MelSkunk's stories

Organ transplant hospital for pets
Tue 8 Jan 2002 - 08:39

A Guelph vet, Miroslaw Ruka, is trying to set up a hospital dedicated to transplanting organs into seriously ill cats and dogs.
Like humans, cats and dogs often suffer from diseases and cancers of vital organs, and like humans there is a severe shortage of organs and competent doctors to implant them. Unlike humans, of course, most of these animals would have to be put down.

The Cambridge Centre for Medical and Veterinary Services will cost $16.5 million to set up initially, but with an estimated 1.5 % of the North American pet population suffering from a condition which necessitates a transplant, there will be the demand to make up for it.

Kidney and pancreas transplants are planned, but not heart and liver ones, which require huge amounts of blood. Just as there are no animal organ donor cards, there is no animal blood bank.

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Glowing Birds
Fri 4 Jan 2002 - 16:39

As an owner of budgerigars, also commonly known as 'parakeets', I've always been fascinated by their 'feather talk', the puffing and displaying of head feathers between a pair of mated birds. Researchers in Scotland have discovered, though, that the feathers not only puff for a chosen mate, they fluoresce as well. Birds generally have a more diverse and acute colour sensitivity than primates, so the natural fluorescent feathers could give off a beaconlike glow to the objects of attraction.

Sydney brushfires threaten pets, wildelife alike
Fri 4 Jan 2002 - 07:01

Though the Sydney fires have not killed a person yet, thank heavens, many pet owners and wildlife people alike have been worried about the animal toll. In the evacuations, cats, dogs and other animals have often had to be left behind, especially when an 'outdoor' pet could not be found. Possums, wallabies and other slow moving urban wildlife are being rescued by various animal groups. The RSPCA is also working to provide food and water to displaced pets.

Links to key numbers (Wires, RSPCA) as well as bushfire news can be found at Animalworld Australia.

A example of a rescued possum is here.Warning, upsetting link

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Wallaby babies stolen from exhibit, found with children
Wed 2 Jan 2002 - 17:34

Two young joeys, partly hairless, pouchbound and suckling, were stolen from a special viewing enclosure at England's Dudley Zoo. The theives broke into the heavy glass enclosure late Friday night, and the curators of the exhibit worried they wouldn't survive the night without their mother. The babies were quickly found, though, when people spotted children carrying them across a road 20 minutes after the robbery. They were later found in a gypsy camp outside the town. Perhaps a late Christmas gift?

South Korean legislators want dog meat legalized
Mon 31 Dec 2001 - 09:03

Dog meat, a long time traditional food of many cultures, has been outlawed in Korea, but legislators want to push a bill to change that. They say the lack of regulation leads to the inhumane killing and unsanitary handling of dogs in markets currently, which in turn is the primary target for the animal activists against the practice. The opposition to the bill is not only comming from Western animal rights people, but humaine groups in the country as well. Similar bills have been unsucessful.

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A reminder: Pets and Christmas don't mix
Mon 24 Dec 2001 - 09:09

It's been said many times before, but it's well worth saying again. Do not buy or adopt animals for pets during Christmas. Several shelters are holding off adoptions due to worries of pets given as gifts. Pets are even abandoned BEFORE Christmas, to make way for the new animal presents or to to avoid the difficulties of animal care at this time of year.
And it's not just dogs and cats that can be abandoned by an unprepared owner after Christmas.Ferrets, rabbits,
and other critters are left homeless too after the holidays.
What can you do instead of buying a pet for yourself or a loved one? Why not donate to an animal charity instead?

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Elbow squid? Elbow squid!
Sun 23 Dec 2001 - 10:11

Elbow squid! Elbow squid! Elbow squid! Now that I have your attention, scientists have discovered a neat new squid species in the dark depths of the ocean. Unlike regular squid, who have eight arms and two specially adaptive "grabbing" tenticles, this creature, dubbed "Mystery squid", has ten indistinguishable arms, which project out like bicycle spokes, bend at 'elbow' points and dangle down from the squid's body for about 20 feet. That and it's huge, winglike mantle make it unique in the cephalopod world.

Scientists point out that this new discovery shows how little we know about the ecosystem and animals of our oceans.

Thousands of turtles die while trying to reach Indian coast
Sun 23 Dec 2001 - 08:39

The Olive Ridley turtle is heading for land at this time of year, to make the trek up beaches to lay it's eggs. But in one of their major nesting areas, thousands have been killed before even reaching the shore. Intangling fishing nets and fatal propeller injuries from illegal fishing trawlers have been responsible for an estimated 1,300 turtle deaths in the last few days.
Officals estimate many more will die before the end of the laying season, as they suspected 50,000 died last year at the same time, but feel powerless to stop illegal fishing in the area where nesting is taking place. The high casualties may drive this turtle to extinction.

Cambodia's rare species are being killed off at an alarming rate
Fri 14 Dec 2001 - 12:11

Over 250 elephants, tigers, rare bears, and leopards have been estimated to have been killed in Cambodia and it's provinces in the last 18 months. Estimates aren't available for 21 of the 24 provinces of this war torn country, but the rare animals being removed from populations currently estimated at 500 elephants, 200 tigers and even less leopards is astounding. Many of these illegal hunting operations involve the police and military. Outsiders fear these rare tigers and elephant sub species will become extinct in the near future.

Are you leftbeaked or right?
Fri 14 Dec 2001 - 08:01

'Featheries' might be interested to know that scientists have found that some birds, like some primates, show a preference for one side of the body to the other.
Pacific crows have been studied making tools to gather insects inside holes and tunnels, like the type chimpanzees use. Unlike chimps, these birds make much more delicate, refined tools. Scientists say their results point towards handedness being a product of being able to carry out complex sequences of actions, like those in tool making or talking.