Video

A video of the dogs at the pound. They need YOU!

100_2315.MOV

URGENT!

All of these dogs are very sweet, loving, and good with other dogs. If nobody offers to take them in (foster/rescue/sponsor) they will be euthanized tomorrow morning. The Carthage pound (in west-central IL.) is out of space. Transport is available. Contact Anissa if you can help in any way. westhancockk9@mchsi.com.

This girl was dumped and is almost out of time. She is about 40 pounds and very, very friendly and outgoing, fine with other dogs. She is medium sized and about 3-5 years old.

This huge boy is a teddybear about 80-90 pounds. He was scared at first since his owners moved out and left him behind, he didn’t know what was going on. Now he gets so excited to see me or the warden out there, his stub tail wags non stop!! He is fine with other dogs.

This pup is about 6 months old, outgoing and friendly, great with other dogs and is a real sweetheart!! He is going to be a large dog when full grown.

There’s one more coming…a Treeing Walker Coonhound.

_______________________________________________________

Then there’s Bosco, who I posted earlier.

From the Pound:

>HELP!!  Bosco is a loving boy that will be put down tomorrow if NO ONE
>grabs him up!!!  Can you help Bosco the Boxer/Lab Mix? He was found as
>a stray - is very friendly and loves everyone!  He’s a lover folks -
>His time is up TOMORROW!  URGENT!!!
>
>Please contact Anne Heckle at ausiersq@dstream.net or 217-257-1322
>ASAP, if you can help.

Cougar Update

Someone commented on the Cougar story and brought to my attention that he may have been from the wild…and roamed all the way from South Dakota. National Geographic has the full story here.

This is what I found interesting.

A wayward cougar killed Monday on the streets of Chicago was probably hunting for a mate on the wrong side of town, experts said.

The two-year-old male may have quested more than 1,000 miles (1,610 kilometers) from the Black Hills of western South Dakota only to die in a hail of police gunfire after it was cornered in an alleyway.

Other experts think it’s more likely the cougar—also known as a mountain lion or a puma—was a pet that had escaped its owner or been released to fend for itself.

“A mountain lion walking right into the city of makes about as much sense as you and me walking into a den of rattlesnakes,” said Alan Rabinowitz, president of the Panthera Foundation, a conservation group. “Behaviorally, it makes no sense for a big wild cat.”

No matter where the cat came from, police said they had no choice but to gun down the cougar after it appeared in the city’s Roscoe Village neighborhood, and many wildlife officials agreed.

Critics note that residents near where the cougar was shot had been reporting sightings of a big cat in their midst for weeks before the incident. Local authorities could have been better prepared with tranquilizer guns and trained animal-control personnel, they say.

“In our state this would never have happened,” said Sara Carlson of the Wyoming-based Cougar Fund. “That cougar was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Dispersal Urge

Male cougars have an innate urge to set off, often when they are less than a year old. This dispersal instinct guarantees that they leave their home territories before larger males have a chance to kill them as potential competitors. It also ensures they don’t mate with their mothers, aunts, or sisters.

“If you’re a young cougar, you can stay and fight and hope you win, or you can leave,” said John Erb, a Minnesota wildlife official.

What’s more, males require a private range of about 200 square miles (518 square kilometers).

But in South Dakota’s Black Hills “we’re saturated with mountain lions,” Kanta said. “There are no holes for them to fill.”

Female cougars don’t have the same ranging instinct that males do. So once a male cougar sets off from the hills, he is likely to keep moving in a fruitless search for a mate.

In the longest confirmed cougar walkabout, a Black Hills cat wearing a radio collar was struck and killed in 2004 by a freight train in Oklahoma, more than 660 miles (1,062 kilometers) from its birthplace.

Wildlife officials are now performing DNA tests on tissue from the slain Chicago cougar to see if the animal can be definitively linked to the Black Hills.

Time Up Tomorrow! HELP!

Notes are from the rescuers. The first 2 guys are in great need. If they can’t find a rescue/foster by tomorrow they will be euthanized. The rescuer says they are awesome dogs and she’s desperate to save them.

