San Diego zoo ordered closed, Wild Animal park in immediate danger

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/usa/news/article_1367662.php/San_Diego_zoo_ordered_closed_Wild_Animal_park_in_immediate_danger

Straight from Defenders of Wildlife

Dear Faye,

Everybody needs a home -- especially grizzly bears and other wildlife that depend on habitat in our National Forests to survive.

But a proposal introduced in August by the Bush/Cheney Administration would dismantle vital protections for our National Forests and grasslands and eliminate key federal protections for all wildlife in those areas… including the still-struggling grizzly bear.

We have just a short time to stop this awful plan. Send a message to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service right now, and urge federal officials to abandon their latest regulatory assault on the National Forest Management Act.

Earlier this year, the grizzlies in the Yellowstone region were removed from the list of species protected under the Endangered Species Act. However, these beloved bears could be right back on the fast-track to extinction if federal officials move forward with their proposed changes to the rules implementing the National Forest Management Act.

These changes would do away with essential wildlife viability standards that have protected grizzlies, wolves and other forest animals for more than 20 years, limit public input on forest planning decisions and exempt forest plans from meaningful environmental review.

The result: more destructive logging and other activities on our National Forests and grasslands and fewer grizzlies and other wildlife.

The public comment period on this awful proposal ends Monday, October 22nd, so please take action now to stop this terrible plan and protect our forest wildlife.

The grizzly isn’t the only animal threatened by this proposal. Unless we prevail, wolves, wolverines, elk, salmon and many other species could all suffer.

Please take action right now. We owe it to tomorrow’s conservationists to protect our grizzlies and other wildlife today.

Sincerely,

Rodger Schlickeisen
President
Defenders of Wildlife

News from the World Wildlife Fund

Press Release: The World Wildlife Fund announced on Oct. 16 that it has named Dr. K. Ullas Karanth as the winner of the 2007 J. Paul Getty Award for Conservation Leadership. The annual award honors outstanding contributions to international conservation and carries with it a $200,000 prize. Karanth, a scientist with the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), is the first tiger expert to win the award.

Karanth, an active conservationist in southern India for the past 25 years, was honored for a career devoted to the science of endangered species and their habitats, WWF officials said.

"The Wildlife Conservation Society is justifiably proud that Ullas Karanth has been honored by the World Wildlife Fund's J. Paul Getty Award for Conservation Leadership," said Dr. John G. Robinson, WCS Executive Vice President and Director for Global Conservation Programs. "Dr. Karanth has been a tireless fighter for tiger conservation for more than two decades, and has helped show the world that there is hope for these emblematic big cats."

As part of WCS's efforts to save India's critically endangered tiger, Karanth has conducted India-wide surveys of tigers to better determine their numbers and habitat needs. Using camera traps to capture their unique stripe pattern on film, Karanth has improved accuracy in assessing the number of tigers in India's Nagarahole National Park and his efforts have facilitated the creation of three protected areas in the Western Ghats. He has also done innovative work on voluntary resettlement, benefiting people and wildlife. He is currently working through WCS's "Tigers Forever" program to conserve tigers throughout Asia.

(Photo credit: World Widlife Fund)

One of the cats we're currently caring for, Fiona the Scottish Fold, has been blinking her eyes a lot and acting as if they're uncomfortable. She was treated for an eye infection at one point, but this time the vet said that he thinks it's just allergies. He said it wasn't a comment on our home at all, especially since the other four cats currently here don't have any allergies, and he prescribed some eye medication and suggested a .5 ml dose of children's Benadryl twice a day for three days.

Unfortunately, Fiona is not a fan of Benadryl. I bought the children's liquid version and tried to give her a dose, and she, well, freaked out. Maybe the bubble gum flavoring wasn't to her taste. She started running around the house, dripping white, frothy foam from her mouth in every room, stopping only long enough to glare at me accusingly before running off to foam some more.

Needless to say this was rather alarming to watch, but I was assured by a friend, Peggy Dey of Dey by Dey Studio, that this is a pretty normal reaction. One of her cats runs around frothing at the mouth also when dosed with unwanted medicine. Her suggestion was to buy the meds in pill form and try it that way.

I can just imagine what a success that will be!

Cali loves my birthday bouquet from J.!

Hamilton has been doing great since he got home from the hospital and his experience with the radioactive iodine shot. For the first few days he was a little quiet and shy, but recently he's gone back to being himself. He runs around after the feather toy the way he used to, meows loudly for his food and tries to herd me around the room or bat at my legs when a noise startles him.

It's so great to have our little guy back. While he was on the medication, he never seemed to be quite himself, and he obviously hated having to take it. It was an expensive decision to give him the shot, but we're really glad we did it. Here he is, sitting right next to me as I type, on a folded blue towel that I set out for him. He's really not as mad as he looks!

This morning I have to take one of the Scottish Folds, Fiona, to the vet. She's had drippy eyes for a while, and two attempts at "gooping" her eyes with medicine haven't fixed the problem. Thankfully, Fiona's vet is just around the corner so it won't be a long ride in the car with a wailing cat.

Usually when I bring a carrier upstairs, the cats scatter and disappear. This time, Tribbs did the opposite: he walked right into the carrier and tried to claim it as his own. I guess he knew it wasn't for him!



By the way, I'm desperate for some dog photos for Our Place to Paws. We have five cats in this house at the moment, and we have a lot of cat-loving readers who send in photos for our Monthly Photo Contest. But we hardly ever get any dogs. Are there any dog lovers out there? If so, we need your contributions to our Monthly Photo Contest and our Cats vs. Dogs essay/photo page! Winners get a $10 gift certificate to PetCo!

Animals in the news

As I was surfing the net this morning looking for some animal news, I came across a few great links.

First, I received an email recently about the sighting of a pink -- actually albino -- dolphin calf. Snopes.com confirmed that the sighting is real. You can see pictures of this beautiful creature here:

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/pinkdolphin.asp

I also discovered that the San Diego zoo has released a video of their new giant panda cub's first visit with a veterinarian. The cute little thing obviously didn't enjoy the experience very much, but she made it and was whisked away to her mom right afterward.

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=bizarre&id=5692327

Here's a very cute picture of her from another news story:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/cute-cuddly-and-a-giant-cause-for-celebration/2007/09/22/1189881837490.html

This next video of a mother cat caring for some chicks along with her kittens has been circulating via email. It's very cute. Enjoy!

http://news.orf.at/video/iptvpopup.html?strange_cat.wmv

Hamilton update

Just a quick update to let you know how Hamilton has been doing since he got home. He looks great, and he seems calm and happy. His coat is thicker than it used to be, and he no longer has that half-starved, scrawny look about him.

The next steps in his treatment will be to check his thyroid and kidney levels at one month after the shot, and at three months. There is some slight concern that the radioactive iodine treatment might negatively impact his kidneys, but the vet was very confident that he would be alright. His kidneys were a little small and irregular on the initial x-rays.

For now he is home and happy!

Our new issue is out

Our new e-newsletter went out today, featuring some interesting letters from readers and other updates. If you'd like to subscribe to future issues, send an email to faye@ourplacetopaws.com.

You can also check online for some of our updated content on the Web, including a new feature story about pets in the aftermath of Hurricane Dean, the winning reader photo for October and the winning reader's essay for our Cats vs. Dogs page.

Visit www.ourplacetopaws.com.