Backcasts archive: Through Sept. 28, 2007
By Brett PaulyBlog calendar: Sept. 28 | Sept. 27 | Sept. 26 | Sept. 25 | Sept. 24
Does rabbit roundup on Long Island make for new hunting opps?
It's a mystery how increasing numbers of domestic bunnies have been showing up on Long Island's South Shore, but we're quite certain about how to fix the problem: establish hunting regs for the abandoned rabbits.
Don't know how New Yorkers would feel about that, but Backcasts is here to help.
We already know how animal-rights activists are feeling about the bunny dumping – hopping mad, the Associated Press reports from Massapequa Park, N.Y.
"It sounds like someone is raising rabbits and trying to get out of the business," said Gerry McBride, who handles criminal complaints for the Nassau County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
People have been dropping the furry creatures on roadways, in parks and near school grounds with growing regularity in recent months, animal-control experts said.
Earlier this month, a man was seen dumping 20 rabbits in a box at a train station and driving away, said Nancy Schreiber, a Long Island Rabbit Rescue Group volunteer.
The SPCA is trying to figure out who is responsible for discarding the furry critters, and the Rabbit Rescue Group is offering a $5,000 reward.
Perhaps the culprits won't be found, but the situation sounds like hasenpfeffer in the making if a few hounds and scatterguns are thrown into the stew.
Seriously though, the rabbits often can't fend for themselves in the wild and end up starving to death or being killed by raccoons or diseases, according to the AP.
Many of the rabbits found by the rescue group have been infested with fleas or ticks. They've been treated, fed, cleaned and put up for adoption.
Controversial flag-painted hydrant dedicated to police dog to be reinstalled
Speaking of hounds, the fire-hydrant memorial to the fallen police dog we reported Wednesday as being removed from a pooch park in Oregon will be reinstalled.
The hydrant was part of a new dog park in Hillsboro, Ore., named for Hondo, a K-9 dog killed while chasing a suspect 10 years ago. It was painted red, white and blue as a tribute to the pooch.
But the commemorative hydrant emblazoned with Old Glory was the source of complaints from folks who thought dogs would disrespectfully urinate on it (even though officials took precautions against just that scenario).
Hence, the hydrant was removed earlier this week. Since then, however, the city's Parks and Recreation Department has received support for the tribute from dog owners and war veterans, according to the Associated Press.
"While hydrants are playfully associated with dogs as a 'target,' this hydrant was specifically designed and painted to serve as a very personal tribute to a service animal killed in the line of duty," said Hillsboro parks spokeswoman Corinne Bloomfield.
The hydrant now will be rededicated at the leash-free park, this time with a fence around it to prevent dogs from doing their business on it.
To keep the hydrant from the attention of other canines, it originally was installed on an 18-inch-high base, surrounded by "dog unfriendly" shrubs, including prickly barberry bushes. And another hydrant was placed at ground level for the dogs' convenience. (Parks officials had earlier stated there had been no reports of dogs urinating on the flag hydrant.)
But all those initial precautions apparently weren't enough for the critics, which included Backcasts.
New plans for the hydrant call for a fence to be added, in addition to looking for more ways to dog-proof it, the AP reports.
Bloomfield said that the project was clearly designed as a tribute and that the hydrant "does not disrespect Hondo, the U.S. flag or K-9 officers."
Well bully for the Hillsboro cops and bully for the city's parks officials for the gumption to correct the misperceptions and save the hydrant salute in a fitting manner.
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Don't gamble on garbage; it's a good bet bears will find it out West
Drought and garbage have combined to make bear vs. human incidents a big issue in the West.
And while we clearly can't control the weather, we certainly can minimize the chances of a bear encounters by keeping food and refuse out of the way of bruins, according to wildlife experts.
That's the bottom line in what USA Today is reporting as the worst year ever for bear problems. The alternative? Well, it's not pretty, according to Doug Updike, statewide bear program coordinator for the California Department of Fish and Game. Expect even more bears that associate people with food.
Inclement weather has dried up backcountry berry stocks that bears depend on. Hence, more of the shaggy omnivores are moseying into towns to scrounge for something, anything, good to eat. Often that revolves around garbage.
Check out some of the stats compiled by USA Today as of mid-September:
• Utah has received 180 bear complaints over the summer, compared with 27 last year.
• New Mexico has issued permits to kill 30 bears this year, compared with 19 for all of 2006 and 17 in 2005.
• Colorado wildlife officers have been forced to euthanize 24 bears this year, compared to the nine put down last year.
• In Nevada, 350 complaints were fielded last year regarding problem bears at Lake Tahoe, Reno and other northern parts of the state. By September's end, up to 400 calls per month will have been logged since July.
California and Idaho are experiencing similar increases in bear-human contact. While national statistics aren't available, state wildlife officials are saying it's a record year for bears rummaging through homes and neighborhoods, USA Today reports.
"It seems like the worst year in the last 25 or so that I've been keeping track," Updike said.
Keep a lid on it never was as critical a phrase as it is now. Indeed, when it comes to garbage, keep a tight lid on it.
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K-9 salute: Controversy over stars and bars fire hydrant leads to its removal
No disrespect to the cops in Hillsboro, Ore., but what were they thinking by honoring a fallen K-9 comrade with a red, white and blue fire hydrant at a new dog park in town?
Conventional wisdom suggests other canines would do their business on the hydrant … or at least folks would get that impression.
I can appreciate the humor and irony in selecting a flag-painted hydrant as a salute to Hondo – a police dog killed 10 years ago while chasing a suspect, as the Associated Press reports. But I also get the feeling it wasn't supposed to be that funny.