Can you help Bosco the Boxer/Lab Mix. His time is up TOMORROW. He was found as a stray. He is very friendly and loves everyone. Please email ausiersq@dstream.net if you can help.

Sorry, this isn’t a good picture - but he is adorable and SO loving. He loves other dogs and people. Was found as a stray. His time is up on Wednesday. Can you PLEASE help this boy? Please email ausiersq@dstream.net

This boy is located at the Hancock County dog pound in Carthage, IL. He was dumped near the pound late last week. He is very dog friendly, maybe about 35 pounds, medium sized-very, very handsome boy! He has until the end of the week and if not rescued, he will be euthanized! Please hurry and help save him, if you can foster, sponsor or pull him, contact me ASAP at westhancockk9@mchsi.com

Wolf Factoids

• Adult male wolves average ninety-five to one hundred pounds and females about fifteen pounds less
• The wolf has 42 teeth. Wolves have extremely powerful jaws capable of generating 1,500 psi pressure.
• The wolf’s sense of smell is more than 100 times greater than a human. Wolves possess upwards of two hundred million olfactory cells.
• In the winter, the wolf’s tail helps keep the face warm. A wolf’s tail hangs while the tail of the dog tends to be held high and is often curly.
• The wolf is generally a docile animal with a strong aversion to fighting.
• Wolves communicate with each other more by harmony and integration rather than by aggression and submission.
• Wolves have a vast communication repertoire including scent marks, vocalizations, visual displays, facial and body postures, and rituals. They are territorial and defend their territory through vocalizations and scent marking. The wolf also uses a facial display in ritual aggression, dominance, submission or fear.

• Wolves howl to greet one another, to indicate their location, to define their territorial boundaries, and to call the pack together. In addition to howling, wolves bark, yap, whine, and growl.
• The wolf is opportunistic and will attempt to catch the easiest and most vulnerable animal. The wolf can kill healthy animals but naturally seeks out the sick, the weak, crippled, old and young animals
• The wolf primarily travels at a 5 mile per hour trot. Wolves can trot at five to ten miles per hour almost indefinitely
• In chases, the wolf can achieve estimated speeds of between 28 and 40 miles per hour for up to 20 minutes.
• Wolves actually have a low hunting success rate. To catch enough food, wolves must hunt often and test many animals before finding one that they can catch and kill.
• A wolf can consume almost twenty pounds of prey at a feeding.
• Most packs contain less than eight members.
• Mating season for the wolf occurs in February and March and pups are born in April and May. The gestation period for the wolf is 63 days and the average litter size is 4 to 7 pups.
• Wolf pups, while low in hierarchy, have many privileges and social freedom. All members of a wolf pack take part in caring for the young. When pack members return from the hunt and they are nipped on the snout by the pups, the hunters regurgitate undigested meat for them.
• Wolves at one time had an extensive range, occurring throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Japan. The only substantial population of wolves left at present in the contiguous 48 states inhabits northern Minnesota.
  

-From www.wolfsongalaska.org

I Found a Cat(s). What Do I Do?

All of the following information came from Alley Cat Allies.

Stray and tame or feral and wild? This is the first and most important question if you find a cat outside (of course after you determine that he/she does not belong to someone in the neighborhood!). The steps you take next are determined by the answer.

A feral cat is a cat who has lived outside his whole life with little or no human contact and is not socialized. A stray cat was lost or abandoned and may have lived away from human contact long enough to revert to a wild state. Feral cats avoid human contact and cannot be touched by strangers.

To make the distinction, observe the cat’s appearance and behavior. A stray cat is likely to approach, although usually not close enough for you to touch him. If you put food down, a stray cat is likely to start eating right away. A stray cat is often vocal and may look disheveled, as is he is unaccustomed to dealing with conditions on the street. A stray may be seen at all hours of the day.

A feral cat is silent, will not approach humans, and generally will be seen only from dusk to dawn, unless extraordinarily hungry and foraging for food. A feral cat has adapted to conditions and is likely to be well groomed. If you put food down, the cat will wait until you move away from the area before approaching the food.

