Crazy for Critters

Sick, sick, sick

Whoever did this needs to go to a very bad place for a very long time:

Intruder kills family dog, leaves cruel messages

SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, Fla. (WSVN) -- A little boy was left heartbroken
after someone trespassed into his family's yard, killed his dog and left
handwritten notes with mocking messages throughout the scene.

Issa was 7-year-old Germer Aguilar's best friend. "Yesterday I was playing
with her," he said. "I threw the bone, and then she caught it."

When Aguilar's mother arrived to her home on Southwest 109 Court, Monday,
she found blood stains on the patio and a note scribbled on the shed saying
things like "Ha, ha, ha! I had fun!" In the grass she spotted the nearly
2-year-old terrier mix's bed and, farther away, her collar. Then she would
find the little dog's black and white body, on the other side of her
chain-linked fence, in her neighbor's yard.

"It's like saying, 'See, there's your dog,'" said Jose Orellana, a young
relative of the family. Blood was also found inside the shed, which also
had a smiley face scrawled on it as well as "bow wow."

Miami-Dade Police don't know if Issa was dumped in the neighbor's yard or
somehow crawled there before she died. "It disgusts me, the person that did
this. It's just sickening," said Orellana. "I don't think that they were in
their right minds. It's just disgusting. How would someone torture an
innocent dog? She's just playful. She wouldn't do anything wrong to
anybody."

"The people who did this, I just think that they should go to jail," added
Alfredo Davis Jr., a young neighbor of the family.

Late into Monday evening, detectives remained at the home to find out who
killed the dog, which the family received as a gift from a relative. "I
feel sad for my dog," Aguilar said, "cause I can't play with somebody else
now."

When asked what he would tell the killers if he had the opportunity he
said, "I think I would say, 'Don't do this. If you do this, you go to
hell.'"

If you have any information that can help police, call Miami-Dade Crime
Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and
you may be eligible for a reward.

Sad Scene from Hurricane Ike

This is from our Humans Are Scum Department. These two guys were abandoned to fend for themselves in Galveston. It's anybody's guess what happened to them, but I hope the people who left them behind have sleepless nights wondering.

Pedigree Food Recall

Mars Petcare US Announces Nationwide Voluntary Recall

   Franklin, Tennessee (September 12, 2008)-Today, Mars Petcare US announced a voluntary recall of products manufactured at its Everson, Pennsylvania facility. The pet food is being voluntarily recalled because of potential contamination with Salmonella serotype Schwarzengrund. This voluntary recall only affects the United States.

   Salmonella can cause serious infections in dogs and cats, and, if there is cross contamination caused by handling of the pet food, in people as well, especially children, the aged, and people with compromised immune systems. Healthy people potentially infected with Salmonella should monitor themselves for some or all of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever. On rare occasions, Salmonella can result in more serious ailments,
including arterial infections, endocarditis, arthritis, muscle pain, eye irritation, and urinary tract symptoms. Consumers exhibiting these signs after having contact with this product should contact their healthcare providers.

   Pets with Salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets will have only decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. Animals
can be carriers with no visible symptoms and can potentially infect other animals or humans. If your pet has consumed the recalled product and has these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian.

   The company stopped production at the Everson facility on July 29, 2008 when it was alerted of a possible link between dry pet food produced at the plant and two isolated cases of people infected with Salmonella Schwarzengrund. Even though no direct link between product produced at Everson and human or pet illness has been made, Mars Petcare US is taking precautionary action to protect pets and their owners by announcing a voluntary recall of all products produced at the Everson facility beginning February 18, 2008 until July 29, 2008 when we stopped production.

  The company is continuing to work collaboratively with the FDA to determine the nature and source of Salmonella Schwarzengrund at the Everson facility. Since it has not yet identified the source of the Salmonella Schwarzengrund at the Everson facility, Mars Petcare US does not plan to resume production out of a commitment to the safety of our pet owners and their pets, customers, and associates.

   The top priority of Mars Petcare US has always been and continues to be the health and welfare of pets and their owners. Consumers can continue to have confidence in the quality and safety of the products produced at other Mars Petcare US facilities. Only those products which were produced at the
Everson facility are impacted by the voluntary recall.

