Rescuers and animal advocates protest against Riverside County's $2.45 million boondoggle

This is a story concerning America from that great animal advocate, Nathan Winograd. It's about animal rescue in Riverside County, California, USA which is located in the southern portion of this US state. What is a boondoggle? I looked it up! It means spending money or time on unnecessary, wasteful or fraudulent projects.

Cancel the contract protest by animal advocates. Photo: Nathan Winograd.

Animal advocates are protesting in Riverside County about a boondoggle which in this instance means spending $2.45 million of taxpayers money to pay a woman, Kristen Hassen, who according to Nathan Winograd has a dodgy record to be a consultant on animal rescue at Riverside County's pound after the removal of Erin Gettis, Riverside County's former pound director after a lawsuit charged her with ethical and legal misconduct.

According to Nathan Winograd, Hassen was one of the chief architects and promoters of Human Animal Support Services (HASS). This method urged shelters to make Covid-era closures permanent by turning away stray animals. And according to him, she also sat on the National Animal Control Association board which encouraged shelters to re-abandon animals people had found on the streets.

The policy manipulated the intake and placement rates by abandoning the whole idea of an animal shelter. The policy put the animals back on the street to be cared for by the community. They were no longer sheltered. According to Nathan Winograd, under HASS, "Intakes of healthy strays and owner surrenders don't exist any more". The conventional shelter model appears to have been disbanded under this policy and instead the community is expected to pick up the slack.

This, according Nathan can lead to animals dying on the streets. He refers to a dog called Nesa was turned away from a shelter under a program hatched up by Hassen and her colleagues. The dog was subsequently found dead in an alley. He argues that her policies can sometimes prove fatal to unwanted companion animals.

HASS results in the fate of unwanted animals to be left to chance. People who find them are told to take them into their own homes until their families are located. Or they should leave them on the street where they found them. According to HASS, the idea is that the animals will find their way home. That's what is hoped for but Winograd says that "Such hope is misplaced. Indeed, for many animals, it proves fatal."

And while Hassen was at Austin Pets Alive, it's alleged that she promoted or defended abusive pound directors and help formed a committee to shield directors from public accountability. It is also alleged that she defended the killing of healthy and treatable dogs and cats and promoted authors and their books that disparage rescuers and shelter volunteers.

Hassen praised Gettis despite the fact that it is alleged that she killed at her facility more animals than any other reporting shelter in United States.

I think that I have had enough. The animal advocates and citizens who are concerned about animal welfare in Riverside County are up in arms about this large consultancy fee payable to a person who is alleged has a very poor track record on shelter animal welfare. They appear to know this whereas the administrators of the county don't or are not bothered about it.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also, sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. And, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable. Finally, (!) I often express an OPINION on the news. Please share yours in a comment.

British rescuer of animals and humans shot in the head in Ukraine

A BBC2 documentary has been made about Chris Parry and it's called Hell Jumper. That's because what he did was like jumping into hell. And what he did was save the lives of people and their pets in the east of Ukraine where the Russians, as you probably know, have decimated towns and cities and razed them to the ground with incessant bombing and shelling.

Chris Parry. Image: believed Chris Parry's estate via the BBC.

Our rescue worker son always stood up to bullies like Putin. We won't forget his sacrifice. - His parents.

Chris Parry was a British volunteer. He simply was in Ukraine to help. He had a strong sense of injustice. He wanted to do something. He had no military training. He went to Ukraine eight days after the Russians invaded the country in February 2022.

He didn't tell his parents but he told his sister, Katy. She was very frightened for him. She thought that he was dramatizing the rescues that he got involved in but then learned that it was the truth.

Chris begged her not to tell mum and dad. On one occasion Chris Parry texted back that he was buzzing. He said that he had "rescued 11 people, two dogs and a budgerigar". That was in communication with his father Rob.

It's believed that he was executed by a shot to the head by the Russian Mafia group called Wagner Group.

The Sunday Times reports that Chris went missing after he had told Rob that he was buzzing about rescuing dogs and people. He was with another evacuated, Andrew Bagshaw, 48, at the time.

Their car was found abandoned. Katy was contacted, remarkably, by Russians on social media who were rubbing their hands in delight at having killed Chris. Or one of their colleagues had killed Chris.

Katy said "They sent photos of dead bodies saying, We've got your brother, he's got what he deserved."

Two weeks later, Rob received a call from Devon and Cornwall police. Rob said that they 'cried like babies'. Chris's body was returned in a prisoner swap. His clothes had been changed and his body washed. The Russians said that there had been killed in artillery fire but this was untrue. Rob says it was an execution because of the gunshot wound placement.

A coroner ruled that his killing was unlawful. His parents instinctively felt that it wasn't just another random killing. They believe, as mentioned that it was an execution. The family hope that the documentary will help highlight the plight of Ukrainians in this horrible war.

"The world has to wake up and realise that Putin is a bully and if he's not stopped, then it's not going to affect just Ukraine." The words of Christine, Chris's mother.

Rob said that, "We will do whatever we can to keep Chris's name alive and Ukraine in people's minds."

P.S. Chris had fallen love with a Ukrainian lady: Olha Volodymrivna Khomenko. They lived together. They had planned a future together. RIP Chris. A brave guy. He saved more than 400 Ukrainians. And let's remember Andrew Bagshaw too.

Hell Jumper will air on BBC2 this Wednesday at 9 pm.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Cats that have been rescued don't show any gratitude. True or false?

There is a story on the Fox 13 Tampa Bay website which tells of a grumpy cat showing no gratitude after being rescued from between two walls. The cat had to be chiselled out of their predicament. It happened in Preston, Lancashire, UK. You can see the rescuer and the cat below.

Note about the picture: It is noticeable that the cat is a calico - a tortoiseshell-and-white. Torties have 'catitude' - meaning attitude. This may partially explain why she is described as not being grateful! 💕😉

So the question is why don't cats that have been rescued, sometimes after great effort, so any gratitude to the rescuers who often save their lives. 

Grumpy female cat does not show gratitude for being rescued from being stuck between walls.

