Putin's troops are shooting up and shelling animal shelters in Ukraine

NEWS AND COMMENT: The madman (actually he's not mad but behaves as if he is) Putin is allowing his troops to shoot up and shell animal shelters in Ukraine on a rampage of destruction with no rhyme or reason behind it. Except perhaps just to terrorise the civilians and to kill and maim wantonly. Putin is rapidly catching up with Hitler as the world's worst mass murderer. The problem is that the West is fighting with one arm behind their back because they are walking on egg shells as Putin has nukes and the big fear is that he may actually use them.

Medical student in Ukraine flees with his two cats in his arms. Image: Reuters.

In a better world, NATO would go in and defend Ukraine but if they do that, they may start a nuclear war. NATO is also walking on egg shells. Everything that is being done in support of Ukraine is one step removed from the real support that they need to beat Putin which is to fight and I fully understand but it is frustrating. And in the meantime, the three major animal shelters in Ukraine are being attacked by Russian soldiers.

One of them was shelled and another was shot up by invading Russians. Many cats and dogs have been killed. There are many animal lovers who are assisting as best they can by running pop-up animal shelters of their own. They are rescuing cats and dogs as best they can. These are great people under severe stress is are the animals that they rescue. They are fighting against the odds, insurmountable odds and seeing animals injured and destroyed.

These great people are going to suffer trauma in the months and perhaps years to come because of what they've seen and experienced. The International Fund for Animal Welfare has stepped in and are doing their best to help these charities and the rescued cats and dogs.

RELATED: Russians shell and shoot up Ukraine animal shelters. This linked post has some more details on the shelters concerned.

Note: These are posts from FB which are 'embedded' here. 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.

---

Separately, cats and dogs are on occasions at least being abandoned which is wrong but can you blame the owners? They are terrified. In contrast, there are many Ukrainians who are struggling to flee with their cats and dogs in carriers or they simply carry them in their arms. The sight of that gives me the heebie-jeebies because what chance have they of carrying their cats to the west of Ukraine and then over the border to Poland? 

Is there not a huge possibility that they will lose their cats in the process. The noise and the strangeness and the fear that will be instilled in those animals is going to almost force them to leap out of their arms and run to their deaths.

Some Ukrainians are staying, hiding in shelters for long hours while bombs and shells destroy their homes above. Imagine what it is like in those shelters. Look at the practicalities. What about going to the toilet for both humans and cats and dogs? How does it work? It seems all but impossible to manage that kind of situation while maintaining sanity and health.

And if and when they try and flee along a safe corridor the Russians continue to shell. Recently the Russians offered safe passage along a protected corridor which ended up either in Belarus or Russia! The cynicism is beyond belief.

And as Putin realises that he is losing this war, which is remarkable considering the overwhelming force against the Ukrainians, he may do something desperate like push that red button or instruct his generals to push it on his behalf. This is the real problem behind this: the West is walking on egg shells because he has nukes and he has threatened to use them on two occasions. The brutal truth is that he needs to be stopped although we are not allowed to say that. For the life of me I don't know why because the solution is in the removal of Mr Putin.

To hear about animals being killed and injured and terrified in this way is heartrending. You can't even say the war is just or good if ever a war can be just and good. It is just the desire of one person who believes that Ukraine should be part of Russia. It's his dream and he will achieve it in any way possible with a complete disregard for the lives of both animals and people.

He will lose in the end because he cannot control a country of about 40 million people of this geographic size even if and when he does win this war. Ukrainians will resist permanently. And the country will have to be rebuilt. Who is going to pay for that when and if Russia governs the country? Russia can't afford to pay for it. They will be running a broken country with no economy and broken infrastructure and a populace who hate Russia and this madman Putin.

It is a total humankind f**k-up and it is the innocents who suffer.

7-year-old Violeta and her large grey cat Richard evacuated from Odessa, Ukraine to Poland (picture)

This is a nice picture of 7-year-old Violeta who made the 4-day journey from Odessa with her cat Richard.  It is good to see that she has a nice leash for Richard as the journey must have been fraught with problems and there will be more hazards to come when Richard might have the urge to run. And if your cat runs you might never see him again under these circumstances.

I have seen many evacuees from Ukraine carrying cats without carriers. I have a couple of cats, one in each arm held by an Indian student who wanted to go home.  He was a foreign student in Ukraine as the fees are cheaper than in northern Europe.

That would scare me as there would be a constant possibility that the cat would run out of fear if a bomb goes off and be impossible to find.

7-year-old Violeta and her large grey cat Richard evacuated from Odessa, Ukraine to Poland (picture). Photo: Twitter.

One million people have been forced to flee their homes in Ukraine - among them 7 year old Violeta who made the 4 day journey from Odessa with her cat Richard pic.twitter.com/u0ivGSRepY

— christinalamb (@christinalamb) March 4, 2022

Here she is again. This is a photo of a printed hardcopy in a newspaper which is why the quality is poor. I can't find the original at the moment. She has become a bit of a celebrity and so has her cat, Richard.

Violeta and her cat Richard. Image: Twitter.

"Ocean fish" and "white bait" is shark meat in cat food. Do you care?

A research study tells us that endangered sharks are being used as "white bait" and "white fish" and "ocean fish" in cat and dog food. These are generic terms. There is no attempt to specify exactly what this food is. And the question is whether cat owners would stop buying cans of cat food if the products were properly labelled and shark meat specified in the labelling.

Blue shark. Photo: Joost van Uffelen / Getty Images

A lot of people nowadays are concerned about the environment. They are concerned about marine wildlife and overfishing. The argument is that the pet food manufacturers should be more transparent and honest.

