"After hearing all the details I was really shocked, " said Audrey Gray, a high-school senior in Mishawaka, Ind.

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By the same token, displays of evident affection on their parts and extraordinary tales of the conscience and loyalty of Balto, for example, or the miraculous intelligence of Alex the African gray notwithstanding, most nonhuman animals don't really feel the same way about us.

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Ray Gray, from the union Unison, said the draft proposals were "a really, really worrying development".

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"(Riley) was able to focus the incessant drive ... that he had, and (he was given) an opportunity to really blossom as a dog rather than just being handed from home to home, " Gray said.

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