Goat survives 50 foot plunge!
This is my rotten little goat - Cinnamon. She is a Nigerian Dwarf Goat, and so is probably a lot shorter, but almost as heavy, as the goat in the story today. Given what I know about my onery little beast, I wish I could have watched as the deputies in Hilton Head chased this goat all over the bridge.
Just how determined these critters can be to do what THEY want to do, which is whatever you probably DON’T want them to do was probably quite obvious to the poor rescuers when this goat lept off the Charles Fraser bridge. Fortunately, she wasn’t injured by the fall. One of the firemen had to be rescued from the mud though!
We finally got a little rain this week, so there are a few plants starting to show green out there in my favorite little patch of desert. My goat, Sweet Pea (Cinnamon’s mother) was running laps around their pen yesterday. This is her way of saying “You can either stake me out to graze on that fresh green stuff, or I can find my own way out of this pen…”. I better get off this computer and go do some proper ranch work today!
Blessedbe
Summer
Filed under animals in the news, goats, heartwarming, livestock | Comment (0)Guard Bear, Pet Hippo, and funny cats, oh My!
Today was a great day for some fun animal news. 
First, Angola prison in Louisiana is getting some unusual assistance in foiling escapes. A 450 lb. black bear has taken to wandering the grounds at night. She probably lives somewhere in the 5 1/2 acres of undeveloped piney woods that are part of the prison grounds. Although the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries spokesperson says there have been no confirmed attacks of black bears on humans, I still suspect most prisoners might have second thoughts about making a run for it at night across a compound with a wild bear loose in it!
Compassionate people will make a pet of just about any animal who needs their help - and this family in South Africa is no exception. Even though a hippo is not the most practical family pet ever they clearly love their unusual pet. And people write me and think they’re unusual for having a pet rat!
Long as you are enjoying looking at pets, go enjoy Cats are so Gay - yet another blog of beautiful cat photos. Pearl and I never get tired of looking at cats on the internet, so why should you?
Have a great day and hug all your pets!
Summer Fey Foovay
Filed under animals in the news, cats, pets, unusual pets, wildlife | Comment (0)It is a sad day
It is a sad day when my first entry in this blog to celebrate animals in the news, has to be about the death of the filly, Eight Belles, after her dramatic injury while running the Kentucky Derby.
Most of my entries I want to be hopeful, loving, beautiful stories about animals and the people who love them. However, this issue simply has to be addressed.
I expect there will be quite an uproar from the millions of people who only watch one horse event a year, and have never sat a horse in their life, or gone to a live horse race locally. PETA is already calling for an end to thoroughbred racing.
I feel about thoroughbred racing, and all horse racing, much the same as the way I feel about greyhound racing. There are good people and bad people involved in any endeavor - including any endeavor that involves animals. People who love their animals and can’t imagine their lives doing anything other than being with animals 24-7, and inevitably people involved with animals because they think it’s a way to make a quick easy buck (excuse me while I laugh long and hard here) and who could care less that animals are sentient beings with feelings, thoughts, and needs.
However, when it comes to horse racing in the United States, I have one huge complaint. We race our horses too hard, too young. A three year old horse is NOT fully grown and mature. Asking a three year old, let alone a two year old, and in some Quarter Horses races YEARLINGS to run and run hard - not to mention the months of conditioning previous to the race - is tantamount to asking your two year old child to train for the Olympics. You would never do that to your child - yet because of the economic realities of the highest paid and highest prestige races in the U.S. being for two and three year old horses - horse racing trainers regularily ask young horses for peak performance.
And the horses break down. The great heart of the Thoroughbred horse is that they will literally run themselves to death to win a race. The very nobility and strength of spirit that we so admire and love is what causes them to run themselves to death for us.
In other countries of the world, the highest paid and most prestigious horse racing events are for five and six year old and even older horses. We know that horses are mature and at their peak at the ages of seven to nine years, and can remain useful for many years after that. No other equestrian event expects horses at such a young age to be peak performers. And no other equestrian event - not even three day eventing - experiences the breakdowns - both spectacularily public and the many that happen every day in a quieter way that Thoroughbred racing in the United States causes.
We don’t need to stop racing horses. Humans have raced horses as long as we’ve been associate with them. Horses love to race - watch any herd as they dash around the pasture. There is always one or two who simply must be at the head of any herd.
What we need to do is stop racing babies.
Nuff said.
Summer Fey Foovay
If you are a horse lover, you will find horse articles and a human-edited directory of the best horse websites on the WWW at my website, JustHorseCrazy.com
Filed under animal rights, animals in the news, editorial rant, horses | Comment (0)
