Here's a message from our friends at the ASPCA regarding pets as gifts this holiday season. If you ask me, I'd say just forget about it. I don't like the idea of animals as gifts even if you are good -intentioned. There's something about the holidays, or birthdays, that has " IMPULSE " blinking in red in my mind. Getting a pet should be a well thought-out process. In the best of worlds, getting a pet should be about giving an animal a better life and not making someone happy on a special occasion. Yes, I know. It's not a perfect world, and there are many cases where things have worked out quite well for both gift and celebrant. I don't always get my way. In case you are in the hunt for a pet this holiday season, take a few minutes to listen to ASPCA President Ed Sayres and Officer Annemarie Lucas, ASPCA Humane Law Enforcement’s Supervisory Special Investigator:
When a member of the animal or plant kingdom goes extinct, there will be no second chances. Evolution will simply not repeat itself. There are reportedly eighty bird species that are unique to the Philippines and many of them have already made it to the endangered list. And we, to a great extent, have indiscrimate hunting to thank for it. In spite of two national laws protecting Philippine animals, the carnage continues unabated. The killings could occur as arbitrarily as guys getting together for macho time, or as a result of a well-planned hunting trip involving speed boats, bird callers, and camouflaged outfits. Either way, the outcome is the same. Philippine wildlife, our natural treasures, inches closer to a state of irreparable vacancy. Not too long ago, we learned about the Bacolod Air Rifle Club (BARC) whose unbridled killing of Philippine birds and ducks became the subject of an online petition calling for immediate government intervention. My post on that most disturbing c...
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It's not a Christmas problem either. Lets not forget the ducks and bunnies at easter.