Milford’s Running of the Bull

In most urban dwellers reality, a cow is known only by the name the local grocer assigns it. Those terms are: ‘flank, rump roast, rib eye, steak, hamburger; not living, breathing, feeling, sentient being.

Recently Milford, with only 278 acres for agricultural use, another 1,665 acres for open space and only 7 registered farms, has been host to a four-hooved friend. A bewildered bovine has taken up refuge in backyards & wooded areas in the Calf Pen Meadow School area since late June or early July.

When Milford Animal Control was alerted to a roaming ruminant wandering, grazing and ruminating in residential neighborhoods, the investigation to discover exactly how this beefy boy, most likely a fugitive from slaughter, began. From the first photograph sighting, ACO Rick George concluded his black coloring, size and tag in his ear labeled him as a Black Angus breed, who probably escaped from a corral across from Lattella’s Farm on Prindle Hill Road on the West Haven/Orange line, where he was being raised to be food.

Rumors began to circulate that this was one mad cow (I know, a cow is a female, a bull or ox is a male) who refused to end up on someone’s dinner plate. And with that, it seems he decided to create his own fate. He hoofed it right out of that slaughter house queue and into his current life on the lamb.

Always elusive and rarely allowing photographs, this sacred bull somehow seems to sense that if caught, he could end up dying a horrible slaughter house death. So he has kept himself well hidden deep inside his wooded sanctuary, defying statistics to be yet another neatly cellophane wrapped hunk of meat lying about in a refrigerated section of some Piggly Wiggly cut up into pieces unrecognizable, except for the label slapped upon his once living and now decaying carcass.

So what is a dog catcher do when such a brazen bovine challenges fate? Trying to round up a herd-of-one can be quite a challenge, especially when this elusive hoofed ox has settled into the same 15 acres of wooded land where history’s lure claims local residents hid their cattle from the British during the Revolutionary war.

Animal Control Officer Rick George has since created an elaborate humane trap, scaled to fit a nearly 4oo lb, plumped for slaughter steer. But to slaughter he won’t go, absolutely not states Officer George. It seems that if this hapless farmer did want his chattle back, there would be a hefty fine to pay. Thus far, no rancher has claimed him.

Officer George said the bull is skittish, and has organized a reconnaissance type mission; with the help of the State Department of Agriculture, a large animal veterinarian, and a tranquillizer gun, to try and capture the bull before the cold New England winter sets in. “He needs to be moved to a safe place before the weather turns bad”, George said.

George could not stress enough that this bull would not be anyone’s burger. “Not on my watch”, he stated with authority.

As soon as he is safely secured, ACO George said has made arrangements for this herbivore to have a forever farm-charmed life; a life reminiscent to Old MacDonald’s farm, where there is a promise to love, honor and cherish this beefy boy until NATURAL death do they part. He will be living a charmed country cows life, mooingly happily ever after.

What to do with Man’s Best Friend, if a disaster strikes

Disasters strike at any time and in many forms, sometimes with warning, oftentimes without. Luckily this most recent of hurricanes is giving weather watchers some much needed information on how, when, where and what her potential track might be. It seems that Hurricane Irene is wagging her angry tail in the direction of the whole East Coast and this not so friendly shake is spraying massive rain and wind up and down the Eastern corridor.

CT’s Governor Dannel P. Malloy has launched a State run web site http://www.governor.ct.gov/malloy/cwp/view.asp?a=11&q=485102 to help assist residents in getting the most up-to-date information on Hurricane Irene’s angry bite and how to residents can prepare if she becomes unleashed.

So where will Fido or Fluffy end up if we, their human care-takers need to evacuate our homes?

The Malloy web site instructs pet parents to be prepared but it does not list specific locations where our beloved best friends can be temporarily housed. It instead instructs pet parents to have a list of pet friendly accommodations and recommends an American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) video and a list of items needed for short term off property housing for our companion critters.

The link on the Governor Malloy web site has a pretty good leash on disaster preparedness recommendations http://www.ct.gov/doag/cwp/view.asp?Q=485152&A=1401 as do others like the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/disaster-preparedness/  and The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/animal_rescue/tips/disaster_preparedness_pets.html.

