Week 22 Wild About Wildlife (Australia)

Poor Johnny Depp is having a weekus horribilis.  In a week of significant personal turmoil, a tomato he threw also came back to pulp him.  Barnaby Joyce had a surprisingly insightful response to his schoolyard insult:

“I’m inside his head, I’m pulling little strings and pulling little levers,” Joyce said in response to Depp’s comments that he “looks somehow inbred with a tomato”.

“Long after I’ve forgotten about Mr Depp, he’s remembering me.

“I’m turning into his Hannibal Lecter.”

Barnaby Joyce, who is Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture is not far off the mark when he compares himself to a sadistic serial killer.  He believes increasing live export is a sign of progress, and shows absolutely no compassion towards the animals covered by his portfolio.

So what hope is there for our native wildlife-seemingly the ‘farmers’ enemy number one’ when we have the ‘farmers’ best mate’  pulling big and little strings?

Some small hope – it is an election year…so please urgently make your voice heard with your local candidates via this RSPCA petition – it will open in a new tab, so click on it NOW!

 

RSPCA Election 2016 petition

 

 

RSPCA Election 2016 petition

 

Fortunately there are people with both brave and kind hearts out there, sadly they generally aren’t attracted to a political career.

Lisa from Wild about Wildlife is one such person.  She’s no slouch on the good come back either, as I just saw on her Facebook page- this started with a pea brain describing a roo that survived being hit by a car as a ‘lucky one’:

 

Fuckin human,s!!!

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Wild About Wildlife

Just like the wonderful family who started Rudozem Dog Shelter in Bulgaria (Week 21),  and Pam Ahern from Edgar’s Mission (Week 14 ), Lisa didn’t set out to become a wildlife carer, it happened organically and has grown into a full time commitment for her from there.

She is a wealth of knowledge which she is more than happy to share with anybody who will take the time to listen and learn.

Some tips if you see injured wildlife:

Even injured  animals can move fast, running on adrenaline and fear – try not to scare an animal away from where it can be accessed by a rescuer for assessment.

If  you need to approach, move quietly and slowly towards it, keeping your eyes down.  Approaching in a car or in a squatting ‘frog walk’ can help lessen the animal’s fear.

If you can’t wait by the animals, know and provide exact and very clear location details – GPS, picture, distance in metres from landmarks all help – animals are designed to blend into the environment.

If you can wait around for the rescuer – great!  Please don’t be offended if they are short on chatter and are focussed on the task.  Every rescue presents new challenges and unknowns for rescuers, who, don’t forget are volunteers.  Do comply with their directions. And don’t be upset with them if they consider euthanasia to be the kindest option.

If you can approach the animal without it running away, think of body temperature – if the weather is really hot, shade it and try and keep it cool.  If it is really cold, cover it to keep it warm.

Keep rescue numbers in your phone Rescue numbers-throughout australia

SLOW DOWN, scan the road and roadside ahead when in the country, and don’t install barbed wire or ringlock fencing if you own property.

Finally, please Donate!!! 🙂

 

Donations to Wild about Wildlife

 

WAW just had a story featured on U.S. animal news website The Dodo. 

Kangaroo Loves Helping Mom Feed His New Baby Brother

 

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Sorry, Australian government, I have to agree with Johnny on one thing, stop wasting taxpayers money on follies like chasing two millionaires around the world, and then fining them a pathetic $1000. Start spending some money on helping our land’s beleaguered original inhabitants.

If you don’t, and I ever meet a magic genie, I will wish for you all be made to sit through every ‘quirky’ Johnny Depp fillum ever made…

 

…a more cruel and unsual punishment than even Hannibal could come up with…

 

 

…but not quite as cruel as Barnaby.*

 

 

RSPCA Election 2016 petition

* to give BJ some credit, he was very considered in his response to the news of JD’s announced divorce.  There is a heart in there!

Week 21 Rudozem Street Dog Rescue (Bulgaria)

Below is a summary of what I knew about Bulgaria last week:

1. It is somewhere in Europe and the capital is Sofia.
2. There is a womble named after it.

I know a bit more this week:

1. It has a population of 7.4 million people and the world’s oldest known golden treasure was dicovered there. (In the Varna Necropolis in 1972, the items date back to over 4000 years B.C.E)
2. All the wombles are actually named after places, but Great Uncle Bulgaria came first…

The Wombles of Wimbledon all choose their own names out of Great Uncle Bulgaria’s atlas. Some of them spend a long time looking for a name that suits them, while others just close their eyes and point, and hope for the best!

The Wombles’ names

  

and 

3. There are some very kind hearted people running a dog shelter who, 2 years ago this month, rescued a dog in a horrible state of mange and malnutrition.  They called her Khaleesi after the warrior queen from Game of Thrones.

I thank the animal news website The Dodo  for sharing this story, and so many others.

Khaleesi’s story

Story: On the morning of the 12th May(2014), Tony noticed that someone had posted on the RSDR fan page asking if we could help a dog in another town. The dog was in a terrible state being extremely thin and with severe demodex. There was a link to a news article showing pictures of her and they were asking if someone could catch her and put her to sleep as people were worried that she was diseased.

