‘Remember the ladies’ . . . in animal advocacy!

NYC carriage horse  

The often-repeated quote “Remember the ladies” was part of a plea by Abigail Adams to her husband John, who later became the second president of the US.  She encouraged him to recognize women as more than property and protect them from the power men held over them.  That was in the late 18^th century.

By a century later – while still lacking the right to vote -- Philadelphia women took the lead in establishing the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals  (PSPCA).  Although brutally mistreated carriage horses were the initial targets for their compassion, abandoned dogs quickly became a focus of the women’s attention and initiatives.

They successfully petitioned for the founding of the Shelter for Dogs and Other Animals, aiming to reunite pets with their owners or find them new homes.  In effect, this was the start of an adoption program.

Other reforms followed: establishment of basic shelter standards, provision of drinking fountains around the city, programs for sick or injured cats, veterinary care for dogs and farm animals, and many more.

This whole story is detailed, inspiringly, in the summer ’17 issue of AnimalSheltering magazine. For far different reasons than Abigail's, remember these ladies too!

https://www.animalsheltering.org/magazine/articles/women%E2%80%99s-movement

And recognize one contemporary woman whose efforts are directed at improving the lives (and

Greenstein

sometimes no doubt saving them as well) for shelter animals in this state:  NJ Senator Linda R. Greenstein (District 14).  Introduced last February, her bill (S3019) is “still an active bill—it hasn’t been heard in committee yet,” an aide reports.  She adds, “If the bill doesn’t get heard by the first week in January, it will be re-introduced with a new bill number after the second Tuesday of January 2018.”

This is an ideal time for all of us to react to the bill with suggestions and corrections that Greenstein’s staff can note for future use; watch for news of the bill’s resurfacing; and volunteer to help build support for its move through the legislature.   

and FORGET this lady

On Tuesday we will elect a new governor of NJ. It’s our chance to throw out the party and the people who permitted years of black bear hunts here, among other grievous instances of cruelty toward animals.  Here’s what the League of Humane Voters (lohv.org) has to say about the incumbent and his would-be successors:

  

2014 anti-hunt demo 

Our wildlife has suffered enormously under Governor Chris Christie. The Christie Administration allowed the Fish and Game Council to brazenly breach New Jersey’s landmark law banning bone-crushing steel-jaw leghold traps. As a candidate, Chris Christie promised hunters a black bear hunt. Tragically, he delivered, each and every year. 

If possible, the bear hunt got even worse when the game council added terribly cruel bows and arrows to hunters’ arsenal. Under Governor Christie (and Democrat Senate President Stephen Sweeney), deregulation is rampant and wildlife protection bills are routinely blocked and denied committee and floor votes.

. . . be aware that Republican gubernatorial candidate Kim Guadagno has frequently pledged her support for hunters and trappers. She has publicly pledged continued black bear hunts.

In contrast, Democratic candidate for governor Phil Murphy promises to end the bear hunt and to restore New Jersey’s law banning leghold traps. 

                                                                                               APLNJ image

Halt horrendous, horrific black bear hunts in NJ.  Vote (early and often) for Murphy!

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Horses know human cruelty all too well

The first time we visited San Francisco, I drove the nearly 50-mile route around the city, and that was fine . . . until we suddenly found ourselves perched at the top of a hill such as I had never driven down before (and rarely even looked down!). Way, way steep.  Frightening.  With  nothing to do but . . . proceed. 

Well, obviously, we made it. And since then, that hill has been my benchmark for challenging driving.

Now, imagine you’re a horse, given the task of pulling cars full of people up and down such hills: a cruelly difficult thing to do.  In another graphic case of Dominionism, humans had decided this was a job for horses – a job that came with slips, accidents and brutal beatings. As if horses were created or designed to pull people up and down hills.  

(Ooops! nearly forgot the horses still forced to pull carriages full of tourists around New York City, Philadelphia and other places.)

Only years later, I learned from The Writer’s Almanac that in 1869, those suffering horses were noticed by at least one compassionate human, who had a better idea. 

Andrew Smith Hallidie was an English ex-pat who “saw a team of horses struggling to pull a horse-drawn car up a steep, slippery cobblestone street. The horses were being brutally whipped, but to no avail: they lost their footing, fell, and were fatally dragged by the car as it raced down the hill.”

Hallidie’s father held a patent for a “wire rope” cable, which Hallidie the younger teamed with a steam engine and a cable to get a car up those hills. In September 1873, soon after he formed the Clay Street Hill Railroad, the cable car became operational.

