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For sale: the rarest animals on earth

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 12:31:43 +0100

A flourishing illegal online trade in exotic animals is threatening the survival of many species. Sonia Van Gilder Cooke investigates just what creatures are for sale.

From Burmese Pythons to Pygmy Marmosets, there is a roaring illegal trade in animals online. A recent convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species found one rare species – the Kaiser's Spotted Newt (an orange and black salamander in the highland streams of Iran) – now numbers fewer than 1,000 adults in the wild because of internet trading. So what can you find on the internet? In just one day, I discovered dealers who appear to be selling some of the rarest species on earth.

Ploughshare Tortoise

Within a few hours, I was staring at an advert for one of the world's most endangered creatures. It read, "Very superb, jumbo size and most of all very rare". Only 200 mature ploughshare tortoises survive in the bamboo scrublands of north Madagascar; the rest, it seems, are online. And what would this pair of 30-year-old tortoises cost? £24,000, and a trip to Kuala Lumpur: there's no international shipping.

Burmese Starred Tortoise

It is against the law to remove the critically endangered Burmese starred tortoise from the forests of Myanmar, but I easily found an apparent seller in Bangkok, Thailand. The dealer's picture features 35 turtles in a laundry basket lined with newspaper and wilted lettuce. Ten years ago, a survey by the Wildlife Conservation Society found few specimens in the wild. They did, however, find a tortoise trader in every village. This seller was asking £320 in cash for each specimen.

Bosc's Monitor Lizard and Ball Python

One classified advert offered a "snake show" and "horse riding" along with Bosc's monitor lizards (£70) and ball pythons (£75). International law requires that these African species come with permits from their country of origin – conservationists worry that few wild-caught Bosc's survive to maturity in captivity and supplies are replenished from wild populations. The ad doesn't mention permits.

Elephant Ivory

In 2008, eBay banned the sale of ivory, finding it impossible to ensure trade was legal. It's still available online, however. I called one dealer who seemed knowledgeable about the required permits; the same can't be said of many online sellers. Some nod to legality by claiming their ivory is antique; others don't bother. On Craigslist I found an "Endangered Species Ivory Neclace" [sic] in California ($120). The seller claims it's "circa 1980", but without a permit, there's no way to tell.

Hawksbill Turtle

In Japan, artisans began carving hawksbill shells – the only true source of tortoiseshell – in the 1700s, but banned import of the critically endangered sea turtle in 1993. I found what appeared to be a tortoiseshell item on eBay: a "Brand New Takayama Ex-Takahashi Chikudo Model Shamisen Bekko Bachi Plectrum". It's a pic for a banjo-like Japanese instrument. The seller in New York promised a "natural material" of premium grade. Price $370, will ship worldwide.

Shahtoosh

It takes the wool from five dead Tibetan antelope to make one shawl. That means you could get about 30,000 luxury garments from the herd estimated to remain in north-western Tibet. It's illegal worldwide to sell the wool, but I found an online dealer in Kashmir claiming to sell shahtoosh shawls along with "fancy wicker baskets". Price unlisted.

Radiated Tortoise

In the wild, the radiated tortoise spends its days munching cactus in the bushlands of southern Madagascar. "Sub zero", a dealer in Prai, Malaysia, has two that are two-and-a-half years into a life that can last for 100. This pair could outlive the population as a whole: scientists have predicted it is headed for collapse in the next half century because of habitat loss and the wildlife trade. Price £710 and £1,220, although Sub zero is offering a "mega discount".

Parrots and Macaws

A Google search for pet birds turned up an eight-year old Tucuman Amazon (£450) in Canada. The seller claimed the bird is from the wild, which would make it illegal: after 20,000 Tucumans left Argentina in the 1980s to become pets, international trade in the species was banned in 1990.

Push Attorneys General to Charge BP With Criminal Cruelty to Animals!