If you determine the cat(s) is a stray, register him online at http://www.pets911.com/ in the Found Pet section. You can also take the cats to a shelter, but be sure it is no-kill. Kittens up to about 8 weeks of age can usually be socialized and therefore also taken to a shelter/rescue.

If the cats are feral, animal control or a municipal shelter is the only agency that may come and get them, and the cats will almost certainly be killed. Even no-kill shelters find feral cats impossible to adopt out because they are wild. It is important NOT to call anyone out, but there is a solution.

Feral cats live in colonies and congregate near food sources. They can be managed with a nonlethal method called Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), in which cats are humanely/painlessly trapped, spayed or neutered, and returned to their colony site where volunteer caregivers provide them with food, water, and shelter. TNR is the only chance feral cats have of living safe, healthy lives without reproducing and maintaining and creating these colonies.

We often feel compelled to provide indoor homes for feral cats. We want to nurture and care for those we perceive in need. But it isn’t what’s best for feral cats. They have lived their entire lives without direct human contact. Their arsenal of survival instincts includes wariness of humans in general and a sharp fear of confinement. A key component of a feral cat’s security is his ability to flee from perceived danger.

Being forced into a house or other structure can be the most frightening experience possible. S/he may appear to acclimate, or at least may stop hissing and cringing, but s/he is never at ease and never stops looking for a way to escape. A feral cat’s home is where he has spent his entire life. Feral cats form strong bonds with one another and with their territory, bonds that define their daily existence. They may be warm indoors, but they are content outdoors.

The misperception is that feral cats live short, miserable lives. The truth is that the well-being of feral cats is most often compromised by behaviors associated with mating and giving birth to endless litters of kittens. Spaying/neutering significantly changes this. Males no longer fight and roam. Females no longer bear kittens. Feral cats in managed colonies frequently live 10 years and longer.

To begin implementing TNR, determine what cats you want to sterilize and line up the resources to do it. Alley Cat Allies has a list of feral cat and spay/neuter organizations at www.alleycat.org/orgs.html. They can assist you in the following steps.

1. Count how many cats are in the colony/colonies and start keeping records on the cats now. (See this fact sheet.)

2. Locate and learn how to use the equipment need to humanely trap. The most important equipment is one or more humane box traps. Ideally you have one trap for each cat, though this is not always feasible. Traps are available from a Feral Friend in the area who lends traps and assists in trapping. Some large TNR programs have established “trap depots” where you can borrow traps. You may be able to borrow traps from a humane society or animal facility, but if you do this, you could be required to return the trap AND the cat, who will mostly likely be killed. Always determine a humane society or animal facility’s policy before borrowing their traps!

3. Establish a relationship with a veterinarian or a clinic that will work with feral cats. This must be done before trapping begins. You can check for organizations in your area at www.allwycat.org/orgs.html. If you don’t see someone, start with your own vet, explaining what you hope to accomplish and the benefit to your community. After you find a vet, establish a protocol to ensure everyone involved understands what to expect and that you get all the services the cats need.

• With feral cats, appointments cannot always be kept. The clinic must be flexible.
• Find out how many cats the clinic can accommodate on a single day. This information will guide your trapping activity.
• Establish protocol ahead of time for euthanasia of very ill cats, aborting pregnant females, and testing for FIV/FELV. If a vet insists on procedures you do not want, refer him/her to information on feral cats at http://www.alleycat.org/.
• Each cat will require a spay/neuter procedure (under anesthesia that can be administered while the cat is in the trap) and ear tipping, and any other treatment as each cat requires.
• Figure out the costs so you can estimate a budget. Some vets will offer discounts and if they don’t, ask. If the cost is too great, as for financial help from neighbors and businesses where the colony resides.
• Arrange a warm, quiet environment in which the cats, in their traps, can recover from surgery. Your only involvement at that point will be to monitor their recovery and prepare to return them. Cats cannot regulate body temperature under anesthesia, so see that they do not get cold.

4. Ask friends, neighbors, or other cat advocates to help. Determine how you and others will care for the cats before and after surgery, and on an ongoing basis.

