Enough great cats for everyone who'd love to have one

Wolfgang

“Wolfgang, the cat I've been working so hard with -- he made biscuits for me for the first time today!  They were tiny biscuits, but biscuits none the less!”  

 Andreya Dunks, an assistant manager at the Ewing Township Animal Shelter, exclaimed over a breakthrough with one of the cats. 

Her caring enthusiasm is so typical of the cat-positive attitude found there that you might want either to be a resident cat. . . or to adopt (at least) one! 

As animal shelters go, this one, managed by the EASEL Animal Rescue League, is packed with desirable elements: it’s proudly a no-kill facility; it’s populated with cats who generally seem contented as they wait for adopters to choose them; it’s relatively spacious, with high, wide cages and windows – a real boon; it’s a happening place, with lively people in and out and “roamers,” or cats allowed the run of the cat room.

Snookie

And for many good reasons, the Ewing shelter does a boom business in cat adoptions.  Meet a feline you like one day, and there’s a good chance s/he won’t be there if you wait too long to come back and renew your acquaintance.  “Now you see them, now you don’t.”

Why is that?  Because complete information about each cat is readily available and an effective adoption team works on their behalf.  For instance, newly arrived cats are carefully checked out while temporarily housed in the trailer outside the building.  Each cage has a color-coded sticker showing the cat’s strengths and needs – for instance, a green circle denotes a happy cat, while a yellow one means go slow; skittish feline.

Extensively trained volunteers then work with each one toward becoming adoption-ready.  As space permits, those cats move into the building, where they can be visited by would-be adopters who have successfully applied to adopt.

Jasper

Still other felines are also housed in the cat room at the local PetSmart, a successful meeting, greeting and adopting place, while special needs cats – elderly and pregnant cats, kittens for bottle feeding and those having difficulty in the shelter – are among those going to fosters.   

Shelter rules are designed to benefit the cats.  For instance, bonded pairs of felines are not broken up; it’s a two-fer or a no-fer.  As with people, cats can also have health conditions that can’t be ignored.  An example: those who are FIV+ can go home with adopters who understand they’re safe and can lead normal lives.

All cats need medical clearance before moving to loving homes.  O’Reilly had a worrisome bump on his nose, so only when a vet declared it benign and removable could he leave the shelter.  Warren’s adopter happily agreed on canned food for this handsome old orange cat because most of his teeth had been removed.  Caramel Apple’s hyperthyroidism is treatable with two daily meds – a responsibility her adopter willingly accepted. 

Zane

So, what’s in a name when it belongs to a shelter cat?  For one thing, a name can invite a possible adopter to take a closer look.  (Wouldn’t you too, with felines named Lucius and Malfoy, straight out of Harry Potter?)  Those two beauties were snapped up by adopters who definitely don’t live in Slytherin House.  

The website – easelnj.org/cats – is attractive and informative, an ideal way to get both an overview and details on how things work at the Ewing Township Animal Shelter.  

“Oh!  As I walked by today, Wolfgang came to the front of his cage, purring, without my even having treats or opening the door!  He was just asking for attention (that I of course gave him!).  I never thought he would                                       get to this point!  (Hoping he's adopted soon!)” 

Cormac

 

(The Ewing Twp. Animal Shelter is at 4 Jake Garzio Drive (in the municipal complex), Ewing, NJ.  Phone 609-883-0540  Website: easelnj.org/cats.  Note: Not all the cats pictured here are still available for adoption!)

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Cat comments are welcome at 1moreonce.blogspot.com

News briefs on animals: cats’ knees to magpies’ smarts

Because my list of animal topics for this blog grows longer every day, I’ve decided this is a good time to share some of them here.  I’ve written a brief overview of each one that especially appealed, ending with a link to the source.

Then you can take your pick and start reading!  I hope you’re as fascinated by each story as I was.  

Manatees' salad:  Earlier this year, Florida manatees were starving because sea grass, their main source of food, had been mostly wiped out through human actions.  So, in an unusual move, lettuce by the ton was provided to the hungry mammals.  Enough?  We don’t know yet.

