Prairie dog... Amy

[ham ham 1]

Hello,



So you have intrest in my Amy.. Well what I know is too much to tell here in one post.. Prairie dogs (PD) are my life.. There is nothing I wouldn't do for a PD in need..

Amy is 4 yrs old and I got her when she was 1 from a home that was misstreating her... BADLY... She was being poked at through the bars of her cage, she was not fed right, skinny and almost bald... .. She was not too friendly either, because of all the stress and neglect... After a few months she started warming up and becoming a more friendly and loving creature. She slowly got her fur back and got fattened up And here we are 3 yrs later.

And now I have a huge "YAHOO" every morning and whenever she sees me.. She yells "YAHOO" as if to say "Mommy I'm here I love you..." I could never ask for a better daughter (she is my only child right now as sadly I lost a baby in Nov). At the time when I was pregnant she built a nest preparing for the baby as if it was going to live with her... She groomed my tummy and slept on my belly... It was SOOO cute... But when I lost the baby she became depressed and sad... She destroyed her nest and slept a lot... And this was right up until 2 months ago... But now she is OK, except she has a boo boo on her chest And I need to take her to the vet...

Prairie dogs are hard to care for... They require special food, humidity has to be around 55 %, temperature has to be between 60 - 70F... She needs her teeth shave nails done etc... But it is ALL WORTH IT... A love from a PD is like no other love... She protects me... hehe. She will stand on guard and chirp at strangers that come in the house as if to say "Get out, this is my home go away...". And she is smart... she is leash trained and comes when called... She asks nicely for treats... By tilting her head and nudging you softly... At this point I could NEVER picture my life without Amy. She has done wonderful things for me, and has opened my eyes to the CRUEL treatment they get on ranches... All the poisonings... Etc....

Now it is my life goal to protect these wonderful creatures. I am opening a rescue called Yahoo Prairie Dog Retreat. It will be a place for unwanted PDs... And I will fly out west to relocate a colony of PDs in danger this summer..

I am dedicated to the PDs till my death. All will have a FOREVER home with me...





The petition... this petition is to stop Animal Snuff Films (animal killing DVDs). They have one with PDs that broke my heart... It was of PDs sitting on their burrows happily playing and then BANG they were blown to bits... It put me in tears to see a PD treated like that... But there are others with different animals... I am trying to stop the madness... I will send it to P.E.T.A and Velocity Films... The more people I get to sign, the more likely I will make a difference... So PLEASE sign this...



http://www.PetitionOnline.com/PDs1kil0/petition.html



Thanks for you intrest in PDs. Feel free to ask if you have any more questions... And PLEASE sign this you may be able to make a difference... Please.

[SnuggleHam]

Interesting, How popular are these little guys as pets?



I remember the first time I saw them for sale in a Canadian large pet store chain called Super Pet. They had a bunch of pups in a glass octagon tank with a wire mesh top. They were all in one corner standing on their back legs and frantically scratching the surface of the glass. I remembered feeling sad seeing them there and like that, yet another species people are trying to domesticate and I knew all those dogs were going to be sold to people that had no clue how to care for them, and I’m pretty sure at that point there weren’t to many books or information out about how to keep them either.



At lest I had never heard of these being kept as pets, until I saw that bunch on that pet store. I haven’t even seen them in any large pet store chains here in the US yet.



I took a look at that website, I couldn’t help but cringing when I saw the words "...entertaining and educational... Definitely two thumbs up on this video! It's worth every penny..." in reference to Prairie dog be gone video.



I can understand that these may be pests to some farmers and it could be arguable that shooting and killing a dog is more fast and therefore more human then causing them to suffer from poisons, but its sick that people would tape such things and find it entertaining.



It sounds as though this is an actual legal sport from what this site seems to say. Plus if this were illegal Id assume there would be animal activist all over this web site trying to stop them from killing these creatures and sporting videos.



But there are videos of people who fish, hunt deer, bears, moose, wild cats, turkey and all kinds of things.



I would sign the petition because I don’t feel that these videos are appropriate nor do they encourage peace and welfare of animals or wildlife. Next thing you know these people will start killing any stray animal they see. But the site for the petition doesn’t really say exactly what they plan on doing with these signatures? What actions do the people in charge of this petition plan on doing once they gather the desired amount of signatures? Will my signing this even do anything about it in the long run?



Also what else are they doing to stop this behavior?

[ham ham 1]

the idea of the petition is to try to get them to realize it is wrong to pubish these awfull things... I wrote it up quick when i was angry so i left a bunch of stuff out.. But it will be sent to P.E.T.A and the movie company to try to get them to see the horror it brings to many... If we can get enough people to agree that it is wrong and can get it to congress ect.. i feel we may be able to make a difference .. even if we dont we still tried.. And thats all that matters. Trying is better than doing NoTHING at all.. At least we stood for what was right..



Prairie dogs,



there are pretty popular but there is a bann on selling them in the us.. b/c of monkeypox...So you cannot sell or buy them anymore here...So now people who have them cannot get more.

[SnuggleHam]

MonkeyPox.. Is that a disease that they carry?



Anyway about that petition, you better get around to adding what you plan on doing with it if you want more people to sign it, At lest I know I would have liked to see the full details on this.



I highly doubt the movie company is going to care what people think. After all how can you separate and define this from people watching shows on TV the deal in watching the pain if other humans in motor, sports and other freak accidents? How does that differ from people watching such things as this? Or game fishing or game hunting?



I know in the case of these videos the difference here is the manner in which these critters are killed were as in a hunting video for game hunters usually kill the animals instantly with one shot and do not try and pick larger guns to literally blow apart the hides of the animal. This is what I think is particularly sick about the videos.



I hope I don’t come off as sounding really discouraging. But I can’t see telling the people who make the videos will make much difference. But you never now what might happen when you bring it up on P.E.T.A



Anyway I will sign the petition now

[ham ham 1]

The Pds never had it ... It was a rat from Africa.. So they r taking it out on them b/c people think they r vermin...

[Emma]

I understand there's a lot of laws in the US about what animals you can/can't keep - aren't Chinese hamsters illegal in many states?



If there's a ban on selling/buying PDs, is it actually legal to keep them? As long as money doesn't change hands?



It seems odd to ban pet ownership of a species due to a disease problem, when that species is native to the country? I can understand banning exotic species, and dangerous species.



Controlling native species that are pests to farmers is always a minefield



BUT - I just looked at a few of the video clips on that site - some of them do not even look real, in fact one of them definitely isn't real I don't think, when one animal is shot and another standing very still next to it doesn't react. They look more like stuffed animals with remote-control internal explosives or something. And if they are real, then the hunters are very good shots. As horrible as it might be to watch, if this species needs controlling, that is a good way to do it. It doesn't make selling videos of it ethical but an accurate shot is definitely the best way to control animals like that. Hey at least you don't have the fox hunting problem in your country!

[ham ham 1]

As long as you had the PDs b4 the bann or are taking them from a Privat party it is Ok to have them ..... Or you can own a rescue like I do (with permits) and take as many Pds in need in as you like...

[Coco1]

ham ham, I commend you for doing ANYTHING to help these guys out. I live in Texas. Its their (one of their) natural habitat ranges. I am a birder and when I bird I see them a lot and have always loved them. I'm also very conservation minded. I've not heard of people keeping them as pets before and its always hard for me to picture as I am used to seeing them in the wild. But I guess its no different to the hamsters we keep or any other animal. I do think its WONDERFULL that you have a rescue for them because I really think that the way things are going, at least in tx, with private land owners there will be more of a need for rescue sites.

I am by the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge where I have done a lot of volunteer work and they also have tried to reastablish a colony there, taking in PD's from different places. Unfortunately its not as easy as it seems. One of the worst things is that lots of land owners (buisness land owners) are trying to get rid of the prarie dog colonies from their land which due to the nature of the land is very desolate and dry and in most cases has some sort of electical plant or oil plant on it (which the PDs love) as the land is quite barren and no good for anything else. What they did here in one place just west of me was to saturate the burrows which extended for miles, and set them ablaze. The reason this infuriated the birder comunity was that not only did it kill the PD's but because there is an owl, called a "Burrowing Owl" that ALSO uses old tunnels / holes made by the prairied dogs. Where ever there is a PD town we know its a good place to find B. Owls too. So this way of eradicating the PDs also did the same to a PROTECTED species! Yet somehow they were still allowed to go ahead. It made me sick! So, I know just how you feel in that regard.

I mean, just look at them! They're adhorable. They play an important role in their ecosystem but unfortunately most people don't want to hear it.









"Fred, is it safe yet? Can we come out now?"

[afishcalledwanda]

Please try not to involve PETA in your efforts to protect those prairie dogs. As you see below, I enjoy them just as much as you do. I abhor the 'new' practice of vacuuming them out of their towns and selling them as pets or simply destroying them.

As you know, we can go on and on and on about all kinds of animal abuse and injustices in the world.



BUT, PETA is really not the way to go. They are a sick cult. Yes you read that right, they are a cult. I can back up facts that they donate to terrorist organizations, names etc. They have staff that screams about not using animal tested medicines but she is using insulin daily. They own a walk in freezer. WHY on earth would they need a walk in freezer? For cadavers. What kind of cadavers you ask? Animal. Dogs & cats to be specific. PETA 'rescues' 2103 animals each year. 1325 are killed by their own hand. That leaves only 778 left alive. This goes on each year. Some of the horrible images you see PETA use are made by them. Not secretly filmed. **Walk in freezer**



Now, to top it off, did anyone here know that PLANTS have the ability to feel? This was discovered and proved over 35 years ago. So, if it's wrong to eat meat, why is it not wrong to eat plants? I'll tell you why. Since we cannot use any already studied living animal to compare brain function, nerve capacity or anything else with a plant, we ASSUME it cannot feel. We really should go on the belief that we just don't know instead. Besides that, we just can't relate to plants like we can to animals. After all, they dont' give back with cute, fuzzy and cuddly. No one can relate to a plant like the 'normal' pet.



So anything I spew about PETA I can back up with names and facts. The facts I have are public record. If one wants to do something about animal abuse, there are PLENTY of other organizations that can accomplish more. PETA really hasn't accomplished much other than make themselves look insane.

I'm sure they started out with the best of intentions, but they have morphed into insanity. I have had first hand experience with them resulting in a show dog's death (the bitch was preggers too) by their actions.

They want all the animals on the planet set free. They want total abolition for animals. This is impossible. More of them will die instead of being 'free'.



This is another topic we can go round and round on. But honestly, find the more reputable humane societies. They truly get more done.





Praire dog town at Devil's Tower, Wyoming, 1996. That's me feeding lettuce.

[Coco1]

Afish - interesting, thanks. I've not heard of peta before.

regarding the plants - yes I have heard this and believe they are capable of feeling. I always remember how they proved that a plant in a room where a murder had been commited, when that same person entered a room where that same plant had been placed, and hooked up with sensors on its leaves, it actually gave off a particular vibration when the person walked into the room, different to any one else who came in. They proved that the plant could sense it. WHY they don't use this method more today I don't know - probably cause they don't think its reliable enough or that people would think they're crazy to let a plant tell them who commited the crime!

But it was a very interesting topic, covered all sorts of things on how plants react and feel.