— Every dog has his day,/That is what the people say…dang, I’m stuck in rhyme, Aieeee!
…and for Chanel, Guinness World Record holder for oldest living dog, that day is over. The 21-year-old wirehaired dachshund died August 28th. She resided in New York, and had been rescued from an animal shelter in Virginia when just a young pup.
Chanel was 147 in dog years, and wore sunglasses for cataracts but otherwise was in good health. –RIP, mon ami!
— I had an unusually vivid dream last night about Bigfoot…In my dream, I went to the Post Office, and they had a juvenile female Bigfoot there in a back room, acting like it was nothing new and really no big deal to them; the postal workers went about sorting their mail. The Bigfoot was not being held captive, but could apparently come and go as she wished to; she was about the size of a human teenager, and was completely covered with reddish-brown hair. The Bigfoot was using a wheeled canvas mail carrier as sort of an impromptu chair.
I didn’t discern any menace from the Bigfoot; she was actually rather endearing, and seemed to be appealing to the postal workers for hugs at times, wanting physical touch; in spite of this, she conveyed obvious physical strength. Most startling was the fact that the Bigfoot appeared to have limited use of language, coming out with simple single-word utterances that were usually outreach-type comments to the workers, or appeals for things that she wanted. After a few seconds, I was hustled out of the room.
I was of course astonished, and asked the postal workers if they had reported the find. They said that they had not, and that no good would come out of doing so. I was admonished not to tell anyone of what I had seen, but told the workers that this was far too important a discovery to be kept secret. Bursting from the Post Office, I was racing to alert authorities when, of course, I woke up…
…my heart was almost pounding out of my chest at that point, and it took me quite some time to calm myself. I have since pondered the significance of this dream, wondering if it was a symbolic representation of my own wishes and desires, or whether:
A.) The government knows more than it’s telling, or…
B.) A major discovery on Bigfoot or another major cryptid is about to be made…
C.) Bigfoot is messing with my mail, causing many of my magazines to arrive mutilated?
…In either case, I wish I could follow up on this dream!
— Jeez!–Even cadaver dogs may be replaced by electronics someday! Cadaver dogs need to be fed and housed, ‘ya see, and require expert handling.–It’s science to the rescue!
Two Pennsylvania State University researchers are analyzing the smell of corpses looking to automate the process of detecting them. Now fresh human corpses are hard to get in time, since it usually takes at least three days to get permission forms and other bothersome arrangements. The solution is to use pig cadavers, since pigs decay at the same rate as humans and go through the same phases of decomposition.–Dang thoughtful of them!–Dead pigs are being put into small wooden chambers for the research.–Buried pigs?–Lucky stiffs!
Now the composition of chemicals released by corpses changes over time, with some acids released earlier, some later, and yet others in a rather uniform fashion. An electronic nose could detect changes in the electrical conductivity of various substances when they absorb target molecules, and help establish time of death for use in murder investigations as well as aide in the detection of bodies.
While more research is needed, I guess I’ll have to abandon my in-home program of study to be a cadaver-detecting canine…something smells rotten, here!
— He’s furry, he’s fun, and he’s…everywhere!–The crasher squirrel, that is!
It all started out when some people were taking a family photo in Alberta, Canada’s Banff National Park…ho hum! A ground squirrel then decided to check out what was going on, perhaps intrigued by the novelty of the camera or the sounds being made, and stepped right into the foreground of the photo, taking it over and casting the intended subjects into the background!–What could be more appropriate?–This little guy brightens up any photo, and looks like he belongs!
The rest, as they say, is internet history. Photos of the little guy have appeared in a variety of settings, both past, present, and future. He has been seen with people famous and unknown, the former including Lincoln and his generals as well as contemporary leaders. The crew of the Enterprise-D would certainly have benefited from a furry crew member, even if he is out of uniform…
There’s no reason why you can’t join in the fun as well. Just go to http://www.lutralutra.co.uk/squirrelizer to invite the little guy to step into your favorite action!
Two paws up for the crasher squirrel, easily the furry of the week!
— I now have a certified pre-owned cat without a tail; maybe he wasn’t pre-owned at all, but was simply cast out or born in the wild. It’s not that I needed another cat; I already had three, all of which were abandoned or rescued animals. I’m also supplying food for another cat taken in by an elderly woman, so I really didn’t need another cat! However, this cat needed me…
It showed up on my doorstep, one of a number of strays abandoned in my neighborhood but more pathetic than the rest. He had suffered a tail amputation, you see, from unknown causes. Possibly it was a less than favorable encounter with a dog or other animal, perhaps he had gotten trapped somewhere, or possibly the mutilation had occurred from a sadistic human; I’ll never know for sure. The wretched remnant of a tail leaked blood wherever the cat rested, and this battle-scarred little guy also had a piece out of one ear. I say little guy because this was more of a kitten still than a cat, perhaps nine months old. But it was the tail that really bothered me; I’m no vet, but can usually recognize the signs of infection when I see them. The blood-oozing stump of a tail lacked hair, with the tissue raw and angry-looking, resembling a rare hot dog fragment.
