June 26/2019

Feature:
Habs franchise becomes foster family to Mira puppy
     “The Canadiens are getting a new puppy.

   The club announced…that it is teaming with the Mira Foundation to become the foster family to a Saint-Pierre Labernese puppy for 1 year. The Canadiens will be responsible for socializing the puppy under Mira’s guidelines to become a future guide dog or service dog. Since its creation in 1981, Mira has provided more than 3,000 people with guide & service dogs to help with their disabilities.

     For the next year, the Canadiens’ puppy will undergo basic obedience training, as well as social & environmental stimulation. The puppy will be allowed in the team offices & will also be at the Bell Centre during games. The puppy will live with a Canadiens front-office employee for the next year. After that, the puppy will be returned to Mira for evaluation to decide which program will be a best fit…

     The Canadiens are following the lead of the St. Louis Blues, who this season partnered with Duo- a non-profit organization that specializes in training service- to adopt a yellow Labrador retriever puppy for the season. Once that dog has completed his 18-month training & qualifies for certification, Duo will find his best fit as a service dog…

     ‘Everyone in the organization is happy & excited to participate in this initiative,’ Genevieve Paquette, vice-president of community engagement for the Canadiens, said in a news release. ‘This is an extraordinary opportunity said Nicolas St.-Pierre, general manager of the Mira Foundation: ‘We consider it a privilege to count on the support of the Montreal Canadiens organization & are thrilled to witness the great enthusiasm generated by this team project.’”

Stu Cowan
The Gazette, Montreal
Nov. 22/2018

Cute Critter Pic

Weekly Chuckle

June 19/2019

Feature:
5 Weird Things Cats Love

“…Cats may be mysterious creatures, but there’s usually a reason behind their behaviors or an explanation for their interests…

Drinking From Your Water Cup or the Faucet Instead of Their Fountain

…Your cat may not realize that your glass of water is your glass of water. He just may find it convenient that there is a vessel that contains water when he is thirsty, so he drinks from it.

Another perspective may be that your cat watches you drink, & she wants to drink what you are drinking. If it is good enough for you, it is good enough for her.

Some cats may prefer to drink from the faucet when you are busy washing dishes or brushing your teeth due to their fascination by water that suddenly appears.

Or, your cat may just have a taste preference for running water compared to water that has been sitting in a cat bowl all day, which leads to bacteria formation. Plus, food particles may fall in & change the taste of the water.

This is the reason why your cat’s water bowl should be changed several times a day & washed with soap & water at least daily.

Pushing Things Off Tables & Watching Them Break

…every time your cat pushes an item until it drops, it reacts in a different manner. It may just be fun for him to watch the items bounce around in different directions each time they fall or watch them shatter to multiple pieces.

Getting Into Boxes & Jumping Out of Them

Why are some cats obsessed with boxes? They are creatures of comfort, & sometimes being in a box with side support is comfortable. Other times, being in a box makes some cats feel safe & secure, like they are protected from all sides…

Stalking Inanimate Electrical Cords

…A reason may be that he might have learned that playing with the cord was a good way of getting my attention. Playing with the cord may also be fun because it moves in different & unexpected ways, which piques his interest…

Having Their Butt Scratched

Have you ever had a cat walk up to you, turn around, & present their tail end? The area just above the tail that we would call the ‘butt’ is an area that a cat cannot use its paws to scratch, & sometimes using your tongue to scratch does not do the trick.

Some cats have learned to back up against a dangling hand if they want a good scratch. Cats might indicate their enjoyment by purring, twitching their tails, raising their butts, & sometimes arching up against your hand or foot…”

Dr. Wailani Sung

Petmd.com

Jan. 14/2019

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Weekly Chuckle

June 12/2019

Feature:

Real Polar Bear Makes Appearance at Polar Bear Dip

“The annual Newfoundland iceberg festival welcomed a special visitor…After people

donned costumes for the polar bear dip…in the community or Raleigh, a real polar bear

came ashore that evening in nearby St. Lunaire- Gritquet on Newfoundland’s Great

Nothern Peninsula. Thresa Burden, who lives in town, said that the healthy- looking bear

Wandered curiously near some sheds along the shoreline. ‘It was creating quite the

attraction, I must say,’ said Burden, a tourism & development officer with the town of St.

