All the Creatures |
| Bogus horseback therapy places Posted: 28 Feb 2010 09:54 AM PST
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| Posted: 27 Feb 2010 01:54 PM PST Watch for our relaunch coming soon! |
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All the Creatures |
| Animals seized from an animal shelter Posted: 27 Feb 2010 09:09 AM PST
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Border Wars: A Border Collie Blog |
| Posted: 26 Feb 2010 03:01 PM PST Disclaimer: This post is not for the faint of heart, the prude, or those who have but a small reservoir of hope left for humanity. Rated NC-17 for discussion of perverse sexual behavior. I could have gone with “Serial Killer Whale,” but the death of a trainer isn’t the worst take-away from the latest Orca incident: the depth of human perversion is. Others analysts have funneled the splashy news event into discussions of how these animals are trained or the conditions of their captivity, often suggesting or battling the idea of abuse. Are Orca’s really the premier example of a positive-only training approach? Is it even ethical to keep them in captivity? Will this just make them more popular?
That level of determination requires a very powerful desire, and among the candidate emotions {curiosity, reverence, empathy, lust} only perverse sexual desire is strong enough to find you dead in a tank in the dark in your birthday suit. All the other options could be expressed in public, in the light of day, in socially acceptable ways, with no risk and the benefit of clothing. I wish my analysis were wrong so I’d never have to write this post and my investigation into Victim #2 could have ended with hapless accident. But no, not only wasn’t this some innocent mishap, Victim #2’s family decided to sue Sea World for marketing Killer Wales as sexual objects.
Although the Dukes were represented by an attorney who now proclaims herself among the “elite” of Florida ambulance chasers, the lovely couple who gave the world Daniel finally realized that they were not, in fact, entitled to millions of dollars because Sea World failed to post signage saying “DO NOT RAPE THE ORCAS, Please. Thanks.”
What, you say? Such a handsome young fellow couldn’t have wanted to rape the male Orca. Surely he was just drunk and mistook the tank for a hot tub. Well, anyone who’s been to college can tell you that 99% of sexual encounters start with alcohol and that “tub hopping” never involves breaking and entering into a guarded amusement park to get access to freezing tanks where giant animals defecate. Sure, some of the faculty hot tubs are pretty nasty, but a little jock itch fungus is about the most lethal thing you’ll find at the end of your junk after an ill advised dip. You see, this wasn’t the first time Daniel Dukes broke into a well secured property, removed his clothing and got into bed with an unreceptive millionaire alpha male who could kill him.
Their claim of SeaWorld’s implied invitation to rape an Orca wasn’t the most preposterous thing about the Dukes’ claim… the notion that they were suffering from Daniel’s loss was. This young adult was strange, estranged, and had a record of troubling behavior that his family should have realized would lead to his death and possibly the death of others. Orcagate was just the last in a long line of embarrassments that these parents unleashed on the world, and yet they truly felt that SeaWorld owed THEM money. Amazing. In digging for the truth in this story, not only did I find that the most sensational and troubling aspect of this story–that Tilikum was likely sexually assaulted–had been hushed up, but that emotional and sexual objectification of animals like Tilikum is alive and well on the internet. Daniel Dukes might have missed out on the Orca dildo, but instructions on how to seduce and rape your Cetacean of choice have been proudly published on the internet for more than ten years by a “Liberated Christian” website called the Sexwork Cyber Resource Center whose goal is to “support sexwork as a legitimate profession.” You can’t make this stuff up.
And sadly, this is only a small part of the sexualization of animals, in specific Cetaceans, that permeates our popular culture. It isn’t just confined to fringe underground groups with unresolved issues from their childhoods, the treatment of whales and dolphins as sexual objects is rather mainstream. And no, not just in the double entendre of “Free Willy.” We have reports of suicidal dolphins who attempt to rape divers in England. We have articles and documentaries which detail young male dolphin gangs kidnapping and raping hapless dolphin females. We have numerous videos of Dolphins being trained to mock-rape humans for laughs: ** An episode of King of the Hill features Hank being sexually assaulted by a dolphin:
Yesterday as I used Google Fast Flip to view the most popular articles of the day, the top story was a repost of a three year old story asking if Orcas can be gay!
Even when Cetacean advocates are trying to document the institutionalized abuse of these animals from their capture at sea through to their dubious repatriations, there exists questionable sexual undertones to their choice of titles: From “Lolita, Slave to Entertainment” ** If you were shocked at SeaWorld’s press conference advertisement today where their director said that absolutely nothing was going to change at their facility in response to this latest incident, I’ll give you one hint at the reason: Orca sexuality. That’s right. Besides being a rather small part of the “Dine with Shamu” shows at Sea World–a bit part (splashing the audience with his tail) that could easily be filled by one of the smaller less aggressive females–Tilikum makes big bucks by being “milked” by his trainers. With less than 50 Orcas in captivity and a huge market for baby Shamus, Tilikum’s seed is the reason he’ll likely never be returned to the wild or put down.
