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  • If animals had an election.

    Who would be the next President of the animal kingdom…

    Find some answers here

    Join the forum discussion on this post - (2) Posts

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  • Here Kobe, here.

    Kobe Bryant’s popularity extends even to the animal kingdom. From a database of more than 465,000 pet insured animals including dogs, cats, birds, and exotic domesticated animals, 359 are named “Kobe,” making it the 189th most popular name of 65,536 pet names across the nation. Five pets in the database are named “LeBron,” two are name “Yao Ming,” and there’s a “Boston Garnett” along with a “Dirk Nowitzki.”

    The most unusual sports name in the pet world, however, might belong to a Yorkshire Terrier that answers to “Kobe Shaq Jackson.” via los angeles times

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  • Dress up games.

    For Halloween one needs a creative tool to dress up Fluffy and Buddy. Here it is! Dressup games. My cute pet dressup.

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  • Pets vote.

    “Even our dogs and cats have learned that elections matter.” vice president Al Gore Click on a dog to buy a vote for Bark Obama or McCanine. Check in daily to see who is pulling on the lead…

    visit petsvote

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  • Pets. Dead people. Asked to vote.
    CHICAGO — More than 1,000 phony registrations were submitted, Lake County official says. Dogs, goldfish and dead people were sent voter registration forms by mistake as part of an aggressive registration drive in the northern suburbs, Lake County Clerk Willard Helander said Friday. "This is nothing like we've ever seen before," Helander said in a news conference in Waukegan, where election workers identified more than 1,000 phony registrations submitted over the past few weeks. Helander blamed the problem on a group called the Voters Participation Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that is a project of Women's Voices/Women's Vote based in Washington, D.C. Sarah Johnson, a Women's Voices spokeswoman, said the group uses a commercial data list generated by a national vendor to send out registration forms and that mistakes happen. "Sometimes . . . people think it's funny to get a magazine addressed to their cat or their dog, and when they do that, their cat or dog ends up on the list," Johnson said. "But we're just trying to make it as easy as possible for people to register and vote." Election officials in Oregon, Kentucky and other states have complained that the Women's Voices project has caused confusion. A record 401,935 Lake County residents are registered for the Nov. 4 election. via chicago tribune [1] [1] http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-lake-voter-fraud-both-18-oct18,0,7157423.story
  • Great Lakes wolf killing stopped.
    Court Reverses Bush Decision to Strip Protection From Wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Breaking News! Agreeing with a Center for Biological Diversity legal action, a federal judge today overturned a 2007 Bush administration decision to remove Great Lakes area wolves from the endangered species list. The ruling puts an immediate halt on the killing of hundreds of wolves in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. While the Great Lakes wolf population has increased to 4,000 individuals under the protective cover of the Endangered Species Act, the species is still missing from most of its historic range, including the Northeast, the southern Rocky Mountains, the Great Basin, and the West Coast. Rather than developing a national wolf recovery strategy, the Bush administration craftily abandoned wolf recovery in most of the country by delisting wolves in the Great Lakes and the northern Rocky Mountains and declaring that the lack of wolves in other areas relieves the administration of any responsibility to continue recovery actions. In today's ruling, the judge agreed with the Center's amicus argument that stripping protection from local populations while refusing to consider the recovery of wolves throughout the lower 48 appears to violate the central purpose of the Endangered Species Act. The precedent setting ruling will protect hundreds of species from this backdoor strategy of abandoning species recovery. This is the second major victory in two weeks for the Center's wolf recovery fund. On September 16, the government announced it would give up defending against our northern Rockies wolf lawsuit. Thanks for supporting the wolf defense fund and sending thousands of emails and petitions objecting to the slaughter of wolves in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. This victory couldn't have happened without your help. Thanks also to our litigation allies at the Humane Society, Help Our Wolves Live, the Animal Protection Institute, and Friends of Animals and Their Environment.
  • Endangered species act under assault.
    Send Comments to Secretary Kempthorne. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced devastating changes to the Endangered Species Act, signaling the end of protection for thousands of imperiled species. The new regulations would: - Exempt thousands of federal activities from review under the Endangered Species Act; - Eliminate checks and balances of independent oversight; - Limit which effects can be considered harmful; - Prevent consideration of a project’s contribution to global warming; - Set an inadequate 60-day deadline for wildlife experts to evaluate a project in the instances when they are invited to participate – or else the project gets an automatic green light; - Enable large-scale projects to go unreviewed by dividing them into hundreds of small projects. We must stop Kempthorne from fatally crippling our nation’s most successful wildlife law. Take action today. [1] [1] http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2167/t/5243/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25351
  • Porpoises belly up to low-fat diet.
    TOKYO — Dolphins at a Japanese marine park are going on a low-fat diet after developing potbellies and failing to look sharp in their aquatic performances. Kinosaki Marine World in western Japan said Tuesday that all its 19 dolphins have been on a low-fat diet since late August, when they started failing to hit jumping targets and keep upright while treading water. "We were puzzled by their poor performance. Then we noticed they looked rounder," said park spokesman Haruo Imazu. Keepers weighed them and found all had gotten plumper, some up to 22 pounds heavier just during the summer. All had the same menu—about 31 pounds of mackerel mixed with some white fish — but keepers found the mackerels had gotten fattier, adding too many calories. Keepers immediately put them on a weight-loss program, feeding them more white fish and less fatty mackerel while instituting an exercise regime, Imazu said. Less fat and moderate exercise seem to be working. via chicago tribune [1] [1] http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-dolphins_01oct01,0,4672913.story
  • Man punches shark. Saves dog.

