ANIMAL CONNECTION

Archive for the ‘Habitat Issues’ Category

You could WIN 1 WEEKEND at Clear Creek Ranch in the North Carolina Mountains & HELP WILDLIFE.  There are so many creatures that are still dying from the oil that has been dispersed into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.  There are so many political issues involved and it is impacting the lives of so much wildlife.

I am raising money for the wildlife.  Go to my HOMEPAGE and you will see the link “Wildlife Donations”.  If you donate, you have the potential to win a weekend at Clear Creek Ranch in the beautiful North Carolina Mountains. Please pass this on to the people in your database and social sites.

There will also be a conference in New Orleans Aug. 7th & 8th.  Details can be found on their website at www.humanela.org under their BP oil spill link.

Animal Connection will be hosting an event on August 1, 2010 to help the wildlife affected by the oil disaster.  It will be at the Hyatt Regency in Sarasota Florida from 5-9pm.  The fee to get in will be $20 donation.  Kristy and Lindsey Landers will provide their band for entertainment.  They play at all of the big parties for Hugh Hefner, PETA and other well know venues.  People who attend the event will have their name placed on the “wildlife” page of my website specifically for this event.  Even if you send in your donation, your name will be placed on the site.

Yesterday someone said my event is not only for the wildlife but everything and everyone.  They told me that the oil disaster affects the wildlife, impacts the seafood, the life of the fishermen and our economy as a whole.  I NEVER thought of it that way.  It is so true.  That is the exact reason for my show, Animal Connection…we are all connected in many ways.

We have had a number of celebrities and professional athletes express interest in attending the event or helping to promote the event.  I will have the names of the attendees in the next week.

This will be a wonderful event.  Please check back next week for more specific information.  We will also have a Paypal account set up so you can contribute if you would like.

I want to thank you again for your continued support of Animal Connection and the animals that don’t have a voice in this world.

I have been very discouraged watching the news and reading articles about the oil disaster.  Every time I turn around I see, or hear, more negative.  My goal is to empower people, not bring them down. I have been making calls and doing research to find ways that people can help with the oil disaster. The information I get varies from source to source.  I got a call from Jeff Dorson today.  He is the Executive Director for the Humane Society of Louisiana.  He told me about a couple of groups that are actually qualified to help the wildlife in the Gulf.  Even though we have a long way to go, there are people who are able to make positive changes, if we help them.

I found out that there is so much red tape when it comes to helping these creatures. You need the proper training, an organization has been approved and the list goes on. Otherwise, you are not allowed to do anything with the animals.   In many ways that could be good.  We want to be sure the people dealing with these animals know what they are doing.  After all, this needs to improve the quality of life for the wildlife, not make it worse.  There are people who have had experience but don’t have the specific training needed to be approved for this mission.  Then there are those who are doing it for other reasons and it’s a good thing they are not allowed to be close to the wildlife.

Below are some wonderful organizations that could use your help.  You can give your time as a volunteer, send money or make calls/ send emails to officials that have the authority to make the changes needed.

1.  Operation Here to Help, is a joint effort launched by the Humane Society of Louisiana and Clearwater Wildlife Sanctuary to help wildlife adversely affected by the oil spill. Clearwater’s staff and volunteers are trained and certified wildlife rehabilitators who are working at the triage sites and administering direct aid to captured birds. They are providing logistical support by utilizing dozens of their volunteers who are transferring oiled birds directly from wildlife agents to the recovery centers. They’re also providing real-time information to state and federal agents by providing them with photos, notes, and coordinates. They are taking volunteers out on boats, contacting legislators, and more.

Operation Here to Help has staff and volunteers that have been out to the barrier islands in Barataria Bay, near Grand Isle, twice during the past several days. In the six total hours they spent surveying the area on boats, they spotted a mere three agents with nets with two large plastic dog carriers in the back of their boat. Meanwhile, they witnessed hundreds of oiled birds in distress. These trips made it clear to them that more aid is necessary to account for the significant number of birds currently in need of assistance.

