More than 24 critically endangered cockatoos were rescued by police after being found stuffed in water bottles for illegal trade. Smugglers crammed the Yellow-crested cockatoos into empty bottles so they could get through customs at Port of Tanjung Perak in Surabaya, Indonesia. But Indonesian Police discovered the birds, which can be sold for as much as £650 each, and cut them free so they could receive medical attention. The Yellow-crested cockatoo was listed as a critically endangered species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in 2007. The population is at a critical low due to deforestation and poaching and recent studies suggest there may be less than 7,000 individuals remaining. More than 10,000 parrots, including Lories and Cockatoos, are caught from the wild in North Halmahera, Indonesia, each year to supply the domestic and the international illegal wildlife trade. Around 40 per cent of birds die during the illegal smuggling process. So for every 1,000 parrots caught from the wild, 400 birds died in vain, during the poaching, transportation and trade, due to poor conditions and cruel handling. Most parrots are prohibited from international commercial trade unless they are captive bred or permitted by the exporting country. Yellow-crested cockatoos also breed very slowly and lay eggs only once a year. They can produce only two eggs at a time. Illegal trapping continues in many areas including Rawa Aopa Watumohai National Park, Buton and Kadatua Islands, but has reportedly been reduced significantly on Sumba. Large-scale logging and conversion of forest to agriculture across its range has exacerbated the decline, and the use of pesticides is a further potential threat. The white birds can range in size from 12 inch to about 27inch in length and present a beautiful yellow crest. They are found in wooded and cultivated areas of East Timor and Indonesia's islands of Sulawesi and the Lesser Sundas.
More than 24 critically endangered cockatoos were rescued by police after being found stuffed in water bottles for illegal trade.
Smugglers had crammed the Yellow-crested cockatoos into empty bottles so they could get through customs at Port of Tanjung Perak in Surabaya, Indonesia.
The Yellow-crested cockatoo was listed as a critically endangered species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in 2007.
Indonesian Police discovered the birds, which can be sold for as much as £650 each, and cut them free so they could receive medical attention.
The population is at a critical low due to deforestation and poaching and recent studies suggest there may be less than 7,000 individuals remaining.
Most parrots are prohibited from international commercial trade unless they are captive bred or permitted by the exporting country.
Yellow-crested cockatoos also breed very slowly and lay eggs only once a year. They can produce only two eggs at a time.
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If cats are meat eaters, why does yours sometimes prefer salad? Actually, eating small amounts of plants or grass is normal for cats, and as many as one in three housecats regularly munches on veggies. There are a few common reasons for this behavior. First, your cat might just be looking for some fun. Leaves that dangle or flap in the breeze can look a lot like a fluttering bird or cat toy, so they can be pretty exciting to a cat who’s in a playful mood. Some cats might have learned that biting plants is a sure-fire way to get your attention. Kittens and juveniles might just be looking for something (anything!) to chew, just like human babies, who put everything into their mouths and find comfort chewing on teething rings. Eating large amounts of grass or leaves usually results in vomiting or can act as a laxative. No one knows if cats sometimes purposely eat plants to solve gastrointestinal discomfort or to help bring up hairballs, but those are possibilities. Green plants might also provide some missing nutrients, but there’s currently no scientific evidence that plant eating satisfies any nutritional deficiency. Most of the time, plant eating is just a nuisance to pet parents, but it can be dangerous if a cat decides to eat a toxic plant or a plant that’s been treated with pesticides. Many common house and garden plants are poisonous to cats. Please see the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center’s website for a list of common poisonous plants. To read more on this story, click here: Cats Who Eat Plants
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An animal shelter in Brazil found the perfect way to show rescued dogs in a positive light in a bid to get them adopted. Associacao Quatro Patinhas, which translates into Association Four Paws, swapped dogs available for sale in a pet shop with unwanted dogs that were rescued from the streets. The experiment was staged to change people’s perceptions of rescue animals and prove that they are as loving as any other dog and in fact, in more need of a home. Many families tend to bypass animals shelters in Brazil and as a result they are overcrowded and under-funded places. Setting up hidden cameras around the shop, the film crew capture the moment a number of people came in and asked about the price of a puppy. The reactions range from shock to confusion, and every person involved questions the shopkeeper and cannot believe it when he tells them that the animal is free. Christianne Duarte Garoiu, the president and founder of Associacao Quatro Patinhas, said, "The shelters are usually in bad conditions. Animals die of diseases and maltreatment or due to overcrowding. Some people abandon animals in shelters thinking they’ll get adopted and receive proper care. But they usually end up dying from many diseases and depression. People still pay a lot of money buying animals in pet shops." He added, "But there are many other pets that would bring them so much love for all their lives and people don’t need to spend a cent for it." Christianne said, "it doesn’t matter whether a dog is pure bred or not, all that matters is its owner's connection with it." The video concludes with a message that reads: 'Better than buying a life is saving one'.
