Neglect.

I cannot believe that some people are allowed to have pets. I cannot believe that there is not some type of screening system that would allow us to know who precious puppies and kittens are going home with and to make certain that they are not neglectful or cruel.

My boyfriend and I had a lovely dinner at a Tully's restaurant today. When we left to go to our car, the vehicle parked in front of us had a beautiful dog sitting in it, staring out the window.

It is 21 degrees in Western New York; 15 degrees with windchill.

We promptly marched back in, told the manager, and wrote a note to leave on that scum of the earth's windshield.

It is NEVER okay to leave a dog in a car like that. It's FREEZING outside and Tully's is not a quick stop - generally you don't spend any less than an hour of your time in such an establishment. It is NEVER okay for you to pretend your dog is a piece of furniture that doesn't need any concern about its care and wellbeing.

I am calling back in half an hour to see what was done about this.

I have very rarely been so angry. Don't get a pet if you don't have the compassion and intelligence to take care of it.

Thoughts on vaccinations.

Granted, if you keep your pets' vaccinations up to date, the following would not be a problem. HOWEVER. Say that in the past, you have not been able to afford a $65 shot plus a $100 visit to procure said shot for your pets - making $165 a year per pet. Say your pets are exposed to rabies.

If a human is exposed to rabies, you test the bat, and in the meantime, you get a metric buttload of shots to keep yourself from getting sick. We all know this, right? Please explain to me why, exactly, there is no such thing for pets. If your pet is exposed to rabies and the test comes back that the animal in question is rabid, YOU WILL NOT KNOW WHETHER OR NOT YOUR PET ACTUALLY HAS RABIES, BUT YOU WILL HAVE TO PUT THE PET DOWN.

There's no test to tell you if your pet actually has it, if it's been bitten (unless it's pretty obvious that the pet has been bitten), if your pet actually is developing rabies. There's no "cure" to fix this - you can put a dog in quarantine for six months (on your dime, mind you), but if the pet in question is a cat, the cat must be put down, because cats would have to be double-caged for the quarantine, and cats really don't like being caged.

There is nothing you can do but pray that rabies check on the animal who bit your pet comes back negative. Please explain to me why we have not developed something akin to the buttload of shots that humans get for animals. I don't quite understand why we haven't worked on this issue - putting down animals that may or may not actually have rabies? Isn't that a little inhumane? Isn't that just a bit cruel? We can put tiny little chips into an animal that can be scanned if it gets lost. We can treat a diabetic cat the same way we treat human diabetics. We can treat cancer, prolong life, we can send monkeys to the moon, and we haven't made any progress whatsoever as far as rabies and pets?

Who thought up this brilliance? Put the word out - if you know anyone in the veterinary industry that develops products, let me know, and maybe we can get a petition up.

In the meantime, I'm going to go hope like hell that test comes back negative...

Baby seals!

Today is brought to you by Baby Seals! The Humane Society is holding a petition to save Baby Seals. The US House of Representatives passed a resolution to ban baby seal hunting in Canada, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to stop. Signing a petition to help that - and to pledge not to buy seafood products from Canada - will definitely be a start. There's a commercial seal hunt going on for baby seals, and Canada has not as of yet, that I know of, eradicated this hunt.

Harp (pictured) and hooded seals are the targets of this killing - and most of them are babies, less than three months old. I'm POSITIVE that someone besides me is at the very least pissed off and a bit sad about this, if not enraged and sniffly. Come on, people, have a heart - look at that cute little snow-touched face! Imagine the tiny little baby seal wriggling after its mom, squeaking and making seal noises quite happily. You can help that little puffball of white fur grow up and have its own baby seals that will follow in a line down to the water, learning how to dive after fish and chase after birds.

For the love of God, people, the "approved" ways of killing these seals involve guns, wooden clubs, and ICE PICKS. Ice picks! Who the hell kills anything with an ice pick, unless you're stranded on top of an icy, dark mountain, holding on to your guiderope for dear life as the elements converge around you? I think we all might want to get away from the "hey, we're still living in trees and throwing rocks at monkeys!" mentality. Don't kill baby seals just for the sake of having something to hunt. Go to your local grocery store and buy a freaking sandwich. And go sign up to save baby seals, while you're at it.

American Humane Association

The American Humane Association is striving to do something that really means a lot to me - protect and help save wildlife. Nature is something incredibly important to me, as you will undoubtedly find out if you stick around on this blog for long - hopefully it is something that will be important to you, as well. I'm likely what could be called a tree-hugging, animal-loving hippie - which is to say that I adore animals, and will do anything in my power to help keep those that belong in the wild free and healthy.

The AMA are some of the people that rush in to save animals when there are natural disasters, such as the recent flooding in Oklahoma. When everyone is evacuating and in a state of panic, sometimes our best companions are left behind - our pets. Our beloved animals who sit with us when we're sad or lonely, who roll around on the floor to make us laugh. An AMA team was dispatched to Oklahoma to rescue these animals - and hopefully to reunite them with their family.

This association is really full of kind, caring people - but very few associations, care centers, or rehabilitation facilities get the funding they need - and some aren't even federally funded at all. In order for them to continue saving our puppies and kitties, as well as lynxes and falcons, we need to show them our support. Go to the American Humane Association and donate now, if you're feeling in a charitable mood. Even $5 will help someone get home.

Wildlife rehabilitation.

For the animal lovers out there, I just visited a wonderful place - Hawk Creek, a wildlife rehabilitation facility in New York. There are no words that could adequately describe just how wonderful the volunteers at this facility are - everyone there clearly loves animals so much, and the money they make goes toward taking care of the animals, whether it be through donations, or sales of items (t-shirts, et cetera). They aren't federally funded, and yet they spend so much time, effort and money taking care of so many different animals.

I'm likely to mention Hawk Creek an awful lot on this blog - I truly feel as if they are doing something worthwhile. There are tons of different kinds of animals that you can help to feed, or provide for, and they need all the help they can get. There's no better way to show that you care about the wildlife in your area than to look around for your nearest rehabilitation facility and donate your time or some money to their efforts.

It's incredible. I urge you to go to your nearest wildlife rehabilitation facility and donate, volunteer, give some of your time or money to support nature and wildlife before there's nothing left to support.