That’s why they set up “Operation Here to Help”, a program of the Humane Society of Louisiana, with the goal of surveying the affected areas and providing coordinates to state and federal agencies. Although red tape still prevents them from handling oiled wildlife ourselves, They can provide critical information to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries so that they can most effectively mobilize their extremely limited manpower.

The facts are sobering. They were told by a wildlife agent that, for the entire Louisiana coastal area, there are a mere 100-150 officers licensed to rescue oiled wildlife, on shifts from 7:30 AM to 6:00 PM and they do not work at night. These are incredibly inadequate numbers. Additionally, most of the barrier islands, including Cat and Four Pass Bayou, which are rookeries and home to tens of thousands of water birds, have already been contaminated with oil.  The utilization of booms as buffers is extremely ineffective and dates back to the 1960’s. That is why their team wants to be “here to help” direct officers to areas where their work will have the most impact.

They have identified several ways that each of you can help them save more marine life and wildlife, whose lives hang in the balance. Their goal is to complement state and federal agencies in order to achieve the results they want. As one of Louisiana’s most dedicated humane organizations, they cannot sit back and let a handful of government workers and BP contractors respond with disgraceful inadequacy to the worst disaster in modern history to hit our precious wetlands. Here are their plans; they need your help to implement them:

Advocacy:

Call Robert Barham, Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife, and ask that he assign more agents to the capture of wildlife and ask him to ask for reinforcements from other states or other agencies if needed. Please use their reports from the front lines as evidence that much more help is needed. Call 1-225-765-2800.  Remember that there are between 100-150 agents out in the entire Gulf Coast assigned to wildlife capture. These numbers are not sufficient for the task at hand.  In the six hours they have spent surveying the areas on boats, they have only seen three agents with nets on one occasion. They had two large plastic dog carriers in the back of their boat, both empty.  At the same time, they also saw hundreds of birds in distress.

Information Gathering:

They will be going out in chartered boats during the next several months to obtain first-hand information and photographic evidence of the mistreatment of marine life.  If you would like to join them, please write an email to contact us at stopcruetly11@gmail.com.  Cost of trip per person: $60.00 for a three-hour trip. They are currently scheduling one to two trips a week, out of Venice and Grand Isle.

Information Sharing:

They will be hosting a two-day conference in New Orleans at the end of July. They intend to invite representatives from BP, the Coast Guard, the White House, members of Congress or their staff, social justice groups, animal protection and environmental groups to attend, speak, and listen to one another with the intention of developing and implementing short- and long-term goals. They will send out additional announcements during the next several weeks. They plan on visiting the coastline on the second day as a group.

Fund-raising

Funds are needed to keep their chartered boats in the water, to underwrite their upcoming conference, and to help mobilize volunteers from around the country. Please be as generous as possible. Each of you can help by donating through their PayPal account at: http://www.humanela.org/bpoilspill.htm.

65% of those proceeds from their website link will go to Clearwater Wildlife Sanctuary, whose staff and volunteers are caring for the wildlife. They have pledged to support them. The remaining 35% will go to the logistical support their group is providing. You can also send them a donation by mail to: The Humane Society of Louisiana at P.O. Box 740321, New Orleans, LA 7017

2. Nature Conservancy

We can’t afford to wait. The damage done by this spill demands that we ramp up our efforts as rapidly as possible.

They know we could be building 20 to 30 miles of reef a year, and promote hundreds of acres of seagrass and marsh recovery in the process. Within 3 to 5 years, they could complete 100 miles of oyster reef and at least 1,000 acres of seagrass and marsh habitat. That’s conservative — it’s possible, perhaps even likely, that a properly designed restoration could support 10,000 acres of seagrass and marsh.

