Hunting's bad enough. This is even worse.

                                                                                   National Geographic pic

Saturday fun (for some):  Hunting?  No, worse yet.  Killing raccoons for the “fun” of it.  That’s what the "press advisory" below boils down to. 

Unfortunately, New Jersey’s vaunted uniqueness includes allowing some barbaric human behavior toward our wildlife, like today’s “coon chase” that’s underway as I type this post.  

What kind of human beings, in supposedly enlightened 2020, would participate in such activity? And what kind of state Division of Fish and Wildlife would permit it?

With a few italics added for emphasis, here’s the press advisory I received yesterday:

                                                          National Geographic pic

Raccoon “hunts” are a despicable, thrill-kill form of cruelty encouraged and allowed by New Jersey Fish and Game Council and the Division of Fish and Wildlife.  The abuse is on a par with bear baiting, cock fighting, dog fighting, and other relics of man’s barbarity to animals.

As the attached Facebook event page shows, a small group calling itself “Wildlife Women” emanating from Kentucky is sponsoring a “coon chase” tomorrow, February 15 , in Hampton, which is part of Bethlehem Township, from 4 in the afternoon to 1 a.m.  What will transpire will go something like this:

  The relentless mob of hunters and their trained dogs ended up chasing this trembling innocent up a tree, where she fearfully struggled to climb as high as possible, understandably frightened for her life as she attempted to cling to the ever-narrowing tree trunk—the dogs wildly baying all the while from down below. Finally, after they had apparently squeezed all the laughter and “enjoyment” they could out of watching their terrorized victim caught in the glare of their flashlights, rifles were raised and gunfire ensued.    --  Coon hunting deserves no celebration  MountainXpress, July 2007

                                               NG pic

If this is not the prohibited “needless” torture and killing codified in NJSA 4:22-117, then nothing is.  It also abuses other animals, dogs, in the process of torturing raccoons:

4:22-17 Cruelty; certain acts, crime; degrees. a. It shall be unlawful to: (1) Overdrive, overload, drive when overloaded, overwork, abuse, or needlessly kill a living animal or creature; (2) Cause or procure, by any direct or indirect means, including but not limited to through the use of another living animal or creature, any of the acts described in paragraph (1) of this subsection to be done.

The New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife’s condoning of this abject cruelty and depraved human behavior is unconscionable. Recently we’ve seen other fish and wildlife agencies in other states condemn inappropriate behavior on the part of hunters, yet our New Jersey agency sadly overlooks it.  It also allows unsporting and ecologically damaging baiting banned by neighboring states. “Coon” killing is yet another example.

                                                          National Geographic pic

The Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office and the New Jersey State Police should investigate this event for violations of New Jersey animal cruelty statutes. The law’s provisions apply to the “whole brute creation.”  By definition, these animals are needlessly and cruelly killed. They are inarguably tortured and abused for amusement, no less, and generally discarded as trash.  Shotgun shells damage the skins; they cannot be sold as fur. There is absolutely no wildlife management purpose to this event and others like it.

The general public is overwhelmingly disgusted by these killing events which have no place in civilized society in 2020.  Wildlife is a public trust. Given New Jersey’s non-hunting majority cannot exercise its standing and rights through an agency and council dominated by hunters, the public can at least insist on the enforcement of animal cruelty statutes.

For more on killing contests encouraged by the Fish and Game Council and the Division of Fish and Wildlife, see recent Humane Society of the United States undercover investigations of hunting contests in Barnegat, New Jersey and another in New York State, where dozens of animals were killed and then thrown away. https://www.humanesociety.org/news/undercover-investigation-exposes-gruesome-wildlife-killing-contests

New Jersey residents need to know such heinous things can happen here – and demand an end to them.

