Rapt-Lfpn - Infolettre

Beagles are bred and raised in Canada to be sent to their death in France after stressful and painful experimentation in the hands of Dr. Jekylls.

We were very lucky the journalist from the Gazette did a thorough job on his research following a complaint made by travelers on an Air Canada flight..

Like he said, there is no illegality or cruelty in this case so far. The cruelty starts in France with the experiments. But if it is not illegal does not mean it is not immoral. Of course we have a right to be appalled by the situation and we are very quick to condemn the transporter even though it is not the only person or company responsible for that specific situation.

There are a lot of laboratories in Quebec and especially in Laval. Every week, in the business section of our newspapers we see "men" being congratulated for the big business they do in pharmaceutical drugs (we refer to them as BIG PHARMA). Of course, it always implies research on animals for which our Quebec government is supplying huge grants with taxpayers' money.

There was a petition circulating last week to stop in its tracks a project of experimentation on monkeys, right here in Laval under the hospices of our own para-governmental INRS. Since I do not know who is behind the petition, I cannot tell you what happened with it. All experimentation on animals has to stop. People have to get up and raise their voices.

The Quebec population is uneducated in animal welfare and will certainly not take the streets en masse to protest against such abuses. All the millers and kennel owners of this province do business without being disturbed by the bureaucrats and the indignation of the neighbors in small villages, hidden behind beautiful scenery.

In Quebec, companion animals are treated like a thing (see the Civil Code). They are treated like garbage (at moving time), like a nuisance (unlicensed dogs) and like pests (stray cats). All the municipal by-laws refer to pets in the nuisance section of the Municipal Code. No protection against cruelty under those by-laws and all the Barnotti of this world cannot change the situation unless there is a change in the Municipal Code where instead of giving permission to the municipal officials to issue by-laws, we give them strict guidelines as to the protection of said animals (including farm animals raised for human consumption).

Each mayor and councilor have to be educated one case at a time with regards to the protection of animals in their municipality. See: http://www.rapt-lfpn.org/fr/040307.html And to make sure when there is a call for bids for the pound contract, which is made by the purchasing department, animal welfare is taken into consideration. At the moment the millers are the only ones bidding for said contracts and we know why, to have access to free animals.

So as you see, even a PR campaign by the biggest PR firm in Quebec (I would suggest Nationale) could not stop all that cruelty and inform the elected MPs and bureaucrats of the situation. We have to devise new plans and unite. A movement against puppy mills is presently getting momentum and we certainly hope it will progress like planned.

With a salary in the vicinity of $60 millions a year, the president of Air Canada is not interested to comment on what is going on at the airport and what cargo transit into his planes. But if we can attract many travelers and raise their level of indignation, I find Caroline Leroux's idea very interesting to declare my intention to get rid of my Aeroplan card and never fly with them again if they don't make a public statement saying that they won't be doing this anymore.

A boycott of that airline could also work. But it is a lot of energy to accomplish very little. It could also help the pets traveling on Air Canada since they have a reputation of being very careless with people's pets transported on their planes. Starting in July 2007, no more pets will travel with their human-parents. They will be regular cargo. It was easier to get rid of complaints that way than to see that pets are better taken care of on a flight. How many were lost between flights, alone on the tarmac ? What will happen to them in the future ?

And please, be more ethical, do not bring your dog to march to raise money for cancer research now you know that said research is done on dogs. All that research is a huge fraud, anyway.

P.S. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact me at rapt61@hotmail.com

ATTENTION À TOUS LES AMI(E)S DES CHATS

Nous sommes toujours à la recherche de bénévoles (vivant préférablement à Pointe-Calumet) pour la mise sur pied d'une intervention auprès de la municipalité, visant à sauver la vie des chats errants vivant sur leur territoire.

Il s'agit là d'une urgence si nous ne voulons pas donner le contrôle au gars de fourrière qui s'appropriera les chats pour les revendre aux labos.

Nous avons ajouté un sondage express (grâce à Anouchka et Thomas, nos webmestres) sur notre site. En quelques secondes vous pouvez nous laisser savoir ce que vous pensez :

Nous avons produit un mémoire sur la protection des animaux auprès de la Commission. Nous ignorons si l'idée sera prise en considération mais il fallait essayer.

Descendre à Réseau pour animaux... Et cliquer sur Mémoire à droite. C'est en format pdf.

I want to let all my friends at Steri-Animal know that this summer I would be providing pet sitting services. I would appreciate any help in finding customers.