Currently our faithful fur balls and feathered friends are not allowed in most human evacuation shelters unless the municipality where you reside has specifically set up a co-located (or co-habitated) evacuation shelter which either includes pets or has created a separate location for pets only.

Now when I refer to pets, this definition of what a companion animal is can vary from town to town and most only include domestic pets such as cats, dogs, birds, ferrets, small mammals (rabbits, gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs and mice), reptiles and fish. Pet friendly evacuation shelters also include service animals and those pets recognized by the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), but then again those animals are allowed to be housed along with their guardians wherever they are as well as at American Red Cross shelters.

Livestock and other large animals are temporarily sheltered at the discretion of the municipality, while exotics, feral or wild animals, poisonous or dangerous animals are not allowed at pet friendly evacuation shelters. Don’t expect your local animal control department to temporarily house or rescue your pets, their focus will be on the homeless and impounded shelter animals already in their charge, responding to injured animal emergencies or managing the co-located evacuation shelter.

To learn more about how many CT municipal animal control departments are working on disaster preparedness plans for our pampered pets, please visit the CT’s State Animal Response Team (CT-SART) web site http://www.ctsart.org/ and see how, when a disaster strikes you too can become involved in your region, helping animals.

If Hurricane Irene decides to roam the streets of Connecticut, you will find me responding to help out our most vulnerable of furry, feathered and reptiled friends; as I am a team member of CT-SART, Region One.

A Humane Conversion

Last night I attended a second book signing for “The Bond: Our Kinship with Animals Our Call to Defend Them” http://www.humanesociety.org/about/events/the_bond/the_bond_book_tour.html by author and Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) http://www.humanesociety.org/  President, Wayne Pacelle, in New Haven CT, at the Yale book Store. The difference this time is that I brought along my good friend John (last name withheld), who by all accounts is an animal lover and compassionate human being, but he is not, or should I say ‘was not’ well informed on many aspects of the cruelty’s and inhumanities which are often inflicted upon animals by ‘we’ the collective human race.

Now as I said, at my previous attendance to one of Wayne’s book signings, I purchased my own copy of “The Bond”, had it personally autographed and even blogged about it when Wayne made an appearance in New Canaan, CT.

You can read my first blog about Wayne’s book signing at http://animalvocations.blogspot.com/2011/04/bond-that-should-be-there.html.

OK, back to last night. Knowing what to expect once we arrived, I was prepared for stories about factory farming, Canadian seal hunts, dog fighting, and a menagerie of other animal related cruelties which many Wayne has not only been witness to, but fights daily to end.  Listening to Mr. Pacelle conjured up visual images ‘not for the faint of heart’ and many other images which John had probably never heard in one collective conversation.

Truths about the inhumane use of animals for the sake of self-serving reasons filled the air for over an hour to an overcrowded, yet captivated room of interested and compassionate animal advocated which gathered all for one collective reason; recognition of our personal bond with animals and how to carry that message to others.

Now, at the time I was unaware that John was on information compassion overload and it wasn’t until our drive home that he disclosed to me a sadness which had swept over him while listening to Wayne’s book discussion and the audiences input to their own personal witnesses to animal neglect and animosity towards animals.

John confessed that he felt helpless to the suffering and was ashamed for food and clothing choices which admittedly have been driven by years of conditioned behaviors based on childhood and societal influences.

What to do with all of this information was now John’s newest obsession. He was emotionally exhausted and struggled with understanding how for the past twenty years I have subjected myself to such tragedies as a career choice. I told him that if it wasn’t for my training and certification as a Compassion Fatigue Educator http://www.figleyinstitute.coursehost.com/Engine/Academic/Tools/CoursePublicize.asp?pk=74746&LID=1&ky=d_BPDiQVRgHzDiPRUmf_DgHzrpTOtoHz , I too would not know what to do with all of my empathy. We also had an honest discussion about living within a vegetarian diet and cruelty free consumer choices which have been my common way of life for the past 17 years and how John himself could make a difference.

Knowing that he has to arrive at the conclusion which best suits for his level of compassion, I could not force my choices on him, but instead reminded him that ‘The Bond” was one which he was responsible to create for himself, while being accountable to the animals that are affected by those choices.