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A timely poem & a cats-&-dogs question

 A Prayer to Talk to Animals

 by Nickole Brown
 
Lord, I ain’t asking to be the Beastmaster
gym-ripped in a jungle loincloth
or a Doctor Dolittle or even the expensive vet
down the street, that stethoscoped redhead,
her diamond ring big as a Cracker Jack toy.
All I want is for you to help me flip
off this lightbox and its scroll of dread, to rip
a tiny tear between this world and that, a slit
in the veil, Lord, one of those old-fashioned peeping
keyholes through which I can press my dumb
lips and speak. If you will, Lord, make me the teeth
hot in the mouth of a raccoon scraping
the junk I scraped from last night’s plates,
make me the blue eye of that young crow cocked to
me--too selfish to even look up from the black
of my damn phone. Oh, forgive me, Lord,
how human I’ve become, busy clicking
what I like, busy pushing
my cuticles back and back to expose
all ten pale, useless moons. Would you let me
tell your creatures how sorry
I am, let them know exactly
what we’ve done? Am I not an animal
too? If so, Lord, make me one again.
Give me back my dirty claws and blood-warm
horns, braid back those long-
frayed strands of every nerve tingling
with all I thought I had to do today.
Fork my tongue, Lord. There is a sorrow on the air
I taste but cannot name. I want to open
my mouth and know the exact
flavor of what’s to come, I want to open
my mouth and sound a language
that calls all language home.

 (“A Prayer to Talk to Animals” was originally published in 2017 by The Academy

of American Poets Poem-A-Day Project.  Copyright © 2019 by Nickole Brown.
All rights reserved.  Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission)

A cat conundrum

Crosley & Mitzi                                    Hildreth pic

For “cat people” -- those with one or more felines in the family -- a frequent question might be:  how do I introduce a new cat to the household so the resident(s) won’t feel threatened and so all felines ultimately get along?  The many answers to such a question often boil down to separate “old” from new, introduce gradually and give it time.

But is there another way to save resident cats from feeling supplanted?  hurt?  angry?  by a new cat in the house?  

Maybe.  How about bringing a different species into the mix?  A dog who also needs a loving home?

How would the cat(s) already there feel then? 

    

For “cat people” who are also “dog people” and “animal people” in general, why not?  Introduce the newcomer gradually, with all the safeguards built into an all-cat situation . . . and, maybe, bingo!

Or no? 

Do any readers have experience with such a situation: introducing a needy dog (I’m not talking puppies here – just as I’m not talking kittens either) to one or more resident cats.  Please share any advice you may have by commenting on this post!

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Introducing: the Trenton Animal Shelter

Down Escher Street in Trenton, before you come to the Trenton Soup Kitchen, is a small, peach-colored building with a novel front roof line and, usually, the sound of many dogs barking.

That’s the Trenton Animal Shelter (TAS).  Its inside-outside caged pens for homeless dogs lets them tell the world they’re there -- and maybe also remind the world that they need loving homes.  The cats housed at the shelter share that need; they just can’t sing it out.

Volunteers with Trenton Animals Rock often walk the dogs outside around the shelter, where they can see and be seen.  Though Trenton Cats Rescue volunteers visit the cats, it’s mostly to socialize and clean cages because felines remain confined, not allowed to walk or play on the shelter floor.

The volunteer groups also take cats and dogs to adoption events on weekends.  Beyond people who come to the shelter looking for adoptable pets, those events are the main chance for cats to be seen, chosen and taken home.  

Here’s a walking tour-in-words through the shelter.  (Regrettably, I learned too late I needed special permission to photograph inside.)

The entrance facing Escher St. is fenced off so the side door facing the Soup Kitchen is the actual entry.  Once inside, the shelter manager’s office and a doctor’s area share space on the left, while on the right is a cat admissions room lined with stacked metal cages.  It includes a small sink and stored items.

Next on the left is a staff office area, while straight ahead is a wide, windowless and doorless room with more stacked cat cages and a washer-dryer.  Towels and blankets are stored here, with a couple sinks and cleaning supplies right outside.

On the right is a windowless bathroom-sized room where small dogs can be housed in stacked metal cages.  A few feet away, another door leads to a long row of dog kennels, each with a door to the outside, for larger dogs. 

