Archive for the ‘Critter Blog’ Category
The Instanbul Dolphinarium opened in December 2008 in Instanbul, Turkey. The project was built as a joint venture between Turkey and Russia. At this facility, people and dolphins can swim together. The Dolphinarium promotes the therapeutic benefits that humans derive from swimming with the dolphins. It also suggests that “a healing process of the human emotions is observed, with an effect of calming, distracting and energy catharsis.”
Another attraction at the Dolphinarium is the animal performances. Dolphins are not the only marine mammalian entertainers. A walrus named Sara is a real show stopper. This talented Rubenesque creature is an exceptionally expressive dancer with impeccable comedic timing.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
The trend towards puppy acupuncture is not just for the rich and famous. An estimated 150,000 veterinarians and 700,000 paraveterinary assistants in the United States are trained in this treatment. Both the American Academy of Veterinary Acupuncture website and the American Holistic Veterinarian Medical Association website have search engines to assist you in finding a veterinary acupuncturist in your area.
My friend Peg sent me this video. This smart puppy knows enough to take treats only from mom and dad!
More bad news on the economic front…. A friend from Chicago sent this email today:
How Bad is the Economy?
CATS ARE SO DRAMATIC!!
Australia has a problem. There are just too many camels and not enough food and water.
Camels are not indigenous to Australia. They were brought to the country in the period from 1840-1907, to aid explorers in the Australian desert. There are more than 1,000,000 feral camels now, and their population is expected to double in nine years. The camel herds trample vegetation and compete with sheep and cattle for food and water.
Last month the Australian federal government budgeted $19 million ($16 million US) to cull the camel herds. The plan is to send in sharpshooters on foot and in helicopters, to slaughter up to 650,000 of the animals.
Dr. Tony Peacock, CEO of the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Center at the University of Canberra, said, “To be shot from a helicopter is actually quite humane, even though that sounds brutal. If I was a camel, I’d prefer to just get it in the head.”
Officials are considering proposals to turn the dead dromedaries into fast food. The shrimp will finally get a reprieve. Let’s throw a camel burger on the barbie!
See Also:
Australia considers mass killings of camels [AP; August 8, 2009]
Pesky Camels Will Be Shot From Helicopters [SkyNews; August 9, 2009]
This video is hilarious. That said, can you imagine what would happen if some hapless person tried to get between this puppy and his treat??
My friend, photographer Douglas Sandberg, alerted me to a unique musical purrformance. CATcerto, a collaboration between Nora the Piano Cat and Lithuanian conductor Mindaugas Piečaitis is performed by the Klaipėda chamber orchestra, featuring piano soloist Nora the Cat:
Four-year old Nora is a prodigy by anyone’s standards. From humble beginnings, baby Nora was adopted from a New Jersey animal shelter by Betsy and Burnell. She ended up in a home filled with art, musical instruments, and other cats. As Betsy gave piano lessons, Nora would sit under the Yamaha grand piano, listening. After about a year, she decided to learn to play herself. A purrfectionist, Nora practices every day.
CATcerto is the first musical composition by Mindaugas Piečaitis. Mr. Piečaitis explains his approach to the project:
The work for this piece was just as serious for me as for any other one. Although at first glance it would appear that it is just a joke, in this musical piece I also see a somewhat deeper significance. Through it, I wanted to remind people how unique and unexpected the world around us could be.
Someone in San Francisco is looking out for elderly dogs. Sherri Franklin, the founder and executive director of Muttville, started the organization in 2007 to find homes and provide foster care or hospice for abandoned senior and special-needs dogs.
Many of these old dogs end up in shelters because their elderly owners have died or can no longer care for them. Unfortunately, the older animals are difficult to place, and many are euthanized.
My dog Patch, a Queensland mix, was a bright, playful, energetic dog, who finally started slowing down when he was about nine years old. His senior years were a wonderful, sweet time for us both. Instead of endless obsessive games of fetch, we enjoyed long walks in the neighborhood or in the park. When Chuck, the beautiful, goofy McNab I adopted when he was 4-1/2 years old, died suddenly of cancer five years later, I felt the extra loss that he and I were deprived of his special senior years.
This video tells the story of Muttville. Ms. Franklin and her organization could do so much more with additional volunteers to foster the animals. If you are not in the San Francisco Bay Area, you may consider sponsoring a dog through a financial contribution by clicking here. Muttville is a 501(c)3 organization.
Is your dog afraid of thunder? Does she suffer from separation anxiety? Sound researcher, music producer and authority in the field of psychoacoustics, John Leeds, has collaborated with veterinary neurologist Dr. Susan Wagner to write the book Through a Dog’s Ear: Using Sound to Improve the Health & Behavior of Your Canine Companion
The music on the CD Through a Dog’s Ear: Music to Calm Your Canine Companion, Volume 1
You can listen to samples of Through a Dog’s Ear: Music to Calm Your Canine Companion, Volume 1
Harry and Pepper were a couple of male penguin pals living in the San Francisco Zoo. The two of them adopted an egg last year, incubated it, hatched it, and provided care for the chick. But a different sort of chick has busted up the same-sex pair. Linda, widowed when her longtime companion Fig passed away this year, had an eye for Harry.
Pepper got violent and the zookeepers had to remove him from the penguin exhibit temporarily. Harry and Linda are now nesting together. Last Friday Pepper was allowed back into the enclosure, and so far the three of them are getting along.
San Francisco might not ever be the same again.
See Also:
Same-sex penguin couple split [UPI.com; July 12, 2009]