The clock was running on this little guy, and I knew that if I couldn’t get him to a vet, his chances for survival weren’t good. Like most strays, he appeared when he wanted to, and not on any schedule. In a few days, I was able to get him to accept my touch and later some food; he ate ravenously, and I could feel every bone under his hide. Disturbingly, the tail continued to ooze blood, and medical attention appeared imperative. I also had to live with the disturbing possibility that the cat might meet his end on roadways that he crossed whenever he left my property; I wasn’t sure how I’d handle it if that happened.
In time, the stray came to accept being held, and with that step I was able to get him into a carrier, which he liked not one bit. An emergency vet appointment followed, carrying a diagnosis of a smoldering infection requiring amputation of the remaining part of the feline’s tail plus antibiotics thereafter. — No, I wasn’t going to let him be put down, not while I had it in my power to save him, not on my watch! Fortunately, he came through the operation like a trooper, which is more than I can say for my wallet…
Summer months bring an abundance of unwanted cats and kittens at animal shelters, where felines outnumber canines in many states by a margin of three to one. Many are healthy animals that only need a home and someone to care…
As for the one I saved, he now lives in my home quite happily without a tail, and is the best $400 that I’ve ever spent; he seems to like residing with this fox in a man’s body. Sometimes we choose our animal companions, and at other times they choose us. A very sweet and loving cat, I call him “Lucky…”
— Disney has a mixed record on their portrayal of foxes, which range from the villainous to the heroic. On the one hand, “Honest John” Foulfellow of the 1940 Disney film Pinocchio was a scoundrel, a sly anthropomorphic fox and known criminal who tricks Pinocchio twice in the film; negative stereotyping! In fairness to Disney, however, both the fox and cat characters were depicted as con men who lead Pinocchio astray and try unsuccessfully to murder him in the original Adventures of Pinocchio story, a tale which is quite dark in places. The Fox and Cat in the original story even pretend to sport disabilities, the Fox lameness and the Cat blindness! Felines will probably take offense at the cat in Disney’s Pinocchio as well, as he isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer…
–There’s also the rather negative portrayal of foxes presented by Br’er Fox
in Disney’s Song of the South, a classic film now almost banished due to political incorrectness. While Br’er Fox and his dimmer sidekick Br’er Bear are likely offensive to vulpines and ursines, they are still portrayed in a rather broad comic sense, and we’ll let Br’er Rabbit walk away with this one, which you’re not likely to see anymore in public anyways! The film is accordingly relegated to the status of a cult classic, with 19th century southern drawls and all. If you’ve never seen it, try to catch it sometime and form your own opinion!
— Then for a heroic fox, it’s hard to beat Disney’s Robin Hood, with a very affable vulpine in the title role. Most furolks genuinely like this film and for good reason, even though the characters are somewhat stereotypic and parts of the film footage including dance sequences were borrowed or adapted from other Disney creations to save a little time and money.– Still, two paws up for Robin Hood and a positive portrayal of foxes!
This brief consideration should not by any means be considered an exhaustive look at all Disney fox characters, but is only regarded as a consideration of three examples possibly familiar to the readership. The views presented here are only those of the blogger (who is a real piece of work, anyways)…
— Killer Chimps in America was a recent MonsterQuest episode that did not pertain to Mojo Jojo, simian nemesis of (-ugh!) The Powerpuff Girls. Rather, it concerned the possibility of wild chimpanzees loose in the swamps of Florida and possibly in California. It was not the best MonsterQuest episode, dragging at times and appearing pieced together…but it was not the worst episode, either.
The intrepid MonsterQuest team searched for chimps in the Green Swamp in central Florida, a mere 40 miles away from Orlando, where great merchandising beasts are loose. The team used camera traps including thermal units as well as gyroplane aircraft, one of which I must add to my Xmas list! Anyhow, the camera traps detected bobcats, whitetail deer, wild turkey, owl, boar, and even a red wolf but (–surprise!) no chimpanzees.
