Sept. 27/2017

Feature:
 Rare Tiger Born At National Zoo ‘Doing Great’

     “A rare Sumatran tiger has been born at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington...
     The zoo said it is not yet sure of the cub’s sex. ‘Keepers watched the birth via a closed-circuit camera & continue to closely monitor the cub, which appears to be nursing, moving, & behaving normally,’ the zoo said.
     ...birth was the second for the 8 year old mother, Damai, but the first via the zoo’s 13 year old male, Sparky.
     'This is such an exciting time for us, not only because we have a cub who appears to be doing great, but also because this animal’s genes are extremely valuable to the North American population,’ Craig Saffoe, curator of the Great Cats habitat said.”

The Washington Post
in The Gazette, Montreal
July 13/2017

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Weekly Chuckle

Sept. 20/2017

Feature:
 11 Outstanding Ways Animals Are Good for Our Health

    “In the United States alone, 65% of households own a pet...The vast majority of those pets are cats & dogs (163.6 million total; 85.8 & 77.8 million, respectively)... our 4-legged, feathered, & even finned friends... are good for our health—physical, mental, emotional, & spiritual...

1. Provide pain relief.
Therapy dogs have a positive effect on patients’ level of pain after procedures...

2. Increase physical activity.
Dog parents tend to get more exercise than people who don’t have a dog..

3. Improve cognitive function.
One population that has experienced good results with pet therapy is residents of nursing homes & assisted living facilities...pet therapy was shown to help preserve & enhance the function of residents with cognitive impairment.

4. Relieve stress & boost mood.
Cats, dogs, rabbits, birds, & even fish have been found to help relieve stress & enhance mood... a study from Indiana University Media School reported that people who viewed cat videos felt less sad, anxious, or annoyed & more positive after they watched the videos online than before they saw them.

5. Assist people with autism.
...pairing pets with individuals who have autism can significantly improve a number of factors, including socialization skills, eye contact, & positive affect...

6. Facilitate reading among kids.
...Experts have found that children who are having difficulty with reading...do much better when they pair up with a dog, who offers only unconditional love & patience while being told a story...

7. Improve children’s emotional development.
Among children who have no siblings, having a pet can help them develop greater self-esteem, improved empathy, & more participation in physical & social activities...

8. Benefit heart health.
A scientific statement from the American Heart Association... concluded that ‘there is a substantial body of data that suggests that pet ownership is associated with a reduction in CVD risk factors...& increased survival in individuals with established CVD.’...

9. Help detect illness.
Experts have been discovering more & more that certain dogs can be employed to detect or ‘sniff out’ diseases & conditions, including diabetes, epileptic seizures, & even some types of cancer...

10. Improve neuromuscular skills.
...Known as hippotherapy, horses are used to improve the coordination, posture, & strength in children & adults who have neuromuscular disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, & brain injuries.

11. Improve the lives of people with physical challenges.
...Technically there are 3 types of assistance dogs: guide dogs (for visually impaired & blind individuals), hearing dogs (for deaf & hard of hearing), & service dogs (for individuals with other disabilities). These extraordinary canines are paired with individuals who can then enjoy more freedom of movement, safety, & well-being.

Whether it’s a specially trained service dog, a beloved pet cat, an aquarium of fish, or a therapy horse, animals contribute to & support our health in both obvious & subtle ways...”

 Deborah Mitchell (Naturally Savvy)
Oct. 20/2016
care2.com

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Weekly Chuckle

Sept. 13/2017

Feature:
 Kitties Are Right Here, Right Now

     “...an online livestream of 4 kittens living in an oversized custom-made dollhouse.
     It’s a simple recipe for a show, but Keeping Up With the Katashians has taken Iceland by storm.
     Keeping Up With the Katashians follows 4 kittens- Guoni, Briet, Stubbur, & Ronja- as they sleep, play, sleep, eat, & sleep.
     It’s a real rags-to-riches story for the 4 kittens.
     They were found abandoned in a factory by a local animal shelter, which nursed them back to health & co-operated with Icelandic broadcaster Nutiminn to create the show & provide the stars.
     Though it’s only been out for a few weeks, it’s already become Nutiminn’s most popular web show.
     ‘There’s about 1,000 people watching at any given moment,’ Nutiminn editor Atli Fannar Bjarkason told Foreign Policy. ‘And we are getting more viewers by the day’...
     While it’s widely popular in Iceland, the show’s garnered a lot of international fans, too. Bjarkason said people from across the world post regularly on the show’s Facebook page about what the kittens are up to, which one is their favorite, & just what might happen next (probably sleep).
     The show’s title is, of course, an homage to Keeping Up With the Kardashians, a much less eventful & emotionally fulfilling show than one where kittens sleep for 8 hours on end...
 Guoni is the rebellious socialite, Briet the aloof dreamer, Ronja the gentle soul, while Stubbur is large & in charge...watch the livestream by visiting youtu.be/UBIc7P_Bnf8
     Bjarkasojn said the show’s purpose is to find the abandoned kittens permanent homes & raise awareness for stray animals...
     All 4 have been adopted & should be moving in with their new families by the end of this week. (Nutiminn created the show in co-operation with the Icelandic Cat Protection Society & Iceland’s animal welfare office to ensure the stars are well cared for.) 
     After they move, Nutiminn will find a new family of kittens for the second season until those stars find homes, & so on.
     ‘As long as there are stray cats out there, there will be new Katashians & the show will go on’...
     Bjarkason said his team was amazed by the show’s popularity. ‘People started laughing when they heard about the idea,’ he said. ‘They’re not laughing now.’”

Robbie Gramer
The Washington Post
in The Gazette, Montreal
Feb. 27/2017

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 Memorial
Snowball RIP (Sept. 17/1998)

Sept. 6/2017

Feature:

Blackbird Has Birders’ Hearts Aflutter

     “The red-winged blackbird is one of the most common birds in North America...
     But on the remote Scottish island of North Ronaldsay, the first-in-Europe appearance of a single red-winged blackbird has thrown British birdwatchers into a frantic race to throng north before it’s too late...
     British birders have chartered at least 4 airplane trips to the island, with as many as 12 other private aircraft making the journey purely for bird reasons.
     Other birders have simply dropped everything to embark on the epic(by British standards) 18-hour drive to the remote island, which lies as far north as Arctic Quebec...
     It is the first time a red-winged blackbird has ever been spotted in Europe, leading to speculation that it was either blown across the sea- or hitched a ride on a trans-Atlantic freighter...
     The island is now so packed with birdwatchers that the North Ronaldsay Bird Observatory has had to begin corralling the visitors into designation areas & then sending out a staff member to gently 'flush’ the blackbird towards them...”

Tristin Hopper
The Gazette, Montreal
May 3/2017

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Weekly Chuckle