More and more, animal therapy is proving an incredible
outlet for the psychological and physiological betterment of people from
diverse walks of life.
For instance, we recently reported a story about a
documentary called Castaways that chronicles the rehabilitation program of
unwanted dogs who are paired with prison inmates. There’s no question of the
lasting effect that that two have on each other by the end of their program —
but similar programs with different animals are also successful. The ranch
below is one such example.
Much like the dogs of the aforementioned program, the
horses at Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation are castaways of their own — former
racing horses from many different backgrounds who, for any number of reasons,
were no longer of use to their breeders. ABC News reports that a program called
The TRF Second Chances Program is pairing inmates with horses at correctional
facilities in nine states. Equine therapy has long been proven effective for
victims of trauma and PTSD, as well as for people with unique physical therapy
needs. But it’s benefits at Second Chances yield something else entirely.
“While TRF Second Chances began as a vocational program,” says its website, “it
wasn’t long before other benefits of the program were realized; inmates not
only learned a viable skill but also gained confidence and a sense of empathy.
Studies have shown a reduction in recidivism rates at facilities that host the
program.”
“It taught me patience,” says Jose Sotomayor from the
Bronx, NY. “Now I look at things differently. I’m more calm. I think things
through. It keeps me out of trouble.”
Peregrines nest in towns and cities from coast to coast in
the United States. The urban locations make the birds easier to watch, which
leads to an abundant supply of photos and videos as the puffy progeny come out
of their shells each spring.
Peregrines, like bald eagles, nearly went extinct during
the mid-20th century because of exposure to the pesticide DDT. By the time the
species was given federal endangered species protection in the 1970s, there
were just 324 known nesting pairs, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
Today there are 2,000 to 3,000 pairs, according to the
agency, which took the species off the federal endangered species list in 1999.
Wildlife officials around the country continue to monitor
the birds, however. Many cities make special efforts to manage local peregrine
nesting sites, providing special structures and banding baby birds for future
tracking. Partly this is good public relations, but with peregrine numbers
still relatively low, the extra attention also helps biologists keep tabs on
the health of individual birds as they grow up and find mates of their own.
This new peregrine family includes one baby male and three
baby females. They live in a special nesting box set 215 feet up a tower of the
Marine Parkway Bridge in New York City. City and state wildlife officials
recently banded the chicks so they can be tracked as they mate and raise their
own families.
Peregrine falcons have endangered species status in New
York state.
In Lowell, Massachusetts, last week, a peregrine named
Merri flew over the head of a staffer from the Massachusetts fish and wildlife
agency, who had just returned her newly banded chicks to their nest.
This falcon family’s home is a rooftop nesting box atop the
18 story tall Fox Hall, a dormitory on the University of Massachusetts–Lowell
campus.
One of Merri’s chicks, newly banded and ready for its
close-up. UMass regularly posts video streams and status updates on this falcon
family.
Merri has been raising chicks at Fox Hall for 10 years,
according to the university.
These downy peregrine babies—two males and two females—are
nesting 693 feet above sea level atop New York City’s Verrazano-Narrows Bridge,
which connects Brooklyn and Staten Island.
According to a statement from the Metropolitan Transit
Authority, which manages the city’s river crossings, 12 peregrine babies are in
residence this season on three of the city’s bridges.
You know to keep your dog away from chocolate, onions, and
skunks. But there are a number of threats to your dog that you may not even
know about. One of these looks totally innocuous and innocent, but it can actually
cause terrible problems, even death. Foxtail grass.
Foxtail grass flourishes in all but 7 states (Florida,
Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia), and
can be found just about anywhere you find grass. It looks innocent, even pretty
in a lot of ways, but it is one of the worst things your dog can get into. Why
is it so terrible? The seeds of the foxtail are easily disturbed and can be
inhaled by your pup, or work its way into their ears, feet, and mouth. The seeds
don’t look like much, but their barbs make them deadly.
Foxtail seeds are barbed, allowing them to burrow, and
trying to remove them is near impossible. If you run your finger against the
grain on a seed, you will feel how vicious and effective the hooks are. When a
seed begins to burrow, it does not stop unless it hits something it can’t move
through, such as bone, or until it works its way out of the skin. This leave a
hollow trail from entry to exit that is unbelievably difficult to repair. Seeds
have been known to burrow into a dogs brain through the nasal passages, and to
puncture organs in their ceaseless journey.
If your dog begins to sneeze constantly and violently, it
can be a sign that your pup inhaled some seeds. Vomiting or painful coughing
can be an indication that they swallowed seeds and are trying to dislodge them.
