Rescued From the Illegal Exotic Pet Trade, Vish the Sloth Gets a Happy Ending

Vish is a three-month-old sloth who was confiscated by Peruvian authorities when he was found being kept (illegally) as a pet in the city of Tarapoto in the Amazon region of San Martin. Sloths are extremely sensitive wild animals that should never be kept as pets, but the illegal wildlife trade is rife in the area.

Illegal markets act as a conduit for both live and dead animals captured from the forests. Monkeys, coatis and birds are common victims of the exotic pet trade in Peru. Tragically, these babies are often tied up next to the carcasses of their dead family members whose bodies will be sold as “bushmeat.” Many are not even weaned and are too young to survive without their mothers.

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Pets: The Llama Is In

People who keep llamas as pets will readily offer you any number of reasons: llamas are quiet, they’re gentle and affectionate, they don’t take a lot of work to maintain and, for outdoor animals, they don’t smell bad.

But it’s more than that. Look at a llama and it’ll gaze back sympathetically with those huge, beguiling eyes, ears perked up, looking for all the world like it understands you and really cares about your problems.

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Horse Health

Spring might be the best time of the year, but if we have horses that are prone to developing grass founder, this season may be the beginning of serious problems for some of our horses. Horses that are over the age of 10, easy keepers, overweight or cresty-necked seem especially vulnerable to grass founder and should be the focus of founder prevention.

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Native American Horses

Horses forever changed life on the Great Plains. They allowed tribes to hunt more buffalo than ever before. They tipped the balance of power in favor of mounted warriors. And they became prized as wealth. For Native Americans today, horses endure as an emblem of tradition and a source of pride, pageantry, and healing.

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