sandgrubber

http://www.npr.org/b...&cc=sh-20111112 These photos, which came to us via email from the World Wildlife Fund, show an amazing scene: Nineteen sedated black rhinoceroses were airlifted out of an area in South Africa, and spent about 10 minutes upside down in the air en route to a new home. These thick-skinned mammals, weighing up to 3,000 pounds each, were being transported to the Limpopo Province in South Africa. Led by the WWF's Black Rhino Range Expansion Project, nearly 120 black rhinos have been relocated, with the hope that a new home will help protect the critically endangered species from poachers. Flying Rhinos from Green Renaissance on Vimeo. This new technique in removing rhinos from dangerous situations is gentler than previous methods, according to Dr. Jacques Flamand, World Wildlife Fund project leader. "The helicopter translocations usually take less than ten minutes, and the animals suffer no ill effect," he said in a statement. "All of the veterinarians working on the translocation agreed that this was now the method of choice for the well-being of the animals." Poachers have been responsible for the demise of other rhino species as well. About 65,000 black rhinos thrived in 1970, according to the International Rhino Foundation, but less than 5,000 roam the planet today. Note: I screen grabbed one of the photos and inserted it in small format. The full photos are much more spectacular. There's also some video.

In the case of a medical problem or death . . . or other mishap . . . sale of the business as a unit may be the kindest thing for the dogs. I've never come close to 25 dogs, but my dogs get pretty attached to one another. If their stimulation and exercise has come largely through interaction with other dogs, they may not immediately take to a home situation with one or no other dogs.

clearly some people need to realise how rude they and their bloody dogs are and not let anything off lead that does not have a relaible recall. Why should I be prevented from using a lovely walking track cause people can't control their dogs? Why should my slightly anxious girl be denied a nice walk by the river? Why should I be denied a nice walk by the river with my dog who loved those walks? But we have been denied those pleasures by people who obviuosly think the same as you You shouldn't be denied. But neither should first-time-dog owners who maybe did the RSPCA's six week training course and think their dog is well trained be denied an opportunity to let their goofy puppies play with other dogs. There are a lot more of such folks than there are people who have done regular training for years. How about a little tolerance!

clearly some people need to realise how rude they and their bloody dogs are and not let anything off lead that does not have a relaible recall. Why should I be prevented from using a lovely walking track cause people can't control their dogs? Why should my slightly anxious girl be denied a nice walk by the river? Why should I be denied a nice walk by the river with my dog who loved those walks? But we have been denied those pleasures by people who obviuosly think the same as you You shouldn't be denied. But neither should first-time-dog owners who maybe did the RSPCA's six week training course and think their dog is well trained be denied an opportunity to let their goofy puppies play with other dogs. There are a lot more of such folks than there are people who have done regular training for years. How about a little tolerance!

My Australian vet told me she's seen a fair number of vaccinated dogs get parvo in their first year, but very few if any get parvo after having a second round of vaccinations at ~ 14 months. Apparently the puppy vaccinations sometimes fail to develop immunity. If I remember correctly, my vet said this problem isn't as bad now as it used to be . . . some of the newer vaccinations work better.

Was Mrs Dixon a registered (in the pedigree sense) breeder? Anyone know?

There was a time when the only way I could allow my dog to go to a full run and to interact with other dogs was to go to an off lead dog park. My dog at the time had good recall, unless she found something choice to eat/roll in (typical Lab) and hadn't one iota of aggression toward dog or man. I found lots of interpretations of 'effective control', many of which didn't accord with mine. Eg, one regular user of the dog park had four Basenjiis, who tended to gang up on other dogs and do some nasty hock biting, but who never did serious harm. People learned to recognize and steer clear of this person and her dogs. In the year or so that I used that park, I found most everyone got to know each other and their dogs, and developed ways to work with one another or avoid each other when it was no-go. There were many dogs in the six months to two years category who were not fully trained, but had a lovely time goofing off, running and playing. These were commonly unrestrained about bounding up to another dog, on or off leash. A large guardian breed dog who was new to the park and who had protective reactions would be a hazard in this circumstance. Young dogs brought there to play, many of them basically untrained but friendly, would be likely to bound up to the dog. On leash dogs tend to be defensive, if not aggressive. That can spiral out of control. Dogs, like humans, tend to react to defensive behaviour as though it were an offense. Personally, I don't thing the formal RULES are all that important, except when things go seriously wrong. Off lead dog parks can be a great thing. Each park develops its own culture and helps people who love their dogs but don't have a big yard to fulfill their pets needs for exercise and socialisation. Its important to watch and understand what is going on in the environment and play along with the unofficial rules of the game.