We know the abuse that even a healthy looking street dog will suffer, getting kicked, chased off and having things thrown at them, so we could imagine what might be happening to this poor dog.  We set off on the 70 km journey only knowing a rough area where she might be.  Two hours later we arrived in the area where the dog was. I suddenly spotted her on the other side of a roundabout and set off towards her whilst Tony was shouting at me because I was oblivious to the traffic. LOL.

Tony called the dog and she came straight over to him. She was cowering as she approached but she was just so desperate for contact. She has to be one of the saddest cases we have seen. She was so thin and had no hair. She was covered in fleas and tick, her ear was torn and her skin was so sore. It also appeared as if a front leg had been broken and healed badly. Tony just picked her up and carried her to the car. If it wasn’t for the fact that we were in a busy town with so many people watching, I think I would have broken down and cried. The poor girl had suffered so much and yet was still so loving and trusting.

On the way home we were thinking of a name for her. We wanted a name that meant something but every name that came to mind, we had already had. We were then thinking of strong female figures because we knew that if she was to make it she had to be strong. I decided to call her Khaleesi after the character from “Game of Thrones”.

We arrived home with her at six that evening. There is no room at the shelter and we wanted to be able to keep checking on her through the night so we took her to the house and put her in the kitchen.

She was given pain meds and antibiotics, wormed, bathed and had a treatment for demodex, ticks and fleas. A lot of the dead skin came off during her bath. Over the next few days it should all come off and then with the treatment she is getting, her hair will start to grow back. She then settled peacefully on her blanket and slept. She was quiet and slept all night.

Khaleesi has a good appetite and despite her abuse and neglect and the discomfort she is in, she is so happy to be around people and manages to wag her tail. She seems to have a deformity in both front legs which could be congenital or through malnutrition so she has extra meds for this. Once she is a bit stronger and in less discomfort from her skin, she will have her front legs x rayed and also full blood works done.

She truly is a beautiful girl. She lets us know when she needs the toilet by standing at the door. After she has done her business outside, she quite happily goes back to the kitchen and her bed.

Under the care of these wonderful people, this gorgeous girl was transformed.

Great Uncle Bulgaria would be proud. 

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He would be very upset by the less kind people who hurt animals though.

Rudozem Street Dog Rescue

Bulgaria has many street dogs who are often subjected to the most horrendous cruelty. They are kicked, beaten and shot on a regular basis for no other reason than that it provides certain individuals with amusement.  Many of these dogs are injured, in pain, or starving and in the winter there is a high chance that they will freeze to death.  The

Since moving to Bulgaria in 2007, we have rescued many of these dogs.  We sometimes have as many as 200 dogs and cats at the RSDR shelter.

We have adoption teams in other countries and whenever possible, we find loving homes for our dogs. Some have suffered so much abuse that they are unsuitable for adoption and stay with us as permanent residents. Apart from the dogs that we do take in, we try and keep a check on others that are still on the streets or living in the forests, making sure that they are fed and if possible treated for parasites.

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Normal people can achieve extraordinary things…

In August 2007, the Rowles family – Diane and Tony Rowles and their 4 children, 4 dogs and 2 cats decided to make the move to Bulgaria to have a more peaceful life from the busy lifestyle in the UK.  The Rowles bought a family property in the outskirts of Rudozem.

After living in Bulgaria for a few months, the family saw the plight of the street dogs and started feeding and caring for them.  They were shocked by the locals reactions and abuse towards the street dogs. They would see dogs being kicked and spat on, having stones thrown at them and some of the dogs that fed and cared for would be deliberately killed.  They continued to feed the dogs on the streets when they could out of their own money.

In September 2007, their youngest son Luke, befriended a street dog named Ranger, and the dog started following him.  Ranger became the family’s first rescue dog when a man was trying to shoot him.
In following months other  street dogs went home to the Rowles family.

With the continuing number of street dogs needing to be fed on the streets, it was getting harder not to do something, so Rudozem Street Dog Rescue was formed in 2008 and  charity status was applied for.

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What can you do today, to make the world kinder?

 

 

Week 20 Oscar’s Law (Australia)

 

 

Last week was Mother’s Day and I would like to thank my mum for being such a good mum …most of the time!

 

 

She didn’t laugh at me when I said I wanted to be a truck driver or a mechanic, despite my complete lack of talent for either!

She tried to get us eating less meat back in the days when I was still fixated on steak and bacon pies..none of that steak and mushroom business for me, it was meat on meat or nothing!  My sister and I called tofu ‘toad spew’.  Then one day I came home and said I wanted to go vego, mum calmly asked my sister if she agreed (she did) and from that day forward it was bye bye steakon pie for all of us, and hello to mum’s amazing vego cooking.  Thanks to my sister too for her part in this.

Mum is active in trying to make the world a better place…her focus is much broader than just the small world of self, family and friends… She writes letters, volunteers, consumes ethically…and isn’t afraid to tell it like it is!

Thank you mum, for inspiring and encouraging me to be better!