5. Review the Humane Trapping Instructions here.

6. Trap, neuter, and return the cats. They should be returned to their established colonies as relocation is difficult, time-consuming and problematic. It is not recommended except under extreme circumstances.

7. Provide cats with long-term care and feeding.

With the time and energy that goes into trying to socialize one adult feral cat, dozens of cats could be sterilized and dozens of friendly stray cats/kittens could be placed for adoption.For a plethora of resources and how-tos, click here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnJCYApTrww

Update!

Remember the pup with the gashed throat? Well, look at her now! Save-A-Pet took her into their program and reports:

Angel’s collar was so embedded that when it was finally removed, it almost looked like someone had sliced her throat in half. We immediately responded to the appeal for help and made a special trip to pick her up.

Despite all this abuse and all throughout her being handled, she has remained as sweet as can be with all people. She IS an angel in a fur coat. We are so touched by her resilience, her continued trust in people and her unconditional love for everyone that has cared for her…even though she must have been in excruciating pain that… really she is the one that is teaching us a lesson of love, hope and never giving up!

If you can help (information@save-a-pet-il.org), please contact us as soon as possible at the email addresses listed or by calling 847-740-7788, ext. 116 for fostering information and ext. 102 for helping her financially.

Wolfgang

From the pound: This is Wolfgang. He was dumped on busy US Hwy 34, and miraculously survived the traffic by heading for a school playground when he saw kids to play with. The administrators freaked out and took him to the shelter. The lady who dropped him off said she would “for sure” find him a home. But she did not. He is over his time. The kind lady at the shelter has not put him down yet, hoping for another miracle. I know big black dogs are tough to find homes for, but he is really mellow, and loving, and loves kids! Can anyone out there help this boy? He really loves life and deserves a third miracle!

Please email Anissa at Sadeghi@mchsi.com or westhancockk9@mcshi.com if you can help.

Wolve’s Future Tenuous - No Longer Protected

Please read this as it is important and interesting. But this also breaks my heart.

Wolves were taken off of the endangered species list and can now legally be killed. It’s been 26 days since wolves were stripped of federal protections in the Greater Yellowstone area — and at least 17 wolves have already been killed in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. And there are surely more to come. (Please also read the article that follows this.)

Defenders of Wildlife was integral in repopulating wolves after they were nearly extinguished in the early part of the 20th century. They report that “in February of 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to remove federal protections for wolves in Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, and portions of Washington, Oregon and Utah. Despite the fact there are no confirmed wolves in Washington, Oregon or Utah, and despite the fact that even before delisting, Wyoming wants the federal government to kill 16 of its 23 wolf packs and plans to allow wolves to be shot on sight in most of the state, including wolves just outside of Yellowstone National Park. Idaho’s plan would allow 61 of its 70 packs to be killed once federal protections are removed.”

And in Alaska, Wolves face aerial shootings. Defenders of Wildlife reports, “Since 2003, Alaska has engaged in a barbaric annual aerial wolf kill whereby wolves are tracked and gunned down by aircraft. Easy targets against the snow, hundreds of wolves have been shot from above or chased to exhaustion and then killed by aerial gunners who land and execute them at point-blank range. At least 773 wolves have been killed in this manner since 2003.”

Take Action Here.

Learn More Here.

Wolf’s death stirs fears for species’ fate

By Patty Henetz The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 04/08/2008

He might have led the famous Druid Peak wolf pack had he stuck around.

Instead, the wolf known as 253M left the safety of Yellowstone National Park and lit out for Utah, on the way becoming a darling of wolf-watchers around the world.

Nicknamed “Limpy” because his back legs were crippled in a fight when he was young, 253M was just shy of 8 years old - a wolf Methuselah - when he died March 28, shot in Wyoming on the first day wolves lost their protected status under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

Bad move, say wolf advocates

“He’s got to be the most famous wolf in the lower 48 states,” said Alan Sachanowski, a photographer who lives just north of Yellowstone in Pray, Mont. “If they wanted to make a martyr on the first weekend of delisting, I’d say they succeeded. Never before has any animal come off the endangered species list to face this kind of persecution.”