Rebuilding such a system will have huge benefits beyond kick-starting the oil spill recovery:

• If designed properly, oyster reefs will slow, and in many cases, halt the massive erosion that continues to carve into Alabama shorelines.
• Reefs will help to filter the loose sediment that turns Mobile Bay a dark chocolate every time the wind blows.
• Light-loving seagrasses return, tying down still more mud.
• And in the quit eddies created by the reef, marshes will get a toe-hold and spread rapidly.

Best of all, re-creation of these reefs, seagrasses and marshes will result in an explosion of life. It won’t just be old timers who remember what it was like to go floundering in the seagrasses along the shores of Mobile Bay:

• Harvest of white shrimp, once Mobile’s prized catch, will almost certainly rebound.
• Crab habitat will increase dramatically.
• Tens of thousands of young speckled trout, redfish, sheepshead and other Gulf game and food fish will once again find a place to grow and thrive.

To learn more about this endeavor, and how you can help, click here.

3. The National Wildlife Federation has been on the front lines responding to the wildlife crisis unfolding in the Gulf since the BP Oil Spill started on April 20.

Their Louisiana-based staff–already working on existing Coastal Louisiana restoration efforts before the spill–was deployed to help with the initial response. They have been joined by national staff, affiliates in the region and a growing network of volunteers.

They believe strongly they have an obligation to find out what is happening, share this information with the public and do everything they can to help wildlife survive this tragedy.

You can learn more about their “Search and Rescue”, how they are raising awareness and what they are saying on behalf of wildlife.  Click here.

If you have dogs or ferrets, this is your lucky Friday. It has been a challenging week for me.  I have had a number of issues come up regarding dogs and ferrets.  I had to do some research and contact other rescues and shelters for help.  It’s amazing how animal people all stick together and help each other so animals can have a better life.  Thank you!!

One challenge I had were ferrets with fleas. I never had ferrets with fleas so I was not sure what to do about them.  I know they are delicate animals and it can be deadly if they are treated like dogs and cats for a flea problem. Here are some of the things I found out:

1. A flea condition is 100% fixable.  I spoke to rescues who told me that ferrets die from fleas. They are such small animals and it doesn’t take long for them to be sucked dry. The fleas are coming in from a source.  Once you find out what the source is, you can correct it.   Ferrets, being indoor animals, should not have fleas.

2. If you have dogs or cats that come in and out you can give them Capstar. You have to get it from a veterinarian.  This should not be given to ferrets, unless you just adopted them and need to get the fleas off this one time.  (Talk to your vet about dosage).

3. You can also get an 8oz. spray bottle.  Put about 2 tablespoons Skin-so-soft with 1 teaspoon alcohol (to cut the oil) and fill with water. You can spray that on the dogs and cats and rub it in.  This will kill fleas.  Again, be very careful not to use this too much with ferrets since they have very sensitive skin.

The one recommendation I got over and over again, get everyone and everything out of the house.  Fumigate the whole house and have the yard treated.  While you are gone, get all of the fleas off of all the animals.  When you return, you are starting new. Make sure all of the animals stay in the house.  If they must go outside, make sure they stay in your yard, if possible.  Give them Capstar before they go out to be sure they don’t get any fleas.  The ferrets should no longer have a flea problem, ever.

I also had people asking me about the proper food they should be feeding their dogs.  Since I have not had dogs in years, I was not sure what to tell them.  I have a friend, Greg Martinez, DVM who just wrote a book called, “Dr. Greg’s Dog Dish Diet”.  That book has a wealth of information when it comes to feeding your dog. It gives you histories of different breeds, what different breeds eat, how different foods affect different dogs, etc.  Did you know dogs are not suppose to have any corn or beef?

Here are a few tidbits I got from the book that I thought were interesting and I wanted to pass along:

1. A Tablespoon of olive oil or canola oil on the food daily, or an egg yolk in the food three or four times a week, can have a wondrous effect on health.

2. Never give your dog chocolate.  That goes for ferrets too.  Ferrets should not have any sugars or fruit.

3. The closest ancestor to a dog, the wolf.   99.8% of a dog’s DNA matches the wolf. To feed dogs well on a diet that resembles the natural diet of a wolf, make sure the mix of ingredients and nutrients are similar.

