Our Place to Paws - Newsletter, September 2nd, 2007

HAPPY OCTOBER PAWS READERS

I hope you are enjoying the fall. We’ve had a few exciting developments at “Our Place to Paws” over the last month.

First, one of our loyal readers arranged for our Web site to be featured, for free, in an ad on product bags that are given out at pharmacies in a number of states. We so appreciate any help in getting the word out about our site. Until we increase the free subscriptions to our e-newsletter and the visitor statistics to our site, www.ourplacetopaws.com, we don’t have the resources to attract advertising and contribute to animal welfare organizations the way we’d like to. So if you have friends who would be interested in subscribing or contributing articles, or if you know of companies that might be interested in advertising with us, please write to faye@ourplacetopaws.com. Our rates are very inexpensive and we donate 10% of all advertising dollars to the animal rescue or welfare organization of the advertiser’s choice.

Our Place to Paws now has an online discussion forum! It’s brand new so there’s not a lot of conversation on it yet. But you’ll see the link on our home page, or you can go to the forum directly to start a conversation at: http://www.nabble.com/Our-Place-to-Paws-f25547.html.

We’ve also teamed up with Café Press to create an online shop where you can buy T-shirts, bags and other items imprinted with the “Our Place to Paws” cat logo and URL. Check it out at: www.cafepress.com/ourplacetopaws. I know the prices are a little high, but we don’t control much of that…and any proceeds we will make from the sales go directly back into maintaining our site.

If you’ve been following the Our Place to Paws blog at www.ourplacetopaws.blogspot.com you know that one of our cats, Hamilton, is being treated at the MSPCA Animal Medical Center in Boston for hyperthyroid condition. Hamilton had a radioactive iodine shot on Sept. 10 and is staying at the hospital until he is no longer carrying any radioactive material in his body (since we currently have four other cats in the house). We get daily reports on our little guy, and so far he’s doing great! If you have an animal health care story to share with us, please write and we’ll publish it for our readers.

Finally, my musings last week about “helping animals in need” garnered a few reactions from Paws readers. You can read their letters below, and feel free to join in the discussion by writing in.

Until next time, meow, woof…and naaaaay!

- Editor-in-Woof

In this issue:

Readers’ Letters
Feature Story: Pets in the Aftermath of Hurricane Dean
October Reader Photo Winner!
Book Review: Amazon Dreaming
October’s Cat vs. Dogs Essay Winner!
Kids’ Corner: Make your own Colorful Turkey

FEATURE STORY ON OUR PLACE TO PAWS

Disaster relief for pets helps people too in aftermath of Hurricane Dean, Jamaica to pilot innovative disaster preparedness program for pets

By the World Society for the Protection of Animals at
http://www.wspa-usa.org/

Gerardo Huertas feeds dogs waiting for their owners to return to what’s left of their homes in Kingston, Jamaica. (Lou Bopp/WSPA)

Weeks after Hurricane Dean struck Jamaica, starving dogs are still guarding devastated homes, waiting for owners who may never return. As humanitarian aid helps Jamaicans rebuild their lives, the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) is partnering with the Jamaica Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (JSPCA) to help animal victims of the storm and the people who care about them.

Within a few days of the Category 4 hurricane, Gerardo Huertas, Director of Disaster Operations for the Americas for the World Society for the Protection of Animals, arrived in Jamaica to assess the situation and offer assistance to the Jamaican Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (JSPCA), a longtime WSPA member society, as well as to others working on the island to help animals in need.

Read full text on Our Place to Paws

SPONSORS

Before we get to the rest of our issue, A NOTE OF THANKS to AETREX WORLDWIDE, Inc., a world-class footwear and footcare products company and the first advertising sponsor in our 10% for Animals advertising program. Aetrex Worldwide is headquartered in Teaneck, NJ and currently employs 170 people, including 25 board certified pedorthists. The 60-year old company is comprised of three divisions; Aetrex Performance Products, Aetrex Technology & Education, and Apex Therapeutic Footcare. For more information, please visit www.aetrex.com or contact Donille Perrone Massa, Marketing Director extraordinaire (she has the cutest dog named Versace...and I have to tell you, they really sell the greatest running shoes) at 800-526-2739.