Initial point

The initial point to make is that sometimes domestic cats will show their version of gratitude under certain circumstances. They may show subtle signs of it. I can remember a firefighter rescuing a cat from a destroyed building and the cat climbing onto the firefighter. She had a fearful look on her face. But her general demeanour and her behaviour indicated gratitude to me. Therefore, I don't think that we can generalise about domestic cats by saying that under all circumstances domestic cats don't show gratitude. They do sometimes but perhaps a different way to the way humans show it.

Concept of gratitude

I will try and answer that question. The first point to bring up is the concept of "gratitude". As humans know, gratitude means being thankful to others for the help that they have received. Or a gift that they have received. Or they might show gratitude for something good that has happened to them. Or, if a person has been rescued by somebody else. They will thank that person in an act of gratitude.

Human social norms

Why do we do it? Because it's part of good social etiquette. It is part of social norms. These of course are human norms within our human society.

Cats are solitary

To the first point is that cats don't have a society like humans in which they network and interact and help each other.

Cats - by which I mean domestic cats - are essentially solitary creatures because they have inherited their wild cat ancestor's character which is that of a solitary creature.

Multi-cat homes

Of course, domestic cats sometimes live multi-cat homes where they have to be somewhat sociable and get along with other cat. This is an adaptation to living in the human environment in a multi-cat home but cats under these circumstances can be stressed. They are more likely to be stressed than a solitary cat living with their caregiver is unnatural but they adapt as mentioned.

No society

So the point here is that domestic cats don't have a society and they don't have a hierarchy. And therefore they don't have societal norms. And therefore there is no need to be grateful for being rescued.

Domestic cat looking supremely content and grateful for all their caregiver brings them in their lives.

Emotions

There are other issues. An act of gratitude stems from an emotion of thankfulness. And relief. It is doubtful that cats feel these emotions. Domestic cats feel certain emotions such as contentment and fear, anger and friendliness. But it is doubtful that they sense the higher emotions although this is work in progress.

So the emotional background is another point worth mentioning which might be a barrier to being grateful.

RELATED: Infographic on 9 emotions domestic cats feel and 1 they don’t.

Rescuers are often strangers

A third point comes to mind. When a cat such as the one you see in the picture has been rescued from a very difficult and terrifying circumstance they may suddenly meet a complete stranger under very stressful circumstances. Domestic cats are often fearful of strangers. The emotion of fear will certainly block any requirement to feel grateful or to express gratitude.

Not in their armoury of behaviours

The bottom line probably is that domestic gas don't have the social behaviour of expressing gratitude in their armoury of behaviours. It simply does not exist and the reasons above, I hope, help to provide some understanding of this characteristic.

Caveat/exceptions?

There is some caveats. It undermines what I've just said in the last paragraph. If a cat is left alone in your home most of the day and perhaps feels the emotion of separation anxiety, they will be grateful to see you when you come back from work. They will rub against your leg and perhaps purr. They might express their gratitude toward you for returning to them.

And if a cat has a favourite treat and you provide them with this treat, before you provide it they might express their gratitude in anticipation of receiving it by rubbing up against you and going up on their hind legs to head-butt you.

I think therefore that sometimes domestic cat can demonstrate their version of gratitude but it is a bit different to our version.

Wild cats

I have seen conservationists in videos releasing small wild cat species from cages after they have been rescued and rehabilitated. And we the cat running away as fast as possible into the undergrowth. No gratitude whatsoever. This reinforces the argument that cats don't show gratitude. But then, once again, we have to understand the circumstances under which they have been placed which would have been highly stressful for the reasons mentioned above. And they are suddenly surrounded by people. Wild animals are fearful of people in general. People are the world's top predator.

In Africa when they played the sound of human voices as a waterhole through loudspeakers, all the animals were scared. Even a leopard dropped its prey and ran off. They were more scared of the human voice than prey animals are scared of lions!

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Auto repair shop in Tyler, Texas collects pet food donations for animal rescues

NEWS AND OPINION: This is a wonderful development. I hope that it trends and other commercial enterprises get involved. It's a wonderful act of altruism by Stewart's Donnybrook Automotive. And it is thanks, as I understand it, to the managing partner Gary Stewart who saw a problem with local animal rescues that needed help.

Thought: the scheme is a great way to promote the repair shop's business too 💕😊. It is a win-win.

Pet food piling up at  Stewart's Donnybrook Automotive. Image: KETK Tyler

Some of them are saying that there is an epidemic of unwanted cats in the area. I've heard this sort of thing before with animal rescue after the pandemic.

And so Gary Stewart decided to step in. He turned to the community for help in the form of cat food donations. Local residents are delivering cat food to his automotive repair shop and he takes them to one animal rescue in Henderson and another in Kilgore.

Stewart's Donnybrook Automotive. Image: Google search.

Of course, the animal rescues are delighted because with gifts of cat food it frees up their funding to pay for medical requirements.

Stuart said: "It just exploded, you know, and we have people bringing food, amazon shows up with food and people I don’t even know show up with food that just love animals, like we do."

Heather Payer-Smith the owner of Cat's Meow Rescue said: It’s really helpful, not just in the supplies, but it helps us be able to put our money towards the vet bills and other needs as well."

Stewart said that he will take donations for as long as he can and he wants to expand his assistance to help other animal rescues in the area.

Comment: it made me think if this idea could be expanded to other areas. There is no reason why commercial enterprises in any area can't act as agents (donation drop-off points) to help animal rescue organisations in the same area by receiving donations of cat and dog food. Just a thought. I think the idea is so good that it should be expanded.

Of course, it depends on the circumstances and the facilities available within the organisation as to whether they can take in donations but if it is possible I would love to see it expanded.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Please urgently email California State Assembly Committee to save rescue animals

As an American you can help save the lives of rescue animals now. This is an opportunity for America's animal advocates, cat lovers, dog lovers and others to do something about the killing of rescue animals.

I'm not lecturing people. That's the last thing I want to do. I am simply publicising a way for Americans to do something about reducing the number of rescue animals killed at shelters. I'd do it myself but I believe this method can only be carried out by Americans.

That's because they're going to have to email California's legislature where they are debating a bill called AB 2265. It's a piece of legislation which is passionately supported by Nathan Winograd, American's most influential and most knowledgeable animal shelter expert and animal advocate.

AB 2265 makes it obligatory for shelters to tell the world through social media (normally) that they are going to euthanise an animal and in doing this they offer the chance for others to step in and save that animal by fostering them or adopting them or by another shelter taking them in.