4. Wild game provides the wolf with a high-water, low-carbohydrate diet that is also high in protein and fat.   With the exception of a few of the newer diet; canned dog foods most closely match the wolf’s natural diet.

5. Ounce for ounce, canned dog food has about a third the calories of dry food.

6. A healthier diet may actually prevent, decrease and often cure many of the common chronic problems in dogs.

These are the top 10 claims for Veterinary Pet Insurance:

A.Ear Infections

B. Skin Allerfies

C. Pyoderma (hotspots/ bacterial skin infections)

D. Gastritis/Vomiting (stomach upsets)

E.  Enteritis/Diarrhea

F.  Urinary Tract Infections Benign

G.  Skin Tumors

H.  Osteoarthritis

I.  Eye Inflammation

J.  Hypothyroidism

7. Allergies in dogs are caused by three common allergen groups:

A. Fleas

B.  Pollens, grasses and molds

C.  Allergenic food ingredients (most often wheat, beef and corn)

8.  Wolves keep their teeth clean by chewing on the bones of prey animals. In that tradition, you can give your dog raw or frozen chicken theighs, smoked pork bones or beef knucklebones, and they’ll gnaw the tartar away.  PLEASE, be careful what you give your dog. They should be able to chew NOT eat bones.  The book goes into detail about this.

To learn more about dogs and their diets click here for Dr. Greg’s Book.

Then I had questions about adopting dogs.  The best timing in the world because I had information sent to me from “The Camping Dog”.

It specifically talked about adopting a shelter dog. They say one of the best gifts you can give yourself is adopting a shelter dog.  Are shelter dogs right for everyone?  Absolutely not.  You never really know what you’ve got until you get your new friend home.  And odds are even that your dog will need specialized attention and care for health or behavior issues for some period of time.  Unless you’re willing to be patient and work with your pup, you have no business having a dog at all – and especially not a shelter dog who may well have had traumatic experiences.

There is nothing more rewarding than watching a dog blossom into their true personalities. Seeing a dog learn how to play for the first time is a delight.  And watching them grow as they learn new behaviors and have new experiences is so much fun!  And they do thank you for it in so many ways!

If you would like to know the questions to ask yourself if you are thinking about adopting a dog click here.

Can anyone explain why the USDA will NOT step in and help the dogs and puppies in the mills? There has been so much evidence of mills abusing and neglecting these animals.  Many of these animals are dying horrible deaths.  Most people have heard about these atrocities.  The flip side, they go into a pet store to buy something for their animal. When they are there they see the poor puppy eyes looking at them.  At that very moment they feel they need to buy this puppy and give it a good home.  They forget where the puppy came from.   It is a vicious cycle.  I like what they have done in West Hollywood California.  The stores only sell puppies that come from shelters or rescues.  Click here to learn how you can do the same thing in your community.

This past week there was a report about the USDA failing to cut down on puppy mills.   They detail the horrific conditions and lax enforcement.  If you would like to read this article, click here.

There was also a show on Animal Planet that exposed Petland puppies. Since the airing of that show they have had so many people coming forward telling them stories about the health issues, and medical challenges, their puppies have had. In addition, the cost to care for these animals.

So many stories were sent in describing what it has been like for the owners of these puppies since they purchased their new family member.  The stories include Bailey, a Cairn terrier (pictured here), who became deathly ill and had to be hospitalized after she was purchased in Texas, and Little Red, who reportedly had the worst hip dysplasia her veterinarian had ever seen.

On the positive side, hopefully this show will get people to do more research on the stores and breeders of  puppies.  Even people in your community might have a small mill going and you don’t even know it.

If you would like to read more about this, or know of a puppy that you want to report because they have medical issues, click here.