The price is $10.00 per visit including watering the plants, nourishing the cats, playing with them or a 30 minutes of walking the dog.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Ch. 1. The Function of Dogs in 19th Century America
Ch. 2. Imagery and the Media in 19th Century America: The Bloodhound
Ch. 3. Creating Dangerous Dogs: The Newfoundland & the Northern Breeds
Ch. 4. How Popularity and Function Influence Aggression
Ch. 5. The Reporting of Dog Attacks in Early 20th Century Media
Ch. 6. The Use and Misuse of Courage: The Bulldog
Ch. 7. The Media Re-Shapes an Image: The German Shepherd
Ch. 8. The Myth of the Super-Predator: The Doberman Pinscher
Ch. 9. Setting Dogs Up for Failure: The New Guard Dogs
Ch. 10. The Media Attacks a Breed: The Pit Bull
Ch. 11. Pseudoscience and Hysteria Triumph
Ch. 12. Fighting Dogs: Branded with the Sins of Their Masters
Ch. 13. Sensationalism Replaces Common Sense
Ch. 14. The Real Causes of Dog Attacks
Ch. 15. The Pit Bull Placebo: Conclusions on Canine Aggression

Déjà que le Québec a très peu de refuges "no kill" pour sauver les animaux abandonnés, un incendie nous en a enlevé un ce mois-ci à Notre-Dame de Stanbridge. Le plus triste c'est que des chats ont péri dans l'incendie. Toute notre sympathie et notre appui à la propriétaire, Mme Perret.

Cats perish as fire ravages Townships animal shelter Dogs also missing. Refuge owner seeks foster homes for surviving animals

Notre Dame de Stanbridge - Amidst the collapsing tin roof, the few blackened walls that remained and the water bowls covered in ash, it was the cat's charred skeleton that stood out.

What was once a refuge for this cat, and as many as 150 others, burned down yesterday morning, killing most of the feline population.

A Surete du Quebec officer was passing the Chaumiere sur quatre pattes animal shelter in Notre Dame de Stanbridge, about 65 kilometres southeast of Montreal, about midnight when he noticed smoke coming from the shelter's main structure, said Nicole Verville, who works at the shelter and was the first employee on the scene.

"I don't care that the house no longer exists. It's the animals I care about," said Claudine Perret, who opened the shelter seven years ago.

Firefighters rescued about 30 cats from the building. The animals are in the care of two shelter volunteers.

Many of the shelter's 15 dogs are accounted for. The canines spend their summers outdoors, Perret explained. One is thought to have run off. Perret believes Kara, an American bulldog, perished in the fire, though. "Claudine absolutely wanted to find a family for (Kara) because she was such a gentle dog," said Yannael Bernier, 14, who volunteered at the shelter every couple of weeks. Yannael 's mother, Nicole Nepton, pulled him out of school yesterday morning when they found out about the fire.

Before they knew of Kara's fate, they worried about which dogs could have been caught in the blaze. It didn't appear that Perret would have trouble finding new homes for the dogs. As the afternoon rolled on, cars kept pulling up to the destroyed building to take a look at the canines that remained in the outdoor cages.

We heard about the fire on TV. We wanted to come see if we could help," one woman said.

Perret is in a difficult position, however. Described as a consummate animal lover by colleagues at the shelter, she was always strict about whom she would allow to adopt the creatures.

She is asking for foster families to step forward until permanent homes can be found. Perret also spays and neuters all her animals before giving them up for adoption and won't release any of the dogs that have yet to receive the proper medical treatment, she said.

Perret isn't planning to rebuild the shelter. It was a post-retirement venture and she now says that after the blaze, she has no energy left.

"I never thought my shelter would end its life this way. I'm sorry, there is so much more I would want to say, but I can't," she said.

Louis-Philippe Ruel, an SQ spokesperson, said he could not confirm what caused the fire but said it was probably an accident. Damage is estimated at $75,000.

A cause des alertes publicisées ces derniers jours, nous pensons que cet article reproduit de " Animal in Print " mérite votre attention.

On Monday, June 25, 2007 I took my healthy 9 month old Border Collie Vita swimming at approximately 6:30 p.m. Vita and two other BC's spent about an hour and a half diving off the dock, chasing the Water Kong, and running around. The temperature that day was just over 90 degrees, but none of the dogs looked particularly winded or hot.

Vita emerged from the water and looked as if she was going to vomit. She threw up lake water three times. I wasn't particularly concerned as she took in a lot of water from retrieving and swimming so much and had seen other dogs do that in the past without complications.

