Inside This Issue:
- More Americans Opting for the (Miniature) Farm Life
- Dublin Mothers Model Breastfeeding for Zoo's Pregnant Bornean Orangutan
- Some Food Banks Also Help Pet Owners
- Rat Poison Is Traveling up the Food Chain
- Shelter Workers Fired for Looking up Applicants' Animal Abuse Convictions
More Americans Opting for the (Miniature) Farm Life
Hard to resist.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans have become more and more interested in keeping their own livestock. Not just for the eggs, but for the feelings of self-sufficiency, the lifestyle, and simply the experience itself. The vast majority of us, however, don’t have nearly enough acreage to properly – or legally – care for typical farm animals. And even if we are lucky enough to live on 20,000 square feet, the learning curve is pretty daunting. So for a lot of people, the solution to this problem has been to start small, with animals like miniature cows or goats.
Mini goats, in particular, have been a huge hit: 8,330 registrations this year compared to 4,800 in 2021, and aided by millions of views on various social media platforms, the profile of miniature farm animals is only going to grow.
It will be interesting to see where this trend takes us. Many early adopters have already called it quits due to factors like the price of care and feeding, difficulty in securing veterinary services, or simply discovering that reality doesn’t live up to the fantasy. But a lot of people have discovered that keeping livestock, even (or perhaps especially) miniature livestock is a joyful reward. How many will move on to larger animals and larger farms? How many will remain on the same path, or maybe scale back and keep their livestock as pets? Only time will tell, but in the meanwhile, it's pretty great how many lovely videos we're getting out of this.
Dublin Mothers Model Breastfeeding for Zoo's Pregnant Bornean Orangutan
Bornean orangutan and infant.
Lactation and nursing are acts that are mostly unique to mammals. Nursing is an especially vital aspect of maternal care in great apes and humans, providing essential nutrition, immunity, and bonding opportunities between mothers and their offspring. The closeness also helps the infant learn social skills, such as grooming and communication, by observing the mother.
Breastfeeding among great apes is primarily an instinctual behavior rather than one that is actively learned. However, certain aspects of the behavior can be influenced by observation and social interactions within a group. First-time ape mothers, like humans, can sometimes struggle with breastfeeding, especially if they haven't had much exposure to infants or if they lack support from experienced females. In some cases, if a first-time mother has not had the opportunity to observe others or learn through experience, she may face difficulties in positioning the infant correctly or maintaining adequate milk production. In captivity, the absence of role models or the presence of human caregivers who intervene early can disrupt the natural learning process.
Some captive apes might not successfully breastfeed if they haven’t observed it before, which leads human caregivers to step in. This is what happened with a mother orangutan named Mujur, at the Dublin Zoo. During Mujur’s pregnancy, new human mothers came into the zoo and breastfed their babies in front of Mujur to model the behavior. Zookeepers observed that she was keenly interested in the human mothers and even mimicked the behavior. After giving birth to a healthy male, Mujur did breastfeed him but could not position him correctly for him to nurse successfully. Sadly, as Mujur had already lost two babies due to lack of food, the difficult decision was made to separate the pair, giving the infant hands on, around the clock care. He will be raised by an experienced group of keepers that specialize in caring for orangutans. While the zoo’s efforts showed some promise, ultimately, Mujur’s struggles required intervention to ensure the infant’s survival. This failure highlights the challenge of replicating natural behaviors in captivity. However this also created avenues to pursue in the future, and it is wonderful that so many new mothers around Dublin Zoo eagerly came to the aid of another mom and her baby, despite the difference in species and there being no direct communication other than a display of behavior. This highlights just how strong the human-animal bond can be and how motherhood can unite us across different species.
Some Food Banks Also Help Pet Owners
Hungry cat.
Food banks are a crucial part of serving communities across the country, and an increasing number of people are relying on them. Pet owners and their pets are also feeling the pinch. In order to lessen the burden on shelters from owner surrenders or abandonment, some food banks have started providing pet food in addition to meals for those in need. The Southern Arizona Animal Food Bank is doing that for people and their animals in east Tucson. Not only does the center give and receive donations for pet food, they also display and sell art from local artists which provides extra income. Some lucky pups even get to pick out their own toys to take home along with dinner for the week. To find a food bank with pet food, check with area food banks, animal shelters, or local humane societies, which often have information on pet food distribution in your area. We all know food banks help people, but keep them in mind as a vital resource for pet owners, too — they can mean the difference between keeping a pet fed and together with its family or surrendered to a shelter.
Rat Poison Is Traveling up the Food Chain
Removing or securing sources of food is a great long-term tool for reducing rat populations. This is easier said than done.