Seeds can also make their way into ears, genitalia, and eyes. If you see your
dog constantly licking or scratching any of those areas, or see redness and
discharge from their eyes, be sure to take them to you vet immediately! The
seeds can be impossible to remove if they burrow too far in, so the faster you
get them to your vet, the better chances they have to remove the offending
fauna.
Make sure to keep an eye out for Foxtail grass when you’re
out walking this summer, and make sure to keep your loved one out of it at all
costs! Help others protect their pets by sharing this information as much as
possible. You never know when it could save a dog.
A New York service dog is now being hailed a hero after
saving his blind owner from an oncoming mini school bus.
The Brewster, New York, school bus was carrying two
kindergartners to St. Lawrence O’Toole Childhood Learning Center when the
service dog, Bigo, became alert. The driver reportedly didn’t see Bigo and his
owner, Audrey Stone, crossing the road on Monday morning, so Bigo leapt into
action.
“I don’t know if [the driver] thought [Stone] was going to
move faster, but it looks like the dog tried to take most of the hit for her,”
Paul Schwartz, a manager at the Xtra Mart gas station near the intersection
where Stone was hit, said.
When Schwartz reached the scene of the crash, Stone’s head
was bleeding and she was complaining about pain from her hip. In photos, the
driver’s side wheel and intersection of the accident are covered in dog fur.
“There were 15 EMTs and people all around her and the dog
didn’t want to leave her side,” Shwartz said. “He was flopping over to her and
she didn’t want him to get away from her, either. She kept screaming, ‘Where’s
Bigo? Where’s Bigo? Where’s Bigo?’ We kept telling her he was fine.”
Schwartz added that Bigo was a good sport as EMTs bandaged
his right leg. He never barked or yelped, but simply allowed the EMTs to work
without complaint. However, Bigo appeared lost once Stone was pulled away in
the ambulance, Schwartz noted.
Bigo was taken to the vet in a fire truck, where he
underwent surgery on his leg. Stone is also currently being treated.
The driver of the bus has since been given a summons for
failing to yield to a pedestrian.
A Florida woman says she was having trouble flushing the
toilet in her Fort Lauderdale home this past weekend. After failing to plunge
the problem out, she called for professional help.
"I've never seen anything like this before,"
plumber Alisa Scott told ABC affiliate WPLG-TV. "This is the first time I
pulled something like that out of a toilet."
Scott says she used her tools to reach far down into the
toilet. What she began to pull out was still alive.
"To my surprise, I pulled out that large iguana,"
Scott said. "At first I thought it was a toy, and then it started moving
around."
Iguanas are common in that part of Florida, but they aren't
commonly found inside your plumbing.
Homeowner Lily Lindquist was sad when the iguana later
died, she told WPLG-TV, but that's not the only reason she doesn't want
something like this to happen again. She believes the iguana got into her home
through a vent on her roof. She's now making it a priority to close off those
vents to prevent another toilet surprise.
"I don't want to be there when an iguana flies out of
the toilet or an iguana bites me when I'm trying to go to the bathroom,"
Lindquist told WPLG-TV.
I read an interesting post today on my social media page.
It said:
"I continue to see rescues treat people in a way that
will sadly keep irresponsible breeders and pet stores in business."
Before you judge that statement, this person is heavily
into rescue. I'm involved with rescue and I have more friends than I can count
in rescue. I am a fan of tons of rescues and individual animals. However, I
totally get her post and there are many who agree.
Of course, this statement is not about all rescues. I do
believe we must take a step back every so often and do a reset, much like a dog
shaking it off. I attended an animal shelter worker seminar years ago and the
speaker asked us to raise our hands while he asked several questions. These
questions were yes or no questions with no room for offering explanation. As we
responded, the speaker would choose specific people to put their hands down
based on their response. We were asked if we had a fenced in yard, if we let
our cats go outside, if we had kids, if we had other animals, if we lived in
apartments, if our animals were home alone for more than four hours, if every
one of our animals was up to date on vaccinations, had a recent fecal
screening, were on heartworm preventives, flea control and so on. At the end of
the questioning, only a few people had their hands still raised. He then
revealed he was reading from a collection of adoption applications and only
those with their hands still raised would qualify to adopt. Eye opening to say
the very least.
He wanted us to see how we unintentionally narrow the
chances for animals to find a home. He also read off some adoption fees from
rescue groups that ranged from $100 to $500. The adoption fees for shelters
ranged from $0 to $200. I have personally experienced interaction with rescue
groups who seemed uninterested in my desire to volunteer, adopt or foster. I
have also been the person reviewing adoption applications.