Later that night, John and I enjoyed a vegan dinner and dessert.

(Thank you Wayne, for carrying this important message to the people of New Haven, across the country and to my friend John).

-CherylAnn Fernandes

A child’s wish; for the animals

“Mommie, mommie’, I heard a small voice call out. There I was, standing in front of a dwarfed galvanized metal cage, no bigger than about 5 feet by 7 feet, and abjectly staring at its contents; watching an orange and white striped form of a once majestic and regal tiger, pacing to and fro.

I looked down and saw a child, whose stress filled mommy pleas made me wonder what exactly this little boy was thinking. At that moment, his little mitt grabbed a corner of his mother’s flower printed sundress.

‘What Chi Chu”, the voice of Southern dialect responded, as she mindlessly reached out to hold her sons hand. She too was mesmerized by the imprisoned circus victims. As she answered him, she quickly glanced down and gave a quick smile. “What?” she repeated.

We all stood there for a minute, me, waiting to hear what this small boy might say, while positioned in front of something he might never had seen before.

‘I wish they weren’t in cages”, this little maestro of compassion softly stated to his mother.

Ok, just about then, a few tears formed in my eyes. Now to be honest to my readers, it doesn’t take much to make me tear up. A wounded child, someone being bullied, a rape victim, an abused animal. Those are just my top four favorite tear jerker situations.

“Chi Chu”, I heard the 30 something year old, baby momma, reply to her son. ‘What do you mean, aren’t the tigers beautiful? Don’t you like them?” Ah, my queue to butt in.

‘I understand too”, I muttered to the little 6 (or maybe 7) year old child, who looked quite smart in his striped shirt and pint size baseball cap. “My heart hurts for them too”, I said.

His glance made me pause for a moment. He and I held eyes, like we spoke the same language, if even for a moment.

“What do you mean?” His mother asked me.

“Well, come on, look at them. They live their whole lives enslaved. Never knowing true freedom. Never nurturing their young. Never roaming the open lands. These circuses travel from town to town on highways and back roads, never allowing the animals to experience life as a free and wild creatures”. Is all I could say, though I certainly had more, if given the chance.

“I never thought about it like that” this now baffled, but inquisitive mother replied. ‘But, yes, now I see your point.” She concluded.

“Momma, I saw them at school, my teacher shown us pictures of tigers. She said they should live in faraway countries, where they can be free. She showed us pictures and told us about how tigers are so big and like to hunt to eat”. My newest little hero spoke with such knowledge and conviction, I just wanted to reach right down and hug him. But I didn’t, instead, I choked back tears.

At that moment I silently said a prayer, thanking the nameless/faceless New Haven City School teacher for introducing compassion to her students.

How can this little someday to be a man, have such an understanding of humanity, yet throngs of parents treat their kids to being witness of cruel and inhumane practices every time a circus rolls into town?

Can’t we get beyond the enslavement of wild animals for purely no other purpose than to entertain us? Can’t we visit sanctuaries, rescue centers or environments where wild and exotic animals can live a free and unobstructed life?

Can’t we listen to the wishes of a small yet enlightened soul of a boy and grant him that wish? Let us take the animals out of the cages.

Support the circus which only includes acts of human death defying feats, clowns who toss pies, tattooed women and fire eating men. Not the ones that enslave animals, possibly employ transient workers who aren’t trained or qualified to perform the work they are doing and let’s not go to a place where our children’s safety could be in danger.

The philosophy of old time circuses should not cloud the reality of dangerous conditions (Hartford Circus Fire), animal cruelty (USDA cited violations) and nameless other falsely memorialized attributes that circuses actually provided safe and humane entertainment, because it didn’t and they still don’t.

This blog is written to a boy I heard nicknamed Chi Chu, who wants animals to live and be free; I thank you for speaking out on behalf of animals.

Even if your voice was little, it meant more than you will ever know.

CherylAnn Fernandes

I recommend parents take their kids to this showing of a wild and free elephant lecture.

Here is the link:

http://www.beardsleyzoo.org/visitor-info/events.asp

What, the Price of Entertainment?