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:42:35 +0100

Animals have no use for payouts—they can't move to another town, they can't eat something else, and they can't pursue another line of work. So BP owes animals something different! As oil continues to wreck the water and destroy animals' breeding, nesting, and feeding grounds in the Gulf of Mexico, tens of thousands of animals are suffering and dying painful and lingering deaths—and there is no end in sight. PETA is calling on the attorneys general of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi to file charges of cruelty to animals against the BP executives who allowed this to happen and, because of their negligence, continue to let it go on.

The homes of countless animals have been destroyed. Oil-soaked birds slowly drown, turtles endure chemical burns and organ damage when they ingest tar balls, and many marine mammals, such as dolphins, have already been found dead along the coast. Experts say that whales will not escape the disaster unharmed either.

BP's "disaster plan" deliberately disregarded possible damage to native species and their habitats, listed a long-dead expert as a primary contact, totally overstated the company's ability and readiness to deal with such a catastrophe (it had no real plan!), and purposely underestimated the extent of the carnage that could occur and is still occurring.

Bathynomus Giganteus: Terrifying Sea Beast Hauled Up

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:40:33 +0100

A submarine exploring the ocean’s depths recently returned with an unexpected visitor: a crablike critter called Bathynomus giganteus (commonly known as giant isopod) that has left many readers startled and horrified.

This giant isopod (a crustacean related to shrimps and crabs) represents one of about nine species of large isopods in the genus Bathynomus. They are thought to be abundant in cold, deep waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Photo of Bathynomus giganteus courtesy of NOAA Vents Program

In a posting to social bookmarking site Reddit, a deep-sea technician detailed finding the Bathynomus giganteus, asking the site’s readers to help identify what exactly the bizarre-looking creature was.

The post reads, “I work for a Sub-sea Survey Company, recently this beast came up attached to one of our ROVs. It measures a wee bit over 2.5 feet head to tail, and we expect it latched onto the ROV at roughly 8,500 feet depth.

“Unfortunately, the e-mail that these pictures were attached to came from a contractor, and the ship he was operating from (and therefore location) is unknown, so I can’t tell you what part of the Earth this beast was living.”

The pictures reveal Bathynomus giganteus to be a giant isopod, a large crustacean that dwells in deep Atlantic and Pacific waters. This particular creature is a deep-sea scavenger that feeds on dead whales, fish and squid.

Scientists have long remarked on the massive scale of Bathynomus giganteus.

C.R. McClain, writing about Bathynomus giganteus on ScienceBlogs, explained one theory for the size, that “deep-sea gigantism, for all crustaceans, is a consequence of larger cells sizes obtained under cold temperatures,” citing a research paper from 1996.

He also speculated that “in crustaceans, bathymetric gigantism may also in part reflect decreases in temperature leading to longer lifespans and thus larger sizes in indeterminate growers.”

Bathynomus Giganteus Post Inspires Curiosity, Horror

Responses to the original post ranged from the curious to the horrified.

One reader notes the connection between Bathynomus giganteus and a more familiar household pest: “The giant isopod is related to the “woodlouse”–turns out this is the common bug that I grew up calling a “roly poly” or pillbug. Neat!”

Others were more disgusted with Bathynomus giganteus. “I remember watching some documentary (Blue Planet maybe?) with a time lapse of these things swarming a whale carcass. it was horrifying,” writes one reader.

Another reader saw nothing but dinner in the flesh of Bathynomus giganteus, writing “It could be because I really like seafood, but those isopods look tasty. Land bugs = ew! Sea bugs = mm mmm good.”

Top Ten Items Surgically Removed From Pets

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 03:00:05 +0100

Our pets are sure curious, and their curiosity can definitely get them into trouble sometimes. Especially when they swallow something they shouldn’t have. Have you ever had to have something surgically removed from your pet?

Here are the top ten most common items surgically removed from pets, according to Veterinary Pet Insurance:

Socks
Underwear
Panty Hose
Gravel
Balls
Chew Toys
Corn Cobs
Bones
Hair Ties/Ribbons
Sticks
Look at some of these

Other frequently ingested objects include nails, sewing needles and nipples from baby bottles. But VPI has also received medical records for pets that have swallowed pagers, hearing aids, drywall, snail bait, batteries, rubber bands, toy cars, and sand with bacon grease poured on it.

