Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle Welcomes some Spring Arrivals

Woodland Park Zoo saves animals and their habitats through conservation leadership and engaging experiences, inspiring people to learn, care and act. Woodland Park Zoo exhibits nearly 1,100 animals representing almost 300 different animal species—from tiny insects to the largest land mammal on the planet, the elephant.

Four new otter pups are recently welcomed. Woodland Park Zoo is an interactive zoo, well worth the trip.

The Zebra Mule Has Many Names

Zedonk was born. They call this one a Zedonk! Not suspecting that a zebra and Momma mule had mated, it sure was a surprise when the little one was born.

Pet Obesity is epidemic, just like most all American folks.

Overfeeding is not love. Obese pets like cats and dogs suffer from a multitude of diseases because of overweight. Diabetes. high blood pressure, musculoskeletal disease, arthritis, reduced life span, knee and joint problems. It is wise to work with your vet to determine the best diet for your pet. Just grabbing pet food off the grocery shelf can be putting dangerous foods in your pets life without any real intention by you. Granted food budgeting is an issue for many these days but a few minutes of analysis with a little knowledge of recommendations can help you pick out the best for within your budget. Good food combined with regular exercise (daily) can greatly enhance your pets health. And for you too if you are part of the exercise program. The Morris Animal Foundation is a good place to find references to good pet nutrition. There are some great sites on the web too that also explain portion control.

Animals and Marijuana don't mix

Marijuana is a people drug not a pet drug. There seems to be much controversy around whether it is safe to give animals the drug. But when in doubt don't. Even if it does help somewhat in some cases, while killing pain it also puts the animal in a confusing and scary condition. Have you ever had chemotherapy? It's like that apparently. More and more veterinarians are reporting poisonings. Marijuana in the 'raw' form is extremely toxic to animals Some tinctures may help but must be closely monitored. I noticed that many people were giving their pets the 'hail Mary' meds, supposedly more comfortably prolonging an impending painful death for a few weeks. But who is that prolonging for? The owner or the animal? I say take a toke (if you must) and then bring it to the vet for a humane euthanasia before it suffers a few more weeks of not only pain but also confusion and certainly discomfort from the effects of the marijuana.

Guilty on Dog Abuse Case

I found this article on the web this morning.

I am constantly on the lookout for potential animal abuse around where we live too. Especially in the summer when so many clueless people leave their animals in hot cars.

This article deals with tethering a dog to a rail and leaving it.

Have you ever been hopelessly confined to the end of a rope? I am often tethered to a medical device and believe me it is not fun to be so limited in movement, so I really feel it for tied up animals.

Granted a fencing system is a lot more expensive than a tie out rope, but consider what little trades you could make to make an animal's life a little more humane. A latte a day at $3.00 a pop is $90.00 a month. One half of a pen. Just saying....

Here is a link to the video and photos. Below is the text in case you don't want to bother with the video.

http://newjersey.news12.com/news/kisha-curtis-pleads-guilty-to-animal-cruelty-in-patrick-the-dog-case-1.5796832

"NEWARK - The 29-year-old defendant in the "Patrick the Dog" case has pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges.

Kisha Curtis entered the plea Tuesday, according to the Essex County Prosecutor's Office. The plea comes on the day before Curtis was set to head to trial.

Curtis was accused of tying her pit bull Patrick to a railing in her Newark apartment before leaving the state in 2011. The emaciated dog was later found at the bottom of a trash chute.

Curtis had previously denied the charges, but today admitted she abandoned Patrick without food or water.

The guilty plea was not part of a deal and the assistant prosecutors handling the case say they will seek the maximum penalty of 18 months. "Miss Curtis obviously committed an act, and now she's paying the consequences for it," says Assistant Essex County Prosecutor David Feldman. The case sparked a call for tougher laws against mistreatment of pets.

Patrick has since made a full recovery. He being cared for by Patricia Smillie Scavelli, an administrator at Garden State Veterinary Specialists in Tinton Falls, where he was slowly nursed back to health.