Anthony. Burden said the young bear was then seen swimming towards an opening to the

Atlantic Ocean & has not been spotted again. ‘Polar bears arrive here every year,’ said

Burden. ‘But to see a bear in June is not common.’”

The Canadian Press

In The Montreal Gazette

June 12/2018

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Weekly Chuckle

June 5/2019

Feature:

A Little Help For Turtles Crossing Our Roadways

   “June is a dangerous month for turtles.

   It’s then that the females hit the road- figuratively & literally. They leave the relative safety of their wetlands habitats, including rivers, lakes, & ponds, to search out a spot to lay their eggs. You might see them on sand or gravel road shoulders- & that’s a behavior that puts them at risk for being struck by passing vehicles, said Caroline Gagne, a biologist with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC).

   Quebec has 8 native species of turtle: The Blanding turtle, map turtle, musk turtle, painted turtle, snapping turtle, spiny softshell turtle, & wood turtle. To help reduce their mortality rate on the roads, the NCC developed a website for reporting turtle sightings, carapace.ca.

   In 2017, the project’s first year, 500 people reported 856 turtles belonging to 5 native species as well as a couple of exotic species…Nearly half were in the Monteregie & Outaouais regions, said Gagne, the Carapace project’s co-ordinator, with the Laurentians & Eastern Townships next in line…

   The website asks anyone who spots turtles to photograph them & note their location on a short form.

   …A platform such as carapace.ca encourages citizen science; it makes it possible, she explained, to cover a large territory without specialists or material.

   The site also describes how to help a turtle spotted on a road by guiding it to safety: it’s important not to change the direction in which the turtle is facing, Gagne explained. If the turtle is big or seems aggressive-…then it’s best to urge the turtle into a pail or onto a car mat that is then dragged across the road she said…

   Turtles take a long time to reproduce, with some species mating only after 25 years. The number of eggs laid varies from one species to another, from a handful to a couple dozen…

   The NCC, a not-for-profit private land conservation organization, works to protect

natural areas & the species they sustain. Since 1962, the NCC & its partners have helped

protect more than 1.1 million hectares (2.8 million acres) across Canada, including

45,000 hectares (111,197 acres) in Quebec.”

Susan Schwartz

The Montreal Gazette

June 2/2018

Cute Critter Pic

Weekly Chuckle

May 28/2019

Feature:

Ravenmaster Keeps the Legend Alive

   “The legend dates to the reign of Charles II, the revered king whose governance of England, was marred, in the 1660s, by consecutive catastrophes that devastated London: a plague epidemic & a city wide fire…Charles issued a decree to the caretakers at the Tower of London, ordering them to keep 6 ravens on the premises at all times. If any were to depart, he warned, the kingdom would fall.

   No historical evidence supports this tale, but it makes for a good yarn, which is why Christopher Skaife, the British military veteran who supervises the ravens today, is prone to recounting it to some of the millions of visitors his workplace attracts annually. Besides, the fictional decree is still being heeded: 6 ravens, at minimum, continue to live there permanently.

   For his part, Skaife thinks the birds’ perpetual residence is a product of the Victorian era, when guardians began to escort members of the public inside to the scaffold where 3 Queens of England- Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, & Lady Jane Grey- were executed in the 16^th century…

        Skaife has been the Tower’s chief raven overseer- the ravenmaster- for 7 years…He & his wife live within the Tower’s walls near a fox-proofed, stainless steel enclosure that houses the ravens at night. On a typical day, Skaife rises before dawn to fill the ravens’ water bowls, clean the enclosure, feed the ravens chicken, lamb, & pig hearts, release them for the day & keep an eye on each of them as they mill about the grounds.

   …The 7 currently in his charge are named Erin, Gripp II, Harris, Jubilee II, Merlina, Munin, & Rocky.

