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I saw the article first in the paper I work for and wanted to blog about it. Unfortunately I haven’t gotten around to blogging much this past week and it’s been a bit. I still think it’s a great heartwarming story and should be told…
In Meriden, CT at the CT Humane Society… a mother cat who just gave birth to kittens adopted a 6 day old Rottweiler puppy that was abandoned by it’s mother. The pup is named Charlie. Charlie’s mother was found by the side of the road in Meriden a couple of months ago. She gave birth to two puppies, but one was stillborn. As sometimes happens with a stillborn in the litter, the mother refused to accept Charlie. “The kittens scrum up with him and the kittens treat him like one of their own,” Chorney said. “There’s a certain social benefit of small animals being with each other.” Volunteers are hoping that dog owners will volunteer their puppies to be Charlie’s playmates. “Dogs need to be with a litter of puppies, to learn to play with other dogs,” Chorney said. “He has to learn to be a well-socialized dog. Here is the Meriden Humane Society’s website. Also, here is the article about the whole situation.
And a photo:
And a video!
I just stumbled upon this article about long-tailed macaque monkeys in Singapore causing havoc. Basically they roam the streets in groups of 20 and ransack houses - taking food, opening cupboards, overturning trash bins and pissing on the rug. It’s not even just houses anymore… Out for a game of golf, did you pack a lunch? Consider it gone if these packs of monkey’s come around. Nowhere seems safe anymore. Lock those doors and fear the monkey’s wrath! According to an article about these incidents: “It’s not that they want to attack. They just think, if you have the food, why don’t you share it? Why are you eating and not sharing? Can I have some? They cross the line.”
Here is a video of a monkey in a Singapore parking lot stealing an apple:
Here is another video of a monkey in Singapore AGAIN stealing and eating someone’s food. It’s crazy to see.
Here’s a terribly sad story that I am reluctant to bring to everyone’s attention. Unfortunatly I feel as if these pets who died should be mourned. At the Seminole County Animal Services building in Sanford, Florida a fire was started and the suspected cause of the blaze was a clothes dryer. Firefighters came to the rescue but couldn’t save all the animals in time. 32 cats and 7 dogs were killed. There were around 270 animals that survived and were treated on the scene and expected to live. It is sad to hear of this tragedy and all we can do is mourn for the lifes lost. Here is the article.
And here are some photos of the survivors…
I found a video of the prehistoric shark I mentioned in a past blog. It’s pretty fascinating.
Blue Jellyfish Invade Australia’s Beaches
Huge amounts of toxic bluebottle jellyfish have turned Australia’s East Coast blue. It’s summer beach season for them and it’s been ruined by the sting. Last year over 30,000 were stung by these translucent jellies, and this year there have already been reported around 1,200 stings, a bunch needed hospitalization. A wind shift has been the cause for the new arrivals as well as the growth of the population of these jellyfish due to the warming of the ocean waters. This is happening in many places with other types of jellyfish as well because of the environmental changes. Jellyfish have been around for over 600 years and have the easy ability to adapt to the changing conditions for their survival. This won’t be stopping anytime soon and the beach seasons may be up for some hard challenges in keeping the beaches safe from these stingers.
Does anyone else think they look like mini blue dinosaurs?
That’s right! Fabruary is National Pet Dental Month. This is SO important because so many pet owners tend to neglect this part of their animals health. Animals are very prone to getting oral diseases if not properly cared for and on a regular basis.
“According to the AVDS, 80 percent of dogs and 70 percent of cats show signs of oral disease by age three, often indicated by bad breath, a change in eating or chewing habits, pawing at the face and mouth and depression. Besides causing receding gums and tooth loss, the infection may enter the bloodstream, potentially infecting the heart, liver and kidneys.”
If you own a pet please check out this site which has a bunch of useful information about Pet Dental Care. Take care of those little fuzzy love bugs! They depend on YOU!
I know my blog is about cuddly, cute, adorable animals but when those animals become victim to horrible deaths, I can’t let this go unnoticed. I not only want to brighten someones day with pictures, videos and stories of the cute and adorable but also to inform people of animals in the news, how to help them and to know what’s going on in the “animal world”. Sometimes this comes with hard to hear news, like this bombing in the Baghdad pet market. What annoys me the most was the fact that when I first read about it, there were death and injury tolls of people but hardly anything was said about the animals involved. I am not trying to say anything here about whose life is more important, but I do believe it would do some good if people were aware that humans are not the only victims of war. Here is a news article from CBS about the bombing (and after reading it, you will see what I mean).
