In California legislators are considering 2009 passage of Senate Bill 250, which would make spaying and neutering of pets mandatory. It requires that every dog and outdoor cat be fixed by the age of six months unless its owner gets an “unaltered” license. The bill’s goal is to encourage spaying and neutering of household pets in order to decrease the almost one million unwanted dogs and cats that are born in California yearly – which would supposedly save California $250 million yearly. Opponents say having to buy unaltered licenses will discourage owners from registering and fixing their pets, causing more unwanted animals. Unfortunately, every argument and bill seem to have two sides.
In Eastham, Massachusetts the owner of Arnold’s Lobster and Clam Bar has a seven-year-old, one and three-quarter pound lobster; but it’s very unlikely Fiona will ever be eaten. Fiona was caught off the coast of eastern Canada in June 2009 and is an extremely rare “yellow” lobster. Although yellow lobsters actually look bright orange, experts say she is one in thirty million. Instead of going into a pot of boiling water, Fiona is going into a viewing tank at the restaurant. Now it’s Fiona’s turn to do the catching – of customers.
In Britain dogs are being trained to warn diabetic owners when their blood sugar levels fall dangerously low. Dogs can detect illegal drugs, explosives and certain cancer cells. Now there’s evidence dogs’ hypersensitive noses can detect when someone is about to have a hypoglycemic attack. A survey done by Queen’s University Belfast found that 65% of 212 people with insulin-dependent diabetes reported their dogs alerted them with whining, barking or licking before a hypoglycemic episode occurred. Because having a dog in every doctor’s office isn’t practical, scientists are trying to develop an electronic dog nose – an electronic best friend.
In Germany’s Bremerhaven Zoo a penguin egg was placed in the nest of male penguins after it was abandoned by its parents in April 2009. The males incubated the egg until it hatched and continued to care for the chick. Z and Vielpunkt are one of three same-sex pairs among the zoo’s twenty Humboldt penguins. Homosexual behavior is documented in many species, including cats and dogs. According to the zoo’s Web site, “sex and coupling in our world don’t always have something to do with reproduction”. Obviously, Dr. Doolittle isn’t the only one who can learn from the animals.
Comments