It's a way, as I see it, of shelters giving full warning to others that they going to euthanise an animal rather than doing it in an ad hoc, secretive way which is what happened to Gabriel, a dog.

This is what Nathan Winograd says about Gabriel and his email to me:

Gabriel arrived at a Los Angeles County “shelter” with a probable broken jaw. Rather than provide medical care or contact rescuers for assistance, the staff found it easier to kill him — and that is what they did. The little puppy who should have had his whole life ahead of him would be alive today if AB 2265, which requires pre-killing notification to rescuers, was the law.

Winograd provides an example of the kind of letter you can write to the Assembly Committee which is hearing the bill and to urge them to vote yes on AB 2265. You can use email and therefore to do this will probably take you about 20 minutes and if enough Americans did it it could sway California's legislature to pass this bill and save lives in the years ahead.

Sample email

Subject:

YES on AB 2265

Sample Body:

AB 2265 would require California shelters to notify adopters and rescuers before killing an animal. Given that such notifications are possible through existing websites, social media, and shelter software already used by these facilities or available for free, complying would require nothing more than a stroke on a keyboard: one click to notify rescuers that a life needs saving. Can the animals and the people who love them count on you to vote YES?

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The email is sent to the following:

assemblymember.berman@assembly.ca.gov

assemblymember.flora@assembly.ca.gov

assemblymember.alanis@assembly.ca.gov

assemblymember.bains@assembly.ca.gov 

assemblymember.juancarrillo@assembly.ca.gov

assemblymember.chen@assembly.ca.gov

assemblymember.dixon@assembly.ca.gov

assemblymember.grayson@assembly.ca.gov

assemblymember.irwin@assembly.ca.gov 

assemblymember.jackson@assembly.ca.gov

assemblymember.low@assembly.ca.gov 

assemblymember.lowenthal@assembly.ca.gov 

assemblymember.mckinnor@assembly.ca.gov 

assemblymember.stephanienguyen@assembly.ca.gov, 

assemblymember.pellerin@assembly.ca.gov 

assemblymember.sanchez@assembly.ca.gov 

assemblymember.soria@assembly.ca.gov 

assemblymember.zbur@assembly.ca.gov

I have suggested that Americans generally can do this. I think they can but I'm not entirely sure that Americans in states other than California can be involved in campaigning for this bill in California. I can't see why they can't do it. But if I'm wrong then I apologise.

If I am wrong then this article would be directed at Californians.

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Nathan Winograd's email to California's legislature:

The No Kill Advocacy Center’s letter in support of AB 2265:

The Hon. Marc Berman, Chair, and Members
California State Assembly Committee on Business and Professions
1315 10th St
Sacramento, CA 9581

Re: YES on AB 2265, as to be amended

Dear Chair Berman and Committee Members,

The No Kill Advocacy Center urges a Yes vote on AB 2265 (McCarty). 

The bill would increase the number of animals rescued at private expense, instead of killed at public cost, by requiring shelters to post a minimum 24-hour notice of their intent to do so. Since nonprofit organizations often rescue from multiple shelters, rescue particular breeds, are run by people with other jobs, and are foster-care based, AB 2265 gives them notice of animals needing rescue at multiple shelters without having to travel to each one while giving them time to arrange foster care and accept custody of animals before they are killed. 

When animal welfare organizations work collaboratively, more lives are saved, wasteful taxpayer expenditures are reduced, revenues for municipal and private shelters increase, and community economic and social benefits ensue. Shelters would not incur additional costs because shelters can provide notice on an existing website or through social media. These lists can also be created using freely available shelter management software. Indeed, the bill will result in overall savings, as more animals are sent to nonprofit organizations, shifting the cost of care from taxpayer to private philanthropy and eliminating expenses associated with killing animals and disposing of their dead bodies. In addition to direct savings, a University of Denver study of this kind of legislation found a positive economic impact on businesses and increased sales tax revenues due to subsequent spending by rescuers and adopters on those animals. 

The California Animal Welfare Association (“CalAnimals”), a lobbying organization for municipal pounds that kill animals, argues that posting pending “euthanasia” would make them look bad. However, taxpayers have a right to know how their local shelters operate. More importantly, shelters would kill fewer animals, reduce staff workload, stress, and mental suffering, and increase the number of residents who volunteer. Finally, the increasing placement of animals due to the notice would improve their community standing. 

CalAnimals also argues that proposed changes in Food & Agric. Code §17005 removing “adoptable” and “treatable” language would lead to animal suffering, threats to public safety, and overcrowding. This is categorically false, as they are well aware. 

First, the proposed language explicitly excludes irremediably suffering animals. It also adds rigor to the definition of “suffering” as California “shelters” kill animals for highly curable conditions like diarrhea, conjunctivitis (pink eye), and respiratory infections (the human equivalent of a common cold) by calling those conditions untreatable. Indeed, they kill healthy animals.

Second, AB 2265 would not change longstanding state laws regarding dangerous dogs and dogs with a history of vicious behavior. Public safety would not be negatively impacted since these dogs are exempted from the notification and placement requirements. The University of Denver study also concluded that legislation of this type was not only consistent with public safety but also improved it, noting positive impacts on “public health, social capital, and community engagement,” all of which have “important implications for [a community’s] ability to promote and sustain the health and well-being of both its human and non-human animal residents.” 

Third, as policy provisions, these sections do not change legal obligations. These changes are meant to clarify long-standing existing laws that CalAnimals members have intentionally twisted to kill animals despite qualified rescue groups ready, willing, and able to save them. It has also been the subject of several costly lawsuits, all of which the shelters have lost. The changes would eliminate the need to force shelters to comply with existing laws through litigation.

Fourth, AB 2265’s notification requirement is coextensive with the state-mandated holding period of 72 hours. Shelters can give notice during this period, alerting the public that the animals may be killed when the state-mandated holding period expires, adding no additional holding time.

When lobbying organizations resort to knowingly lying to legislators, it is clear any legitimate basis for their opposition is weak to non-existent. None of this is surprising. CalAnimals members have a history of opposing any legislation to improve outcomes in their facilities, including the 1998 Animal Shelter Law (Hayden), which this Committee has historically credited with improving outcomes for shelter animals, including provisions “to increase the number of animals reunited with owners,” establishing “minimum holding periods for all owner-relinquished animals,” releasing “animals slated for euthanasia to rescue groups upon request,” providing for “prompt and necessary veterinary care, nutrition, and shelter,” and more. 