Any chance the horses linked to the old system were set free in green pastures?  (Guffaw!)

                                                                               HSI pic

So that was the 19^th century. Now go back to the Middle Ages – or so it would seem – for a barbaric practice of entertaining (so-called) humans by torturing and killing horses.  Now, in the 21^st century, the Humane Society International is fighting a tradition in Mexico that should have died centuries ago. As HSI/Mexico reports it:

Torneo del Lazo is a gruesome event that takes place throughout the year in various Yucatán municipalities in Mexico. During the events, cowboys ride horses being chased by one or more bulls in enclosed arenas. Once they catch the horses, the bulls severely wound them–often times gouging the animals–leading to the horses' slow and painful deaths. The crowd erupts in cheers.

Finally, a beautiful, impressionistic poem about the death of a beloved family horse.  (Yes, this has been a sad post. But sad happens.)

Tristan

Narrow Flame

by Linda Gregerson

Sun at the zenith. Greening
            earth.
  Slight buckling of the left

 hind leg. And all this while
            the girl
  at his ear good boy and now

 the hip giving way and mildly as
            was ever
  his wont the lovely

 heft of him lists toward the field
            that minutes
  ago was still so sweet for

 grazing and good boy and on the

            ground
  now where the frightening

 last shudder of lungs that we’ve been
            warned about
  does thank you darling does

 not come and feeling for a pulse
            no pulse
  and warning us touching

 the liquid eye which does not
            close which
  means the slender needle with

 its toxic everlastingness has done
            its job  good boy unbuckling the

 halter lifting the beautiful head
            to her
  lap and all this while the girl

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Of incendiary times & perils to animals

Does the word “wildfires” conjure up images you’ve seen everywhere over the last few weeks? Fiery forests, skies, roadways . . . then ashy remains of homes and businesses. California residents have become more intimately familiar with fires than they could ever have wished.

As usual, I thought about the animals in those wildfires, and as usual – except for the occasional feature about a miraculous rescue or a heroic animal -- they weren’t mentioned. We’ll probably never know how many perished, terrified and suffering, in inescapable flames.

That’s also true for pets, who may have sensed great danger before their people did. I wondered, with fire suddenly racing toward their homes, how many residents thought of their pets and evacuated with them to safety.   

“If your neighborhood was on fire, what would you take with you?” Asked in a newspaper story at the height of the burnings, that question drew a number of answers with glad tidings for pets.

My purse, my son and two dogs, said one woman. My guitars, family photos, and then the cat, a man answered.  A young Napa Valley guy said, “I love my animals more than anything in this life. I’m all good ’cause I got my animals – and I got my dog’s favorite little stuffed donkey.” 

https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000005491398/fires-northern-california-what-they-saved.html?emc=edit_th_20171013&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=20760274

I quit reading while I was ahead, wondering how many of us have a list of “must-saves” for whatever catastrophe comes our way. What would we gather up and carry off with us?  Here’s one answer to love:  

https://www.thedodo.com/close-to-home/woman-saves-dog-california-wildfire

Saluting smart Lulu! 

Remember the tale of the woman office worker who didn’t want to become the default coffee maker, so she deliberately made such horrible coffee she was never asked again?  No dummy she.

That tactic may have caught on among dogs, and good for them.  Think about it: which would you prefer: bomb-sniffing in perilous places, or being a pampered pet here at home?

I thought so. And so did Lulu, a recently publicized flunk-out at the CIA’s “puppy class” for “explosive detection” who just wasn’t interested in detecting possible bombs.

Lulu, successful CIA "failure"

A “black Labrador retriever and free spirit,” Lulu was even checked out by a “doggy psychologist” before being dropped from the rolls and adopted by her handler, going off to life (bomb-free, we hope) as a pet.

You go, girl!

Lulu’s new life must be far better than what she would have had: hazardous duty and possible death while doing the work people had chosen for her.  She would have been “a service dog,” meaning she served human – not canine -- needs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/us/politics/cia-lulu-bomb-dog.html?emc=eta1&_r=0

. . . and mourning the ‘dogs of war’

In a related vein, this columnist extols the “military working dogs” he knew in Vietnam, who – he claims – “loved to work (‘protecting our soldiers’) purely for the approval and praise of their handler and partner.”  ( Hogwash!)  

