Utah
Animal abandonment is up in Utah. Here’s why
More than 100 furry friends were abandoned last year as the Humane Society of Utah reported a massive jump compared to years past.
2023 was a rough year for some shelters in the state. West Valley City Animal Shelter and Salt Lake County Animal Services reported that they were overflowing with pets waiting to be adopted. The majority of these animals were strays or lost pets.
“Animal Control has encountered numerous dogs tied to poles in public places with notes pleading for a home,” Lisa Weiss, animal care/community outreach coordinator at Weber County Animal Services, said. “Recently, we found four 10-week-old puppies left in a wire crate at our doorstep in freezing temperatures without any blankets or coats.”
These puppies have since been adopted. But for some animals, the road to adoption can be long and difficult.
When an animal is abandoned on the Humane Society of Utah doorstep or the group is notified about an animal abandoned in a different location, the first step is to contact the local authorities, according to Guinn Shuster, director of marketing at the Humane Society of Utah. Then, there’s something called a stray hold, which is a period of time where the animal is held and is unable to be adopted.
In many cases, Salt Lake County Animal Services will approve the Humane Society of Utah to serve as the stray hold in their facilities. “We often work with many other shelters across the state where if the animal isn’t adopted there and they’re low on resources or they’re overcrowded, we’ll transfer the animals here because we have such good foot traffic and a high rate of adoption,” Shuster said in an interview at the Humane Society of Utah’s Murray facilities Tuesday.
Though animals can’t express their feelings through words, abandoning an animal can have a negative impact on them that they show through their behavior.
“Changes in environments, changes in routine can cause a lot of stress for an animal,” Shuster said. “If you have animal who’s been used to spending time in a home environment and now they’re outdoors or they’re in a shelter environment, that can be really stressful for them.”
A dog named Smokey barks at the Humane Society of Utah shelter in Murray on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. Officials say pets are being abandoned at a high rate in Utah.
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
In addition to causing the animal stress, abandoning an animal is also illegal. Utah Code states “a person is guilty of cruelty to an animal if the person, without legal privilege to do so, intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or with criminal negligence: fails to provide necessary food, water, care, or shelter for an animal in the person’s custody; abandons an animal in the person’s custody.”
The main reasons why people abandon an animal in Utah have to do with housing. According to Shuster, housing insecurities and the difficulty of finding affordable apartments that accept pets are big reasons why the rate of animal abandonment has gone up.
Right now, the Humane Society of Utah is seeing more dogs abandoned than cats, due to housing issues. “It’s a lot easier for people to find rental apartments for smaller animals or cats than it is large breed dogs.”
In addition to seeing more dogs abandoned than cats, Shuster also said the kinds of dogs being abandoned right now are purebred golden retrievers, pointers, springers and other purebred dogs.
“The majority of animals being surrendered to us are not returned adopters,” Shuster explained. This means that people are surrendering more dogs from breeders than they were before. She also added that people adopting a pet during the COVID-19 pandemic doesn’t seem to account for the majority of the animals being abandoned this past year.
There are resources available for pet owners who find themselves struggling financially.
“People who are struggling financially and are already receiving services, maybe they’re on food stamps or Medicaid, we have a low cost spay and neuter clinic that’s open to the entire public,” Shuster said. “But we also have a special program called the SNIP program where if you’re receiving some of those additional services, you’ll get an even more discounted cost on spaying and neutering or vaccinations.”
Local pet food banks exist across the the state, including one run by the Salt Lake County Animal Services and another known as Ruff Haven Pet Pantry. Street Dawg Crew of Utah also offers free supplies for animals. Ruff Haven Crisis Sheltering offers crisis sheltering for these animals. The Humane Society of Utah can sometimes help out with emergency surgery.
The Best Friends Animal Society has a list of other resources that pet owners can turn to in times of financial hardship.
“We also have a pet retention program here because we want to keep families together,” Shuster said. The Humane Society of Utah can help you discover resources so you can provide loving care for your pet through difficult times.
Humane Society of Utah social media coordinator Maddie Cushing and Savannah Forbush play with Domingo at the shelter in Murray on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. Officials say pets are being abandoned at a high rate in Utah.
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
Shuster said if the situation requires you to no longer have your pet, there are other options for you.
The Humane Society of Utah has a private pet rehoming page attached to its website. “You can list your pet with all their information and the people will actually contact you directly, so there’s no middleman. You don’t have to go through us,” Shuster said. “That page gets hundreds of views daily.”
