Animals

Arizona R.E.S.C.U.E. had its annual awards picnic on Saturday at Kiwanis Park in Tempe, at which Karen Currie was named volunteer of the year. Kat and I received Cornerstone Awards for our volunteer work in dog fostering and caretaking roles, which was unexpected but gratifying. R.E.S.C.U.E. is always looking for additional volunteers to assist with a variety of activities for the support of both dogs and cats. Next Saturday, we’ll be attending the Arizona Humane Society’s annual donor recognition brunch. We’re looking forward to hearing what AHS has planned for the coming year. Where R.E.S.C.U.E. has been around for twelve years and operates on a tiny budget and emphasizes quality adoptions over quantity, AHS turns 50 this year, has a multi-million dollar annual budget, two impressive large facilities in Phoenix, and is able to perform a wide variety of services including mobile emergency animal medical services (which can be seen on television on Animal Planet’s “Animal Planet Heroes Phoenix” series).

How hot has it been this week? Hot enough for the lions at the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston to be fed frozen blood: In Boston, animals at the Franklin Park Zoo were kept cool with sprinklers and frozen treats. The African wild dogs and lions got frozen blood; the primates received frozen fruit juice.(Hat tip to Trent Stamp of Charity Navigator.)

Odyssey Truett, a Springer Spaniel, comments on the Bible’s negativity about dogs. (Hat tip to Ed Babinski.) Anonymous (2007-11-07): I dont like that link and i think the writer of that "blog" is a complete ignoramus and doesnt understand dogs himself. True that there arent many nice things in the Bible about dogs. Most of the references i've read about them were comparing them to bad things.. dogs eating scraps in the street or the dead people who are sinners unworthy of burial. aka Pariah dogs, living on the fringes of society and not really doing much good for anyone but themselves. However in a lot places in the world this is still true today. the homeless dogs are thieves, scavengers, carriers of vermin and disease, and not very well liked among the locals.Being cast out among the dogs in the Bible was never a good thing for that reason because there is no one to care for you and you are scorned.. and one that i see again and again proven true by people i know personally is in Proverbs 26:11 "As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool returns to his folly". Yes dogs can regurgitate FOOD but there is a clear distinction of FOOD and VOMIT. When you vomit its because there is something wrong with the food. wouldnt you think you should probably not eat it....? If you barf up steak and eggs are you going to scrape it off the floor and put it back on your plate for a second chance? There are usually good medical reasons why a dog returns to its vomit.. they would rather re-eat tainted food than starve to death because thats the only option a pariah dog has. One way or the other he is going to die.... but at least he can die with a full belly even if its poison rather than dying a slow death by starvation. I dont believe the Bible is saying ALL dogs are bad. i believe it speaks mostly about street dogs. and if you've ever lived in a place where stray dogs were a danger or destroyed your property then you would understand why the comparison fits with sinners and thieves. ...

Jim and I have been volunteering with RESCUE (Reducing Euthanasia at Shelters through Commitment and Underlying Education) since January 2002. Two of our dogs, Otto and Fred, came from RESCUE. We believe it is a worthy cause and I am asking for you help. I am participating in the Fourth Annual Bowl-A-Rama which raises money for animal organizations in Arizona. I am on Team Tango, representing RESCUE. All pledges raised by RESCUE will go directly to their mission of providing a second chance at life for dogs and cats who, through no fault of their own, are spending their final days at Maricopa County Animal Care and Control. Thes money goes toward medical treatment, boarding, etc. while the animals are in RESCUE’s care. The passion that began RESCUE has resulted in a volunteer-driven non-profit corporation with over 300 dedicated volunteers who have helped care for and place over 8,000 wonderful cats and dogs. If you can spare $10, $20 or more, please go to http://bowl.azrescue.org and make a pledge to Team Tango.

See if you can spot the pit bull on this web page. This is from http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/, a great site to learn more about the American Pit Bull breed. I know a lot about dog breeds, and I only got it right on my third try. (Yes, there are many breeds pictured that are not popular in the U.S.) While many cities/insurance companies are considering breed-specific ordinances/restrictions that penalize pit bulls and their guardians, this web site highlights the fact that most people cannot recognize a pit bull when they see one. I believe any dog breed can be aggressive and a danger to society at large. Breed-specific legislation targets the dogs, not the people who are really the problem. ...

Last weekend, our foster dog Nellie was adopted. We fostered her for the past five months, a little longer than our average foster time of three months per dog since we started fostering dogs in October 2003 for R.E.S.C.U.E. Nellie was an owner turn-in to Maricopa County Animal Care & Control. She’s a very shy dog who did not do well in the noisy kennel environment and was on her way to euthanization. While in our care she did not fully overcome her shyness and skittishness, but she got much better and was very happy in our house. Our house is quieter without her and we miss her, but she found a great home. ...