Of the “thousands” of these dogs, most inexplicably given to the military by US families, about 350 were “killed in [involuntary] action,” with many more wounded.  Most of those who survived were left behind.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/03/opinion/the-dogs-of-the-vietnam-war.html?emc=eta1

Hey, everybody, it’s Dominionism all over again – the worldview or belief held by one species that it has a divine right to use animals and everything else in the living world for its own benefit.  It keeps happening, often to ill effect, and too often, it goes unchecked.  

But not with wily Lulu.  Brava!

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8 years of bear-hunt hell near an end (we hope)

                                                                                                  Kehoe image

War is hell, they say.  If war, which typically involves two armed sides knowingly fighting each other, is hell, then what is hunting – which involves one armed side and one un-armed and unaware side? 

And that armed side -- loaded with firepower and tools to facilitate winning, like bait for the targeted prey -- is grossly advantaged. The un-armed side learns the hard way there’s a hunt going on.

Uneven match.  Unfair contest.  Un-sportsman-like activity.  Inhumane.  Fiendish.

Welcome to New Jersey’s annual (under Gov. Chris Christie) black bear hunt, an event that itself has strong partisans on each side.  Led by the Division of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) and its bear-counting “state biologists” (voices of authority?) mentioned in every media story about this hunt, one side claims there are too many NJ black bears and too much risk from them.

The other side, comprised of fervent hunt-opponents, says the population numbers are inaccurate, the risk is practically nil and this so-called hunt is nothing but a trophy-gathering occasion designed to please the hunters’ lobby.

   

Hunters were limited to archery through Wednesday of this week. From Thursday-Saturday, muzzle-loading rifles are also allowed. Starting December 4, the second six-day portion of the bear hunt is limited to firearms.  (This sounds like an effort to give every wannabe bear-killer a chance – choose your weapons!)

When the hunt got off to a slow start – that is, fewer bears were slaughtered than last year – hunters blamed the weather rather than the possibility that NJ bears may have been decimated in previous hunts.  And of course they cited the need for the hunt: the first hunter to arrive on Monday used a bow and arrow to kill his third bear in four years -- what a guy, huh? – claiming he was controlling the population and putting [bear meat] to use in a good way, by cooking it. (Would the bear agree?)

This hunt-horror has been non-stop and no mercy throughout Christie’s tenure. And we have learned during her smear campaign against her Democratic opponent for governor that Christie’s Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno – she of the sneering smile -- favors the hunt.  

Do we need to know anything else?  

Atwood’s on target once more

Canadian author, literary critic and poet Margaret Atwood recently scored again with her 1985 novel, The Handmaid’s Tale. She’s equally right-on with this poem (bold face added).

It’s Autumn

It’s autumn. The nuts patter down.

Beechnuts, acorns, black walnuts –

tree orphans thrown to the ground

in their hard garments.

Don’t go in there,

into the faded orange wood –

it’s filled with angry old men

sneaking around in camouflage gear

pretending no one can see them. 

Some of them aren’t even old,

they just have arthritic foreheads,

or else they’re drunk,

but something’s got to suffer

for their grudges, their obscure sorrows:

the more blown-up flesh, the better.

They’ll shoot at any sign of movement –

your dog, your cat, you.

They’ll say you were a fox or skunk,

or duck, or pheasant. Maybe a deer.

They aren’t hunters, these men.

They have none of the patience of hunters,

none of the remorse.

They’re certain they own everything.

A hunter knows he borrows.

I remember the long hours

crouching in the high marsh grasses –

the grey sky empty, the water silent,

the hushed colours of distant trees –

waiting for the rush of wings,

half-hoping nothing would happen.

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Although misunderstood, TNR prevails as a solution

Even as TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) has increasingly caught on, misunderstandings about it and the motives of those who advocate for it are still out there. As a result, TNR believers and practitioners must still spend valuable time explaining away all the erroneous or impossible alternative ideas for how to help homeless cats. 

What makes this situation even more frustrating is that most all of those involved in the debate “agree that domestic cats should be in homes, with people -- and yet we all keep arguing as if we don’t have the same objectives!”

So says Sandra Warren Obi, who heads up the TNR program of the Animal Protection League of NJ. She interacts regularly with numerous people and groups around the state – too many of whom simply don’t understand what TNR is all about. So they offer their own suggestions for solving the problem. 

Like this idea:  People should stop abandoning cats.  “OK,” Obi says. “But how do you enforce that and what do you do with the cats already abandoned so they don’t bring more kittens into this situation?” 

Or this one:  People should keep their pet cats inside.  “Right, but what about those already outside? And how enforce this idea?” Obi asks.

And this suggestion:  Remove all the outdoor cats to a sanctuary.  “Great,” Obi says, “but who will round them up, where should they be put and who will pay for their care?”