These improvements were passed over the opposition of the California Animal Welfare Association (then known as the California Animal Control Directors Association and State Humane Association) and its members (who currently constitute opposition to AB 2265). And they were passed overwhelmingly by supermajorities in both houses because it made no sense to legislators that animals who could be saved were being killed. We urge current Assemblymembers to do the same. The status quo these organizations champion is unacceptable.

Mr. Berman and Committee Members, despite California being the wealthiest state in the country (if it were a country in and of itself, it would be the fourth largest economy in the world) and priding itself on being progressive, the 72-hour holding period currently in effect is the lowest of any other state, with one exception. In addition, since the holding period runs on a 24-hour cycle, much of the holding period can be used up when the shelter is closed in the evening and often on weekends. This leaves animals precious little time to get out alive. Not surprisingly, California kills more animals than any other state except Texas. Indeed, a recent report found that “Five states account for half of all cats and dogs killed in U.S. animal shelters: California, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and Alabama.” California joins that ignoble list precisely because animals in our shelters have so few protections. AB 2265 is an important step to remedy this. 

It is a win for animals, shelter staff, rescuers, volunteers, adopters, taxpayers, municipalities, and local businesses. We urge a YES vote.

Very truly yours,
Nathan J. Winograd

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Risking your life to save animals is one of the most heroic things you can do. Examples.

The title is so true and there are many saintly people who do it. They are still very rare individuals. They are the kind of people who raise my spirits and make me believe that there is hope for us all. Sometimes though I am pessimistic about things including what I see as a breakdown in societal norms.

This video below, which is embedded here (and may therefore one day stop working), starts off with an animal with which I am very familiar; the kitten. A little ginger tabby kitten and therefore male was sat in the middle of road with fast moving traffic. How the hell did he get there? There is only one plausible answer: he was chucked away from a car. 

A lot of people throw their kittens away on the road which achieves the opposite for me in terms of my morale and feelings about humanity.

Anyway the man in the video spotted the kitten and stopped about 100 years beyond him. He raced back endangering himself and his car. He took a risk in doing it and saved the kitten's life I'd say as this kitten was bang in the middle of the highway. He was about to be hit.

I think the man who rescued him drove over the kitten but his tires missed him.

This effort is followed by some others, equally impressive.

The police officer puts a seat belt around the deer that he rescued from beside the road. The deer must have been hit and we have no idea if it made it. It does not look hopeful in the video which is all the more reason to praise the officer for trying. The brilliance of true animal rescue: giving without obvious reward. There is a reward though: the satisfaction that you did the right thing. Good for one's self-esteem that is.

This is why cat adopters should always adopt from a rescue center and not purchase from a breeder. In doing that they are playing their part in cat rescue; saving lives. There is an instant boost to the bond between cat and person under these circumstances.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

American animal rescuers step in to save 75 abused Dominican cats and dogs from closed shelter

NEWS AND COMMENT: The only animal rescue shelter on the Caribbean island of Dominica closed down. It contained 75 abused cats and dogs who've been rescued by an American rescue organisation. Great work guys.  It made the news bigtime. And rightly so. I find it both a sad and uplifting story. Sad that this 290 square mile island appears to have such a poor history of companion animal welfare and uplifting in that these animals have been rescued by Americans and flown to America for rehoming.

Smiling rescued dog from Dominica. Image: 

I swear the dog in the picture above is smiling! And if he/she is they have a good reason. They are headed for a much better life.

Some more

Here is some added detail. The Dominican animal shelter that closed down was St Nicholas Animal Rescue. They were rescued by the Los Angeles-based charity Wings of Rescue in an emergency rescue mission.

I believe that organisation is the one that provided the aircraft to fly the 75 cats and dogs to Chicago organisation PAWS Chicago. The CEO of that organisation, Susanna Wickham, said: "We just had to step in when we heard what was happening. They need love. Even though these animals have been through really horrific abuse, they arrive here ready to trust and love and they are just wonderful creatures. They teach us so much and we are thankful to be able to help them."

Dominica

I think it's useful to briefly discuss the island of Dominica which as mentioned has an area of 290 mi². It is a Caribbean island officially called the Commonwealth of Dominica. It was initially settled by the Arawak from South America in the fifth century. It was later colonised by Europeans mainly the French from the 1690s to 1763. The French imported enslaved people from west Africa to work on coffee plantations. Great Britain took possession in 1763 and the English language took hold. The island gained independence as a republic in 1978. It is part of the Lesser Antilles Islands.

Animal rescue

Clearly, the island needs another animal rescue organisation to take charge. It appears that the animals on that island do not have an easy life. The current president of Dominica is Sylvanie Burton.

I want to put out a call to this woman to take urgent steps to re-establish an animal rescue organisation on the island and to take wider steps to improve animal welfare generally. It seems to be required.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Dogs can be better cat rescuers than humans sometimes

This is a little story from social media which tells us that dogs can sometimes be better cat rescuers than humans (or sort of). But they always need human help.

I think the story is told by a woman but I am unsure. She was walking with her dog who became interested in something under a bush. She pushed him to come with her but "he continued going back to that bush and looking under it".

Dogs can be better cat rescuers than humans sometimes. The bonded pair. Image: the story's narrator who is anonymous.

She went to look under the bush too and saw a young kitten in a desperate state. She was dying, covered in fleas and skin and bone.

The woman took the kitten home and cared for her.

"We took it home. Took care of it and the kitten would not leave my dog out of sight. Since then, they sleep together. She adores her rescuer."

But for her dog the kitten would be dead. This kitten was saved by the dog but she needed human help to do some of the caring.

Cat adopts an American volunteer for K9 Rescue International in Ukraine where things are getting better

NEWS AND VIEWS - UKRAINE: This is a nice letter from an American man, Tom Bates, who has been in Ukraine since March 2022, volunteering his services for K9 Rescue International. His letter is published on the Key Peninsula News website. He's been rescuing and evacuating animals; bringing food to hungry animals and travelling through many zones of conflict dodging Russian rockets and artillery fire. 