   Many of the brands involved in the recall are national brands produced at multiple facilities. Mars Petcare US will work with retail customers to ensure that the recalled products are not on store shelves. These products should not be sold or fed to pets. In the event that consumers believe they have purchased products affected by this voluntary recall, they should return the product to the store where they purchased it for a full refund.

   Consumers should look for 17 as the first two digits of the second line in the UPC code. Sample: Best By Feb 18 09 17 1445 1.  For PEDIGREE, the Everson code date format is as follows: Consumers should look for PAE on the bottom line - the sixth, seventh and eighth digits. Sample: PEDIGREE Small Crunchy Bites Best Before 02/2009. 808G1PAE01 12:00.

  In an effort to prevent the transmission of Salmonella from pets to family members and care givers, the FDA recommends that everyone follow appropriate pet food handling guidelines when feeding their pets. A list of safe pet food handling tips can be found at: www.fda.gov/consumer/updates/petfoodtips080307.html.

   Pet owners who have questions about the recall and specific products should call 1-877-568-4463 or visit petcare.mars.com.

This is from our: Humans Are Scum Department

Elephant cured of drug addiction

Asian elephants are considered an endangered species An Asian elephant that became addicted to heroin after being fed bananas spiked with the drug is to return home after undergoing a detox programme. The four-year-old animal, called Xiguang, received methadone injections for a year at five times the human dosage, state media said. It was illegally captured by traders in 2005 in south-west China. When police arrested the traders and freed the elephant, it was found to be suffering from withdrawal symptoms. The elephant's eyes kept streaming and he made continuous trumpeting noises, the Beijing News newspaper's website reported. It is thought that the traders fed the elephant bananas laced with heroin to capture and control it. Xiguang was sent to a wild animal protection centre on Hainan island in south-west China for rehab, the official Xinhua new agency said He is expected to arrive at a wildlife park in Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, on Saturday. The Asian elephant is an endangered species, with only 25,600-32,750 left in the wild, according to the WWF conservation group.

Storm Planning for Your Pet

I had a story in Sunday's paper about prepping for a storm with your critters in mind. Click here to read it.

Golf Balls As Dog Candy?

From the BBC: A Scottish Lab consumed so many golf balls that he rattled. Snarfed 'em up on a golf course.

Thirteen golf balls were found inside Oscar. Owner Chris Morrison had been taking five-year-old black labrador Oscar round the Pitreavie golf course in Dunfermline for several months. He took Oscar to the vet after noticing a rattling sound coming from his pet's stomach. They then discovered that 13 balls - each weighing 45 grams - were lodged in his stomach. Mr Morrison, a planning administrator, said one of the balls had been in his stomach so long that it had turned black and was decomposing. He said: "He finds golf balls like truffles. We're not sure how long exactly this happened over, but it must have been a fair period - several months at least. "I felt his stomach and heard them rattling around. He normally brings a few home, but I had no idea he had eaten so many. "The vet hadn't seen anything like it, it was bizarre. "He is a black lab so he is a fair size, but to swallow 13 is quite amazing." The balls were removed two weeks ago in a successful hour-long operation. Oscar is now on the road to making a full recovery on a special post-operation diet of watered-down food. He also has to wear a muzzle while out and about. Mr Morrison added: "He does get a bit frustrated now and again." Bob Hesketh, 40, principal vet at Vetrica in Rosyth, said he had never seen anything like it. He said: "It was like a magic trick. I opened him up and felt what I thought was two or three golf balls. "But they just kept coming until we had a bag full. "I think they must have been in there for several months, one was all black and the shell was swollen."

Another Police K-9 Dies

This is the third in South Florida in the past two years-- outrageous. This is from the Herald website. Cilck here for the comments.

Coral Springs police dog's death in car investigated

Coral Springs police are investigating why a narcotics canine was left in an unmarked cruiser, with its engine off, during the hottest part of a late-August day -- leading to the dog's death.

Hieke, an 8-year-old German wirehaired golden retriever mix, apparently succumbed to the heat about 2:45 p.m. Wednesday afternoon.

The dog's handler, an undercover narcotics officer whose name was not released by police, had left the dog for two hours. Protocol is to leave the car running while a canine is inside, but the 20-year veteran of the force turned off the engine.

''It appears to be an accident,'' said Sgt. Joe McHugh, a Coral Springs police spokesman. ``There's an internal investigation into why the car wasn't running.''

The officer has been a canine handler for the past 14 years with no history of this type of incident.

