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London’s Furriest Tourist Spot Best Friends May/June 1999 All the good news about animals, wildlife, and the earth Where Every Day is Take Your Dog to Work Day Wild Parrots Who Enjoy the City Life Are You a Matisse or a Picasso? (Two Cats Can Help You Decide!) Top Ten Signs Your Cat Is Part of a Global Conspiracy BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 1 Best Friends M A G A Z I N E M a y / J u n e 1 9 9 9 contents ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ features Mysteries of Life • Message from Mars • How ducks sleep • Amazing cockroaches • Deep denizen? Heroes & Heartwarmers • Quake survivor is a sweetheart • Stroll’s over, Beethoven • These piggies never go to market • Praising Private Fido No More Homeless Pets • Planning to save every pet: How Maddie’s Fund is helping homeless animals. Animals & Society • Wrestler goes to the mat for chickens • Primates go ape over new law • The real Pythagorean theorem • Animal news from around the world Life on the Wildside • In search of the real anaconda • Parrot-dise in the city • Frankly, my dear, I do give a hoot • March of the mutant fire ants Hollywood Hound • Getting on the Letterman show • Custody battle at the BBC • Romeo’s vintage fashions Videos • Revisiting Babe: Pig in the City • Young director’s guinea pig trilogy From Best Friends • Where every day is Take Your Dog to Work Day • Spring smiles • Home of the Gods Members & Pets • Adopting “special needs” animals • Wild about ferals! • Are you a Matisse or a Picasso? • Tips for multiple pet households • Letters • Sweet Memories • Adoptions On the Light Side • Top 10 signs your cat is involved in a global conspiracy • Great coffee secret? • Cat haiku • Jim the psychic wonder dog • Pup passes the bucks • Armani goes down the drain ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ 5 28 8 ○ ○ ○ ○ London’s furriest tourist spot The Dogs’ Home Battersea 7 10 Praying with pugs and poodles ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE Editor: Michael Mountain Managing Editor: Steven Hirano Assistant Editor: Estelle Munro Senior Editor: Julie Richard Associate Editors: Kristi Littrell, Tony Peach Cartoons: George Kehew, Steven Hirano Photos: Jana de Peyer, Harry Munro Advertising: Claire Ives BEST FRIENDS ANIMAL SANCTUARY Sanctuary Director: Faith Maloney Rescue Outreach: Francis Battista Regional Programs: Gregory Castle Best Friends Vet: Richard Allen, DVM Dogtown: Sherry Woodard TLC Cat Club: Judah Nasr, Vivian Ebbs Horses and Burros: Carrie Godbe Feathered Friends: Sharon St. Joan Bunny House: Chandra Forsythe Treasurer: John Fripp ○ 12 On the cover: Charlotte, who lives at the Wildcats Village at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. Photo by Harry Munro. Best Friends Magazine is published by Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, the nation’s largest sanctuary for abused and abandoned animals. Best Friends, located at Angel Canyon, in the majestic red-rock country of southern Utah, is also home to a host of wildlife who find sanctuary here. Best Friends operates a low-cost spay/ neuter program and sponsors a nationwide network of members in rescue, foster care and humane education. The sanctuary is supported primarily by memberships and donations, and subscriptions to this magazine. Your contributions are tax-deductible. ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ 16 17 18 24 38 Best Friends Animal Sanctuary Kanab, Utah 84741-5001 (435) 644-2001 fax: (435) 644-2078 e-mail: editor@bestfriends.org http://www.bestfriends.org BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE is published by Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, Kanab, Utah 84741-5001. Subscriptions are $25. (6 issues per year.) Third class postage paid at Berne, Indiana. Vol. 8, issue 3 © 1999 Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. All rights reserved. 2 BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ 3 4 To Kill or Not To Kill . . . . . .that’s no longer the question from the editor To Kill or Not To Kill... that’s no longer the question By Michael Mountain ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ In the final analysis, then, all of us who care about animals are part of the no-kill movement. “ ” Nobody who works at an animal shelter or humane society wants to kill the animals who are brought to them. Humane workers only do it because they see no alternative. The no-kill movement began as an attempt to bring some relief, not only to the animals, but to the people trying to deal with this seemingly insoluble problem. Best Friends, for example, grew out of a group of friends, back in the 1970s, who used to go to our small local humane society once a month to adopt as many as possible of the animals who would otherwise have to be killed. Back then, we could never take home enough to bring an end to the monthly killings altogether. But it was better than doing nothing. We could certainly nurse lots of the animals back to health, give them some simple house training, and find new homes for them. The idea that we might somehow be in competition with those dear ladies at the humane society never remotely crossed anyone’s mind – ours or theirs. They were doing what they could to help the animals, and we were doing what we could to help them help the animals. Not every community has enjoyed a good relationship between no-kill shelters and humane societies. The plight of animals can be so overwhelming that sometimes the only relief is to take your sense of helplessness out on someone else. While some humane societies have been able to adopt a no-kill approach themselves, in other cases festering sores and raw wounds have developed between the traditional humane societies and the fastgrowing no-kill movement. For any organization to accuse another of being the cause of the animals suffering can strike a wound that’s very difficult to heal. It’s also, for the most part, untrue. The reason the animals are homeless is perfectly straightforward: their families abandoned them. In the final analysis, then, all of us who care about the animals are part of the nokill movement. We all want the killing to stop. And the opportunity is now truly within our grasp. Several more major cities across the nation have recently set plans in motion toward the goal of No More Homeless Pets. They include New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Las Vegas. For communities that have the will but lack the means, the cavalry is now on the horizon in the form of Maddie’s Fund, a $200 million foundation that will be offering substantial grants for well-organized, cooperative, local spay/neuter and adoption programs. Still, we live in a shallow, throwaway society. Latest studies indicate that most homeless pets are abandoned by people in their thirties who are moving house or changing their lifestyle – searching, perhaps for more meaning, depth, or love in their lives. If only they knew! Changing attitudes like these will take more than grants and programs. But that’s where you and I can help. All major social advances are led by people who care enough to set the right example. We can start by adopting homeless animals ourselves, making them part of our family, and taking good care of them. And we can set an example of living by the Golden Rule in our own lives, treating others, both people and animals, as we ourselves would want to be treated. We’ll not only be helping to guarantee a good home for every dog or cat who is ever born. We’ll also be setting a cornerstone of love for the new millennium. BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 3 mysteries of life Initial tests were inconclusive, but many scientists now believe that, viewed through a powerful scanning electron microscope, they can see what appear to be the remains of “nanomicrobes.” These minute life forms, which have until now eluded observation on our own planet, let alone on Mars, may possibly be the most abundant life form on Earth. They may also, apparently, cause kidney stones. pitch darkness. Cockroaches have been perfecting their remarkable skills for 400 million years – the same skills that make them so unwelcome in people’s homes. Their lightning reactions, which make them so hard to swat, indicate a highly developed, efficient nervous system. Their key sensory organ: the long antennae that carry signals to the brain where extra-large neurons are ready to retransmit the signals out to their legs. But how the nerves in the antennae carry the signals so fast is still a complete mystery. Are Sleeping Ducks Keeping an Eye on You? (Yes, but just one at a time) (As if anyone would want to!) They can zigzag up to 25 times each second, racing along at three feet per second and navigating the most difficult of twisting, turning passages at full speed in 4 BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ This happy-looking Martian, the crater Galle, seems delighted to be visited by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft which is currently orbiting the planet and taking photos. Last t i m e Earthlings scanned the surface of Mars for familiar faces, in 1976, the Viking Orbiter got a somewhat less enthusiastic greeting from a much glummerlooking fellow in the Cydonia region. Martians seeking recognition from Earth have good reason to be smiling. New scans of a Martian meteorite reveal tiny structures that look just like fossilized bacteria. The meteorite, about 1.37 billion years old, was shot into space when a giant asteroid crashed into Mars hundreds of millions of years ago. Lost in space since then, it fell to Earth in 1911, landing in Egypt. It seems that, to keep an eye out for possible trouble, ducks often sleep with one eye open. That means that only half of a duck’s brain is actually asleep at any given time. When several of them are sleeping together in a row, the ones on the outside are at greater risk from predators, so they do the one-eye-open thing more than those on the inside. The truly unique aspect of the birds’ sleep patterns, according to biologists, is that they can control these sleep patterns. Being literally half-asleep is not a technique that’s available to most of us humans. Yes, Netizens, now you can join the search for the Loch Ness Monster nightly, right from your own home, via Live-Cam, on the World Wide Web. Simply log on to the Loch at www.lochness.scotland.net and be the first to spot this denizen of the deep. Four cameras now scan the famous sea serpent’s deep hideout in Scotland, with infra-red eyes peering into the lake at night. The images are transmitted across the Internet. The web site is updated every 120 seconds, but don’t hold your breath: Cameras cannot penetrate the deep mists that often swirl across the loch. Chances are the elusive sea serpent will maintain her mystery. Why You Can’t Kill a Cockroach ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Message from Mars: Have a Nice Day! ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Will Deep Denizens Evade Netizens? heroes & heartwarmers Quake Survivor is a Sweetheart There’s no question she’s a sweetheart. But this little Sweetheart has been through some hard lessons in life. After the 1996 Northridge earthquake, the terrified kitty took off for three days. When she came back to her ravaged condo in the suburb of Sylmar, her owners were gone. For almost three years, she camped out on the condemned building’s front steps, holding a vigil for her people, certain they would return. Passersby noticed the skinny cat. One even tried to rescue her. But after only one night, she ran back to her old home and he thought that she just didn’t want a new person. Some neighbors cared for her in their way, pitching cans of open cat food over the fence so she’d have something to eat. Others weren’t as kind. Some saw the vulnerable little black cat as a target. She was kicked repeatedly, which damaged her back legs. A bald patch above her tail is a reminder of the day that someone thought it would be just so much fun to set her on fire. Then a newspaper columnist heard the tale of the little cat who maintained her watchful mission and wrote an article that turned her into an overnight celebrity. Animal lovers turned out to see the little girl, many bearing food. One of them, Jennifer Dowdall, knew that she had to do more. Jennifer says she has a particular affinity for black cats “because I think that they are often the most abused.” She drove to Sylmar and stood by the fence, watching as others called to the feline who, even more scared by the extra attention, was hiding under a bush. Jennifer watched as people tossed food over the fence. Cat food was strewn all over the ground with ants crawling on it. The once-skinny cat had now become overweight from the abundance of food tossed her way and the lack of care. Stooping down, Jennifer called quietly to Sweetheart and the cat must have known that this soft-spoken lady was different from the rest because she came immediately. Not wanting to startle the cat or scare her away, Jennifer decided to come back the next day with proper rescue equipment. Her widowed father, Owen, with whom she lives, came, too. Owen pulled down the fence while Jennifer reached over and picked up Sweetheart and put her in a cat carrier. The two returned a few days later and left a sign for all of Sweetheart’s fans: “Don’t worry about Sweetheart; she now has a good home.” The first week was a difficult adjustment. Sweetheart felt safest under the bed and the vet confirmed that she had been severely abused. Jennifer and her father gave her all the time she needed to adjust. They knew they had made an emotional breakthrough when, at the end of the first week, Sweetheart accidentally escaped through the door. A distraught Jennifer thought she was gone for good, but an hour later Sweetheart was sitting in the yard. The feline had learned her best lesson in life: that real loyalty and love are for keeps. “She’s the most wonderful cat,” Jennifer says, stroking the now trim and silky black fur. The same can be said of her rescuers. Stroll’s Over, Beethoven Perhaps he was discovering history. Or perhaps he just wanted to see Paris. But Beethoven, a five-year-old white spitz, wandered from his owners in the small southern French town of Carpentras and walked 400 miles, almost the entire RhineRhône corridor, to Nomeny, near the French/German border, before being found. Locals saw the dog and he was identified through an ear tattoo. But it wasn’t all just a pleasant interlude for the canine. During his seven-month trek, the big pooch had to endure the scorching heat of one of France’s hottest summers ever, followed by some of the coldest winter days ever recorded there. Nonetheless, Beethoven’s owners said the pup seemed filled with “joie de vivre” upon his homecoming. BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 5 heroes & heartwarmers Praising Private Fido Canine veterans deserve a memorial, too If you tell her your boyfriend is “a real pig,” Lynette Warren will assume you’re very happy with him. The accidental owner of Pigs A Lot rescue in Tucson, Arizona, didn’t mean to start her own sanctuary. It’s just that she couldn’t say no to one of these creatures in need. And after the demise of the pot-bellied pig craze in the ’80s, there were a lot of animals who suddenly became needy. When word spread that Lynette had her own pig, Wilber, and that she loved the rotund creatures, her phone started ringing. Since the “trend” had become passé, people began bringing her pigs that they had once bought for as much as $500. When her own piggy bank began to empty caring for them all and she put word out that she simply couldn’t accept any more, people began driving up to her house and just letting their pigs out. One woman even shipped hers in from New York. Now with a group of 85 with names like T-Bone, Arnold, Harley, and Annie, Lynette is trying to cope with the expense and care of so many pigs. She cares for them all herself – along with two children – providing them with food, shelter, vet care, and a whole lot of love. She’s hoping to meet other pig lovers who might give some of her brood a loving new home and needs donations to keep her own place a true pig heaven. If you would like to donate food, money, pig supplies, volunteer assistance or adopt a pig, contact Lynette at Pigs A Lot, 10909 W. Mars, Tucson, AZ 85743. Phone: (520) 682-0310. Fax: (520) 682-0984. Email: Pigsalot@juno.com 6 ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ These Piggies Never Go to Market A Vietnam War dog handler embraces his war dog while serving his country. Charlie Cargo with 48 Inf PLT Scout Dog For one Vietnam veteran, there are some very important names missing from the Vietnam War memorial in Washington: the country’s war dogs. About 4,000 dogs were trained at Fort Benning and sent to Vietnam to serve as scouts, sentries, and combat trackers. Most didn’t make it back. Jesse Mendez, the head war