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Open Thread
Posted by YesBiscuit on January 23, 2016
https://yesbiscuit.com/2016/01/23/open-thread-197/
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The views expressed in this blog are the opinion of the author.
Clarice
/ January 23, 2016A veteran adopted a dog that is helping him cope with post-traumatic stress disorder. Now the rescue organization is threatening to take the dog back because of the dog’s weight.
http://www.abc10.com/story/news/local/2016/01/21/rescue-organizations-board-member-threatens-take-veterans-dog-away-due-dogs-weight/79148932/
YesBiscuit
/ January 23, 2016And of course they tried to lie about it to the news. What a group.
mikken
/ January 24, 2016Wow. Classy. Threatening a guy for his dog being overweight and setting him back in his recovery process. And THEN threatening him again because he contacted the news organization. So professional.
Eucritta
/ January 24, 2016Meanwhile, browsing around out of curiosity, I find Bella is still featured on their ‘Happy Endings’ page.
Karen F
/ January 24, 2016A sweet snow story, ICYMI . . . on Friday, just before #jonasblizzard but after snow was already on the ground, a Maryland family saved the world’s most adorable piglet. He had likely escaped from a truck or a factory farm, as one of the comments notes: his tail had been cut off.
The family named the piglet Wee Wee and the kids wanted to keep him, but a place was found for him at a sanctuary, also in Maryland.
Seriously, this guy could be the cutest pig I’ve ever seen.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2016/01/23/a-family-saves-a-snow-bound-piglet-from-freezing-to-death/?hpid=hp_hp-banner-low_piglet-820pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
YesBiscuit
/ January 24, 2016They cut off the tails of the piglets at factory farms? Why?
elaine hanson
/ January 24, 2016Diana Prichard, who blogs as Righteous Bacon, can answer that:
“Why are baby pigs’ tails cut off?
“Farmers dock piglets’ tails as a preventative measure. In some cases newly weaned pigs have been known to suck or bite on their littermates’ tails. The sucking and biting can lead to cuts, scratches, punctures and sores which in turn can make the pigs susceptible to infection. Docking the tails is one way farmers use to prevent the chance of infection. Some people argue that tail biting and sucking is a stress response and should be eliminated in other ways–namely, by reducing overcrowding and weaning pigs when they are a little older. Crowding isn’t a problem on most American farms today and most farmers try to balance optimal weaning times to benefit both the piglets and their sow as much as possible. We’ve never docked tails and the practice has fallen out of favor among most niche and many show producers.”
She answers 8 other questions about pig farming here.
http://www.righteousbacon.com/faq-pigs-pork-take-1/
I have learned from reading several ag blogs that sows (adult females) are prone to attack each other, so docking piglets would reduce bite injuries on farrowing and finishing farms also.
Another blog with lots of good info on how our food is grown is Minnesota Farm Living, by pig and crop farmer Wanda Patsche. Here’s the main page, scroll around or search for topics of interest. http://www.mnfarmliving.com/
elaine
PS: “Factory farm” is a pejorative term coined by animal rights people to project the image that most farms are owned by huge industrial conglomerates. In fact, about 97% of US farms are owned by the families that operate them.
Eucritta
/ January 24, 2016PS: ‘Factory Farm’ is a descriptive term for confined high-density industrialized operations or CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations, which by definition confine animals for longer than 45 days) and has absolutely squat to do with whether or not the farm is family-owned.
Eucritta
/ January 24, 2016Oh, yeah, and it wasn’t coined by the animal rights movement. It was coined by its very proponents, back in the day – it was viewed as the modern, forward-thinking way of farming, one which would ensure food security through better control & economies of scale. It *became* a pejorative term as the costs to the *animals* became evident.
YesBiscuit
/ January 25, 2016I’d like to have one of the miniature pigs as a pet someday. I wouldn’t cut off any parts.
Kelley Smith
/ January 24, 2016elaine, those links are awesome resources. Thanks for posting them!
Eucritta
/ January 24, 2016A hound named Ludivine slipped out of her backyard & spontaneously entered a half-marathon: http://www.runnersworld.com/running-with-dogs/hound-bandits-half-marathon-in-alabama
Karen F
/ January 24, 2016What an awesome story — and an awesome dog!
YesBiscuit
/ January 25, 2016Totally cool dog and people – for the unwashed south, I mean.
Karen F
/ January 26, 2016This story was the Number 1 sports highlight on ESPN tonight!
Karen F
/ January 24, 2016Fantastic short video of deer frolicking in the snow in D.C. included in this post. The much-shared video of National Zoo panda Tian Tian is also included . . . very charming if you haven’t seen it.
http://www.citylab.com/weather/2016/01/nature-reclaims-dcs-snow-covered-streets/426741/?utm_source=atlfb
YesBiscuit
/ January 25, 2016I really want to watch this video but I’ve run into browser problems on both my phone and my PC while trying to watch it. I’m not giving up though.
Lisa B
/ January 25, 2016And then there was the parody video: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1246546/Man-panda-suit-challenges-Tian-Tian-snow-battle.html
Karen F
/ January 26, 2016I wish the video with the deer was on YouTube, but unfortunately it was tweeted and there’s no YT link, I’m sorry!
Lisa B
/ January 26, 2016Man drives 1,700 miles to get cat missing for 4 years: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/01/26/man-drives-1700-miles-to-get-cat-missing-for-4-years.html
Eucritta
/ January 26, 2016Earliest “Domestic” Cats in China Identified as Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis)
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0147295
This is a link to the paper itself. ‘Domestic’ is in scare-quotes in the title because it’s basically a guess – what they have are remains of leopard cats which, both in context & from analyses, appear to have lived in close proximity with people, some of whom were likely given food. This is close to domestication – quite possibly on its way to domestication – but it’s not quite there. In archaeological lit this is what’s usually (as in this paper) called a ‘commensal’ relationship although (imho) it’s actually ‘mutualism,’ that is, two species living in conjunction with each other, each benefiting the other.
Since domestic cats other than, very recently, intentionally hybridized Bengals, have no leopard cats in their ancestry – per genetic analysis – this may then represent a separate node of domestication for cats. Maybe. If so, then the breed died out.
The paper includes a good summary of current thinking on cat domestication, too.
YesBiscuit
/ January 27, 2016Mind if I curl up here for a nap, stranger?
http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/weird/Elderly-Woman-Wakes-Up-With-Exotic-Animal-on-Chest-366622301.html
YesBiscuit
/ January 27, 2016Another one for the Why We Have No Right to Kill Dogs files:
Ruth
/ January 30, 2016Marietta OH may be auctioning off a retired police dog to the highest bidder instead of allowing him to stay with the handler who’s “owned” him for the last few years: http://www.turnto23.com/news/national/retired-officer-must-fight-for-k9-companion-in-auction
Ruth
/ January 30, 2016Correction, its the police officer who’s retired, not the canine, but still…..
Clarice
/ January 30, 2016Over $17,000. has already been donated by the public to help Office Hickey keep Ajax.
I think this statement really riled people. “The dog is property of the city of Marietta,” Marietta Law Director Paul Betram III said. “Because it is personal property, it is treated like a shovel. That’s just the way it is.” We all know even working dogs are family.
Ruth
/ January 30, 2016Yup. I suspect that Director Bertram is going to regret saying that.