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/)

 

'Royal' corgis, butt tales, teen dogs & ER tips

Two stories about animals have added a bit of cheer, and even a few laughs, to the sad news of the death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.  One featured corgis, the queen’s long-favored dog breed, while the other had to do with telling the bees (you read it right) the news of their queen’s demise.   

A corgi

The bee-telling tradition is charming – the kind of story that might have appeared in the New Yorker magazine years ago under the heading “There’ll Always Be an England.”  In the centuries-old practice, bees are seen as members of the family; therefore, they should be kept informed of family events.  

After the queen’s death, the Buckingham Palace beekeeper reportedly “placed black ribbons tied into bows on the hives before telling them in hushed tones that . . . .”       https://tinyurl.com/43x2k3xs

When you think of a corgi, how do you picture the dog?  Anything like this description from a Washington Post feature story?

“Lil’ stumpy guys. Potato-shaped bodies and clownish faces. Short kings. Stocky, bossy dogs who think they’re big — who have seemingly no idea that they’re a toast-colored puffy cylinder of dog, suspended merely inches above the ground — because they have a job (herding cattle and/or small children, by nipping at their heels). Whose most notable characteristic after their stubby little legs is their thick, fuzzy butts.”

Or maybe “Floofy butts.” Or “Wiggle butts”?

It remains to be seen whether a different dog breed in the royal family – now including a cocker spaniel, beagles and Jack Russell terriers – will gain the fame of Queen Elizabeth’s corgis.  https://tinyurl.com/bdzm3bj8;  https://tinyurl.com/2sd2ezz6

But, butts . . .

On the subject of animal butts, there’s more to be said about cats’ posterior region and what felines’ human caregivers can learn from that vicinity.  That includes the whimsically-named “dingleberries” and advice on cleaning the area (or not), and swollen (interior) anal glands.   https://tinyurl.com/2n7bffru

(Blogger’s note: Although Billy Summers wasn’t “scooting,” he was over-attentive to his anal area.  To his vet, that signaled impacted anal glands – which only a vet should manually empty, thank the power.  And btw, this happens with dogs too.) 

Temporary teens

The widespread concern about human teens right now might also apply to the teenage dogs who occupy an age bracket not often recognized.  Dr. Alexandra Horowitz, a cognitive scientist who studies dogs, discusses “Quid,” her own 6-month-old dog, who has been a model citizen, till now.

Quid

Now, though, Quid has suddenly turned into an insubordinate teen – ignoring directions and orders, being unexpectedly headstrong and behaving in new, unpopular ways at home as if seeking parental disapproval -- and being met with . . . patience.  That’s because Dr. Horowitz understands that Quid is going through a stage in her life that too few people know about, understand or tolerate very well.

In contrast to how dogs are often treated during this phase – repeatedly punished or even surrendered to shelters – she understands what’s happening with her dog and knows it will pass.  The “canine adolescence” period is a distinct stage of development that can last from about 6 months old through a dog’s second birthday.

But too often in ignorance of this developmental stage, people are more likely to think or say that such a dog is “bad,” rather than “going through a phase.”  Then, wrong as relinquishment to a shelter for behavioral reasons can be, when euthanasia is what happens next, it’s also unspeakably cruel.  https://tinyurl.com/949yyk7s

When to ER? 

Finally, one more pet-health issue: when to take a pet to the ER.  The Dodo article linked below spells out 10 reasons (ingesting a toxic substance to continuous seizures) for going directly to the ER with your pet.  Each one also includes how the ER vet will treat your pet.   https://tinyurl.com/2knmkhpd

Take care! 

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It’s that awful time again . . . & then, some lightening up

As with summer, when Memorial Day signals the season’s unofficial start nearly a month early, autumn for many of us begins with school opening, then fall clothes, cooler nights, leaves turning and Halloween paraphernalia everywhere.  

And, alas, hunting.  Here in Mercer county, it’s called a “deer management program” by the county park commission – a “program” that aims to “reduce the overabundant deer herd in the . . . region.”  

“Management” in this context means killing white-tailed deer, who are described as “one of the largest regional threats to biodiversity of flora and fauna in central NJ,” and whose “herbivory. . .jeopardizes “the native plant understory and overall forest health by degrading its habitat value for other wildlife.”

Bow hunting for deer began today in some area parks, and continues Monday-Saturday until Feb. 18, 2023.  Firearm hunting starts in two areas on Monday, Dec. 5 and continues through Feb. 11, during periods specified.  Parks and regions involved with firearm hunting will be closed to the public.

“There will be no hunting on Sunday,” according to the commission.  Make of that day-of-rest fact what you wish.  And do the same with the decision to hunt and kill deer, rather than using non-lethal means of (truly) “managing” the deer population.

So area residents will start seeing more deer on the run, away from parklands dedicated to “deer management.”  I’ve already startled two separate deer in my tiny back yard, where they were grazing (and hiding?) in a narrow length of bushes and fence.  Where did they go from here?  It’ll be a long five months of on and off hunting for them.  

Unique support animal   

                      WallyGator          Henney image

Even though deer need our support, we sometimes appreciate emotional support from animals.  How about an alligator?  That idea’s for real, btw, as a Pennsylvania man has proved with his certified support alligator, WallyGator, for more than 5 years. 

The two – Joie (pronounced “Joe”) Henney and his 70-pound, 5-1/2 foot pal -- sleep in the same bed; watch tv and go just about everywhere together (area tourist sites, farmers markets, area creeks . . .); occasionally swim in a friend’s pool; and go to the vet for WallyGator’s annual checkup.  

It all began when Henney helped a Florida friend by taking in 3 juvenile alligator rescues.  Two eventually went to reptile refuges, but Henney kept 14-month old WallyGator, with whom he’d already bonded.  When his pet later cheered him out of depression, he realized he had an emotional support animal, and has happily made the most of that ever since.        https://tinyurl.com/p7zzrjb5

My apologies to elephants

                                                                      Elephant Crisis Fund image

Elephants have long been very special animals to me – but my huge oversight last month could give the lie to that claim: I totally missed a very important new stamp to honor elephants.  Issued August 12, the US Postal Service “forever” stamp celebrates the love of an elephant mom with her calf.

The Postal Service's background story is way too upbeat about elephants – insufficiently reflecting their truly perilous position these days in the wild and in captivity.  But, I hope that as people buy the stamp, they’ll think more about elephants and look into the organizations committed to saving them -- “Save the Elephants” (SavetheElephants.org) being the main one I recommend.

Which leads to California’s Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWSweb.org), an admirable organizations that cares for elephants saved from circuses, zoos and other inhumane lives that elephants have long been forced to live.  A look at the PAWS’ website will tell the story far better than I can.  

There, I recently found out about an activity elephants love and PAWS contributors support: dusting.  No, they’re not house-cleaning, but protecting themselves from bugs and the sun.  Here’s a great link to a few PAWS videos showing elephants dusting: please take a look!     https://tinyurl.com/2ypxdpkx

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