Post by bw on Aug 25, 2005 13:08:57 GMT -5
A Dangerous New Area
Recent research has now clearly shown that psychological and emotional issues once believed important only for people-happiness, stress management, the mind-body connection, emotional suffering, mental illness, emotional abuse, and mental cruelty -- are experienced by animals.
First Veterinary Textbook On Animal Mental Health Published
Asia Pulse via Yahoo! Australia & NZ News Tue, 23 Aug 2005 7:21 PM PDT
(Full text of a statement. Contact details below.) LOS ANGELES, Calif., Aug. 23 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ -- Mental health care isn't just for humans anymore. Mental Health and Well-being in Animals, published this month by Blackwell Publishing, is the first textbook to be written on mental health in animals. Recent research has now clearly shown that psychological and emotional issues once believed
au.news.yahoo.com/050824/3/vmy5.html
First Veterinary Textbook on Animal Mental Health Published
Asia Pulse via Yahoo! Asia News Tue, 23 Aug 2005 7:14 PM PDT
(Full text of a statement. Contact details below.)
au.biz.yahoo.com/050824/17/7yoe.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some animal rescuers move outside mainstream
SHELTERS: Many often have a "no-kill" policy, but traditional groups object to the idea.
BY BOB SHAW
ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS
When Mary Britton Clouse says she loves her chicken, she's doesn't mean McNuggets.
Six years ago, she founded the state's only chicken rescue group in her North Minneapolis backyard.
She said that mainstream animal welfare groups, when confronted with abused chickens, might kill the birds if they couldn't be adopted as pets -- a sign the groups had lost their passion for saving animals.
She hasn't lost hers. "Once you have met a chicken and approached it with an open mind, you will not be the same," said Clouse, who has adopted out 118 chickens as pets.
Clouse and her Chicken Run Rescue are part of a new generation of animal welfare groups challenging such old-guard mainstays as the Humane Society.
Small, under-funded and zealous, the new groups have boosted the number of animal rescue groups in Minnesota to 137, according to the Web site Petfinders.com.
There is a ferret rescue group in Stillwater. Two groups save guinea pigs -- Paula's Pigdom and Twin Cities Guinea Pig Rescue. More than 20 groups rescue specific breeds of dogs, from collies to chihuahuas to Shih Tzus.
Day by day, the groups work with Humane Societies and shelters, sharing the common goal of animal welfare. But the specialized groups share a belief that almost no one -- especially old-guard animal groups -- loves their animals the way they do.
"It does feel so tremendously cold to give an animal to the Humane Society, not knowing if it's going to be euthanized," said Louise Dobbe, president of the Retrieve a Golden of Minnesota Inc., a rescue group for golden retrievers.
Those are fighting words to Tim Shields, administrator of the Minnesota Federated Humane Societies.
He said Minnesota -- like the rest of the country -- is awash with abandoned and abused pets, and it's naive to think none should ever be humanely killed.
Most of the new groups have a no-kill policy, which gives them a moral high ground that Shields says they don't deserve.
"No-kill shelters cause us great alarm," said Shields. "How long will they keep an animal? In what condition? It is fair to keep a dog for12 months in a cage when six other dogs could have come and gone in that time?" The no-kill groups simply turn away old or sick when their pens are full, said Shields. "Humane Societies don't have that luxury," he said, because they are obliged to take in all animals.
Shields said the new groups illustrate a syndrome that could be called the tyranny of the cute: attractive and trendy animals get their own rescue groups, while the ugly ones get the needle.
Mike Fry agreed, saying that the new groups, while good-hearted, don't fit the needs of the unwanted animals.
Fry, director of the Animal Ark No-Kill Shelter in Hastings, said cats are by far the most commonly euthanized animal, yet there are only about seven out of 137 Minnesota groups exclusively for cats.
Of euthanized dogs, black Labradors mixes and pit bulls top the list -- not the loveable dogs targeted by such groups as the Minnesota Sheltie Rescue or Katann Chow Rescue.
In Minnesota there are no rescue organizations for large, dark-faced mutts, which are perceived as menacing. "How many black lab rescue sites do you see?" said Shields. "Some animals have Hollywood sexiness and some don't." But some specialized groups break the stereotypes.
Rottweilers, a difficult-to-adopt dog, have a champion in Sue Prouty of Lino Lakes, director of Greater Minnesota Rottweiler Rescue.