Fitted with a tracking collar and easily identified by his dark black coat and three-legged gait, 253M died along with another male and a female a couple of miles from an elk feeding ground near Daniel, in Sublette County, Wyo.

Wolf 253M, far right, takes up the rear with other members of the Druid pack in the Little America area of Yellowstone National Park. 253M was killed March 28. (Courtesy Kim Kaiser)

The person who shot the wolves reported the kill, as Wyoming law mandates. But the law doesn’t require the hunter to produce a carcass or identify himself, said Scott Werbelow, game warden coordinator for Wyoming Game & Fish in Pinedale.

“Whoever harvested the wolf with that collar had no idea of the history of that wolf,” Werbelow said.

It took three days for 253M’s identity to be confirmed and spread across the Internet. When Salt Lake City resident Marlene Foard heard the news last week, she wept. She wept again while explaining her love for the old wolf.

“We couldn’t have children, so I adopted wild things. He was my baby. I was devastated,” said Foard. “He died for nothing. If there was a reason to kill him, I could live with that. But there wasn’t.”Foard quickly called her friend and fellow Yellowstone wolf-watcher and Roy resident Karen Byington, who said, “I got sick to my stomach and started to cry.”

Last Tuesday, Kaysville resident Warren Ayala sent a protest e-mail to The Salt Lake Tribune. “I think they have no idea what they have done by killing this particular wolf,” he said.

In November 2002, a Utah coyote trapper caught 253M in the mountains north of Morgan, about 30 miles northeast of Salt Lake City. It was the first confirmed wolf discovery in Utah for more than 70 years.

So, even though federal Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Mike Jimenez drove from Wyoming, picked up the wolf and released it two days later in Grand Teton National Park, 253M henceforth was considered Utah’s wolf, at least in Utah.

Some speculated “Limpy” would eventually return here, where his mate may have still roamed. Instead he rejoined the Druid Peak pack in Yellowstone.

As an easily spotted member of the most visible wolf pack in the continental United States 253M quickly became a park favorite for his diligence in tending pups, hunting elk, defending the pack’s main den from bears and his trouble-free rambling, even in cattle country.

Limpy, Courtesy of Defenders of Wildlife

A few years ago, 253M dropped out of sight. No one had picked up a signal from his collar for more than a year when he was shot.

Idaho, Montana and Wyoming are preparing for fall trophy hunts in the small protected wolf area that remains around Yellowstone. Meanwhile, virtually all of the Cowboy State now is a unique free-fire predator zone where wolves may be killed for any reason. Most of the 30 or so Wyoming wolves that live outside protected areas roam Sublette County.
Several conservation organizations plan to file a lawsuit on April 28 against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over its delisting decision.

The lead attorney, Doug Honnold of Earthjustice in Bozeman, Mont., said “extraordinary circumstances” could warrant earlier court action. But that section of the Native Species Act hasn’t ever been tested, he said. Filing too early could be a setback that would mean holding up the lawsuit until after the fall trophy hunts.

“We’re trying to walk this thin line,” Honnold said. “It would be a real tragedy to see dozens or even hundreds of wolves killed in the fall.”

The Northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf recovery effort, supposedly a 20-year effort, started 13 years ago. The program has cost taxpayers $27 million; approximately 1,500 wolves were living in the area at the end of 2007. That’s $18,000 per wolf, Sachanowski reckons.

Eric Keszlar, of Wyoming Game & Fish, said plans for the trophy hunt, including how many permits they will issue, are firming up. Permits will cost $15 for Wyoming resident, $150 for nonresidents. That’s cheaper than other big game, he said.

Update on Thomas

From the rescuer:

Thomas just got out of surgery. He isn’t awake yet. I am putting this in my words…vet was too detailed for me!

He has a HUGE drain tube in. Has to remain in a crate with a grate so he can’t move around. The drain tube needs to remain in at least until Monday so he will remain hospitalized. The vet thinks his penis will be okay and that he will be able to urinate normally, but it will just take some time. He removed over a gallon of fluid - but he said that he was glad he waited a couple days before doing the surgery due to the swelling that went down some with the depo shots.

Hopefully he can get into a foster home by next weekend!