'. . . Act locally': fight against hunts & protect our pets

                                                                                         HSUS pic

On one front this year, enlightened science realized a gigantic breakthrough by carrying out the first-ever fusion reaction that produced more energy than it took to start the reaction itself.  That announcement re-ignited great excitement about the future of carbon-free nuclear energy.

Then, here in NJ, ignoring different branches of science, we’re still slaughtering our black bears, euphemistically referring to “harvesting them” as if that wording would justify the merciless, needless kill of innocent animals.

While we may think and hope globally, we can act locally right now by fighting the barbarism of bear hunts (and others) and assuring our own pets’ well-being.    

Think about New Jersey’s recent weather: long rains, high winds and bitter cold, often preceded by more severe-weather forecasts.

Now think about current and recent weather around the country, from horrific wild fires, floods and tornadoes to the terrible blizzard that some areas are even now digging out from.  Devastation, every which way.

In other words, it’s time to assemble a disaster kit for our families – starting with our pets, who can’t do that for themselves.  Such a move has long been advocated, but now, it seems truly needed, smart and humane. 

If people can’t take care of their pets when disaster suddenly strikes, that could result in further disaster: harm, injury or death to the animals.  Which is why emergency kits should be ready and waiting.  

This time around, I’ll follow my own advice by organizing and stocking kits for Billy and Jersey.  The sad-but-true bottom line is that we can’t count on anyone else to race to our rescue in a disaster, welcome as that move would be.  

So my suggestions for all of us begin with breaking this huge job into smaller parts.  First, round up a big, sturdy container of some kind (not paper) to serve as an emergency kit for pet(s).  Then start filling it with things you can leave there for whatever crisis comes – think canned food (and a can-opener!), bowls, old spoons, paper towels.  Next: water, in good supply, and key medicines.   

After that start, the list could go on and on.  So look online – using search terms like “pets” and “disaster/emergency kit” -- and note ideas from sources like the HSUS, ASPCA and FEMA (also involved in pet rescue, as a result of the 2006 Pet Act that followed the catastrophic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005).

Please, pledge to do this for your family pets.  Make your new year’s resolution now; the time is right!  Aim to get a pet emergency kit together by the end of January 2023, at the very latest.

Resolve!  

‘. . . the [screech] heard round the world’

That would be the UN-restful sounds of Jersey Summers, who continues to make his presence, and voice, felt here.  He’s quite cute but not (yet) cuddlesome, and he’s easy to love – even at 6 am, when his caroling sometimes starts. 

The only way I’ve found to quiet him when he’s on a roll is to “Shhhhhh” him, with a finger to my lips.  He looks startled each time I do that, and goes quiet (temporarily).  Even though Jersey beats both of them at this game, here are a couple other noisy felines.  

·         Chonk the talking cat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32jZpv9yFZc

·         Mia  (ditto):  https://www.thedodo.com/daily-dodo/cat-is-so-loud-shelter-had-to-put-up-sign

Happily boxed in

Billy, boxed

Finally, staying with the subject at hand -- pets and cats -- I’ll close with a timely piece of info recently found online.

“Cats are attracted to cardboard because it’s the perfect texture for scratching, rubbing and chewing.  Because cardboard is soft, it absorbs a cat’s scent, creating a sense of ownership.  That’s why your cat keeps going back to that same old box he loves so much.  It belongs to him!   So re-purpose those holiday cardboard boxes to ensure it’s a very merry time of year for kitty.” 

Wishing the world a humane, healthy and happy 2023!

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Cat tales & talk; rabbit/hare lore & bunny food

Routine errands or appointments can sometimes turn out to be much more “value added” than expected.  That recently happened to me -- twice in one day!

Jersey

First came a vet appointment for Jersey – still a challenge because he’s unwilling to be lifted up and put into his carrier for the drive.  He no doubt remembered his first such trip after joining the family, when he literally fought tooth and nail against being picked up.  (Remember, he had been an outdoor cat, unused to such things.)