Ruff Haven Crisis Sheltering also offers rehoming, too.
If it’s a case where you’re living in a rental and the landlord says you have to remove your pet from the premises, the Humane Society of Utah can work with you to surrender the animal and communicate the surrender date to your landlord, Shuster said.
With rising animal abandonment and some shelters struggling with overflowing animals, there’s something that you can do to help — adopt a pet.
Before you begin adopting a pet, Shuster said it’s important to look at your lifestyle. “Maybe you’re an adventure person and you’re ready for an active companion to go hiking with your or a couch potato to watch Netflix with.” Looking at different animals and various breeds can help you find one that corresponds with your lifestyle.
If you’re up in the mountains all day, an Australian shepherd might be perfect for you. Or if you prefer to stay inside, a cuddly cat might be more your speed.
After identifying the right kind of animal for you and researching the breed, it’s important to go meet the dog or cat or rabbit. “We always encourage people to meet the animal,” Shuster said. “Because even if you have a purebred German shepherd that you think is going to behave a certain way, they may not behave how you expect a German shepherd to behave.”
But it’s also critical to make sure you’re ready to adopt before you do so.
Say you’re unsure about whether or not you are ready to adopt. Try and spend time with your friend’s animal or try out fostering to see if you can handle the responsibility that comes along with animal ownership.
“Fostering is a great short-term commitment for people who can’t bring home a pet permanently, but can for a couple of weeks,” she said. “That often helps the shelters open up space for animal that can move through in that same time and get adopted.”
Utah
Jazz Injury Report Rules Out 7 Players vs. Raptors
The Utah Jazz are set to face off against the Toronto Raptors to kick off their new week for their second of two meetings across this season, where the Jazz in particular have ruled out a total of seven names on their injury report.
Here’s what the injury landscape looks like for the Jazz and Raptors rolling into the night:
Utah Jazz Injury Report
OUT – Isaiah Collier (hamstring)
OUT – Keyonte George (hamstring)
OUT – Jaren Jackson Jr. (knee)
OUT – Walker Kessler (shoulder)
OUT – Lauri Markkanen (hip)
OUT – Jusuf Nurkic (nose)
OUT – Blake Hinson (two-way)
QUESTIONABLE – Cody Williams (shoulder)
It’s much of the same from what the Jazz have been dealing with across the past couple of weeks.
Keyonte George and Lauri Markkanen still remain out with their minor injuries that they’ve suffered past the All-Star break, and Walker Kessler, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Jusuf Nurkic remain out for the year with their respective season-ending injuries.
However, the two names that stick out on this injury report against the Raptors in particular are their two first round picks from the 2024 NBA Draft; Isaiah Collier who’s out with a hamstring injury, while Cody Williams is the latest to be among those listed with a shoulder issue.
For Collier, it’s set to be a third-straight game that he’s been out due to what’s been labeled hamstring soreness, and thus leave the Jazz without both their starting and second-string point guard for the night.
That could lead to either two-way signee Elijah Harkless getting a starting nod for a second straight game following his elevation against the Philadelphia 76ers, or that spot could go to 10-day signing Kennedy Chandler, who played 35 minutes in that same game for a career-high 19 points in his team debut.
As for Williams, he’s been downgraded to questionable for the action due to shoulder soreness; something that could leave him still able to go before tip-off, but remains to be seen based on how he feels before gametime.
The second-year forward has been on a hot streak as of late. In his past five games, he’s averaged an impressive 19.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 4.0 assists, shooting 50.0% from the field throughout.
If Williams is out of the mix, it’ll leave their frontcourt a bit more shorthanded from what they’ve been used to across the past couple of weeks, and might lead to even more minutes for guys like 10-day signee Bez Mbeng and two-way big man Oscar Tshiebwe to fill those minutes.
Toronto Raptors Injury Report
OUT – Immanuel Quickley (foot)
OUT – Jakob Poeltl (rest)
QUESTIONABLE – Collin Murray-Boyles (illness)
When it comes to the Raptors, they’ll be without a couple of guys on their roster, Immanuel Quickley who’s slated to miss out due to a foot injury, while Jakob Poeltl won’t be playing for Toronto’s second leg of a back-to-back following their previous battle against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday.
Collin Murray-Boyles, on the other hand, has been upgraded to questionable against the Jazz with an illness after previously being out against the Nuggets over the weekend.
