At least animals don’t have to endure winter holiday rush

Manatee mom & baby

We’re in the thick of winter holiday season, frantically rushing around shopping, baking, wrapping . . . while in the non-human animal world, life goes on pretty much as usual, for good or ill.  

Relief is coming for starving Florida manatees; bat moms continue teaching their young how to navigate; and an Asian sea eagle has flown far, far off course.  In Ewing township’s animal shelter (as in shelters everywhere), homeless animals wait to be adopted into loving homes.

Food aid soon: People aren’t the only ones who sometimes need food assistance.  Florida’s manatees, already threatened with extinction, are dying of starvation: a record high of more than 1,000 manatees have already died this year.

Sea grass is their main food, but it has gradually been killed by algae blooms fueled by human waste and fertilizer runoff.  As human populations have kept growing, the problem has worsened.  Now officials plan to provide food in hopes of cutting the high manatee death rate.  Feeding will occur at a place on Florida’s east coast where manatees gather in winter, seeking warmer water.

The plan to help the manatees this way required deciding which outcome was the least of two evils: let them continue to die off from starvation or feed them and carefully study the results.  https://tinyurl.com/26chmudp

Bat mom, fruit in mouth & pup below

Outre, but it works:  Some baby bats learn how to get around in the air in an unexpected way: a mom carries her pup to a tree near their cave and leaves him/her there while she forages for food.  On her return, she carries the pup back to their cave.  Repeat. 

Somehow, the babies – Egyptian fruit bat babies, anyway -- learn directions this way, despite being carried upside down and never flying the route themselves.  When they start flying on their own, pups head right to the last tree where mom had left them.  That becomes their starting place for future trips. https://tinyurl.com/ycktm597

Go east, young eagle:  A traveling Asian sea eagle is either a great explorer or very lost.  This bird,  whose native range is China, Japan, Korea and east-coast Russia, turned up in eastern Canada last

Steller's sea eagle

month – nearly 5,000 miles from home.

A rare arctic bird with a bright orange beak, the Steller’s sea eagle displays a 6-8-foot wingspan and can outsize the bald eagle.  The latest report on his whereabouts has him possibly in Texas.

The wandering eagle is considered an “avian vagrant,” or one who veered off course, then kept roving in search of others of his kind.  So far, apparently, no luck.   https://tinyurl.com/2p8a9eym

 

Meet Bessy, a 4-year old Staffordshire Terrier mix who’s an 80-pound bundle of love. This big girl has an even bigger heart, but unfortunately, she’s been overlooked for the 10 months she’s been here.

While in foster homes, Bessy was described as calm, affectionate and easy to manage. Because foster homes aren’t permanent, she was shuffled around a bit, but responded well to each move. She must be the only pet in her adoptive home and would be happiest with children at least 12 years old.  As a strong gal, she needs an owner who could physically handle her.  

Bessy loves to go for walks and roll over for belly rubs.  She has become a shelter favorite, and every volunteer who walks her enjoys spending time with her.  She’s housetrained and very neat in both foster homes and her kennel.  She’s accepting of the crate, is not a big fan of the vacuum, and loves stuffed toys.

          She has been so patient day after day,                waiting for her forever family.  We                      know they're out there somewhere, but              they just haven't met Bessy yet.  We                    don't want to see her at the shelter in a                few months because that would make                her homeless time exactly a year.  Please            adopt this big sweet girl! 

          --an Easel Animal Rescue League                      (easelnj.org) spokesperson. 

 

 

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