Aetrex is donating 10% of their advertising fee to the Animal Alliance of New Jersey.

YOUR LETTERS

Dear Editor,

I love the September picture of the month!

- J. D., Waltham, Massachusetts

Dear Editor,

Karin Gottshall, Middlebury, Vermont

In response to your request for stories relating to "getting involved protecting animals"......I remember the time I spotted some unwelcome hunters on my land from my kitchen window. They had not requested permission to cross our property. I leashed our German Shepherd (you never know) and went down to meet them, dog in hand. I told them they were very welcome on our land, but not with guns. They politely retreated. Welcoming them to the property was a way to diffuse the situation ...there are nice ways to say, NO!

Also would you ask your book reviewer to please indicate the ages that a book is appropriate for and to include more chapter books for older children....many thanks....

G. O. R., Canaan, New York

Dear Editor,

Just a couple of comments about your latest issue

With regard to your story about chasing a deer hunter off your property; You have an absolute right to prevent anybody from hunting (or in any way trespassing) on your property. But the implication was that the only reason you did it was that the deer was "in need" and you encouraged others to do like wise when animals are "in need". I suspect that had you lived in Hemlock Farms (where hunting is not allowed) you would have joined the opposition to the annual USDA deer cull to get the herd back in some balance with nature. The last year before the culls the deer population was so high that the entire under story of the forest had been destroyed, 80 deer starved during the winter, an equal number were killed by cars resulting in $250,000-500,000 worth of damage, and there were several injuries with one man only saved by emergency surgery. The deer herd was stunted, diseased and in poor shape with their ribs sticking out even after the end of the summer. Since the culls were started the understory is coming back, collisions are down to almost zero, there is no starvation, and the remaining animals are in excellent condition.

If you are worried about animals "in need" how about the ones that used to live in the understory. Ground dwelling birds are starting to come back and I hope to see foxes and similar small animals again as the under story recovers. Do these count as "in need" or is only Bambi. Have you any suggestion, other than hunting, to restore the balance of nature? And I mean realistic solutions other than condoms for bucks.

I could say similar things about the plaque of non migrating geese. In Hemlock we shake their eggs to destroy the embryos otherwise we would be back to the point where we could not use the beaches because of droppings and swim in the lakes because of e coli contamination. In Co-Op City where we used to live the non-migrating geese were so plentiful that you could literally not walk on some paths.

Lastly; pussy cats, in particular feral ones. Here in Hemlock they destroy tens of thousands of birds each year. As far as I am concerned they should be exterminated or don't the wild birds count as animals "in need".

Sorry to be a nay sayer but I think that you have to analyze the problem better.

- U. H., Pennsylvania

Dear Editor,

In response to U.H.’s letter....you may be interested to know that they had a similar problem with Canada geese at Onoto lake in MA . Their solution was to hire a team of Border Collies to patrol the lakefront several times a week to inform the geese that they were not welcome there ...it worked ! The geese departed for less offensive areas. Let's be creative and try to be humane in solving these problems.

G. O. R., Canaan, N.Y.

READER PHOTO SPOTLIGHT

October Reader Photo Winner: Maya,
Submitted by Kimber W., Brookline, Massachusetts

To see our Honorable Mentions, visit Our Place to Paws by clicking on this link.

BOOK REVIEW

AMAZON DREAMING

The Amazon rainforest may well be one of the most fascinating places on the entire planet. With more than one third of all the animal and plant species in the world living there, its unparalleled biodiversity has been a source of enticement for many a scientist and adventurer throughout all time.

While some of us may never have the opportunity to explore the Amazon, author Gare Thompson has made it possible for us to enjoy a virtual exploration with his AMAZON JOURNEY: CRUISING THE RAIN FOREST (ISBN: 0-7922-5951-3), another wonderful book from National Geographic Science Chapters.