animal news

Nonfiction picture books about animals: ‘When Beavers Flew,’ ‘Narwhal,’ ‘Life After Whale,’ ‘Finding Home: Amazing Places Animals Live,’ ‘An Animal a Day,’ and ‘A Dinosaur a Day’

/ Pamela Kramer

This is a wonderful and disparate collection of nonfiction picture books, and they all deserve attention for many reasons. Librarians and teachers should consider these because of the important subject matter, the quality of the writing, and the engaging nature of the illustrations. From information about animal homes to facts about the elusive narwhal, there’s a lot of learning that will go on when kids peruse these books. They would also make great additions to a classroom library, a school (or public) library, or a child’s bookshelf at home. These are about animals, and therefore sure to be a kid magnet.

Continue reading →

Changing the Lake County ordinance regarding feral cats and TNR needs Lake County residents to show up

/ Pamela Kramer

PLEASE JOIN US:

Lake County Board of Health Meeting on Wednesday, August 28, at 6pm at 3010 Grand Ave, 3rd floor Board Room, Waukegan, IL 60085 IL.

Illinois law: 510 ILCS 5/2.16, supports TNR (trap/neuter/release) of feral cats and protect “caretakers” (feeders) from ownership laws. Lake County’s ordinance deeming “owners” as anyone “feeding an animal 7 days or more” does not support the TNR process.

What is important for taxpayers to know?

TNR saves taxpayers money! TNR is not just about saving cats, it is about population control and disease control. Each female cat can produce up to 10 kittens three times a year. TNR sterilizes cats thus decreasing reproduction. Each cat going through the TNR program is vaccinated for rabies and distemper. Decreasing the feral cat population through sterilization saves taxpayers the cost of euthanasia, which is what LCAC does for feral cats (they are euthanized). TNR organizations cover the costs of both sterilization and vaccinations which saves taxpayers money!


PLEASE SHOW UP AND HELP CHANGE Lake County’s lamentable lack of support for TNR. Lake County’s ordinance needs to mirror the State of Illinois’ TNR language.

For more information about TNR and this issue in Lake County, please read the previous blog post. Instead of supporting the trapping of feral cats so they can be sterilized, vaccinated, and returned back to their home area where they know how to find food or where there is a colony caretaker who provides food and shelter, Lake County animal control recently charged a Lake County resident with having animals at large.

Toward the goal of changing or amending the Lake County ordinance, concerned residents are urged to attend the meeting of the Health Department this Wednesday, August 28th, at 6:00 pm, at 3010 Grand Avenue in Waukegan. Please attend if you can to show your support for the feral cats who have no voice of their own. Supporting TNR policies saves taxpayers money, reduces the spread of disease, and at the end, is the humane way to deal with the feral cat issue.

D.C.’s Humane Rescue Alliance’s mass firing of volunteers is retaliation, they claim, and hurts the shelter animals

/ Pamela Kramer

At rescues and most shelters, public and private, across the country, volunteers are the lifeblood that pumps the shelters with energy and free work hours enabling those entities to save dogs. At least that’s the way it’s supposed to be. In too many cases, when volunteers blow the whistle on shelter practices they see and believe are detrimental—and perhaps even cruel—to the animals the shelter is supposed to be caring for, the volunteers are fired. And this is what volunteers at Washington, DC’s Humane Rescue Alliance claim happened to them.

Continue reading →

Pet food, the AAFCO, and the FDA: Important information for pet owners and everyone

/ Pamela Kramer

This is not my usual post, but we all love our dogs and/or cats. This is important information, even if you don’t have any pets.

I am sharing information provided by Susan Thixton, a natural pet food advocate, whose newsletters I have read for many years. She advocates for transparency regarding ingredients and manufacturing of pet food, and her list of best pet foods is one that I use and highly recommend. The following is her most recent newsletter. Please pay special attention to the information about krill meal, which can contain harmful chemicals and is fed to farmed salmon that humans also eat. Also, note the information about how the FDA appears to be preventing pet food manufacturers from providing important information about possibly harmful ingredients in the pet food we buy. If you find this information useful and informative, please subscribe to her newsletter and visit her website: truthaboutpetfood.com. Note that AAFCO stands for Association of American Feed Control Officials.