Tip-off between the Jazz and Raptors lands at 9 p.m. MT in the Delta Center, where Toronto will have their chance at a 2-0 series sweep over Utah depending on the results.
Utah
POST-GAME: André Tourigny 3.22.26 | Utah Mammoth
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Utah
Utah chef’s cake didn’t have enough booze, Food Network judges say
After hitting a snag and suffering through what he called “the biggest embarrassment” on national TV, chef Adalberto Diaz managed to narrowly avoid elimination during the premiere episode of Food Network’s “The Ultimate Baking Championship.”
“I’ll make you proud,” Diaz told the judges when the show revealed he would be claiming the final spot in the top 10 and moving forward in the competition.
But during the second episode of the season, the Utah chef behind the Salt Lake City bakery Fillings & Emulsions once again found himself in a far from ideal situation.
Adalberto Diaz faces criticism on ‘The Ultimate Baking Championship’
After an intense first episode that eliminated six of the top pastry chefs from across the country, Diaz found himself in the competition’s top 10.
The first challenge of the episode tasked the remaining bakers with putting a modern twist on a classic dessert. Diaz did OK in this round, creating strawberry shortcake canapés that put him in a three-way tie for fifth place with 11 points out of 20.
But like the premiere episode, things took a turn for the worse during the second challenge.
Diaz and his fellow bakers each had 2.5 hours to create a geometric layered mousse cake. The Utah chef’s specific assignment was to give his cake a tropical and boozy theme — something he said he felt confident about given his Cuban heritage.
The chef went to work creating a blueberry mojito gelée cake with mango mousse, topped off with a chocolate hibiscus flower. He gave it an ocean look with dark blue coloring.
In a blind taste test, celebrity guest judge and pastry chef Amaury Guichon said Diaz’s final product wasn’t the right interpretation for a boozy dessert. There wasn’t enough booze in the cake, both Guichon and judge Duff Goldman said. Guichon also criticized the amount of dark blue coloring Diaz used and said it wasn’t a natural look.
“This cannot be served in a restaurant,” Guichon said.
Diaz, who was watching the judging on a screen in another room, became emotional as he heard the feedback.
He told his fellow pastry chef and competitor Juan Gutierrez that it hurt to get that kind of criticism on the show because as an older competitor, he doesn’t have as much time for improvement in his career as the younger chefs.
“We should be already there,” a visibly upset Diaz told Gutierrez.
After all of the judging, host Jesse Palmer revealed that Diaz was once again among the bottom competitors for the round. And, just like the premiere episode, the Utah chef ended up narrowly avoiding elimination.
Diaz received a 15 out of 30 for his cake, bringing his cumulative score for the episode to 26 points.
Oralia Perez, a pastry chef based in Houston, got eliminated from the competition with a cumulative score of 25.

Now, Diaz moves forward as one of nine remaining chefs competing for $50,000 in “The Ultimate Baking Championship.”
The show airs Monday nights on Food Network, with episodes available for streaming the following day on Discovery+ and HBO Max.
Who is Adalberto Diaz?
Diaz’s colorful macarons and fruit desserts are on display at Fillings & Emulsions in Salt Lake City — which the chef has described as an “eclectic Latin bakery with a French flair.”
“The last 12 years I have invested everything I have, everything, into my pastry shop,” Diaz said during “The Ultimate Baking Championship” premiere episode, which included footage of his new location that features bright murals painted by his brother to highlight their Cuban heritage.
“When I win this competition, it will be a dream come true and that money is gonna go straight into my business and my amazing team of chefs and pastry chefs,” he said during the premiere episode. “I want to make sure that we make it out of these harsh economic times.”
Diaz emigrated from Cuba in 2000 and made a home in Utah, where he quickly began working in the food industry. He worked at a few places around Salt Lake City over the next decade, and earned the American Culinary Federation’s title of Pastry Chef of the Year in 2012. He opened Fillings & Emulsions the following year, as the Deseret News reported.
The chef’s appearance on “The Ultimate Baking Championship” comes on the heels of being nominated as a semifinalist for the prestigious James Beard award for outstanding pastry chef or baker.
“I am part of this community and this community has welcomed me to be part of it, and even bigger, this country welcomed me when I came here, and gave me an opportunity to be more where I am today,” Diaz told the Deseret News last year after his James Beard nomination. “And I wish that opportunity was given to more people because you don’t know how they would change the world.”
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