CritterBlog

The Maltese Falcon

“I couldn’t be fonder of you if you were my own son. But, well, if you lose a son, it’s possible to get another. There’s only one Maltese Falcon.” Sydney Greenstreet as Kasper Gutman (from The Maltese Falcon, 1941)

And now there is not even one. Illegal hunting of the Maltese falcon has made it extinct on the island for which it is named. The only peregrine falcons living in the Mediterranean island nation now are in captivity.

Malta is a stopover for falcons, eagles and other birds of prey on the African-Eurasian flyway. The 27-nation European Union bans killing endangered avian species as well as spring hunting. In defiance of the EU, poachers continue their bloodsport.

According to BirdLife Malta, birds now extinct as breeding species in Malta include Peregrine Falcons, Kestrels, Jackdaws and Barn Owls. The Great Bittern and the Osprey are species that the United Kingdom and Finland have taken measures to protect, but they are shot down over Malta when migrating.

“We are trying to change a culture,” according to Alexander Miruzzi, head of the police unit for illegal hunting. “These people have been going on the spring hunt since they were 18. Now they are 55, 65 or 75 years old. We’ve actually apprehended a person who was 75, so it will take time for them to change.”

While some birds are hunted for food, the raptors are killed for trophies.

Further Information:
Birders Battle Hunters Over Maltese Falcons, Slayings [Bloomberg.com; July 2, 2009]
BirdLife Malta
BirdLife International

Posted in Animal Advocacy, Animal News, Birds, Wildlife | No Comments »

Pabst Wins Blue Ribbon for Ugliest Dog

The 2009 World’s Ugliest Dog contest at the Sonoma-Marin County Fair broke with tradition in its 21st year. The Chinese Crested breed that has dominated the prize for the past seven years was bypassed this time for a boxer-mix with an under bite. Four-year old Pabst, a shelter dog belonging to Miles Egstad, 25, from Citrus Heights, California, won over the crowd and the judges with his unusual looks and sweet nature.

The competition was filmed to be broadcast on an episode of Dogs 101 on the Animal Planet sometime this fall.

Posted in Animal News, Dogs, Video | No Comments »

Bo’s Baseball Card

Bo, the First Dog, has an Official Portrait and an Official Baseball Card. The photograph shows Bo on the South Lawn of the White House.

The card stats indicate that the name “Bo” is indirectly in honor of rock & roll great Bo Diddley (by way of First Lady Michelle Obama’s father’s nickname “Diddley” and First Children Malia and Sasha’s cousin’s cats “Bo” and “Diddley’). Were the kids also perhaps naming the First Dog after their father, President Barack Obama, whose initials are B.O.? It’s just a theory, but it passes the smell test.

Posted in Animal Photographs, Animals in History, Dogs, Political Animals | No Comments »

Baby Deer Rescue

Rasa sent me this email the other day, about a newborn baby deer that was rescued during the night, after its mother was killed by a car:

Hi Everyone,

Late in the evening a friend knocked on our door with a newborn baby deer in her arms, not more than an hour old. She found the mother dead from a car accident, and the baby must have popped out of the mother during the accident. The tiny baby buck laid in his mother’s blood on the side of the road. Our friend Angelea cleaned off most of the blood, and she and her mother Sakkara wrapped up the baby in a towel to bring it over to us. Without a mother, the fawn had little chance for survival, but we were determined to see her through the night until we could contact a local woman who is licensed to raise orphaned deer. Many thanks to Angelea and Sakkara, and to Vesta for her work in helping local wildlife.

Love, light and laughter,
Rasa

The video tells the story of the baby buck’s first 12 hours of life.

Posted in Animal Rescue, Video, Wildlife | No Comments »

Flush Puppy

Four year-old Daniel Blair of Northolt, Middlesex, England, decided to give his one-week old puppy a bath after a muddy excursion in the garden. The problem is that Daniel washed the puppy in the toilet, and then flushed. The hapless pooch vanished down the pipe.