After the third time throwing up, she lay down and closed her eyes. Her tongue was hanging out of her mouth and I began to suspect she may have heat stroke. I immediately placed ice on her stomach and checked her gums. They were pink. I took her temperature which was 101.9, still normal. I then called my Vet who said these conditions did not indicate heat stroke and said I needed to get emergency medical attention right away.

Vita was not responsive and when I picked her up to put her in the car she was limp and her eyes were still closed. Her breathing was slow and her heart was racing. I arrived at the emergency clinic only a half hour from the time she showed signs of distress. The ER Vet asked me what sorts of things Vita had been doing all day. I explained that she was crated as I was gone for the latter part of the afternoon and that upon coming home, the only other place she went was to the lake.

Vita's eyes were fixed and dilated and the Vet suggested there was already brain damage. After administering an IV and oxygen, the Vet called me in and said Vita was not responding and that it appeared that she was suffering from some kind of toxic poisoning. Her heart rate was 200. He mentioned that he had recently seen a couple of dogs who died from Blue Green Algae Toxicity. I told him that the lake had what appeared to be algae blooms on the surface of the water. Neither of the other two dogs showed any of the signs that Vita had and that neither dog took in as much water as Vita apparently did. We decided to put her on a ventilator overnight and give her a "chance" to pull through.

When I got home I did a Dogpile.com search of "Blue Green Algae Toxicity in Dogs" and found some very disturbing information.

-Blooms can occur at any time, but most often occur in late summer or early fall. They can occur in marine, estuarine, and fresh waters, but the blooms of greatest concern are the ones that occur in fresh water, such as drinking water reservoirs or recreational waters.

-Some cyanobacterial blooms can look like foam, scum, or mats on the surface of fresh water lakes and ponds. The blooms can be blue, bright green, brown,or red and may look like paint floating on the water. Some blooms may not affect the appearance of the water. As algae in a cyanobacterial bloom die, the water may smell bad.

-Some cyanobacteria that can form CyanoHABs (Harmful Algal Blooms) produce toxins that are among the most powerful natural poisons known. These toxins have no known antidotes.

-Swallowing water that has cyanobacterial toxins in it can cause acute, severe gastroenteritis (including diarrhea and vomiting).

-Liver toxicity (i.e., increased serum levels of liver enzymes). Symptoms of liver poisoning may takes hours or days to show up in people or animals. Symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting.

-Neurotoxicity. These symptoms can appear within 15 to 20 minutes after exposure. In dogs, the neurotoxins can cause salivation and other neurologic symptoms, including weakness, staggering, difficulty breathing, convulsions, and death. People may have numb lips, tingling fingers and toes, or they may feel dizzy.

Vita had indeed exhibited salivation and signs of weakness, staggering, difficulty breathing and vomiting.

At 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 I called the Vet and was told that they took Vita off the ventilator a couple of times during the night and that she was not breathing on her own. I told him to discontinue the procedure and to let her go.

I called the DNR here in Michigan and was told that Blue Green Algae didn't usually appear this time of year and I told the agent that the conditions were that of late summer in Michigan, very hot for the last two days and reminded him that Blue Green Algae can appear at any time. He told me not to panic or to alarm other people. I told him that had someone else panicked, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now.

Later that morning I found out from a neighbor that her two young boys had vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps last week and her Doctor suggested she brings in a water sample. I do not know if she did or not.

I also talked to a woman from a neighboring county whose neighbor's dog ingested a lot of water from a pond and died suddenly a couple weeks ago.

As of this writing, Wednesday, June 27th, I have not heard anything from Michigan State where I took Vita for a necropsy and toxicological panel.

For the time being, I would strongly suggest you watch your dogs when swimming in small lakes and ponds as the potential threat of toxic poisoning from Blue Green Algae is prevalent. Had I known that algae of any kind was toxic, you can be sure my dogs wouldn't be swimming anywhere and that Vita, whose name quite ironically meant "life" in Latin, would be alive today.

Missing you more than you can imagine.
May you rest in peace, Red Top Vita
09/05/06 - 06/26/07

Bob Tatus
5997 Mabley Hill Road
Fenton, Michigan 48430
248-255-2111
email: RJTLITMUS@AOL.COM
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Janine Larose, fondatrice
Réseau pour animaux perdus et trouvés | Lost and Found Pet Network
www.rapt-lfpn.org

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