In no way is the Trenton Animal Shelter palatial; it’s neither capacious nor well-ventilated, and it lacks an isolation area and a get-acquainted room, as well as accommodations allowing cats to stretch their legs and get exercise.  During the years I volunteered at TAS, and since, there’s been talk of a new or renovated building.  Right now the immediate hope is for trailers to be placed across the street for overflow functions and office space.  

Jose Munoz, who started his career at the shelter in 1999, became Chief/Manager in 2017.  He serves as bureau chief, supervising four other officers -- Hector Avalos, Nikijha Blakeley, Jose Millan and Jason Riley -- in the Humane Law Enforcement side of operations, and serves as shelter manager for the Animal Sheltering side.  

While NJ law requires all shelter animals to be held for 7 days so owners can claim missing pets, some spend weeks or months at TAS before being adopted or special-rescued by a rescue group, Munoz says. 

Adoption fees are $120 for dogs and $100 for cats, regardless of age, breed or sex.  Cats are spayed or neutered, vaccinated and micro-chipped before adoption; same for the dogs except for micro-chipping.  

Munoz wishes people wanting to help TAS would first learn how to care for their pets, including becoming familiar with state and local laws and ordinances.  Donations to TAS might include leashes and harnesses; cat carriers; chew toys, Kongs for dogs and cat toys; and towels (not blankets).  Food gifts aren’t recommended because animals can suffer from mixed-up diets.

Maybe visiting to spend time with shelter animals would be the best “donation” well-wishers can make.

Open 9-3 Monday-Friday, and 9-11 am Saturday and Sunday, the Trenton Animal Shelter is at 72 Escher St., Trenton.  Phone: 609-989-3254.  To see shelter pets available for adoption: TAS.Petfinder.com. 

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Winning a needed veto & making fear-free shelters

                                                                           APLNJ pic

Which tactic worked to cause Governor Phil Murphy to veto the “beaver trapping” bill that would have allowed more trappers to kill more beavers?  Much as we appreciate his move, we still need to know what reaches him so we might try the same approach with other pro-animal bills.

It’s doubtful he has a fondness for beavers -- or most wild animals. Was his veto just one small way to appease animal welfare advocates who have been on his case for breaking his campaign promise to stop the bear hunt?

The end of the legislative session brought one other (temporary) triumph for animals; the “deer poaching” bill (A3242) was not posted for a vote, as had been expected.  Why not?  Because “We lobbied very hard and educated legislators.  Members reached out to their assembly members and met with them in their districts.  A number of legislators were not in favor of the bill,” says Janine Motta, programs director with the Animal Protection League of NJ (APLNJ.org).

But, she warns, “This bill has reared its ugly head for 5 sessions (since 2011) and sure enough, Senator Smith, the prime senate sponsor all along, has already introduced it this session -- S335. So we continue our fight.”

To the question “What tactic works,” the answer seems to be: “Fight for animal welfare issues on every possible front.”

 

Fear-free animal shelters

Animal shelters: In my experience, not desirable places for animals to be, although sometimes a necessary evil. My visits to seemingly “good” shelters were infrequent; who knows what they were like day-to-day.

Animal shelters: held to be particularly bad for cats by an organization that should know:  the Association of Shelter Veterinarians, the group that released “Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters” in 2010 -- guidelines that even today very few shelters have met.  

When I volunteered at an area shelter, I wished I could “transform how shelters make animals (and people) feel,” to borrow a phrase from a recent Animal Sheltering magazine article describing that very thing.  Preferring a gentler way of treating shelter animals than what she saw, author Brenda Griffin, DVM, tried different techniques “to calm nervous animals.”   

“Nervous”?  Well, of course.  Who wouldn’t be, in a new place with many other animals, strange noises and smells, and people coming and going, often moving fast and talking loud. 