“It’s no secret that cats are curious and dogs like to chew on things,” said Dr. Carol McConnell, vice president and chief veterinary medical officer for VPI. “Unfortunately, those traits can motivate pets to chew on, bite, or swallow items they shouldn’t. Some of these objects will pass naturally, but others have a tendency to become lodged in pets’ gastrointestinal tracts, resulting in pain, vomiting, or internal injury. In those cases, surgery may be a necessity.”

The best thing pet owners can do to prevent costly foreign body removal surgery is keep a clean living space. This includes making sure that personal items are not left on the floor or within easy reach of pets and remaining aware of each pet’s chewing tendencies.

Certain objects may appeal more to some pets than others. Knowledge of a pet’s tastes and tendencies can help pet owners exercise caution when letting a pet near objects that could be accidentally swallowed. Also remember that table scraps can contain excessive grease, bones or other objects not easily digested by pets.

“Most of these incidents occur without the pet owner’s knowledge,” said McConnell. “Pets can get anxious if left alone and start chewing on objects to relieve boredom or stress. Never ignore the signs that a pet may have swallowed something inedible: continual vomiting, dry heaving and/or coughing. If these symptoms occur, your pet should be examined by a veterinarian.”

Unbelievable and Shocking Discovery: Animals That Resemble Humans

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 02:39:51 +0100

What if one day, you happen to see any of these bizarre animals, appearing half human and half animal? Will you run away from this weird animal? Will you scream out in shock, or will you just release it back to the wild?

A fisherman who is known as Scott Curry hooked a 20-pound (or 6.5 kilos) unusual fish at Buffalo Spring Lake, Texas. He said he has reeled over thousands of fish at this lake and lived near the lake for over 36 years but he has never seen anything like this incredible fish. Later, he knew that his catch wasn’t a typical catch as the fish was noticed to have human-like teeth. This fish found with human like teeth has also been reported by the National Geographic channel.

Curry said he saw another similar fish while he was on the lake. A Texas television station then reported that $100 would be awarded by the lake officials for those who succeeded in catching the similar fish. The Texas Parks & Wildlife and scientists believed that this catch was unusual and the fish was identified as a Pacu fish, a cousin to the piranha called “frugivores” primarily found in South America. It was documented that this Pacu fish has teeth look like they belong to a human that can even crack fruits and nuts.

Following the catch of the human-teeth fish by Curry, not long after that, fisherman Valery caught another similar feature fish in a small lake located approximately 40km further away from the city of Chelyabinsk. While fishing in a boat, he was very sleepy but all of a sudden he knew that some fish were being trapped in a net. He pulled the net out of the water, finding several dead fish alongside with one large size living fish in it. To his surprise, this weirdest fish has a row of white strong teeth in its mouth just look like teeth belonging to the human.

Endangered: are Scotland's wildcats running out of lives?

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 01:28:53 +0100

By Robin McKie

Persecuted by man since prehistoric times, Britain's most elusive mammal is to be found only in the Highlands. Now the wildcat is under threat from loss of habitat, speeding traffic – and its domesticated cousins