 Even if the lettuce suffices, the manatees will still be up against the same culprit: humans.  First, it was fatal boat strikes; now it’s pollution that destroys their food supply.  Much as people claim to love manatees, will they ever care for them enough to stop killing them?  https://tinyurl.com/mrx7mfpb

The knees know:  Do cats have knees?  That’s the last question you may have thought to ask about your beloved cat while admiring her feline grace in movement.  Have you ever heard anyone refer to this body part in cats? 

Annie

Fact is, cats do have joints that function the same as knees and elbows — they just aren’t called knees and elbows . . . and your cat’s knees might not be where you think they are. 

Now that you’ve started wondering about this, take a look at the illustrated story below.  And while you’re at it, try to not even think about bees’ knees.  https://tinyurl.com/3zky2wsw

Cats & arthritis:  Speaking of knees and joints and thinking of cats’ lithe moves, they do grow older and can suffer from arthritis, causing pain that cramps their style.  Which is why news of the first cat arthritis drug OK’d by the FDA was announced with such fanfare earlier this year.

Look into Solensia, an injectable medication given by a veterinarian once a month to help control osteoarthritis pain in cats.

Hippos endangered:  Massive and frightening as hippos are – or maybe for that very reason – hippos and their body parts (like teeth, skin, skulls) are widely sought after by traders and trophy hunters.

Regarded as “ecosystem engineers” in the African river and lake areas where they live, hippos are a captivating sight moving through water channels, reinforcing routes. 

                                                                               Hippo Advocacy pic

But now, slaughtered in cruel numbers, hippos must be protected.  To save them from near extinction, we should ask the US Fish & Wildlife Service to list them under the Endangered Species Act, assuring federal protection from such obscene results as a glass-topped table resting on a hippo skull.  Sick.   https://tinyurl.com/ypkkybcd

‘Smooshed’ look is out:  You know what they say about dogs being our best friends.  That’s nice, but humans are far from best friends with Bulldogs and Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.  So dramatically have we inbred them into smooshed-faced pets that too often, they have short, difficult and unhealthy lives. 

The good news is that a court in Norway recently ordered a stop to breeding these dogs.  Viva, Norway! – but where is our AKC on this issue?  (The answer to that is bound to be long and UNsatisfying.)

https://tinyurl.com/5cp7mupa

Magpies: beauty & brains:  More and more, birds are seen as much more intelligent than thought till recently.  The Australian magpie has been called “one of the cleverest birds on earth,” with proof that goes far beyond its ability to remember up to 30 human faces and produce “beautiful songs of extraordinary complexity.”

Magpies’ latest feat was to outsmart scientists who had carefully made tracking harnesses for them.  Instead of cooperating, the birds helped each other remove the harnesses (birds: 1; scientists: 0; end of study?).   https://tinyurl.com/2szkxzrt

New way to help:  And finally, although first in importance, Humane Society International has initiated a new way to help Eastern European animals  (including those who escaped from Ukraine).  If you still want to help these needy animals, or to help them again, please look here then take action:  

https://www.hsi.org/news-media/free-veterinary-care-for-pets-of-ukrainian-refugees/ 

     Please make time to dip into these animal news briefs during your spring holiday weekend!    

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                                  To comment, please go to 1moreonce.blogspot.com.

Singing the praises of unsung heroes for animals

In our world of big names, curiously, our true heroes tend to be anonymous.  In this life of illusion and quasi-illusion, the person of solid virtues who can be admired for something more substantial than his[or her] well-knownness often proves to be the unsung hero: the teacher, the nurse, the mother, the honest cop, the hard worker at lonely, underpaid, unglamorous, unpublicized jobs.  --Daniel J Boorstin (1914-2004)

 

“Heroes” are in the eyes of the beholder – or the eyes of the appreciator.  Save a life at the risk of your own and you’re seen as a hero by any observer and the person whose life you saved.  But some “unsung heroes” also save lives and take other actions behind the scenes that only the beneficiaries may know of.

Donate to help imperiled animals in Ukraine knowing they’ll never write you a thank-you note. . .  Vote for an official who’s also an animal welfare advocate and it’s your secret. . . Contact a local agency to report animal abuse and your good deed will go unrecognized even though the mistreatment may stop.

You are an anonymous, unsung hero.  Thank you!