MacDonald's to reopen some restaurants in Ukraine. Image: Shutterstock.

When he first arrived in Ukraine things were bad, he says. It was grim and he still can't speak decent Ukrainian which doesn't surprise me because it takes a long time to learn a foreign language.

But some good things have happened. Firstly, a cat adopted him he says. He named the cat Bob. And he says that when he returns home to America, he is bringing Bob with him. I like that. He's rescued a cat in need in a war zone and he is going to give the cat a good life in a good country. That is about as good as you can do in terms of animal welfare as an individual person doing their bit.

The second bit of good news is this: things are beginning to get back to normal despite the war continuing. I guess this is the case because the war is confined more and more to eastern Ukraine and in the south. The other areas, thankfully - and I hope this continues - are fairly normal such as life in the capital Kyiv. Although Putin has hinted that he might try and take Kyiv a second time. Although that would be a new mobilisation which would be incredibly unpopular and it might fail bearing in mind that around 300,000 men left the country last time they were mobilised.

Another good sign that things are returning to normal and I hope it stays that way (there is no certainty) is that McDonald's restaurants are beginning to reopen across Ukraine.

When the war started, MacDonald closed every restaurant in Ukraine and donated all their food to the military. They continue to pay all employees their full wage. Pretty amazing. But now the stores are opening again of course the employees can come back and the general public are very thankful because Bates says that "Cars wrap around several blocks for the drive through. Lines of people flow out the doors for 100 yards. Every table is full."

Ukrainians have missed their McDonald's. Car dealerships have cars on show and some checkpoints have been dismantled. People are smiling more and of course the warm weather helps.

This is just a little glimpse of life from the point of view of a volunteer helping out with animal welfare in a country ravaged by death and destruction to both animal and person. But as mentioned it is focused on certain areas so the mood has lifted.

It is said that it will cost around $500 billion to rebuild the country. As I understand it, the West has frozen almost $400 billions of Russian assets which can be used.

Weird dog picture signals horror cat treatment

I am not going to talk about this a lot because it is too distressing. But in the photograph just below this paragraph you see a very strange, indeed weird, situation. You see lots of dogs clambering around the driver's and passenger's seat in a van parked in Hampton, Oakland, New Jersey, USA. It is just not the kind of picture you see, ever. It caught my eye and as expected it reveals a horror story behind it.

Dogs inside van packed full of dead and sick cats and dogs. Image: Fox News.

Looking at the picture you can see that the unamed woman who owns these cats and dogs was living on a shoestring. They've repaired the dashboard with duct tape. It looks very grimy. The dogs look very sad and confused.

We are told that inside the vehicle there were 38 dogs and eight cats. Rescuers made the discovery last Saturday, April 8. The vehicle had been parked for two days at least. There were dogs running around the parking lot. A foul odour emanated from the vehicle unsurprisingly.

The dogs were soaked in urine and faeces. The vehicle was packed with animals.The cats and dogs inside the truck were terrified and huddled in all corners. 

Rescuers pulled them from the vehicle one by one. There were dead animals inside the vehicle which was soaked in urine, faeces and where there were animal remains. It is truly a ghastly, horrible and a horror story. It is the worst kind of animal abuse and animal hoarding.

The hoarding woman had decided to put all her animals in the van because her home in Virginia had been damaged in a fire. This had apparently forced her to live in the van with her large entourage of animals. She'd driven from Virginia to NJ.

It is such a relief, though, that they've been rescued and can start living normal lives with people who care. Ironically, then, that the person who did this thought that she was caring for them when she achieved quite the opposite. It is quite sad really. I feel for her despite the abuse she delivered to her animals. Often hoarders are borderline mentally ill.

Different rescue organisations were involved in this big job. It was Hampton animal control which were the first responders. They stayed into the late hours to rescue the animals and ensure that they had safe placements.

The identity of the driver has not been released. The information comes from Fox News Digital. They say that they have reached out to local police to seek more details.

Picture of a grossly obese and grossly matted abandoned cat is shocking

NEWS AND COMMENT: The RSPCA have named her Big Bertha. She is a young two years old tabby cat. The past owner appears to have grossly overfed her and then abandoned her. She was dumped in Calthorpe Park, Birmingham, UK and weighed 11.8 kg in pounds (26 pounds). The average domestic cat might way around 8-10 pounds.

Picture of a grossly obese and grossly matted abandoned cat is shocking. Image: RSPCA.

The Birmingham Animal Center's supervisor, Emma Finnimore was shocked. She said that "This is the largest cat I have seen in my 22 years working for the RSPCA".

They found her in this bag:

The bag in which Bertha was found. Picture: RSPCA.

So, what did they do? The only thing they could do was to clip off all her matted fur and put her on a gradual weight, reduction diet. The clipped off fur weighed 0.3 of a kilogram incidentally. Dieting of this sort needs to be gradual to avoid fatty liver disease.

She was too large to go through a cat flap and the RSPCA had to adapt a cat run for her until she went to a foster home.

Foster carer Emma Cureton, said:

 "The weight has gradually come off and she's already lost an amazing 3.82kg - which is a third of her body weight. She's still got a little way to go but she'll get there and will soon be ready to find a new home. She was in such a sorry state when she arrived at the rescue centre with her matting pulling on her skin. We don't know how she got so large as she is only a young cat. We think maybe someone had been constantly feeding her as she was so large, she was left unable to groom herself."

Pretty well everybody knows that this kind of obesity is a major health problem leading to high blood pressure, diabetes, problems with the liver, skin and heat tolerance and damaging the joints.

Separately, the RSPCA said that there has been a 25% rise in the number of abandonment incidents. In 2021 there were 10,519 abandonments of pets while in the year up to October 2022 there has been 13,159.

The report does not say why, but I think I know and other reports have confirmed this namely that there were too many self-indulgent pet adoptions during Covid-19 in order to keep people company and to entertain them during those long lockdowns. 

Many of these adoptions have now gone wrong and the owners are either abandoning their cats and dogs or selling them on the Internet through social media.

Incidentally, there has been a worrying upward trend in harassment of farm animals by badly trained dogs in the countryside. This, too, has been put down to the same root cause namely adoptions by people who do not have sufficient knowledge about dog welfare and behaviour during the pandemic.