Albany County looking to create animal abuse registry Posted: Sep 21, 2011 12:56 PM PDT http://www.wten.com/story/15517304/albany-county-looking-to-create-animal-abuse-registry ALBANY, N.Y. - Albany County is looking to be the second county statewide to create an animal abuse registry. The legislation to create a registry of convicted animal abusers was introduced Wednesday by Albany County Legislator Bryan Clenahan. The only other New York county to have such registry is Suffolk County, which was the nation's first animal abuse registry. The law would say that anyone convicted of animal cruelty in Albany County would need to register giving their name, current address, photograph and pay an annual fee to the Sheriff's Department. One conviction would put the abuser on the registry for ten years; two convictions would put the abuser on the registry for life. The Mohawk Hudson Humane Society would also maintain the database which would be accessible to animal shelters, pet stores and breeders in Albany County. Anyone who sold or adopted a pet to a person in the database would be fined. "This is an essential step forward for protecting animals in Albany County," Brad Shear, Executive Director of the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society, said. He continued, "The state's penalties for animal abusers are minimal at best. After a short period of time, abusers can start getting animals again. The registry will help prevent abusers from finding new victims." There will be a public hearing for the law on Tuesday, September 27 at 7:15pm at the County Legislative Offices, 112 State Street, for members of the public to attend.

I used to live in a kennel area where there were lots of greyhound breeders. They had two meat suppliers they would use. They avoided most suppliers because the preservatives in the meat would show up in the tests done at the races and disqualify their dogs. Apparently high levels of preservatives is the norm.

Actually I'm looking at koolies. and maybe one Aussie kennel that has working lines. If you've identified the breeder you like, phone them and ask their opinion of when and how it's best to make contact. Different strokes for different folks, but no sensible person will resent a polite and flattering inquiry about how to work with them on the purchase of a pup.

European customs can be pretty disgusting, too. Factory farming? Dog fighting? Bear baiting (wasn't that long ago that it was outlawed)? Fox hunting? Cock fighting? de foie gras? Not to mention how wasteful we are that we don't eat insects. Castigating 3 billion people for customs found in small minorities is a sign of a severely limited and rather nasty mind. I'd guess that there are 500,000,000 to 1,000,000,000 people in Asia who don't eat meat and regard us all as barbarians because we kill animals to eat.

I think you need to be clear about what you want. The more coat, the more grooming . . . and the worse the mess if the dog goes in bush and picks up burrs etc. If you like combing out coat and find that a good way to bond with a dog, go for it. But otherwise, go for shorter coats. Eg., for the retriever, go for a Lab before a goldie (more color choice as well). If you really love grooming and want a big dog, you might want to look at Afghan hounds. Giants have lots of appeal, but many of them have serious health problems and short lifespans. Vet expenses have a tendency to get more expensive as the dog gets heavier as well. You can find some not-so-nice temperaments in the giants who were originally bred for bull baiting and guard dogs, but in my experience, Newfies, Danes, and Saitnt, and some mastiffs are placid and more inclined to be friendly than aggressive. There's huge variation in temperament within most breeds, so make sure to ask breeders about temperament.

Good to see attention to the (idiot) humans rather than the dog pts.

I've tried separating them and find it causes angst and does nothing good. My girls are very close to one another. I do keep the other bitch or bitches (at the moment I've only got two, but I've had as many as four) from getting into the whelping box during the whelping and in the two to three weeks afterwards. I have a couple girls who love puppies so much they would try to take over the litter, given half a chance. I've mostly had large litters, and I generally allow the broodier bitches (who come into milk when there are pups around) to do a little mothering at week two or three . . . by which time the Mum is beginning to get bored with the pups and spending less time around them. This once saved me a lot of trouble when Mum got mastitis and nursing got difficult.