A recent review of live and deceased wild mammal carnivores showed that one third of these animals were carrying rat poison in their systems. Further, rat poison was directly linked to the cause of death in one third of the deceased mammals.
That’s a disheartening finding, but not too surprising, as the process that spreads these poisons takes a predictable pattern. Someone puts out rat poison, a rat eats the poison and wanders off to die, a raccoon comes along and eats the rat, then a wolf eats the racoon. After this happens enough times, everybody’s feeling a little sick. It’s kind of like a real-life version of “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” – only everybody is dead from internal bleeding or secondary infections by the final verse.
Sickness and death in predator populations is a sad and crummy thing. But it is something we want to avoid for reasons that go beyond basic ethics or conservation ideals. There’s a practical and self-serving reason we want these animals to thrive: when predator populations are reduced due to poisoning, people inevitably respond by using even more poison to control their growing rat populations, which causes further harm to animals up the food chain. Talk about feeding a vicious cycle.
Nobody wants to inadvertently harm wild animal populations. But obviously, throwing up our hands and welcoming rats into our homes and businesses is not an acceptable option, either. Aside from the property damage and potential for jump-scares, rats pose a public health risk that really needs to be taken seriously. The author of this research feels that utilizing better and more varied rat control methods, coupled with community education and effort (e.g. cleanups and removing access to food and trash) can reduce the need for poison. She is almost certainly correct in this assessment, though it is possible changing human behavior – the biggest factor in attracting rodents – could make fighting the rat population seem more pleasant and less futile by comparison.
Shelter Workers Fired for Looking up Applicants' Animal Abuse Convictions
The screening policy recently abandoned by Indanopolis ACS was enacted in response to the torture and killing of a dog by its adopters.
Two Indianapolis Animal Care Services (ACS) workers were recently fired after searching online to see if potential adopters had previous animal cruelty charges. Charges within the state are easily accessible and publicly available, and until recently, the shelter’s policy was that potential adopters should be screened for convictions that have occurred within the previous three years. It is worth noting that searching criminal records became official policy after a dog was horrifically tortured and killed by its adopters.
The recent policy reversal occurred when ACS partnered with Best Friends Animal Society, and, as one of the fired employees stated, took on a philosophy that “Any home […] is better than being in the shelter.” PeTA, an organization better known for euthanizing animals than finding them homes, is having a field day with these firings, holding the story up as an example of everything that they consider wrong with the no-kill movement.
And the thing is, PeTA’s critiques, when repeated without the sensationalism or shameless self-promotion, really aren’t too far off from our own. We’d love to say that when animal rights organizations attack one another, we all win – wouldn’t it be nice if we could just plot a course between two extremes as “the truth” and our best path forward? Unfortunately, there are too many examples of no-kill in practice that demonstrate dangerously careless adoption practices, warehousing, and the short-sightedness of valuing this year's live-release numbers over long-term outcomes.
Ultimately, it only makes sense to want to know who is adopting animals from your rescue or shelter. Screening is a great tool that improves the odds of positive outcomes for animals, adopters and organizations. This is a goal that everybody should have. And yes, we know that there have been times when the screening process has gone too far. But nobody is suggesting we turn the clock back to the days when potential adopters felt like they had to provide a DNA swab and three character witnesses just for the privilege of speaking with certain private rescues.
We simply think that if a potential adopter is in the public record for something like animal cruelty or neglect, it is in everybody’s best interest – the animal, the adopter, the rescue or shelter, and the public – to be aware of this before an animal is adopted out. But that’s just a crazy idea, isn’t it? Oh, and before anyone says “But what about records for shelter animals themselves?” Yes: better records should be kept of shelter animals, and these records should be more accessible. If, for example, a dog has been returned to the shelter twice for dog aggression, you absolutely should be able to find out – and we’ll be covering that in its own post.
Also in the News...
★ Bedford Animal Shelter 'Clear the Shelters' Event Returns (Shelter & Rescue Opportunities)
★ ‘We are hemorrhaging:’ Woodland Park Zoo workers prepare to strike (Zoos, Animal Care Workers)
★ 10 dogs dead, 20 others neglected on Mississippi man’s property, deputies say (Animal Cruelty & Neglect; Investigation Ongoing)
★ SCRAPS Hosts "Spokane County SNIP" Free Spay-Neuter Clinic (Free/Low-Cost Spay-Neuter, Public Service)
★ How the World’s Oldest Humpback Whale Has Survived Is a Mystery (Marine Wildlife Research & Conservation)
★ Real groundhog found among stuffed animals inside claw machine in Pennsylvania (When the Prizes Are a Little too Real)
★ Chatty animals get 'interviewed' with a teeny tiny microphone, and boy is it entertaining (Goofy Lists & Videos; Lost in Translation)
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