My new little friend- Buddy. I found him few weeks ago in the middle of nowhere, walking down the road. It was clear that some one drop him off, not unusual where I live. I tried to find the owner in case he run off with no lack. Now he is part of our family, my little bodyguard, who don’t live my side. 3 years ago

This year, some five million dogs and cats will be killed in shelters. The vast majority can and should be placed into loving homes or should never enter shelters in the first place. But there is hope.

Join over 30,000 animal lovers, animal advocates, and animal groups in the U.S. who have signed the No Kill Declaration.
Please Sign here http://www.nokilldeclaration.org/ 4 years ago

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/?bcpid=4464161001&bctid=16694163001 4 years ago

Most people know very little about
these fascinating animals. In fact, pigs are curious and insightful
animals thought to have intelligence beyond that of an average
3-year-old human child. They are smarter than dogs and every bit as
friendly, loyal, and affectionate. When in their natural surroundings
they are social, playful, protective animals who bond with each other,
make beds, relax in the sun, and cool off in the mud. Since most
people are not that familiar with pigs, you may be surprised to learn
that they dream, recognize their names, play video games more
effectively than some primates, and lead social lives of a complexity
previously observed only in primates. People who run animal
sanctuaries often describe pigs with human characteristics, because
they’ve learned that, like humans, pigs enjoy listening to music,
playing with soccer balls, and getting massages. What the Experts Say
Professor Stanley Curtis of Penn State University found that pigs play
and excel at joystick-controlled video games. He observed that they are
“capable of abstract representation” and “are able to hold
an icon in the mind and remember it at a later date.” Professor
Curtis says that “there is much more going on in terms of thinking
and observing by these pigs than we would ever have guessed.” Pigs
are much smarter than dogs, according to the research, and even did
better at video games than some primates. Says Dr. Sarah Boysen,
Curtis’ colleague, “[Pigs] are able to focus with an intensity I
have never seen in a chimp.” Pigs form complex social units and
learn from one another in ways previously observed exclusively among
primates. For example, pigs use clever ploys to try to outsmart each
other. Pigs often learn how to follow others to food before snatching it
away. Those who are tricked learn to change their behavior in order to
reduce the number of times they are deceived. And Dr. Mike Mendyl notes
that pigs can signal their competitive strength and “use this
information to minimize overt aggression during disputes about social
ranks,” just like many primates (including humans). He explains that
“pigs can develop quite sophisticated social competitive behavior,
similar to that seen in some primate species.”
[http://hedweb. com/animimag/ pig.htm] Pigs communicate constantly with
one another. More than 20 of their oinks, grunts, and squeals have been
identified for different situations, from wooing their mates to
expressing, “I’m hungry!” Pigs have a very long memory.
Dr. Curtis put a ball, a Frisbee, and a dumbbell in front of several
pigs and was able to teach them to jump over, sit next to, or fetch any
of the objects when asked to and they could distinguish between the
objects three years later. Scientists at the University of Illinois
have learned that not only do pigs have temperature preferences, they
also will learn through trial and error how to turn on the heat in a
cold barn if given the chance and turn it off again when they are too
warm. Professor Donald Broom of Cambridge University Veterinary
School says, “[Pigs] have the cognitive ability to be quite
sophisticated. Even more so than dogs and certainly
three-year-olds. ” Suzanne Held, who studies the cognitive
abilities of farm animals at the University of Bristol’s Centre of
Behavioural Biology, says that pigs are “really good at remembering
where food is located, because in their natural environment food is
patchily distributed and it pays to revisit profitable food
patches.” Newborn piglets learn to run to their mothers’
voices, and mother pigs sing to their young while nursing. Pigs are
actually very clean animals. If given sufficient space, pigs will be
careful not to excrete near where they sleep or eat. Pigs don’t
“sweat like pigs”; they are actually unable to sweat. Pigs like
to bathe in water or mud to keep cool. Pig Prowess Like dogs,
piglets learn their names by 2 to 3 weeks of age and respond when
called. Pigs prefer water to mud. One woman developed a shower for
her pigs, and these astute animals learned to turn it on and off. Pigs
appear to have a good sense of direction and have found their way home
over great distances. Adults can run at speeds of up to 11 miles an
hour. Pigs have shown gentleness and forgiveness. Norwegian author
Bergljot Borresen writes about a mountain farmer who mistreated his pig.
The pig locked her jaws into his thigh but didn’t bite down. The
farmer believed it was a warning not to treat her unkindly again. In her
own way, she gave him another chance. Author John Robbins notes that
“unlike dogs, horses and humans, they will never dangerously overeat
even when given access to unlimited food.” The pork industry,
however, has wreaked havoc on this healthful habit with a drug called
Hog-Crave, which causes pigs to overeat so that they will grow faster
and will thus be more profitable to those who kill them. Pigs have
been known to save the lives of others, including their human friends.
According to The Daily Telegraph, “a pet piglet called Pru was
praised by her owner … after dragging her free from a muddy
bog.” The owner said, “I was panicking when I was stuck in the
bog. I did not know what to do and I think Pru sensed that. … I had
a rope with me that I use as a dog lead and I put it around her. I was
shouting `Go home, go home’ and she walked forward, slowly
pulling me out of the mud.” Like dogs, pigs have done many heroic
deeds. Babe’s real-life counterparts have rescued human and nonhuman
companions, stopped intruders in their tracks, and even saved themselves
from slaughterhouses. In addition to the previously mentioned piglet
Pru, who dragged her human companion from a muddy bog, there is also
Priscilla, who saved a young boy from drowning; Spammy, who led
firefighters to a burning shed to save her calf friend Spot; and Lulu,
who found help for her human companion who had collapsed from a heart
attack. A pig named Tunia chased away an intruder, and another named
Mona held a fleeing suspect’s leg until the police arrived. A pig
in New Jersey jumped off a truck en route to the slaughterhouse, while
in England, a stone carving of a pig named Butch was placed upon a
historic cathedral after Butch and his friend Sundance escaped from a
slaughterhouse and roamed the country for several days before being
captured. Fortunately, a national outcry against slaughter allowed Butch
and Sundance to go to a sanctuary.
(Compiled from Internet sources)

!! 4 years ago

Today I witness something very sad that made me cry. I drove to the highway to take down my yard sale sigh and noticed two cars across highway. A man was standing over the dog that was lying right on the middle of the road. He pick up the dog who was still alive but unable to walk and moved him to the side of the road were other people attended to him. There were a house nearby and the girl jumped in the car and drove near the road and stopped. She was very upset and crying. The man came toward her and said that her dog is still alive, that got her even more upset and knowing that her dog was in great pain and dying, she said that she is sorry and had to go to get a bullet to end his suffering. Her friend drove by and she waved at him to stop and asked to give her a ride because she was definitely to upset to drive. She jumped in the car and drove away covering her face as they passed by her beloved dog.

Road is always dangerous to the animals. Many animals get killed by accident or on purpose by mean people. Keeping my animals safe is something I learned long ago. Please do your best to keep your pets safe to reduce the possibility of loosing them prematurely. 4 years ago

If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.
-St. Francis de Assisi

“My hero is St. Francis of Assisi because he understood the connection between spirituality and the environment. He understood the way God communicates to us most forcefully is through the fishes and the birds and the trees and that it is a sin to destroy those things.” – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. 4 years ago