Distinguishing between a hungry Scottish wildcat and a ray of sunshine is rarely difficult. Hamish, top feline at the Highland wildlife park in the Cairngorms, provides a perfect example. It is lunchtime and he is in a stroppy mood. His keeper is late with his dish of raw meat. Hence Hamish's display: a tail bristling like a Christmas tree, a set of snarling fangs and a barrage of hissing and yowling for the humans standing outside his enclosure. This is an animal with a grievance – and a temper.
Hamish is massive, as big as a medium-sized dog, and weighs almost 8kg, double the weight of an average household tomcat. This is a real muscled bruiser. "I have come out of that enclosure with blood dripping from my hands on many occasions," says Robbie Rankin, a keeper at the wildlife park.
A solitary hunter that kills rabbits, not to mention the occasional hare or young roe deer, the Scottish wildcat is ferocious, elusive – and endangered. Once widespread across the British Isles, the wildcat has disappeared from all but a few ecological niches in the Highlands. And numbers continue to tumble, an issue that will be addressed in two Scottish Natural Heritage reports, on wildcat distribution and wildcat genetics, that are to be published this month.
For several years, conservationists have warned that loss of habitat, road accidents and – worst of all – the spread of domestic cat populations are having a devastating impact on the Scottish wildcat. Populations of a species which has earned itself a reputation for its aloof ferocity and independence are plunging to catastrophic levels. There are now fewer pure-bred Scottish wildcats than there are tigers in the wild. It is estimated only 400 or so survive in the wild, mostly in the Cairngorms area.
"Until recently, we thought there were about 3,500 wildcats in Scotland," says Dr David Hetherington, manager of the Cairngorms Wildcat Project which was set up to help save the species.
"But then a detailed study was done on animals that had been killed in accidents. It was found that only about 12% of them were actually pure wildcats. The rest were either feral cats or hybrids of wildcats and feral cats. As a result, we had to drop our estimate of wildcat numbers from several thousand to only a few hundred. That was the wake-up call to the seriousness of the situation."
Today, saving the Highland wildcat has become a key concern for Scottish conservationists and understanding its relationship to its domestic cousin, the household cat, will play a pivotal role in that work, say scientists.
The origin of the world's cats has been a source of dispute among animal experts for decades. Most domesticated animals, such as dogs, lived in packs or herds in the wild and had clear dominance hierarchies that were exploited by the first farmers who took over the role of their leaders. By contrast, cats are solitary hunters that defend their territories fiercely against transgressors. So how were they transformed into domestic moggies? And for that matter, where did this change take place? In the past, some scientists argued that cat domestication occurred in a number of different locations, with each domestication spawning a different breed. By this reckoning, British tabbies were descendants of British wildcats. Others claimed that domestic cats were ancient Egyptian in origin, and pointed, as evidence, to the fact they were worshipped as gods in the days of the pharaohs.
Then, in 2000, the issue was resolved – in an unexpected manner – by researchers led by Carlos Driscoll of Oxford's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit. His team took samples from 979 wildcats and domestic cats from across the world and found the wildcats grouped into three main genetic clusters: the European wildcat, Felis silvestris silvestris; the Middle Eastern wildcat, Felis silvestris lybica, and the southern African wildcat, Felis silvestris cafra.
The team looked at domestic cats in the UK, the US, Japan and elsewhere and found that they were all made up of members of Felis silvestris lybica. The inference was clear. "That the domestic cats grouped with Felis silvestris lybica alone among wildcats meant that domestic cats arose in a single locale, the Middle East, and not in other places where wildcats are common," states Driscoll and colleagues in a paper in Scientific American.
Combined with other evidence, the research paints a clear picture of the domestic cat's origins. As neolithic men and women created the first, primitive townships and settlements 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East, mice, rats and other vermin moved in to raid their grain stores and their rubbish heaps. Middle Eastern wildcats followed after these pests and before long they had adapted to life among men and women. The cats did little harm to humans and would have been encouraged to stay because they were such effective pest-controllers, says Dr Andrew Kitchener, principal curator of birds and mammals at the National Museums of Scotland. "The scientific evidence indicates that the ancestry of domestic cats goes back to Mesopotamia where genetically similar wildcats now live."

