Come back as a peacock, not a donkey!

 Disaster prep for pets

A few posts ago, I raised the need for pet parents to protect their pets when disaster strikes, especially now when such events just keep happening.  I proposed that we all prepare a pet disaster kit by the end of this month.  Well, here we are and here I am, to request an extension on timing.

I’ve started putting together a big bag of needed stuff – but I’m not finished yet. Further, I’ve decided to hope that when the emergency comes, we’ll be told to “shelter in place,” something Mercer County officials have said is most likely.  It’s also easier to plan for: fewer things needed, taking up much less space and staying at home, even if in the basement.   

For Billy and Jersey, my two cats, here’s what I’ve collected so far: canned cat food for 3 days; can opener; 4 one-gallon jugs of water for multi purposes besides adding to food, drinking and rinsing hands; food and water bowls; small flashlights and a lantern good for 50 hours.

Also included: 2 giant paper towel rolls; a couple towels; liquid soap; a notebook and pens/pencils; emergency radio that will play all the time; cutlery, including spoons for dishing out; first-aid kit; handiwipes; plastic trash bags; toothbrush and paste (for me).

Any corrections or suggestions, readers?  For instance, I’m unsure how to handle kitty litter pans.  

The eggs & us

So we humans are in an uproar over the price and scarcity of eggs!  Pity chickens, 50.5 million of whom died from the avian flu in 2022 (the worst animal health disaster in American history) -- and 40 million of the birds (chickens, turkeys and others) who died were egg-laying hens. 

That’s an “OMG! fact,” for sure, easily explaining the current egg supply and price problems, along with the rising costs connected with farming.  We have inflation, while chickens and other birds have death because farmers are federally required to kill even their healthy chickens to stop the spread.  

A donkey’s so-called life

My inner animal advocate took me to the movies last week to see EO, the story of a donkey (whose name suggests a donkey’s sound).  While very sad, it’s also probably a true life story for a typical donkey:  “Life is hard.  And then you die.”

The movie itself is beautifully, dramatically filmed, with numerous close-ups of the donkey, aerial views of scenery he travels through and, unfortunately, the people he encounters along the way: mostly horrible human beings.  As with so many other situations pairing animals and humans, the animals are the most noble.

In fact, since I didn’t need my sensitivity to animal suffering increased, EO mostly served to increase my shame at people’s behavior and grow my misanthropy.    https://tinyurl.com/57jyx7ah

Even peacocks can retire

Harry, Jim and Phil, three aging peacocks, earned their recent retirement after years beautifying the 13-acre grounds of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, in NYC.  They were the last of a peacock series that started with gift chicks from the Bronx Zoo.

The birds had the “run” of the spread, free to strut, preen and roam in their parklike setting.  Then they could rest up in a hutch designed to be consistent with the cathedral’s Gothic architecture -- not too shabby.  

A soft life, maybe, but age and occasional injuries -- and the presence of red-tail hawks -- prompted reconsideration of replacing the retirees with small, vulnerable peachicks.  In any case, Harry, Jim and Phil will take life easier at Animal Nation, a nonprofit rescue center and sanctuary in South Salem, NY.  There, they may even continue to enjoy their favorite foods: almonds and kale. 

Pandemic pet population

More than 23 million American households – nearly 1 in 5 nationwide – acquired a dog or cat during the pandemic, reports the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).  The question, of course, is how many of those adoptees are still homed and happy.  Here’s hoping!  

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A feast of animal news briefs . . . & a Jersey update

a Great Pyrenees (not Casper)

Details about defender-dogs and defending dogs lead off today’s banquet of animal news, which also includes a new law affecting NY pet stores, unconventional wedding participants, foiling dognappers, elephant follow-ups, and, yes, Jersey Summers.  

Some dogs take their jobs very seriously, luckily for the sheep they’re charged with protecting.  Casper, a white Great Pyrenees pup in Georgia, recently hopped a fence to take on 11 coyotes who were after 5 of the family’s sheep herd.

He killed 8 of the 11 predators, chased the rest away – and was critically injured in the fight.  But he lived to be lauded, and he’s now R & R-ing at home for a while.   https://tinyurl.com/4yez3j9y

Take that, puppy mills!

