Still searching for animal heroes -- & finding some

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As there have been horrible frights and losses from Hurricane Dorian this month, there have also been heroes, thank the power.  One such person was the Bahamian woman who gave shelter to 97 homeless and abandoned dogs in her home.  Try to picture it: 97 dogs!  And the images with the Dodo story showed large dogs.

“The wind sounded like a train that wouldn’t pass, it was so loud, water was coming in through the seams on the windows and underneath the doors, the dogs were scared. I tried to play with them, sing to them, gave them every last treat just to keep their minds off all the noise of the hurricane.”  --Chella Phillips, dog host who manages the Voiceless Dogs of Nassau, a group dedicated to saving the island’s stray dogs.    

Besides a wealth of treats and lots of drinking water, that takes grit -- and true animal love! 

 

Far from Dorian’s destructive path, another hero leaves a bowl of fresh water outside every day for his city’s animals.  One day he attached a camera to the bowl to see who came.

"Not only was it cats and dogs, but a crow and butterflies came up to have a drink too," reported Aahmet Selki, of Turkey, who added, “. . . we are responsible for all the animals. We destroyed or shaped the whole planet in the direction of our needs.  It's time to think about the other species too.”

https://www.thedodo.com/close-to-home/camera-in-water-bowl-sidewalk-animals?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20190905dododaily&utm_content=20190905dododaily+cid_974104ddfcf8d1d45dca6e105f6d35f4&utm_source=campaignmonitor

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Water: it's necessary for life.  A truck driver in Brazil knew that when he stopped to help an armadillo in distress with a reviving spray of water.  And left a banana for the animal before driving on. 

On a much smaller local front, we cat-loving owners can be heroes to our cats who don’t drink any or enough water, by checking out these 10 Catster tips for hydrating felines.  Dehydration in cats can be deadly:  it can be tied to urethra blockage and urinary tract infections and crystals, as well as digestive health.   

Inducements for cats to drink water range from wet-food diets to number of bowls, and from bowl placement to added tuna juice.  

https://www.catster.com/cat-health-care/cat-not-drinking-water-get-your-cat-to-drink-more-water?utm_source=WhatCountsEmail&utm_medium=Catster%20Ful%20List&utm_campaign=CED20190906

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Candidate Castro’s popular plank

How very refreshing -- and welcome.  Julian Castro, a Democratic presidential candidate and former secretary of housing and urban development, last month unveiled his animal welfare plan. 

Concurrent with the Trump administration’s assault on the landmark Endangered Species Act -- “the law that brought the bald eagle, the humpback whale and the grizzly bear back from the brink of extinction,” as the Washington Post put it -- Castro has made a detailed animal welfare plan part of his platform, and it includes strengthening the ESA.

His ideas include ending the euthanasia of healthy cats and dogs in shelters, making animal cruelty a federal crime and expanding U.S. protected lands. (issues.juliancastro.com/paw-plan/)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/08/19/julin-castro-rolls-out-animal-welfare-plan-trump-snubs-endangered-species/?wpisrc=nl_animalia&wpmm=1

Disservice to Dogs

So now the US Postal Service is in on it too: “honoring” so-called “military working dogs” for their courage and loyalty by issuing a first-class stamp series with images of four breeds.  It’s all so altruistic and patriotic -- and wrong. 

Dogs don’t enlist or aim to “work" in humans’ wars.  They don’t seek the chance to sniff out bombs or perform any of the other dirty-work things people train them to do.  And they sure don’t seek a hero’s death (or the silly medals they’re sometimes awarded, posthumously).

Dogs should be free to live dogs’ lives.  Period.

Think involuntary “cannon fodder” . . . and boycott these sick stamps.

No 'military working dogs' need apply

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