dog instructor at the base, thinks their service has long been overlooked and is raising money to build two war dog memorials, one in Washington D.C. and one in California at the nation’s largest veteran cemetery. “Some people thought of the dogs as a novelty,” says Mendez, “but their contributions were every bit as important as the others.” Another Vietnam vet and veterinarian agrees. John Kubisz, who served with a veterinary detachment in Vietnam, said, “There would be a whole lot more than 50,000 names on the memorial wall without these dogs. I don’t think the average American even knows the role they played.” Dogs were also used in World War II but were given greater recognition. At the end of the Vietnam War, only 180 dogs came home. Classified as equipment or surplus armaments, many were simply left in their kennels, their fate unknown. In contrast, Mendez remarks, the dogs that served in World War II were shipped back to the States and returned to their owners. Many even came home with medals. For more information, or to send a donation, write to Vietnam Dog Handlers’ Association, c/o Randy Kimler, 2044 Llano, Port Neches, TX 77651 BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 no more homeless pets Planning to Save Every Pet By Gary Bogue Five nonprofit animal welfare organizations are set to begin an ambitious five-year program to end the killing of adoptable dogs and cats in Contra Costa County, California. Maddie’s Fund, formerly the Duffield Family FoundaTony La Russa’s Animal Rescue tion, has picked this San Foundation is one of several groups Francisco Bay Area in his neighborhood helping to bring community as the “beta- an end to the killing of homeless pets. test” site to help develop a $200 million plan to turn the United States into a “no-kill nation.” PeopleSoft, Inc., founder Dave Duffield and his wife, Cheryl, put up the money last fall. They also hired Richard Avanzino, former president of the San Francisco SPCA, as the fund’s first CEO and leader of its unique campaign. “We believe Contra Costa has all the ingredients for making a superb example for the nation,” Avanzino said in a January 31st story in the Contra Costa Times. Participating groups include Community Concern for Cats (CC4C), Contra Costa Humane Society (CCHS), Feral Cat Foundation (FCF), Friends of (Antioch) Animal Services (FAA), and Tony La Russa’s Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF). The Contra Costa Animal Services Department and the City of Antioch Animal Services Department, the only animal shelters in the county, will also participate by making their adoptable animals available for placement through the collaborating groups. They will also help develop a statistical baseline for the project by providing vital statistics on the cats and dogs in the county’s shelter system for the length of the grant. ARF wrote the original grant proposal and has submitted it to Maddie’s Fund for approval. It is presently working with Avanzino to modify the proposal so that it meets all the fund’s guidelines. ARF will work with the other groups as the administrative team leader of the project. The groups have set three primary goals for the first year: 1. To spay/neuter at least an additional 12,000 dogs and cats in the county as measured by the baseline. 2. To increase the numbers of dogs and cats adopted in the county by at least 1,200. 3. To reduce the deaths of dogs and cats in county shelters by at least 1,200. In order to reach this stage, a number of “partners” have worked together. Mike Ross, director of the county’s Animal Services Department, and his staff have met weekly with ARF and CCHS. Grant partners have met together regularly to develop specific roles in the project. Dave Stegman, executive director of ARF, has met with the county Veterinary Medical Association to explore ways of increasing the spay/neuter surgeries local vets are performing. It’s a long, slow process to build the infrastructure needed to turn the county into a no-kill county in just five short years. Stegman says everyone, including all the county residents, are up to it. “Our challenge is to save lives on a massive basis and we’re going to do it.” Avanzino says all the pieces of the puzzle have yet to be put together. “But it sounds like we’re doing better than a couple of months ago,” he laughed. “In fact on May 1st, it is hoped that the project will be operational.” A positive effect of this work is already apparent. The local animal welfare community has organized itself into the county Animal Welfare Coalition, and meets monthly to discuss ways of dealing with local animal problems. “I think the first year’s grant will be in the neighborhood of $600,000,” said Avanzino. “The entire 5-year project should cost approximately $4 million.” To make life interesting and sweeten the pot, there will be a $1 million “Accomplishment Award” if the partners reach their nokill goal before the 5-year deadline. At the grant’s conclusion, figures should total 60,000 dog and cat additional spay/neuter surgeries and at least 18,000 fewer pets euthanized. Stay tuned. This promises to impact shelters and nonprofit animal welfare organizations nationwide before it’s over. Gary Bogue is the daily pet and wildlife columnist for Contra Costa Newspapers and former executive director of Tony La Russa’s Animal Rescue Foundation. How to Apply for a Grant from Maddie’s Fund The guidelines for obtaining a grant from Maddie’s Fund can be found on the Internet at www.maddies.org. You can write for a copy to: Maddie’s Fund, 2223 Santa Clara Ave., Suite B, Alameda, CA 94501. Phone: (510) 337-8989. Fax: (510) 337-8988. E-mail: info@maddies.org. The fund has already had over 1,000 inquiries about their work. You are encouraged to review the guidelines carefully before submitting your grant requests. If a request is rejected for any reason, you will have to wait a year before resubmitting a new one. So it’s in your best interest to get everything right the first time. Richard Avanzino says he thinks the results and resource commitment should more than outweigh the difficulty of preparing a grant. If you succeed in obtaining one, it will in many cases be a multi-year grant for millions of dollars. BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 7 animals & society Praying with Pugs and Poodles Light illuminates the gothic stained-glass windows. The organ strikes a resounding, stirring chord. The choir raises their voices in reverent song. The dogs howl. Howl? Yes, indeed. Despite its imposing pulchritude, it’s “All Dogs Allowed” at Manhattan’s Episcopalian Church of the Holy Trinity. (Cats, too, if anyone likes.) Assistant Rector, Reverend Paul Williams, believes the philosophy purely embodies God’s spirit and intent. “We believe all creation is good: the good, the bad, and the ugly. If all creation is good, then there is something to be gained by our attempt to appreciate it. Looking at forests or sunsets or pets or hurricanes helps us. These are all part of nature and God has created them, so they’re good and each one teaches us an aspect of God.” Reverend Williams keeps a sense of humor when the dogs in attendance try to audition for the choir. “I just think they’re trying to sing, too. We try to do the same thing with the dogs that we do with infants. We encourage parents to bring their children to church, so we don’t discourage them when they start to cry.” Not everyone in the parish is keen to have canine accompaniment, though. Some parishioners would prefer services to be devoted exclusively to human worship. But any debate on that is long over. The church’s rector, Herbert Draesel Jr., established an agreement that pet owners would attend the two earliest morning services that are less crowded. And Rev. Williams says that for every member that isn’t exactly an animal lover, a pet fan comes into the fold for the very reason that animals are allowed. ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ By Emma Casey Ministering to the dogs at St. Clements. “We have a newcomer dinner every six to eight weeks,” he says. “We go around the room and meet everybody and ask how they found the church. There’s always one or two who say they’ve come specifically because of the pet policy.” The doggie welcome mat was put out two and half years ago when one regular churchgoer, children’s book illustrator Judith Gwyn Brown, became ill with the flu. Having only the energy to attend church or walk her dog, she decided to walk the dog to church. Sitting in the back row, she nervously awaited an eviction glance from Reverend Draesel as he walked down the aisle. Instead, he invited her and her pup to the altar where she took communion. Word spread that animals were welcome and others started bringing their pets – including both rectors. But Rev. Williams learned that his rambunctious friendly lab does better in the church after hours. “He thinks of church as a place to play,” Williams explains. “So I don’t bring him to the services. I bring him with me during the week and play hide and seek with him down the aisles. He loves it. He runs in and out of the pews and between the pillars. But he’s a typical yellow lab. He loves to chase people and other animals. I could never control him during a service.” The love of animals extended by both men isn’t confined to Outside Manhattan’s Church of the Holy Trinity 8 BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 Photos: Denise Kelly Back from the Brink animals in attendance. Both have spoken from the pulpit about animals that are abandoned or killed in shelters. Both encourage adoptions. Several members of the flock have heeded the call and rescued pets. Across town at St. Clement’s, another Episcopalian church, the pro-pet philosophy has been taken a step further. It’s a world apart from Holy Trinity in decor and neighborhood. While the latter looks as though it was drawn from an English history book and serves an upscale neighborhood, St. Clement’s is in the center of what used to be called Hell’s Kitchen and it ministers to the poor and middle class from inside a theatre. “We set up the altar on whatever set happens to be up,” Tricia Vivado, the former church treasurer says. “Right now the set is a living room, so it’s very interesting.” St. Clement’s has a small family-like atmosphere with only about 40–50 people attending the Sunday service. That atmosphere lends itself well to embracing animals. Like Holy Trinity, the policy was never planned; it began as an experiment. When the church was seeking a volunteer treasurer, Vivado, who works for JP Morgan in commercial mortgage finance, stepped up to the job. But loathe to leave her beloved cocker spaniel, Molly, home on the weekends as well as during her normal work hours, she asked if the pooch could accompany her to the church. A vote was taken and the agreement was to try it. Molly became such a fixture, greeting parishioners warmly, that others began bringing their dogs. It was soon dogma that God welcomed animals! The church is now so well known for its embrace of the animals that it’s been able to open a much-needed animal clinic into the neighborhood. “We had been talking about how we’d like to establish a vet clinic for homeless people,” Vivado explains. “Then an article appeared in a magazine about us and money started coming in. Then a veterinarian called and offered to donate her services.” The clinic opened in March and will operate two Saturdays a month, offering general vet care and vaccinations. The whole parish has gotten behind the effort. One attendee, a woodworker, built an exam table; another donated time to put up lights in the examination area; still others will act as vet techs. The ASPCA has offered to send over their mobile spay/ neuter van. And the church is hoping that once the word gets around, others will step forward to donate goods and services. They have set up a fund to care for animal problems in the community and hope to minister to pets in many various ways in the future. But for now, the clinic and the Sunday services will be at the forefront of their efforts to embrace animals in the community. So, if you walk by a church and hear what sounds like a lot of wailing sirens, don’t get confused. There’s no fire – at least not one that needs to be put out. Just a lot of warm-hearted people and their pooches observing church policy: “Dogs Aloud Here!” Orangutans from the Fire Ten orangutans are back home in the rain forest of Borneo. They had been rescued last year during the devastating fires that swept their homelands in the rain forests of the South Pacific. Since then, they have been cared for at the Wanariset Orangutan Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre, which is supported in part by the World Society for Protection of Animals. The group will join a set of 12 other orangutans who were released a few months ago. Saving the Black-Footed Ferret Efforts are underway to save the black-footed ferret, now the rarest mammal in North America. As prairie grasslands have disappeared from the Midwest and Western states, so has the ferret. Now the Black-Footed Ferret Recovery Implementation Team is reintroducing captive-bred ferrets back into the wild. 400 ferrets live in a breeding facility in Wyoming and at zoos across the U.S. Their offspring are helping to boost numbers in Wyoming and new colonies have been released in Montana, South Dakota, Arizona, and Colorado. “ They are all part of nature and God has created them, so they’re good and each one teaches us an aspect of God. Saga of Love Has Fairy-tale Ending The drama started when a goose was found shot in the head with an arrow at the Star Hill Golf Club in North Carolina. His mate wouldn’t leave his side until rescuers carefully lifted him away and took him to the hospital. Hopes were not high for his recovery but, perhaps knowing that he had the love of a good woman to come home to, the goose not only survived, he made a full recovery. When he was returned to his pond, his mate called to him with an enthusiastic honk from across the water. The couple then greeted each other by lifting their bodies out of the water and flapping their wings simultaneously before swimming off together into the sunset. “It was wonderful,” said Winston Cardwell, a wildlife biologist who watched the reunion. “It was beautiful. This is what makes it all worthwhile.” ” To donate money, food, supplies or equipment to St. Clement’s Church for the animals, call (212) 246-7277, ext. 35. BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 9 animals & society Going to the Mat for Chickens To fans, he’s considered an irresistible force. When it comes to animals, he’s more of a gentle giant. World Championship Wrestling star Bill Goldberg has a soft spot for defenseless creatures and is putting his fame and popularity to good use. The wrestler, who defeated Hulk Hogan for the heavyweight title, recently marched his 6-foot-4, 285-pound frame into the halls of Congress to lobby for new laws to bring an end to the “sport” of cockfighting. Although his own chosen profession is a bit on the violent side, Goldberg insists that such contests aren’t for animals. “When I step into the ring, that’s my choice,” he asserts, “But these animals, they have no choice. It’s sick.” Cockfighting is still legal in Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Louisiana. In Virginia, the only restriction is against people betting on the fights. Goldberg’s mission received a boost recently when Colorado Senator Wayne Allard introduced Bill 345 in Congress calling for the end to interstate transport of roosters for the purpose of fighting in states where it is still legal. The 31-year-old Goldberg has vowed to go to the mat to bring an end to all forms of animal blood sport. Primates Go Ape Over New Law New Zealand plans to give great apes the equivalent of human rights A bill going through parliament in New Zealand would give gorillas, chimps, and orangutans the right to life, the right not to suffer cruel or degrading treatment, and the right not to take part in any but the most benign of experiments. “The idea is to set a precedent that other countries can follow,” said Dr. David Penney a biologist at Massey University. Scientists in other countries who use animals in medical experiments are alarmed. “If you argue for rights [for] the great apes,” said Frans de Waal of the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center in Atlanta, Georgia, “then ... eventually even the humble lab rat wins rights.” (Right on, Doc!) Zoos are also watching these developments closely – especially after Tammy and her fellow chimps at Salt Lake City’s Hogle Zoo rioted and attacked one of the employees. Tammy was banished to a zoo in Kansas, but only after animal legal rights groups had argued that chimps share enough DNA with humans to be covered by the Bill of Rights, workers’ compensation, and military service. “This is what happens when you put them in cages unfairly,” said chimp expert Roger Fouts, noting that chimp behavior is remarkably diverse, just like our own. Fouts believes that zoos and laboratories are no place for chimps. “There’s only one place that chimps belong,” he says, “and that is Africa.” 