After that traumatic time for both of us, I welcomed a vet staffer’s help getting Jersey to his second appointment.  He was sweetly making her acquaintance till she moved to pick him up, precipitating a repeat acrobatic performance: he bounded past her, then flew around the room and raced under a chair. Luckily, the door was closed, he was finally nabbed and “carrier’d,” and off we went.

The surprises started soon after all that when an office staffer told me about the two crated young cats napping near her desk.  They had been “raised by her dog,” she said, literally meaning that in the absence of a mama cat, they had been nursed by her dog, and thrived.  The same dog has also been a many-times mom of puppies.

What a happy story, shades of some I’ve seen in the Dodo (thedodo.com), when animals matter-of-factly pitch in across species to help other animals.  

Ren

At that, another staffer chimed in with a scary tale about a client’s kitten who was exploring the house and came upon a dishwasher with the door opened down – and relieved himself there.  That’s an unenviable cleaning job, even for a washing device. 

During a library visit later that day, I heard about another library patron who has started early to find a new, loving home for her cat before she moves next year where she can’t take him.  In good health and up to date on shots, 4-year-old “Ren” (short for “Renard,” French for “fox” because as a ginger kitten, he looked like a fox cub), the indoor-only cat has not at this point interacted with any other cats or dogs. 

I’ll try for more Ren photos and parent-contact info in case any readers want to see and know more about him.  

So, unusual feline info of all sorts in one day: more than I’d bargained for.   

Speaking of cats – and to them

High-pitched sing-song tones are in for talking to our cats.  The Dodo reported recently on a study indicating that “baby-talk” is a winning way to talk to our babies, who then somehow know we’re talking to them and pay more attention than usual to us.

Flattering to cat parents, researchers noted the cats usually ignore baby-talk, even with their names included, from strangers.  Cats’ own people gain more confidence that their felines know and prefer them over just any baby-talker.      https://tinyurl.com/4n5ctrvr

Bunnies, hares & house rabbit food  

In my recent post about house rabbits, a first-time subject for me, I included as much info as possible – but there were still some research left-overs.  One incidental discovery was the difference between wild rabbits (think: cottontails) and hares.

Hares are usually larger than rabbits, with longer ears and legs.  (If you’re already picturing Bugs Bunny, you’re right: BB is in fact a hare.)  Hares run faster than rabbits, they’re born with fur, their eyes are open and they come into the world ready to hop.  

They prefer eating twigs and plant shoots -- harder substances than wild rabbits’ soft, salady food and they’re generally solitary.  Hares live above ground, whereas most wild rabbits in the US live in dens burrowed by other animals.

https://modernfarmer.com/2017/03/five-differences-rabbits-hares/

I had also found useful tips on food for house rabbits in this Dodo article -- and I now know the bunny pictured is a lop-eared rabbit.     https://tinyurl.com/2rwkfdzr 

                                                                                  Dodo image

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To comment on this post, please go to 1moreonce.blogspot.com.

 

Of villianous political ploys & sweet therapeutic pussycats

Gov. Phil Murphy’s jarring, cruel post-election decision for a bear hunt after all can’t be ignored here. (That “all” included long, laborious efforts by the Animal Protection League of New Jersey [APLNJ] – with other animal advocates as well – to convince the governor and his staff of humane ways to treat NJ bears.)

When right after his election win Murphy suddenly saw great need for a bear hunt, his lame excuses and pumped-up rationales drew furious reactions, deservedly so.  I agree with the most vociferous of them, only starting with “political ploy,” to describe his seeming agreement with those against the hunt . . . until the election.

And now: the hunt: innocent bears’ lives needlessly lost for political power.  https://tinyurl.com/bddkz32c     

Ta-da! A happy family announcement

Jersey (in camera's tan mode)

Meet Jersey, a little cat I recently adopted to join Billy, my dear tuxedo now almost 16 years old, and me.  And what an addition he has become in little more than a month!  

