Please help Animal Protection of New Mexico with info on La Cienega dogs

I’m posting this on the blog for folks that aren’t on Facebook. I can’t imagine anyone being so cruel. If you have any information about these shootings, please call APNM toll-free at 877-548-6263. You can report in anonymously, if you so choose.

If you are on Facebook, you can Like their page to keep up on the news about this case at http://www.facebook.com/animalprotectionnm and/or follow them on Twitter at http://twitter.com/APNM

Therapy Dogs Visit Fire Camp: 7 & 8 August, 2013

Go therapy dogs! @TheRealVOSTCat would go too but he hates riding in the car 🙂

Whiskey Complex, OR 2013

Night security staff with owner/trainer of Boo, a Therapy Dog

photo: Tom Bergland

photo: Tom Bergland

photo: Tom Bergland

photo: Char Rouse

photo: Char Rouse

photo: ALXSw

Wednesday, 7 August, 2013

Today several Therapy Dogs visited the Whiskey Complex ICP: two Bernese Mountain dogs and a Belgian Malinoise. Owners Glenda and Greg Pierce, and Connie Lane drove from Central Oregon to bring some canine cheer to fire camp.

Firefighters and fire support staff welcomed the loveable dogs as they prepare to complete the 14 day fire detail this weekend. As is standard, incident management teams rotate after two weeks to mitigate fatigue from the long hours and continuous work shifts required in incident management.

Therapy dogs are trained and certified to visit with a variety of people and to not react to strange scents and loud noises, among other attributes. The dogs frequently visit community care facilities and hospitals. However…

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Stuff in the news 7/23/2013 – New Mexico

Ghost Ranch, Abiqui, NM – Image by M. Reddy-Hjelmfelt http://theredelm.com/

• The pending horse slaughter business now has an added obstacle of disposing of its wastewater. While they seem to have a workaround for that, there’s a lawsuit file that starts Aug 3rd, 2 days before their set to open. Bill Richardson and Robert Redford are purportedly signing onto the suit. Wastewater hurdle for proposed slaughter plant
• Hepatitis A Outbreak Linked to Townsend Farms Berries Now at 151 Sick – including 9 in New Mexico
• In a filing yesterday with the New Mexico Supreme Court, state Attorney General Gary King asked the 5-justice court to end the state’s ban on marriage equality, arguing that it violates the new Mexico Constitution. Read more
• (Dallas/Santa Fe – July 23, 2013) EPA is awarding $350,000 to the New Mexico Environment Department for supplemental brownfields funding. The money goes to a revolving loan fund to help the state fund shovel-ready projects to redevelop contaminated sites. Read more
• This is fun! Great to see tech skills development in students here… A Beginning Robotics Camp for students ages 10 and older will be held in Las Vegas Aug. 6-8. The camp is hosted by the New Mexico Engineering Resource Network, New Mexico State University, College of Engineering. – See more at: http://newscenter.nmsu.edu/9597/beginning-robotics-camp-offered-in-las-vegas/#sthash.Irb37fd1.dpuf
• And, speaking of tech in New Mexico, The University of New Mexico Hospital and Albuquerque-based telemedicine provider Net Medical Xpress have launched a telemedicine effort that will allow UNM doctors to help treat stroke and head trauma patients remotely in 25 rural New Mexico hospitals. Read more
• This is sad – I used to enjoy wandering through Peacecraft on Nob Hill in Albuquerque. Apparently it’s closed and, worse yet, its closure is affecting artisan women in New Mexico. If you’re hooked into the fair trade community and can give them business leads, please do so.

Stuff in the news 6/21/2013 – Science

Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

• “Though it might not fit with New Age dolphin lore, the reality is that dolphins, even those born in captivity, are wild. There’s absolutely no evidence to support the burgeoning practice of dolphin-assisted therapy. Here’s why dolphins are not healers — and why this practice needs to stop.”:  No, dolphins are not your ‘therapists.’ So just stop it.
• Hey! Bill Nye the Science Guy has come to your mobile device. How awesome is that?

  Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

• From  U of M – Ann Arbor New Service: “Some people feel so “creeped out” that they would decline an organ or blood that came from a murderer or thief, according to a new University of Michigan study.In addition, they express concern that their personality or behavior may change to become more like that of the donor, as a result of the donation.”  For some, it matters who’s donating an organ, blood
• You might want to take that next animal crossing sign just a little more seriously… “In spite of considerable human development, the southeastern United States region could provide some of the Western Hemisphere’s more heavily used thoroughfares for mammals, birds and amphibians on their way to cooler environments in a warming world, according to new research led by the University of Washington.” Detour Ahead: Cities, Farms Reroute Animals Seeking Cooler Climes
• Do you really want to know what your cat thinks? Will Translation Devices Soon Allow Us To Talk With Animals? 
• The Natural Resources Defense Council has launched a tool to let you check what impact climate change may have on you, by zip code.
• “An entire Maya city full of pyramids and palatial complexes has been discovered in a remote jungle in southeastern Mexico, archaeologists report.” Ruins of Maya City Discovered in Remote Jungle
• Summer officially begins this week as the summer solstice marks the longest day of the year. For Americans, summer will begin either on Thursday or Friday—depending on which time zone you live in.

  That’s because the timing of the summer solstice depends on when the sun reaches its farthest point north of the equator, and that varies from year to year.

  This year’s summer solstice falls on Friday, June 21, at 1:04 a.m. ET, but it will start on Thursday night for places in North America west of the Central Time Zone.  Read more about Solstice at National Geographic

• Fruits and Veggies Are Alive, Can Defend Against Herbivores. A new study finds that produce can be “trained” to specific circadian cycles, boosting their natural defenses against pests. And, in related news…
  

Photos: A Trip to the Zoo

I spent the afternoon at the ABQ Biopark on Sunday. It was a beautiful day to do it. We had something of a heat wave with 50F and it was sunny. To top it off, it was half price day. How could we go wrong?

You can see all 35 photos by clicking on the gorilla portrait or by clicking on this URL: http://bit.ly/VSY4rt

Ready for the holidays!

Chaco am ready for the holidays!

Deer Crossings – a Cautionary Tale

People – please be careful when you see a deer crossing sign.

Deer – please be careful when people who don’t have a clue see a deer crossing sign.

BBC Nature – ‘Criminal’ penguin caught on film

The soundtrack and narration are really kind of cute here.

A “criminal” stone-stealing Adelie penguin has been captured on camera by a BBC film crew.

The team, filming for the documentary Frozen Planet, spent four months with the penguin colony on Ross Island, Antarctica.

The footage they captured shows a male penguin stealing stones from its neighbour’s nest.

Read the accompanying article at bbc.co.uk

Does Emotional Intelligence Cross Species? | Equine Therapy

Did you ever wonder why autistic children benefit from equine therapy?

…many gifted horseman turned to horses because their human interactions were challenged. Both Buck Branaman and Monty Roberts, two masters in the field of horsemanship and horse training, describe early physical abuse and trouble relating to people as a result. Indeed, both of these men intimated having to work very hard at developing rapport with people.

Read the whole article here: blogs.psychcentral.com

Why Chupacabras Are Everywhere : Discovery News

A mysterious dead animal that was first spotted July 31 on a Douglas County road in Minnesota. Photo: KSAX-TV

Last week workers at Prince George’s Hospital Center in Maryland found a strange, nearly hairless animal described as “a kangaroo, dog, rat mix.” X-ray technician Joe Livermore said “It’s got a rat tail and a head like a deer. I don’t know what it is.” Even though no one knew what it was, they knew what to call it: “Prince Chupa,” after the mysterious vampire chupacabra (the world’s best-known monster after Bigfoot and Nessie). The animal has been tentatively identified as a fox with mange.

via news.discovery.com