Getting dogged: When your pet cheats on you

Phyllis DeGioia didn’t mean to become the other woman.

It started innocently, with a kind gesture. The Madison, Wis., woman offered to care for a friend’s cat for nine months while the owner, Susan Shalaby, was out of the country. DeGioia had every intention of returning the cat when her friend returned, but Chelsea had other ideas. After Shalaby came back, she moved in with DeGioia until she could find a place of her own and expected Chelsea to resume her place on her bed.

But with some pets absence does not necessarily make the heart grow fonder.

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Shark fights in one of the world’s biggest aquariums are threatening the opening celebrations of Dubai’s flagship new mall.

Over ten per cent of the sharks in Dubai Aquarium’s 10 million-litre tank have been killed in attacks that have marred the build-up to its grand opening on October 30.

Sand Tiger sharks have killed at least 40 smaller reef sharks and been aggressive towards divers working on final preparations in the giant tank.

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Farmer Barrie Tolley said it is a miracle Houdini survived after the seagull picked the egg up and tried to fly away.

The bird could not hold on to the Indian Runner duck egg, which was damaged but still intact.

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This playful image of a Newfoundland dog herding puffins through the streets is a color-reduction woodcut by artist Jenny Pope, who features animals as her subjects.  I just love the lines, colors, detail, movement, and expression in all her work, but this piece is one of my favorites.  I love the way she captured the charming awkwardness of the puffins (my favorites are the two perched together on the roof; they look like they’re watching and laughing at the situation on the ground below them) and the determined expression on the Newfoundland’s face as he orchestrates the movements of the birds.

For each work of art, Jenny writes the explanation or story behind it.  I really appreciate artists who do this.  I feel like having a deeper understanding of a work of art also helps me have a deeper connection to it.

Take this next piece as an example.  Isn’t knowing the story behind the picture almost as good as gazing at the picture itself?  The story and the image capture the imagination in different ways.

GOOSE! Surprise, those shellfish were named after waterfowl. Barnacle Geese breed in the northern territories of Canada. Before their breeding grounds were known, people had the idea that the geese hatched from shellfish living on the banks of shorelines, nobody ever saw the goose’s gosslings, so the mind was left to wander.

In an email, Jenny explained why and how  animals inspire her art:

I enjoy the company of animals in life and in artwork. Invasive, endangered, extinct, and mythic animals uncurl from my imagination in the form of woodcut prints.  I make art because I believe that with education and understanding of the environment, people will learn to respect and attach importance to our own backyards and beyond. I hope to inform my audience about the natural world so that information can bring stewardship and respect. I am currently working on three new projects which include bird migration myths, global warming band-aids, and a children’s book about invasive animals.

She also explained how she makes these color-reduction woodcuts:

[...] I take one block of wood, draw an image onto the block, carve then print. Each printed color comes from carving away the previous layer so when I am finished, all that is left of my wood block is the last color that was printed. I can never remake an image unless I re-carve a new piece of wood. The prints are very limited edition, not a typical Kinko’s reproduction.

Here’s another Kinko’s-free artwork that I really love. It demonstrates that Jenny’s work and art in general, sometimes challenges its viewer.  In an email, Jenny says, “I definitely do not think an animal has to be cute in order to make a woodcut about it!  In fact, quite the opposite, I usually do not use “cute” animals as my subject.”  This picture is from her series on destructive, invasive species (invasive species are definitely an un-cute, serious problem).  This hedgehog, an animal imported from Europe to New Zealand, is stealing an egg from a despondent nesting kiwi bird.  Notice the long, sad lines on the kiwi’s feathers and the deviously delighted expression on the hedgehog’s face.

Poor kiwi bird.  But hedgehogs have to eat, too.

You can find all of Jenny Pope’s art at www.jpopstudios.com.  Before I go, I want to show you one more of my favorite works from her website.  This cacophony of whirls and curls is entitled “Male Poodles.”  On her website Jenny writes, “I enjoyed the irony of a dog being ‘male’ and being ‘poodle.’”:

-MJ Schindler, aka Kitty Mowmow

One of my goals for Kitty Mowmow’s Animal Expo is for the site to remain mostly an impartial purveyor of animal-related information.

This article, however, is not impartial.  It is an opinionated editorial piece, one that does not pretend to be professional news journalism.  I’m just telling you what I know and how I feel.  The opinions presented in this article do not represent the opinions of any other Kitty Mowmow’s Animal Expo affiliate.

