Macrobolic’s BodyBlog

Last week, the country was mesmerized by the story of a tan-and-white Tabby cat from the Bronx, NY, who survived an unusual ordeal: a two-mile drive through his northern NYC borough, while stuck inside the engine of an SUV. The stray was so severely wedged inside that the battery and other engine parts had to be removed in order to free him. Though the story has a happy ending—two detectives from the NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit pulled the cat, who is now recovering nicely, to safety—the incident points to a winter phenomenon that many felines do not survive.

During the winter, ASPCA experts explain, it’s common for outdoor cats to sleep under the hoods of cars for warmth and protection. Once the motor is started, however, the cat can be injured or killed by the fan belt. One solution is for owners of vehicles to bang loudly on the vehicle hood before starting the engine. This gives a sleeping cat the chance to escape or announce his presence by meowing or moving around.

The danger doesn’t only apply to strays, however. Dr. Stephen Zawistowski, ASPCA Executive Vice President, warns: "For their own benefit and for the benefit of the communities where they live, owned cats should not be allowed to roam freely outdoors."

Pet parents, be aware: there are many other dangers that our animal companions face during winter. Thankfully, ASPCA experts have provided a list of essential cold weather tips to keep animals safe from winter threats. Here’s a sneak peek:

• Keep your cat inside. When outdoors, felines can freeze, become lost or be stolen, injured or killed. And cats who are allowed to stray are exposed to infectious diseases, including rabies, from other cats, dogs and wildlife.
• Engine coolant is a lethal poison for dogs and cats. Be sure to thoroughly clean spills from your vehicle, and consider using products that contain propylene glycol rather than ethylene glycol.
• If your dog is sensitive to the cold due to age, illness or breed type, minimize his time outdoors—briefly take him out, and only to relieve himself. This includes puppies, who can be paper-trained during the colder months rather than housebroken.
• Never shave your dog down to the skin in winter—a longer coat will provide more warmth. And continue to brush your pet regularly during the winter months. This will remove dead hair and keep the coat clean to ensure better insulation. It will also keep natural oils distributed throughout the coat.

Read more about caring for your pet in cold weather with our winter skin and paw care tips.

Even though our fur kids can look smashing in a pumpkin or pirate costume specifically made for their four-legged frames, many pets can have adverse reactions to a constrictive outfit or its irritating materials. Remember, pet parents, animals are most comfortable hanging out in their birthday suits. But in the spirit of all that’s ghoulish, the ASPCA offers some helpful costume tips to keep you and your pet singing “trick-or-treat!” all the way to November 1.

• Schedule a dress rehearsal and try on all costumes well before the big night. Please don’t put your dog or cat in a costume UNLESS you know he or she loves it (yup, a few pets are real hams!). If your pet seems distressed or shows abnormal behavior, consider letting him go au naturale or in a simple, festive bandana.
• Does your pet have sensitive skin? Even those with hearty coats can have allergic reactions to the synthetic materials found in many costumes. While you ride a sugar high, your pet might be uncomfortably scratching the night away.
• If you do dress up your pet, be sure the costume isn’t annoying or unsafe, and make absolutely sure it doesn’t limit your pet’s movement, hearing, vision or ability to breathe or bark. Ill-fitting outfits can get twisted on external objects or your pet, which can lead to injury.
• It’s best to avoid costumes with lots of sequins or other dangling parts that your pet could eat or choke on. If your pet ingests something poisonous, immediately contact your vet or the ASPCA’s 24-hour poison control hotline at (888) 426-4435.

On June 30, a grey filly was found roaming the desert near Round Mountain, an isolated mining community roughly 235 miles southeast of Reno, NV, close to the Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDA). The two-year-old horse had been the victim of a horrendous act of animal cruelty—the hide of her left hip, where the owner’s brand was located, had been cut off in a six-by-eight inch patch, and the skin removed to make sure the filly could not be traced back to her owner.

NDA officials gently rounded up the horse and transported her to their emergency holding facility, where she was fed, watered and her wound treated by a vet. The mare was later transported to Return to Freedom, a wild horse sanctuary that eventually contacted her new forever home, a horse sanctuary outside of San Diego called Horses of Tir Na Nog. (Both are recipients of the ASPCA Equine Grant Fund.)

Efforts have now shifted from the mare’s rescue to finding the person responsible for her mutilation and abandonment. The ASPCA has joined forces with the Humane Society of the United States in offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to the conviction of the perpetrator, bringing the total reward to $5,000.

Says ASPCA President & CEO, Ed Sayres, "Abandoned horses are the result of a struggling economy and the unscrupulous overbreeding of horses around the country. The solution involves educating breeders and owners about responsible horse care.”