And you chose the path of promoting animal welfare (despite its being hard, lonely, underpaid, unglamourous and unpublicized work) simply because you saw it as the right thing to do.  You couldn’t not do it.  Thank you!

The back of a treasured old tee shirt reads, "Speak for those who cannot say, ‘Please don’t hurt me, I don’t want to die’  Be the voice for animals.”  That tee came from the Animal Protection League of NJ (APLNJ.org) –the only statewide organization taking a hard stand for animals in New Jersey.

APL members have taken that message to heart, as evidenced by their myriad issues, projects and yes, successes.

A while ago, I wrote about two of them: one, a widely acknowledged “cat specialist,” who reaches out to share her expertise and experience with anyone who asks; the second, a member who befriended the geese she was working to save from death.  They remembered her later, lovingly.

Others who are affiliated with APLNJ regularly  

• keep track of and work for passage of legislation that benefits NJ animals, including geese, deer and black bears
• meet with legislators
• form coalitions to strengthen and unify APLNJ’s positions
• research animal issues and write position papers and op-eds  
• talk up APLNJ efforts through “tabling” to distribute materials at public events, publications, billboards and aerial banners
• demonstrate or protest to raise awareness and right wrongs  
• propose positive alternatives to town councils, homeowner associations, park commissions, etc., about practices toward animals that are unconscionable 
• make speeches, write letters to the editor and legislators to build support  
• testify at legislative sessions on APLNJ positions  
• lead by example and inspire the organization’s members

Our too-often unsung heroes for animals all need reinforcements.  There can’t ever be too many aware and caring people working for animal welfare – simply skim media stories for a  frightening idea of how animals, domestic and wild alike, are abused.  

Of course, donating to respected animal advocacy groups is always welcome.  But the power of a group of like-minded people brainstorming ideas, joining up for outreach, directly aiding animals in need . . . such activities can bring about remarkably positive (internal and external) results.

Please visit www.APLNJ.org for ways to contribute – then make a move “for the animals.”

Hoping you'll comment -- how about on unsung heroes in other organizations for animals?  -- at 1moreonce.blogspot.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

The Anthropocene threatens climate & life itself

I don’t remember exactly when or where I read a statement like this:  Future generations may live in a world with no elephants – but it jolted me.  The more I thought about that possibility, the more unhappy I felt, and I turned my animal-world attention to elephants. 

All the good things said about these unique and iconic wild animals are true; they have appeared in human history seemingly forever, and they must not be allowed to disappear now!  But now, of course, they’re confronted by the most menacing foe of all -- the Anthropocene (an unofficial unit of geologic time, used to describe the most recent period in Earth’s history when human activity started to have a significant impact on the planet’s climate and ecosystems).

Mammoth tusk

A few recent media articles point to the long-time existence of elephants and their cousins on this planet, their relationship to walruses and one physical change that some elephants have undergone because of widespread poaching and slaughter.  

Elephant tusks are the common element in all three stories: tusks mean ivory, which means money – truly the "root of all evil" where elephants are concerned. 

Submerged ancient tusk

About 3 years ago, some 150 miles off the California coast and around 10,000 feet down, scientists found and retrieved a tusk from the ocean floor.  That find was followed by research to learn what creature it had come from, and when and why.

It turned out to have come from a young female mammoth who had died on land, then her remains were carried out to deep sea, where that tusk waited for millennia to be discovered.  It was spotted by scientists looking for something else – but they happily took on the “tusk task.”

https://tinyurl.com/ypexjj33

Multi-purpose tusks

Water Deer

“Elephants have them.  Pigs have them.  Narwhals and water deer have them. Tusks are among the most dramatic examples of mammal dentition . . . ” 

The question is, how did teeth lengthen into ever-growing tusks in some mammals, including walruses?  It didn’t happen overnight, but over long evolution: certain mammals changed enough for conditions to be right for tusks to replace their teeth.

The appearance of soft tissue attachments supporting the teeth and a state when the animal’s teeth aren’t continuously replaced -- those are the 2 conditions that can lead to the independent development of tusks.

https://tinyurl.com/2zje98st

Tusklessness can protect

Although these ever-growing, projecting teeth called tusks are used for “fighting, foraging, even flirting,” war and widespread poaching can cause growth in some elephants to be halted.  Mozambique’s 15-year long conflict (1977-1992) illustrated this.

