We all know about the horrible drought facing California. Local governments all over that great state are enforcing ordinances about using sprinklers, communities are sharing tips and guidelines on reducing water use around the house, and people all over the country are pointing at green lawns and golf courses while shaking their heads at the waste. However, direct use of water in California (toilets, sinks, sprinklers, etc) only makes us 4% of the state’s water use. So while the average person thinks they are doing their part by flushing the toilet less and taking shorter showers, it actually won’t put much of a dent on the state’s overall water use.
What will? Most people in the United States are not going to like the answer. Eat less meat. The cattle market in California alone uses up almost 50% of the states water use. HALF. For one ounce of beef, it takes over 106 gallons of water to produce. That’s 66 flushes of a standard toilet. 6 showers. For ONE OUNCE of beef.
The meat industry in general takes up a lot of water to produce. Below is a very handy chart that shows how many gallons of water is needed to produce one ounce of food. The top two? Beef and Lamb. If we want to be serious about conserving water and avoiding these droughts, we need to stop eating so much beef in this country.
I commend people for being more conscious of their water use, and communities for putting in measures to help us conserve this precious resource. But if we really want to make a change and put a real dent in our water use, we need to reevaluate our dieting habits. If everyone in this country ate one less beef-related dish each week, we’d save 135,213,600,000 gallons of water. In one week. Let’s all pledge to eat less beef – maybe join in on meatless Mondays – and help avoid these horrendous droughts.
Even the most careful can have a companion animal go missing – it is a scary situation, but hopefully these recommendations help you be prepared and be reunited with your family member safely and quickly!
Make sure your pet is microchipped! And once your pet is microchipped, make sure to keep the contact information associated with it current. All shelters, vet offices, and police states have microchip scanners, so your odds of being reunited increase exponentially when your pet is microchipped.
Call all area shelters and rescue groups to report your missing pet. Give them a detailed description of appearance, your pet’s name, age, breed. But don’t stop there – physically go to those shelters at least once every three days to walk through their stray holding areas to see if your pet is there. Many shelters mean well, but too often they aren’t able to match up your report with a pet that shows up, so go there and check yourself! The three day recommendation is because most states allow shelters to put animals up for adoption or euthanize pets after three days.
Make a flyer and distribute it around your neighborhood and surrounding areas. Also post your flyer on local community boards in your area (libraries, coffee shops, visitor centers, etc). Include on your flyer a clear, full bodied picture of your pet, your contact information, and their name. A reward is up to you, some say to not do one, but I don’t see why not if you think it will help in your neighborhood.
Put out food and water on your property. Most pets don’t actually go very far when they get lost, and some become so spooked they forget they have you and a home. Putting out food and water may attract them back.
Go looking! As I already mentioned, most pets don’t actually go very far, so look at local places that would be a safe hiding spot (under neighbor’s porches, barns, etc), places that have food available (dumpsters, farms, etc) . Do not be discouraged if you find your pet, but they run away. If they are spooked enough, they forget they have a safe home and become semi-feral to survive. Don’t chase after them, use some high value treats (hot dogs are always a good option) to coax them back, and consider setting some live traps with those hot dogs near where you saw them. If you do set the live traps where you spotted them, make sure to check those traps at least twice a day.
Summer is a tough time of year for shelters across the country. Unaltered dogs and cats are having their puppies and kittens in droves, the summer celebrations and holidays spook many pets into running away from the yard and getting lost, and summer storms also spook pets into becoming strays.
Strays
To avoid losing your pet, first and foremost, keep them inside where they are safe – especially during the holidays and storms. When outside, make sure you are keeping an eye on them, even if you have a fence. You’d be surprised how quickly and easily a scared dog can scale a fence.
Secondly, make sure your pet is microchipped and, once they are, that the information attached to the mircochip is current. This is the easiest way to be reunited with your pet! And if your pet does go missing, make sure to report it to your local shelters and rescue groups, and stop by on a regular basis (at least every three days) to walk through their stray holds and see if your friend has shown up. It also helps to put posters with clear photos of your pet around your neighborhood and surrounding areas.
