God Spelled In Reverse --

Most Americans love dogs. Many of us would go the extra mile to help a distressed or lost dog. We know that, instead of buying or breeding dogs, we should adopt a shelter dog. When we adopt a dog, we don’t add to the huge number of wonderful dogs who are put to death in shelters due to a lack of shelter space and the sheer numbers of surplus pets of all breeds and mixes (one in four is a purebred) continually coming into shelters. Many of us know we need to be responsible pet owners. But some people don’t seem to know that yet ... and the dogs are paying the price. Please encourage friends and kinfolk to have their dogs spayed or neutered and I.D. tagged...and to keep them safe at home. It’s the right thing to do for cats, too.

Dogs -- Needing a Different Kind Of Rescue

Next time you shop for a jacket or coat, please take a moment to check the "fur" that may adorn the garment. If it is synthetic, you will see stitching and cloth material under the fur. When clothing is decorated with fur, it may be dog fur not labeled as such, (now often found in U.S. stores that receive goods from China) – fur that is brutally cut from the backs of dogs in China, where cages upon cages are stacked, crammed with these unfortunate dogs who are fearfully awaiting their fate. When inspecting a fur-trimmed clothing item, look at where the fur enters the fabric. Part the fur with your fingers ... if you see and feel skin beneath the fur, you will be able to tell that it is not synthetic material.

Another sad issue is that dogs in parts of Asia are killed via very inhumane means and sold in dog meat markets. I’m thinking now of Korea, where a segment of the male population erroneously believes that the meat of dogs who die violently will provide the human diner with hormones that will be an aphrodisiac. Two Korean sisters who work diligently to educate and legislate to close the dog meat markets in their country report that many Koreans are horrified by this practice and that it is not a traditional part of their culture. These two women established International Aid for Korean Animals (IAKA), an organization that also rescues dogs from the markets and finds them adoptive, loving homes. Their website is at www.koreananimals.org.

Mini-Series...

Continuing with the pro-animal, pro-environment mini-series, I want to update readers about the Rep. Nicely (not nice) horse slaughter bill in Tennessee. It has (for the time being) been withdrawn and sent to committee for "summer study". To date, it has not been withdrawn in the complete sense. Mr. Nicely's ugly bill was opposed, overwhelmingly, by the general public and, very notably, by singer Willie Nelson. Sincere thanks to Willie and everybody else who rallied on behalf of Tennessee's horses, to defeat this bill. Hopefully, the bill will roll off the books and not resurface at a future session.

My current posting is about wolves and you will find it immediately below this paragraph. There are more topics to come ... some will be provocative. If you're reading me and my stuff, I think you'll want to stay tuned. I'll be putting up subsequent series posts weekly.

Singers Of Earth & Heavens ...

I love wolves ... they are mystical, intelligent, social, spiritual, and great singers. They, unfortunately, have also been the most maligned and vilified of animals. Killed mercilessly and driven to the brink of extinction in the U.S., they were finally put on the Endangered Species List some years back and re-introduced in some regions. They began to recover and, once again, could be sighted in some areas of our country. Then George Bush, as one of his parting shots before leaving office, removed them from the Endangered Species List, opening the way for their mass murder again. Sadly, President Obama has not reversed this decision. Rather, his Secretary Of The Interior, Ken Salazar, has ignored public sentiment to restore the wolf’s protection. For the record, cattle ranchers have always had the legal right to kill any wolf who poses a problem to cattle... so there is no need for the wholesale killing (by shooting from planes, poisoning, trapping, and other horrors) of wolves. I’ve twice written to the president, asking him to intervene and have also written to Salazar.

If you care about these magnificent animals, please contact a wolf protection organization and write to the president. One pro-wolf organization is "Mission: Wolf" at http://www.missionwolf.com/. Others can be found on the Internet. Please, please help protect the wolf.