Re: The secret lives of feral dogs

On Wed, 18 Jan 2012 08:50:22 -0800, Islander <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On 1/17/2012 11:50 PM, El Castor wrote:
On Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:10:34 -0800, Islander<nospam@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On 1/17/2012 2:15 AM, El Castor wrote:
On Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:58:07 -0800, Islander<nospam@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On 1/16/2012 6:13 PM, El Castor wrote:
On Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:24:11 -0800, Islander<nospam@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On 1/16/2012 11:44 AM, El Castor wrote:
On Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:09:28 +0000 (UTC), awouk
<awouk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


The secret lives of feral dogs

http://shar.es/WUdQh

A Pennsylvania city instructs police to shoot strays, opening
a sad window on animal care in the age of austerity

Dogs are our creation. They have served us well for 100,000 years, and
we treat them this way. It's not just dogs. Obama just signed a bill
authorizing US slaughter houses to process horse meat.

That is an interesting position for a conservative. To be accurate,
Obama signed the agriculture bill which, among a lot of other things,
defunded a 2006 bill for horse processing inspections. Selling horse
meat within the US for human consumption is still prohibited.

Speaking as a horse owner, the 2006 bill was well intended, but had bad
consequences. In the intervening years we have seen horses neglected or
abandoned because owners could no longer afford to keep them and the
market was depressed. Further, it introduced a horrible practice of
cramming them into trucks for transport to Mexico or Canada where
slaughtering is legal. The rule of unintended consequences.

Unfortunately, just like other domestic animals, there is too much
breeding and too many people who purchase horses with no understanding
of the responsibility that horse ownership entails. We have one farm on
the island that will allow a horse owner to dispose of a dead horse for
the benefit of the eagles and other scavengers, but that is unusual.

I have no particular desire to eat horse meat, but I also understand
that the compassionate thing to do is to kill them and harvest the meat
(and other byproducts) for whatever productive use there is.

I am not a horse owner, and I understand where you are coming from,
but I see it a little differently. Horses and humans go back a long
ways. We rode them for transportation and in our unending wars. They
pulled our carts and wagons, and plowed our fields. They are what they
are because we designed them to serve us. The same is true of dogs in
spades. There is even an argument to be made that dogs were an
essential element in the transition of humans from hunter gatherers to
herders and farmers. Cats and dogs made grain storage possible when we
took up farming. They are no longer wild animals. We created them, and
we owe them more than to be shot in the street or put in a can.

Sure, but take your case to the breeders who profit from increasing the
population far beyond what is needed today.

I doubt that breeders of pedigreed dogs and cats are a significant
part of the problem. We have two pedigreed cats, Birmans. Birmans are
bred in small numbers, and if sold as pets they are neutered before
being sold, as were both of our cats. Only show quality animals are
sold un-neutered, and they are very pricey indeed -- very. The pets
aren't exactly cheap, either. In our case we were required to sign a
contract stating that we wouldn't even allow those cats out of the
house. The problem is Aunt Minnie whose stray cat was never neutered.
She lets it roam around. Pretty soon it has a litter, and now aunt
Minnie has six more cats, and they don't get neutered either, and
pretty soon we have a colony of feral cats, or a litter down at the
Humane Society hoping to be adopted. And, in all fairness there are
puppy mills that need to be regulated by law.

There are no kill shelters that offer free neutering and only kill
animals that are sick, or have behavioral problems. They are to be
commended.

There are almost always humane approaches that can be employed with
animals. Some people go out of their way to encourage that and others
don't. I suppose you have to decide for yourself which kind of person
you are.

Also, take it to the people
who cannot afford to keep an expensive animal who neglect them in
horrible ways. There are similar problems for dogs and cats, but at
least they do not weigh 1,000 pounds!

We were discussing horses and I was referring to the breeders of horses.
But, since you bring it up, there is also a problem with the breeders
of dogs, the so-called puppy mills that you agree need to be better
regulated. One was discovered here in Washington state not long ago and
it was shockingly bad. The bitches had their vocal chords cut so that
they wouldn't make so much noise! The animal shelters in the general
area cooperated to save as many of the dogs as possible. Our local
shelter brought 12 of them to the island, neutered them, and put them
out for adoption as soon as they were healthy.

Our Animal Protection Society is very active in capturing stray animals
including both cats and dogs and has a no-kill policy. We got our two
cats from them and are delighted with the results.

Overall, cats and dogs are a much easier problem to solve than large
animals. There are way too many people who purchase a horse for their
little girl without any idea of what responsibility that entails. And,
there are way too many breeders who are happy to address that market. A
local woman takes in horses that are in trouble and does a fine job of
rehabilitating them, but she is only one person and can accommodate only
one or two horses per year. We are now down to one horse, a 23 year old
mare who we will keep until it is time to feed her to the eagles.
Fortunately we have the land and the financial resources to do that. A
lot of people don't!

The City of Tiburon, a couple of miles from here, has a small park
called Blackie's Pasture. Blackie started out in life as a cavalry
horse, and at age 12 was retired to his pasture. The kids of Tiburon
grew up walking by that pasture and stopping to feed Blackie a carrot.
He lived to the ripe old age of 40, and died in that pasture where he
was buried. By that time he was so beloved to the people of Tiburon
that they turned the land into a park and erected a bronze statue of
Blackie. So Blackie stands there to this day.
http://www.tiburonpeninsulafoundation.org/blackies-pasture.php

Cool story! Horses can live to be quite old if they have good vet care.
Biggest problem is their teeth which can grow sharp edges from their
grinding eating motion. These edges can cause ulcers that are painful
and cause them to stop eating. Evidently Blackie got good tooth care.

We have a fenced orchard inside the town limits where April the cow
lives. No one knows for sure where she came from or when, but she is
cared for by the townsfolk who have resisted any attempt to remove her.
The property is prime real estate, so it got pretty confrontational a
few years ago. Now she is revered and was elected mayor last year.

I know the guy who purchased the land not long ago and he is prepared to
wait it out.

Give my regards to April. (-8
.

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