Exotic Pet Trade

Each year across the nation, countless numbers of exotic animals are purchased as pets. Sugar gliders, hedgehogs and prairie dogs are just a few of the exotic species recently gaining popularity in pet stores. Others, such as non-human primates, tigers and even bears are readily obtainable from private breeders and dealers who advertise to buyers via magazines and over the Internet. Wherever they come from, the global commercialization of exotic animals is a multi-billion dollar industry that often results in animal cruelty, health risks and serious population declines.
The exotic pet trade is the trade and keeping of wild animals as pets, essentially contributing to the suffering of millions of animals, threatening public health and safety, disrupting ecosystems and driving species to endangerment and extinction. Most exotic pets end up in the hands of private individuals, where they suffer from inappropriate housing and care and poor nutrition.

Many exotic animals arrive in the United States illegally. Illegal trafficking in exotic animals is a global business, worth close to $20 billion each year. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the profit made from illegal trade in wildlife ranks second only to the trade of illegal drugs in the United States.

Crudeness!

OK so I go to school with this one boy who's name starts with a C! So he was playing with his cat in the third grade and the cat scratched him. So his Mom grabbed her GUN and she shot the cat!
When he told me this I was like, POOR CAT!
And then, he told me he was writing his weekly writing assignment on Animal Crulety. I was like, "Dude, Animal Crulety? Your Mom shot a Cat!"

Sad right?
That really got me!




Thanks!


Kenna-Page

Pet Stores

I went to the mall today to go to Old Navy. Next to Old Navy is a pet store. Every once in a while I go in and play with the dogs. The store is pretty small, so the cages are small too.

When I walked in today, there was a German Shepard in one of the cages. Having a German Shepard myself, I know they are big dogs. This dog was in a cage as big as any of the other puppies' (very very small). American bred German Shepards have very sloped backs, putting pressure on their back legs. This happened to my German Shepard, and this one didn't look any better. I asked the manager about the dog. She said he was six and weighed 110lbs. I asked about him having hip problems. She said he did and that I could buy him for $100. Of course I declined. Then I walked out.

I reasearched about breeders. The American bred ones tend to have hip problems. At the bottom of the page it said that German Shepards usually sell for $1,000. The manager must've been pretty desperate to get rid of the dog. She offered a $900 discount!

Moral of the story: Never, never, NEVER buy pets from pet stores unless you can see their living conditions. Buying a pet from a legal breeder is a good choice. You know where they are kept and how they live. The  legal breeders know what they are doing. Listen to them. Not some crazy lady you met at a pet store.

Palmolive~ One of the Many!

This sort of has to do with environment abuse, not Animal abuse, but I thought it was really important.

One day I was watching a special on TV about dish washing liquids. I found it really interesting that most dish liquids contain Phosphate, which is a product made with Phosphorous.Phosphorous is an element which occurs naturally in the environment as phosphorous rock. It is essential to life and is required by all living cells in order for them to function. Too much Phosphate in the environment can cause the plants to grow too much.Algal blooms on the surface of the lake shading the plants growing underneath.Then these plants die.Oxygen levels in the environment will go haywire and then eventually after all the oxygen is used up because there are no more plants to make oxygen, the organisms die.This kills fish and other living creatures, and we can help stop this!

Your household can help to reduce the amount of phosphates entering our rivers and lakes by reducing the amounts of phosphates used in your washing. Dish washing liquids like Palmolive pure+caring is just one of the many companies that has decided to make this change!(pure+caring also soft and gentle on your hands!) The next time you go shopping, look at the back of the dish washing detergent you buy and make sure it says "Phosphate Free".

Thank you to Palmolive and all the other companies who have phosphate free dish washing liquids!

Website credited: http://www.shannon-fishery-board.ie/aboutus/phosphates.htm

How Dawn is Helping

A new DAWN television ad is coming out this month. Have you seen it yet? It is about how Dawn Dishwashing Liquid is used to clean animals that are caught in oil spills.


The specially marked bottles of DAWN are on store shelves now and for every bottle purchased, DAWN will donate 1 dollar to the Marine Mammal Center. You'll need to "register" your bottle on DAWN's website. They just want your bottle ID, your zip code and the store where you purchased the DAWN.
Ready to activate your donation? Go to Dawn Saves Animals
This campaign helps both wildlife groups with much needed funds. Its main focus, however, is to raise awareness of the problems marine wildlife face.
See ad also on the DAWN site: http://www.dawn-dish.com/en_US/savingwildlife/video.do

Sugary Treats VS. The poor helpless them

Ok, as you may know, Mars Candy is one of the many companies that does animal testing. I encourage you not to buy, or eat any of their candy. They can go out of business and at least some furry friends would be safe. But, most of you (this is what happened in my school) don't want to give up candy. Well, now look at what you've done! Thousands of lives are wasted every day! Because people just keep on buying candy. And if your buying candy from that company, it also means you did it too. So, which side do you choose?

The Sugary Treats, VS.

These poor helpless animals.

Tigers in Distress

When you think of tigers, do you think of fierce, deadly predators? They may be the largest cats in the world, but they are also the most endangered. Look at this map. The red part is where tigers lived in 1900. The green part is where tigers lived in 1990.

1990 was twenty years ago. Think of how much that area is gone by now.

These wild cat pelts were found in a truck trying to get out of India. Look at how many of the pelts are tiger's! The poachers were arrested and charged a large sum of money.

Tiger Population Summary


Bengal Tiger: 3,176 - 4,556
Indochinese Tiger: 1,227 - 1,785
Chinese Tiger: 20 - 30 in the wild
Siberian (Amur) Tiger: 360 - 406 in the wild
Sumatran Tiger: 400 - 500
Bali Tiger: Extinct
Caspian Tiger: Extinct
Javan Tiger: Extinct

Poor Primates

O.K. This may sound strange, but I was taking a benchmark test in my English class the other day, and they had a story on animal rights. I discovered that in some places, they use baby primates to test cars, and other stuff. They would rather have the monkey die testing a car, than us driving one on the road. Do you know what happens when a car is tested? They slam the car going top speed into a wall, to test the air bags. THE AIR BAGS!!!!! I mean yeah, they're important, but not worth killing an animal over.

BuzzGirl