 Occurring mostly among females, the rising number of tuskless females there accompanied a dramatic drop in elephant population overall – an evolutionary shift obviously not curtailed by overall population decline.

 Tuskless female

Now, however, both population and tusk growth are seen as necessary to restore Mozambique’s ecosystem because “Elephants use their tusks as tools to dig for water, strip bark for food, excavate minerals and salts, carry loads, defend themselves and battle other elephants, among other uses.”  

https://tinyurl.com/55tch4zk

Targeting lead ammo

Saved from DDT years ago, the American bald eagle then became prey to lead poisoning from the spent ammunition hunters used to shoot animals that eagles scavenge. 

Sick Bald Eagle

And make no mistake: Lead poisoning effects are devastating, as one scientist says, affecting all systems of an eagle’s body and slowing population growth.  Besides saving eagles from lead and its perils, poisoned wildlife and tainted meat become non-issues with lead-free ammo.  

While some states and sports already ban lead ammunition, other individuals and organizations fight to keep it.  They argue, inaccurately, that it’s better than copper bullets, that its after-effects are not as debilitating as claimed and even that they want to use up their store of lead ammunition.

A video for an anti-lead group details the many reasons to move away from lead (https://sportingleadfree.org/who-we-are) and in a related story, a bird-rehabber says, “I’m not opposed to hunting, but we moved away from lead in gasoline, paint and plumbing and now we need to do the same with ammunition.”

Beware the Anthropocene!

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                                        Meet Bucky, a squirrel whose teeth just kept growing. 

                                        A woman who took pity on him trimmed his teeth

                                        with manicure scissors, according to The Dodo.   

                                         To comment, go to 1moreonce.blogspot.com.   

Hell on earth for Ukraine’s animals

Spring: the season of joyous re-birth, this year accompanies horrific war, with terror, death and destruction in Ukraine.  The images are all around us – cruelty toward people, their homes, their security, plans and dreams.

But “War is hell” for innocent, defenseless animals too. 

                       Liza                           HSUS image 

Since the invasion of Ukraine began, animal mentions and sightings have been few.  And painful. Fleeing from their country, two people carried their cats with them – one nestled inside a coat, while the other was inside a carrier.  No mention of food and water – these pet lovers must have trusted those necessities of life would be available once they reached safety.

Of the two dogs I saw, the first was barking from inside a pet carrier in the street.  A woman and her two children had taken their pet with them in a desperate rush to escape.  They were killed; the dog lived, at least until that moment. 

I saw the second dog from a distance, crossing a street.  (Had he too lost his people?  Where was he going?  Was he moving blindly away from his last trauma and toward the inevitable next one?)

What in the world is happening to animals in this besieged country?  What do they think is going on?  How panicked are they?  How many of them were left behind in hopes they’d be more safe staying where they were?

Domestic animals count on people in the best of times, and even moreso in the worst.  

           Bonifacio                                HSUS image

Then there are zoo animals, no doubt terrified if not already dead.  And those in shelters, by definition intended to care for them -- what about those poor creatures?  Reported by Humane Society International (HSI), three volunteers were killed trying to deliver food to shelter animals who had been without it for days.

I was reminded of the novel I read recently, about a young Asian elephant, Violet, newly arrived, then trapped in the Belfast, Ireland zoo during World War 2.  That alone was upsetting enough, but then came the sounds of war as the German blitz began in the city and moved ever closer.  

With “true grit,” the young woman-keeper of Violet managed to move her out of the zoo to safety.  But of course, most all of that was fiction.  (The Elephant of Belfast, by S. Kirk Walsh)

To help Ukraine’s animals during these desperate times, simply google “How to help Ukraine animals,” then sit back and choose your charity.  (You may be amazed at the number of helping organizations.)

https://www.thedodo.com/daily-dodo/man-helps-ukrainian-refugee-families-and-their-dogs-stay-together

Ukranian dog (name unknown)     HSUS image

As for Ukraine’s European neighbors, they’re also involved.  Connecting with animal welfare groups in Germany, Italy and Poland, HSI reported on their efforts to help Ukraine’s animals, including those whose families took them when they fled.  The Romanian Red cross and Berlin’s aid station were among those cited.

