Inside This Issue:
- Baby Boom at the Los Angeles Zoo
- Insights and Potential Solutions Revealed in Shelter Adoption Survey
- "Giggling" Hyenas and Other Misconceptions
- Bowfishers Removing Monster-Sized Invasive Koi from Lake
Baby Boom at the Los Angeles Zoo
The "cutest" stage of a California condor's development.
The Los Angeles Zoo is celebrating a baby boom this year after the hatching of a record-breaking 17 California condor chicks. The LA Zoo is part of a network of breeding and rehabilitation facilities that focus on the care and conservation of California condors. Their particular program was established in 1987 along with San Diego Zoo, starting with just 27 individuals removed from the wild. Release began in 1992, and since then over 300 birds have been released back into the wild. This year’s 17 chicks will be candidates for release into the wild under the California Condor Recovery Program.
This achievement surpasses the previous record of 15 chicks set in 1997. The success is attributed to new breeding and rearing techniques, where multiple chicks are raised by a single adult condor acting as a surrogate parent. The California Condor Recovery Program, run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, aims to save the species from extinction. Only a few decades ago, habitat loss and lead poisoning had this bird’s future teetering on the edge. But thanks to the tireless work of places like the LA Zoo, there are now about 560 California condors worldwide, with over 340 in the wild.
Insights and Potential Solutions Revealed in Shelter Adoption Survey
The perception of cats as "low maintenance" gives them a paw up in the adoption market.
Hill's 2024 State of Shelter Pet Adoption Report just came out, and with it, numbers that paint a clearer picture of the rescue situation, as well as insights that may help keep pets in people’s homes.
The survey respondents were a diverse cross-section of 2,500 Americans. Many of their answers weren’t all that surprising. For example, about two-thirds of respondents said they were “likely to adopt” from a shelter or rescue in the future. This, frankly, sounds exactly like what you’d expect from two thirds of the general population right now. So this only reinforces a perception or perhaps reassures us that folks still, indeed, want to adopt. When it comes to the concerns of adopters, and especially the degree to which certain concerns are in the forefront of people’s minds, this survey becomes really fascinating to us.
For many people making under $75,000 per year, the costs of owning a pet are simply too high to handle right now. Veterinary care constitutes the biggest hit, but anybody who owns pets knows this is hardly the only cost. Further, for respondents who make under $50,000 per year, simply being able to keep their pets in housing becomes a significant problem. 56% of respondents making less than $50,000 per year experienced at least one type of pet restriction in their housing (pet size, breed, species, etc.). This goes back to the degree this issue is affecting people. Everybody knows that the less you have to spend, the harder it is to keep your pets, but this survey does a good job of bringing home just how difficult things are becoming for a lot of people.
Two other notes of interest: Gen Zers are significantly more likely to adopt a larger dog than older generations, and cat adoptions are seeing a resurgence in popularity. As you may have guessed, the cat’s biggest selling point is a belief that it is “low maintenance,” which is great for cat adoptions, though it may also speak to adopters' overarching pocketbook and housing anxieties.
Finally, there are some “points of opportunity.” For one, while fostering pets is viewed in a favorable light, there is a lack of awareness regarding the availability of foster programs, the requirements of fostering, as well as the various means of support shelters can offer to foster families. There was also an extremely promising number: a whopping 94% of respondents who were considering relinquishing their pet ended up keeping their pet after receiving post-adoption support. This is an auspicious number, and really speaks to the vital importance of support services – and awareness of such services – for pet owners who are struggling. Being able to keep pets in loving homes and out of shelters in the first place is a huge win for everybody!
"Giggling" Hyenas and Other Misconceptions
You think somethin's funny?
This lighthearted Mental Floss listicle covering our numerous misconceptions about animals is a fun read that may prove useful during your next round of pub trivia.
It is interesting how our false beliefs flow from so many different sources. Sometimes, our misconceptions are due to anthropomorphizing animals, which leads us to misinterpret their behavior. For example, the “giggling” of a hyena doesn’t express mirth, but rather fear and frustration. Other times, a highly publicized tragedy may shape our misconceptions. If Steve Irwin of all people can be killed by a stingray, it follows that these fish must be particularly deadly, right? No, not so much. Stepping on a stingray might score you a painful wound, but the odds of a fatal injury are incredibly low.
In some cases, setting the record straight simply provides a little clarity – things like cows having one stomach with four chambers, rather than four discreet stomachs. In other cases, it’s due to so-called “experts” and popular media being loose with the facts – or simply making stuff up. For example, those lemmings that were seen committing suicide by jumping into the ocean in Disney’s White Wilderness “documentary” were actually tossed into a river by the film crew. Yikes! Never let the facts get in the way of a good story, right?
Along with being fun and making us feel a little more clever, having so many records corrected in one place is also slyly enlightening: you only have to peruse a few entries before realizing just how (if you’ll pardon the pun) evolutionary the process of understanding animals truly is. So many of these misconceptions have been accepted as fact within our own lifetimes, and many will no doubt persist beyond this corrective listicle. It really makes you wonder how silly some of today’s animal experts might look in a century – assuming the cephalopods haven’t taken over by then.
Bowfishers Removing "Monstrous" Invasive Koi from Lake
This week on Lake Monsters: somebody's former pet?
Michigan’s Glen Lake has been invaded by monsters: invasive, monstrously large Japanese koi. First reported over a half decade ago, they began photobombing drone footage last year – ironically, in footage that was intended to catch images of a completely different invasive species. Unfortunately for the koi, their appearance meant a call to a local sportsman club, which responded by sending its bowfishers just in time for spawning season. Four koi were caught: the largest a bowfishing world-record of 24.5 pounds, while three of the four were chock full of eggs. The bowfishers will return for at least the next two years in order to ensure that the fish do not become a problem.
We talk about the way invasive species can drastically change and even devastate ecosystems all the time, so we don’t need to belabor that point. What is most disappointing here is that this most likely isn’t an accident: these fish were almost certainly pets that were deliberately placed in the lake by their owners. The owners may have felt they couldn’t care for the fish anymore, and that this was the most humane way to part ways. But even if this was done out of a genuine desire to be humane, it violates one of the prime tenets of responsible pet ownership: don’t let your pet become other people’s problems! As unfortunate as it is, there are times when surrendering a pet is the least bad option available. But when this is the case, it is vitally important – for pets, for the community, and perhaps even the local ecosystem – to surrender the pet responsibly and through the proper channels. Glen Lake is lucky to have bowfishers who are so willing and able to come to the rescue – or “go to war,” as one of them put it – but the goal should be to keep “wars” like this from breaking out in the first place.
Also in the News...
★ Update: Harrison County Animal Control says it will not have to euthanize (Shelter & Rescue; Over Capacity & Public Pleas)
★ Scientists want to put endangered animals on the Moon (Wildlife Conservation & Free Refrigeration; Yes, the Moon)
★ Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota sees record number of baby animals (Stress and Success in Wildlife Rehabilitation)
★ Bengaluru's stray dog menace: Activists advocate stricter laws (Stray Dog Problems & Policies)
★ This adorable frog could change everything we know about animal empathy (Neuroethology; Stress Hormones and Other Empathy Markers)
★ Animal life on Earth may be 1.5B years older than we thought: new research (Primordial Paleontology; The Clock Keeps Going Backward)
★ The Most Trafficked Animals (Contemptible Lists; Unhappy Pangolin Surprise)
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