Not only puppies, but cats and rabbits too, will no longer be sold in New York pet stores.  New York legislators made a long-sought victory for animals possible while leveling a major blow against the infamous puppy mills that often supply retail outlets.  New York became the sixth state in the US to take this action.

To see or read of the horrible, heart-breaking conditions in puppy mills is to become a fervent advocate for legislation like New York’s to be country-wide.  “Inhumane” is the mildest word to describe what

puppy mills look like, caged animals in squalid conditions, with females cruelly overbred and baby animals grossly undercared for before they wind up in pet stores.  Then, inevitably, too many of them are adopted in good faith and go to their new homes with health ailments that go on and on through their short, sickly lives.    https://tinyurl.com/54hkrxct

 Defend against dognapping

The word is out that dognapping is on the rise – sometimes violently so.  Aware of this cruel trend, the Humane Society of the US says worried pet parents should avoid leaving their dogs tied up outside grocery stories and coffee shops; install a good fence around their yard and security cameras on their home; have their pet microchipped; buy a GPS collar; and be sure to have their pet spayed or neutered; un-fixed dogs can be used for breeding, so they’re bigger targets.

Members of the wedding

An altruistic twist on marrying couples who involve their pets as ring bearers and/or part of the wedding party photos afterwards is the comparatively new practice of helping animals get adopted.  How?  

Wedding party members carry an adoptable pet into the ceremony so guests can see and maybe fall in love with them.  At a wedding of two cat lovers, the bride threw a (plush black toy) cat instead of a bouquet, and overall, the ceremony was a big (adoption) success.  https://tinyurl.com/mywrrmct

A trunk to remember

There’s still more to say about elephants’ trunks, recently described by a specialist at the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) as “those amazing appendages that serve a multitude of functions.” 

The elephant’s trunk is used to breathe, suck up water and transfer it to the mouth to drink, bathe, smell, toss dust or mud onto themselves, socialize, call, explore and rub their eyes and scratch their heads.  And that’s just the trunk!  

Local boy makes good

How describe the “progress” in 3 months of Jersey, the new cat in the house?  Well, he’s very cute, playful and vocal (that last part needs work!) -- and very hungry, all the time.  He’ll eat anything that’s not nailed down, as a friend put it.

Small in stature but with a huge voice, Jersey still fights being picked up.  Only once did I succeed at that, concluding he was groggy from just waking up or he temporarily took pity on me.  When I tried the next day, he quickly flipped out of my grasp.  Go figure.

What about getting him into his carrier for vet visits, holding on to him to clip his nails or simply hoping to cuddle him?  It’s beyond me right now.  But I cringe when I see him ignoring the myriad “official” scratchers around here to work out on a rug instead.

The happiest report is that Jersey and Billy have steadily moved toward becoming buddies.  Since one early scuffle, no fights, no nastiness -- just Jersey’s attempts to raid Billy’s food bowl whenever it’s left unprotected.  Piffle!  

Jersey: "Spots & stripes forever" 

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What really matters: LIVE elephants & LIVE bears

Yippee!  Just what elephants have been hoping for: a $2.4 million renovation marked by a festive light show and hundreds of people standing around on a winter night, loving it all and wishing it on their descendants.

All that to celebrate a single "elephant," Lucy, the 140-year-old national historic landmark (!) in Margate, near Atlantic City, after her 15-month long metal exterior-repair job.  And all that’s only the first phase: the second will update Lucy’s interior and replace the gift shop nearby. 

                                                          Dodo pic

Right: the excitement last month wasn’t about any real, live elephant – you know, those beloved huge animals with trunks and tusks, now seriously in danger of extinction because of humans.  (If only the people so taken with Lucy would visit, study and help preserve the living animals!)  

For the longest time, elephants were preyed on by poachers, who slaughtered them for their tusks to keep the worldwide ivory trade going.  These days, a growing danger comes from the growing human population that serves as competition for the land they all share.   

When the animals threaten or raid their farms – sometimes former elephant travel routes that now offer ready-made meals -- human violence against them often results.  Conservation groups, like the Wildlife Conservation Network (Wildnet.org), are laboring to come up with ways to deter and protect the animals and assuage the farmers, fostering peaceful coexistence.