10 BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Pythagoras’ Theorem of Life: Animal News From Around the World Rio de Janeiro: Fixing City Strays. A radical new program is setting out to spay/neuter the city’s hordes of unwanted dogs and cats. The “castramobile,” a roving minivan, will tour the teeming slums of Brazil’s largest city, seeking out strays and fixing them at no cost to the neighborhood people. The Castramobile project was launched by the mayor, with strong encouragement to wealthier citizens to get their animals fixed themselves and acknowledging that simply killing stray animals has proved completely futile. Fifteen puppies and forty-five kittens are born for every human baby in Rio. Europe: No More Battery Hens. The European Parliament has voted to end battery cages for hens within 10 years. “This is a tremendous day,” said Philip Lymbery of Compassion in World Farming. “Battery cages are the oldest and perhaps cruelest of all factory farm systems. Hens are imprisoned in these cages and cannot even stretch their wings.” U.K.: Puppy Mills Shut Down. New laws, expected to be passed shortly, will shut down puppy mills by making it illegal for breeders to let dogs have more than six litters. Violators will be banned from owning dogs and could go to prison, too. Fur Farms, Too? A second bill being introduced to parliament would make it a criminal offense to kill or breed animals like mink for the primary purpose of selling their fur. San Diego County to Phase in No-Kill Policy. County supervisors voted unanimously to stop the killing of adoptable dogs and cats within five years from now. The new no-kill policy will focus on vigorous spay/neuter programs and encouraging people to adopt older animals. Switzerland: Cow Liberation. New laws require farmers to let their cows spend 13 days each month roaming outdoors rather than being kept on a tether or cooped up in a barn. While many animal activists are pleased, others are not so sure: Some of the nation’s cows, used to being warm indoors in the cold winter, have been having a hard time adjusting to the “healthy” new regimen! South Africa: Tammy Gets Her Own Guard Dog. Tammy, a two-year-old Border collie, has been so successful at her job that smugglers have put a price on her head. Tammy has sniffed out millions of dollars-worth of illegally harvested shellfish at airports and harbors before they could be sold to Far East countries as aphrodisiacs. But police are worried about reliable reports that the crooks want to do away with Tammy, once and for all. So she now has her own guard dog and a series of “safe house” kennels. United Nations: Are Dogs Worth More than Diplomats? No, say budget busters at the United Nations, arguing that the salary of $150,000 being paid to Jerry the Labrador (or, rather, the company that owns him) is more than some top diplomats get paid. Too bad, reply bomb experts: Jerry can sweep a conference room for bombs in a matter of minutes. An entire city bomb squad would take up to two hours to do the same job. Be Kind to Animals While few people in ancient Greece and Rome apparently criticized the practice of keeping human slaves, their philosophers were deeply involved in questions concerning the rights of animals. Philosopher/mathematician Pythagoras was a famous champion of animals in the 6th century BCE. He is quoted as saying: “As long as man continues to be the ruthless destroyer of lower living beings, he will never know health or peace. As long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. He who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love.” Three centuries later, the Greek philosopher Porphyry, who considered himself a Pythagorean, advocated vegetarianism in his tract On Abstinence from Animal Foods. “Animals act savagely through want and hunger; but we act this way through insolent wantonness and pleasure, amusing ourselves in the Circus and murderous sports. Those who first perpetrated these iniquities fatally blunted the most important part of the civilized soul. Kindness to animals is an exercise of philanthropy and gentleness.” Ancient Rome, like our modern civilizations, was divided between those who cared about the animals and nature and those who did not. Writing in Rome at the same time that Jesus of Nazareth was preaching in Palestine, the philosopher/poet Ovid condemned cruelty to animals in his Metamorphoses: “Take not away the life you cannot give, “For all things have an equal right to live.” In the Roman Senate a few years later, about AD 50, Seneca admonished his colleagues, saying: “Let us ask what is best, not what is customary. Let us love temperance. Let us be just. Let us refrain from bloodshed. For none is so near the gods as he who shows kindness.” The Colosseum in Rome was well known for its bloodshed, although Hollywood appears to have greatly exaggerated the sea of blood that was spilled there. For example, when the soldierpolitician Pompey staged a slaughter of elephants, he provoked more public outrage over those killings than the loss of human life. Animal fights were eventually banned altogether in AD 523. BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 11 on the wildside In Search of the Real Zoologist Jesus Rivas and videographer Ed George have been uncovering the secrets of one of the world’s most magnificent creatures. By Max Hartnell ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Ed George and Jesus Rivas are both used to the inevitable question: “What did you think of the Anaconda movie?” Ed just laughs: “It was great fun. Absurd, but fun.” Jesus is less forgiving: In the savannah of Venezuela, Jesus Rivas, and Ed George pose with the anaconda who almost took Ed out! “They made up too many lies. If they’d done something more accurate, it would have been even more impressive. In Jesus has been studying the anacondas of South America for any case, the snakes can’t eat people that fast.” seven years – how they live, what they eat, how they reproduce, and, out of what he discovers, how to protect them. Born in Venezuela, he’d been fascinated with snakes since he was a child and the anacondas were always his favorite. He’d applied for a grant as a graduate student to study them further, but no funds were forthcoming. Then a burgeoning trade in anaconda skins suddenly came to light in Holland. Customs officials confiscated 2,600 skins at the airport. But this particular dark cloud turned out to have a silver lining. The plane had come from Venezuela, and CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, decided to find out how, and to what extent, the reptiles were becoming part of an illegal trade. Jesus got his grant. “Fortunately, they’re not being hunted very much,” says Jesus. “The real problem is the destruction of their habitat. We need to discover all we can about them so that, even if we’re interfering with them, we won’t be endangering the whole species.” Videographer Ed George and his assistant, Sean, joined Jesus and his wife, Renée Owens, on assignments from the Discovery “Sean just happened to have the camera rolling when an anaconda Channel and National Geographic. On a visit to Best Friends became out of the marsh behind me. She must have thought I was just fore returning to Venezuela with Jesus, Ed described one of the the right size for dinner. Jesus told me afterward that if she’d hit me scarier moments. she could have broken my back.” “The way you look for anacondas is to get out there and look 12 BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 Anaconda ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ in the water. You feel for them with your feet and you watch for movement in the water and in the hyacinths. “By sheer coincidence, Sean was on the bank shooting a behind-the-scenes piece for the Discovery Channel. At that moment, an anaconda comes out of the water right behind me and Sean catches it all on tape. “Sean shouted and we managed to catch the snake just before she caught me! Afterwards, I said, ‘Sean, if you hadn’t said anything, you’d have gotten an actual attack on film. It would have been amazing footage!’” Amazing footage, maybe, but it would have been the end of Ed’s career – maybe his life! “She was definitely ready to strike me,” he continues. “They are so strong and she weighed over a hundred pounds, so the blow of her striking me could have broken my back. “Their teeth are designed to hold their prey. Once she’d got me, she would have whipped herself around me and constricted. If I’d been by myself, there’s no question that I wouldn’t have survived. But if you’re with another person who knows what they’re doing, they can unwind the snake and you’ll be okay.” Both Ed and Jesus have been bitten – many times over. “It hurts like hell,” says Ed. “But they’re not poisonous and I’ve never gotten any infection afterwards. They’re very clean.” Jesus was actually caught by an anaconda once. “I was in a fairly deep river,” he recalls, “and the snake who bit me was much stronger than me. She started dragging me through the water. But when my friends took a hold of her, she let go. They’re not vengeful animals. She just wanted to get free. She realized I didn’t mean to be any threat to her.” Among the most fascinating and least understood aspects of anaconda life is their breeding habits. “They form breeding balls,” explains Jesus. “Anywhere from one to thirteen males will wrap around a single female. The slowmotion wrestling match and mating ritual that follows can last up to three weeks.” When Jesus comes across a breeding ball, he takes blood samples so that he can extract a DNA footprint for that particular snake. He keeps the female in an enclosure until she gives birth – to maybe 70 live babies. By checking the babies, he can determine if they have multiple fathers or just one from the breeding ball. Then the whole family is returned to the wild. Many of the youngsters will serve as food for caimans and other animals. But once they grow up, anacondas are truly formidable predators, able to kill and eat a fully-grown deer. The females weigh up to 215 pounds – 5 times as much as the males. Jesus’ delight is simply in knowing more about what he calls “this fantastic creature.” “The more we learn about them,” he says, “the more we realize we know almost nothing.” All in a Year’s Work For Ed, filming the anacondas is one of dozens of expeditions that take him all over the world during any given year. “Last year, we shot the golden eagles that the cossacks in Mongolia train like falcons. Then I was filming peregrine falcons on the north shore of Lake Superior, basking sharks off of the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea, a seal sanctuary in Holland, a couple of wildlife parks in England, a story on rheas (a kind of ostrich) in Brazil, a story about how the Conservation Society is putting satellite tags on harpy eagles to study their range and reproduction. And stories about black caiman, spectacled caiman, copibaras, piranhas ... that was all last year! “It’s amazing to see how much is out there and how vast places are without people. It’s amazing that you can go for days and days and days up the Orinoco or the Rio Negro and see no sign of people, and see unbroken rainforest. A lot of times I get into very remote places and there’s very little evidence of man. It’s nice to see that there are still places like that. “You’re right there in the circle of life and you’re part of it and you’re doing work that is hopefully making people more aware of this amazing diversity. Maybe it will help cajole them to be better stewards of the earth.” Anacondas share their domain with caiman, pictured here, and many other creatures. A young anaconda can serve as prey for a crocodile like this, but a fully grown anaconda is a match for almost any other animal. BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 13 on the wildside Parrot-dise in the City The wild parrots of San Francisco By Simone Szaraval He isn’t exactly the Birdman of Alcatraz, although you can see that island from his apartment. But he’s been called the Birdman of Telegraph Hill and that’s a perception that Mark Bittner has fought to overcome. The San Francisco guitarist doesn’t want to be thought of as the caretaker of 50 wild parrots, a man upon whom they rely for daily sustenance. He only wants to be known as “friend of the flock.” As he stands on his patio holding out sunflower seeds to the vibrantly green-colored birds that perch on his arms, shoulders, and wrists, Bittner explains, “When I feed them, it’s dessert. They don’t need it to survive. They’re not coming to me because they’re starving.” It’s not that Bittner is shirking a responsibility. He simply has a healthy respect for nature – and freedom. Wild parrots inhabit several large cities, including Miami and Los Angeles. Bird watchers say that as many as 4,000 live in L.A. suburbs, feasting on exotic plants. As with Bittner’s birds, no one is sure how they came to be there. Some say they were caged pets who escaped during the Malibu fires two years ago. Others insist that they flew up from Tijuana or fled from bootleggers spiriting them across the border. However they arrive, bird experts agree that they’ve returned to nature and nature takes care of them. Bittner agrees with that wholeheartedly. “Even my own relationship with them is a level of interference. It’s time for it to end.” The end of that relationship has caused quite a stir. Bittner, who began nurturing the parrots in 1990, has become a local celebrity. Pedestrians stop and stare skyward as the squawking flock lands twice a day on Bittner’s porch. But he is soon leaving California. News of his upcoming departure brought calls and e-mail flooding in asking, “Who will feed the birds?” City officials debated establishing feeding stations. Humane “rescue” efforts were considered. But Bittner argued that the best protection was freedom. “They are wild,” Bittner declares. “They want to be left alone.” Although he knows each of the birds personally, has cataloged their exploits in detail on his own website (www.wildparrots.com), and has given them names like Mingus, Sophie, Connor, and Dogen, Bittner is against any organized program. “Organization leads to cages. If that happened, I’d feel I’d had a bad influence on them.” The bird man’s intense freedom lobby paid off. When the City Commission met to discuss the parrots’ fate, Bittner presented an emotional slide show about the birds and an impassioned plea to leave them to nature. Commission members agreed. “We will make sure nothing bad is happening,” said president Richard Shulke. “But we won’t be feeding them or taking them to the vet.” Reassured that the birds will remain free, Bittner has invited a neighbor to take over his role as provider of occasional treats – just so the parrots don’t feel left in the lurch! Dr. Jordan Shlain has already begun feeding the flock, learning their names and unique personalities. And the birds are already visiting him each day. For Bittner, it’s the best of both worlds. “There were people before me,” he remarks. “And there will be people after me. But I know what [the parrots] want most of all: They want to be free.” “ I know what they want. They want to be free. ” 14 BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 Photos: Jacquelyne Cordes ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Frankly,MyDear, I Do Give a Hoot Just like in the movie, Ashley lost his beloved Melanie. Unlike in the film, he ended up with a new mate: Belle Watling. Gone With the Wind fans might cringe at the thought of the staid, poetic Ashley mixing it up with the notorious Ms. Watling, but one lonely trumpeter swan swimming the lake at Georgia’s Clayton College and State University was thrilled with the arrangement. (And, after all, Ms. Watling was the hussy with a heart o’ gold. Remember that money she slipped Miz. Melly in Rhett’s handkerchief to help all those poor Confederate boys?) When the school’s first pair of swans, Rhett and Scarlett, passed away, Ashley and Melanie were given the lake as their own. But Melanie recently went to swan heaven, too, leaving Ashley heartbroken and without even the distraction of raising son Beau. So school officials, who traditionally name their swans after characters in Margaret Mitchell’s novel, brought Belle to the lake. Spotting her as she emerged from her carrier, Ashley lifted his tail feathers in a heart shape. The pair honked and flailed at each other and when Belle flew off to have a look around her new domain, he followed. The happy couple was last spied floating down the lake together. Clearly it’s a match made in heaven, if not in fiction. March of the Mutant Fire Ants (Maybe they can help sort out our traffic jams?) By Craig Forman New, improved species of fire ants are on the move across the United