    SLAMORADA, Fla. — A dog is recovering after a Florida Keys carpenter dove in to save his pet from a shark.

    Greg LeNoir said he took his 14-pound rat terrier Jake for a daily swim at a marina Friday.

    The 5-foot shark suddenly surfaced and grabbed nearly the entire dog in its mouth.

    LeNoir said he yelled, then balled up his fists and dove headfirst into the water. He hit the shark in the back and the creature finally let go of the dog.

    Man and dog made it safely back to shore. The dog suffered bite wounds but was not critically injured.

    PM editor’s note: OMG!

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  • Elephant killed by bus.
    MEXICO — A five-ton elephant was killed by a bus after it escaped from a circus in Mexico, and wandered onto a busy highway. Bus driver Tomas Lopez, 49, also died and at least four passengers were taken to hospital after the accident, which happened just before dawn on Tuesday in Ecatepec, north of Mexico City. The elephant had escaped from its cage at the Circo Union circus, according to Mexico State police spokesman Juan Sanchez, who said officers were still investigating the circumstances. It is understood that the 40-year-old animal, named Hilda, broke free as her keeper arrived to feed her. She apparently knocked down a metal door that led to the street and wandering through two neighbourhoods before trying to cross the road. Marcelino Ramos, 22, keeper at the Circo Union circus, told El Universal daily newspaper: "I untied her so she could eat. She never did this before, but suddenly she ran at full speed and broke through the gate." Police said the bus driver stood no chance of avoiding the elephant as it charged onto the road near the famous Teotihuacan pyramids. Last month, a 500lb lion escaped from a private zoo in southern Mexico. The animal killed two dogs and a pig and attacked a woman and child on a donkey before it was sedated and caught. via telegraph.co.uk [1] [1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/mexico/3069003/Escaped-circus-elephant-killed-by-bus-in-Mexico.html



World Animal Day Share This


Maukie the cat!

Ellen. Rescue. One week later.

Ellen Degenres brought “rescue” and “shelter” to the media. A good thing because when people talk, issues are better understood. It’s been a week. Let’s review.

Public reaction
The public response was swift, polarized, and far reaching. There were few surprise reactions with the exception of Craig’s List pet forum. PM was somewhat surprised by how the pet forum responded. Because this pet forum is an experienced, emotional, pro-adoption group, we expected the forum to attack the shelter for taking dogs away from a home, from children. On the contrary, CL sentiment was that Ellen should have read the contract, called the shelter, and not take this public on her show. The shelter got death threats.

mirror1.jpg

The skinny
The inevitable inaccuracies are identified. We learn that her new dog was at a dog trainer for most of the days under Ellen’s care. That the shelter, Mom’s & Mutts, didn’t go to the media first. That the dog was finally, and confidentially, placed. That taking this to the airwaves is not going Ellen’s way a week later. That the shelter has not budged telling Ellen “If Ellen wants to place dogs and decide what’s a good home, then she should start her own rescue group. But I’m the one doing this and I know what I’m doing.” We learn that Ellen has given away a pooch(es) before.

Rearview mirror
It could be concluded that this was a fight between a star and an animal rescue group. Both sides trying to do what they thought was best for the dog. That there are two sides to whether the animal should be returned to the shelter: The American Humane Association “recommends” a more open adoption process that does not require the animal be returned to the shelter. Mom’s & Mutts, among other shelters, are standing fast: return the dog to the shelter. Most everyone stresses that the shelter or adoption agency should be kept in the loop and made aware of the pet’s whereabouts.

On the Internet
Because of Ellen’s story, adopting animals is on PM’s mind. It seems to be on everyone’s mind. Thank you , Ellen, for that. Here are some things PM discovered when we searched for “rescue, shelter, adoption,” that tie with Ellen, pets.

A search for “top pet rescues” brings up a list of 20 different dogs: Boxer, Golden Retriever, English Bulldog, Yorkie, German Shepherd, French Bulldog, Pug, Great Dane, Border Collie, Chihuahua, Doberman, Beagle, Boston Terrier, Dachshund, Poodle, Labrador, Pitbull, Shih Tzu, Rottweiler, Basset Hound. Horses, Cats, Birds are the runner-ups.

A search for “top pet adoptions” brings up pages of adoption blogs, web sites, and services, again mostly dogs.

An adoption search in our zip code using “Walmart/pets” and “petfinder.com” brings up
450 dogs in chicago metro
300 dogs chicago 40 mile radius
775 cats in chicago metro
575 cats chicago 40 mile radius

750 dogs and 1,350 cats. In just my zip code today. Maybe big generic numbers, on display everywhere, are sometimes lost on me. Put all the local listings together and it’s a different story. I don’t think I am alone.

People vs pets
This media event also provoked many comments saying it’s a shame that pets get more attention than kids when it comes to rescue and adoption. Maybe, maybe not. Do a similar search less “pets” and we find an assortment of breaking news, blogs, Web sites, and services for adopting children, children looking for their birth parents, parents looking for their children. The reality: there are “other” stars that are having child related issues along with a star that is having a pet issue. Write a story and they will come. Thoughts?

Animal population facts
If anyone wants to pick up where PM left off and look in their local area regarding pet adoption, let PM know and pass on the results. We can maybe have a “Roll Call” by zip codes. Anyone can add up the numbers and then speak their mind. If in the mood.

Comments/zip code tallies
Send comments to this post

Story links and details
* Top pet/animal rescue listings: buzz.yahoo.com
* The skinny: huffingtonpost.com/linda-milazzo
* Animal population facts: pets90210.com
* Walmart petfinder: verybestpetnetwork.com

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