Our newest K9 recruit, CJ, says Happy Monday to everyone! You can't help but smile when you see her! CJ is just 7 weeks old and traveled up from Alabama last week. She will live with her new K9 handler and ride alongside K9 Cody over the next year, as she grows and begins training. CJ is a Bloodhound. Her Bloodhound cousins, K9 Bolt and K9 Silas, already serve on the department. CJ will learn to find missing children and adults with her amazing tracking abilities! Let's give CJ a big welcome to our county!
The night my girlfriend discovered she wouldn’t be my only bedfellow, she was baffled. “Where I come from, you only sleep with a dog in your bed if you’re single, or your central heating is broken,” she said upon finding Whisky, my 15-pound terrier-spaniel mix, settled in comfortably for the night, her head resting daintily on my pillow. But this was a nascent long-distance relationship, and she had just flown more than 5,000 miles from London to Los Angeles to see me, so she let it slide. Since then, and even though she now adores Whisky (or claims to), she insists that “normal people” don’t share their beds with dogs. After she pointed out — while prying her expensive-looking jacket from beneath a snoring Whisky — that my canine companion seemed perfectly content to sleep almost anywhere, I began to question it myself. Am I the unreasonable party? Who’s really deciding where Whisky sleeps, me or the dog? My girlfriend is British; I wondered if allowing one’s dog to share one’s duvet is a distinctly American custom, like Thanksgiving or the Super Bowl. “Don’t get me wrong,” she said one afternoon. “It’s very attractive to me that you’re able to care for another living being. I love that. But it’s a step too far. It’s like having another person in the bed.” The practice of sharing one’s bed with a dog, I discovered, is hardly modern. In “Cynegeticus,” a treatise on hunting, the ancient Greek historian Arrian of Nicomedia wrote, “There is nothing like a soft warm bed for greyhounds; but it is best for them to sleep with men — as they become thereby affectionately attached — pleased with the contact of the human body.” To read more on this story, click here:It’s Me or the Dog
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WARNING:If you don't like bugs, you should skip reading this post. Children are fascinated by insects, but many of us eventually grow out of wanting to catch a firefly and keep it in a jar. For the people who never lose that urge, though, it can lead in directions that might be surprising. "Roaches actually make really good pets," says Scott Martin of Rockville, Maryland. Used to skeptics, enthusiasts will explain that not all cockroaches are created equal. Orin McMonigle is author of more than a dozen books on keeping pet insects, produces a magazine for hobbyists and even has a species of roach named after him. He doesn't like vermin scurrying about his kitchen any more than you do. "I do not like pest cockroaches, I do not like mosquitoes, I do not like lice, I do not like German cockroaches. I just like the neat ones," says McMonigle, who in fact used to be a licensed pest control operator. "By knowing the difference, I'm able to appreciate the neat ones." The most common pet roach is the hissing cockroach, 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7.6 centimeters) long. Its name comes from the sound it makes when disturbed, although it may lose that habit when it gets used to being handled. Hissers make a good display not only due to their size, but also because they don't instinctively hide. If one were to escape, McMonigle says, the only danger would be to the insect itself. Hissing cockroaches can't survive on their own in the typical home, where the temperature and humidity are unsuitable and they can't find food. "If you let a thousand hissers loose in your house, they're not going to do anything," he says. "There's over 4,000 species of roaches, and only about 25 are classified as pests, and only five of those are any good at it." A parallel might be to an escape by guinea pigs, he says: Just because they're related to mice doesn't mean they can take up residence in your walls and start breeding. Hissers aren't the only roaches kept by hobbyists, and McMonigle says there are even species that only exist in captivity. One mutation with white eyes, originally discovered in a deep coal mine, has been bred since the 1940s. Another species that was found only around a cave that was destroyed by mining is extinct in the wild. If you're still not convinced about roaches, McMonigle notes that their