Adopt!
Now is the PERFECT time to adopt!!! If you have been thinking of adding a new member to your family, summer is the perfect time to adopt from your local shelter or rescue group. Since they are bursting at the seams with unclaimed strays and puppies/kittens and their parents, you will have a great selection and usual a good deal for the adoption fee because many shelters run specials to help get those animals adopted.
Help!
With shelters at capacity and nonprofit involvement from the community at all time lows in summer, your shelter/rescue group needs YOU! Consider a donation, volunteering, fostering, or all three. It is extremely rewarding to help companion animals and the shelters that care for them. Plus not only will the human staff be eternally grateful for your help, so will those four, three, two, one, and no legged pets. 🙂
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
It’s that time of year: where across the country, American’s celebrate our independence day with parades, cookouts, fireworks, and general revelry! It’s a wonderful tradition, but for your companion animal, it might not be so much fun. Here are some tips for keeping your pets safe and happy during the celebrations this coming weekend:
Parades are tons of fun to watch and participate in, but it might be a good idea to reconsider taking your dog along with you to enjoy it. Most dogs are not fans of large, compact crowds of people. Plus, there will be scary noises coming from the bands, firetrucks, etc as well as many children running wild who may not be as respectful as they usually are with dogs. The vast majority of dogs I have seen at parades are demonstrating nervous and overwhelmed behavior – help Fido keep calm and leave him safely inside at home instead of joining you at the parade.
Fireworks are TERRIFYING for dogs. There are very few that don’t react to noise of the explosions and how can we blame them – they don’t know it’s pretty and not harmful to them. Definitely DO NOT bring your pup to go watch the fireworks and PLEASE keep your pets safely inside for the entirety of the weekend. The loud explosions of fireworks spook dogs, and many will run away due to fear. Shelters across the country have a huge influx of stray dogs during and after July 4th because so many got out of the yard and ran. Keep Fido safely inside and don’t bring him along for fireworks watching.
Cookouts are awesome, even for vegetarians like me. 🙂 My main caution for your pets is to make sure they are not getting into the human food and that you keep an eye on them in regards to the grill. It is all too common to see pups with severe burns due to trying to get at that burger on the hot coal grill! And so many human foods are harmful to pets, so it’s best to not chance it and keep Fido away from the picnic tables and ask guests to not put their plates on the ground (helps avoid ants, anyways!). Keep the food away from Fido and have a watchful eye on him with the grill.
The Fourth of July is a great American Holiday – enjoy the celebration, be safe, and Happy Independence Day!
Yes, it is nesting season for turtles everywhere in the country, so you will probably spot a few out of water walking around this month. Don’t fret, they are just looking for a good spot to lay their eggs and will head back to water right after the job is done. But if you do see a turtle on or near a roadway (or near any other kind of danger), please help them!
Most turtles look like rocks from a car on the road and many get killed trying to cross. If you do see a turtle near a roadway, simply pick them up by the back of their upper shell (avoid the front or upper sides, their necks are long and they can bite!) and move them off the side of the road that has the water.
If you see a turtle nesting (laying her eggs), leave her be! If you get too close and scare her, she will abandon the nest which does not bode well for her eggs. Consider standing guard for her if she is in a high-traffic area, just make sure to give her several yards of space so she doesn’t spook.
If you aren’t sure what to do or are worried the turtle you’ve found is hurt in anyway, call the local wildlife rescue and they will be able to help talk you through it or come get her.
This is how chicken is prepared in the slaughter line… want some fries with that? While I know not everyone will choose vegetarianism or veganism like I have, but I implore you: PLEASE be aware of where you meat came from, and support cruelty-free, local farmers instead of these freak show factory farmers who only care about the bottom line and not the safety or well-being of their livestock.