Continue reading →

Urgent: Help needed to ensure TNR is enshrined in Lake County law as it is in Illinois law

/ Pamela Kramer / 1 Comment

While TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) is old news in much of the country, apparently the Lake County Board and the Lake County Health Department are still living in the days when feral cats were caught and killed, as most are unadoptable. To any Lake County Board members; Mark Pfister, Public Health Director; and Robin Van Sickle, Director of Animal Control; who might be reading this, TNR is a real thing. It’s even enshrined in Illinois law, which states:

Sec. 2.16. Owner. “Owner” means any person having a right of property in an animal, or who keeps or harbors an animal, or who has it in his care, or acts as its custodian, or who knowingly permits a dog to remain on any premises occupied by him or her. “Owner” does not include a feral cat caretaker participating in a trap, spay/neuter, vaccinate for rabies, and return program. (Source: P.A. 101-295, eff. 8-9-19.)

Continue reading →

How to save an injured piglet

/ Pamela Kramer

The owner of a petting zoo goes to buy a pig from a farmer. The farmer throws in the injured sibling, whose leg is hurt. The piglet won’t put weight on it and limps on the other three legs. The guy figures he’s buying the pig some time and maybe the leg will get better.

Three weeks later, at a farmer’s market, I noticed a petting zoo with farm animals and saw that one of the animals in a pen by itself was a baby pig. He was the size of a medium dog, about 30 pounds. I went to pet him and realized that he couldn’t walk on his left front leg. I asked the girl working there what was wrong with the leg. She explained, “It’s a rescue and he came that way.” I asked if he had been seen by a veterinarian, and when she responded in the negative, I asked if he was going to be seen by a veterinarian. The answer was no. Then I asked whether they would be checking out anyone who wanted to adopt the pig and was told that he was for sale for $50. “So it’s not a rescue, and anyone can buy him. Even if they just want him for bacon?” I asked. She replied in the affirmative.

Continue reading →

Lake County Animal Control ignores Illinois law regarding humane treatment of feral cats and fails to reunite lost dogs and cats with owners (UPDATED)

/ Pamela Kramer / 1 Comment
Jade: feral mother cat
Two of her tabby kittens
Another of her kittens

Those of us who live in Lake County, Illinois, assume that our county government is doing its best for us. That would include how our county treats our animals, our beloved cats and dogs. I’ve recently discovered that Lake County Animal Control is seriously lacking in not only how it follows Illinois law regarding feral cats, but also fails miserably at posting stray dogs and cats so that owners can find their lost pets.

Continue reading →

‘Big Kibble: The Hidden Dangers of the Pet Food Industry’ is the book that Purina and other huge manufacturers don’t want you to read

/ Pamela Kramer / 1 Comment
Big Kibble by Shawn Buckley and Dr. Oscar Chavez

If after reading this new exposé of the pet food industry, “Big Kibble: The Hidden Dangers of the Pet Food Industry and How to Do Better by Our Dogs” by Shawn Buckley and Dr. Oscar Chavez, you don’t decide to try to change how you feed your cat or dog, I don’t want to know what’s in your own refrigerator. While some of what is in this new nonfiction release is not news to savvy pet caregivers (I like to consider myself at least somewhat savvy), there is plenty to shock them.

Continue reading →

‘The Particulars of Peter’ by Kelly Conaboy is the book you didn’t know you needed to read

/ Pamela Kramer

Kelly Conaboy loves her dog. She loves her dog Peter so much that she wrote a book, “The Particulars of Peter: Dance Lessons, DNA Tests, and Other Excuses to Hang Out with My Perfect Dog,” about him. Like most of us canine fans, she loves her dog to distraction. She obsesses about her dog more than most of us, and she writes about Peter in a humorous and touching manner that few of us could match. Continue reading →

To Bark Box or not? Thoughts after receiving the first box

/ Pamela Kramer

As you know, my blog is about books and animals. I adore both and actually went into teaching to bring books and animals (specifically dogs) to my students. My facility dog, Peanut, held up her part of the deal admirably in the nine years she worked with students. (Google “Miss Peanut therapy dog” to see her brief moment of fame. Note she isn’t really a therapy dog, but a facility dog, which is much fancier.) Continue reading →

Diary of the rescue of an old, mangled, neglected, black cat

/ Pamela Kramer / 4 Comments

IMG_5555.JPG

Last Friday I got a text from a young high school friend. She sent me a video of a black cat walking by her bus stop in our neighborhood. She said it looked skinny and seemed to be limping. It went up to a house where there was food outside, and when the man inside tried to greet it, it ran away.

I decided that I would try to help that cat, so after work I took a can of cat food and went to the house where they were feeding it. The woman who lived there agreed that I could try to trap the cat and get it medical care. She said that she would keep the cat if we caught it! I left canned food in the bowl she had left outside (filled with dog food). The next morning I went back and saw the food was gone. I left more food and explained that I was trying to find a humane trap and how they work. Continue reading →