Over the past few weeks I have had so many conversations regarding our world and where we are headed.  I have always said, “Humans are blessed with an exceptional brain.  We have made wonderful advances in technology, medicine, etc.  At the same time, we also seem to use it to destroy the world and harm innocent animals.  Right now we are harming and destroying at the same time (oil drilling, polluting the waters and killing all kinds of fish and wildlife).

I came up with the name of my show, “Animal Connection” because I know animals and humans are connected.  I never realized the timing of my show would be so perfect with the events going on in our society, in such an extreme way.  One major issue, once we destroy this earth that’s it.  No matter how much money anyone has, we can’t replace it!

The animals were here long before we were.  We should respect them and not use them for profit.  Someone said to me, “We should go back to the times of Little House on the Prairie”.  I’m starting to believe that’s not such a bad idea, although it was a very hard life!

I don’t know what the answer is.  We don’t seem to be able to get along and respect other humans (look at the wars).  How do we expect people to respect animals?

Today there are believed to be fewer than 2,500 breeding adult Tigers left in the wild, and their numbers are declining. Tigers are listed as Endangered by the IUCN.

A friend of mine is getting ready to do a documentary about these Tigers and made me aware of this horrific practice.

The greatest threats to Tigers are habitat loss, poaching and lack of sufficient prey.

Once found across Asia, from Turkey to eastern Russia, over the past century Tigers have disappeared from south-west and central Asia, from Java and Bali in Indonesia and from large parts of South-east and East Asia.

Tigers have lost 93% of their historic range, and more than 40% of their range in the last decade. Much of the remaining habitat is becoming increasingly fragmented.

Today, Tigers are found only in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and VietNam, and possibly in North Korea.

Tigers, and numerous other species of endangered wild life, have to contend with poaching! Regardless of the tigers’ classification as a “Critically Endangered” species, the demand for its parts has drastically increased at an alarming rate since the end of the 20th Century. The tiger is primarily killed to supply underground black markets with its organs, pelts and bones. These items are highly regarded in eastern medicine, claiming to posse’s capabilities to heal all sorts of human illnesses and dysfunctions. In addition, this regal and magnificent symbol of nature’s beauty and power is hunted recreationally for sport/trophies, perceived fear, and just out-rite ignorance! Unfortunately, poaching is not isolated to any one subspecies or population. All tigers, no matter were they live, seem to be under attack!

The import and exportation of tiger parts is a sizable business.  The penis sells for $6,000 (USD in 2008) which is used in a soup as an aphrodisiac.  Dried white tiger penis is worth even more. It is probably the most expensive piece of animal material in the world and probably the reason for the deaths of many magnificent wild tigers.   A large number of Chinese still believe that the body parts of animals can cure their ailments. And the doctors who practice traditional Chinese medicine haven’t yet decided to do what they do in the west, substitute animal parts for man made ingredients.  Despite the widespread availability of aspirin, a highly effective pain killer and indeed many other pain killers, many Chinese prefer to ingest crushed tiger bone for pain relief.

This practice takes place in China, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia and the other Asian countries.  In 1990, over 4,180 pounds of tiger bones were exported from Taiwan to Japan. Documented records from the Korean government state that over 8700 pounds of tiger bones were imported into South Koreas from Indonesia.  In Hong Kong black markets, venders sell a pound of powdered tiger humorous bone sells for over $1700.

Other tiger body parts are believed to do the following to the person who consumes them:

• 1. Heart – gives strength and courage
• 2. Tail – body rub for skin problems
• 3. Bones – put in wine for rheumatism
• 4. Brains – body rub to cure acne
• 5. Eyes – turned into pills for epilepsy
• 6. Whiskers – cure for toothache

It is still cheaper to kill and export the body parts of a wild tiger than to farm them.  At this rate how long will it take for their complete extinction in the wild? Keep in mind that all of these so-called treatments are completely unproven by science and have absolutely no real medical value.

How is man considered to be of superior intelligence compared to these animals when this happens?

If man has no respect for such a remarkable animal as the tiger, how can mankind be expected to protect all of the other animals, plants and wild places sharing the planet with us?  One way to help, don’t purchase items made from animal parts or made by animals (elephant paintings).