(I would also like to thank my mum-in-law for raising such a wonderful son and for all the kindness and care you show us and others.  We are extremely lucky to have you!)

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Some mums who never get any love or appreciation are those poor dogs suffering in puppy factories.

Here is a link to Animals Australia’s new radio ad and older tv ad, which ask people to remember the parents behind the puppies.

Know your best friend

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Oscar’s Law

Oscar’s Law is a not-for-profit volunteer organisation, dedicated to abolishing puppy factories in Australia. Our mission is threefold:

 

• Abolish the factory farming of companion animals.

Factory farmed dogs get no veterinary intervention when they need respite from their pain and suffering. They live in filth, sometimes without adequate food or water. Their coats are often matted with faeces and stained with urine. Ear infections and ear mite infestations are common as is painful dental and gum disease.

Many dogs slowly go insane. They spin in circles or pace back and forth in their cells, some never see daylight, and the outside world is a foreign place to them.

Once the breeding dogs are no longer profitable, and after years of confinement and continual pregnancy they are taken out of their cages, pens and sheds and they are killed.

• Ban the sale of companion animals from pets shops/online trading sites.

Pet shops actively encourage impulsive behaviour in customers- but a pet is for life, through sickness and health.  Quite often, sickness.

Pet shops and the factory farmers cut corners at every step of the way to maximise their profits, as a result, the animals and customers suffer.Consumer Affairs receives hundreds of complaints annually from consumers who have been knowingly sold sick animals and have incurred large vet bills.

• Promote adoption through rescue groups/pounds/shelters.

Every day in Australia a dog is killed every 4 minutes in Council run pounds.

 

One more thing, please don’t choose a cute but physically disadvantaged breed such as a pug, just to boost your own ego…think about the animal’s comfort too.  If that isn’t enough to convince you, think about the vet bills…

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2705030/Fashion-accessories-cost-thousands-vet-How-breeding-cute-pugs-bulldogs-leaving-species-struggling-crippling-health-problems.html

 

Week 19 Compassion in World Farming (UK/International)

This week stares ‘I‘ in the eye.

Understandably each one of us is the centre of our own universe…so much so that in the English language we have elevated ourselves right up there alongside God by capitalising the pronoun that refers to ourselves!  Even ‘you’ and ‘they’ don’t get the same honourific treatment that ‘I‘ do!

I’m suddenly feeling mighty important, so big I command little you to read on!

 

 

 

Last week was Anzac Day and many people faced the pre dawn cold to commemorate* our service people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also last week, there was a 35 kilometre offal spill along the Northern Highway in Victoria.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While coverage of one event honoured the fallen in intimate detail, the response to the other was to sweep it off the road and under the carpet as quickly as possible and pretend the fallen had never existed.

If we are to grow as a compassionate society, we need to acknowledge this insensitivity.

I wrote a letter to the editor of The North Central Review.

I can understand why a resident expressed her relief at the recent 35km offal spill being cleaned up in time ‘so children were not confronted by this grisly scene on the way to school’.

From another perspective however, maybe it would have been beneficial for kids to see some of the reality behind meat, rather than just the sanitised, packaged myth we are all sold.

According to a UN report  ‘Animal industries are one of the most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global’ . Let alone the suffering of the individual animals who are the innocent victims in a race for profit above all other considerations.

With a better understanding of the fact that meat once belonged to a living creature, grisly bits and all, people might be inclined to consume more mindfully.

Unfortunately it wasn’t published, this was:

(What I reall want to know is how did they manage to make sausages with all that offal going missing anyway?!)

But seriously, somewhere along the way as we mourn human loss or our own discomforts, we seem to have forgotten about all the others also struggling on this planet.

 

War causes an extraordinary amount of physical and emotional trauma for feeling beings.

So does animal agriculture.

Lest We Forget.

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The leading farm animal welfare charity

Compassion in World Farming was founded over 40 years ago in 1967 by a British farmer who became horrified by the development of modern, intensive factory farming.

Today we campaign peacefully to end all factory farming practices. We believe that the biggest cause of cruelty on the planet deserves a focused, specialised approach – so we only work on farm animal welfare.

We are immensely proud of what we have achieved so far

• Our award winning undercover investigations have exposed the reality of modern intensive farming systems and brought the plight of farm animals to the attention of the world’s media

• Our political lobbying and campaigning has resulted in the EU recognising animals as sentient beings, capable of feeling pain and suffering. We have also secured landmark agreements to outlaw the barren battery cage for egg-laying hens, narrow veal crates and sow stalls across Europe

• Our Food Business team is working with some of the world’s biggest food companies as a key part of the drive towards a more ethical and sustainable food supply. Our Good Farm Animal Welfare Awards are already benefitting millions of animals each year.257 million animals are set to benefit each year as a result of our Good Award winners’ policies.

 

Chief Executive, Philip Lymbery, is my hero.  He has written a book called Farmageddon which EVERYBODY should read.

Farmageddon

 

Animals are sentient beings. They feel pain. They can experience a sense of emotional well-being and understand the difference between comfort and sadness.

 

 

 

 

 

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*There is an interesting article on the rising popularity of Anzac Day here.