This makes me want to cry
Not tears of joy, people. Tears of sadness. When will animal cruelty end?
Dogs cover One Direction song “One Thing”
OK, I’ll be honest. I don’t know much about One Direction. I know they’re a boy band. They might also be from Canada. Their hair is tall. These are the facts.
For some reason, a group called The Pet Collective has done a parody video of their video “One Thing.” With dogs. Yes. It’s just dogs running around. Let’s just be grateful that the dogs aren’t barking along. The doggy suspenders are pretty hilarious, though.
Another Michael Vick dog recovery
Look at this wonderful pup:
Watch this video about how this dog went from Michael Vick’s fighting rings to loving therapy dog. It makes my heart happy.
2012 Pupnic in the Park
Mark it down people. It’s going to be adorable and free.
The annual Pupnic in the Park will be from 1 to 4 p.m. April 28 at Ross Park, NW 62 and Ross. (The rain date is April 29.)
The shindig will include a parade and contests for costumes, tricks, size and look-alike cuteness. Vendors will be there, and there will be dog obedience demonstration. My dogs will not be part of that.
Dogs should be leashed. For more information, go to www.Pupnic.com.
Dogs at Work stamps
As if the Birds of Prey stamps weren’t enough, the U.S. Post Office is releasing a series of stamps depicting working dogs. The stamps show a guide dog, a tracking dog, a therapy dog and a search and rescue dog standing. Oddly enough, my dogs weren’t depicted doing their best work: napping. Like the Birds of Prey stamps, these will debute Jan. 20. Here’s a look:
Horse + pup = adorable!
Horses available at Pauls Valley adoption center
When you’re driving along Interstate 35 near Pauls Valley, take a peek at the horse heard on the western side of the highway. Those are all animals pulled off the Western plains and offered for adoption. The wild horse adoption center in Pauls Valley is hosting an adoption event tomorrow. Here’s a quick video or you can read the full story here.
Oklahoma primate rescue worker condemns film director
Film director Cameron Crowe has a film coming out soon called, We Bought a Zoo, that features all kinds of wild animals. Well, that has at least one Oklahoman ticked off. Bob Ingersoll, the president of the Newcastle-based Mindy’s Memory Primate Sanctuary, sent this letter to Crowe.
September 20, 2011
Cameron Crowe, Director
We Bought a Zoo
Dear Mr. Crowe,
My name is Bob Ingersoll. You may have heard of the recent documentary Project Nim, by Academy Award winners James Marsh and Simon Chinn. In part, the film chronicles my relationship with Nim Chimpsky, a chimpanzee. I met Nim in September of 1977 and became a lifelong advocate for him and other captive primates and continue to do that work to this day. For almost 15 years now, I’ve served as president of Mindy’s Memory Primate Sanctuary in Newcastle, Oklahoma, where we provide a permanent home for almost 100 monkeys, many of whom come from situations similar to Crystal’s.
By now you’ve read the several other letters explaining why it is a bad idea to use live monkeys in movie projects. I don’t need to reiterate what my colleagues have written in their letters, except perhaps to point out that your use of Crystal perpetuates a problem that we have been trying to both bring to an end and provide a solution for, for many years. And I’ll add that in my opinion, computer-generated imaging has made using live animals entirely unnecessary and hopefully soon obsolete.
In my experience, monkeys that come to us from entertainment and pet situations are the most difficult to resocialize with members of their own species, since they’ve had little or no social experience with other monkeys. Being around humans may be fun and cute and entertaining for the humans, but it’s psycholo-gically devastating for the animal. The laughs for the brief moment in a movie or television show are not worth the suffering that animal generally will have to endure. Also, it is not unheard of for entertainment animals to end up in invasive medical research when their entertainment days are through, often in a few short years. The people that make a buck on the use of their animals for entertainment seldom have qualms about making a buck on them when they outlive their cute stage and enter the dangerous stage.
Another problem is that use of monkeys in movies stokes the public’s desire to own a monkey as a pet, thereby perpetuating more sales of captive primates. These monkeys are sold to people who are unequipped to provide for the magnitude of care needed for a primate’s physical and mental well-being over the decades of the monkey’s life. A capuchin can live to be 50 years of age. That’s a long time. Neeko spent eight years in a dog carrier, in a diaper, in an apartment. Abu ended up in a windowless tool shed in a backyard for a number of years before he was rescued by us. There are many more examples at our sanctuary alone, but you get the point. The bottom line is, using monkeys in entertainment ultimately just leads to many more monkeys in bad situations.
Capuchin monkeys are social animals, and they deserve the opportunity to live their lives as the monkeys they are, with members of their own species. They shouldn’t have to spend their lives being trained to do tricks for humans’ entertainment.
Thanks for taking the time to read this letter. Feel free to contact me directly if you would like. My number is (415) 609-4856; e-mail is newtrogs@hotmail.com.
Regards,
Bob Ingersoll, President
Mindy’s Memory Primate Sanctuary
Newcastle, Oklahoma
Norman Police Department police dog dies
Sad news out of Norman today. Here’s a preses release from the Norman Police Department:
On Saturday September 10th, 2011, Norman Police canine, Pablo, died suddenly from natural causes. Pablo was a commissioned 8 year old German Shepard Norman police dog. Pablo and his handler, Sergeant Kellee Robertson, were assigned to the Special Investigations Division as a drug interdiction team. Throughout his career Pablo was responsible for the seizure of 3.54 pounds of cocaine, 42.7 grams of crack cocaine, 301.5 pounds of marijuana, 3.66 pounds of methamphetamine , and $272,886 us currency. Street value of the drugs is $323,770.00. Pablo was a very social dog and in addition to his interdiction duties, he was our lead canine for community interaction. Pablo performed many demonstrations to school children throughout the community as well as Leadership Norman and Tomorrow’s Leaders. A memorial service for Pablo will be planned in the near future.
Norman duo named K-9 team of the year
In case you were wondering, Lux and his human, Darin Morgn, shown at left, are pretty amazing. Here’s a press release from the Norman Police Department:
Detective Sergeant Darin Morgan and his canine partner Lux have been selected as the 2011 State of Oklahoma K-9 Team of the Year by the Association of Oklahoma Narcotics Enforcers (A-ONE).
Detective Morgan and Lux are assigned full time to the Norman Police Department’s Interdiction Unit. From March 2010 to March 2011, Detective Morgan and Lux have seized 45.1 pounds of high grade marijuana and in excess of $79,000 dollars in drug proceeds. Additionally, Detective Morgan was responsible for disrupting a multi-state criminal enterprise in which the perpetrators were making and selling fake computers.
Although primarily focused on interdiction, Detective Morgan also assists other divisions within the police department with narcotics related incidents. In December 2010, Detective Morgan assisted the Patrol Bureau with an interview of an individual believed to be dealing in large quantities of high grade hydroponic marijuana. The interview resulted in Detective Morgan acting as the lead case agent. This case resulted in the seizure of more than 50 lbs of hydroponic marijuana, drug proceeds in excess of $130,000, and has lead to several other investigations by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Detective Morgan and Lux are a highly motivated, experienced, and skilled team of investigators. Their tireless efforts in the field of Drug Interdiction have earned them the A-One 2011 State of Oklahoma K-9 Team of the Year. The Norman Police Department is extremely proud of the favorable recognition they have brought to the Norman Police Department and the City of Norman.
For more information on A-One, please visit their web site at www.okienarc.com or Facebook (AONE).