Zimbabwe baby                            PAWS pic

Next to a real, live elephant, Lucy of Margate is a slacker – a giant waste of money as far as wildlife is concerned.  Besides all the benefits wild elephants confer on their (shrinking) habitats, just think of the brain power they possess to operate their faces, ears and trunks.

An elephant can use its trunk – with some 40,000 muscles alone -- to uproot a tree or delicately suck up tortilla chips.  The brain behind this, weighing more than 10 pounds, is packed with bundled neurons hooked up to facial nerves that control the creature’s ears, lips and trunk.  What a system!  https://tinyurl.com/6s8bkuz2

Closer to home: our black bears

Another fearfully-threatened animal is near and dear to us: the New Jersey black bear.  More than 100 of them were killed last month, despite all protests and temporary stops to the “trophy hunt” that was falsely claimed to be necessary. 

                                                                                                HSUS pic

State decision-makers, starting with the governor, and including the NJ Fish and Game Council (reputedly comprised largely of hunters – talk about stacked decks!), continued to ignore informed opinions about bear management that only began with bear-proof trash cans.  

The public hearing on the Comprehensive Black Bear Management Policy (this Wednesday, Jan. 18, in Trenton) is open to anyone wishing to express opinions about the hunt.  Please see the notice below, which also includes directions for written opinions.  

 

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The public comment period for New Jersey’s CBBMP (Comprehensive Black Bear Management Policy - aka bear killing policy) is now open.

Comments may be submitted 1) electronically, 2) by USPS letter, and/or 3) by attending the public hearing.   Public Hearing Location, Date and Time: CBBMP and Game Code Amendments Public Hearing Wednesday, January 18, 2023, 1:00 to 8:00 PM NJ State Museum Auditorium 205 West State Street, Trenton, NJ 08625   To submit comments electronically, please click here. 1.  Fill in the form and under Select Rulemaking choose, DEP Dkt. No. 09-22-11 Black Bear Mgmt. Policy and amendments to 7:25-5.6 2.  Enter your comments in the large box and click submit. 3.  Please note that all electronic comments must be submitted by the close of business on February 3, 2023.   Feel free to submit your own comments or use the sample below. Whichever way you comment, it is critical to oppose the entire CBBMP and the amendments. The amendments were designed to muddy the waters, to make the kill “more humane,” more acceptable. Support for any part of the policy or any proposed amendment supports the hunt.   Support for the amendment that allows cubs to be killed in the following year when they weigh more than 75 pounds supports the hunt—as does approving the minor change in baiting. The game council will use both to prove “public support” for the hunt. Neither change will be enforced.   To submit comments by letter through the USPS mail, send to: New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection 2022 CBBMP and Game Code Amendment Comments NJDEP Fish and Wildlife Mail Code 501-03 PO Box 420 Trenton, NJ 08625-0420 Allow at least a week to mail your comments, so they are received by the February 3, deadline.   Sample text for electronic or letter comments:   I oppose both the emergency adoption and concurrent CBBMP proposal in its entirety. There is no imminent peril. I oppose the following amendments:   N.J.A.C. 7:25-5.6(a)2, ...limit the harvest of any bear with a live weight greater than 75 pounds or a dressed weight greater than 50 pounds. ...the harvest of any adult bear accompanying a bear under 75 pounds... N.J.A.C. 7:25-5.6(a)5 ...disallows the take or kill of a black bear, or possession or control of a firearm or other weapon while hunting for black bears within 300 feet of a baited area…   I support and desire nonlethal black bear management, which keeps bears away from unnatural food sources, lowers complaints and incidents, and reduces the black bear fertility rate. Bear hunts do none of these things. Moreover, baiting is ecologically harmful and causes conflict, as does the deliberate lack of a garbage control program. An agency so concerned with “public safety” should require the use of bear-resistant cans, ban baiting statewide, and support the new feeding ban legislation. I do not support any form of bear hunting.   The NJDEP/FGC consistently violates the public trust, fails to implement real solutions, and then lies about it.   (include your full name and mailing address) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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