I often wonder what people consider to be entertainment. I realize that some like to attend loud, head banging, thump pounding, visceral engaging heavy metal concerts, while others prefer the soothing sounds of subdued hymnal rhythms, which delicately caress the ear and soul.

I know a guy who has jumped out of a perfectly good airplane 26 times. Yes, that’s right this guy has made the death defying plunge more times than I can count on my fingers and toes combined. I’d call him an adrenaline junkie.

Or, how about my gal pal Linda, who someday plans to hike the whole Appalachian Trail? She has quite a bit of it already covered. But when asked to partake in this version of outdoor entertainment, my response was “Don’t expect me to join you for any overnight camping trips. I much prefer my bed to be bug and wildlife free”.  She just laughed.

Seriously though, it is a wonderfully rewarding human opportunity which allows us to have a choice, an option to consider and then decide to or not to do that, whichever it is we want to do. It is the rational decision we humans have, to choose what we consider fun and how we want to spend our days and nights being entertained.

But here is where I implore readers to think before they decide to attend an event which exploits and abuses for the mere sake of degrading entertainment. I truly believe there is no definable reason that inhumanity should be allowed to visit our community or have a place to grand stand its definition of enjoyment, for the sake of mere existence.

What I mean by all of this is, what price, exactly; would you pay to be entertained? Does it matter that suffering ensues? Can you sit back, eat popcorn, cotton candy all the while laughing at clowns under a big top, while waiting for once wild, now captive, exotic animals which are being subjected to living in un-natural conditions, like metal barred, wood bottomed moveable prisons perched on top of heat scorched asphalt to be dragged out of these cages and show up on queue? Can you block out National Geographic images of African Serengeti Plains roaming elephants, nurturing their young while living long healthy existences in family pods of twenty or more and wait for Rosie the two ton elephant, wearing her bejeweled head gear and belly scarf to come barreling into center ring? (Oh and by the way, a typical female in the wild should weigh about four to five tons). Does it matter that tigers probably fear fire but are physically manipulated to endure daily encounters of it under a trainers whip, all the while balancing on a brightly painted wooden stool? 

Can you sit in an audience amongst other unassuming ticket holders and witness the occasional bull hook plunging into thick, yet sensitive skin of a terrified (or worse yet, drugged) exotic and once proud elephant? Can you? Doesn’t it matter that our young and impressionable children are misguided to believe that this is how animals should be treated and that they are are even encouraged to witness such tragedies? Shouldn’t we, the consumer and humanitarian make a better choice than to encourage years of volatility against nature and animal kind to occur?

I did make that decision, and I still do. I spend my money where animals can be honored, respected, understood, conserved and live a life as natural as possible without being neglected, abused, tortured or exploited. My personal story included a childhood dream to one day visit Africa. I wanted to witness the grandeur of Mother Nature’s finest creation; the wild as it was meant to be, and in its entire splendor. So as an adult I visited Kenya, and to my surprise, it wasn’t that expensive. I wanted it to happen; so I made it be.

That, is how I believe elephants, lions and other exotic animals should spend their time on this planet. Not crammed in overheated box cars, eating unnatural diets, cowering in fear of what happens next, while lurching along train tracks from one nameless town to another, only to be pushed, prodded and exploited all in the name of entertainment for yet another apathetic crowd of circus goers.

I do believe in my heart of hearts, that human beings, when given the option to make the right choices, do. They decide to treat others and those they are in governance of fairly and humanely and won’t be participants in inhumanity. Nor will they witness it. That, I hope is you too.

I ask that when the inhumane related circus comes to town, you won’t be there, in audience, participating in obvious miscalculations of pleasure. But instead you will be out, enjoying your time off from work, with your children, amongst your friends and in some other non-exploitive manner, like an acrobatic non-animal circus.

That, I do believe is a fair price to pay for entertainment.

(As a side note, the Cole Bros Circus is scheduled to be arriving at the Westfield CT Post Mall on Sunday June 12^th 2011 with two shows per day on Monday June 13^th through Wednesday June 15^th.