Or this:  Kill all the outdoor cats. “That’s a horrible ‘solution’ all by itself, as well as one that will fail,” Obi says, citing Marion Island’s and Macquarie Island’s would-be cat eradication programs.

TNR advocates don’t want to create outdoor cat colonies for their own enjoyment. They just want a solution that works for homeless, abandoned and lost cats. And increasingly, judging by its practice in more and more places, the one known solution that works to gradually eliminate homeless cats is by helping those who care for outdoor cats to sterilize and immunize them (TNR!) so they can live out their lives without reproducing.

                  Alley Cat Allies

This solution also respects an animal’s right to life – a non-negotiable condition. Visit http://aplnj.org/projectTNR.php  for comprehensive credible information on this subject. “Become an ADVO’CAT’ for feral cats.”

Kedi's return

Remember Kedi, the wonderful documentary about Istanbul’s countless free-roaming cats, and the way “the everyday lives of cats and people weave together” in mutual acceptance?  (No need for animal control officers, shelters or talk of TNR . . .)

Well, Kedi’s coming back! The summer issue of Animal Sheltering magazine reports that “Kedi will be available for download or digital viewing on Nov. 14; preorder the film now or find a screening near you at Kedifilm.com.” 

If you missed it before, now’s your chance to catch up on a wholly, happily un-American way of living with cats.  And if you loved Kedi before, soon you can love Kedi again.


The Cats

by Ann Iverson

To find such glory in a dehydrated pea
on the tile between the stove and fridge.

To toss the needs of others aside
when you simply aren't in the mood for affection.

To find yourselves so irresistible.

And always in a small spot of sun,
you sprawl and spread out the pleasure of yourselves

never fretting, never wanting to go back
to erase your few decisions.

To find yourself so remarkable
all the day long.

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A case of shoot first, answer questions later?

Tonka

Tonka looks like a sweetie. The photo shows the young dog near a grinning little boy lying in bed. Light-colored, with oversize puppy ears and chubby legs, Tonka and the boy seem to be good pals.  

The Alaskan Shepherd was a year old when he was killed by a bow-hunter who mistook him for a coyote, an animal registered hunters are allowed to shoot (although the season when they may do so doesn’t start till Sept. 30).

Tonka’s Readington Township family is, reportedly and understandably, “devastated” over his unexpected, needless death. 

The Animal Protection League of NJ (APLNJ) could say, “We told you so,” but that won’t bring Tonka back, or save other family pets, or people, who are also in jeopardy. As long as bow-hunting to within 150 feet of a home’s back door is permissible, this kind of heartbreak could happen over and again.

Or as APL (in the person of Angi Metler, its executive director) does say: “This tragedy demonstrates basically what we’ve been saying all along: “Coming closer to homes, bow hunting will lead to more tragedies, not fewer of them.”

With thanks to Metler for info and links, here’s more context for the story about Tonka, which I saw in the Times of Trenton last Saturday, Sept. 23. 

First of all, in August 2010, the perimeter for bow hunters was cut from 450 feet to 150 feet from a back door (not property line). For schools and playgrounds, the perimeter stayed at 450 feet for bow hunters.

The following link leads to some grisly reading. In sickening detail, it spells out when and in what manner (“call, stalk or stand” . . .) a hunter may try to kill coyotes and foxes.  (Or should I say “harvest” them, using a euphemism often found in writing about hunting. Is anyone fooled?) What kind of mind, what kind of person would pore over these specifics, day-dreaming of dead coyotes and foxes?

And note that the bow-only “season” for coyotes and foxes starts Sept. 30. So did Tonka’s shooter have calendar issues?  Or did his claim that the (thought-to-be) “coyote” was chasing a deer give him the right to shoot in “deer defense”?

http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/pdf/2017/smgame_summary17-18.pdf

What must hunters pay for the right to kill animals? The “resident firearm hunting license” costs $27.50, while that for “bow and arrow hunting” goes for $31.50.  Ah, but the so-called “all around sportsman” license covers the first two here plus fishing, for $72.25.  A real steal.

http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/hntlicfe.htm#license

Finally, how successful are hunters at eradicating New Jersey animals?  Here’s a link to APLNJ’s current report (the newest is due out very soon).
http://www.aplnj.org/assets/pdf/DFW_Killing_Summary_2015-2016_LOCKED.pdf

It’s disturbing to know all these things and see the Division of Fish & Wildlife (DFW) laboriously prepared charts, price lists and tips for hunters, who make up such a tiny proportion of the state’s population.  (“Resident hunting licenses” sold in 2016 totaled 32,512 in a population of 8.944 million, or less than ½ of 1%.) 