So, we are, in the UK, feeling the effects in a very major way, not only in respect of pet ownership but in many other areas of Covid-19 and its legacy.

Video of dog pulled from rubble 60 hours after earthquakes hit Turkey

This could just as well have been a cat or any other animal which is why the video is relevant on a cat website. It is remarkable and nice to see attention being given to an animal during this disaster which has claimed upwards of 20,000 people. The numbers are being constantly updated and the figures you see on news media are out of date at this time. They will continue to climb. Update: I have added a video of a cat rescue.

Many animals have been killed. I'd like to see a bit more focus on them.

The video gives a warning but it is not that bad. Nothing too unpleasant. In fact, it is an uplifting video of success and animal welfare. It almost seems fabricated as the video starts with the dog's head poking out of the rubble. What happened before that moment? The dog must have been covered in rubble in which case he would be covered in dust but he is not.

I think it is genuine but I believe that the dog was never totally under the rubble. It fell on him/her and covered part of their body which explains why their head is not covered in dust. But you never know these days as there are tons of fake animal rescue videos on social media. It is horrible. The world has become a big fake factory.

Note: these embedded videos sometimes disappear as they are removed from Twitter. Sorry if that has happened. They have a limited lifespan.

This innocent dog was just rescued after more than 60 hours underneath the rubble in Turkey.. 🥺

Via @Goodable pic.twitter.com/MZPMZsbhyO

— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) February 9, 2023

---

When a local rescue team found university student Kerem Cetin under rubble in Turkey's Hatay, the earthquake victim immediately asked them to save his cat before pulling him out #earthquakeinturkey
pic.twitter.com/HsKJfuondk

— OSCAR (@oskcrr) February 9, 2023

Aircraft transporting 56 rescue dogs crashes on Wisconsin golf course

There are many aircraft criss-crossing America transporting rescue cats and dogs from and to various animal rescue centres in order to facilitate rehoming. In this instance a plane carrying a crew of three and 53 rescue dogs from Louisiana crashed last Tuesday morning on a golf course outside Milwaukee. Apparently, they lost an engine and had to crash land.

Dog rescued from plane crash. Screenshot / CBS 58. Note: the red coloration that you see on the dog's body is the lady's gloves and not blood.

The crew were not seriously unharmed (described as not life-threatening injuries) and the good point about this story is that the general public has rallied around as there have been hundreds of offers to adopt the lucky survivors.

The Humane Animal Welfare Center of Waukesha County (HAWS) said that they had been inundated with enquiries and donations about the dogs. They were being flown from Louisiana to Wisconsin.

A communications spokesperson for HAWS said:

"Our phones haven't stopped ringing all day. The response from our community has been absolutely overwhelming. We've had so many people that have enquired about adopting. Or is there some way they can help with donations or come in to help with the dogs - bringing in towels and toys and treats and that kind of thing. Our faith in humanity has been restored because of the care and compassion that we've seen today."

It appears that the dogs were not substantially harmed either and around 24 HAWS staffers and volunteers were waiting to pick them up from the airport and therefore they were not that far away from the crash site and were able to get there quickly.

There were concerned when they heard the news that the aircraft had made a crash landing at a golf course. But, fortunately, perhaps because of the pilot's skills, none were seriously harmed.

HAWS quickly achieved donations of more than $2,600 in a Facebook fundraiser in addition to $2,000 from other sources.

The amount they raised in a matter of hours was equivalent to what they would raise in weeks normally. The dogs are being treated for injuries and their personalities assessed. They are also being assessed for any mental trauma that they may have acquired because of the crash landing.

3 kinds of animal shelter in the USA (according to Nathan Winograd)

I receive a newsletter from Nathan Winograd for which I am very grateful because he is an incredibly knowledgeable man about the animal rescue network in the US and he is, I believe, instrumental in instigating and driving forward the concept of no-kill animal shelters. His basic attitude is that with effort and imagination and with the right attitude managers of animal shelters in America can rehome all their animals except those that are genuinely unsuited for rehoming. And therefore, he has saved millions of lives.

RELATED: Only remaining cat at a shelter is finally adopted through a novel veterinary program.

Animal shelter. Image by Daga_Roszkowska from Pixabay 

So, what he says goes and he divides up animal shelters into these three categories and I will use his words verbatim for the sake of clarity and certainty:

1. 'Those that embrace the No Kill Equation achieving placement rates of 99%'. Comment: these shelters rehome almost 100% of the animals that are in their care. They are the ones he considers to be doing good work;
2. 'Those that routinely kill animals because they find killing easier than doing what is necessary to stop it'. Comment: this, I believe, is a strong hint at the fact that some managers of some shelters don't commit to rehoming the animals that pass through their organisation in using their imagination, commitment and good business practices. It is, he thinks, a form of laziness in this sector of the animal shelter operation;
3. 'Those that close the door to animals in need and tell people who find animals that if they don't want to ignore the animals, they have to take care of themselves'. Comment: I believe that this is a reference to some shelters who argue that in respect of feral cats it is best to leave them where they are even if they are semi-domesticated and can be rehomed or perhaps this attitude also relates to stray cats. They might argue that the stray, homeless domestic cats have learned to live outside of the human home and therefore because they have a limited amount of space at the shelter, they have decided that these cats should stay where they are but if their customers object to that process, they, themselves, can look after these homeless cats. That is my interpretation and if I am incorrect, please tell me in a comment.

There is nothing more than I can add because although I subscribe to his emails, I do not subscribe to his blog nor to his podcast where I will probably learn a bit more. I don't subscribe to his other outlets because I have enough on my plate already and I have enough subscriptions and associations with other websites which already make my life a little overcomplicated.

RELATED: The higher an animal shelter's live release rate the higher the rates of burnout in shelter staff?

Volunteers sitting with the animals during 4th July firework celebrations

All that I have of this story is this photograph and it is a great photograph of volunteers sitting with the rescue animals at an unknown shelter in the US on July 4 to comfort them when the fireworks start to go off. It is a heartwarming photograph. A photograph to soften the hardened heart. A heart hardened by the usual hassles of living on this planet which for most of us isn't that easy at least some of the time. There are good people out there and they volunteer their time.

Volunteers sitting with the animals during 4th July firework celebrations. Photo: Facebook page of 'Artistic Freedom'.

I guess, too, that the people benefit because they are able to mix with like-minded people so it is a great way to socialise. And of course, they know that they are doing something good in helping animals who are already stressed by being confined to small cages in a noisy shelter with strange people wandering by from time to time.

I am sure that stress is the biggest psychological problem for rescue cats and dogs in shelters. It affects their behaviour which in turn affects their adaptability. For them it is a double whammy of stress-inducing influences because they are already stressed and they going to be stress some more because of the strange and loud noises. Well done to these people. The photograph caught my eye and I felt that I needed to circulate it on the Internet a little bit.

The Internet does not help me in trying to find out how commonplace this type of volunteer work is in the USA. My gut feeling is that it is not that uncommon but it is the first time that I've seen this kind of photograph and I have seen tens of thousands of photographs of animal shelters.

Documents imply that Boris Johnson helped Nowzad cats and dogs to get out of Kabul when he said he didn't help

NEWS AND COMMENT: This is a story that has been rumbling along for a while. If you are up-to-date with the Boris Johnson news you will know that he is under a lot of pressure at the moment for allegedly breaking Covid social distancing rules and allegedly lying about it. It is the latter which is probably more important than the former. The knives are out for him. He may not remain as the Prime Minister of the UK as a consequence.

Letter from Ms Harrison MP to Paul Farthing of Nowzad showing the alleged involvement of Boris Johnson in the evacuation of animals from Kabul. Source: MSN News.

Thrown into the mix is the story of Mr Pen Farthing and the animals from his Nowzad operation in Kabul. This was and probably still is an animal rescue organisation based in Kabul. There was a big story about how he would get his animals out during the mass evacuation when thousands of people were flown out of Kabul after the Taliban took over.

RELATED: Breaking news: Nowzad animals and staff cleared to evacuate to the UK. - this was breaking news last summer.

Mr Farthing did get out using a chartered aircraft flown from Pakistan to Kabul paid for by a sponsor or sponsors. But at the time there were discussions about animals being prioritised over people. And the question was whether Boris Johnson, on the encouragement of his wife Carrie Johnson, had intervened to ensure that the animals got out of Kabul. He denied that he had been involved.

Nowzad staff getting out of Kabul to safety. Photo in public domain.

And now, documents have emerged in the news media which indicate that he did get involved. And if he did it would have been with the encouragement of his wife who is a known animal advocate.

Email implicating Boris Johnson in lying about his non-involvement. Image: The Sun.

It appears that an email trail leaked from the Foreign Office and which started or were initially sent on August 25, pins the order for the animal airlift on Boris Johnson. As mentioned, he claimed that he did not authorise the evacuation of more than 160 stray cats and dogs from Afghanistan. In fact, he boldly stated that it was "complete nonsense" to suggest that he had been involved. The Times newspaper states that a Foreign Office whistleblower released the emails yesterday suggesting that he approved the rescue mission.

The ironic point about the story is that it's a good thing that he was involved. I can't see the issue with that. It should be something which he could and should be praised for. However, in the higher echelons of the UK government the silver-haired white male is typically not a great animal lover. They wanted to exclusively prioritise people over any animals. That is my interpretation of the back story.

THE PRIME MINISTER ABSOLUTELY DENIES THIS ALLEGATION. MR FARTHING BELIEVES THAT THE PRIME MINISTER IS TELLING THE TRUTH. 

To put a bit of detail on it, Boris Johnson's PPS (personal private secretary) Ms Harrison, the MP for Copeland, worked in quite a committed way with a charter flight employee to make arrangements to get the animals evacuated. And in those letters she referred to her "boss". She was referring to Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of Britain.

She says that the work that she did on this was not with the involvement of Boris Johnson but, as mentioned, she referred to him in her communications. This, as stated in the title to this article, implies that she did this work at his direction or at least with his knowledge.

That contradicts what he has said in the past that he was uninvolved. If this is all true then this would be another allegation that the Prime Minister is being less than honest with the truth. This, in turn, goes to the original problem about his breaches of Covid social distancing rules and allegedly lying that he didn't break them.

Dominic Dyer and animal rights advocate who helped Pen Farthing evacuate the animals worked closely with the UK government. He says that the UK government intervened.

Someone is being economical with the truth. We don't know where lies.

Therefore, in this rather convoluted story we have a connection between cats and dogs, Boris Johnson, and a political crisis 😒. My personal view is that Boris Johnson is a decent bloke. He's quite liberal-minded. I think he was encouraged to briefly take part in these "parties" by perhaps his wife (on his birthday party) and in other gatherings by staff who arranged them. I don't think he organised them he simply was invited to them and didn't want to stop them happening because he's that kind of person.

Boris Johnson is a rule breaker. This has been made clear by teachers in his days when he was a student. One teacher stated that he doesn't believe that the normal social norms and rules apply to him. It is exactly why he's become so successful, ironically.

I also believe that his charming wife who I admire because she is a very dynamic animal advocate, is or has been a problem to him in his premiership. She has a hold over him because he loves her and wants to please her. She is quite headstrong and wants to get her way. Allegedly, she has asked him to do things which ostensibly have undermined his position. There's nothing to currently back that up in terms of evidence it looks like that to me.

The Sue Gray report will be coming up very soon and these points will be clarified. Although the Nowzad operation and Boris Johnson's involvement or not is not part of her mandate.

Family mistakenly donated their cat to a Denver thrift store

The owners of this ginger tabby accidentally donated him to a thrift store in Denver, Colorado, UK. The way it happened is interesting. The cat had hidden inside a recliner chair. No doubt he had made a little nest for himself there. He had probably done it before several times. 

As a side note, it should be added that recliner chairs are dangerous to kittens and puppies and even adult companion animals because they go underneath them and when a person sits on them and reclines,  the mechanism under the chair shifts position and it can crush the animal.

Montequlla inside the recliner inside the thrift store. Photo: the store or Denver Animal Protection.

But that is another issue. In this instance the cat, whose name is Montequlla, was hidden inside the recliner and the family donated the recliner to the thrift store. They did it because they were moving home

They realised that they were missing their cat and had no idea what had happened. In the meantime, the store noticed the cat (meows) and called Denver Animal Protection. They scanned the micro-chip but it had not been updated. Therefore they could not contact the owners.

Jenna Humphreys of Denver Animal Protection, told the Denver Channel: "Sure enough, there's a recliner out front, and there's a little orange tabby stuck inside. Very friendly, couldn't get out. They said that they had noticed the meowing shortly after somebody had dropped it off."

The recliner. Photo: Denver Animal Protection (believed).

In the meantime, the family were frantically searching nearby houses but then realised that he could be inside the store, inside the recliner. They returned to the store. The employees of that store gave them the phone number of Jenna Humphreys at which point they were able to reunite with their cat.

They put the event down to Montequlla being stressed and a bit frightened about the impending move to a new home. Perhaps there was quite a lot of noise and commotion in the home. His home territory was being disrupted quite dramatically. He decided to hide in a place which she had used before.

Humphreys said that "It's not uncommon for us to be call to help remove animals from those situations, but this was a new one."

Good ending 👍. Photo: the husband I expect.

The family are very happy that the story ended well. And they are thankful to everyone involved who managed to arrange the reunion. I bet Montequlla is happy too. Although he now has a move to do. He won't like that. It is going to cause some more problems.

RELATED: 5 tips to make moving home with your cat a success.

There is a Facebook post on the event by the Denver Animal Shelter which is below.

Montequlla's family donated a recliner to the thrift store when they were moving. They didn't realize that their cat was...

Posted by Denver Animal Shelter on Tuesday, January 4, 2022

Foreign Office official Raphael Marshall claims British government prioritised rescue animals over people when evacuating Kabul

Raphael Marshall, who has now left the Foreign Office but who at the time was a junior civil servant, has made some pretty tough claims against the British government's handling of the evacuation of Kabul after the Taliban took over the country. And they are anti-animal claims too. Or human-centric.

Raphael Marshall. Pic in public domain.

What he is saying, in essence, is that British troops were used to support the evacuation of Nowzad cats and dogs (mainly dogs) from Kabul when they could have been used to help the evacuation of people instead. And because of this he claims that some people were left behind to be murdered by the Taliban. This claim is strongly denied by Dominic Raab the Foreign Secretary. Also many people with a good reason to be evacuated to the UK were not for many reasons which are not connected to the animal evacuation. One of them is the claimed disorder and even chaos at the Foreign Office at the time. Raab was on holiday for example although in close touch.

Marshall's claim is also strongly denied by Mr Paul "Pen" Farthing who ran the Nowzad animal rescue shelter. You may remember that at the time he was quite vociferous and outspoken, which he had to be, in order to successfully achieve the near impossible and get his rescue animals out of a chaotic Kabul. At the time, Mr Farthing felt that the British government wasn't doing enough and he was being jerked around. That alone flies in the face of Mr Marshall's claims.

Let’s make this bloody crystal clear & on the record. NOT 1 single British soldier was used to get me or the @Nowzad #dogs & #cats into #Kabul airport. This whistleblower lied to Parliament #nowzad supporters paid for cargo flight not the useless British government #operationark

— Pen Farthing (@PenFarthing) December 7, 2021

Note: This is an embedded tweet. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

In fact, Mr Farthing has tweeted his response (above) in saying that not one single British soldier was used to get him or his animals out of Kabul. He claims that Raphael Marshall is lying. He alleges that Mr Marshall lied to Parliament and that Nowzad supporters paid for the evacuation flights.

RELATED: 25-30 cats at US Embassy Kabul have been abandoned.

In response Marshall says that this isn't the point. The point is that British troops were used to help evacuate the animals when they would have been better used evacuating people. Mr Marshall claims that he is not accusing anybody of lying. He says that he is simply correcting the facts.

He says that he received an instruction from the Prime Minister to use considerable capacity to transport Nowzad's animals out of Afghanistan. He also claims that there was "no justification for concluding that Nowzad's staff were at significant risk". And that "the protection of domestic animals was not a UK war aim in Afghanistan".

RELATED: Whistle-blower's claim of direct trade-off between animals and people evacuating Kabul is wrong.

A man concerned with campaigning for the evacuation of the animals has spoken to LBC radio and said that he is sure that both Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie Johnson personally intervened in getting the animals evacuated. Boris Johnson has strongly denied that. 

However, Boris has gained a reputation for being a liar among the voting public. I think they have judged him harshly to be fair but he brings the problems upon himself. A lot of them are sick to death of his shenanigans as they see it. There is a current claim that he lied about the Christmas party last Christmas. 

It appears to have happened against the then Covid lockdown policy and to have been organised by staff at Downing Street but he denies it happened. There's a recording of employees talking about it and laughing, which has been aired on the radio. However, it is not clear that the party existed. The recorded gossip may have been about a fictional party.

A leaked letter suggests that the Foreign Office covered up PM’s involvement in animal airlift from Kabul, MP claims.

RELATED: Breaking news: Nowzad animals and staff cleared to evacuate to the UK - Aug 28, 2021.

Marshall says that there was limited ability to get people out of the country and as a result thousands of Afghan friends of the UK were at risk of being murdered. Many people were rejected for evacuation flights due to limited capacity. He claims that "this capacity was subsequently used to transport animals".

Further, he said "There was a direct trade-off between transporting Nowzad's animals and evacuating British nationals and Afghan evacuees, including Afghans who had served with British soldiers."

There it is: he is making a clear claim that in saving the lives of animals Britain jeopardised the lives of people and in some cases he has implied that people left behind who were friends of the UK have been murdered.

In light of Marshall's claims some Afghans who made it to the UK but who left behind relatives in danger of Taliban reprisals have chipped in and said that they are disappointed.

Mr Mohammed, an interpreter who was evacuated, said: “Dogs and cats have a life too and should be rescued. But in my opinion, the priority should be humans and more should be done to help those facing danger in Afghanistan.”

Comment: I don't want to comment on the claims about people being prioritised over animals unjustifiably. I would just like to make the point that in my opinion the animals deserved to be saved. It wasn't as if there was a huge animal airlift out of Kabul. This was quite a small contingent of animals and they were all rescue animals under a very high profile animal charity. Pretty well all the work was conducted by Mr Farthing and his supporters. He had to struggle to get the British government to pull their digit out to help them. And for me, it's a wonderful success story. I commend Mr Farthing. You can't prioritise people over animals exclusively all the time. You have to give some respect and some status to animals if we are to create a balanced balanced and compassionate world.