Curtis is currently free on bail, and is set to be sentenced on Aug. 29."

North Shore Animal League Has Posted A Special Request

Cat Hit by Car Needs Your Help

Champ's Story When North Shore Animal League America rescued this sweet Siamese cat from a municipal shelter, he was perilously close to death.

The cat, whom our rescue team named Champ, had been hit by a car and left gravely wounded on a roadside. His injuries included head trauma, a broken jaw and severe damage to both of his eyes.

Despite Champ’s slim odds of survival, the medical staff at North Shore Animal League worked tirelessly to save him. They immediately administered medication to alleviate his pain; next, they wired his jaw shut so it could have a chance to heal properly. Then, they inserted a feeding tube so Champ could receive essential nourishment to help him gain back his strength.

Their veterinary staff monitored Champ around-the-clock, concerned that the impact of the crash might have caused neurological problems. Day by day, he is growing stronger, and he shows no signs of brain damage.

But Champ isn’t out of the woods yet. Sadly, the injuries to his eyes were far too severe to be repaired, and he will require surgery to remove them. To find out more about this go to www.animalleague.org.

This evokes memories for me of our little cat who was born with the cerebral virus similar to cerebral palsy in humans. He had wandered to the road after someone left the gate open and was hit. He survived, but was on shaky ground for several weeks. It was our fabulous vet who pulled him through.

Another cat in our family whose name is Chance (for second chance). He was lost from somewhere in the farm land and ended up in a friend's garage with a big abscess in his side, probably from a coyote attack. We took him in and again our vet pulled him through. He was so traumatized he spent most of his first year with us on a chair under the dining room table!

It has been several years now and he has decided he can now rule over the other cats in his privileged old age.

We are glad help support all rescue agencies. My website will include all of them. The website has taken some time to build due to some extenuating circumstance, but will be built soon.

Locusts For Lunch

Could bugs be the next cuisine trend? Just imagine it: 'Restaurant Arthropod's'. Now serving: Locust Louis; Mealy Bug Meatloaf; Centipede Souffle; Moth Broth; Mosquito Fahito au jus.; Chigger Juice.

Insects for Dinner? No-no, not the squashed fly between the pages of your plastic menu or the little roach that scrambles out from under your plate in a restaurant, but the one that gets delivered in your dinner on purpose.

Consider the possibilities... Arthropods, or organisms with jointed legs are clearly related to lobsters, crabs and other edible beings in the ocean. It's been determined that lobsters are actually sea-going cockroaches and in addition, lobster exoskeletons also have the same jointed legs and antennae as grasshoppers. In comparison, grasshoppers should be more desirable than lobsters. Grasshoppers eat clean grass; lobsters eat sea garbage like dead fish and other remains on the murky ocean floor. Of course we all eat some insects unknowingly. Aphids cling to lettuce leaves, and weevils and beetles can reside in flour and rice undetected. The FDA actually has a measurement of `acceptable' insect presence in food.

You might consider the nutritional angle. Termites have considerably more protein than a steak, for example and that protein has more amino acids essential to our diet than any other animal.

Insects can be `farm raised'. You can breed them like cattle, and in a smaller space with less odor! They could be marketed as a simple solution to world hunger. (Many nations already commonly eat insets, by the way.) There are over five million species roaming the earth, so we would definitely enjoy more variety in our dishes. Rather than being crop destroyers, they would be the crop.

If you are curious, why don't you pick up the book, 'Entertaining with Insects', and try out a few dishes at your next formal dinner party. And chefs, consider the colorful presentations you could make! Real butterflies...... I'll bet that if you dipped them in chocolate you could get almost anyone to try one.

...We ate in a seafood restaurant last night and I sadly passed on the lobster tail.

by Kathleen Brack About the Author: Kathleen Jerauld-Brack. BFA Graphic Design and Fine Art. Is recipient of many Art and Literature Awards. She is also Webmaster of: http://www.bestplacetoeat.com/ |