The boy’s mother, Allison Blair, 40, called the fire department. The fire department called in the expert, Will Craig, 22, of the plumbing company Dyno-Rod. Using a special camera, Mr. Craig located the tiny dog in the pipe, about 20 feet from the house. Mr. Craig was able to push the puppy to a spot in the pipe where a firefighter was able to pull him out.

The puppy survived the four-hour ordeal and has been named “Dyno” in honor of the company that came to the rescue. No doubt Dyno needed another bath….

See Also:
Flushed puppy freed from pipes [UPI.com; June 16, 2009]

Posted in Animal News, Animal Rescue, Dogs | No Comments »

Rush Puppy

Radio personality Rush Limbaugh has an Abyssinian cat named Punkin. His girlfriend recently got an Old English Sheepdog puppy named Abbey. Punkin and Abbey have met, and are getting along well together. As Mr. Limbaugh explained on his radio show on Monday, “The dog’s been over to the house. You ought to see the dog and Punkin. We thought there was going to be some fur flying here, but there wasn’t. There was just genuine curiosity. Punkin hissed a couple times. It’s a puppy bounding around. You know, Punkin looks at the dog like, ‘Shut up, you little kid. Stop bothering me.’

“You know, cats are very indifferent. But no. No territorial battles or anything. The dog is even eating some of Punkin’s food, and Punkin doesn’t care. No, I’m not baby-sitting the dog. I wouldn’t mind if I baby-sat the dog. It’s a cute little thing.”

Mr. Limbaugh’s love for his cat Punkin inspired him to record this anti-dogfighting public service announcement for the Humane Society of the United States:

Posted in Cats, Dogs | No Comments »

Canine Cancer Drug Approved

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first drug specifically for the treatment of cancer in dogs, it was announced on June 3, 2009. The drug, Palladia (toceranib phosphate), manufactured by Pfizer Animal Health Inc., is approved to treat canine cutaneous (skin-based) mast cell tumors. Taken orally every other day, it works by killing tumor cells and by cutting off the blood supply to the tumor. Palladia showed a statistically significant difference in tumor shrinkage when compared with a placebo.

Side effects may include diarrhea, decrease or loss of appetite, lameness, weight loss, and blood in the stool.

Pfizer plans to begin marketing the drug in 2010.

Posted in Animal Health, Animal News, Dogs | No Comments »

Japanese Dog Squats

Bill O’Reilly showed this video on Thursday night’s Factor.

Posted in Dogs, Video | No Comments »

POTUS Scoop & Change

Barney, the Scottish Terrier and former First Dog, is helping his guardian reconnect with nature and adapt to his new routine. Speaking at the graduation reception for Artesia High School seniors in Roswell, New Mexico, on May 21, 2009, President George W. Bush said, “I realized this was the first time I’d been walking in a neighborhood for 14 years. It’s not all that hard, by the way. You take one step, and then you take another.”

This has been a time of readjustment for Barney as well. He had never before been out walking in an ordinary neighborhood. But he figured out what he needed to do, and he did it in the neighbor’s yard. President Bush then did what any responsible dog owner does. He explained, “And there I was, former President of the United States of America, with a plastic bag on my hand. Life is returning back to normal.”

Besides walking Barney, President Bush is currently writing a book. The working title is Decision Points. Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, plans to publish the book in 2010.

Posted in Animals in History, Dogs | No Comments »

Lady Thatcher to Open Canine Partners

Canine Partners, a nonprofit organization in Great Britain, trains dogs to assist people with disabilities. On June 2, 2009, they will be opening their new National Training Center in Heyshott, West Sussex, with the help of Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

“These marvellous new facilities are a welcome and much needed addition to the work of Canine Partners,” said Lady Thatcher. “As a result, many more people with disabilities will receive a specially trained companion to help them overcome the difficulties of everyday life, and I am delighted to be able to support everything that this wonderful charity does.”

Canine Partners has placed over 140 dogs throughout the United Kingdom since 1991.

See Also:
Former Prime Minister Thatcher to Open Canine Partners Training Centre [DogMagazine.net; May 21, 2009]

Posted in Dogs, Working Dogs | No Comments »