The city's Parks and Recreation Department began receiving complaints, the hydrant subsequently was removed and now the whole thing is amusing … and that's probably not what the police wanted.
"We put a lot of effort into it," said artist Jason Ross.
Objections starting arriving via email after a picture of Hondo's hydrant at the new leash-free park named in his honor appeared Sunday in The Oregonian newspaper.
"That gallant dog must be turning in his grave at the thought of the flag being desecrated every time a dog pees on that hydrant!" wrote Louanne Douris, a retired U.S. Foreign Service officer.
Parks officials had thought of that problem, and had put the Old Glory-emblazoned hydrant on an 18-inch-high base, surrounded by "dog unfriendly" shrubs, including prickly barberry bushes.
Another hydrant was placed at ground level for the dogs' convenience, and parks officials said there had been no reports of dogs urinating on the flag hydrant, according to the AP.
"I think the overall message was support for the dog park and support for honoring the police dog – the fallen police dog – but the concern (was) over the perception of a dog peeing on a hydrant painted with an American flag," said Corrine Bloomfield, community resources manager for the Hillsboro Parks and Recreation Department.
She said the city hadn't decided where to place the hydrant.
I happen to think Hondo would have howled his approval over the choice of memorials, but as we know with well-intentioned plans they sometimes backfire. This one just wasn't thought out all the way.
But here's one good thing: Ol' Hondo probably is getting more props now as a result of the controversy than he ever received in the last decade since falling in the line of duty. Hats off (and hydrants up) to a credit to the force.
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In Seattle, "one giant step for goatkind"
When goats are getting props as weed eaters and lawn mowers – all without the use of fossil fuels – then perhaps the Northwest has it right in granting them pet status.
Portland, Ore., and Everett, Wash., already have passed legislation legalizing miniature goats, a k a pygmy or dwarf goats, according to the Seattle Times. But the eat-almost-anything ruminants got a major boost in celebrity yesterday, when the Seattle City Council voted unanimously that miniature goats could be kept as pets.
"One small step for man, one giant step for goatkind," council member Richard Conlin, who sponsored the measure, said after Monday's vote.
They clear invasive blackberry bushes like nobody's business. Their milk is delicious and is made into cheese. And now Seattle is recognizing the little goats – up to 2 feet tall and weighing 50 to 100 pounds – as small animals rather than farm animals, according to the Associated Press.
That means folks can keep goats in backyards, so long as the critters are licensed like a dog or cat (or an exotic animal or potbellied pig) … and, according to the Times, dehorned (safety first), neutered (to reduce musky odors in males) and kept exclusively on the owner's property (except when lent to neighbors to graze their yards).
The measure was suggested to Conlin by Jennie Grant, president of the Goat Justice League, which Grant says has 100 members.
Her animals apparently had gotten someone's goat. Grant said a neighbor in Seattle's Madrona section had complained about potential public health risks from her two pet goats, Brownie and Snowflake.
After researching the health risks and finding they were low, Conlin said, he proposed the new law because the goats can provide local milk and serve as "another link to the reality of where food comes from," the Times reports. Under the previous land-use code in Seattle, farm animals could not be kept on lots smaller than 20,000 square feet.
Animal lovers, advocates of urban sustainability and children testified in favor of legalizing the goats at a hearing Thursday, according to the newspaper. One person apparently criticized the change, saying goats can escape any enclosure and they prefer to eat roses.
But wouldn't that be more of a problem in Portland, the City of Roses? We'll get back to you with any further dwarf-goat developments from the Northwest, and beyond.
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That's no way to treat a duck, you drunk. Now you win a trip to jail
There was no chance this bird could duck before a Denver drunk got ahold of it.
Indeed, it was lights out for a tame duck early Saturday morning, when Scott D. Clark, a guest at the Embassy Suites in St. Paul, Minn., cornered the poor fowl that lived in the hotel lobby's ornamental pond, the Associated Press reports. Clark then squeezed the animal and tore off its head while a hotel security guard and others watched, police said.
At that point Clark turned to onlookers and said, "I'm hungry. I'm gonna eat it," said St. Paul police Sgt. John Wuorinen.
"He was allegedly drunk," Wuorinen said.
Allegedly drunk … hmmmm, you don't say? Well, that explains it.
Clark, 26, of Denver, was detained by hotel security guards until police came to arrest him.
He remained jailed yesterday on suspicion of felony animal cruelty and was scheduled to appear in court today to be charged, according to the AP.
If convicted, he could face up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine, said Tim Shields, general counsel with the Minnesota Federated Humane Societies.
A wild sidebar to the story is whom Shields chose to condemn — the hotel's management.
Shields said the incident was "unconscionable," the AP reports, and that having live ducks in a hotel lobby puts the birds at risk of being stepped on or run over by suitcases.
"I think Embassy Suites needs to take another look at this and review how they keep ducks safe, or use fish like most hotels would use," Shields said.
Now hold on just a minute there. We rather like ducks living in hotel lobbies, thank you, Mr. Shields, and instead of blaming the victim – Embassy Suites, which lost its feathered friend – you might just further your cause by concentrating on taking the actual perp to task.
Besides, don't fish count for anything? We'd rather not imagine what the killer would have done to any koi had the duck not been waddling around.
About the author: Brett Pauly spent nearly six years editing and publishing ESPNOutdoors.com before moving on to produce the ESPN.com Sports Travel site. He is a national award-winning writer and editor with 14 years of experience in the newspaper trade, including stints at the Los Angeles Daily News and Seattle Times. The Evergreen State is where he now makes his home. Click here to email him.