"It's important to represent them fairly," she said, because Rottweilers have an undeserved reputation as a dangerous breed.
Same with pit bulls -- the focus of Candice's Pitbull Rescue in Andover. "I love them," said group founder Candice LaChance, who can temporarily handle five pit bulls. Mainstream groups, she said, "put them all to sleep."
Retrieve A Golden of Minnesota breaks the rules in another way -- vowing to take in any and all golden retrievers, whether they are old, diseased, abused or pregnant.
With an annual budget of $140,000, the group rehabilitates all dogs and finds them homes. "It's expensive," said Dobbe, especially when a dog needs hip dysplasia surgery for $3,000.
Costs per dog, including spaying and neutering and vaccinations, average $400, and the group recovers an average adoption fee of $250.
But in Minnesota, it's better to be born a golden retriever than a guinea pig. The shoestring rescue groups for that creature are more typical.
Allysse Henry, the 18-year-old founder of the Twin Cities Guinea Pig Rescue, has a budget of almost nothing. Instead of donations, she says, she often gets ridicule.
"I run into that a lot," said Henry, who started the group last year in her parents' house.
"Just because the guinea pig is a smaller animal, people see it as a disposable pet" often abandoned by fickle kids, she said. Her parents can house six of the animals, but have had as many as 29.
Shields of the Humane Societies said that as the specialized groups have blossomed in Minnesota, many local Humane Societies are withering.
Most of the new groups started with a single person loving an animal ignored by others -- such as chickens.
Clouse started the chicken rescue group when police broke up a cockfight in 2001, and weren't sure what to do with the confiscated birds.
"There were 13 boys, and all but six were euthanized," said Clouse. "Not many of the police have experience rehabbing a fighting rooster." She adopts them out as pets. The new owners must sign a do-not-devour agreement.
"Obviously, they won't be used for eating," said Clouse. "This is a companion animal."
www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/local/12461022.htm
Pet rescuers driven by passion, but their work raising alarm
BOB SHAW
Associated Press
www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/12464675.htm
Recent research has now clearly shown that psychological and emotional issues once believed important only for people-happiness, stress management, the mind-body connection, emotional suffering, mental illness, emotional abuse, and mental cruelty -- are experienced by animals.
First Veterinary Textbook On Animal Mental Health Published
Asia Pulse via Yahoo! Australia & NZ News Tue, 23 Aug 2005 7:21 PM PDT
(Full text of a statement. Contact details below.) LOS ANGELES, Calif., Aug. 23 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ -- Mental health care isn't just for humans anymore. Mental Health and Well-being in Animals, published this month by Blackwell Publishing, is the first textbook to be written on mental health in animals. Recent research has now clearly shown that psychological and emotional issues once believed
au.news.yahoo.com/050824/3/vmy5.html
First Veterinary Textbook on Animal Mental Health Published
Asia Pulse via Yahoo! Asia News Tue, 23 Aug 2005 7:14 PM PDT
(Full text of a statement. Contact details below.)
au.biz.yahoo.com/050824/17/7yoe.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some animal rescuers move outside mainstream
SHELTERS: Many often have a "no-kill" policy, but traditional groups object to the idea.
BY BOB SHAW
ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS
When Mary Britton Clouse says she loves her chicken, she's doesn't mean McNuggets.
Six years ago, she founded the state's only chicken rescue group in her North Minneapolis backyard.
She said that mainstream animal welfare groups, when confronted with abused chickens, might kill the birds if they couldn't be adopted as pets -- a sign the groups had lost their passion for saving animals.
She hasn't lost hers. "Once you have met a chicken and approached it with an open mind, you will not be the same," said Clouse, who has adopted out 118 chickens as pets.
Clouse and her Chicken Run Rescue are part of a new generation of animal welfare groups challenging such old-guard mainstays as the Humane Society.
Small, under-funded and zealous, the new groups have boosted the number of animal rescue groups in Minnesota to 137, according to the Web site Petfinders.com.
There is a ferret rescue group in Stillwater. Two groups save guinea pigs -- Paula's Pigdom and Twin Cities Guinea Pig Rescue. More than 20 groups rescue specific breeds of dogs, from collies to chihuahuas to Shih Tzus.
Day by day, the groups work with Humane Societies and shelters, sharing the common goal of animal welfare. But the specialized groups share a belief that almost no one -- especially old-guard animal groups -- loves their animals the way they do.