Here’s a DFW quote (italics added) that should live in infamy: "Small game hunting in New Jersey provides hours of recreation afield every hunting season. From abundant native populations of rabbit and squirrel to elusive ruffed grouse, there are ample opportunities for sportsmen and women to enjoy the pursuit of game.”   http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/smgame_info.htm

Poor dear Tonka, your killer may not have many hunter-peers here, but thanks to DFW, he’s got a wealth of info and support backing him up.

            Coyote image: Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources

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Encore! miscellany of cat briefs continues

 “There are no ordinary cats.” -- Colette

                                                                             Dodo image

Mmm, mmm, good!  It’s hard to imagine craving a nice snack of . . . grass, although it seems that cats do just that. Why?

According to Catster online, it’s a historical habit, even though cats are “obligate carnivores” and could exist on animal protein alone. For felines, the right kind of grass can be a digestive aid, help control hairballs (via vomiting, stimulated by eating grass) and provide nutritional supplements. 

And for cats’ people, that can mean occasional puddles on the rug – a little hair, a little grass, a little clean-up. 

http://www.catster.com/cat-behavior/is-your-cat-eating-grass-heres-why?utm_source=WhatCountsEmail&utm_medium=Catster%20Ful%20List&utm_campaign=CED091917-Food

                                                                                                

Stop shelter killings!

No matter where you get your facts and figures, animal shelters are no place for cats. For instance, Alley Cat Allies says “More than 70% of all cats entering US shelters are killed.” (Note: not “humanely euthanized,” as it’s sometimes worded, because if healthy cats die in shelters, that’s not humane anything; it's killing.)

Other sources, other numbers, but they all pretty much boil down to “every year, all over the country, our nation’s animal shelters kill millions of healthy cats,” says ACA leader Becky Robinson. Not all those cats who are killed are feral, or community cats, either -- although it’s true that in some places, “feral” equates with automatic killing.  It’s as if Trap-Neuter-Return isn't a perfectly viable alternative.

But, some shelters cry, we are overloaded with cats and have no choice. Wrong!  The live-release rate at Miami Dade County Animal rose from 43% in 2010 to 90% in 2015 – largely because of its “return-to-field” program, through which the shelter “simply stopped accepting and euthanizing stray cats.”  

                                                                                                               

Instead, those cats are vetted for free and taken back to where they came from. No cats are added to the community, while existing cats are returned vetted, better-behaved and sterile to their outdoor homes. Then, natural attrition gradually occurs.

https://www.animalsheltering.org/magazine/articles/born-free-roaming

How old is that cat?        
                                                                 

Those who think cats age seven years for every calendar year have it wrong. Fact is, felines age faster

Billy Summers

during their first two years alive. During her first year, a cat reaches the approximate human age of 15, then “turns” 24 at age 2. After that, it’s four “cat years” for every calendar year – so a 5-year old feline would be about 36 cat years old altogether – 24 for the first two calendar years, then 3 more years x 4 cat years, or 12; and 12 plus 24 = 36.

Cats who live outdoors age much quicker, maybe even twice as fast as indoor cats. (another reason to keep cats indoors!)

Let’s see: Harry Summers is 12 – so at age 2, he was 24 cat years old.  Because he has 10 more years, each one equating to 4 cat years, add 40 years for the original 24. Harry’s now 64 cat years old.  (Yes, I’ll still need you, yes, I’ll still feed you . . .!)

Billy is 10 – so he was 24 cat years old at age 2, then 4 cat years times each of the remaining 8 years, or 32. Billy is 56 cat years old (and I’ll still need and feed you too, Cutie!)

http://www.catster.com/cats-101/calculate-cat-age-in-cat-years

Survival of the polydactyls

  

From amid the ruination of Hurricane Irma in Key West, Florida, 54 polydactyl cats survived by sheltering in place. So did the staff members who share the one-time home of writer Ernest Hemingway with the felines.

 

In fact, many of the cats reportedly sought cover inside even before the storm hit, which was seen as a sign of their intelligence.

Known for their six and even seven-toed paws, some of these survivors are descendants of a white polydactyl owned by the Hemingways.  For tourists, the cats can be as much a draw as the home itself.  

 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/11/us/hemingway-cats-irma.html?emc=eta1

Apollo and Zeus, two tigers saved by PAWS

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