States. Until recently, they could only survive in the warm, moist climate of the southern states. But new hybrid strains are heading north and west and have now arrived in California. Their preferred migration strategies include hitching rides on livestock that are crossing the country and bundling into giant balls that can float down flooded rivers. Fire ant stings are dangerous and increasing numbers of people are developing allergic reactions to them. California and other states are mounting a defense worthy of Star Wars. But some scientists warn against seeing the ants solely as enemies. Fire ants have already been noted for keeping down fleas, ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ticks, and cockroaches in cities, and other pests in rural areas. Other scientists note that studying the behavior of ants could make for a better world for all of us. “They are a very successful family,” says Craig Tovey of the Georgia Institute of Technology. “They are certainly coping with complex problems in an uncertain world.” Businesses and city planners could learn a lot from them, too. Without any training or organization charts, thousands of ants can figure out how to work together to build a new colony, find or farm their own food, look after their young, and dispose of their dead. They’ve been perfecting their skills over millions of years. One particular ant skill is of special interest: their ability to find quick ways around traffic snarls. Computer scientists refer to this as ant-colony optimization and it was the subject of a firstever conference of its kind in Brussels, Belgium, last November. Basically, when a traveling colony of ants is met by an obstacle like a puddle or a stick, the ants are remarkably smart at finding a quick way around or through the hold up. They do this by having several ants scouting all the time for new routes in case of trouble and leaving scent trails wherever they go. So, if the traffic snarls, a freshly mapped trail is immediately opened up. The ants’ technique could be applied to road traffic problems, air-traffic control delays, telephone line routing, and the burgeoning amount of traffic on the Internet. Some of those attending the Brussels conference described the new AntNet, a network of virtual computer ants that can scurry around the World Wide Web checking out traffic and sending back electronic pheromones instead of chemical ones. Better yet, nobody has yet been bitten by a virtual ant. BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 15 Hollywood Hound If They Hire Babe and Call It One Man and a Pig, Do They Still Have to Pay a Fee? The Battle of Britain could pale in comparison. A custody struggle is brewing in Blighty over the very popular One Man and His Dog. The beloved Sunday TV program that has showcased sheep herding competitions for the past 23 years was recently sent to dog heaven by network brass. Letters of protest poured in from around the world. Twenty-one Members of Parliament stepped into the fray, labeling the “Beeb” insensitive and signing a petition to save the show. (They couldn’t possibly be trying to sew up their constituencies, could they?) One country dweller complained that, “It is further evidence of the urbanization of our society, with the agenda being dominated by north London wine bars rather than the countryside.” Ouch! Rupert Murdoch’s competing satellite TV network, BSkyB, tried to calm the nation by announcing they would develop their own One Man and Dog show. But the BBC, in a supreme Grinch-like move, announced they would expect to be paid a “commercial rate” from any company airing any version of the show. This cheap move did not go down well with the International Sheepdog Society, which has provided trials virtually free of charge to the network all these many years. Now the Beeb is mumbling about reversing their decision, which could just turn the whole incident into a masterful publicity campaign to boost the show’s waning ratings. (not to mention the $200 vet bill one received when her little Chihuahua caught a cold), Penelope Francis and Yana Syrkin developed the Fifi and Romeo line of classic, film-inspired haute couture sweaters and coats for upscale dogs. But it’s not just a prettier sweater. It’s a vintage cashmere sweater. And just so owners won’t get embarrassed by their dogs donning daywear at night, there’s also a hand-beaded evening version. And the coats! They come in velvet or wool (both with faux-fur collars, of course), plus there’s hip, exotic rain gear. Trendy Hollywood and New York boutiques like Barney’s and Fred Segal are snapping up the line. Personalities like Joan Rivers, Bette Midler, Fran Drescher, Sarah Michelle Geller, and Gidgette, the Taco Bell dog, have taken a nibble at the finery. Comedienne Tracey Ullman bought a beaded cashmere sweater, and she doesn’t even have a dog. Dogs everywhere can have their chance at being the best dressed canine in town, even if they aren’t within driving distance of a Barney’s. Simply log on to www.FifiAndRomeo.com later this year, just in time for the new fall line. By Julie Richard Is It Considered Ordinary If He Just Brushed and Didn’t Floss? It might just be easier to get a green card in France. For that, you only have to prove that you’re the only one in the entire European Union who can do the job. But try to get your Fluffy or Fido on the Stupid Pet Tricks segment of The Late Show with David Letterman and you have to demonstrate that your animal can do something that, according to the segment’s talent scout, “no other animal can do.” Anywhere. That didn’t stop pet owners from trying when auditions were held up and down the East Coast recently. Unfortunately, a lot of talented animals apparently got stage fright at the auditions. One owner insisted her cat, Beast, loved to be vacuumed. (I personally don’t even want to know exactly how she made that discovery in the first place.) Beast, however, didn’t feel like getting “groomed” by a noisy sucking machine that day. When the Hoover was turned on, she recoiled in panic. Needless to say, Beast didn’t make the cut. While there was the usual share of the more “ordinary” tricks of tossing tennis balls, one woman brought Rikki, her cockatoo who, purportedly, loves to floss. Rikki did manage to open the container and pull some string but neglected to go the extra mile for good dental care. His owner did have a reasonable explanation for the bird’s petulance: “He likes unwaxed, minted floss,” she explained. “I was in a hurry and all I could get was the unflavored waxed.” 16 BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 Romeo! Romeo! Wherefore Art Thou, Vintage Cashmere Sweater? If you’re a celebrity with lots of disposable cash and you love your pooch, two Hollywood costumers know what you can do with those pesky extra bucks. Buy designer dog duds. Offended by what they believe to be the stodgy plaid dog coats sold in pet stores Videos for Animal Lovers Guinea Pig: the movie Babe: Pig in the City When Babe: Pig in the City was first released into theaters, critics slammed it as too dark a sequel for parents to bring their children to. I loved the original with its simple yet pointed message of communication, kindness, and acceptance. But when the sequel was released, I succumbed to the bad reviews and went to see A Bug’s Life which was released the same day, telling myself I’d catch the pig on video or pay-per-view. Now that it’s coming out on video, I’ve finally seen the Babe sequel and initially it left me quite disturbed. Like the original, it was entertaining, alternately amusing and poignant, and the animatronics and computer animation were still astounding. But in comparison to the first film, it was, well, just so different. Gone were the pastoral landscapes in favor of a cold, highly stylized cityscape. Gone were tender glances between farmer and pig. The singing mice were still there and I loved them. But the gentle spirited barnyard creatures were replaced with tough, sophisticated city animals who seemed to embody the spirit of backstabbing and manipulation of their human counterparts. But my initial reaction was wrong. Yes, Babe: Pig in the City is darker than the original, but Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, Bambi, and The Wizard Of Oz aren’t exactly bucolic picnics in the park, either. And the message Babe imparts to modern children and adults alike is certainly more profound than the hope that if you’re a nice girl, one day your prince will come. This is a fable about innocence and compassion, trounced by life but refusing to become cynical when faced with adversity. It’s a film every child needs to see to help them cope with a world that one day they will surely encounter. And it’s a film every adult should see to remind themselves that there is value in kindness even when you feel battered by life. Yes, it makes you sad to see a small, wide-eyed tabby kitten, cast off by her family, look up soulfully and declare that she’s hungry and cold. But the child who sees that will one day be an adult who may take that kitten in and give it a loving home. Like every dark Disney film that parents flock to take their kids to, Babe: Pig in the City has a happy ending to ameliorate any nightmares. All the animals get a cheerful home where they can frolic and be loved. This is, after all, still a fairy tale. – J.R ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ They’re cute. They’re furry. And they speak perfect English – well, with a bit of help. They’re the guinea pig stars of young upand-coming filmmaker Alyssa Buecker’s guinea pig trilogy. The 14-year-old has been gaining attention not only in her hometown of Lawrence, Kansas, for the amusing adventures of her pet guinea pigs, but also from Hollywood. When she entered her trilogy of shorts in the 1998 Sony/Visions of America Contest, she didn’t receive the grand prize but Hollywood did come calling in the form of HBO, who purchased the rights of all three films to air on their new family channel. Alyssa’s obvious enthusiasm for her subject is matched by her love of animals. Many of her guinea pigs were rescues – she and her family once rescued a gerbil missing his hind legs after learning that he was scheduled to become snake food. The first film starred only one guinea pig: Hazel. Alyssa wrote the script, shot the film with an 8-millimeter camcorder, voiced, and edited the picture. The second film, The Christmas Caper, involved a cast of 10 guinea pigs and won first place in the Kansas Film Festival’s primary division comedy-drama category. At eight minutes, the tale follows the trail of the missing Christmas lettuce, with Hazel once again appearing as the heroine who solves the mystery. Guinea Pigs from Mars, the story of outer-space guinea pigs landing on earth, was aided by a $100 award from the Lawrence Art Guild to help purchase props and videotapes. And like all good filmmakers, Alyssa’s work is improving with each film, as she becomes more sophisticated with story, filming, and editing. So check your TV listings for the most delightful guinea pigs to hit the small screen. And remember the name Alyssa Buecker. We have a feeling she’s going to be part of the next generation of directors to watch. – J.R. BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ 17 at the sanctuary Where Every Day is Tak By Kristi Littrell Message to dog lovers who hate having to leave Fido at home when you go to work: June 25th is the first annual Take Your Dog to Work Day in the United States. It’s sponsored by Pet Sitters International and you can get posters, guidelines, etc., to help you organize the day at your own place of work . . . . . . Of course, if you work at an animal sanctuary, like I do, every day is Take Your Dog to Work Day! It was always my dream to be able to bring my dog, Frosty, to work and now that I am a part of Best Friends, he gets to go with me every day. Why? Because this little darling doesn’t even give me a choice! If I leave him at home, he barks his piercing bark that grates on the best of nerves. He leaves scratch marks up and down the front door. Or, worst of all, he gives me that sad puppy-dog look that makes me feel guilty for going to work at all! Yes, he has his tricks, but so do I. Since he insists on coming with me, I put him to work, too! One of my jobs is to keep up on all the news at the sanctuary, and Frosty has become my conversational icebreaker. With his happy little tail and a lick, he can get information out of anyone! The Trouble with Twinkie Lots of other dogs belonging to staff people come to work every day, too – mostly because, like Frosty, they really can’t be left at home. (We’re all suckers when it comes to adopting the “unadoptable” ones ourselves.) At the Horse Haven, a cute and perky little Corgi named Twinkie is always standing by to greet Twinkie loves to “help” take care of the horses. But she’s not our top model for good behavior! 18 BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Frosty with Kristi at The Bunny House you. Twinkie comes to work with her person, Carrie, and wins the heart of everyone who visits the horses. She will pose on cue for photos with visitors and shows everyone a good time. But what you don’t see is that while she is a model of good looks, Twinkie is not a model for good behavior. She loves going to the horse pastures with us in the truck. But, in just a few short months, she has locked us out of the truck; once released the emergency brake and sent the truck rolling downhill; and turned the lights on and killed the battery. Trying to prevent any more terror at the workplace, Carrie left her home one day, only to return and find that Twinkie had ruined the carpet in “punishment” for this grave offense! Not all the dogs are quite so mischievous. Walter goes to work – or is it therapy – at the Welcome Center with Diane. He was very scared of people when Diane adopted him. But when Best Friends members come to visit the sanctuary, first stop is the Welcome Center, and that means a hug and a kiss for Walter. With all this “intensive care,” Walter has really come out of his shell and Diane is thrilled with his progress. ke Your Dog to Work Day ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ For the Cats, Every Day is Stay at Work Day! Almost every office at the sanctuary has its own cat-in-residence. (Make that cat-in-charge.) Baby Bonkers, for example, is in charge of all coffee-making in the office at the TLC Cat Club. Her office is the coffee cupboard where she delights in hiding, waiting for you to open the cupboard for a mug, and then taking a flying leap at you. (Be warned if you come to help at Cats!) Gizmo and Frankie rule the mailing office – one upstairs, one downstairs, both equally treacherous! Each of them is quirky and unpredictable. But large notices, telling people to “Beware of the Attack Cats” often go unheeded. (“Oh, this kitty is so cute, I’m sure he won’t mind if I pet him. Cats always love me. Really. Aaargh!”) Be warned, again, if you decide you simply have to visit the mailing office! Animal sanctuaries aren’t the only place where every day can be Take Your Dog to Work Day. Many businesses have realized that inviting pets into the workplace makes a better environment for everyone. So, send for a packet of information on this year’s Take Your Dog to Work Day, and see whether your own place of work can even become your best friend’s daily vacation. For more information on Take Your Dog to Work Day in your own workplace, contact Pet Sitters International at 418 East King Street, King, NC 27021-9163. Phone: (336) 983-9222. You can also register and order materials on their website at www.petsit.com Frankie is in charge of all mice upstairs at the mailing office. Baby Bonkers has her office in the coffee mug cupboard. Open it at your peril! Walter with Diane. Intensive hug therapy at the Best Friends Welcome Center! BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 19 at the sanctuary Spring Smiles at the Sanctuary Thanks to your kindness, they’re all living happily ever after! When you come to visit Best Friends, the ubiquitous Twinkie (right) will want to show you around as soon as she meets you. But watch out: she’s still trying to figure out where she is on the map! Mallory Williams invited Jacob the Cat to be her brother when she came to visit the sanctuary with her mother. Jacob agreed and they all went home together. About Our New Look Last year, we began including some color pages in Best Friends magazine. With this current edition, we are now able to go into full color – at no extra cost. The new all-color magazine is actually cheaper to print than previous issues. That’s because our circulation has just topped 100,000, which lowers the printing costs per copy quite dramatically. Later this year, the magazine will appear on selected news stands around the country. This will enable us to reach many more people than ever with the Best Friends message that kindness and compassion toward animals helps make a