Live! Bunnies!

I'm putting this back at the top. It's surprisingly addictive & fun to watch. Ever see them do the bunny hop outside? I don't know if it's a mating ritual or just a happy dance. They jump really high with each other & seem to have a great time doing it! What a treat to watch!

Who could resist? My sister-in-law who is NOT fond of animal pets, has one. They make great pets.

So why not adopt one? I'd love to but my cat... Here are some real cuties from the Middletown Potter Shelter.

"The camera is at Found Animals in San Pedro, Calif.. At that link a live chat accompanies the video, and sometimes volunteers (typing in hot pink) answer questions about the bunnies."

Thanks to http://shenews.projo.com/

The War on Your Neighbors

From today's issue of the Newport Daily News comes this story about a SWAT team that raided the house of Cheye Calvo, mayor of Berwyn Heights, Maryland, on July 29. Mayor Calvo was the innocent victim of a scheme in which packages full of marijuana were sent across the country by delivery services to random addresses. One such package had been addressed to Calvo's wife, Trinity Tomsic.

Calvo had just returned home from walking his two black labs, and was upstairs in his bedroom changing his clothes when a SWAT team from the Prince George's County Police Department and Sheriff's Office kicked in the door. They shot Calvo's dogs (one was running away at the time), and forced his mother-in-law, who was cooking dinner in the kitchen, down on the floor at gunpoint next to one of the dead dogs. She was soon joined there by Calvo himself, wearing only boxer shorts. The police spent the next two hours interrogating them on the floor next to the dead dog. Tomsic came home during this, and was quickly handcuffed and forced down on the floor next to her husband, mother, and dead pet. When Calvo asked to see a search warrant, the police refused.

Incidentally, Berwin Heights has its own municipal police force, but the county cops didn't bother to notify them that they intended to launch a drug raid on one of the town's residents. County Police Chief Melvin High said that he wasn't ruling out the possibility that Calvo and his family were involved in the drug smuggling scheme, and defended the way the raid was conducted.

Calvo has asked the federal government to investigate the county cops because, not surprisingly, he doesn't trust the county cops to conduct their own investigation. FBI agent Rich Wolf announced that the bureau had opened a civil rights investigation into the case, and would monitor how effective, fair and professional the law enforcement agency's conduct was during the incident.

Was this simply an unfortunate isolated incident? Sadly, no. As Radley Balko of the Cato Institute has documented:

Over the last 25 years, America has seen a disturbing militarization of its civilian law enforcement, along with a dramatic and unsettling rise in the use of paramilitary police units (most commonly called Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT) for routine police work. The most common use of SWAT teams today is to serve narcotics warrants, usually with forced, unannounced entry into the home.

These increasingly frequent raids, 40,000 per year by one estimate, are needlessly subjecting nonviolent drug offenders, bystanders, and wrongly targeted civilians to the terror of having their homes invaded while they’re sleeping, usually by teams of heavily armed paramilitary units dressed not as police officers but as soldiers. These raids bring unnecessary violence and provocation to nonviolent drug offenders, many of whom were guilty of only misdemeanors. The raids terrorize innocents when police mistakenly target the wrong residence. And they have resulted in dozens of needless deaths and injuries, not only of drug offenders, but also of police officers, children, bystanders, and innocent suspects.

At Balko's website, The Agitator, you can find links to this story about police in a drug raid in Massachusetts shooting a dog that was cowering under a coffee table (n0 drugs found, btw), and this story about cops shooting and killing a 17-year-old boy in a drug raid in Texas (again no drugs found), and this story about cops shooting and killing an innocent bystander in a drug raid in Connecticut, and this story about a cop shooting and killing an unarmed woman in a drug raid in Ohio because he heard the sound of some other cops shooting her boyfriend's dogs and he thought someone was shooting at him.

This is the war on your neighbors.

This is the war on drugs.

(this post is cross-posted to Grace P.)

Cat Tricks

I have a black cat & she plays this trick on me every Fall, sometimes Spring, too. When I sit in my chair at the computer, she likes to walk back and forth across my chest-tummy area. This also involves marching, while swinging her tail in my face.
She is an outside cat, so she's been wandering with her cat friends in the bushes. Unfortunately, there is poison ivy out there. I know this to be true as she then transfers it to me. I've had it on my face & arms. This time it's my upper chest below my neck. The itching is driving me crazy!
I feed her, clean her box, put up with her howling to the vets & still she does this. I guess that cats just plain have no respect. No wonder Holly, the wonder dog, likes to chase her. Next time, I'm just plain NOT stopping her.

From Riyadh to Middletown

It's a heart-warming story about a military officer whose mother-in-law works in Portsmouth. He was leaving Saudi Arabia & concerned about the fate of two young dogs. The ending is that the two dogs, Thelma & Louise, are now at the Potter Shelter & available for adoption. Thanks to Projo for the article (Alex Kuffner
) & photo by Frieda Squires.

More Rhode Island Schools Go to the Dogs!

Sharif the 3 yr. old Great Dane is another "reading dog" visiting an elementary classroom in North Kingston. The Warwick "Y" organized an after school reading program and this is where the dog received his training. They had Sharif evaluated twice by a professional dog trainer.

"The first evaluation tested for obedience and character. Sharif had to obey commands, such as sit, stay and come. Also, 'He had to allow someone other than me to handle his paws, head, ears, et cetera,' Kirchner said. 'I had to leave the room to see if he had separation anxiety.' Sharif passed the first evaluation with flying colors.

The second evaluation took place in a school. The trainer wanted to see how Sharif was with a group of young children. In this most important evaluation, Sharif again scored an A-Plus."

Shariff (named after Omar Shariff) works for the Warwick Y's after school program until Feb. He then makes weekly trips to the North Kingston school to be read to. He has his own special "blankie" and, of course, the kids love him.

This is a great idea which I've blogged about previously. My German Shephard would love this. We'd have to work on the jumping, though (she likes to be boss). Perhaps the local "Y" or Potter Shelter could get a grant for this. Other pets can also receive the needed training.

Thank you, Projo.

Rhode Island Schools Go to the Dogs!

I've never heard of"Literacy Dogs" but doggone it, there is a school in Cranston that has one. This is part of a nation-wide program called "Reading Education Assitance Dogs." Here is their brochure.

"They really love reading to Henry,' she said [Charlene Lataille, a speech pathologist]. 'A lot of the children like to snuggle up against him. Some have never patted a dog before, and we have heard from some parents that they now practice for Henry at home by reading books to their stuffed animals.'”

"The mission of the R.E.A.D. program is to improve the literacy skills of children through the assistance of registered Pet Partner® therapy teams as literacy mentors." And good news - cats and even birds have been trained to take part in the program. Farm animals also take part. I know that Simmons Farm sometimes has a summer program stressing literacy skills.

Animals have to be obedience trained, then lessons in being a general-service dog and finally schooling on how to be a literacy companion to be part of this program.

For all the librarians & dog lovers out there here is another article from "School Library Journal."

The Potter League has a similar program, "Reading Fur Fun", but more limited in its scope.

Thanks to Projo for the Article & pic