Wanting to provide a warm and loving home to an older cat, the kind I think of as most deserving, I first met Jersey last summer in a pet store where he was “displayed” for adoption by an area shelter.

But then, he needed extensive treatment for a major ear infection, and recovery time, before being cleared for adoption.  That’s when I came back in.  

Jersey is estimated to be 9 years old.  He was an outdoor cat for most of his life, I was told, and most of his teeth are gone.  He has never lived in a house before.

Billy 

From a cat with Jersey’s age and background, I expected a quiet, retiring guy who napped even more than the average cat, settled comfortably in a home instead of a cage or the great outdoors. 

But I’ve quickly learned from Jersey that a 2-in-1 cat -- or “elderly kitten” -- has in fact joined Billy and me.  He’s a curious, noisy, hungry, active live wire, whose behavior belies his age, delightfully. 

He’s low-slung and terrifically cute, I think, with soft fur of many colors – spotted gray, white, tan – and a fat, striped “raccoon tail” that’s mostly white underneath, down through his belly.  Does all that make him a “gray calico tabby”?  

Jersey’s winning ways include cozying up when petted around his head, raising his rump when petted back there, and balletically batting me or the air (with paws, not nails) to say “enough petting now.”

Jersey (in true gray) 

On his own, Jersey looks around, gets into or climbs up everything possible and often accompanies his explorations with repeated loud cries – I’m guessing for attention or to signal “Eureka!  Look what I just discovered!”  Anyway, there’s never much doubt about where he is.

He’s fascinated by the cat (also gray with white paws) reflected in the glass doors of the fireplace.  I haven’t turned it on yet, unable to guess what Jersey might do on seeing fire there instead of that cat.  Staying nearby and watching may suffice.

His gait can be a little stiff when he wakes up, but it quickly smooths out.  To see Jersey bat small fabric balls around, then chase them, and start over till he finally flops on the floor and rolls over . . . is a happy surprise.  I had wondered whether he would play or even know how to play – but now I know.  

As Jersey is new to a home, I’m new, after nearly 20 years, to introducing a new cat here.  I’m especially intent on his successfully joining Billy, then both cats living together harmoniously.  For me, this holiday season offers a prime time to focus on feline basic training and the three of us bonding – and relaxing.

So begins the saga of Jersey, the Summers family’s “senior baby cat.”  If you’re guessing you’ll see much more about all that here, you’re right.  And I’ll welcome your thoughts!

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‘And now for something completely different’: rabbits!

Forget about all the cartoon and fictional rabbits you may be familiar with.  Let’s talk about pet rabbits, their growing popularity and numbers – and how to assure they enjoy healthy, happy lives. 

The best person to discuss all this is Janine Motta, an animal advocate who has served for eight years as executive director of the New Jersey House Rabbit Society and who dearly loves her own six bunnies.

“House rabbit” is the correct term for such bunnies, who are not the wild cottontails we might spot in our back yards.  (In fact, it’s illegal in NJ to keep the wild cottontail rabbit captive.)  House rabbits are descended from European rabbits.

Motta’s bunny love began when as a child, she was given one as an Easter present.  While many pet rabbits start that way, she says, it can end badly if they join families clueless about taking care of rabbits.  Then the worst can happen to these fragile pets: injury, illness, abandonment or death.

When Motta later volunteered at a shelter, she quickly noticed the rabbit residents were “third class citizens,” so when she left, she took six bunnies with her, thereby “cleaning out” the rabbit area.   

The rabbits who call her Hunterdon county home their house are all named, spay-neutered and live in pairs, which she describes as “the sweetest thing.”  But, she cautions, “It’s an art to introduce rabbits to one another.  You can’t just put two rabbits together.”  

One reason: they’re territorial, and even siblings are not necessarily bonded rabbits.  Two males are the hardest to bond, then two females.

Motta’s domesticated companion rabbits have included various breeds and colors, including some whose straight ears had been bred into “lop ears” -- floppy instead of erect.  Cute, no doubt, but she notes that such bunnies can’t express themselves as well as others with their ears, and the different shapes of their heads can lead to teeth problems.