closest relative is an insect that many people love: the praying mantis. Yen Saw of Katy, Texas, has been keeping mantises for nearly 10 years, since his son got interested in them. "But then he conveniently left the hard work to me and I got hooked," Saw says. With insects, you can breed many generations in a limited space and over a short time. And unlike more conventional pets, they don't just get larger as they grow, but metamorphose through several different forms. "I love the process of seeing them growing," says Saw. Owners of some kinds of insects can also observe a natural behavior that might be too gruesome with other pets: predation. Insect keepers typically raise insects to feed their insects — in fact, Martin started out keeping spiders and raising roaches as food, before getting interested in the roaches for their own sake. Mantises, despite their charm, are hunters, and have no mercy even on their own relatives. When asked how many mantises he has right now, Saw laughs and says, "The number keeps changing because praying mantises, as you know, they eat each other." Since hundreds hatch at a time, this behavior helps keep the size of a collection manageable. It's also one of the insect's claims to fame: The female has a habit of eating the male's head after mating, although the frequency of that has been exaggerated, Saw says. He's watched mantises breed many times, and says, "The males are really careful trying not to lose their heads." And in captivity, the risk can be minimized simply by feeding the female first, so she's not hungry. If you doubt how devoted a person can be to what others consider creepy and crawly, here's one last fact about Saw: When he started to develop allergy symptoms and his doctor diagnosed an allergy to roaches, he realized that also meant he was allergic to his pet mantises. "It was devastating for me," he said. But that didn't stop him. Now, he says, "when I go into my insect room, I have to wear a mask and gloves. But I love my hobby so I'll do whatever I have to."
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On April 21, the Washington Post ran a commentary from Peter Fenton that made allegations that veterinarians are intentionally bilking clients on pet medical care. We wrote the following response and submitted it to the Post the same day the article was run, but they chose not to publish our response. Therefore, we’re posting it here. Please feel free to share. You can also view the commentary here and add your own opinions in the comments section. Peter Fenton’s article, “Vets are too expensive, and it’s putting pets at risk,” described every pet owner’s greatest fear, a life-threatening injury and the inability to pay for its care. We know that this situation is a reality for many pet owners. However, we object to any suggestion that veterinarians are primarily motivated by anything other than providing the best care possible to their patients. As with Mr. Fenton’s cat Orangey, sometimes veterinarians are forced to perform only the essential procedures needed to save an animal’s life. We’re glad that Orangey appears to have made a full recovery as a consequence of the care he received from his veterinarian. To read more on this story, click here:American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Responds to Washington Post Op-Ed Critical of Veterinarians
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It’s summer, summer, summertime and with that comes scorching hot temperatures that can take a toll on our fur babies! If you haven’t already guessed or this is your first time reading here…“Hi, I’m Christine and I’m OBSESSED with my furry four legged children!” ;) And just like any concerned mother I want all of my children to have the very best of what I can provide for them. If you’re not new here, you may remember that this year I decided to start making our own dog treats after my neighbor’s dogs got incredibly sick and almost died from some tainted dog treats. To say it put me on super high alert was an understatement. I quickly became an ingredient reading fool when it came to anything on the market for our pets, and that included reading the dog ice cream label that they loved! While I didn’t find anything particularly bad with the ready made ice cream, I did notice a lot of unnecessary ingredients in them. Mainly, just to pro-long the freezer shelf life. I figured if I’m going the extra mile to make them treats I might as well continue on with their nightly before bed treat too. Yep…spoiled. To read more on this story, click here:Homemade Dog Ice Cream