Q. What do you think is the most remarkable quality ravens have?

A. They have empathy & sadness & anger & pain & frustration & excitement…

   For me, it was looking at how their characteristics & their personalities actually shone through. That’s what I love about them.

Q. How do the ravens at the Tower interact with each other?

A. Ravens in the wild work in pairs. They like to command a lot of ground. They’re very territorial. Each pair of ravens will go & hang around their own territories throughout the day…

 

Q. How do you capture a raven that escapes from the Tower?

A. I don’t always. We’ve had ravens in the past, before my time, that have escaped & have never been caught. We had one occasion where Munin was actually captured by a member of the public. We managed to go & retrieve her.

   …We don’t have any wild ravens in & around the east of England & the London area. If somebody knows their birds, they’ll know that’s a raven. I can only hope, if they do fly off, that they come back…

Q. What relationship do the ravens have with visitors to the Tower?

A. I would never suggest anybody get too close to the     ravens, because they do bite. They generally have a good rapport with the public…

Q. How powerful is a raven’s bite?

A. They can crush bone…In the wild, they eat fish, rodents, mice, & small birds. It’s extremely painful when you get a full bite from the raven. If I get a full bite, it takes all my strength…to pry the beak apart if I have to…

Q. You write about your relationship with the raven Merlina, who likes you but not very many other people. How did you endear yourself to her?

A.….I spend so much time with them that she got used to me. She does have relationships with a couple of my assistants, as well, so they can go & stroke her. Ravens recognize faces for life, for good & bad reasons. They never forget. They recognize who is good to them & who is not. She protects me quite a lot.

Q. What can humans learn from the raven?

A. An awful lot. Humans have a lot to learn from animals, not just ravens. We should be able to live & work with them in a much better way that we do…

   I see myself as an educator. I have a platform to try to educate the people who come to the Tower about how beautiful ravens are, how intelligent they are, what they do in the wild, why we shouldn’t persecute them…”

Nick Faris

National Post

The Gazette, Montreal

Oct. 1/2018 

Cute Critter Pic

Weekly Chuckle

May 22/2019

Feature:

Fish Pass Mirror Test, But Does It Mean They’re Self-Aware?

     “NEW YORK- Scientists report that a fish can pass a standard test of recognizing itself in a mirror- & they raise a question about what that means…

     Since the mirror test was introduced in 1970, scientists have found that relatively few animals can pass it. Most humans can by age 18 to 24 months, & so can chimps & orangutans, says the test’s inventor, evolutionary psychologist Gordon Gallup Jr. of Albany College in New York.

     Passing the test suggests the animal can ‘become the object of its own attention,’ & if it does, it should be able to use its own experience to infer what others know, want or intend to do, said Gallup, who did not participate in the fish study.

     The new paper…by PLOS Biology subjected up to 10 fish to various parts of the test.

     When 4 fish were injected with a tag that left a visible brown mark under their throats, 3 scraped that part of their bodies against a rock or the sandy bottom of the tank,  as if trying to remove it.

     In all, the researchers concluded that the fish had passed the test…”

The Associated Press

In The Gazette, Montreal

Feb. 8/2019

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Weekly Chuckle

May 15/2019

Feature:

Creature Comforts of Home

     “Looking to show the critters in your home a little love? Pets So Good, a start-up based in New York City, has released its first collection of elegant accessories for dogs & cats.

   And, taking a cue from the booming pet industry in South Korea, they’re all designed & produced by creative firms in the Asian nation.

   ‘We’ve always been passionate about the pet household & thoughtfully integrating it with the spirit of creative, easy design- without sacrificing quality. That’s why all the products we carry are imported from South Korea- a creative mecca we call our second home,’ said Sally Choi, a partner of Pets So Good.

   The Castella dog bed (US $160), for example, is suspended on a wire frame. Meanwhile, the Deauville doghouse (US $400) has an asymmetrical roof.”

Melissa Hank

The Gazette, Montreal

Jan. 5/2019

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Weekly Chuckle: