Petville

Pets in Airline Cabins Pose Allergy Risk, Doctors Say

Air passengers with peanut allergies often have to make special arrangements before flying, but as airlines have started allowing pets in the passenger cabin, many more travelers are being exposed to unnecessary health risks, several Canadian doctors maintain.

In an editorial last week in The Canadian Medical Association Journal, the physicians called for banning pets from airplane passenger cabins, warning that exposure to animals can set off discomfort, asthma attacks or even life-threatening reactions.

“Pets can be accommodated comfortably and safely in airplane cargo holds, which is where they belong,” the doctors wrote.

One in 10 people have allergies to animals, and for some, exposure to dogs and cats can set off an asthma attack or a life-threatening reaction like anaphylaxis, said Dr. Matthew B. Stanbrook, the journal’s deputy scientific editor and an asthma specialist.

The editorial was in response to Air Canada’s decision last summer to start allowing small pets, including cats, dogs and birds, to travel in the passenger cabin. Many United States airlines have similar policies.

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image courtesy petairlinecarrier.com –Affordable and cheap soft pet carriers for your dog or cat.

Live photos from the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show

Watch for behind-the-scenes photo updates from the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, happening today and tomorrow at Madison Square Garden, NYC

View Westminster Kennel Club Photos Here

 

above: 10yr anniversary photo of a greyhound published in National Geographic magazine. photo by Joanne Borek.

Pandas leave D.C. and Atlanta Zoo for China

Mei Xiang, mother of 4-year-old panda Tai Shan, rolls herself down a snowy hill on Tai Shan's last day at the National Zoo in Washington, on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010.

We know fans of Petville have to love pandas.... Two giant pandas born in American zoos were headed to China by special cargo jet Thursday to become part of a breeding program in their endangered species' native land.

Three-year-old Mei Lan of Zoo Atlanta and 4½-year-old Tai Shan of the National Zoo in Washington were loaded into travel crates for their long flight to new homes in Sichuan.

Pandas have a long, symbolic history in Washington. The first panda couple, Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, arrived in 1972 as a gift to the American people from China after President Richard Nixon's historic visit.The pair lived more than 20 years at the zoo and produced five cubs — but none survived. That's partly why Tai Shan, the first cub to grow up in the nation's capital, is so adored.

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Dog rescued after drifting 75 miles on ice

Caught on Tape: A Polish research vessel rescued a dog after it traveled out in the Baltic Sea on a floating piece of ice.
Watch CBS News Videos Online

A Polish pooch has good reason to wag his tail in gratitude today after a team of ocean scientists rescued him from the icy waters of the Baltic Sea. The shivering dog was found 15 miles (24 km) out in the frigid waters, struggling to remain on shifting ice sheets. Following the rescue, the team of researchers dried off the lucky pup, nicknaming him “Baltic,” and returned to the port city of Gdynia. Now, the team hopes to find Baltic’s real owners.

(Via AP and CBS News)

Chinese legal experts call for ban on eating cats and dogs

Caged cats after being rescued by China Small Animal Protection Association from a market in in Beijing where cats are traded for meat and fur. Photograph: AP

Chinese legal experts are proposing a ban on eating dogs and cats in a contentious move to end a culinary tradition dating back thousands of years.

The recommendation will be submitted to higher authorities in April as part of a draft bill to tackle animal abuse.

In ancient times, dog meat was considered a medicinal tonic. Today, it is commonly available throughout the country, but particularly in the north where dog stew is popular for its supposed warming qualities.

In recent years, however, such traditions are increasingly criticized by an affluent, pet-loving, urban middle class. Online petitions against dog and cat consumption have attracted tens of thousands of signatures. Videos showing the maltreatment of farmed dogs have spurred protests at markets where the animals are bought and sold.

But the drafters of the new proposal want far more drastic measures, which would oblige law enforcement authorities to close down thousands of dog restaurants and butchers which supply the meat.

full story here

Ancient cat goddess temple found in Egypt

Temple thought to belong to wife of king who ruled in 3rd century B.C.

Egypt said Tuesday that its archaeologists have unearthed a Ptolemaic-era temple dating back more than 2,000 years, that may have been dedicated to the ancient cat goddess, Bastet.

The ancient cat-goddess Bastet was found amongst the temple's ruins in the Kom el-Dekkah area of the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria.

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Humane Society Monitoring Disaster in Haiti

From HSUS:

January 19, 2010

Amid the fast-changing and round-the-clock relief efforts for Haiti, Humane Society International has assembled a team of trained veterinary experts to enter Port au Prince in the coming 48 hours. The team representing HSI, The HSUS and the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Assn., is partnering with a group in the Dominican Republic, Veterinary Care & Humane Services, Caribbean Project (VCHS).

Our HSI/HSUS/HSVMA field responders include a French-speaking veterinarian and a paramedic trained in disaster response and animal handling. They will be accompanied by two veterinary technicians from VCHS and a translator. The team will provide immediate animal care as it can, and also assess conditions for animals in the capitol city and surrounding areas. As circumstances permit, our experts will also advise emergency and relief workers on extra steps they might take in the coming days to alleviate the suffering of animals while the desperate work to help the island’s human population continues.

Hero dog saves boy, 11, from cougar attack

Hero dog saves boy, 11, from cougar attack

A golden retriever named Angel was a guardian angel to her 11-year-old master when a cougar pounced, fending off the cat until a police officer shot the animal, saving both boy and dog. “She’s more than a best friend now,” said the boy, Austin Forman.

The 11-year-old boy didn’t have time to react — and barely enough time to realize that a cougar was flying toward him with dinner on its mind. Luckily for Austin Forman, his dog, Angel, threw herself between her best friend and a lethal predator.

Never was a dog more appropriately named than the 18-month-old golden retriever who nearly gave her life to save Austin Sunday in Bar Boston, a small Canadian town some 150 miles north of Vancouver, British Columbia.

Full story

Westminster Dog Show 2010: Save the Date!

For those of you making travel plans to New York for the big Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show event, here's the dates for you to plan for:

Monday and Tuesday, February 15-16, 2010

Madison Square Garden
Pennsylvania Plaza
Seventh to Eighth Avenues and 31st to 33rd Streets
New York, New York

America's First and Only
Champions Only Dog Show
Entry limited to 2,500 dogs

170 Breeds and Varieties will be judged in seven different groups.
Debut for 3 Breeds: IRISH RED AND WHITE SETTER (Sporting Group), NORWEGIAN BUHUND (Herding Group) and the PYRENEAN SHEPHERD (Herding Group)

Individual breed judging will take place each day between the hours of 8:00AM and 6PM.

The Group and Best In Show competition will be televised
live on USA Network from 8-11PM Monday and Tuesday.

Full information at http://www.thepoop.com/westminster/westminster_dog_show.asp

Michael Vick declines invitation to see eight of his former dogs

OAKLAND, CA -- A Bay Area pit bull advocacy group says Michael Vick has declined an invitation to visit eight of his former dogs this weekend when the Philadelphia Eagles are in town to play the Oakland Raiders.

The group BAD RAP (Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pitbulls) told The Associated Press on Wednesday that it extended the invitation through the Eagles to Vick last week to view his former dogs that were part of the dog fighting operation at Bad Newz Kennels in southeastern Virginia.

BAD RAP co-founder Tim Racer said the group picked a location that would have allowed Vick to view the dogs from behind a window at a distance that satisfied the conditions of his parole that bar him from being near animals.

Racer said the Eagles informed him Wednesday that Vick would decline the offer. An e-mail sent to an Eagles spokesman was not immediately returned.

"We understand Vick is trying to right his wrongs and is very interested in redemption, but you can't find redemption without acknowledging your victims," Racer said. "Making amends to the dogs themselves would have helped to create some closure for many of us, especially those people who worked so hard to keep them from being destroyed. It seems that Vick is not ready to go there."

Oakland-based BAD RAP absorbed 10 of Vick's dogs into its foster program after being given permission from the federal government to evaluate and rescue as many of the dogs as possible.