We know how our own negative emotions can affect how we feel and behave; it’s the same with animals in a stressful new place.  Calmly and purposefully, Dr.  Griffin writes, we should approach an animal slowly, from the side, instead of approaching her quickly head on.  And because direct eye contact can be threatening, we should gaze off to the side.

Buster

Affiliated with “Fear Free” Shelters and Homes, she advocates minimizing potential stressful sights, sounds and smells by closing doors, limiting foot traffic and draping a blanket or towel over a cage door to provide privacy for the occupant.  Speaking softly and playing calming music at low volume also helps. 

Do’s and don’ts for creating the desired shelter atmosphere include positioning an animal on a pillow or padded (familiar) bed, rather than on a slippery, cold table top for an exam or procedure.  Tasty treats raise the comfort level too.  

Using “classical conditioning” helps shelter pets learn to associate things there with positive emotions, rather than with stress or frustration -- which can lead to suppressed immunity, increased risk of infectious disease and behavior problems.

We would prefer such treatment if we were in the animals’ position, wouldn’t we?  The golden rule applies.

https://www.animalsheltering.org/magazine/articles/taking-fear-out-shelteringhttps://www.animalsheltering.org/magazine/articles/taking-fear-out-sheltering

https://fearfreeshelters.com/

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Care for foie gras? (The world should say, ‘No!')

Mulard ducks

Imagine a goose or a duck, both sentient beings like us, with perceptions and feelings.  Instead of living normal lives, though, those creatures are fed and fed beyond their desire and beyond capacity. Then they’re slaughtered so their fattened livers can be served to humans as a special and pricey treat.  What a life.  

A so-called “delicacy of French cuisine,” foie gras (“fwa-gra”), or “fatty liver,” is derived from the liver of a goose or duck that has been fattened by a process of force-feeding known as gavage. Through it, the bird consumes more food than would be eaten in the wild or domestically; its liver can grow 6-10 times its normal size and often the animal can’t even stand or walk.  

Despite the fancy-sounding name, foie gras production is hideously cruel -- still another example of how people use non-human animals for their own purposes.

Those involved in producing foie gras take advantage of some waterfowls’ ability “to expand their esophagus and to gain weight, particularly in the liver, in preparation for migration. Unlike many birds, geese and ducks lack a crop.  In the wild, esophageal dilation allows them to swallow large foodstuffs, such as a whole fish, for later digestion.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foie_gras

                      Gavage                                           c. Gaia

Effective in 2022, New York City has banned foie gras as “inhumane” -- much to the dismay of restaurants that serve it, people who eat it and owners and workers at two duck farms in Sullivan County, NY, where most of the foie gras consumed in the US is produced.  Immigrants involved in foie gras production there depend on their jobs and farm owners fear the worst once they can no longer raise, force feed and slaughter the birds involved. 

In this one instance of animal cruelty, however, the times are changing.  The practices behind foie gras are losing support, and the workers’ and farmers’ wish to continue gavage -- treating helpless sentient animals with gross cruelty -- will stop.  As ways of thinking about animal welfare have gradually changed (“finally,” some might say!) new ways of earning a living will be needed. 

This is much the same situation as that facing Canadians who club baby seals to death for their fur: some (great) day coming, they too will have to make a living some other way. 

    

As a point of interest, foie gras is already banned in California, as well as India, Israel and Britain.  Even where it’s legal, some retailers don’t stock it: Whole Foods stopped selling the product in 1997. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/17/nyregion/foie-gras-farmers.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/30/nyregion/foie-gras-ban-nyc.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_191031?campaign_id=2&instance_id=13420&segment_id=18380&user_id=a360dad7b26df61ea65737080d3deedd&regi_id=207602741031

Phone the governor -- asap!

Beaver

Depending on when you read this, there may still be time -- and it’s worth the try! -- to phone Governor Murphy (609-292-6000) and urge him to veto the dreadful “beaver trapping bill” (A2731/S3407) now on his desk.  He has till noon on Tuesday to decide whether to serve the tiny number of beaver-trappers in NJ or to honor the many of us who continue fighting the increase in trap numbers -- for good reasons.  