After looking into the story a bit, I found some videos I would have rather not watched from the war regarding animals. It may have not had anything to do with this particular case but I started to realize how much the animals were suffering due to this war… something I didn’t even think about (being a huge animal lover). In the videos you will find animal cruelty to a huge degree. One shows an American soldier throwing stones at an injured dog just for fun. Another shows live donkey being fed to a lion with many onlookers (this in a Baghdad zoo). Thinking about these videos, I realized that the animals the were in the Pet Market were probably just left there (especially if they weren’t even mentioned in any of the articles). Doesn’t anyone care? Are there no reporters who have a soft spot for animals?
This said, it is up to you if you would like to view these videos I have mentioned. I am not placing them on the blog directly due to the content. It is not easy to watch, I warn you. I don’t recommend it, but if anything… if it brings enlightenment so be it. It should be known they are victims of cruelty just as much as people are over there. I hope something can be done about this.
This video reminded me of Gladiator times with the lion… it’s so awful… particularly the audience cheering in the background and with comments like “this is f*ckn awesome”, shame on them!!!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXEePi7a2Pw
These soldiers torturing an injured dog is just plain sadistic. I can’t believe my eyes.
This creature you see here is called a frilled shark. Sightings of these sharks are rare because they usually live thousands of feet below in the Ocean. This shark was spotted by a fisher in Japan. After being caught, the shark was moved to Japan’s Awashima Marine Park on Sunday, January 21, 2007. Unfortunatly the shark died not shortly after being captured. Some speculate that it came to the surface because it was sick. We may never know.
Photos courtesy of National Geographic.
Through the years of reading, researching and caring for animals, I have come across many cases of what they call Animal Hoarding. Animal Hoarding is basically when a person becomes obsessed with animals (mostly common household pets like Dogs and Cats) and decides to adopt (rescue) an especially high number of them. As wonderful as adopting is, it becomes a problem when the house is overloaded with them to the point of uncleanliness. In most cases the animals are without enough food/water and some haven’t been properly up to date and cared for medically. This problem is very common unfortunatly and doesn’t seem to get enough attention. As sad as it is to see these animals living under such conditions, unfortunatly the owner is usually under the impression that they are doing nothing wrong, perhaps even feeling as if they are helping these animals. There has been developed a psychological condition for such people called Animal Hoarding/ers. According to Wikipedia: “Animal hoarding is a variant of obsessive-compulsive disorder rather than deliberate cruelty towards animals. Hoarding involves keeping higher than usual numbers of animals as pets without having the ability to properly house or care for them, while at the same time denying this inability. Hoarders are deeply attached to their pets and find it extremely difficult to let the pets go, since they cannot comprehend that they’re harming their pets by not providing the right environment and hygiene. Hoarders tend to believe that they provide the right amount of care for their pets.”
The ASPCA even has a unit that deals with Animal Hoarding cases and people. According to their website most cases they have come across have a sad ending where the animals taken out of the home are too old, sickly or unsociable to be adoptable and are more than likely euthanized. The best advice they give to someone who knows a hoarder and wants to help them and the animals they are hoarding is:
1. Try to convince the hoarder to accept help from the ASPCA Cares team. Animal hoarders are usually worried that these animals will not be returned to them but assure them that the ASPCA mobile clinic is parked outside their home for the entire length of the visit and that the animals will be returned after medical treatment and surgery.
2. Help the hoarder prepare the animals for the mobile clinic visit. On the night before, remove all food and water so that the animals do not eatbefore surgery. Gather cardboard or plastic carriers to contain the cats and enough leashes for dogs. Find a room that can be cleaned and ventilated so that the animals can recover there after surgery. On the morning of the mobile clinic visit, put the cats in individual carriers and leash all dogs in order to deliver them to the mobile clinic, which is usually parked in front of the hoarder’s home. In the afternoon after surgery, help the hoarder remove the animals from the clinic and return them to their recovery area.
3. Stay in touch with the hoarder to ensure that the animals are recovering from surgery. Help the hoarder with medical treatment of sick animals.
My hope in bringing this to attention is to get others to gain knowledge and understanding about this condition. It is something very common and more the likely could be happening right under your nose. Hopefully, the care needed for these animals and one suffering from this condition can be taken care of in the correct manner where everyone involves comes out for the better.
Triple RPets stands for Rescue, Relocate and Reunite. This agency does exactly that for pets in need after any kind of crisis situation and they work across the country to do this. The group was former in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. This group has spread nationwide where they have formed shelters, support groups, foster care, donations, transportation and supplies. Their website includes adoptable pets through the petfinder search engine, a way to donate to the cause (even available through online payment), a page full of pets that have already been adopted to loving homes. This is not all… there is even a link for information on how to ready your own pets for a disaster situation as well as many other things such as links, news and ways to volunteer. I highly recommend you check them out and take the time to do whatever you can for this organization. They have already done so much for animals all over the country and are ready to help many more.
To contact Triple R Pets:
Phone: 708.738.1438
Email: info @rrrpets.org
Or visit their website for all the information listed above AND more at http://www.triplerpets.org