This is particularly so since the shark populations have declined by more than 70% over the past 50 years. They found through DNA testing that some of the shark meat in cat food comes from sharks which are endangered. The sale of their bodies and body parts are under some degree of control in terms of their trade as specified under CITES or through classification by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The most common identified shark in cat and dog food was the blue shark. The species is not listed in CITES or classified as threatened by the IUCN but scientific research indicates that it is overexploited and the fishing of it should be regulated.

Another commonly encountered shark species in cat food is the silky shark. This species is listed under appendix 2 of CITES.

The fact that there is mislabelling on cat and dog food which misleads purchasers also leads to the unsatisfactory state of affairs that many environmentally conscious customers are contributing to the overfishing of endangered sharks.

The study that I am working off in writing this article suggests that many "pet owners and lovers would be alarmed to find out that they are likely contributing to the unsustainable fishing practices that have caused massive declines in global shark populations".

Overfishing of sharks has a negative impact on ecosystems' stability and function. Separately, a study found that the removal of sharks from the oceans has been linked to the "amplification of detrimental climate change effects".

In the United States, the most commonly encountered shark species in pet food was the short fin mako. In the current study all the pet food was produced, canned or packaged in Thailand.

In all, through DNA analysis, they found nine species of shark in pet food. One proposition is that the shark fin trade is contributing to this. Sharks are caught for their fins only and the bodies are thrown away as I understand it. Perhaps these bodies are being used in pet food. It is suggested that this might be beneficial because the bodies are being wasted. I would suggest that the better course of action would be to stop killing sharks for their fins.

Silky sharks are often caught as bycatch i.e. they are not targeted fish but they are caught in nets and killed when fishing for other species. This occurs during tuna fishing for example. Once their high-valued fins have been removed their carcasses make their way into the pet food industry chain which possibly account for the high prevalence of the meat from this shark species in pet food.

In conclusion, they state that "seafood fraud and the deliberate mislabelling or substitution of products is an increasingly recognise global problem".

Would you change your purchasing habits if they listed shark meat on cat food ingredients? Do you read the ingredient listings? Do you care? Are you concerned about the endangerment of many shark species? What do you think about killing sharks for their fins and throwing the rest of the shark away? Lots of questions. I would like you to comment on this if you have time.

The study referred to is: DNA Barcoding Identifies Endangered Sharks in Pet Food Sold in Singapore (04 March 2022 ).

Wide, double-sided tape is better than vinegar to prevent a cat scratching furniture?

This is a personal view. Quite a lot of websites recommend diluted vinegar which you spray onto furniture to stop your cat companion scratching it. It's diluted so that the human caregiver doesn't smell it but the cat does because they have a superior sense of smell. I don't like the idea because although I have not tried it, I am convinced that I would smell the vinegar.

Wide, double-sided tape is better than vinegar to prevent cat scratching on furniture. Photo: Amazon.

The deterrent of vinegar for a domestic cat is its smell. Cats do have a superior sense of smell as mentioned but I just think the method is flawed. Both the cat and the human can smell things. The human is liable to smell the vinegar especially when they are sitting in an armchair right next to the stuff. Vinegar has a very noticeable and slightly unpleasant smell. You don't want to your home smelling like a fish and chip shop.  This seems to be likely if you have to spray three items of furniture.

Wide, double-sided tape is better than vinegar to prevent a cat scratching furniture? The tape was put on too late 😢 after my cat had scratched it. But I don't mind. He has not scratched it since the tape was added. This is an absorbent leather and unsuited to vinegar spray 🤢.

Tell me I'm wrong. Please comment and tell me that I am being too negative about this method.

Personally, I use extra wide double-sided tape which you can buy on Amazon and which is customised for the use of cat scratching prevention. It's effective and it doesn't smell! And also, it is almost invisible.

RELATED: How to tell your cat NO to using your furniture as a scratching post.

I've just thought of another problem with vinegar and spraying it onto furniture. If you have leather which is very delicate and not treated it may absorb the vinegar solution. This may stain it. Perhaps once again I am being too negative and seeing the downside and not the upside.

Like I said, I recommend products such as Amazon's Choice: Petslucent Cat Scratch Deterrent Sticky Paws Tape, Cat Furniture Protector. There are many alternatives. The one I mention costs about £10 in the UK. The role is far too long for you to use up so there's no problem in terms of quantity. It gets a four-star rating out of five with about two and half thousand reviews. I will call that good. It's not perfect because some people might dislike it and it is visible to a certain extent but it is effective.

Siamese cat tries to start a play session with another cat in a novel way

Siamese cat instigates a play session with another cat in a novel way.

I have always believed that domestic cats understand hard floors. You will see many videos of domestic cat sliding along hard floors. They recognise its properties which allow them to use the floor to please themselves and some cats like to slide along hard, tiled floors. 

In this instance the Siamese cat has used the hard floor to propel himself along it on his back into his cat companion to ask whether they would like to play. The response cannot have been to his liking because the other cat jumped out of the way, somewhat shocked by what has just arrived. It appears that cats like the feel of the floor on their back. 

I think that this is a similar pleasure that domestic cats experience when they roll around on their back on the ground, normally loose earth in a flower bed or something like that. It's a pleasant sensation for them. 

My cat actually likes to roll around on hard concrete which has been quite roughly finished. That roughness massages his back and he finds it pleasant.

In order to get the video to play, please click the centre play button and then the button bottom-left! That is the way you get Google Blogger videos to play these days it seems to me. If it works normally, good for you.