Questions regarding this case should be directed to the Nevada Department of Agriculture at (775) 738-8076.

As the heat of summer sets in, neglected backyard dogs face soaring temperatures, the scorching sun, and energy-sapping humidity as well as the wind and pounding rains from powerful summer thunderstorms.

For many of these animals, a sturdy doghouse with an overhanging roof that provides shade can mean the difference not only between abject misery and a little comfort but also between life and death. That’s why PETA’s “Angels for Animals” program is so wonderful—and so important. Can I count on you to be an “angel” for a lonely, unfortunate dog this summer?

As an “angel for animals,” you can sponsor a specially designed PETA-built doghouse that will provide a needy dog with shelter to see him or her through scorching summers—and cold winters—for years to come.

Your sponsorship can immediately change the life of animals like Chow and Pit. When PETA first met these two neglected animals, their North Carolina “owner” had had them for more than a year yet had been too lazy even to name them. He simply called them “Chow” and “Pit” (after their breeds).

Each of these sweet dogs was tethered by the neck with an extremely heavy chain at the center of a large dirt circle—created by the dog’s restricted range of movement at the end of the chain. The dogs could never escape their “prison yard.” Pit had only a damp plastic barrel for shelter, and Chow called a grossly inadequate plastic doghouse “home.” (Plastic doghouses are like ovens in the summertime.) Both dogs had dug holes in the ground in an attempt to escape the relentless summer heat.

The harsh reality is that some people cannot afford to take proper care of their dogs and cats, while others don’t know how or just plain don’t care. Sometimes, PETA can legally remove the dogs and even bring criminal charges against their “owners.” But sometimes, we are prohibited by local laws from taking such actions. That’s when we do everything we can to help reduce their daily suffering. We returned to check on Chow and Pit, and when we did, we took them PETA custom-built doghouses filled with soft straw bedding. The doghouses provided Chow and Pit with some urgently needed shade and protection from intense thunderstorms, a common occurrence in North Carolina on summer afternoons.

Since we started the program, PETA has distributed more than 4,300 doghouses, thanks to generous “angels for animals.” Now, with more dogs in urgent need of shelter and temperatures at or near their year-long highs, I very much hope that we can count on your support.

No matter how much you can afford to give, I urge you to respond today. It is in economic tough times like these that unloved animals suffer the most. Nearly all the dogs we reach with our “Angels for Animals” program live in underprivileged neighborhoods. I promise you that PETA will fight as hard as we can to make sure that these dogs are not mistreated, forgotten, or ignored.

Thank you so very much for coming to the rescue of at least one sorely neglected dog this summer. Your simple act of kindness can bring one of these dear animals years of shelter, lasting them through many changing seasons, from bitter winters to scorching-hot summers.

Kind regards,

Ingrid E. Newkirk
President

Yesterday went to the dogs – some 450 of them – when federal law enforcement agencies, along with The HSUS, The Humane Society of Missouri, and the ASPCA raided multiple dogfighting operations around the country in what was the largest single day of actions against this blood sport in American history.

Clearly, the law is on our side – and with organized dogfighting illegal everywhere and a felony in all 50 states, never in our five-decade fight against this vicious and bloody activity has our message been stronger: dogfighters are a dying breed.

The following statement from Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund President Rodger Schlickeisen is in response to the resignation of Alaska governor, Sarah Palin:

"Governor Palin’s surprise resignation comes at a crucial point for wildlife and wild places in Alaska. In the just two and a half years of  her term, she has made a series of decisions that prove she had absolutely no interest in being an environmental steward of the unique natural treasure that is Alaska.

"Instead, Governor Palin ignored our nation’s leading wildlife laws and filed senseless lawsuits to pursue her anti-wildlife agenda. Palin’s increasingly extreme anti-wildlife management policies included shooting wolves from airplanes and helicopters, using airplanes to track black and brown bears then shooting them from the ground, and the gassing of wolf pups in their dens. She even targeted wolves that had been part of a fifteen year long scientific study conducted by the National Park Service. All this, as well as her decision to fight much needed protections for both polar bears and Cook Inlet beluga whales, shows her blatant disregard for both science and environmental laws.

"Her efforts were, and still are, a threat to the natural integrity of America’s last frontier, a state that boasts many national wildlife refuges, forests, parks and other federal lands, covering more than 200 million acres of the state. And if this isn’t enough, Palin’s persistent denial of global warming is sure to fast make her a political relic.

"Palin’s successor, Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell, must now decide whether he intends to extend Palin’s devastating and destructive wildlife legacy even further, or whether he intends to chart a new path, by removing politics from wildlife management and restoring science to the decision making process. He can be sure that Defenders will be paying close attention to his decisions."

