepid sleuth! (blurb)

London, Titan Books, August 2012, paperback $12.95 (284 [+ 1] pages), Kindle $6.39.

I know this sounds hilarious, but in all seriousness, this is a nasty form of animal cruelty: duct-taping a little box turtle to some balloons, and then letting it go, to float who knows HOW high in the atmosphere. Thankfully, it was snagged a few feet off the ground by a eucalyptus tree in the San Diego suburb of Oceanside, California.

Local resident Chanelle Wright saw the trapped terrapin's balloons in the tree. She said she immediately contacted the Humane Society, and the local fire department, but it took them over an hour to respond. Just as the fire department's ladder truck moved its ladder into position, a big gust of wind blew the turtle free, allowing him to gently float back down to terra firma.

While neighbours initially told local television station KGTV that Wright and her family had perpetrated the turtle's airborne adventure, understandably upsetting and angering Wright, they later recanted their stories and apologized.

Local authorities are still looking for whoever is responsible. The turtle is currently resting up in the protective custody of the San Diego Humane Society, and will soon be up for adoption. Wright has stated that if no one adopts the little reptile, she will.

Turtles belong in the sea, not in the sky, anyway. Courtesy: Gawker.com and KGTV ABC 10.

Just after nightfall on Monday, July 16, Gemily West (Wolfgem) and her boyfriend Harison Long-Randall (Elden) were walking their four Australian Cattle dogs home from a visit to their local park in the Carmichael neighborhood of Sacremento, California, when they were struck by a drunk driver. Witnesses reported that the light-brown Nissan Maxima was driving with no lights on (including tail lights), when the accident occurred. Police could find no evidence of skidmarks or any other sign that the perpetrator attempted to slow down, and estimated that the driver was going around 80 miles per hour when he struck the victims and fled the scene.

As reported in the Sacramento Bee, 21-year-old Hari saw the car coming just a moment before it struck and threw himself in front of his girlfriend, Gemily. He took the force of the impact, which severed one of his legs just below the knee and left him with extensive internal damage as well as other broken bones. Gemily sustained a compound fracture in her lower right leg. All four of their beloved dogs, Zury, Winry, Evie and Bindie, were slain.

Update (29 July): Hari has now died of his injuries, two weeks after the crash

Two young German Shepherds, year-and-a-half old Devaki and Makita, were shot and killed on November 12. Co-owners Shannon Hautala, Gary Kuoppala and Alexis Gunderson spoke with the press.

The owners were doing chores on their farm in Clinton Township, Iron Range, Minnesota.

The dogs ducked under a fence and ran into the woods. The owners started calling for the dogs as soon as they went out of sight. Hautala said she heard gunshots shortly afterwards.

The next morning, Hautala found the dogs dead near a hunting stand on the adjoining property. Hautala said the hunters admitted to her they had shot the dogs. Kuoppala said:

All they said is they can shoot anything that comes on their land and if the dogs come on their land, they can shoot them.

I wasn’t as proactive as I thought I would be, and I’m pretty sure I missed a couple posted during the first of September, so apologies there. Otherwise, here was last month’s Newsbytes.

The co-star of "Romeo Must Die" was found guilty of 13 counts of animal cruelty, as well as several other unpleasant charges. You can read read up on it in this somewhat brief article over at CNN.com.