I decided to write this article because I realized that Kitty Mowmow’s Animal Expo has posted many articles about PETA’s (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) activities.  (After all, staying in the limelight seems to be PETA’s greatest strength.)   We post articles about PETA, regardless of the fact that I loathe and despise most of what they stand for and do, because we try to keep this site’s information as unbiased as possible.  We just try to comb the news for the most relevant, interesting animal-related information possible and pass it on to you, whether we agree with it or not.

But PETA, I just can’t stay quiet about you anymore.  It’s time for me to confess my biases: I think you are evil.

PETA reminds me of a cult, sucking normal, healthy animal-lovers into its hive mind and purse by first encouraging them to support a few of PETA’s more reasonable animal-related campaigns, such as “spay and neuter your pets.”  For most potential donors and supporters, PETA either conceals or distracts attention from many of their less savory practices they have downed several gallons of PETA’s Kool-Aid.  Most of the Kool-Aid’s ingredients seems to be a general hatred for humanity crudely masquerading as devotion to the welfare of animals.

I have a multitude of justificating reasons why I think PETA’s actions overwhelmingly result in evil instead of good, but I’ll just list the 2 most important reasons here:

1.  PETA kills more than 90% of the animals entrusted into its care because they believe animals are better off dead than living with humans as companion animals (Link).

PETA includes domesticated animals, like your dog or cat, in this belief (Link), regardless of the fact that domesticated dogs and cats are an entirely different species from wild dogs and cats, and have evolved to live alongside humans, interwoven with their societies.  Humans created them through thousands of years of selective breeding, and we have the responsibility of keeping them alive and happy and healthy as much as we can.

Look at your pet dog or cat:  it’s probably well fed and caressed, and you probably take care of its physical health.  If your pet is anything like my cat, it is incredibly happy.  On the other hand, animals in the wild suffer almost daily in the struggle for survival, facing hunger, predators, disease, and the elements.  This is the raw, cruel way nature operates.  But your pet, shielded from the natural selection that runs rampant beyond your door or fence, does not have to suffer like this - unless PETA gets what it wants.

2. PETA has supported the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), which is associated with the Animal Liberation Front (ALF).  Both organizations are composed of eco-terrorists who destroy property and animals in the name of their causes.

Tax filings for 2000 show PETA gave money to the Earth Liberation Front—considered a terrorist threat by the FBI—which in the preceding years had waged an arson and bombing campaign against SUVs, luxury homes, fast food chains and universities that were studying genetically modified crops. (Link.)

Need more proof of ELF’s and ALF’s reprehensibility? Look here, here, here, and here. Also, we recently posted an article about an incident in which Animal Liberation Front members released minks from a mink farm.  Read about the sad outcome here.

The label on the package claimed that it contained t-shirts and baby toys.

But when customs officials in Sydney x-ray scanned the parcel, they found instead five pythons and two venomous tarantulas.

On Tuesday, authorities raided a house in Sydney where the parcel was addressed. Officials seized evidence but expect to file charges later, the customs agency said.

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PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has asked Ben & Jerry’s to change the way it makes ice cream.

The animal rights group sent the Vermont based ice cream company a letter asking it to start using human breast milk instead of cow’s milk.

PETA says cow’s milk has been linked to juvenile diabetes, allergies, constipation, obesity, and prostate and ovarian cancer.

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It seems like an extreme way to get a cheap holiday.

But one mischievous cat seemed so determined to get to the seaside, he travelled there by clinging to the underside of a camper van.

The male tabby, who has been nicknamed Bumper, clung on all the way from Muirhouse to North Berwick – a journey of around 30 miles.

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A new study jointly conducted by Oregon State University College of Veterinary Medicine and the Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute may one day help not only our canine friends with cancer, but also people with the human form of the disease.

Forging this unique relationship is OSU veterinary oncologist and researcher Stuart Helfand, D.V.M., and Brian Druker, M.D., director of the OHSU Cancer Institute.

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It takes a special kind of person to adopt an unwanted animal, even more so to take on more than one such creature. One local couple, Don and Cindy White of Hampshire, have elevated this special breed of compassion to an art form.

After rescuing nine stray cats, two guinea pigs, two parakeets, and a dog, plus owning their own pets, the couple and their two sons, Alex and Kyle, believe they have a mystical sign above their door that reads “strays welcome.”

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