Five Ways to Be an Angel for Animals This Holiday Season

In addition to the flurry of catalogs stuffing my mailbox these days, I’ve also gotten a slew of donation requests from various animal organizations. I’d love to help all of them, but, just like everybody else, money’s tight lately. However, I decided I still could help. Maybe not everyone else is aware of the various places needing help or of the different donation programs offered. Maybe by creating a list of them I’d still be helping in a way. So that’s what I did. Maybe one of the following will appeal to your donation style. PETA’s “Angels for Animals” doghouse … Continue reading →

How to Adopt a Pet without Adopting the Responsibility

Some people want to adopt a pet or help animals but they don’t want to adopt the responsibility that comes with it. Or maybe it’s not so much they don’t want the responsibility as it is circumstances prevent them from taking it on. (Such as they work too much, don’t have the room to keep a pet, or live in a place where pets aren’t allowed.) Yet, they’re still able to adopt a pet. How? Through pet adoption programs like the ones I’ve listed below. If you want to adopt a pet, but can’t, or, if you’re like me and … Continue reading →

Wolf Protection Restored

A federal judge temporarily restored endangered species status for gray wolves in the Rocky Mountains earlier this month. The judge’s decision halted plans in three different states to hold public wolf hunts. Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho were planning wolf hunts for this fall in order to control wolf populations and reduce the number of attacks on livestock. Back in March of this year, gray wolves were removed from the endangered species list. A decade of restoration efforts had increased the gray wolf population to around two thousand in the northern Rocky Mountains — enough of a population that they no … Continue reading →

Why It’s Wrong To Be Left Like a Dog for Dead

Have you seen the video footage of the hit and run that happened in Hartford, Connecticut? A 78-year-old man was crossing the street, got hit by a car, spirals in an awful display of flying legs and arms to the ground, and the car speeds away. That’s bad enough. But other cars kept going past. People walked by. Some stopped and looked but no one rushed to his aid. It’s not until a police cruiser that’s just happening to go by on his way to another call stopped that the man got help. I saw the story as I ate … Continue reading →

Attracting Butterflies to Your Yard

Butterflies can be a beautiful, fascinating, colorful addition to your backyard habitat! Sadly, many butterflies have lost their favorite feeding spots and breeding grounds to human development. Areas that have not been built up may instead be poisoned with deadly pesticides. By inviting butterflies into your yard, you can help them feed, breed, and flourish. It can be very easy to attract butterflies to your yard. Here’s what you’ll need: Food for caterpillars — after all, that’s where butterflies come from! Caterpillars have chewing mouths and like to eat leaves and stems. Food for butterflies. Butterflies have sucking mouths and … Continue reading →

Bats in Your Belfry?

Bats can be a welcome addition to your yard — but you probably don’t want them in your house! If you have bats in your walls or attic, here’s a good way to get them out. Try to plan your bat eviction for early spring or late summer — these are times when there will be no young, flightless bats in the roost. Watch the house at dusk to find the place where the bats emerge. Get a piece of heavy plastic or bird netting that is slightly bigger than the hole. Secure it at the top but allow it … Continue reading →

Attracting Bats to Your Yard

When creating your backyard wildlife habitat, you may want to think about bats! Bats are a great way to control night-flying insects in and around your yard and garden. Not only do bats gobble up flying bugs — many insects will simply avoid areas where they hear bats. Do you live in a good area for bats? Here are some qualities bats look for in a home: Lots of insects to eat — one bat can eat as many as one thousand bugs each night. You’ll often find bats near water because insects tend to favor moist places. Caves or … Continue reading →

Attracting Toads to Your Yard

When thinking about wildlife you’d like to welcome to your yard, you might not be thinking about toads. But here’s one very good reason to make things toad-friendly: just one toad can eat more than a hundred beetles, slugs, moths, and other bugs per day. That adds up to more than three thousand insects per month! It’s hard to beat a toad for natural pest control. Unless you’re very vigilant, you won’t see much of your toad friends during the day. Toads are most active at night, hunting slugs and cutworms. During the day, toads need a dark, cool place … Continue reading →

Making a Safe Place for Wildlife

Whether or not you have pets of your own doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the wildlife around you! You can turn your backyard into a mini-refuge for local wildlife who may be losing their regular habitats to development. First, ask yourself a few questions: What kind of wildlife do I want to attract? Are you interested in birds or butterflies? Do you want bug-eating guests like toads and bats? What kind of wildlife already lives in the area? What kind of plants can thrive in my yard? How will I provide food for the wildlife? How will I provide water … Continue reading →

Animals Buried in Six Million Pounds of Garbage

Volunteers from the Ocean Conservancy spent a single day collecting debris from beaches around the world. What they found is disgusting and disturbing. More than 375,000 volunteers in seventy-six different countries combed the places where water meets land — ocean beaches and inland lakes and streams — to take a close look at the ocean trash problem. In just one day, the volunteers picked up an average of one hundred and eighty-two pounds of trash for every mile of shoreline. That works out to a grand total of more than seven million pieces of trash weighing around six million pounds. … Continue reading →