My dog freaks out when she finds a bit of gecko skin in the house, so not sure if it has a similar smell to snake, but normally live lizards don't scare her. She is very wary of anything snakeish. Next time I find a snake skin I will have to see what her reaction is. You could also pick up the next freshly run over snake you find on the road, & put it in the freezer for training. Might be an idea to carefully remove the head & discard it so the dog can't get to the venom. In SES tracker training we were told that suicides are hard for dogs . . . the dogs follow the track ok, but can't associate the smell of the dead person with the smells that the live person left on the trail. I wouldn't assume snake skin or a dead snake is going to produce a snake que for a dog.

Doesn't QLD have a law against dumping? If they were able to learn this guy's name and age, they must be able to figure out who dumped him.

Tragic that someone who is down and out and finds a dog his best friend has the dog seized. I don't have a solution. But it may be worth pointing out, from the perspective of social costs and benefits, it's a lot better to let the poor guy be able to keep his loved companion, and hopefully find a safe place for both of them, than to kill the dog and have the guy end up in a prison or loony bin.

There's plans and there's plans. I plan for 10 years, but it gets more and more iffy as you go past two years. Plans always subject to the health of my dogs, the demand for puppies, and changes in my personal circumstances.

My experience says that dogs who have good things happen when they go for car rides (eg, get to go to a park that they like, go to a FUN FUN FUN puppy preschool training class, get to go for a walk where there are lots of good smells, get to fall asleep in the car while Mum goes shopping and then get some sort of yummy food treat) come to love the car. I'll bet if the associations are always positive, they'll overcome the possible problems of motion sickness. May require patience. And you may be able to tone down the travel sickness.

Try gently stroking a puppy or two's anus (use a wet microfiber towel or some such). If you can't stimulate a pooh, you can be pretty sure mum is doing her job. My girls have been excellent mums and every time I've doubted them, they've proven me wrong. You gotta keep watching . . . and it's hard not to worry . . . but mother nature tends to cover this aspect of puppy raising, in my experience.

Yup. And in the US you can find Master Hunters (the elite rank in retrieving competition) who are not just carriers, but AFFECTED! All heritable conditions are not equal. As the genetic testing industry develops genetic tests, we have to get more sophisiticated in how we use testing.

Five is sufficiently small that the pup shouldn't have much trouble getting onto some teat. I'm a little compulsive with pups (though I've only had one litter with less than seven) and can't help myself from taking the little guys and sticking them on the milkier teats. I only lost one runt . . . and this happened suddenly at week seven after he was well along to catching up with the others. I have no idea what happened. They usually pull through just fine. And a large fraction of puppy buyers want the runt . . . so don't worry about finding a home.

I've only seen eclampsia (sp? = milk fever) in a goat and it's really awful. It's fine to worry and better to be safe than sorry. I expect that experience will show you that you can cross that particular malady off your list of concerns if you feed a calcium rich diet regularly, and particularly in the months before conception. I don't understand panting in nursing bitches, but have had several who do it. . . .with no ill consequences.

Scour ban is good stuff. You can buy it at many feed stores or vets without a prescription. Follow the label.

Who said anything about cutting up beasts while alive or eating endangered species. I was thinking of the change from farm-based butchering to use of slaughter houses and distribution via supermarket chains. We need to look to our own practices before condemning others. Quoting the save-the-koala folks (https://www.savethek...endangered.html) "Koalas are in serious decline suffering from the effects of habitat destruction, domestic dog attacks, bushfires and road accidents. The Australian Koala Foundation estimates that there are less than 80,000 koalas left in the wild, possibly as few as 43,000." If you want to blame someone for koala decline, blame the developers who are destroying their habitat and the road builders who actions convert them to road kill. Don't point at supposed Asian poachers and dubious photographs. The old-fashioned blow to the head plus slitting the jugular (beheading, for chooks) is dying out in Australia, at least for the small farmer. I haven't done a state by state comparison, but I know that WA now forbids home-based slaughtering and dressing for sheep, pigs, and cattle. In the modern version, you first subject your pig or sheep or calf to transport, which probably terrifies the beast, feed lot it for awhile, and then put it through some supposedly humane and sanitary killing at the hands of a large slaughter house. I don't see this as an improvement from the animal's perspective. Btw, boiling alive isn't a nice way to go either, even if it's a lobster or crab.