Steve Dale is host of the nationally syndicated radio show Steve Dale's Pet World and The Pet Minute with Steve Dale. His column, My Pet World (in which this post originally appeared) is carried in more than 100 newspapers nationwide. Steve also serves on the board of directors for the American Humane Association.
Q: We keep our cats indoors but are still concerned about radiation from Japan. And since our cats are smaller than we are, we're very worried they could be impacted by smaller amounts of radiation. What should we do? -- S.H., San Diego, CA
The minute I heard about the earthquake in Haiti, I knew that the animals there would need us. And it didn't take long before the Petfinder.com Foundation joined ARCH, the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti, with our partners in disaster relief, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), and the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) as well as over a dozen other leading animal welfare organizations.
Soon teams were on their way to the ravaged island. Dr. Dick Green, with IFAW, reports that they are treating between 50-100 dogs every day.
"We're seeing a lot of injuries to the paws," he says. "You need to remember that everywhere you look the concrete is down, and we have concrete mixed in with glass and sharp objects, and these poor dogs are foraging through this rubble to try and find food. Read more about the disaster relief efforts in Haiti after the jump.
Pompeii has over 50 dogs that will be up for adoption. (Photo: icanidipompei.com/)
According to Discovery News, the stray dogs of Pompeii are about to get a second chance.
On Monday, Pompeii's Emergency Commissioner, Marcello Fiori, announced a campaign to microchip, collar and tag each of the more than 50 dogs that frequent the ruins to find them permanent, loving homes.
"Stray dogs have given Pompeii a bad image, but things are going to change. From now on, dogs will have their own identity and dignity and will be taken care of," Fiori told reporters at the press conference.
Volunteers from three of Italy's leading animal charities have offered assistance with the campaign.
We love stories of lost pets reunited with their families -- often as a result of a wisely placed microchip.
But Discovery News has a truly miraculous lost-pet story, about an Australian explosive-detection dog named Sabi who vanished during a September 2008 gunfight in Afghanistan.
Fourteen months after Sabi's disappearance, a U.S. soldier found her at an isolated patrol base. The retriever was returned to her Australian caretakers in time for a visit (and some pets) from Aussie Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. (Read the full story here.)
Speaking of pets and the military, you can help men and women serving in the armed forces by fostering their pets while they're stationed abroad. Learn more after the jump.
Rabies isn't really something we think about here in the U.S. -- at least not when it comes to our pets, since rabies vaccination is so standard.
But according to the Alliance for Rabies Control, it's still a major problem worldwide, killing more than 55,000 people a year, mostly in Asia and Africa.
So the organization is holding its second annual World Rabies Day on Sept. 28. Vaccinating animals against rabies in developing countries will not only prevent human suffering, it may well improve the treatment of animals -- especially stray dogs -- in those countries by raising awareness of their health needs and the relationship between animals' well-being and humans'.
A lot of attention has been paid recently to the story of the hero dog in Chile who risked his life to pull an injured dog off of a busy highway. After the above video aired on TV last week and quickly became a YouTube phenomenon, Chilean officials said they got 15 calls from people offering to adopt the pup (the injured dog, sadly, died). But because the incident happened in March, police and highway workers have given up on finding the hero dog.
As is so often the case, people are rightly moved to want to help an animal whose news-making story tugs at the heartstrings, but there are many, many others who need our help just as badly who don't have the benefit of the media spotlight. And while the dog in the video displayed courage and selflessness, anyone who knows dogs knows that each one is a hero in his or her own way -- even if they just heroically lick our faces when we're feeling down.
From AP: Two men pet a cat in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday
That a puppy on a leash or a kitten in one's arms is a magnet for the opposite sex is something we all seem to know, but not think much about. (Or maybe you do think about it more than I do?)
Well, officials in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, have thought about it -- a lot. And they've now banned the sale of dogs and cats, and made it illegal to walk dogs outside. According to the Associated Press:
[An official] said the ban was ordered because of
what he called "the rising phenomenon of men using cats and dogs to
make passes at women and pester families."
Now, the ban on walking dogs outside makes no sense to me, but the ban on selling pets may be in some ways a good thing.
Nikki Moustaki, author of Dogfessions, is a great friend of Petfinder. Now she and her Miniature Schnauzer, Pepper (with her at right), have set sail aboard the Queen Mary 2 for a trip to Europe to celebrate their 10 years together.
Pepper is posting to his own blog about his adventures on the high seas, what he had to do to be able to make the trip (pet passports?), and why he has to dress in drag(!!).
One of his sample observations from aboard the luxury liner: "I should be the navigator. Sure, Europe is probably nice, but wouldn't
all of these people rather go to the Canary Islands, the islands named
after a dog? I think so."
Keep up with Pepper and Nikki as they sail to Hamburg and then travel to Berlin and Paris for several weeks.
She also sends out regular e-mail updates about her adventures, and recently reported on some positive news for street dogs in Chile:
I'm now in the north of Chile, camping by the Pacific Ocean. It's glorious. It's also a refreshing change to be amongst the Chilean people, who I found friendly when I flew here almost two years ago for a writing conference. They have not changed. What's interesting is their relationship with their dogs. At the first gas station I came to, there were six street dogs, all very friendly. In other countries, they've largely been scared. One man said to me, "We have a saying. Sometimes a better friend for a man, is a dog."