Now immature chimps have long been paraded on TV as cute and lovable creatures who can be dressed in clothes and otherwise embarrassed by training them to perform human-like behaviors. The problem is that sexual maturity causes chimps to become stronger and more aggressive. This is why the late Michael Jackson sent Bubbles the Chimp to a Florida simian sanctuary after palling around with him in the 1980’s. As the Travis the Chimp mauling demonstrated so horrendously in recent months, a chimp possesses several times human strength, and can readily take a person apart with nothing other than their hands and teeth. In the Travis attack, the lady targeted lost her nose, eyes, lips, and hands. MonsterQuest profiled another man who together with his wife suffered a chimp attack, and his injuries were also horrendous. Primates often target the face, by the way…and while chimps in nature often build up to a frenzied stage before an actual attack, domestically-raised chimps can attack instantaneously without telegraphing behaviorally their intentions.
…Now roadside carnivals and zoos in the 1920’s through 1940’s often exhibited chimps in Florida, with P.T. Barnum himself exhibiting chimps there as early as 1896. Sadly, such road shows had been known to simply set the chimps free after they were done exhibiting them. This would lend some credibility to the assertion that wild chimp populations were out there. A cartographic comparison by MonsterQuest of the Green Swamp with Mali, Africa revealed that the areas had minimal differences despite variances in vegetation and elevation.
Despite many eyewitness sightings, physical proof of a wild chimp population in Florida remains elusive, however, and resources are not judged sufficient to maintain such a population. It is also deemed unlikely that an escaped chimp could survive undetected in Central Florida; he would inevitably gravitate to Disney World, and probably attempt to butt in line at the attractions.
An underlying issue presented in the episode was that 13 states don’t regulate ownership of exotic animals that would include chimpanzees, and chimps are near the top of the list of animals that make bad pets for home ownership…
— Having already considered the Trix Rabbit, it is only fair that we also consider the Nesquik Bunny, wondering perhaps which one might win in a Deadliest Warrior deathmatch…
…now Nesquik is a milk flavoring mix developed in the U.S. in 1948, and introduced there as Nestle Quik. The name was changed to the worldwide brand Nesquik in 1999. In 1973, the Quik Bunny, an anthropomorphic rabbit, was introduced as the product mascot, originally sporting a large red “Q” on him which was changed to an “N” in 1998 when the brand name changed. The nickname of said rabbit is Quiky, and he has endured as the product mascot for over 35 years.
I guess I somewhat prefer the Trix Rabbit as he is slightly pitiful and pathetic, seldom getting the cereal that he yearns for whereas the Quik Bunny always gets his chocolate milk fix. Quiky seems to be somewhat more metaphysical, lately urging consumers to “come to your happy place.” –and just where might that be, hmmm? 😉
— It’s not a good idea to feed the bears. They might become extremely annoying, like Yogi Bear and Boo Boo…or they might kill you!
This just happened to a Denver woman in her 70’s suspected of feeding bears on her property for over a decade despite repeated warnings; the woman reportedly had up to fourteen bears on her land at the same time. An autopsy revealed that she bled to death quickly from deep slashes to her head and neck. It’s an offense to feed bears in Colorado, with the first offense drawing a $100 fine, the second $500, and the third $1,000.
— Bears are omnivorous and opportunistic feeders that primarily forage for berries, nuts, and insects. They will, however, also consume human food, carrion, and small animals…feeding a bear alters their behavior, potentially with catastrophic results...
— His 50th birthday has quietly come and gone, and I’ll bet that you didn’t buy him anything, either, what with famous people dropping like flies lately and hogging the spotlight…he’s the Trix Rabbit, an anthropomorphic cartoon rabbit and the oldest commercial mascot to continue to exist on television! Now Trix cereal by General Mills has been on the market since 1954, but the Trix Rabbit was created on August 4th, 1959 by Joe Harris. The original commercial featuring him was of course in black and white, back in the dark ages before luscious color! Dinosaurs roamed the earth then…
The Trix Rabbit had a kind of existential dilemma, eternally craving Trix cereal which he could rarely procure, ’cause as we all know, Trix is for kids! The poor rabbit was typically forced to resort to rather transparent trickery to entice children to yield the cereal to him, and his efforts were usually for naught. Now on a few rare occasions, the rabbit did manage to get a spoonful of the cereal, which I suppose gives us all reason for hope…
The Trix Rabbit has been referenced twice on Family Guy, and I’ve always found him strangely sensuous…Happy Birthday, Big Guy!!! And may all of us someday get our personal Trix cereal, or at least be brave in the effort…Silly Rabbit!–You are US!!! 😉
FOXSYLVANIA 
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