Considering rabbits, so appealingly small, soft and cuddly-looking creatures, it’s easy to understand how people looking for a pet might confuse live bunnies with the stuffed animal-rabbits out there: plush feel, mild mannered, liftable and huggable.

But Motta knows better, and her rabbit savvy shatters countless false assumptions about bunnies.  First of all, she says, a rabbit is “definitely not a great starter pet,” adding, “They have requirements beyond those of cats and dogs.”

Serious research should precede deciding to get a pet rabbit.  “They’re not easy to care for,” she says, and worse, they’re often falsely associated with children, who simply can’t be expected to take responsibility for their care.

Naturally active and loud, children can stress bunnies, who typically don’t like being picked up and carried around.  Why not?  The rabbit could merely wiggle and possibly fall or jump out of someone’s arms, leading to injury.  And, as prey animals, they instinctively fear hawks and other predators who could lift and carry them away. 

Rabbits must be protected from potentially fatal gastrointestinal illness by eating  regularly and well, rather than free-feeding on pellets, and they must be shielded from a deadly virus making the rounds among bunnies right now.  

During a life span of 8-10 years or more, rabbits are bound to need veterinarian visits.  But “rabbit vets” are rare, Motta warns – and their fees are very high, starting with sterilization costs.  (Visit her organization’s website -- NJHRS.com – to learn about their lower-cost spay/neuter certificate program, and/or try a Google search.)   

Adoptable rabbits are available from rabbit rescues and pet shops, she says, as well as Petfinder, and she points to Rabbit.org, the website of the national House Rabbit Society, as the comprehensive source of information about rabbits.  

Despite what you might think, Motta’s animal advocacy is not wholly devoted to rabbits.  For more than 30 years, she’s been affiliated with the Animal Protection League of New Jersey (aplnj.org), serving for most of that time as its programs director.  Her initiatives and activities with that organization are another (long and illustrious) story.

(Note:  Shown top to bottom, Janine Motta's rabbits are Desiree (now deceased), Sammy & Pip, Yolanda & Amelia, and Lola & Linus.) 

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NJ animals’ long-time protectors . . . & naming names

I don’t do these things and I’m sure most other people don’t either.  Yet, obviously, they’re happening.  So just who is working with fervor to make life better for animals in New Jersey – and often, to start with, saving those lives? Who does such things as . . .  *  Maintaining a website full of current and useful info about NJ animals, from black bears to deer to community cats   *  Meeting and corresponding with state legislators and both the assembly and senate majority offices, all having to do with animals.  (For instance, a team of 4 met with more than 50 legislators since last June on current issues like a bear-feeding ban and a poaching bill.)   *  Making numerous site visits around the state to promote non-lethal geese-management and persuade communities away from contracts to kill geese.      *  Producing newsletters on animal issues – for instance, NJ bears, who are always threatened by trophy-seeking hunters   *  Working for introduction of legislation to benefits our animals and helping line up co-sponsors for bills   *   Establishing a committee of 3 to track voting records and produce scorecards to help with your choice   *  Aiming to modernize the Fish and Game Council, now largely comprised of pro-hunting members, by switching its focus to non-lethal approaches Who is behind all this, and many more initiatives on behalf of animals in New Jersey?  You probably already know: the one statewide organization that for nearly 40 years has worked for animals here: the Animal Protection League of NJ (alpnj.org). Thank you, committed and tireless APL! What’s in a name?