As you might remember, The Humane Society of the United States released the results of an eight-month investigation in November showing that pet store chain Petland Incorporated is the nation’s largest retail supporter of puppy mills.

Our Puppy Mills team has been working hard in the months since that exposé was released, and today reveals disturbing new revelations about Petland.

When you see animals in ads, commercials, television shows, or movies, they may seem to be having a good time. But there is usually much more going on behind the scenes than meets the eye.

For animals, acting is strange and upsetting. Most people do not know that the chimpanzee “grin” so often seen in movies and on TV is actually a grimace of fear or a carefully choreographed response to a command.

The film industry often deceives filmgoers and television viewers with the American Humane Association’s (AHA) misleading “No animals were harmed” seal of approval, but the AHA does not monitor maternal separation, pre-production training sessions, or living conditions. Because that is where most of the abuse happens, having the AHA on set does not guarantee that no animals were harmed.

In order to force young chimpanzees to perform, trainers often beat them with their fists, clubs, or even broom handles. This systematic pattern of abuse and dominance causes the animals to be constantly anxious and fearful, always anticipating the next blow.

However, despite pressure from PETA and the many available alternatives, some companies continue to use live animals in their ad campaigns.
Fortunately, there are many companies going the compassionate route and leaving animals out of ads. This year alone, companies such as Harris Teeter, Gap Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Levi Strauss & Co., and ad agencies Young & Rubicam, Skadaddle Media, Arnold Worldwide, and the Ad Council have all pledged to leave great apes out of ads.

There is no reason to use live animals as actors when animation, blue screen, computer-generated imagery, and other advanced technologies can produce realistic substitutes. If you see a TV show, commercial, or film that uses animals in an improper way or portrays animals disrespectfully, please contact PETA.

http://blog.peta.org/archives/2009/06/obama_and_the_f2.php?c=weekly_enews

"Because we’ve heard from so many people who want to know more about PETA’s position on "Flygate," we’ve decided to explore the question of "to bee or not to bee" in a bit more depth.

As we all know, human beings often don’t think before they act. We don’t condemn President Obama for acting on instinct. When the media began contacting us in droves for a statement, we obliged, simply by saying that the president isn’t the Buddha and shouldn’t be expected to do everything right—if not for that, we would not have brought it up. It’s the media who are making a big deal about the fly swat—not PETA. However, we took the opportunity, when asked, to point out that we do offer lots of ways in which to control insects of all kinds without harming them, including the humane bug catcher we sent President Obama. There is even a chapter in PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk’s book The PETA Practical Guide to Animal Rights about how to rid your home of “uninvited guests.”

We have lots of other items on our agenda, as you can imagine, and PETA’s focus will remain on our core issues—promoting alternatives to eating animals, opposing fur and products made from animal skin, opposing laboratories that torment animals, and fighting the abuse of animals in circus training camps as well as other overt abuses that fall within our mission statement, which states that animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment.

We support compassion for all animals, even the most curious, smallest, and least sympathetic ones. We hope that everyone will take inspiration from Nobel Peace Prize–winner Dr. Albert Schweitzer, who believed that even insects were deserving of compassion and who would stop to move a worm from hot pavement to cool earth. Aware of the problems and responsibilities that go along with an expanded ethical code, Schweitzer said that we each must "live daily from judgment to judgment, deciding each case as it arises, as wisely and mercifully as we can."

We can’t stop all suffering, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t stop any. Our wish is for all people to act wisely and mercifully toward animals.

Posted by Alisa Mullins"

And now you know…

Many holiday events that will end with a bang—fireworks, that is—may be entertaining for people, but they are not nearly as much fun for animal companions or wildlife. Animals’ hearing is far more sensitive than ours, and unpredictable and deafening blasts from fireworks can cause them immense pain and fear and even damage their hearing.

Dogs, cats, birds, and other animals often become frightened and confused by the noise, causing them to panic and attempt to flee—frequently with devastating results. Many holidays end in tragedy when alarmed animals break out of screen doors and fenced yards and become lost or are hit by cars. Fireworks are just as disastrous to wildlife. Since pyrotechnic displays produce high-particulate emission-laden plumes, birds, who have sensitive respiratory systems, often choke when caught in or near pyrotechnic blasts.

Such horrifying stories are not restricted to nonhuman animals. Every year, bystanders and professional fireworks operators are injured and killed in fireworks-related incidents. Some displays have even ignited fires that have damaged property and habitat.

Holiday stories involving lighting displays don’t need to end in horror. This is because there are safer, affordable alternatives to fireworks that are just as magnificent and festive. Laser and light shows can give families, including their animal companions, real cause to celebrate.

Source: http://living.peta.org/2008/fireworks-disasters-tell-us-your-story?c=wee
kly_enews