Archive for the ‘Critter Blog’ Category
July 19-25, 2009, is Best Friends Week, marking the 25th anniversary of the Best Friends Animal Society (BFAS). The mission of Best Friends can be summed up in one phrase: No More Homeless Pets. The organization is a grassroots network of people and groups that care for and about animals.
In addition to their campaigns promoting dog and cat adoption, ending puppy mills, and challenging the negative public perceptions about Pit Bulls, BFAS runs a sanctuary at Angel Canyon, Utah. The sanctuary is home to as many as 2,000 animals on any given day. Many of them arrive with special needs, requiring behavioral training and medical treatment before they can be placed in permanent homes. Others are too old, ill or traumatized to be put up for adoption. These critters live out the remainder of their lives at the sanctuary.
You can follow the stories of some of the animals and their caregivers on the DogTown television show, broadcast on the National Geographic Channel.
“I couldn’t be fonder of you if you were my own son. But, well, if you lose a son, it’s possible to get another. There’s only one Maltese Falcon.” Sydney Greenstreet as Kasper Gutman (from The Maltese Falcon, 1941)
And now there is not even one. Illegal hunting of the Maltese falcon has made it extinct on the island for which it is named. The only peregrine falcons living in the Mediterranean island nation now are in captivity.
Malta is a stopover for falcons, eagles and other birds of prey on the African-Eurasian flyway. The 27-nation European Union bans killing endangered avian species as well as spring hunting. In defiance of the EU, poachers continue their bloodsport.
According to BirdLife Malta, birds now extinct as breeding species in Malta include Peregrine Falcons, Kestrels, Jackdaws and Barn Owls. The Great Bittern and the Osprey are species that the United Kingdom and Finland have taken measures to protect, but they are shot down over Malta when migrating.
“We are trying to change a culture,” according to Alexander Miruzzi, head of the police unit for illegal hunting. “These people have been going on the spring hunt since they were 18. Now they are 55, 65 or 75 years old. We’ve actually apprehended a person who was 75, so it will take time for them to change.”
While some birds are hunted for food, the raptors are killed for trophies.
Further Information:
Birders Battle Hunters Over Maltese Falcons, Slayings [Bloomberg.com; July 2, 2009]
BirdLife Malta
BirdLife International
The 2009 World’s Ugliest Dog contest at the Sonoma-Marin County Fair broke with tradition in its 21st year. The Chinese Crested breed that has dominated the prize for the past seven years was bypassed this time for a boxer-mix with an under bite. Four-year old Pabst, a shelter dog belonging to Miles Egstad, 25, from Citrus Heights, California, won over the crowd and the judges with his unusual looks and sweet nature.
The competition was filmed to be broadcast on an episode of Dogs 101 on the Animal Planet sometime this fall.
Amazon.com Widgets
Bo, the First Dog, has an Official Portrait and an Official Baseball Card. The photograph shows Bo on the South Lawn of the White House.
The card stats indicate that the name “Bo” is indirectly in honor of rock & roll great Bo Diddley (by way of First Lady Michelle Obama’s father’s nickname “Diddley” and First Children Malia and Sasha’s cousin’s cats “Bo” and “Diddley’). Were the kids also perhaps naming the First Dog after their father, President Barack Obama, whose initials are B.O.? It’s just a theory, but it passes the smell test.
Rasa sent me this email the other day, about a newborn baby deer that was rescued during the night, after its mother was killed by a car:
Hi Everyone,
Late in the evening a friend knocked on our door with a newborn baby deer in her arms, not more than an hour old. She found the mother dead from a car accident, and the baby must have popped out of the mother during the accident. The tiny baby buck laid in his mother’s blood on the side of the road. Our friend Angelea cleaned off most of the blood, and she and her mother Sakkara wrapped up the baby in a towel to bring it over to us. Without a mother, the fawn had little chance for survival, but we were determined to see her through the night until we could contact a local woman who is licensed to raise orphaned deer. Many thanks to Angelea and Sakkara, and to Vesta for her work in helping local wildlife.
Love, light and laughter,
Rasa
The video tells the story of the baby buck’s first 12 hours of life.
Four year-old Daniel Blair of Northolt, Middlesex, England, decided to give his one-week old puppy a bath after a muddy excursion in the garden. The problem is that Daniel washed the puppy in the toilet, and then flushed. The hapless pooch vanished down the pipe.
The boy’s mother, Allison Blair, 40, called the fire department. The fire department called in the expert, Will Craig, 22, of the plumbing company Dyno-Rod. Using a special camera, Mr. Craig located the tiny dog in the pipe, about 20 feet from the house. Mr. Craig was able to push the puppy to a spot in the pipe where a firefighter was able to pull him out.
The puppy survived the four-hour ordeal and has been named “Dyno” in honor of the company that came to the rescue. No doubt Dyno needed another bath….
See Also:
Flushed puppy freed from pipes [UPI.com; June 16, 2009]
Radio personality Rush Limbaugh has an Abyssinian cat named Punkin. His girlfriend recently got an Old English Sheepdog puppy named Abbey. Punkin and Abbey have met, and are getting along well together. As Mr. Limbaugh explained on his radio show on Monday, “The dog’s been over to the house. You ought to see the dog and Punkin. We thought there was going to be some fur flying here, but there wasn’t. There was just genuine curiosity. Punkin hissed a couple times. It’s a puppy bounding around. You know, Punkin looks at the dog like, ‘Shut up, you little kid. Stop bothering me.’
“You know, cats are very indifferent. But no. No territorial battles or anything. The dog is even eating some of Punkin’s food, and Punkin doesn’t care. No, I’m not baby-sitting the dog. I wouldn’t mind if I baby-sat the dog. It’s a cute little thing.”
Mr. Limbaugh’s love for his cat Punkin inspired him to record this anti-dogfighting public service announcement for the Humane Society of the United States:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first drug specifically for the treatment of cancer in dogs, it was announced on June 3, 2009. The drug, Palladia (toceranib phosphate), manufactured by Pfizer Animal Health Inc., is approved to treat canine cutaneous (skin-based) mast cell tumors. Taken orally every other day, it works by killing tumor cells and by cutting off the blood supply to the tumor. Palladia showed a statistically significant difference in tumor shrinkage when compared with a placebo.
Side effects may include diarrhea, decrease or loss of appetite, lameness, weight loss, and blood in the stool.
Pfizer plans to begin marketing the drug in 2010.
Bill O’Reilly showed this video on Thursday night’s Factor.
A dog in Japan exercises with his owner:
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) has a new line of pet care products, the ASPCA Collection, available at Wal-Mart.
“With the introduction of the ASPCA Collection, Wal-Mart is taking another step in its commitment to help its customers save money and provide quality care to their pets,” said Senior Buyer John Kunkel.
The ASPCA Collection includes the following products:
- Pet Gates
- Dog collars, leashes and harnesses made from eco-friendly materials and with unique messaging (select Wal-Mart stores only)
- Dog Houses
- Pet Carriers
- Home Training Kennels
- Dog Toys
- Outdoor Kennels (available through Walmart.com only)
A percentage of the purchase price supports the ASPCA’s work in the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States. The ASPCA will receive between 1.5 and 4 percent of the purchase price of ASPCA Collection products sold at Wal-Mart, for a minimum guaranteed donation of $780,000.