Owners?  Parents?  Guardians?  Family?  People?  Which name do you think is best to describe yourself or any other person with one or more pets at home? While we know that typically, our pets could not survive in the wild – I think back on my pets who couldn’t fend for themselves outdoors for a week, or maybe even a night.  But who said they should be able to do that?   Humans have so domesticated some animals that they now must depend on us for housing, food, love and so on.  Even so, does that mean we “own” them, using such an historically cruel word to describe the relationship?  Yet the world at large uses that word to describe the connection between a person and the pet s/he brings to a veterinarian, right?  And an “owner” must often sign off on various kinds of pet-related paperwork, as well as being the person neighbors might describe as “that big dog’s owner.”   So, if not “owner,” what’s a preferable word for the human who shares a home with a pet?  What doesn’t smack so strongly of possession, but rather of something much more benign or companionable? Does “parent” work, or is that too hierarchical?  How about “guardian” – does that better describe the person with a pet?  “Family” is softer, warmer, but would most of us say that way, even if we think and act that way?  And does “person” or “people” have the right ring, as in “Clearly lost, the puppy was fruitlessly looking for her “person” (or “people”)?   I’d like to hear from readers about their preference for a word in this context – maybe one of those above or a better word that you’ve come up with. A special treat Here’s a great “Save the Elephants” video that came to me, but its thank-you message is really for everyone who has decided to donate to “Save the Elephants”!  Just watching the brief video will further strengthen your resolve to help elephants like the ones shown here, in Kenya.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbP-2PSQYPE                                          National Cat Day is October 29: hug your cat(s)! #

News of whales, hardworking horses & homeless kittens

Blue whale tail

Whales’ tales:  News about the environment has lately featured numerous whale reports, most recently highlighting a newly-recognized cetacean, Rice’s whale, or the Gulf of Mexico whale.  Long thought to be a Bryde’s whale -- a species found all over the oceanic world -- this whale, seen only in the Gulf of Mexico, was found to be structurally and genetically distinct, and therefore a new species.

That’s the good news.  The downside is that with only 50 known individuals in the species, it could disappear before it’s even widely recognized.  While Rice’s whales can reach 42 feet in length and up to 60,000 pounds, their bulk can’t save them.  If the species is to live on, it needs specific protections put in place.

Humpback whale

Marine scientists have petitioned the federal government to keep Gulf of Mexico whales in mind when considering offshore oil and gas drilling, along with the very real possibility of oil spills – they’ve happened before!  Another hazard to whale life are collisions with ships, which could be minimized with the year-round speed limit that has also been proposed.

“The loss of even a single whale threatens the survival of the species,” scientists have argued – a point that’s hard to dispute, given the number of extant Rice’s whales.  https://tinyurl.com/ymd5rm99 

Orca

And there’s more news beyond the “new” whale.  In a dramatic display of rapid culture change, it’s been discovered that humpback whales can pass their songs across oceans – one example is a music-move from Australia to Ecuador . . .  Orcas (a.k.a. “killer whales” but actually dolphins) have demonstrated they can kill and eat adult blue whales, the largest creatures that ever lived . . . and North Atlantic right whales are moving toward extinction while also diminishing in size.

                    Horses’ hazardous duty

The use (and abuse) of horses to pull carriages in NYC has once again drawn fire from animal advocates.  It is an archaic practice and comes with needless cruelty (for a needless purpose!) to the animals involved.  Will it ever be stopped?

The previous NY City mayor had promised to end horsedrawn carriages on the first day of his administration . . . but now, eight years later, it continues.  As do injuries and sometimes death to horses, and the likely ignoring of rules about the temperatures when horses should not be out and numbers of people being pulled in any one carriage.   https://tinyurl.com/5xehp5dc

Way to . . . grow!

If you wanted to grow your small business, what could you do?  One way: add a nice resident animal to reach out to customers simply by being there.

I’m aware of a lovely black cocker spaniel who for years welcomed customers to a stationery shop while keeping the store owner company behind the counter. A friendly dog often comes to work with a clerk in a pet supply store and also stays behind the counter, prompting conversations and questions.

Popular resident animals in NYC businesses recently earned media attention for being far beyond the “bodega cats” famous on the internet.  They included a snake, a potbellied pig and various birds (parrots, a white dove, a pigeon and a rooster).

If you know of unique resident animals greeting customers in area businesses, please comment here!   