We can dance around this issue all we want, claim that it’s animal husbandry and not sexual, that Daniel Dukes has nothing in common with the trainer in the picture who has been “training Tilikum for artificial insemination” since 1999, that it’s conservation not exploitation, or we can wake up and ask if what we are doing to these animals in the light of day is as questionable as what has been done to them under the cover of darkness. P.S. Whoever spent $165.00 for 12-inch replica Orca wang most certainly did not get an authentic experience. |
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Scratchings-and-Sniffings |
| Posted: 26 Feb 2010 07:57 AM PST
Turns out we have a similar group of Veterinarians, Animal Health Technicians and Veterinary Students. World Vets is an international animal aid group that currently has projects in 12 countries on five continents. While they are sending a team to Haiti, their model is a little different than Doctors Without Borders. World Vets focuses on sustainable relationships with partner nations. They work with local authorities, health officials and community leaders to establish ongoing veterinary aid programs in mostly developing nations. They also provide donations of much needed veterinary medications, vaccines, equipment and other supplies. They focus on communities and developing cross cultural ties between volunteers and local participants. Another big initiative is education and a focus on public health. Many developing countries have problems with zoonotic diseases. These diseases can be transmitted back and forth between people and animals and World Vets helps establish programs aimed at eradicating zoonotic disease. If you want to get a feel for what they do visit their blog. Written by CEO Dr. Kathy King, the blog is full of photos. The most recent post details the work they are doing in Loreto Mexico. It looks like they have a genuinely good time doing their good work. World Vets is a volunteer organization and is funded by members and donations. The Vets, Techs and students pay their own travel expenses when they head out into the field. I think it's pretty admirable to volunteer your time and professional expertise, but to pay for the privilege goes above and beyond the call of duty. For the most part animals in developing nations don't get the level of care our pets receive. Groups like World Vets serve a critical animal health and humanitarian function. If you have a few extra bucks you can make a donation on their web site. The critters will be most appreciative. |
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Scratchings-and-Sniffings |
| Posted: 23 Feb 2010 02:39 PM PST
It's a pretty interesting story. Apparently, a Guinness official had to go to George's home in Tucson for an official measuring attended by George's Veterinarian among others. The title was in dispute as another Dane from California was also in the running. George measured a whopping 43 inches at the shoulder, beating out the California Dane by a mere 3/4 inch. According to the AKC, a male Dane must be at least 30 inches at the shoulder to meet the breed standard. George beats that by one Beagle. I went to George's web site and it's full of great pictures. He "sits" in a chair much like his people. There is a series of puppy pictures that I really liked. In one of them he's chewing on a raw hide and his feet look huge. I wish I knew how old he was in these photos. If I had to guess I'd say about six months. In another photo they show him eating from bowls that are elevated off the ground on a little table. I found this interesting. Danes, like many other large, deep chested breeds are susceptible to Gastric Dilatation and Volvulus, or Bloat, as it is sometimes called. In fact GDV is a very serious problem for Danes in particular. The reason the photo caught my eye has to do with GDV. In the past, it was recommended that GDV susceptible dogs be fed on elevated platforms like the one in the photo. There is conflicting research on whether this is beneficial or not. Apparently George's vet thinks it is. For more on GDV, check out this post we did a while back. There is a bag of Purina ONE Dog Food in another picture. I would imagine that is exciting for the folks back in St Louis on the Purina ONE team. George goes through about 100 pounds of food a month. My guess is that it's the Large Breed Adult Formula. As we've discussed before, large and giant breed dogs need special nutrition. They need puppy diets that help control their rate of growth. That can help with developmental bone and joint abnormalities like hip dysplasia. As adults they need lower caloric density foods to help keep them at ideal weight. Glucosamine can also help maintain healthy joints. Giant dogs are an acquired taste, in my opinion. You have to make concessions for them. I remember thinking that every time we visited Cedar, Mike and Ellie. They even had a special van to haul Cedar around. Neither Cedar nor George would fit in the back of our Subaru. I prefer larger dogs, myself. I like to get down on the ground and wrestle with Miles and he seems to enjoy that, too. Hugging a big dog is like hugging another person. Hugging a dog is much lower risk than hugging another human, though. We live in a real hugggy environment here in Nuevo Mexico. It seems de riguer to hug even casual friends if you haven't seen them in the last 24 hours. I'm not wild about that. It seems kind of forced at times. Not so with a dog. I hug Miles several times a day. I'm not sure if I'd like to have a dog as big as George. He seems like quite the celebrity these days. He even went on Oprah. His owners sure seem to be into it in a "big "way. Maybe next time we're over in Tucson I can arrange an interview with George and his people. I wonder if I'll have to go through his PR agency? |