Flooding Causes Rescue Overload in Melbourne Area

They need help - fast. This is from Craig's List.

State of Emergency for Brevard County, Melbourne,FL. Shelter

Brevard County.FL. has been declared a "State of Emergency" thanks to tropical storm Fay. All our animals have to be evacuated from our shelter here in Melbourne, ASAP. Our shelter is in dire need of repairs, and due to the continuing rains is now unsafe to keep our animals in....PLEASE HELP US WE NEED TO GET THEM TO A SAFE PLACE.

Rescues need to fax their 501, adopt, and vet policy info to pull. Fax to 321-253-6623. We have a partial listing available but unable to update due to conditions here.....PLEASE, PLEASE, HELP THEM!

I Can Think of Many Humans Who Could Learn from Their Dogs (Make sure to click on comments)

Living with humans has taught dogs morals, say scientists

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 6:39 AM on 21st August 2008

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Dogs are developing a sense of fair play, scientists have found. Dogs are becoming more intelligent and are even learning morals from human contact, scientists claim. They say the fact that dogs' play rarely escalates into a fight shows the animals abide by social rules.

During one study, dogs which held up a paw were rewarded with a food treat. When a lone dog was asked to raise its paw but received no treat, the researchers found it begged for up to 30 minutes. But when they tested two dogs together but rewarded only one, the dog which missed out soon stopped playing the game.

Dr Friederike Range, of the

University

of

Vienna

, who led the study, said: 'Dogs show a strong aversion to inequity. I would prefer not to call it a sense of fairness, but others might.'

The first Canine Science Forum in Budapest was attended by more than 200 experts to discuss what is going on inside the mind of a dog. Human's inclination to invest dogs with human-like states of mind isn't as unscientific as it might appear as they really do have some remarkable mental skills that allow them to thrive in their strange habitat - our world.

Domestic dogs evolved from grey wolves as recently as 10,000 years ago since when their brains have shrunk so a wolf-sized dog has a brain around 10 per cent smaller than its wild ancestor.

Dr Peter Pongracz from Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, and colleagues have produced evidence dog barks contain information that people can understand. They found even people who have never owned a dog can recognise the emotional 'meaning' of barks produced in various situations, such as when playing, left alone and confronted by a stranger.

His team has now developed a computer program that can aggregate hundreds of barks recorded in various settings and boil them down to their basic acoustic ingredients.

They found each of the different types of bark has distinct patterns of frequency, tonality and pulsing, and that an artificial neural network can use these features to correctly identify a bark it has never encountered before.

This is further evidence that barking conveys information about a dog's mental state, reports New Scientist magazine. They also discovered people can correctly identify aggregated barks as conveying happiness, loneliness or aggression.

'Even children from the age of six who have never had a dog recognise these patterns,' says Dr Pongracz.

Dogs are not just able to 'speak' to us - they can also understand some aspects of human communication. At the forum in Budapest, Dr Akiko Takaoka from Kyoto University in Japan described as-yet unpublished work that examined what is going on inside a dog's mind when it hears a stranger's voice.

She played dogs a series of recordings of unfamiliar voices - both male and female - with each voice followed by a photo of a human face on a screen. If the gender of the face did not match that of the voice, the dogs stared longer, a sign that their expectations had been violated.

Dr Takaoka said: 'This suggests dogs generate an internal visual representation of a male or female correlated with the voice.'  She suggests that this ability to infer information about a person from their voice alone might help dogs communicate with people.

It is generally accepted that a few other animals, including great apes, are capable of this mind reading to some extent, but it is nevertheless a quality reserved for only the most intelligent of species.

But Dr Alexandra Horowitz from Barnard College in New York prefers the term "theory of behaviour" to describe dogs' apparent insight.

She said: 'I think there is a massive territory between a theory of mind and a theory of behaviour.'

Her own recent study illustrates the point - when dogs play together, they use appropriate signals for grabbing attention or signalling the desire to play depending on their playmate's apparent level of attention, such as whether it is facing them or side-on.

That could be interpreted as mind reading, she admits, but a simpler explanation is that dogs are reading body language and reacting in stereotyped ways.

Hero Dog Guards Body of Owner Who Killed Himself

For six weeks, a Colorado German shepherd stayed with her human's body, apparently subsisting on rodents, till someone found them. Amazing. Click here for the full story and video.