Kittens calling     

Harry

Here’s news from the recent APLNJ-sponsored shuttle that transported 31 cats to their sterilization spa day: Did the kittens recover well?  (answer: Yes! Kittens in foster were roaring around soon after as if pediatric spay or neuter never happened.) Were any able to be rescued? (answer: Yes! APLNJ took 11 socialized friendly cats and kittens into foster care.  Five are currently available to adopt and can be seen at the Animal Alliance courtesy posts below.  Can you help find them great homes?  Please send all adoption queries to catlady@aplnj.org.

 Ruby: https://www.petfinder.com/cat/ruby-58556094/nj/lambertville/animal-alliance-nj290/

 

JoJo: https://www.petfinder.com/cat/jojo-58556083/nj/lambertville/animal-alliance-nj290/

 

Harry: https://www.petfinder.com/cat/harry-58556059/nj/lambertville/animal-alliance-nj290/

 

Dana: https://www.petfinder.com/cat/dana-58556037/nj/lambertville/animal-alliance-nj290/

 

Gwen: https://www.petfinder.com/cat/gwen-58556005/nj/lambertville/animal-alliance-nj290/

 

 

Jo-Jo

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Some pets have all the luck & some bears live to suffer

Some cats are lucky; other cats (and pets in general) are not.  Example: the small animals like guinea pigs who are being surrendered or given away “in droves as the world reopens,” the New York Times reported earlier this month.

The predictions about dogs and cats being returned or surrendered to shelters once people were back to work or school didn’t play out – happily for them.  But “small animal surrenders spiked by more than 50% nationwide in the first six months of 2022, compared to the same period the year before.”

Those suddenly homeless small animals include reptiles, birds, rodents and even fish.  The return traffic is so heavy that Manhattan’s City Council is considering a bill to ban sale of guinea pigs in pet shops.  In Central Park, numerous domestic red-eared slider turtles and rabbits have been found, along with guinea pigs. 

By comparison, surrenders of cats and dogs have climbed less than 7% over the year before.  One theory for that is “human attachment”: people feel that small animals are “less interactive” than dogs or cats, less able to fill a void and provide the companionship that people are looking for.

Adding to the issue of shelters now being “glutted” with small animals, fewer adoptions are taking place.  So, still more animals in need.

Nor is the problem of abandoned “pandemic pets” limited to the US; it’s also happening abroad.  In England during a six-month period ending in July, there was a 24% increase in reports of such animals (including numerous fish and snakes). Last month’s “Guinea Pig Awareness Week” accompanied “a 90% increase in (their) abandonments, on top of a 49% increase in rabbits.”

Right now, there’s widespread big bad news for small animals.  Is anyone out there pining for a guinea pig, or 3 or 10 of them?  https://tinyurl.com/5888pfyh 

For another view on pet adoption and abandonment, read the column linked here.  It’s one more excellent essay by Margaret Renkl.    https://tinyurl.com/58hk2kzk   

 Lucky cats

. . . And the winning number is 31!  That’s how many cats were spayed or neutered last week through one concerted effort to make it happen.  The felines involved would not have benefitted from the procedure without the shuttle-to-sterilization sponsored by the Animal Protection League of NJ  (https://aplnj.org).

                                                                 Obi pic

Promoted in the last post here, the procedure will allow the cats, now also vetted and microchipped, to lead kitten-free lives, thereby doing their bit to help manage cat overpopulation.

Best of all, the plan is to do it again.  Next time, though, the initiative may be called the “Kitty Kab,” says APLNJ’s Sandra Obi, who coordinated the spay-neuter operation.  Already, three people with 6-10 cats to be “fixed’ are on her wait list.

Fracture

by Ellen Bass

When the grizzly cubs were caught, collared, and taken away—

relocated they call it—

their mother ran back and forth on the road screaming.

Brutal sound. Torn from her lungs. Her heart,

twisted knot, hot blood rivering

to the twenty-six pounding bones of her feet.