“Animals do not go to war, but they are too often among its victims,” said one official, on the terrible, and wholly unfair, reality of this situation.

https://blog.humanesociety.org/2022/03/animal-welfare-crisis-grows-more-critical-in-ukraine-as-war-rages-on.html 

Occasionally in this blog, I’ve tried to recognize “heroes for animals” – those who work, unstintingly “above and beyond,” for animal welfare.  Wherever they are around the world, such animal advocates are simply wonderful.  Right now, though, Ukrainians go still further by saving lives while under fire, often at risk of their own lives. 

Heroes all.

Spring.  Despite the awfulness happening in our world right now -- and even because of it -- we need to think of, and savor, spring.  It’s beautiful but brief, and it inspires . . . hope!   https://tinyurl.com/2p8679vb

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Please comment at 1moreonce.blogspot.com.

Of giant vultures, elusive marsupials & ‘cute’ marmots

                California condor                                      NYT pic

California condors, a variety of vulture and the largest flying birds in North America, can now be asked “Who’s your daddy?” since scientists’ recent discovery that “virgin births” happen among these endangered birds.  

The discovery came about only because condors have been closely watched and their births carefully documented as their population grew from 23 birds in 1982 to 504 birds in 2020.  That increase resulted from a concerted effort to breed condors in captivity.

Two male chicks were found to lack any paternal contribution in their genetic information – think, chicks hatching from unfertilized eggs – leading to condor mothers being linked with virgin births.  It’s called “Parthenogenesis,” a rare phenomenon among birds that’s more common among species like fish or lizards.   https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/facts/california-condor  

Just whistle

Groundhog

Those of us familiar with groundhogs are usually satisfied to say something like “How cute!” (especially of their babies) and move on.  But these whistle-pigs or woodchucks, as they’re also known, have social structures and life styles that might surprise us.

They’re actually rodents belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots, and they’re lowland animals, unlike most other marmots, who live in mountainous terrain.   

A scientist who’s been studying groundhogs for years at a site in Falmouth, Maine, has observed, photographed, tagged and taken voluminous notes on groundhogs.  She has concluded they’re friendlier to relatives than unrelated others and they basically operate with a kinship-based loose community structure.

Baby groundhog

Groundhogs who opt to become outliers, living on their own, could miss the sentinel’s warning whistle to the community, signaling a nearby fox or some other predator.

Winter hibernators, groundhogs are often seen by homeowners as “varmints” and worse, although in justice to them, “Their digging helps aerate and enrich soil,” one scientist noted.   https://tinyurl.com/36jx8cx3

    Hide & seek

Koalas, one of Australia’s iconic animals, have always been elusive, but now they’re even harder to find – an estimated one-third of the country’s koalas have disappeared since the 2018 bush fires that “killed or displaced . . .3 billion animals, with thousands of koalas among the dead.” 

Drought, disease and deforestation – specifically, the paving over of their eucalyptus forest habitats -- have also contributed to the population drop.  Further, koalas’ small brains and slow movements make it

Koala with joey

easier to capture or kill them.

Now, scientists are trying to find out whether these marsupials – female mammals with pouches for their young – can survive after forests are charred, and at what elevation.  But koalas continue their elusive ways, making it still more difficult to find and count  them.  https://tinyurl.com/ypjb73fm

 

Elegy for the Giant Tortoises

by Margaret Atwood

Let others pray for the passenger pigeon
the dodo, the whooping crane, the eskimo:
everyone must specialize

I will confine myself to a meditation
upon the giant tortoises
withering finally on a remote island.

I concentrate in subway stations,
in parks, I can't quite see them,
they move to the peripheries of my eyes

but on the last day they will be there;
already the event
like a wave travelling shapes vision:

on the road where I stand they will materialize,
plodding past me in a straggling line
awkward without water

their small heads pondering
from side to side, their useless armour
sadder than tanks and history,

in their closed gaze ocean and sunlight paralysed,
lumbering up the steps, under the archways
toward the square glass altars

where the brittle gods are kept,
the relics of what we have destroyed,
our holy and obsolete symbols.