This particular circus has had multiple years of USDA violations therefore rendering them to travel under a variety of different USDA exhibitors’ licenses, employs animal workers who have a series of violations pertaining to animal cruelty statutes or have enlisted undertrained and unlicensed animal handlers and have too numerous to list occasions where animals have escaped, caused bodily harm or injury to spectators or other persons in the public who are unrelated to the show itself and who just simply should not be allowed to dupe the system.

  

JUST SAY NO to the circus! Call Westfield CT Post Mall GM Jim Ralston ( 203.878.6837 ) and politely ask him to cancel this ghoulish event.

If the public is concerned enough not to have such a traveling display of indecency enter the City of Milford, I hope you will let your voice and wallet speak on behalf of banning this type of abnormality in our City limits. Don’t attend the show and ask your elected officials to ban this type of inhumanity from ever occurring in Milford again). For additional information of inhumane circus related information:

 http://www.helpelephants.com/circuses.html

http://www.peta.org/tv/videos/animals-in-entertainment/87260245001.aspx

http://www.peta.org/b/thepetafiles/archive/tags/cole+bros+circus/default.aspx

CherylAnn

Heroic War Dogs- Archive Article from 2003/Leisure Life

The following article was written over 8 years ago. Since then many things have changed to include more of our war dog heroes that have been honored by the military agency for which they have served and allowing some to return home to retire and live civilian lives. Also, not included in this article are the countless numbers of stray dogs who have befriended and even saved many of our military personnel while on deployment. Some of these dogs have also returned to the States, to a heroes welcome!
I would love to hear personal stories from military personnel or their families who might have some experiences with militray dogs or strays who they befriended.

In honor of Memorial Day here is an archived article to remember those who have no voice, the hero dogs of wars gone by.

Heroic War Dogs

War is upon us, gaping through our windows, blaring on our radios and illuminated over our TV screens. We watch as our patriotic American troops fight to protect our Country. As a caretaker of animals it is only natural for my mind to wander to the animals that have also been deployed to serve our United States. Will these loyal creatures be honored for the duties that they provide, or will they be a mere commodity in this confusing struggle?

So what of our proud and gallant wartime service dogs, those many thousands of canine companions that have given their lives to protect our troops and ultimately our freedom?  These animals have extreme dedication to their masters and are specially trained human shields as well as very dangerous weapons, who also feel pain, joy and love.

They have been sent out to do a job, and could quite possibly lose their lives performing such a duty. Man’s best friend is truly that, in a time of war.

Military working dogs of all breeds and sizes have been deployed to assist all branches of the military since World War I. The most popular of the breeds seemed to be the German Shepard and the Doberman Pincher, followed by the Labrador retriever.

In World War II the first official account of America’s First War dog hero, Stubby, were kept. He was a Bull Terrier and served over eighteen months and in over seventeen battles on the Western Front. He originally hailed from New Haven CT and was even honored by President Woodrow Wilson upon his return from the War.

Dogs were tattooed, or “branded” in the left ear for easy identification. Their duties ranged from Scout Dogs, which were the eyes and ears of the unit, Combat Trackers, picking up scents and locating missing soldiers, Sentry Teams, walking the periphery of the camp and as Guards and Mine/Booby/ Tunnel Dogs, detecting these potential causality-seeking devices.

It is no wonder that there is a profound bond between human and animal during times of combat when these War Dogs helped prevent over ten thousand American causalities.

Records do not depict the countless canines used in all of our past military encounters but rough statistics kept during the Vietnam War show that a list of over 4,900 dogs went to combat from 1964 to 1975. Of those loyal best friends, only 204 actually exited Vietnam to return to the United States. Though none went to civilian life. The remainder of them were either euthanized, left on the streets somewhere in the Pacific or turned over to the South Vietnamese Army. The horror of knowing that mans truest and most loyal companion served his Country only to be classified as military equipment and declared “surplus armaments” is mortifiably a tragedy. These true canine Hero’s had no voice and their cries went unheard.

One can only hope that today, as our Country engages once again in combat that we honor and respect our Nation’s War Dogs and not leave them behind, let them suffer or pass them by as our Forgotten Heroes.

 CherylAnn