As you already know if you pay attention to the mainstream media, VP Dick Cheney accidentally shot a 78-year-old man with a shotgun while hunting quail with him in Texas. His hunting partner, Harry Whittington, is in stable condition in a hospital in Corpus Christi, after being sprayed in the face (fortunately not in the eyes) and chest with shotgun pellets. Whittington, a lawyer who was appointed by then-Gov. George W. Bush to the Texas Funeral Services Commission, now has a great story to tell his grandchildren. (BTW, the title is a reference to a song here.) UPDATE: Pharyngula points out that the type of “hunting” Cheney engaged in back in 2003 involved having pen-raised animals released for his shooting pleasure. 500 farm-raised pheasants were released for the Cheney party’s entertainment, and they killed at least 417 of them, along with an unknown number of captive mallard ducks. I haven’t seen an indication that this quail hunting incident was of pen-raised quail, but that seems to be common. ...

From the BBC, how not to dispose of live rodents: A US man who threw a mouse onto a pile of burning leaves could only watch in horror as it ran into his house and set the building ablaze. Luciano Mares, 81, of Fort Sumner, New Mexico, found the mouse in his home and wanted to get rid of it. “I had some leaves burning outside, so I threw it in the fire, and the mouse was on fire and ran back at the house,” he was quoted as saying by AP. Though no-one was injured, the house and everything in it was destroyed. UPDATE: This is not true–the mouse was dead when thrown into the fire, which was blown into the house by wind. UPDATE January 12: Now Mares is sticking with the original story.

In our neighborhood, we frequently see stray dogs, usually without collars or identifying information. We catch them when we can, and turn them into the pound. The puppies tend to get quickly adopted. Others, we point out to RESCUE, an animal rescue group we volunteer with, so that if they get put on the euthanasia lists they may have another opportunity for survival. Unfortunately, RESCUE can’t save all of them. This puppy had been given to a homeless man we know, who in turn gave him to us to take care of. Kat removed numerous ticks and gave her a bath (the first photo is pre-bath, the second is post-bath). We estimated her age at less than three months, and the breed could be some kind of Chow mix. I think this is the fifth stray we’ve turned in this year; last year we turned in about the same number, including at least three puppies. ...

We were looking for places to buy arthritis medication online for our eight-year-old Queensland Heeler/Border Collie mix, and I was surprised to find how sleazy many of them are–hiding the true identity of the companies or individuals behind them with private domain registrations, postal mailboxes, etc. For example, discountpetmedicines.com had a great price, but turned out to actually be a directory service operated by a company called OnTrack Professionals, Inc. (an Oklahoma corporation whose registered agent is John M. Gerkin, an attorney who was just named as a Special Judge for Washington and Nowata counties in September). The directory service points to a Yahoo store called entirelypets.com. Entirelypets.com has a Network Solutions private registration: Domain Name: ENTIRELYPETS.COM Administrative Contact: EntirelyPets.com, EntirelyPets.com [email protected] ATTN: ENTIRELYPETS.COM c/o Network Solutions P.O. Box 447 Herndon, VA 20172-0447 570-708-8780 Its website gives a mailing address in Norfolk, Nebraska that’s a private mailbox service: 710 South 13th Street Suite 900 PMB# 384 Norfolk, NE 68701I went into the site’s online chat: Please wait for a site operator to respond. Chat Information You are now chatting with ‘Herman’ Herman: Welcome to EntirelyPets.com! How can I assist you? Jim: Hello, Herman. I’m trying to find out if there is a legitimate corporation behind entirelypets.com before I do business with you. Jim: How can I verify that? Herman: That’s an excellent question sir. We have been in business for over 6 years now. The name of our corporation is HealthyPets, Inc. We are certainly legitimate. If you would like to speak with one of our reps you can call us at 1-800-889-8967. Jim: Is that a Nebraska corporation? Herman: That is both a Nebraska and California Corporation. All of our shipments are made from CA, but our main branch is here in Nebraska. Jim: OK, thank you very much!I looked up information on HealthyPets, Inc., and found that there is no Nebraska corporate registration for a company with that name, but there is one in California: HEALTHYPETS, INC. Number: C2133197 Date Filed: 2/5/1999 Status: active Jurisdiction: California Address 43450 MINTWOOD ST FREMONT, CA 94538 Agent for Service of Process M GHUMMAN 43450 MINTWOOD ST FREMONT, CA 94538M. Ghumman turns out to be Mandeep Ghumman, DVM, and it turns out that HealthyPets, Inc. has a long history of registering domains in the names of other online pet stores and vets, and then losing them to those other pet stores and vets in WIPO arbitration hearings: petsuppliesforless.com and lambiarvet.com (awarded to the owners of petsupplies4less.com and lambriarvet.com in 2003). kvvetsupply.com (awarded to KV Vet Supply in 2001) drfostersmith.com (awarded to Dr. Foster & Smith in 2000) The site at the HealthyPets.com domain–which includes references to HealthyPets, Inc.–does not sell any prescription medications, so far as I can see, though clearly at least the entirelypets.com site, which contains no references to a real company, does. I also found a record of complaints about HealthyPets, Inc. at ripoffreport.com, which points out that they use other domains like naturalpets.com, petmedications.com, and toppetmed.com, as well as reports on a number of consumer complaints about the company. I decided to go instead with 1800petmeds.com, which is a publicly traded company whose CEO is named and pictured on the site, figuring that I’d rather pay more than do business with a sleazy company. As it turns out, 1800petmeds.com has a price-matching policy, and actually offered us a better price than entirelypets.com was offering. ...