 

(from Selected Poems. © Houghton Mifflin, 1976. Reprinted with permission in The Writer’s Almanac.)

A time out

As February finally ends, it’s time to organize photo and text files.  AnimalBeat II will be back after the spring equinox  (Sunday, March 20, 11:33 am).

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Apologies to lovebirds . . . & animal news briefs

Valentine’s day came and went here, with images of loving wild and domestic animals seemingly kissing each other (probably a case of sentimental anthropomorphism on my part), but no lovebirds!  True, I had thought of them and even wrote myself a note to include them . . . but memory and note both failed.

So: Both loving and lovely, tiny lovebirds are among the smallest parrots in the world, they rarely speak and all 9 species are native to Africa.  Many are green, often with other colors.  Lovebird pairs are mutually devoted, enjoying perching together, preening and snuggling.  

Keep up the good, loving work, lovebirds!

Wild-baby book

To think of a 250-pound baby seems incongruous at first, till you think of a baby elephant, who typically weighs in around that number.  After, all, her mom can weigh about 8,000 pounds.

Further surprise: unlike human offspring, that baby learns to walk in a few hours, and within a day she can keep up with her traveling family – always guarded by her mother.

At waterholes, she learns to suck water into her trunk then blow it into her mouth.  With 40,000 trunk muscles to control, she learns the crucial skills for  grasping food, taking a dust bath and greeting family members.

And the story goes on. . . It’s all in a beautiful, photo-illustrated children’s book, A Baby Elephant in the Wild, written by scientist Caitlin O’Connell, with photographs by her and Timothy Rodwell.  (Alert: You will be captivated by the pictures and decide to give the book to a young person who then may determine to “Save the Elephants.”  Please give the book!) 

Protecting wolves -- again

            Gray wolves                          HSUS pic

Numerous federal anti-animal moves by the last administration have been modified or thrown out by the Biden administration, thank the power.  (There’s now even talk of how to fix the vast damage done along the southern border – including habitat loss and migration paths blocked -- by the infamous wall.)

The latest boon for animals was the decision earlier this month by a federal judge “to restore protections for gray wolves in much of the country.  It reversed a decision by the Trump administration that stripped Endangered Species Act protections and exposed the animals to aggressive hunting in areas where they were nearly killed off years ago.”

The decision immediately reimposed safeguards for wolf populations in the Lower 48, except for three northern Rocky Mountain states (Idaho, Montana and Wyoming) that weren’t part of the court case but still represent a huge threat to gray wolves.  https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/10/climate/wolves-endangered-species-list.html

Coyote neighbors? Yes!

They typically weigh just 35-40 pounds, and they’re often more afraid of us than we are of them.  And yet, “coyote” is a charged word despite their being our neighbors, whether we see much of them or not.

Peaceful co-existence with coyotes is possible if people observe basic guidelines.  (1) never feed coyotes; (2) don’t let pets out unattended, especially at night; (3) don’t approach coyote pups or a coyote den; (4) if approached by a coyote, be big and loud; don’t run; and (5) don’t even think of trapping and re-locating!

Here are details on living with wild coyote neighbors.  https://mercercountyparks.org/assets/Coyotes.pdf

Hip-hip . . . !

Now at 190 years, the “oldest living land animal in the world” lives on St. Helena island, has his own resident veterinarian and is regularly hand-fed fresh produce to keep his health up. 

A looooong time ago, Jonathan the tortoise was a diplomatic gift to the island’s governor.  Since then, he has outlived 30 more governors and countless historical people and events around the world.

Jonathan’s caretaker-vet is a boy of 64 --126 years younger than his charge.  

RIP, rat hero

Think only of the maiming and death caused by land mines, and you too will salute Magawa, the African giant pouched rat who in 5 years sniffed out more than 100 such mines in Cambodia.  

A native of Tanzania, Magawa was the most successful rat in his program, which trained rats to detect mines and signal handlers by scratching the surface above them, thus saving myriad lives.

Awarded a first-time ever gold medal for his great service in 2020, Magawa died in retirement.  (And the NYTimes story marking his death drew numerous comments.) https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/11/world/europe/magawa-landmine-hero-rat-dead.html

 

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