Just weeks before

I watched a bear and her cubs run down a mountain

in the twilight.

So buoyant, they seemed to be tumbling

to the meadow,

to the yarrow root they dug, rocking

to wrest it from the hard ground, fattening for winter.

They were breathing what looked like gladness.

But that other mother . . .

Her massive head raised, desperate to catch their scent.

Each footfall a fracture in the earth’s crust.

(c. by Ellen Bass. First published in Poem-a-Day on August 17, 2022.)

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A record-holding bird, beavers as angels, & a cat shuttle

Bar-tailed godwit in flight

“Look!  Up in the sky!”  

Birds are often considered remarkable – for their beauty, their intelligence or inventiveness, their song.  How about if they hold the distance record for their non-stop migration flight: 7,000 miles?  Especially if they do it without food, water or rest for eight to 10 days and nights, through all kinds of weather?   

Bar-tailed godwits, truly remarkable birds, annually travel from Alaska to New Zealand to breed and raise their young.  Then, duty done, they fly back to Alaska, apparently never asking “Is this trip really necessary?”

Talk about “extreme sports”!

Shaped something like missiles with aerodynamic wings and bodily changes that facilitate their travels – including carefully added body fat that fuels their flights -- godwits fly non-stop from Alaska over the Pacific to Hawaii, then Fiji, till they reach New Zealand’s beaches. 

While their navigation system is still uncertain, there’s no doubt godwits have one, and their young somehow catch on when they fly north to Alaska.  It's estimated that some 90 thousand birds make the annual trip for more food and fewer predators – and 90% make it. 

Only through greatly improved technology in recent years have scientists become able to track such bird flights.  Now, they can follow individual birds in real time.    https://tinyurl.com/25na9s6r

Now the “good guys”

Beavers: devils or angels?  These days, they’re trending toward angels, especially in parts of the country experiencing drought.  “Water” is the magic word.

In the bad old days for beavers, their dams often foiled farmers’ plans so they were sometimes dynamited or otherwise destroyed, and the federal government killed the animals – nearly 25 thousand of them last year.    

Gradually, people started seeing advantages to beaver dams and began to happily co-exist: dam pools provide water for livestock and wildlife during droughts; they slow down destructive torrents of water raging down mountain sides; and they turn creeks into wetlands, clean the water and serve as buffers against wildfires.  In some places where their dams aren’t needed, beavers are being relocated to areas where they are -- people are learning to “leave it to beavers.”  https://tinyurl.com/52b9tk9n

Dogged about accuracy

Last week’s post included an entry about “teenage dogs,” as identified by Dr. Alexandra Horowitz, a dog behavior expert.  I captioned the accompanying image of a black dog “Quid,” assuming that’s who it was.  Then, from a review of Horowitz’s new book, The Year of the Puppy, I learned I was wrong because it includes a photo of the real “Quid,” short for “Quiddity,” btw.

That rebellious-ready black dog must have been a stand-in.  Maybe even another teen dog.  https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/18/books/alexandra-horowitz-year-of-the-puppy.html

A happy end note

The heroic job of rescuing some 4,000 beagles from a Virginia breeding facility that supplied animals for experimentation is finished, thanks to the HSUS and its partner organizations around the country.  Beagles who would have been used, abused and killed are now starting real lives in loving homes.

Linked below, the video stars some of the rescued beagles learning to play; it’s followed by a few flashbacks to the huge, widespread efforts on their behalf.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgCOdi7pRn0   

Shuttle off to . . . sterilization

As the state’s central resource for information on community cats and Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), the Animal Protection League of New Jersey (APLNJ) also encourages and assists with implementation of that program. 

Now, seeing a need to transport large numbers of cats through the TNR process, the organization is offering a shuttle service next Tuesday, Oct. 4.  APLNJ subsidizes costs so the total price of $60 per cat ($70 for no ear tip) also includes a microchip.

If demand continues for shuttles-to-sterilization, the service will too.  (https://aplnj.org/tnr/)