Simply removing trapping limits will do absolutely nothing to mitigate any problems caused by beavers.  Worse, trapping beavers is horrifically cruel, with beavers often getting clamped in painful traps and being left to drown to death.

Humane and environmental groups in NJ have worked with local towns on beaver management with proven, non-lethal methods that are NOT harmful to ecosystems and are humane.  We should be addressing this issue in 2020 based on sound science, not 18^th century methods.  New Jersey needs a comprehensive beaver management plan.  

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Are we seeing the beginning of the end of pork?

Chinese pig farm

Pork: the most consumed meat in the world, particularly popular across Asia.  Pigs: born to die, to feed this global hunger.

Two variables may put a huge cramp in this consumption, ultimately allowing more pigs to be born . . .  and live. In order of occurrence, the first is African Swine Fever, now spreading around the world (not in the US) killing huge numbers of pigs.  Already, a quarter of the global pig population has been wiped out, and millions of pigs are still dying in Asia.

“Harmless to humans, this virus kills nearly every pig it infects, and there’s no vaccine.”

Historically, pigs’ ability to “turn garbage -- long their traditional food -- into meat” made them indispensable to poor villagers from Southeast Asia to England and, after 1492, in the Americas as well,” the Washington Post reports.  

Chinese pig farm -- after swine fever

Wherever that feeding practice still survives, and food scraps including virus-laden pork are still fed to pigs, they are far more susceptible to catching Swine Fever.   

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/01/06/why-global-swine-fever-epidemic-is-hitting-poor-people-hardest/?utm_campaign=opinions&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=Newsletter&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1

The second variable that may ultimately let more pigs live is non-pork “pork.” (You probably saw this coming, after the fanfare for  “Impossible Burgers” and their kin.)

Impossible Food will introduce two plant-based pork products designed to win over some of the world’s billions of pork eaters.  (Just think about that number of consumers, then the number of pigs it would take to feed them all.)  

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/01/06/impossible-foods-is-finally-making-new-fake-meat-pork/?utm_campaign=todays_headlines&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=Newsletter&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1

Alba, freed lab pig

“Impossible Sausage” will start out at 139 US Burger King locations; there’s no release date yet for “Impossible Pork.” Impossible Foods has said its primary motivation for plant-based products is to decrease meat’s impact on the environment, which is why it started with “beef”  products, and eliminate animal farming altogether by 2035.  

Helping our environment while helping animals: if that’s not a win-win, what is?

Exercise or cruelty?  

On a cold, windy January day, a muffled-up man rides his bicycle while holding onto the leashes of two dogs running on his right side.  How do they know to stop when he stops, say, at a corner stop sign?  And what if they stop, to relieve themselves, for instance -- what then? 

Will they be dragged along for a while till the cyclist realizes what’s up?  And overall, how long is he going to run the dogs, considering the weather, their ages and health? 

To me, this looked like a cruel stunt.  Does anyone reading this know more about it than I do?  Is there anything redeeming to say about this 3-way exercise in which 2/3 of those involved are exercising involuntarily?    

Read on!

Tiger

In case you’ve already run through your holiday reading list, an animal-friendly librarian has let us know about this new book: Animalkind: Remarkable Discoveries About Animals and Revolutionary New Ways to Show Them Compassion, by Ingrid Newkirk and Gene Stone.  

The authors emphasize the importance of having "love, understanding, and respect for all animals," which includes not using them for scientific and medical research, clothing, entertainment, and food.  They discuss sea and air migration; communication among frogs, primates, and birds; cognitive abilities; courtship and fidelity; grief and mourning; animal empathy; and various forms of play.

Rats

"Animals love," they write. "They grieve.  They feel emotional pain.  They worry.  And they can anticipate pain."  Newkirk (PETA founder and president) and Stone also campaign against cruelty and exploitation.  Pointing out that animal testing is an "extremely wasteful" method of finding treatments for human diseases, they cite several effective noninvasive research methods. 