Many organizations are in need of volunteers to help save these animals and educate the public.  To learn more about the tigers and things you can do,  go to these websites:

Wildlife 1

Traffic

Tiger Homes

I want Friday’s to bring awareness to other organizations that are doing wonderful things for animals. If you have information you want to share, send me a paragraph on the topic with a link to the website, by 11am on Thursday.  I will do this each Friday.  Please pass this link on to bring awareness to these wonderful organizations, thanks!

1. Have you ever thought about the food you eat?  How does it affect your body and health?

There is a new movie called Food, Inc.  It educates people about the food they eat. Oprah dedicated one of her shows to this topic.  Alicia Silverstone wrote a book called “The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet”. She also discusses this topic.

When we used to cook quality food at home our health care costs, and medical needs, were much lower.  Our world has changed.  People buy fast food an average of 4 times a week.  With that increase there has been an increase in health issues and health care costs.  Animals are force fed and given all kinds of hormones.  This impacts the animals, as well as the humans that consume them.  A few of the topics discussed in the movie:

1. Where our food comes from
2. How it affects our health
3. How to purchase quality food at the best price
4. Restaurants that serve high quality food that has been raised caged free

What are your thoughts about this?  You can comment below.

2. They say bears hibernate in the winter, right?  Watch the video below to see what they really do in the comfort of their own caves!  This is live video inside a bear’s den!

A team of  biologists go to a black bear den to study a female bear and her two newborn cubs. The group recorded each cub’s weight and gender and examined the mother bear.   Please listen to what they have to say about the bears and humans interacting.  Sound familiar about other animals in the wild?

THESE ARE WILD ANIMALS, PLEASE DO NOT TRY THIS ON YOUR OWN!!

3. Kirsten Starcher plays bass in a Vancouver-based rock band and while performing in Toronto, Canada in 2006, took a poignant photograph of a homeless man with his dog nestled in his arms.  Her photo has touched many hearts around the world.  Her consent to “Pets of the Homeless” to use her photo set a wave in motion.

“Years later, it still amazes me how this one tiny action, which almost didn’t happen, has had a ripple effect I never would have predicted,” wrote Kirsten for an article in the March 2010, Pets of the Homeless Newsletter.

People started writing to tell Kirsten about how the photo affected them.  More charities asked to use it in their writings; artists asked to paint their own versions of it; a musician wrote a song about it. She received email from a woman in South Africa who found it on a flyer on the beach and was deeply moved. One of the artists planned to give a percentage of his gallery’s earnings – for a month – to a local homelessness charity, by way of appreciation.

This stunning photograph can be seen on the Pets of the Homeless website.

A special hunting season opened in Florida this year, python hunting.

From Monday March 8, 2010 until April 17, anyone with a hunting license, who pays for the $26 permit, can take them on state-managed lands around the Everglades in South Florida.

Florida officials have taken a more aggressive stance against the invasive species in the past year, creating the python hunting season and issuing broader permits to experts to kill as many as possible. The state has even held workshops for those inexperienced with pythons on how to identify, stalk and capture the reptiles.  In addition to Burmese, Indian and African rock pythons, hunters can also take green anacondas and Nile monitor lizards.

In addition to hunting these snakes, the hunters are being attacked by killer bees.  You can learn more about the killer bees, and watch the video, at the end of this post.

Africa’s largest snake—the ill-tempered, 20-foot-long (6.1-meter-long) African rock python—is colonizing the U.S. The Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus) is native throughout Southeast Asia including Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, southern China, and Indonesia. While Burmese are being captive bred in the U.S. and Europe, native populations are considered to be “threatened” and are listed on Appendix II of Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species. All the giant pythons (including the Indian, African Rock and Reticulated pythons) have historically been slaughtered to supply the international fashion industry with exotic skins. The exportation of young snakes for the pet trade and for their blood and gall as used in folk medicine has put additional pressures on the wild populations that cannot be sustained.

