Rattle, rattle. Hey, this food machine isn’t working. Rattle, rattle. No really, it’s broken. Rattle, rattle. Empty. Rattle, rattle. See?! Rattle, rattle.
News Bites: A Klepto, A Bummer, A Guess, & A Snitch
The Klepto
Dusty the cat has a thing for strangers’ bathing suits, and their shoes, and their gloves, and their toys, and their towels. This determined little dude has stolen about 600 things from neighbors over 3 years. Watch the video to the end to see nighttime video of Dusty hauling in his loot.
The Bummer
Some depressing results from a recent poll of pet owners on their views on declawing cats and debarking dogs. The findings raise the question do we view cats & dogs differently when it comes to “nuisance-corrective surgeries?
- 59% pet owners think declawing is ok
- 55% cat owners think declawing is ok
- 36% pet owners think declawing is wrong
- 32% cat owners have had declawing done
- 24% cat owners support a ban on declawing
- 90% pet owners think debarking is wrong
- 47% pet owners support a ban on debarking
- 1% dog owners have had a dog debarked
Find out more about what really happens when a cat is declawed. And find out how a dog is debarked.
A Guess
The mind reels. Stacey Champion, a woman in Minnesota, got her son in Georgia a puppy for his birthday. So she put the puppy in a box, taped it up, and dropped the puppy off at the post office to go by Priority Mail. She told workers not to worry if the box made noises, it contained a toy robot. Fortunately, robots don’t pant—when the box moved & fell off a counter, workers heard panting coming from the box & opened it to find Guess, the puppy. So, a little boy in Georgia was saved from opening a present of a dead puppy. Besides not having food, water, or air, Guess would have been put on a unpressurized cargo plane where he would have died in the -40F temperatures. The cherry on top of this whole story, the woman wanted her money refunded and the dog back after he was discovered.
A Snitch
If you hide your drugs in a sock, don’t teach your dog to play tug of war with a sock. Joel Dobrin found this out the hard way. When Dobrin realized he was going to be pulled over by police, he tried to hide the sock where he kept his stash. Unfortunately for him, his dog interpreted this as an invitation to play. The dog grabbed the sock, won the game of tug-of-war, and then he threw the sock out the window of the truck, where it was found by the police officer. Woops!
DIY: Cat Stairs Courtesy Of Ikea
I like how these 2 projects use the zig-zaggy Lack wall shelf from Ikea. The first project packs a fair bit into a small space and makes use of materials from an old scratching post. The second project uses 2 shelves. Both use shelf brackets from a hardware store to secure the shelf to the wall and to the bookcase.
Friday Fun: Hyper Kitty
I love this little nutter! Scritcha, scritcha, scritcha! Her name is Choco Ball and you can see more of her and her friends at SweetFurr.
Sled Dog Slaughter
It recently came to light that, 100 sled dogs were “culled” from a large pack of dogs owned by a dog sledding company for tourists in Whistler, B.C. last Spring. They were not euthanized—they were slaughtered in front of other dogs waiting their turn to be killed. The account of the killing is pretty horrific. They were shot and some had their throats slit. The only reason this came out was due to a workman’s comp claim filed from by the man, Bob Fawcett, who killed the dogs. His claim was due to PTSD from shooting the dogs.
There have been a ton of conflicting statements about this case.
- Fawcett claims he was ordered to kill the dogs to reduce costs. Jim Houssian, the owner of Outdoor Adventures, says he did not tell Fawcett to kill the dogs.
- First, it was reported the the dogs killed were old and ill. Other statements say a veterinarian contacted to euthanize the dogs refused because the dogs were healthy.
- Fawcett approached the SCPA twice about taking dogs. One person at the SPCA says he contacted them in April or May (possibly before the cull), while another person at the SPCA says he contacted them in May after the cull. Both agree he contacted the SPCA again in September. Either way, Fawcett was turned away by the SPCA both times.
What a mess. There’s always a risk for problems when a business relies on animals for it’s operation. The bottom line is sometime met at the expense of the animals. Whatever led up to the cull, Outdoor Adventures clearly is to blame for not having a plan to provide for its dogs.
The SPCA wouldn’t take the dogs because its behavior expert said sled dogs don’t make good pets. I don’t know enough about the adoptability of sled dogs to have an opinion about that, but I do think the SPCA’s response was shameful. What could they have possibly thought would happen to that many dogs in this economy?
Finally, we consumers need to be aware of what we’re supporting when we spend our money with businesses who rely on animals.
Here’s one last thing to think about dog sledding—The Yukon Quest is underway right now and the Iditarod starts March 5th. 2010 was the first year there were no dog deaths during the Iditarod. 6 dogs died in the 2009 race. Of course, those tallies don’t account for how many dogs died to get the musher to the starting line.