| Posted: 22 Feb 2010 08:31 AM PST
Prozac, for dogs. Interestingly, I used to say Carmie needed some doggie Prozac, when she would not allow her lick granuloma to heal. Then, we put a sock on it and I stopped talking about doggie Prozac. When my daughter was having trouble with Twiggy, her Greyhound, dealing with separation anxiety, I started thinking about doggie prozac again...knowing, of course, that there wasn't any such thing. I know there were and are medications you can give your pet, for separation anxiety, but most of us would choose behavior modification, wouldn't we? Or, would we (should we?) resort to the help of drugs? According to the UK story, "Trials [of the drug] involving more than 660 mentally-disturbed pets in Europe and the US produced improvements in behaviour within eight weeks." Eili Lilly, maker of the drug, cites research showing "that as many as 8 per cent of dogs suffer from canine compulsive disorder." I guess that descriptive phrase: Canine Compulsive Disorder, is as good as any in identifying the issues pet owners deal with when their dogs (especially dogs, I think) suffer from separation anxiety. They note in the article that this involves dogs that chew destructively and urinate or defecate inappropriately around the house, when you're gone. Some might also vomit, pace, drool, or worse. (I don't know what the 'worse' is...they didn't go into detail.) So, I ask again - is Doggie Prozac a good thing or not? Would you consider this for your dog? I admit that, in the early days of Carmie's lick granuloma, I would have considered it. Not so much now. Now, I'd get to the root of the problem (we were home with her all the time, so it wasn't separation anxiety - I'm now wondering if it didn't start as an allergy and just blossom into the problem it became; after we put the sock on it, she never bothered it again)... I'm in favor of behavior modification, and bringing in experts that can help with that, which the article does say should be part of a pet parent's approach. But, in reality, as the article notes, "Cats and dogs can be very susceptible to their owner's feeling and if they sense that they are unhappy they can become agitated or depressed." I guess, I believe that, and in believing it, would give the idea of doggie Prozac some thought - but only for a limited amount of time. What are your thoughts? I wonder what Andrea Arden, BlogPaws Saturday morning keynote, thinks of this. Hmm.... |
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Border Wars: A Border Collie Blog |
| Posted: 22 Feb 2010 11:53 PM PST What color is Mara? Having had the pleasure of studding out both Mercury and Dublin to Mara, the 8 resulting puppies have created more questions than have been answered.
Mara’s breeder concluded that she was a Cryptic Merle Lilac Tricolor. This is a fair assessment given that she had one chocolate-ish spot, but was otherwise much lighter, much like two of the puppies in her current litter. I suspect that you can also add Sable. Here are some early photos of Mara which show how her coat has progressed from blonde to lilac at birth, 2 weeks and 6 weeks old:
That 6 weeks photo is pretty standard for Lilac, and you’ll notice that Mara’s nose is not black, not chocolate, but a purple color. I believe this suggests that the Chocolate to Lilac dilution gene is present. Also notice how Mara’s tri brown markings are blended on her face instead of solid with more clear borders. This effect appears in both her father and her father’s mother, and I believe this suggests that her tri markings are actually Sable. Mara’s sire is “Chip” and her dam is “Flynn.” Flynn is a smooth coat chocolate dog with white piebald markings on her back and ear. You’ll notice that the white completely obliterates both the chocolate and brown tri color around her mouth:
Given the extensive knock-0ut effect of Flynn’s white piebald markings, it’s hard to judge if her tri color brown has sable elements or not. Mara’s sire, Chip, is a blue merle tricolor, although I contend that there’s evidence of sable blending in his cheeks and on his legs:
Chip’s sire appears to be an unremarkable black and white dog, but his mother, Roxie, has quite the palette of tan points, variegated red and chocolate and stray white spots. Although this picture isn’t the best, I think you can see the same blending in the tan markings in the cheeks:
Although I’m unsure if the cheek blending is a definitive indication of sable being present, Mara’s coat is very similar to the following unrelated dog that has been identified as a sable merle; if we replace the dominant Black with Brown and add the Dilution to Lilac, I’d say the patterning is strikingly similar:
The accompanying description of the coloring fits our situation well:
As expected, Mara has the darkest hairs on her ears, head, and shoulder blades; the hairs along her trunk do show the sable effect with darker tips and lighter shafts, and her puppy photos show the darker brown/tan patches on a lighter base. All in all, the original classification appears correct if we add in sable: Cryptic Sable Merle Lilac with tan points. Genetically this is Chocolate + Dilute + Sable + Merle. |
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