better world for all of us. Best Friends magazine is fully paid for by advertising and subscriptions. Donations to help the animals are not spent on publishing the magazine. “I can see you but you can’t see me.” Tew, one of the senior adoptable kitties at Benton’s House adoptable cats. 20 BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 Horse Haven manager Carrie Godbe with Eva, Tasha, and Ferdinand, three recently-arrived and very adoptable pet pygmy goats who now live with the other goats and sheep. Tate gets ready to go on a mobile adoption day. This lucky kitty won the jackpot and is now in a good new home. Dogtown staffer Doug Kim with Seiko. Dogtown manager Sherry Woodard at home with 17 abandoned puppies she’s fostering. BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 21 the golden circle Home of the Gods Zion National Park Angel Canyon, the home of Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, is at the heart of the Golden Circle of National Parks that include the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon, and Lake Powell. This is the first of a series about this Golden Circle of spectacular natural treasures. By Cyrus Mejia On your way to Zion National Park, you may find yourself stopping at Zions Bank, Zion Pharmacy, Zion Realty, Zion Plumbing, Zion Photography, Zion Dental Group, or even Zion Pizza & Noodle. If you’re coming in from the north, you’ll go through Mount Carmel and you’ll probably have seen signs to Moab, Enoch, Ephraim and other Old Testament-sounding names, too. Have you somehow time-warped into ancient Israel? No, you’re still in Southern Utah but the moment you get your first breathtaking glimpse of Zion National Park, you’ll understand why the European settlers of the mid-19th century believed they had found their Promised Land. Zion greets you gently with swirling pink and white rocks sculpted into checkerboards and whipped cream fantasies. Canyon walls sparkle with falling water. Side canyons disappear around mysterious corners in rocky cliffs, beckoning you to follow them to secret treasure. The narrow red road twists and turns and doubles back on itself as you wind through vista after vista. Then, just ahead of you, is a solid mountain. Until 1930, that was the end of the road. But construction of a 1.8-mile tunnel through the mountain had begun in 1927. When the tunnel was completed, it had already become part of the new public works programs that would help take the United States out of the Great Depression. (Note: Going through this tunnel today may still be 22 BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 the best prescription for anyone needing to come out of their own depression!) Don’t be distracted by the gasps of your passengers as you proceed through the tunnel. Occasional windows are giving them a fleeting glimpse of what is to come. When you emerge, you’re near the top of one of Zion’s vast arenas stretching out over several miles around and below you. And you’re ready to wind and twist your way down, down, down, to the very bottom. This is what the ancients called the Home of the Gods. And although they built advanced settlements all over the surrounding region, you’ll find barely a trace of a home, a rock carving, or any other remains of them here. How come? Was this truly, as legend has it, the home of their deities? Was that why they called it by a word that means simply “come out the same way that you go in?” Their successors, the European settlers, stood equally in awe. They named one of the towering, sheer cliffs the Great White Throne. From there, they ventured up the North Fork of the Virgin River and stood in yet another magnificent temple-like arena, which they called the Court of The Patriarchs. For all its splendor and grandeur, Zion is in many ways the easiest to visit of all the parks in the Golden Circle. It’s especially good if you’re traveling with grandma – or, indeed, if you are grandma – since you can actually “do” Zion literally without ever getting out of the car! If you do get out of the car, however, you’ll find endless rea- Photo: Harry Munro sons for not getting back in. Walk a simple trail for half an hour, or hike the heights and depths of the park for a month. Sit on a rock by the Virgin River and try to figure out how this chattering, babbling brook and its tributaries carved out these fabulous landscapes over millions of years. You can read up on all the geology but somehow the ancient explanation – it’s the Home of the Gods – still makes more sense. Here’s the geology, anyway: Back in the Triassic Era, the whole area was under a shallow sea. This was dinosaur time and you can still see these ancestral toeprints on some of the rocks. Millions of years later, in the Jurassic Era, the water dried up as the region turned into a desert. Sand blew in and turned the whole region into something resembling the Sahara Desert. Winds piled the sand up into dunes. Then new rivers flooded the dunes, and mud and sediment helped press them into sandstone. After that, there were deep rumblings underground and great eruptions on the surface as the entire region was pushed upwards, until what we now call the Colorado Plateau was thousands of feet above sea level. Finally, the Virgin River went to work, carving out the gorges and canyons we see today in much the same way the Colorado River helped carve out the nearby Grand Canyon. Gods of Wind, Water, Fire, and Earth, indeed. For the European settlers who had been persecuted for their beliefs in the cities back east and had risked life and limb in their Great Trek across America in search of religious freedom, Zion represented the promise fulfilled, the dream come true. For them, the Golden Circle was a safe place, a protected place, and a land where they could attempt to build a society of “Latter Day Saints.” Thousands of years earlier, other immigrants had come to this same place. They, too, had set out to build a world of peace and harmony – with each other and with all nature. They were the Anasazi, or ancestral pueblo people, whose paintings and carvings give strong indications of their nonviolent philosophy. In our own time, a new wave of people – and animals – are finding their way to this land of promise and wonderment. At the heart of the Golden Circle is Angel Canyon, home of Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. The animals who find their way here are perhaps the equivalent of a persecuted people: the lost, the stray, the homeless, the abused. And, more and more, the people who find their way here are those for whom caring for these modern castoffs can be the key to a better world for all of us. Truly, at the heart of this breathtaking miracle of nature, a miracle of love is being worked every day. You can read up on all the geology but somehow the ancient explanation – it’s the Home of the Gods – still makes more sense. BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 23 Photos: Raphael de Peyer health & behavior Special Love Adopting a pet who needs some extra care By Richard Allen, DVM – Best Friends veterinarian he’s getting some age on him and his weight is all carried on three legs, Sparky gets a new kind of non-steroidal and some special herbs to prevent inflammation in his lower back and joints. He gets to exercise some, but not too much, and he has a special diet, too, to keep him light so he doesn’t bear too much weight on those three legs. A Little Extra Help Cheesecake came to Best Friends about six years ago when she was two years old and has just gone to a good new home. She has no teeth so she drools a bit and can’t groom herself. So Cheesecake just loves to have her long white hair brushed. (She can eat just fine.) She has very pink skin and some precancerous lesions on the margins of her ears. In addition to frequent vet checks for her ears, Cheesecake needs sun block on her ear margins before she takes a nap in any sunny windowsills. I keep a special place in my heart for anyone who adopts an animal that needs a home. They’re not only doing something good for the animal they take home, they’re also helping another animal whom they may never know – the one that we can now bring to the sanctuary to take the place of their new pet. And people who adopt “special needs” pets have the most special place in my heart. “Special needs” is how we describe the animals who need extra care and treatment in order to live a happy life. Most of our pets at home will, of course, eventually become a “special needs” pet as they age, so we all get to look after a special needs pet sooner or later. Here are some different kinds of special needs pets that come to mind. If you might be interested in any of them, give us a call. And a Little Extra Consideration Rosie waited 14 years to find a home. She’s a happy girl although she has some arthritis and has slowed down quite a bit. Rosie has slowed down a bit mentally, too. She gets confused easily. So, she especially appreciates a loving home that provides structured and consistent patterns for her life. She is also lucky to be alive now that many new drugs are available for senility in dogs. As far as I’m concerned – and the same probably goes for you, too – special needs animals are actually special opportunities for the rewards of giving an animal care and receiving some very special love in return. A Special Environment Buddy is a normal-looking yellow Lab and does quite well at home. However, Buddy can’t deal with changes in the placement of the furniture or being in new places. That’s because he is blind. Blind animals vary in their abilities at the onset of blindness. Animals that slowly lose their eyesight often belong to folks who don’t even know they are blind. Pets with cataracts can receive surgery but Buddy had a retinal degenerative disease that was progressive and incurable. Buddy is a smart guy and can remember where things are. So, once he knows the general layout of your home, don’t start moving everything around again! Special Diets & Medication Lilly is a sweet, red, shorthaired dachshund. She has a knack for taking stuff from her diet and making urinary stones from it. There are many dogs and many cats like Lilly. They need a restricted diet that doesn’t contain the building blocks of stones and that changes the pH of the urine to dissolve the stones. Lilly is on a special diet and she’s doing fine. Jodi needs a special diet, too, since this kitty has kidney failure. Kidneys remove nitrogen that is left over from the protein in our pets’ diets. So, Jodi’s diet has to be low in protein and any protein in her diet has to be easy to digest. Just keeping her on this diet worked for a long time but these days Jodi needs extra fluids and a special supplement (it’s also used by weightlifters) in order to help her kidneys along. Jodi comes to the Best Friends clinic once a month for a blood check and her person, Jill, is a watchful friend who makes Jodi feel good. Sparky is a fluffy white dog who was hit by a car. His leg was dead by the time he was brought to the sanctuary and had to be taken off. Sparky himself, however, is very much alive. Now that 24 BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 – The Best Natural Antioxidant Supplement – PRIME OF LIFE™ “It offers the perfect combination of Vitamins, Minerals, and Enzymes to ensure your pet will have the healthiest life possible.” – says top holistic veterinarian, Dr. Stefanatos, DVM. PRIME OF LIFE ™ in chewable tabs (great for dogs) or powder caps (great for cats). $14.95 + 3.95 s/h 100-count bottle. To order (or for information) – write or call : BEST FRIENDS CARE™ 1-800-864-1661 c/o Best Friends Animal Sanctuary Kanab, Utah 84741-5001 Wild About Ferals! How to care for cats and dogs who live in the “wild” and cannot be socialized By Faith Maloney The Eyes Have It Simon, a neutered Siamese-mix feral cat, communicates with me through his magnetic blue eyes. He took up residence outside my house several years ago and created a life for himself. He has decided that our contact will be limited but we have learned to respect each other. When he wants to remind me about his food, he sits on his feeding station and stares at me. He never utters a sound, but those eyes speak volumes and I understand his silent communication perfectly. I have tremendous respect for all the people who go out, at all times of the day and night, to take care of feral animals. I know it puts a strain on everyone involved, both emotionally and physically, to confront the reality of life for these animals. They are so vulnerable out there, but at the same time so dignified and appreciative. It is easy to develop a close relationship with a colony of feral cats, even though the entire interaction is at a distance. Over time, you begin to see the individual characteristics of each of the cats; you see which are the caretakers and which are the protectors and can identify the bullies. Even though you are not able to touch them, sometimes not even get physically close to them, they become as precious as the cats that live in your home. Best Friends member Karen Fehrenbach developed the same relationship with street dogs when she was working in Puerto Rico. She fed and took care of them from a distance and witnessed how they would look out for each other, sharing food and warm places to sleep in a way that touched her heart. The animals are so vulnerable out there but, at the same time, so dignified and appreciative! “ ” My first experience with a feral cat came about when we were both trapped inside a small tool shed, with the homeowner shouting advice through the door on how to catch him. The cat’s ears were flat against his head, he was hissing and in a pounce position. We were both terrified. After what seemed like an eternity, I did catch him, but not without getting shredded in the process. We emerged from the shed to face a crowd of neighbors who had gathered to watch the entertainment. So I took a bow and showed them my lacerated arms. Feral cats and dogs are special creatures that have had little or no contact with a person during their earliest weeks of life. They are the offspring of once domestic animals who have been thrust out into the world to take care of themselves. Experts say that the window for socialization is between two and seven weeks. So, there are many animals born outside who don’t ever get to experience human touch or companionship. Working with Ferals Here at the sanctuary, we support the spay/neuter and return philosophy of feral colony management for cats. It’s a tough world out there, especially if you happen to have been born in a woodpile, or behind a casino or the neighborhood dump. But life can be made so much better by involvement. Helping to get feral cats spayed or neutered ensures that no other animals are born into that situation. Setting up feeding areas enables them to live a decent life together and not have to fight for food to survive. One day soon, with a concentrated effort on the part of all of us, there will be no more animals in precarious circumstances and all of them will have safe and loving homes. If you are interested in learning more about how to trap, spay or neuter, and then take care of a group of feral cats in your area, you can download our booklet Caring for Feral Cats in the No More Homeless Pets section of the Best Friends web site at www.bestfriends.org, or send a self-addressed, stamped envelope for a Faith Maloney is the director of Best Friends printed copy. Animal Sanctuary BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 Caught in the Trap! Paley Cowan lives in Los Angeles and had been trying to trap a feral cat in her neighborhood. The cat had become suspicious of the cat trap, so Paley decided to trick her by putting out a dog trap. Instead of capturing the elusive kitty, Paley found she’d trapped two six-month-old pups! An experienced dog person who runs her own rescue group, Paley took these two very timid creatures home, called them Abner and Gladys, and set about preparing them for adoption. But this little duo had been left to fend for themselves too long. The dogs were now extremely shy and scared of everything and everyone. After six months of solid effort at socialization, Paley concluded that, for Abner and Gladys, a normal family would never work. Instead, they came to live at Best Friends. Abner and Gladys accept that humans feed them, but that’s about it. They prefer their own canine world with plenty of dog contact, and that is fine with them and also with me. I accept that they will never be comfortable with us humans but I can provide a place for them to live a good dog life with lots of good food and fun. 25 animals, art, & you Are You a Matisse or a Picasso? They are two cats of completely different dispositions, both recently adopted from Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. They were also two French geniuses who shaped 20th century art. And armchair psychologists say they represent two opposite personality types and approaches to life. Which are you: a Matisse or a Picasso? How about your pets at home? Maybe two Best Friends kitties can help you decide! ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ By Michael Mountain Woman with Yellow Hair, 1931, by Pablo Picasso Two Artists – A Gentle Rivalry A new exhibition of paintings, entitled Matisse and Picasso: a Gentle Rivalry, at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, has been reminding art critics and armchair psychologists that the paintings of these two great 20th century artists have a deep resonance in all of us. The exhibition, which runs until May 2nd, displays highlights of each of their work side by side and helps demonstrate their opposite qualities. The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche liked to divide all art into two basic approaches: the Apollonian and the Dionysian. Art lovers have often pointed to Matisse and Picasso as being classic representatives of this division. Matisse, the cool, calm Northern European artist, represents the Apollonian type – from the Greek god of light, intellect, reason, and order. His paintings, however lively, tend to be harmonious and soothing. Picasso, the hot Spaniard, represents the Dionysian – from the Greek god of wine and fertility who was worshipped in drunken orgies and in a spirit of abandon and ecstatic release. His works, however outwardly calm some of them may be, are more dissonant and disturbing. The relationship between these two great masters of art was highly competitive. Picasso, the younger artist, would parody Matisse in his own work. Matisse, in turn, attempted to ignore Picasso for many years. Matisse said of Picasso that he was “capricious and unpredictable.” Picasso replied with the backhanded “compliment” that Matisse’s paintings were “beautiful and elegant.” The Dream, 1935, by Henri Matisse 26 BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 Two Fundamental Personality Types Reviewing the exhibition in Slate magazine in February, critic Jacob Weisberg picked up on the Apollonian/Dionysian notion and suggested that the two artists and the work they produced represent two very fundamental personality types that can be used to classify not only all art, but practically every facet of life. Weisberg offered a humorous list of some of these opposite types and invited readers to come up with some additions of their own. Here at Best Friends, How Could We Resist?! While culture buffs from around the nation were comparing notes on their favorite personality archetypes, here at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary we just happened to be looking for perfect homes for our very own Matisse and Picasso, two kitties with very special needs and highly artistic, though quite different, temperaments! It just so happens that these two little feline artists also fit the personality profiles to a tee. Matisse, a sweet little kitty at the TLC Cat Club, is neurologically impaired, yet full of light and love and all the joys of a spring day. He’s bright and intelligent and, even though his feet don’t quite understand what his head is trying to tell them, he’s determined to get where he’s going. Picasso, a big white kitty with no ears (he had to have the tips removed because of skin cancer), doesn’t just love you – he’s right in your face! This no-holds-barred little guy lives in his heart and his gut. He’s determined, tough, and emotional. Matisse loves a gentle cuddle. Once you pick up Picasso, he’s unlikely to let go! Bottom line: Each of them fits the requisite profile precisely! Here are some items from his list: Matisse types Picasso types Jane Austen Charlotte Brontë Superman Batman Left brain Right brain New York City Los Angeles George Bernard Shaw Oscar Wilde North Korea South Korea Leviticus Genesis Classical Romantic White wine Red wine Felix Oscar Mickey Mouse Donald Duck Slate readers picked up on the notion, turning it into a kind of psychological parlor game. Their submissions included: Matisse Picasso Japanese food Chinese food Washington Week in Review The McLaughlin Group Sonny Cher Billy Graham Jimmy Swaggart Bjorn Borg John McEnroe Haagen-Dazs Ben & Jerry’s Bert Ernie NBC Fox Paul McCartney John Lennon The Beatles The Stones Murphy Brown Ally McBeal Peter Jennings Dan Rather Prozac Viagra Spock Kirk The Microsoft trial The Clinton trial Bridge Poker Matisse: neurological Picasso: doesn’t just love you – problems, yet full of light and he’s right in your face! love. Both these little darlings recently went to new homes. Matisse is living with attorney Kristin Johnson and her 11year-old daughter, Kayla, in Boulder, Colorado. “It was his winning personality that made us fall in love with him,” said Kristin. Picasso now lives with psychologist Dr. Debbie Matthews, near Baltimore, Maryland. “He’s a wonderful little guy – just adorable!” she told us a few days after adopting him. Of course, here at Best Friends, we have dogs, cats, and other animals of every personality type. So whether you’re a dog person or a cat person, an Apollonian or a Dionysian, vanilla or chocolate, or any other category you choose, we have the perfect furry partner for you. And, meanwhile, let us know: Do you reckon you’re a Matisse or a Picasso? How about your pets? P.S. Send us a photo if you have the perfect pair! BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 27 travel & vacation London’s Furriest Tourist Spot By Julie Richard The Dogs’ Home Battersea is one of the world’s oldest, and best, shelters So there I am in London – my first real vacation in years – when the editor of Best Friends magazine calls with what he thinks is a great idea. (He always thinks his ideas are great.) “Since you’re there anyway,” he begins as I roll my eyes in preparation for what’s coming, “wouldn’t it be lovely if you just went out to do a story on the Battersea Dogs’ Home?” “Oh, Man,” I whine. “I don’t want to do that. I’m having a good time here. If I go to an animal shelter and see all those poor animals, I won’t be able to think of anything else. I’ll end up coming home with a dozen dogs.” Suddenly images flood my mind of all the shelters I’ve been to in the U.S. Those countless eyes that plead with you to take them home, the knowledge that even if you could, there would always be more that face the fate of being euthanized in a few days unless they find a new owner, and I start to get emotional. “You know me,” I plead. “I’ll just get upset and go off on some hapless British shelter worker. I’ll end up creating an international incident. Best Friends won’t look good,” I threaten. But the editor, with whom I’ve worked for almost four years, has apparently become anesthetized to my emotional spirals. He replies in an overly reasonable tone as though he’s speaking to someone who’s inching away from an outstretched straitjacket, “But, Julie, the Dogs’ Home is different. You’ll like it there. I promise. You’ll spend a lovely day with the animals. Don’t you 28 BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 miss your cats? You can play with the cats there, Julie.” Yes, I am smart enough to recognize manipulation when I hear it, but, okay, so the cat reference got to me. Grumbling all the way, I hail a cab and inform the driver that “I need to go to the Battersea Dogs Home, it’s at...” I begin searching through my purse for the paper with the hastily scribbled address. “Right. You mean The Dogs’ Home Battersea,” he corrects as he screeches off, throwing me back against the seat. “You know where it is?” I ask, astounded. “Right enough,” he replies. Ten minutes later, I’m standing in a courtyard staring at a pretty Swiss cottage. “Well, that’s nice,” I admit, starting to feel slightly better. At least the place has atmosphere. Behind the cottage, a set of doors leads into a new, vast, modern building. Dozens of people are sitting patiently, apparently waiting for “re-homing” interviews. A sign warns that it may be as much as three hours before a potential adopter can get an interview. I try to imagine people willingly sitting that long in any shelter I’ve been to back home just to be interviewed to determine if they qualify for an adoption. Never happen. I ask if I could just wander around and am directed through a set of double doors to the kennels. I pause; I can already hear the barking of dogs and I start imagining the eyes that are about to He grabs a small, squeaking ball, hurls it into the air, butts it with his head, and waits till I knock it back to him. greet me. “I will not get depressed,” I insist to myself. One deep breath and I’m through. And my mouth drops open. There, in front of me, is a long hallway of pristine, spacious rooms, each with mostly one or two perfectly groomed, happily frolicking dogs. No cages. No crowds of dogs huddled together looking scared and lonely. Each room has its own outdoor run and hallways adjoin the rooms so dogs can scamper back and forth into other rooms to visit their playmates. If there is such a thing as an animal shelter paradise, the Dogs’ Home Battersea is it. The BBC has aired a 36-part series on the home and intends to produce more episodes. Londoners are proud of it. Tourists have added it to their itineraries. On this day, I watch a Jack Russell Terrier scoot back and forth between his kennel and his neighbor’s. He must have once lived with a soccer fan because he grabs a small, squeaking ball and hurls it into the air, butts it with his head toward me, and waits with anticipation as I knock it back to him to continue the game. Glancing at the card on his door, I notice the words “playful” (clearly) and “affectionate” as I look down to see him nuzzling my hand. Down the hall, a beautiful greyhound, adorned in a warm wooly sweater, pokes her nose at a visitor’s hand lovingly. Her card reveals she needs to go to a quiet home with a mature owner. Battersea is fully computerized. Like at a dating service, animals are listed in the data bank with their history and veterinary and behavioral assessments. Dogs are tested for compatibility with children, other dogs, and cats through interaction with Poppy, the resident, unflappable, office feline. Only three to five percent of animals placed in new homes come back to the shelter. Passing a group of scouts on their way to a lecture about the home, I wind my way upstairs to the cat department on the second of four floors that house animals. Like the dogs, the cats have their own individual condos attached to enclosed outdoor porches. Although Battersea only euthanizes in cases of terminal illness or severe, uncorrectable behavior problems, they never turn away an animal. A phone recording announces the hours that they accept “gift dogs” from the public. Each morning, the Battersea van makes its rounds to the local police station to pick up any stray or lost dogs left there overnight. Animals up for adoption are kept until they have found a new home, no matter how long that takes. In the first two months of 1999, the home accepted 793 dogs from the public, police, dog wardens, RSPCA, and other sources. In the same two months, 517 were placed in new homes, with an additional 170 lost dogs reunited with their owners. 289 cats were brought to the home with 225 finding new owners and 17 reclaimed. While they can accommodate up to 600 dogs at any given time, they are most comfortable maintaining a number around 450. Founded in 1860, the home has a veterinary clinic and operates a counseling service to help people correct problems that may cause them to relinquish pets. Volunteers are trained to walk the dogs daily for exercise and help the staff of kennel workers. The home has another site, the Bell Mead Kennels in Windsor, that acts as a convalescent home and specializes in animals that need to be placed in the countryside. The entire operation and all its services are supported through public donations and memberships. Only having intended to spend an hour or so, I found myself at Battersea several times during my three weeks in London. And I never did make it to Westminster Abbey this time. Instead, London has taken on a whole new perspective and I know that next time I go, I might still not make it back to the Abbey but I won’t miss the chance to play with the pups at Battersea. If you would like to get more information about The Dogs’ Home Battersea, make a donation or visit on your next trip to London, write to them at: The Dogs’ Home Battersea, 4, Battersea Park Road, London SW8 4AA. Telephone: (0171) 622 3626. Or take a cybertrip to their website at www.dogshome.org “ A Day in the Life of an Animal Lover in London 9 A.M. Start day with a stroll through Hyde Park. Watch the pelicans, ducks, and geese in the lake. Friends tell me I should be in Richmond Park in West London where I could be watching deer sprint between the trees. 10:30 A.M. Share breakfast with a feathered friend in Trafalgar Square. Pigeons like junk food, but it’s best to purchase special pigeon food at the stand in the square. I should have worn a thick sweater. These people-friendly pigeons think nothing of swooping down en masse and finding a comfy spot on your arm to eat right from your hand. 2 P.M. Tourists are supposed to visit museums etc., so I head over to the Royal Veterinary College in London where I can check out the hundreds of antique veterinary tools on display. These ancient relics really belong in the Chamber of Horrors and do not evoke images of James Herriot. 5 P.M. Take the “tube” to the theatre. There’s always a pup or two scampering along with their owner on the Underground. In Leicester Square, dogs are a prerequisite for solicitors of spare change. Invariably and terminally cute, they are fully dressed for the part in tams and snazzy sweaters. 11:30 P.M. Back in my hotel, I turn on the “telly” and am greeted by the latest commercial sensation in England: Whiskas’ newly-launched $825,000 ad campaign aimed straight at the heart of cat owners...their pets. The ads feature fish, mice, birds, and balls of string against a soundtrack of meows, tweets, and mice-like squeaks. Animals across the country are said to be running to the TV to get a peek. ” BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 29 living with pets maw, tail wagging slowly and contentedly, his big head down and eyes up with a slight gloating expression. This sort of thing gently takes the mickey out of one’s own absurd possessiveness of material things. Walking into the cat quarters with 17 well fed, contented cats ready for a collective nap and receiving their slow blinks of affection and secret knowledge is as mystical an experience as a Zen rock garden. And then there is bedtime. Since our home doubles as an extra sanctuary for dogs with special needs, we have 17 dogs here. Tucking in 34 dogs and cats (and they do expect to be tucked in!) demands a ritual that would make the Vatican proud. Baby and Dotty need special feedings, while the rest of the cats need compensatory stroking, cuddling, and chirruping. The dogs, arrayed around the kitchen, catch cookies tossed to each in turn like infield practice. The klutzy dogs – those who watch the treat sail in a gentle arc and then let it bonk them on the noggin – get direct hand-tomouth passes. The rest execute perfect timing with the occasional interception. Next, everyone goes out into the yard to tend to latenight business and then each to their customary bed and customary arguments with the customary dog. Life without them is almost unimaginable. Francis’ Tips for Multiple Pet Households One Is Never Enough As I leaned over the wash basin this morning, I caught a sidelong reflection of myself in the mirrored shower door that gave me pause. No, nothing to do with weight or age. The image of interest was Treat, our effortlessly elegant black cat, perched on my horizontal back and kneading my blue sweater. I realized how fortunate I am – and how deprived of such simple pleasures are those who don’t share the company of animals. To watch one of our cats sit beside the cat door and bop other cats with a soft paw as they enter is just very silly and very funny. Imagine if you hid beside a door in your house and every time another family member passed through, you biffed them in the head with a foam bat and then everyone carried on as if nothing at all unusual had happened! Bismark, our very large, longhaired shepherd, can be very intimidating in my unattended car or when letting out a basso profundo bark at a stranger’s footstep down the front walk. This makes his protective and affectionate relationship with fluffy, stuffed toys all the more absurd. He doesn’t chew them or tear them. Rather, he carries them gently and possessively in his huge 30 BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 By Francis Battista Get over the furniture. Washable “Indian blanket” spreads and similar inexpensive coverings are easy maintenance, look good, and save the argument with the dogs. If your dog, like mine, has a habit of getting on the table to look out the window, don’t waste your time trying to train the dog. MOVE THE TABLE! Wall-to-wall carpet is an accident waiting to happen. Hardwood, tiles, vinyl, or stone with rugs are best. Thank goodness for babies. After all, where would we be without baby gates? Sure, some smart alec can always hop over, but it beats the jailbreak of a dozen dogs rushing to greet visitors and houseguests. Comfy washable cat and dog beds, the kind you can toss in the washer, knock the socks off the kind that need “some assembly.” Generous outdoor cat enclosures, built around or outfitted with cat trees, give the kitty monsters the pleasure of the great outdoors without inserting themselves into the local food chain or driving the song birds, chipmunks, or other small moving targets from the environment. Lots of shelving and nooks with washable fluffies for the cats make for peaceful inter-feline relations. Give the dogs their due: Feed them in the order of the hierarchy that they have established amongst themselves but give them all loads of attention and let them know that they are part of the family. They need this more than anything. Don’t start worrying about what the neighbors think. Just emulate the upper classes – they, like you, are completely eccentric, anyway. ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Ms. Zach’s Good Hair Day ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Ruthie Itow in her grooming parlor with Charlie By Mitzi Klein Ms. Zach had been feeling a bit down and grumpy. Her poodlemix hair had split ends and looked dull and drab. Her hair had been a mess the day she was found injured on a Texas freeway. Cuts, gashes, coat all filthy and matted. She’d even had to be shaved down. Oh, the indignity of it! Later on, she’d come to Best Friends but her two trips to an Adoption Day in Las Vegas had been a waste of time. Nobody was interested in taking her home. Life was becoming just a series of bad hair days and failed adoption attempts. Then she got an appointment with Ruthie Itow. Ruthie runs the Pooch Parlor in our local town of Kanab and has been volunteering her services to Best Friends for several months. She gives as many dogs as possible the royal makeover before they head out to the big city for Adoption Day. Ruthie knows the right “do” can do a lot to attract members of the opposite species. And Ruthie has proven many times over that when you look like a million bucks – make that a million dog bones – on the outside, you feel like a million on the inside, too, allowing your personality to shine along with your hair. “When dogs like Ms. Zach look and feel better,” she says of her work, “they’re more likely to be adopted.” Ruthie moved to Kanab, Utah, a couple of years ago, leaving her old house in Salt Lake City to her three grown children before venturing down south to start a pet-grooming business. As an animal lover, she quickly discovered that, with Best Friends just up the road, she’d picked the perfect place. Soon after opening the business, she volunteered to give the animals here a new designer look before they went to an Adoption Day. One of the dogs, Charlie, looked so adorable after his makeover that Ruthie fell in love with him and adopted him herself! “He was always the quiet one in the corner,” she says of Charlie. “He was the guy who got passed over and I just felt he deserved a home for the next half of his life.” Like any great hairdresser, Ruthie stands by her work – joining her charges for the ride to Las Vegas on Adoption Day most weekends. And Ms. Zach? Ah, yes! There’ll be no more bad hair days for the now-pristine poodle-mix. Since her new hair-do, she’s got her confidence back and allowed her vibrant personality to emerge, matching her good looks. When she strutted her stuff at the next Adoption Day she caught the eye of one Marlene Fuller across a crowded PetCo store and it was love at first sight. They went for a walk together and chatted about their lives, with Ms. Zach doubtless inquiring about hairstylists in Las Vegas. While Marlene filled out the adoption paperwork, Mia, as she would now be known, sat on her lap, proudly smiling for the camera and thanking Ruthie with a quick lick on the hand. The now-precious little poodle-mix exuded the same selfconfident, winning personality of a shampoo commercial model! That day was a great one for Mia – and for Ruthie. “I do it for the satisfaction of seeing these wonderful animals find homes,” she says. And all the handsome furry friends thank Ruthie for giving them just a little more help in finding the right people to ap- Mia (the former Ms. Zach) in her new preciate their beauty home with Marlene Fuller. They have and charm. And we lots in common besides their impeccable hair styles! do, too. BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 31 mail from members & pets Your Favorite Adoption Photos We adopted Fuchsia from our local SPCA in July, 1997. At seven pounds, she was a vocal beggar for food and once carried a corn cob from one end of the house to the other. Now she feels loved and secure and, at nine pounds, no longer needs to beg. ANN JEAN MILLIKEN, BERKELEY, CALIF. Enjoying the last of winter snows, this is Elias, adopted by Robert Firmage at a Best Friends Adoption Day at the Cottonwood Mall in Salt Lake City. This is Isis, one of my three rescued cats. I am from Vienna, Austria, and I must tell you that animals there, as in this country, are abandoned and treated cruelly. Calypso has settled into his new home here. He loves his brushings, his treats, and licking my hands till they’re raw! C HARLOTTE WILSON, LA VERNE, CALIF. 32 BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 SUZANNE CORDREY, Q UESTA, NEW M EXICO Buddy the Magician It was at my brother’s house that Buddy fell through the floor and into the well (Best Friends, March 1999). I had seen him earlier that day and he greeted me joyfully, leaping about and wagging his tail. He was used to running free and had never been captured or penned up. I am delighted that you saved his life. MRS. W.H. STOCKS Winston-Salem, North Carolina Buddy is doing just fine. He has a favorite girlfriend and the two of them enjoy romping and playing all day. Ho Ho has no front paws, only one kidney, and no tail. She’s an inspiration to us as she hops around or walks upright. Our newest rescued kitten even imitates her! R ICH AND JUDIE MINDRUM West Melbourne, Florida head? Surely this is not what your organization is supporting! SUSAN ROGHAIR Animal Rights Online - President Tampa, Florida You are quite right. No horse should ever carry this load and the photo should never have been in this magazine. The advertiser has apologized and wants readers to know that this was a “one-time pose” many years ago, not a regular practice. Hamlet the Cat The poem you published on page 45 of your March issue of Best Friends, “Hamlet’s Cat,” should be attributed to Henry Beard. It appears in his book, Poetry for Cats: The Definitive Anthology of Distinguished Feline Verse, published by Villard Books, New York, 1994. Check out the other wonderful literary parodies in Poetry for Cats, including a personal favorite: “Do Not Go Peaceable to That Damn Vet....” DIANE HILL, hilldiane@juno.com Adoption Tales Cheers . . . Thank you for the Best Friends mailing I received. So, there is an animal charity that doesn’t try emotional bludgeoning as its fund raising method of choice! I was not assaulted with pictures of skeletal, starved dogs, tortured cats, savagely beaten swans, etc. Instead, I was greeted with dedicated, decent volunteers and animals being lovingly cared for. We know there are abuses of God’s creatures. But upsetting photos and explicit, violent word pictures are not solicitation but exploitation. I thank you for your recognition that caring people needn’t be pummeled into a donation. S HERRY LAZZARO, Warner Robins, Georgia From My Journal Day 751: My captors continue to torment me with bizarre dangling objects. They eat lavish meals in my presence while I am forced to subsist on dry cereal. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope of eventual escape – that and the satisfaction I get from occasionally ruining some piece of their furniture. I fear I may be going insane. Yesterday, I ate a houseplant. Tomorrow I may eat another. ANONYMOUS KITTY Translated by Carol_ProSports@msn.com I found May Day on the Brooklyn Bridge on my way to work. He was pretty beat up, malnourished, had part of his ear missing, and was covered in gasoline. The vet said he might not be good to adopt and my husband was away in Europe but, needless to say, I kept him. It was difficult at first and I thought I had maybe gotten in over my head. But today he is the most lovable and playful dog. We’ve moved to the suburbs and May Day gets along with all the neighbors and their children and pets – even with our rescued cat who is too shy to pose for the camera! AMY HODGE Montclair, New Jersey . . . and Jeers I have always admired your superb organization that appeared to have compassion for all living animals, but I was shocked to see the photograph that was displayed with an advertisement for a pet odor product in the March edition. This photo shows a horse with 8 people sitting on its back! The ad stated that this was a picture of a family on this horse’s back, and went on to state that the 3 sisters weren’t home that day. Thankfully not! Where would they have sat? On the horse’s e BBekind totoanimals, kind trees, Be kind to the earth and everything on it, Be kind to children and one another, …and God will be kind to you. And that’s a promise! Signed GOD BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 33 sweet memories Farewell to Heidi By Patricia Misiuk When I first saw the pimple on Heidi’s left paw, I thought “fire ant bite.” But deep down, I knew otherwise. I was in denial – that numbing, pushingharsh-realities-to-the-back-burner feeling that cushions me from life’s emotional excess baggage. Cancer, the vet had diagnosed 13 months earlier. “She’ll live another three months, give or take,” the vet had predicted. “Her bones will get brittle. She may break her leg. When her time comes, you will know,” she added, anticipating the question nobody wanted to ask. Heidi continued her abbreviated walks and occasionally pirouetted when we gave her a favorite treat. And like the Energizer Bunny, she kept on going well beyond the tentative threemonth life span. “I’m thinking of going to New York for a couple of weeks,” Heidi’s owner, Edith, said. “Will Heidi be all right?” “I’ll take good care of her,” I answered. As Heidi’s honorary aunt and surrogate caregiver for the past 10 years, I looked forward to spoiling Heidi and enjoying time with her. One day, a week after Edith left, Heidi didn’t greet me at the door. She was fast asleep, sprawled out on her bed. Her legs were twitching. For now, Heidi was a free spirit again, running at breakneck speed. I let her revel a few minutes longer. When she lumbered into the kitchen for dinner, I noticed a pink blemish on her front paw. Later, we shared some peaceful lovey-dovey time. Heidi stared at me, as if looking into my soul. I stroked her koala bear-colored fur and wooed sweet nothings. I asked her if she remembered her 15 minutes of fame at LaGuardia Airport when Asian tourists carried on at great lengths about her wolf-like features and then immortalized her on film. I told her she had been such a good girl when she helped her human mom through the upheaval of instant widowhood and how her plush fur was the pillow that absorbed her mother’s tears. When Edith returned from vacation, Heidi’s pimple resembled a shiny coral marble. The vet wrapped it with yards of gauze and sealed it with a royal blue adhesive. “Bring her back next week,” Doctor advised. “We’ll see how it looks.” Heidi zigzagged around with her baseball bat-like peg leg. Her world was shrinking; now she seldom ventured far. The vet changed Heidi’s bandages twice more. “This will have to be the last time I change this,” the vet said, as she hurriedly wrapped the bleeding paw. “She could bleed to death.” I led Heidi to the car while Edith conferred with the vet. 34 BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 After I situated Heidi in the back seat, I got the familiar see-rightthrough-me stare. What was she trying to tell me? That she was ready to face the inevitable? Or was she reassuring me that, in time, I’d adjust to her absence? I jump-started myself out of my denial mode, facing up to what would happen. Heidi would be gone in a day or two. “I don’t want to let her go,” Edith cried later. “She helped you through hard times,” I said. “Now it’s our turn to help her.” Blood was seeping through the gauze sheathing the tumor, now the size of a tennis ball. Tube socks placed on top of the bandage absorbed the overflow. During her final day, Heidi became listless but obliged us by eating her favorite rawhide chews and letting us pet her. She never whimpered during her labored efforts to stand and walk. While she was lying down, Heidi placed her clunky paw over the unbandaged one. “She had her legs crossed like that when I first saw her at the animal shelter,” Edith remembered. “That’s what made me choose her.” A phone call advised us the vet was en route. Rationally, we knew we were doing right: freeing Heidi to continue her life’s journey over the Rainbow Bridge into Heaven. But emotionally, we were still wrestling with the decision. Heidi was resting in her favorite corner when the vet arrived. “You’re doing a merciful thing,” Doctor consoled us. “You kept her around for more than 15 years; she lived twice as long as most German shepherds.” Edith knelt by Heidi’s head, and I scrunched down near her belly. The vet administered the injection and for one last time, Heidi’s downy fur absorbed our salty tears. Now Edith’s place is empty. It’s still a house with furniture, clothes, and lights, but it no longer feels like a home. There’s a presence missing. The ghosts surface, blinking in and out of my mind’s eye as I sink back into denial. I still hear Heidi’s tail thumping whenever I walk into the house. I notice a few stray dog hairs on the sill of her lookout window, a biscuit jar on the kitchen counter, a photo of her on the fridge. Once again, I wrap myself in the security blanket of denial and am comforted by the memories that constitute Heidi’s immortality. The journey from denial to acceptance has no timetable, itinerary, or map. But the memories fuel my optimism that my denial will eventually fade and ultimately disappear. For now, Heidi was a free spirit again, running at breakneck speed. I let her revel a few minutes longer. “ ” This past July our dog J o s h u a p a s s e d away. He was young and healthy, so it was a shock for us when a vein in his stomach burst. He had just had a perfect day: two walks, chasing around the house, licking the neighbor girls, laughter, and finally a ride in the car. As a cat owner for 16 years (6 cats), I never expected to love this dog so fiercely. We know he’s making friends in heaven as he did here on Earth. We thank and honor him for sharing his life with us. In loving memory of our daughter dogs Mandy and Cinnamon. G o n e from our side, but forever in our hearts. Thank you for 14 years of unconditional love and loyalty. Angels Rest When the animals here at the sanctuary pass on, they are laid to rest at Angels Rest, one of the most beautiful areas of Angel Canyon. A spring bubbles up nearby, watering pastures and gardens. Windchimes blend with birdsong. Rabbits and squirrels scamper among the urns and vases that commemorate pets who have passed over the Rainbow Bridge, reminding us that the end of life is but the prelude to rebirth. If you’d like your best friend to rest in the peace and beauty of our memorial park here at Angel Canyon, or would like a memorial placed in his or her name, please write or call for information. Angels Rest Pet Memorial Park Best Friends Animal Sanctuary Kanab, Utah 84741 (435) 644-2001 DAD AND MOM DOPPKE, ENGLEWOOD, FLA. In memory of Abbie, who joined Bud over the Rainbow Bridge on Dec. 18th. I miss you both, but I’m so happy you’re together again! S UZANNE, DANNY, ALEC AND J ONATHAN WOLFGRAM, GREEN BAY, WIS. There will come a time in my life When God will call me home. No longer of this world to live As he claims me for his own. Since all that is good is God, I know I shall find you there. Your warm brown eyes to welcome me, Set off by coal black hair. With a grin in place and your tail awag, We’ll walk together again; As I thank you for your love for me, My beloved canine friend. B ETH MEYER, INDIANAPOLIS , IND. To Anya, my dog: In my soul your memory rests, of a delightful spirit, a wondrous being, a sparkle of moonlight, who touched the very core of me. I miss you. CAROLYN TAYLOR, DENVER, COLO. In loving memory of the thousands of nameless animals that die alone in shelters and laboratories. May their memory serve to reinforce our commitment to 2001. DENISE DANIEL , HENDERSONVILLE , TENN. In memory of Viking, Nov. 4, 1994-Oct. 24, 1998. CAROLYNE AND JIM WENDEL -BELCHER, ROGERS , ARK. R. J. HADDAD, ARLINGTON, TEXAS Out of the Mouths of Babes I heard this story from a veterinarian. It’s about a 10-year-old dog, Belker, who had cancer. The vet had gone to the family’s home to put the dog to sleep comfortably and the parents wanted their four-year-old son, Shane, to be there, too, to help get closure on the family pet’s death. After the euthanasia, the vet wrote: Memorials & Sweet Memories Your memorial notices and donations to the sanctuary are deeply appreciated. We place all memorials in the Rainbow Bridge Memorials book which is kept here at the sanctuary. We also publish every memorial in the Rainbow Bridge section of the Best Friends web site and send you a copy of the page. Once placed, no name, no memorial, is ever removed. Sweet Memories, here in the magazine, is a selection of stories of your most poignant, cute, funny, or just plain memorable moments with a pet who recently (or not so recently) passed over the Rainbow Bridge. So please send in your stories, your memories and your memorials. Include a photo, too, if available. Thank you and bless you. We sat together for a while, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives. Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, “I know why.” Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I had never heard a more comforting explanation. He said, “Everybody is born so they can learn how to live a good life – like loving everybody and being nice, right? Well, animals already know how to do that, so they don’t have to stay as long.” NAME AND ADDRESS NOT INCLUDED. BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 35 special-needs adoptions We’re Special! Each of the dogs and cats on this page needs some daily medication, a little extra help getting around, or the training and understanding to be comfortable again in a home environment. If you’d like to find out more about giving one of them a special home, please call the sanctuary. P.S. There are lots more “special adoptables” on our website at www.bestfriends.org/adoptions.htm Sweetest, Fluffiest Bunnies Ever! This fluffy pair had a rough start in life. Their family had decided to breed the bunnies to earn extra money. But nobody wanted to buy the rabbits. They came to Best Friends after most of their siblings had died. Now they’re looking for a loving, safe home with a person who will give them a nice brush once a week. Miss Kitty can’t see you, but she can certainly love you. This little darling is 11 years old and blind after being shot in the head by some kids with a beebee gun. She hisses if she feels threatened but will be fine in a quiet home where she can get used to where everything is. Merlin’s a Winner. This black beauty is an 11-year-old champion Quarterhorse. After winning lots of races for his owners he got a lesion in the cartilage of his right knee. Now he can only be ridden lightly on flat land. At 16.3 hands, he is perfect for an intermediate or advanced rider who will take him for gentle romps. Two-year-old Paisley just needs a lot of love. This heeler mix has been returned from five homes for nothing more than having too much energy and once eating a child’s Barbie dolls. She needs to live with a single person who is mostly at home or can take her to work. Paisley really doesn’t like to be left alone! 36 BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 1999 Calendar How to Start An Animal Sanctuary June 6-12, August 22-28, and Oct. 31- Nov. 6 This year, we are holding three intensive, week-long workshops on How to Start an Animal Sanctuary. They will include classes on fundraising, outreach programs, relating to the community, spay/neuter programs, as well as hands-on work directly with the animals. Attendance limited. Cost: $300. Lunches and materials included. Call Nathania Gartman (435) 644-2001, ext. 307 Be part of Best Friends! As a member of Best Friends, you’ll be helping those animals most in need, and you’ll receive each monthly issue of Best Friends magazine. Best Friends in Los Angeles Sunday May 2: Los Angeles Adoption Festival Dogs and cats from shelters and rescue groups. Children’s activities, entertainment, food, craft booths, boutiques, music, fun for everyone. Admission free. George C. Page Museum Park (at La Brea Tar Pits), 5801 Wilshire Blvd. For info call (818) 377-9777. Sunday & Monday May 30-31: Memorial Weekend Fun! Sunday: Fourth Annual Best Friends Picnic Monday: The PEDIGREE® Brand Memorial Day Grandprix at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, 480 Riverside Drive, Burbank, CA. For more info, call (818) 377-9777. YES! I want to be part of Best Friends, and read all the good news about animals and animal lovers. Subscribing Membership Supporting Membership Sustaining Membership Guardian Angel $25 a year $45 a year $100 a year (or $10 a mo.) $240 a year (or $20 a mo.) Humane Ed. Weekends April 30 - May 2: Creating a Humane Culture Integrating the basics of character education – respect, care, and kindness – into the school program. With Kristie Fink, Utah State Office of Education. July 9-11: How to Start a Humane Education Program Who are you trying to reach? What are your goals? How can you work best with schools, churches, etc.? With Liz Baranowski, Pasadena Hum. Soc.; Claire Weiser, Wasatch Hum. Soc.; Eva Vichules, retired teacher. Sept. 3-5: Humane Education One on One So, you’re not a teacher but you do want to teach people at work or in your neighborhood about care for animals. Basic communication skills, resources, conflict resolution, etc. Cost: $150 each weekend. Most meals and materials included. Call Nathania Gartman (435) 644-2001, ext. 307 Amount enclosed: $____________ Check or M.O. VISA MC Card No.: __________________________________ Exp. Date: __________________________________ Signature: __________________________________ Your name: ________________________________ Address: ___________________________________ City: ______________________________________ ST: ______________________ Zip: ____________ Phone: _____________________________________ This is a gift for: Name: _____________________________________ Annual No-Kill Conference Sept. 30-Oct. 3: This year’s conference is in Chicago The annual get-together of shelters, rescue groups, programs, and people from all across the country who are helping bring an end to the problem of homeless dogs and cats. Workshops, seminars. Keynote addresses by Michael Mountain, Richard Avanzino, Ed Sayres and Becky Robinson. Presented by Doing Things for Animals. For more info, call (602) 977-5793 or email FORODTFA@interacs.com The Best Friends Wishing Garden May we plant a special wish for you? Spring is here and we’re in the middle of planting this year’s crop of special wishes for the sanctuary and the animals, as well as for you and your pets at home. The Best Friends Wishing Garden is just outside the Welcome Center at the sanctuary. Each wish is written on rice paper that nourishes the earth and then planted with a flower seed. Just send in your own special wish and we’ll sow a seed of good fortune for you. And thank you for helping to make Best Friends a dream come true for all your furry friends here. Address: ___________________________________ City: ______________________________________ ST: ______________________ Zip: ____________ Phone: _____________________________________ Animal Sanctuary Kanab, Utah 84741-5001 (435) 644-2001 Best Friends BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 37 on the light side Stern had been nervous when he saw no leash in early photos of Dowd’s new life-size statue of a man sitting on a park bench with his dog at his feet. Man & His Dog is due to be unveiled shortly in Tompkins Square Park and Dowd has reassured the Parks Commission that the dog will be on a leash. Meanwhile, if dog lovers are annoyed by New York’s stiff new leash laws, pigeon lovers are enraged by Commissioner Stern’s recent comments about them. “People who feed pigeons are desperate for affection. They’re very often little old ladies,” he told a group in Queens who were alarmed about the mess caused by pigeon droppings. At the same meeting, Mayor Giuliani offered his own remedy for the pigeon problem: toy snakes. Unfazed by howls of laughter, Giuliani pressed home his prescription: “I’d tried all kinds of things. Someone told me to get a snake, a multicolored toy snake. They never came back.” Computing by Camel The world’s first on-line camel is meandering through the Gobi desert. Author Jane Blunden thought the camel she was riding while researching a travel book on Mongolia would enjoy entering the telecommunications age. Resting her PowerBook G3 comfortably (well, comfortable for her – we’re not so sure about the camel) on the beast’s hump, all she needed was a bit of electronics to transmit her material back home. Armed with a mini satellite phone and a zoom digital camera, she’s managed to photograph the sights without ever having to stop “the car.” Still, while her camel can go for three weeks without water and two months without food, her computer’s power supply needs refreshing after only a few hours. Leashing the Hounds and Pigeons New York City parks officials are relieved to hear that sculptor Jack Dowd’s dog is wearing a leash. The city has tough new leash laws and Parks Commissioner Henry Stern doesn’t want any dogs flouting them. Not even statues of dogs! Headline News Actual newspaper headlines: Enraged cow injures farmer with ax Panda mating fails; veterinarian takes over Squad helps dog bite victim Stolen painting found by tree TOP 10 Refuses to reveal real name. Insists that you simply call him “Cuddles.” 9 Starts caterwauling and trying to distract you whenever you’re listening to im8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 38 10 Signs Your Cat Has Become Involved in a Global Conspiracy portant news about the Y2K problem. Your phone is mysteriously blocked from dialing 10-10-LUCKYDOG The way your living room looks in the morning, you suspect other cats have been meeting there secretly at night. Third sealed bag of dog food to contain kibbles but no bits. Hurls a hairball onto your computer after overhearing you talk of switching from Microsoft Internet Explorer to another browser. Seems to enjoy The Wizard of Oz’s Evil Flying Monkey Marching Sequence WAY too much. Stares motionless out of the window as if trying to decipher secret message in passing cloud. Rolls over and purrs like a kitten as soon as the Cigarette Smoking Man appears on the X-Files . Wants a purse and triangle “just like Tinky Winky the Teletubby.” It May Be the Best Coffee, but It’s Not Taster’s Choice! And now, the secret behind what connoisseurs consider the world’s greatest brew: civet cat dung. Vietnamese farmers, who have known about this special ingredient for at least half a century, greatly BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 prize the droppings. With its acute olfactory perception, the civet cat, which is related to the mongoose, sniffs out the ripest, best coffee beans from low branches. The hardiest beans survive the animal’s digestive process and farmers search for the “remains.” “There’s no need to wash them,” one farmer insists. “Just dry them in the sun for months until the outer skin flakes off.” Of course it does require a little sweetening. Farmers mix the salvaged beans with butter, salt, and sugar before roasting them for hours. So, if you’re in Vietnam and you think your otherwise-perfect coffee needs a little more sugar, you’ll know why. Keep Your Paws OFF the Monkeys After upstaging a presidential address to the Houses of Parliament in India by “frolicking” in front of cameras, two cats are being “punished” with sterilization. Ten to twelve semi-stray cats live in the Parliament House and prowl the canteen for food. Since they keep the rat population down, they’re not a big problem – at least, not compared to the scores of monkeys who terrorize officials and run through offices destroying files. The monkeys are not so easy to “punish”: Any effort to remove them is blocked by Hindus who revere their connection with the god Hanuman. with a twist: A couple falls asleep on Valentine’s night, forgetting to snuff out the candles in their bedroom. One candle falls from its holder and rolls into a chest of drawers, setting it ablaze. Their pet Furby toy “awakens,” screaming “Cock-a-doodledoo” until the couple wakes up to the fire. Apparently the Furby, which is designed to sense a change in lighting and then wake up, did better than the two smoke alarms, neither of which issued a sound. Passing the Bucks Maybe she just wanted to pay her own way at the vet. Or maybe she was saving for a rainy day. Either way, Suzzy, a 4 month old shepherd mix set up her own piggy bank, right in her stomach. An Illinois veterinarian removed $6.54, all in change, from the dog’s tummy along with a silver earring, a zipper tab, and an AFL-CIO pin. Having passed 88 cents prior to the operation, Suzzy had eaten a total of $7.37. Now nicknamed Moneybags, the droopy-eared pup is up for adoption at a local Illinois shelter. Jim the Wonder Dog Jim the Wonder Dog passed away 62 years ago but his legend is alive – at least, the town of Marshall, Missouri, is spending $40,000 on erecting a memorial to their most famous former resident. In the 1930s, Jim’s nationwide fame rivaled Rin Tin Tin. Paramount Pictures sent in a newsreel crew, reporters flocked to see him from all over the country, and he was featured in Ripley’s Believe it Or Not! Why? Because Jim the Wonder Dog was psychic. He chose winners of the Kentucky Derby and the World Series. He picked the sex of unborn babies, identified strangers from crowds of people, and deciphered Morse code. Of course there were detractors. Veterinarians at the University of Missouri studied, poked, and prodded him; investigators searched for ways his owner might be feeding him signals. All arrived skeptical. All left muttering the word “psychic.” When times changed and World War II intervened, the black and white Border collie slipped into obscurity although visitors still seek out his grave, leaving flowers in memory of the pooch. But when the state began assessing the area’s top tourist potential three years ago, thoughts of Jim came flooding back. So a new memorial garden, complete with a plaque detailing his life story, will be built where Jim’s home once stood. Paving bricks engraved with names or messages are being sold for $100 apiece. For any nonbelievers still ready to debunk Jim’s gift, one brick carries the final word: “Saw Jim. It’s All True.” Cat Haiku Negotiating No-man’s land: carpet alive, Flea season again. I need a new toy. tail of black dog keeps good time. pounce! good dog! good dog! The rule for today Touch my tail, I shred your hand New rule tomorrow. In deep sleep hear sound cat vomit hairball somewhere will find in morning. Oh no! Big One has been trapped by newspaper! Cat to the rescue! Terrible battle. I fought for hours. Come and see! What’s a “term paper?” Sources unknown Armani Goes Down the Drain Twelve firemen went high-tech to save a pet hamster lodged in a drainpipe in Bedfordshire, England. When Armani escaped from her cage during a power outage, she ended up down a drainpipe. The fire brigade ripped up the patio and dug a deep hole to expose the pipe. Then a small remote-control camera was lowered to identify the hamster’s exact location before a brave firefighter was lowered headfirst by his colleagues to free the trapped rodent. What’s Furbish for FIRE? “Pet rescues family from fire!” We hear these stories every month. But here’s one BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999 39 ...And They All Live Happily Ever After “ one of the dogs at Best Friends, and this is my story: I’d been living with a nice old lady all my life and then, one day, she suddenly wasn’t there any more. After that, everything started falling apart for me. I was taken to a kennel but they weren’t interested in looking after me. They were too busy breeding puppies for sale even to notice me. So I turned into an emotional wreck, scared of everyone and everything. Eventually, the whole place was closed down and I was taken to the local shelter. From the shelter I went to a foster home, but I was too crazy to be adopted. I loved my foster mom and I might even have stayed with her, but I just couldn’t cope with having anyone else in the household. (Okay, I admit it: I’m really neurotic!) Finally, the shelter arranged for me to come to Best Friends, and now I think I’m really beginning to put my life back together again. The people who look after me here say there’s no hurry, but if and when I do feel ready to go to a new home, they’ll keep an eye out for the perfect grandma for me! So that’s my story. It started out a bit sad, but thanks to the wonderful people like you who support Best Friends, I’m getting to live “happily ever after.” God bless you. Hi, I’m Berni Girl, ” 40 BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE May/June 1999