"It does feel so tremendously cold to give an animal to the Humane Society, not knowing if it's going to be euthanized," said Louise Dobbe, president of the Retrieve a Golden of Minnesota Inc., a rescue group for golden retrievers.
Those are fighting words to Tim Shields, administrator of the Minnesota Federated Humane Societies.
He said Minnesota -- like the rest of the country -- is awash with abandoned and abused pets, and it's naive to think none should ever be humanely killed.
Most of the new groups have a no-kill policy, which gives them a moral high ground that Shields says they don't deserve.
"No-kill shelters cause us great alarm," said Shields. "How long will they keep an animal? In what condition? It is fair to keep a dog for12 months in a cage when six other dogs could have come and gone in that time?" The no-kill groups simply turn away old or sick when their pens are full, said Shields. "Humane Societies don't have that luxury," he said, because they are obliged to take in all animals.
Shields said the new groups illustrate a syndrome that could be called the tyranny of the cute: attractive and trendy animals get their own rescue groups, while the ugly ones get the needle.
Mike Fry agreed, saying that the new groups, while good-hearted, don't fit the needs of the unwanted animals.
Fry, director of the Animal Ark No-Kill Shelter in Hastings, said cats are by far the most commonly euthanized animal, yet there are only about seven out of 137 Minnesota groups exclusively for cats.
Of euthanized dogs, black Labradors mixes and pit bulls top the list -- not the loveable dogs targeted by such groups as the Minnesota Sheltie Rescue or Katann Chow Rescue.
In Minnesota there are no rescue organizations for large, dark-faced mutts, which are perceived as menacing. "How many black lab rescue sites do you see?" said Shields. "Some animals have Hollywood sexiness and some don't." But some specialized groups break the stereotypes.
Rottweilers, a difficult-to-adopt dog, have a champion in Sue Prouty of Lino Lakes, director of Greater Minnesota Rottweiler Rescue.
"It's important to represent them fairly," she said, because Rottweilers have an undeserved reputation as a dangerous breed.
Same with pit bulls -- the focus of Candice's Pitbull Rescue in Andover. "I love them," said group founder Candice LaChance, who can temporarily handle five pit bulls. Mainstream groups, she said, "put them all to sleep."
Retrieve A Golden of Minnesota breaks the rules in another way -- vowing to take in any and all golden retrievers, whether they are old, diseased, abused or pregnant.
With an annual budget of $140,000, the group rehabilitates all dogs and finds them homes. "It's expensive," said Dobbe, especially when a dog needs hip dysplasia surgery for $3,000.
Costs per dog, including spaying and neutering and vaccinations, average $400, and the group recovers an average adoption fee of $250.
But in Minnesota, it's better to be born a golden retriever than a guinea pig. The shoestring rescue groups for that creature are more typical.
Allysse Henry, the 18-year-old founder of the Twin Cities Guinea Pig Rescue, has a budget of almost nothing. Instead of donations, she says, she often gets ridicule.
"I run into that a lot," said Henry, who started the group last year in her parents' house.
"Just because the guinea pig is a smaller animal, people see it as a disposable pet" often abandoned by fickle kids, she said. Her parents can house six of the animals, but have had as many as 29.
Shields of the Humane Societies said that as the specialized groups have blossomed in Minnesota, many local Humane Societies are withering.
Most of the new groups started with a single person loving an animal ignored by others -- such as chickens.
Clouse started the chicken rescue group when police broke up a cockfight in 2001, and weren't sure what to do with the confiscated birds.
"There were 13 boys, and all but six were euthanized," said Clouse. "Not many of the police have experience rehabbing a fighting rooster." She adopts them out as pets. The new owners must sign a do-not-devour agreement.
"Obviously, they won't be used for eating," said Clouse. "This is a companion animal."
www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/local/12461022.htm
Pet rescuers driven by passion, but their work raising alarm
BOB SHAW
Associated Press
www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/12464675.htm
. I don;t mind usually but man they gots some dirty feet sometimes hahah. and lately they think my car is to be stood on too. 
he gets sad and watches me when I cuddle the kittens and now he thinks my black lab/beagle is his girlfriend 
she is not a happy dog. but she has not yet harmed a feather on him. she growls some and sounds like she is going to tear santa to pieces but she is too sweet to do that. 