Category: Animal House
Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, I get two laugh out loud animal stories in the free newspaper, the one subway riders get & bring to work.
Story one: even though police & firefighters are being laid off in the U S, the old Ladder 3 station near my former address closed down awhile back, I am just delighted to know the city of Boston has gotten an approval to receive pet oxygen masks from a company called Wellpet. Yes, human beings still die in fires, and laid off police & corrections officers are bagging groceries in my mom's part of Florida, but Boston is getting tiny pet oxygen masks. Aren't the shelters teeming with unwanted animals should pets die in these circumstances?
Story two: It is a great relief to know if I open my window to get some fresh air & a snake slithers in the MSPCA here has volunteers that will provide foster care for the snake, and within a month it may be placed for adoption. The snake I believe was a red boa. Don't boas asphyxiate? Well the lady in the story might have been asphyxiated, but at least the pest who slithered thru her window in Cambridge will be in foster care.
One of Pat Buchanan's articles some years back talked about how when a society places more emphasis on the treatment of animals then humans, that society is on the decline. His example was the predecessor of Nazi Germany, I believe the Weimar Republic, outlawing experimentation on dogs. A granddad I met at a party told me, when I asked which one was his grandchild, that his were 3 year old twins, & that the mom had practically been ordered to abort them as conjoined twins in Massachusetts. The poor lady had to drive to and stay on the Rhode Island side of the line to deliver the boys, who were separated, and except for one having asthma, seem to be like any other child I met there. This region is on a mammoth decline.
OK that stuff is really weird. I know the animal rights numbnuts can be way out ... we had a bunch of them on full-ride scholarships - your tax dollars and mine - at the university out here protest / block a business till that family-owned operation shut down, putting said family out of work.
But this? Wow that was bad, but man oh man! Can't say much for Buchanan, don't know about the animal rights / decline thing would need actual relational data (not two coinciding data points), but still You're absolutely right that's disgraceful.
And, FWIW, these people would still call upon law enforcement / fire departments should they be needed. Only said departments would have fewer resources, and we'd have more critters.
If the economy were better, I'd applaud the giving of pet oxygen masks. Yes, I am one of those animal rights people, though I don't go as far as not eating meat. But under current circumstances, even I must admit that the decision was unwise. If anything, the company, or pet insurance agencies, should give a discount to consumers to buy them as a safety precaution. The city of Boston shouldn't be buying them at this time when they're losing employees. As for the snakes, I'm not too sure on that one. I suppose it's okay to have them adopted out, but only if the people taking them really knew what they were doing and wouldn't let them escape where they could harm people. But for small nonpoisonous ones, I don't see a problem.
this is a fascinating topic. it's amazing that since I've gotten a guide dog, the animal rites nuts are after me. i have been called cruel and inhumane for having a guide dog and letting it work. the world is upside down for sure.
Uh, what? I think those people are on drugs! So long as you're not abusing your guide dog and so long as you give him/her food, water, shelter, love and attention and show him/her that you appreciate the work that he/she does, I don't see anything cruel about it. It's not like you're going out and playing in traffic.
Turricane, I don't know if you or anyone else on board is familiar with an institution in Sarasota, Florida that trains blind & other adults with disabilities how to work with their guide dogs. This academy even accepts students other academies reject, like students who are both deaf and blind.
One year, about 15 years ago, a woman in a mall got too close to a student learning in a large public environment how to work with his dog & he accidentally broke her toe. The woman & her husband sued the academy. The judge who was assigned this case was so angry about his court docket being occupied with something so frivolous that was largely the woman's fault he not only made them drop their suit but give a donation to the academy. Both the animal rights folks & the lawsuit happy are ruining things for others.
Way to go for that judge! I'm so happy that the academy and the poor student got something out of it. To be dragged into something like that, particularly when you're just learning the ropes and when it's clearly not your fault is horrible. I'm surprised that he wasn't traumatised.
i have never heard of that school. ery interesting
Yes it is on a decline.
I've had the same experience with Astra, as someone was under the impression guide dogs are kept in harnis all day. I also wrote a letter to PETA once regarding their mis-informed information about guide dogs such as the above.