More dangerous than even Burmese pythons—which are known to eat alligators —the African pythons are so mean, they are known to come out of the egg striking.  This is just one vicious animal.

Burmese pythons have already eaten thousands of native animals in the Everglades.  With the addition of the rock python, Florida is now an established home-away-from-home for three large alien constricto—including the Burmese species and the boa constrictor.

Steve Irwin

This brings up the topic of having one of these as a pet. Do you really want a snake that may grow more than 20 feet long or weigh 200 pounds, urinate and defecate like a horse, will live more than 25 years and for whom you will have to kill mice, rats and, eventually, rabbits (no chickens any more due to the ever increasing rate of Salmonella in the food industry)?

Many people think that when they decide they don’t want their Burmese any more–when it gets to be 8 or 10 or 15 feet long–it will be easy to find someone who does. Take a look at the animal classifieds – they always have sale ads for big pythons. The zoo doesn’t want any more – they already have one or more giant snakes from other people. The local herpetology societies and reptile veterinarians always have big pythons for whom they are trying to find homes. Burms are increasingly being abandoned at vets and animal shelters and are being euthanized for lack of proper homes for them. Breeders keep breeding them, however, because so many people are willing to buy these ‘cool’ giants…knowing full well that they will be dumped when ‘too’ big. At 10 feet and 40+ pounds, a 3-year old Burmese is already eating rabbits a couple of times a month and is very difficult to handle alone. You have to interact with them constantly to keep them tame – do you want a hungry, cranky 100 pound, 12 foot snake mistaking your face for prey?  Who is going to help you clean its enclosure?  Take it to the vet when it’s sick? Take care of it when you go away to school or on vacation?  No matter how much they love you, there are some things a mother, and your friends, will not do!

Owning a giant snake is NOT COOL – it is a major, long-term, frequently very expensive responsibility. Not only that, but even the nicest, gentlest of burms can become killers, even when not very large.  To learn more about these snakes, click here.

Africanized Honey Bees — also called killer bees — are descendants of southern African bees imported in 1956 by Brazilian scientists attempting to breed a honey bee better adapted to the South American tropics.

When some of these bees escaped quarantine in 1957, they began breeding with local Brazilian honey bees, quickly multiplying and extended their range throughout South and Central America at a rate greater than 200 miles per year. In the past decade, AHB began invading North America.

Africanized bees acquired the name killer bees because they will viciously attack people and animals who unwittingly stray into their territory, often resulting in serious injury or death.

It is not necessary to disturb the hive itself to initiate an AHB attack. In fact, Africanized bees have been know to respond viciously to mundane occurrences, including noises or even vibrations from vehicles, equipment and pedestrians.

Though their venom is no more potent than native honey bees, Africanized bees attack in far greater numbers and pursue perceived enemies for greater distances. Once disturbed, colonies may remain agitated for 24 hours, attacking people and animals within a range of a quarter mile from the hive.

Africanized bees proliferate because they are less discriminating in their choice of nests than native bees, utilizing a variety of natural and man-made objects , including hollow trees, walls, porches, sheds, attics, utility boxes, garbage containers and abandoned vehicles. They also tend to swarm more often than other honey bees.

Become a bird.  World-famous bird photographer and writer, Arthur Morris, takes plenty of pictures of birds.  He recently visited Sarasota.  He came to make a presentation to the Sarasota Audubon Society.

Arthur Morris & Donna Paige

More than 11,000 of Arthur Morris’s photographs have been published in national publications including American Birds, Audubon, Birder’s World, Florida Wildlife and Nature, National Geographic, Natural History, Nature Photographer, Outdoor Photographer, Ranger Rick, Wildbird, and other magazines, as well as in hundreds of books and calendars.

He taught elementary school in New York City for twenty-three years. For eight years he conducted the shorebird survey at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge for The International Shorebird Surveys.  Mr. Morris became a Canon contract photographer and has been featured in six episodes of the “Canon Photo Safari” television show.  Two of his images were awarded prizes in the 1997 BG plc Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition.  He is also a popular lecturer, having presented more than 250 slide programs during the past 15 years.  Arthur now photographs, travels, speaks, and teaches extensively in North America.

The Audubon Society, where Arthur Morris made his presentation, is dedicated to the protection, conservation and enjoyment of birds, wildlife and the environment.  I am learning so many things about birds and how important they are to our existence and the world as a whole by being a volunteer.  All of the Audubon Societies need more volunteers.

One thing I’ve learned has to do with climate change.  The heat-trapping gasses, especially carbon dioxide have been known to cause climate change.  This change includes melting glaciers and polar icecaps, acidifying the oceans, increasing extreme temperatures and desertification in many areas.  This reduces habitats and numbers of numerous species of wildlife. The fifteen hottest years on record since modern global temperatures have been kept, have all occurred since 1991.  We have lost a third of our Arctic sea ice in the past thirty years.

Another subject I was not aware of, several species of birds nest on beaches each year.  The volunteers with the Audubon Societies watch over these nests to be sure they are not disturbed and the birds survive.  Many people visit beaches and don’t realize that the nests need to be left alone.  Motor craft also affect the nests when they come to close to shore.

To learn more about the Audubon Society click here.

They are always looking for volunteers.

What do you think about cloning the DNA from an endangered animal to keep it from going extinct?  Dr. Betsy Dresser, senior vice president of research for the Audubon Nature Institute in New Orleans, is doing just that.  She takes the DNA from an endangered animal and uses it with a non-endangered relative.  An example is the typical house cat and the African Wildcat.

She takes the egg of the house cat and sucks out the DNA.  She then takes DNA from the skin cells of the African Wildcat and places it inside the egg.  She uses electrodes to spit the eggs.  If everything goes well she places the egg inside the house cat so it can mature and product a new kitten.  It has been going so well, the cloned cats are mating and giving birth to very healthy kittens on their own.

This procedure might sound easy but it’s not.  There is a lot of scientific research that goes into this.  Take the Woolly Mammoth.  They don’t know the gestation period for an animal like that so they would have guess.  The goal is to keep endangered species from going extinct, not to bring back the Woolly Mammoth.  She would like to do work on the Lynx to keep it from going extinct, or the bongo, cousin to the antelope.

The Audubon Nature Institute is located on 1,200 acres of land.  It seems part Serengeti, part high-tech medical facility.  She knows there is a lot of controversy on this topic.  Her opinion, she doesn’t want our next generation of kids to only know an elephant from a text book.  She wants the kids to be able to see these animals alive, in their own environment.  If she doesn’t do this now, then we will be losing a lot of animals for future generations.

She is known as the lady with the “frozen zoo”.  She collects tiny skin samples from thousands of different animals, representing hundreds of species, and is storing them at 343 degrees below zero in tiny canisters inside tanks filled with liquid nitrogen.  She has samples from tigers, bears, frogs, rhinos and many more animals.  She feels there is no reason not to save DNA from every species since the cells can survive for hundreds, if not thousands of years in these tanks.

The Woolly Mammoth is her poster animal because the thought of it is inspiring.  Imagine the face of a 9 year old child.  This child sees a picture of the Woolly Mammoth and knows that there might be the possibility of brining that animal back to life.  Talk about inspiring for a kid to want to get involved in science that way.  If not, there is the message to do something to improve our environment NOW so we are not impacting and affecting animals is such a negative way.  We all live on the same planet and are connected to each other.

No one has yet found the intact cell it would take to resurrect that Woolly Mammoth, but in Siberia, two years ago, a reindeer herder discovered a remarkably well-preserved one month old baby mammoth that had lain frozen in permafrost for 40,000 years.

Its DNA was in better shape than any previously found, raising hopes that between new finds and new technology, it may just be a matter of time.

Watch the Frozen Zoo  video