I turned down an adoption application because the other dog
in the house, who was ten years old, was not neutered. I was adamant I was
doing the right thing; downright adamant. The people had fallen in love with a
dog at the shelter. They had been to the shelter several times meeting with the
dog and discussing their decision. When I turned them down the wife started to
cry. She told me they didn't know that neutering their dog meant they were
responsible pet owners but I made sure to correct her. She expressed that
considering the dog's veterinarian monitored health issues, neuter was
considered risky at that point. She also advised me he'd never sired any
puppies and was a stray when he joined their family as a young dog. Still, I
said no. A few weeks later they came back to the shelter. I smugly thought they
had their dog neutered because of me and I could now approve them. They
actually came to show me their new puppy. A puppy they purchased from a pet
store because they didn't have to meet any qualifications to buy him. I had
just played a part in supporting a puppy mill.
If you've never heard of foxtails, you may hear about them
soon enough, and regardless of where you live, I urge you to be on the lookout
for them. These treacherous little plant awns are ubiquitous in California,
reported in almost every state west of the Mississippi, and have recently
spread to the east coast as well.
Foxtails and Barbed Grasses
There are many varieties of foxtails, both native and
non-native, but only some have harmful spurs. Among them is foxtail barley,
which is found throughout the U.S. except in the South Atlantic and Gulf Coast
states, and also grows throughout Canada and in parts of Mexico.
In an interview with The Bark, botanist William Lauenroth
of the University of Wyoming warned that Midwestern states have seen a sharp
increase in foxtail-related infection rates in field dogs. Sporting dogs often
run through thick brush where they can inhale or swallow foxtails.
Lauenroth is working with the AKC and sporting dog groups
to combat grass awn disease, also known as grass awn migration disease. They
suspect that barbed grasses, in particular Canada wildrye, planted on land
where field dogs train, may have caused the spike in cases of the disease.
Lauenroth discovered that not only has Canada wildrye been
planted in the Midwest, it is also common along the east coast.
Why Foxtails Are So Dangerous to Pets
In late spring and early summer, foxtail plant heads turn
brown and dry, and scatter across the landscape. The tiny spikes on the plant
heads allow them to burrow into soil, and wildlife also helps spread them
around.
The foxtails eventually and inevitably make their way into
the noses, eyes, ears, mouths, and just about every other opening of dogs'
bodies, including the vulva and penis. They can get deep into your dog's
nostril or ear canal or under the skin in no time, and often too fast for you
to notice them.
These deadly little plant heads can burrow into your dog's
fur and pierce the skin, often between the toes. They can end up virtually
anywhere in your pet's body, and symptoms depend on where the foxtail is
located. For example, if your dog is shaking her head, there could be a foxtail
in an ear canal. If she's suddenly sneezing uncontrollably, she could have one
in her nose. Foxtails in the lungs can cause coughing and difficulty breathing.
A dog's body isn't capable of processing foxtails, either
degrading or decomposing them. To make matters worse, foxtails carry bacteria
and can only move in one direction (forward). Unless they are found early, they
can continue to travel throughout a dog's body, creating abscesses, damaging
tissue, and causing grass awn disease.
A grass awn infection can be very difficult to diagnose, in
part because the infection occurs behind the migrating foxtail. In addition,
foxtails are hard to see using traditional imaging techniques, because they are
small, covered with infection and scar tissue, and are invisible on x-rays.
As you can probably imagine, once a foxtail is roaming
around inside your dog's body, it can be incredibly difficult to find. It's not
uncommon for veterinarians to perform multiple surgeries before a foxtail is
finally located and removed.
Protecting Your Pet from Foxtails and Grass Awn Disease
If you suspect your dog has been exposed to foxtails or is
exhibiting suspicious symptoms, I recommend you consult your veterinarian or an
emergency animal clinic immediately to find out how to proceed.
Obviously, avoiding foxtail exposure altogether should be
the goal, but that's not always possible. If your dog does encounter foxtails,
it's important to carefully comb through his coat – and also check his ears,
mouth, and between his toes – a few times each day to remove any that you find
before they have an opportunity to wreak havoc on your pet's health.
You might also want to investigate these safety devices
other dog owners have created to keep their canine companions free of foxtails:
Participants will learn proper CPR techniques for pets, how
to handle urgent care situations and receive free copies of the American Red
Cross Cat and Dog First Aid books and DVDs.
Registration and $70 course fee per person required. For
more information or to register for the course call (240) 847-2121 or visit classes.redcross.org
WHAT: American Red Cross Pet First Aid and CPR Course