Not content to merely describe the injuries to sheep during shearing, they also advocate for  plant-based and synthetic alternatives to wool.  And, allied with both concern about climate change and the growing number of non-meat “meat” products (see elsewhere here on “pork”), Newkirk and Stone advocate "a whole-food, low-oil vegan diet" of plant-based substitutes for meat, eggs, butter, and cheese. (excerpted from a Kirkus review) 

Blue Shark

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Happy new year (limited edition)

Pangolin

So, a new year.  But alas: we still have many of the same old troublesome people and problems -- some of them measurably, frighteningly worse since 2019, just last week!

We can work to control some things; others, not so much or not at all.

Dare we hope that for animals, 2020 will be a better year?  I’d love to say that African elephants and other endangered wildlife will make a comeback; that pangolins will no longer be the world’s most trafficked animal; that migratory birds -- and Monarch butterflies -- will travel more safely and reach their destinations . . . .

But I can’t.  

  

Monarch butterfly

Here in America, federal roll-backs and weakening of animal protection regulations and laws (the Endangered Species Act, just for one) will only make life harder for animals.

We can’t despair and give up.  We can’t fix everything that’s wrong for animals, but we can choose our battles -- “No one can do everything, but everyone can do something” --.and keep fighting.  This may be a time to “think globally, act locally.”

And we can appreciate and laud other good things that have happened for animals, such as a heroic rescue of animals in one Australian zoo and a brighter (alive!) future for countless fur-bearing animals here.

Words nearly fail in describing the wild fires raging in Australia: apocalyptic, hellish, end of the world.  To people and animals in the fires’ relentless paths, it must be terrifying.  Human deaths are mounting, while animal deaths are incalculable.

Koala

But a wonderful thing happened at Mogo Wildlife Park, home to the country’s largest private collection of exotic animals: zoo staff saved every one of the 200-some animals there from the raging fires! 

Either they took animals home with them -- the zookeeper housed monkeys and pandas in different rooms at his home, while a tiger was sheltered in another staff member’s back yard -- or they sheltered zoo residents in place (how do you take a giraffe or rhino home?!), sprayed down their enclosures and stamped out small fires as they occurred. 

.https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/12/31/zoo-director-takes-monkeys-pandas-home-save-them-deadly-wildfires/

No such good news for Australia’s “fragile colonies of koalas,” hit so hard by the fires that their deaths in great numbers have (already!) been called “a national tragedy.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/11/15/australia-fire-koala-bear/

fur-bearers rejoice

The HSUS last year announced two great steps forward for fur-bearing animals: First,

“Macy’s Inc. — the parent company of the iconic American department stores Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s — says it will go fur-free by the end of 2020. This includes permanently closing all of its fur vaults and salons, areas of the store dedicated to fur products.”

Probably Macy’s Inc. saw the financial writing on the wall: fur sales are declining as anti-fur activists gain influence.  But that’s OK!  We welcome this move for whatever reason, and as HSUS and HSI have done, we’ll work to make “fur-free” a universal concept.

Fox & kits

In a second positive step for animals, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill banning the sale and production of animal fur products statewide, effective Jan. 1, 2023.  (And before that, he had signed another groundbreaking animal rights bill banning commercial and recreational fur-trapping in the state.)  New Jersey legislators: are you reading this?

more cozy cats!

Long impressed by a cat rescue volunteer who faithfully cared for feral cats in her neighborhood, I’ve followed the subject. And now, it’s winter, cold and uncomfortable for New Jersey’s outdoor cats.  Unlike us, they can’t just bundle up.

Here are two links for caring “cat people” wanting to help cats living outside, with options ranging from the simple to the practically palatial.  As you help, please remember: “straw” is the magic word.

https://www.aspcapro.org/resource/spay-neuter-feral-cats-starting-program/top-ten-tips-caring-ferals-winter

https://www.neighborhoodcats.org/how-to-tnr/colony-care/feral-cat-winter-shelter

Tortie in snow

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