respublica

How many raccoons are there in the world?

I posted a week or so ago about our most recent raccoon problem and said we'd be calling Critter Control again. Well we did and so far this week they've trapped at least 7 raccoons and I think it's more than that. I don't believe I've added in yesterday's number. This is creepy and ridiculous. Here's what I found today and folks, they are not cuddly creatures. 

Click to enlarge the pictures.

This one is on the side of our house next to our neighbor's driveway. He's trying to sleep or is asleep as they're nocturnal.

Then outside of the garage are two in one trap. 

Critter Control snuggled this trap around various things. We've gotten to know this particular Critter Control guy very well over the years. He knows right where to put the traps. 

The love of a dog

I came across this drawing this morning and it pretty much describes dogs perfectly, at least from my vantage point. Your dog sees you coming and his heart sings which turns on the tail.

There isn't any notation on who drew this, but I saw it on a Facebook page someone shared called Other Perspectives.

Squirrly support

More and more people have the need for support animals. Most often these animals are dogs, the traditional support for the blind and handicapped. Now we're seeing many people who need an animal with them for emotional support, dogs of all sizes, cats, chickens, snakes and now squirrels.

A woman was taken off a Frontier Airlines plane last night when she attempted to fly with her support squirrel. Surprisingly, I have no words for this.

Reality

CNN anchor, Jake Tapper brought a dose of reality to the many people agonizing over the raccoon which was climbing up a 25 story office building in St. Paul, Minnesota. All day long news stations and social media followed the raccoon's progress up the stone wall. "Will he fall? Oh, he's resting on a ledge now." Then at 2:30 this morning he made it up to the roof where animal control people had set up traps with food and water. Eventually he'll head into one of them and then be carried down to level ground. From there, who knows what they'll do with him, but I'm sure we'll find out.

This leads me to Jake Tapper whose words line up with my experience with many many raccoons over the years.

"I love the story of the raccoon so I’m going to shut out of my brain the fact that raccoons are nasty and evil beasts and not at all what we want them to be. Got some raccoon denialists in my mentions on this. Folks, they’re not cuddly. They want to rip your faces off."

Exactly.

UPS Dogs

The greatest PR practice in the delivery business comes from UPS. Drivers carry dog treats and give them out at their stops. There is a facebook devoted just to photos of drivers all over the country making dogs' days. Our dog is no different, he absolutely loves our UPS lady who never fails to stop and load him up with treats. Yesterday she stopped and not only treated him, but gave him a huge hug.

This isn't just a gimmick to increase business for UPS, but with so many dogs fearful and aggressive with delivery services, this changes that whole dynamic.

Carrots and dogs

There is a really cute Twitter page named the Golden Ratio 4 which posts things about their 4 Golden Retrievers, actually 5 retrievers. Every day the dogs are handed a big carrot one by one which has made me wonder if carrots are ok for dogs and would Ferdie enjoy one. These other 4 dogs all seem to like them. 

Turns out carrots are great for dogs, they are high in fiber, antioxidants, and slow dental disease. I don't particularly like carrots so I rarely have any at home, but maybe I'll get a few for Ferdie to see if he likes them. 

Animals on the loose

The story of the morning that wasn't politics was of a big monkey loose in the San Antonio airport. "

A monkey (named Dawkins) who was being transported escaped its cage Monday afternoon and briefly ran loose at San Antonio International Airport, officials said. The monkey had just arrived on an American Airlines flight from Chicago when it made a break.

It made a break just as fast as most passengers want to get off that plane.

But, this was no ordinary little monkey. Reports first called it a Baboon but it was actually a rhesus macaque, which I cannot picture at all. He was being taken to an animal sanctuary after having spent some years in a research lab at Brown University. Poor guy, he probably wanted to get away for fear he was going to another research facility.

Dawkins

There has been a spate of animals roaming around these days. We encountered a raccoon on the campus and this morning as Ferdie went out in the front yard he suddenly saw a fox and took off after it. I watched in shock. I was shocked to see a fox next door to us and even more shocked to see that Ferdie can still actually sprint off really fast. His legs aren't the best these days. The fox went between our house the the house next door into the back and then on to who knows where. Ferdie had given up the chase.

There are also rabbits everywhere, Sunday I watched a groundhog trying to decide whether he'd cross our street in Collinsville and come into our yard.  He didn't. And then there is this photo from somewhere. A fox and and eagle fighting over a rabbit.

Replanting the forest

Last year a Chilean forest was nearly destroyed by a fire and in the aftermath, someone came up with a great idea for restoring it. They are using Border Collies with seed packs strapped to their backs like saddle bags. The bags have openings in the bottom so that when the dogs run, the native plant seeds fall to the ground where they will hopefully take root.

This is one of the best stories I've seen, certainly Border Collies love to run and love to have a job and could do it all day long.

Why not try it?

Meanwhile in some American city....

Comfort Dogs on campus

Saturday a regional Lutheran Church Charities Comfort Dog conference was held on the seminary campus with handlers and dogs from Illinois, Missouri and Kentucky in attendance. There is nothing quite like seeing all these beautiful dogs in one place. It does something to your heart.

I lost count on exactly how many handlers were here but there were a lot. Here is a photo of them all. Click to enlarge

And the dogs

Getting them all lined up for a photo was quite the undertaking but fun.

Holy Cross Collinsville was well represented

And at last some play time

Lost dogs

I follow several Facebook pages which deal with local lost dogs. The Lost Dogs of Madison County, Collinsville, Clayton etc all let dog owners publicize their lost dogs and hope that someone will find them. Some stories are just heartbreaking like Summer, a service dog who was in a car accident with her owner last week and was so frightened she ran away. This is in Collinsville and everyday someone has an update of a sighting, but no one can catch her.

This morning a post related that she was seen at 255 and Simpson Avenue which means she's traveled west from the accident site and is now near the racetrack.