Too many times I have seen a dog on a retractable leash, just barely avoiding a catastrophe. It baffles my mind these are still produced and that people are still able to purchase them.
– It teaches them to pull. Since their leash changes length all the time and sometimes doesn’t have a set length at all, they learn to pull when walking on a leash.
– You lose control. When your dog can get that far away from you in situations where they are supposed to be on leash, it can lead to some serious problems. The most gruesome dog attack I ever saw was a small breed dog on the retractable leash was attacked by another, much larger dog. The owner was so far away, she couldn’t pull the leash to get the dog away or help. I’ve also seen dogs almost get hit by cars countless times since they can easily hop into the road from the sidewalk.
– It can hurt others. Having a leash that long and cord-like can cause a lot of pain for others. Nothing like a dog getting excited, running around, and an innocent bystander gets serious rope burn from the leash wrapping up on them.
Please avoid these leashes!! If you see someone looking at one at the store, please speak up! They are not safe, and encourage poor behaviors in your pup. Get a standard six foot leash and enjoy those walks!
Last fall, I adopted a kitten (Calliope) with FeLV. She actually has a couple conditions going on, but the one most people usually don’t know about or understand is FeLV (Feline Leukemia Virus). FeLV is an incurable virus that behaves much like HIV does in humans. It affects the immune system and greatly shortens a cat’s lifespan. It is also rather easy to spread (unlike HIV), and is most commonly spread through saliva (cat’s grooming each other) and through blood transfer (fighting). It can also be spread through shared bowls and litter boxes, but that is less common. Because it is so easily spread, cats with this virus cannot be with cats without it. They must be kept completely separated to avoid transmission.
Sadly, most shelters will automatically kill cats who enter their facility and test positive for FeLV. Luckily, it’s becoming more and more common for shelters to have FeLVie sanctuaries as part of their facility. Calliope comes from such a shelter, Fort Collins Cat Rescue, where she arrived with her litter mates, all who were born with the virus.
Calliope will probably not live to see her second birthday, but that doesn’t mean she shouldn’t get to enjoy life before then. Which is why I decided to adopt a FeLV kitty after my Loki passed away. While she won’t live a long life, I intend to make her life a full one nonetheless.
If you don’t have any cats and are looking to add a kitty to your home, consider a cat with FeLV. While their lives will be shorter and there are a few added care-taking tasks, it is most definitely worth it!
Now what? Instinct will be to scoop those little fur balls up and take them to the nearest shelter. But don’t do that quite yet!! Odds are there is a Mom cat who is out and about getting food, hiding from you, or transporting the litter. If there is indeed a Mom cat, leave the kittens be as she will be their best caretaker. If there is no mother, unless you have a local nokill shelter don’t take the kittens there. The vast majority of underage kittens are killed within hours of intake at standard shelters since they don’t have the setup to handle these little guys.
If you have determined there is no mother, and your local shelter is not nokill, it’s on you to help them! You can get great advice from a local vet on how to take care of them, but basically you need to feed them every 2-3 hours and definitely don’t give them cow’s milk. If your local shelter is nokill, then call them ahead of time because they probably need to setup a foster for your little guys and a heads up is greatly appreciated.
Care2 has a great, comprehensive article about how to handle it all, so check it out if you want to learn more and happy kitten season!
The meat industry in general takes up a lot of water to produce. Below is a very handy chart that shows how many gallons of water is needed to produce one ounce of food. The top two? Beef and Lamb. If we want to be serious about conserving water and avoiding these droughts, we need to stop eating so much beef in this country.
I commend people for being more conscious of their water use, and communities for putting in measures to help us conserve this precious resource. But if we really want to make a change and put a real dent in our water use, we need to reevaluate our dieting habits. If everyone in this country ate one less beef-related dish each week, we’d save 135,213,600,000 gallons of water. In one week. Let’s all pledge to eat less beef – maybe join in on meatless Mondays – and help avoid these horrendous droughts.
Jenna Riedi 