Then as agriculture spread from the Middle East, the cats came with the farmers. They spread into Europe and then into Britain. And still the cats followed. Thus the household moggie, a feline immigrant from the Middle East arrived in the homes of Britain, while the nation's own wildcats – made up of members of the larger, stronger striped species of European wildcat, Felis silvestris silvestris, were pushed to the margins of the nation as settlements spread and its wild places were stripped away.
"Wildcats disappeared in lowland England around 1800," says Hetherington. "Then they vanished from Wales and northern England around 1860. Finally, they went from southern Scotland. All we have left is a few hundred around the Cairngorms and places like the Black Isle. The trick now is to find a way to stop them from disappearing completely."
The Cairngorms Wildcat Project was set up last year with the specific remit of halting the animal's decline. It has a simple logo – "Highland Tiger, the Scottish wildcat" – to hammer home the fact that the animal has become as endangered as the tiger and that it is, pound for pound, as ferocious as any other feline on the planet. It also happens to be the only one native to the British Isles.
"Our first aim is simply to raise awareness," adds Hetherington. "We have this special animal living in the Highlands that we should be tremendously proud of. The more people that start to care for it, the easier it will be for us to save it."
Routine risks facing wildcats include crossing major roads and avoiding being shot, by mistake, by gamekeepers. (It is against the law to kill a wildcat but not a feral cat in Scotland.) But most of all it is the danger posed by interbreeding with domestic cats that worries conservationists like Hetherington.
"The problem is not one caused directly by domestic cats," he adds. "The trouble arises when household animals go wild, mate and create colonies of feral cats. These form at the edges of villages and in farms. Some of these feral animals meet up with wildcats and they mate. Female wildcats become pregnant and give birth to kittens that are not purebred wildcats. Slowly, the species loses its unique status and vigor and animals become hybridized. That is the real problem today."
The short-term answer, he says, is to promote vigorously the principles of good cat ownership: neuter all pets and make sure they are properly vaccinated for all major feline diseases. "We are trying to turn off the taps in terms of the supply of feral cats in the countryside," adds Hetherington. "They pose a risk not just of interbreeding but of bringing diseases from domestic populations into the wild so they affect wildcats. We need to involve gamekeepers, vets, cat protection officers and a range of other conservationists. The trouble is that it will take us a long time to find out if we are succeeding. These are very elusive animals, after all. Studying them is very difficult."
And that is a problem for many wildcat experts. Merely waiting around collecting data without forming a plan of action is not enough, says Kitchener. "Just look at the Chinese river dolphin. A lot of people were supposedly working towards its conservation, but no one actually did anything practical. Then one day they realized that it had just disappeared."
The answer for the Highland wildcat, he argues, is not just to tackle the dangers it faces from feral animals, but to launch a full captive breeding program as a matter of urgency. "That may involve taking some animals from the wild to make sure we can build up the best genetic stock but we will have just to face up to that. In five or 10 years' time, if you find the game is up for the animal in the wild, you will then be able to think practically about reintroductions in particular areas. But if you just keeping saying we are not sure and don't do anything, we could end up with no wildcats left at all."
Not every wildcat expert agrees. Some point out that there is little point in reintroducing animals to the wild if the causes of their eradication there have not been dealt with. The new animals will just get killed like their predecessors or hybridized with domestic cats.
Yet Kitchener insists it is imperative that work begins on building up a reintroduction stock before populations crash any further.
"Look at the Iberian lynx. A few years ago, its numbers were down to around 100. So conservationists collected a third kitten from every litter on the basis that a third kitten is normally killed by wild parents. Then they reared the kittens and are now ready to start reintroducing them into the wild. We should be planning that now. The alternative is a future with no wildcats left in the British Isles."

Service Dog Keeps Child Safe

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 04:06:00 +0100

By Pet News

Imagine how scared Destiny O’Brien’s parents were when they witnessed their child’s first seizure. At age 6, Destiny was diagnosed with Landau-Kleffner Syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy that effects children ages 6 to puberty.

Tests from Destiny’s first hospital visit showed that she had multiple seizures. The severity varies from simple to violent. Destiny was having both. After her diagnosis, she was on a lot of medications.

Her mom works in a school right next door to Destiny’s elementary school in Tennessee. “I was afraid to leave her alone,” says Rachel, Destiny’s mom. “The seizures happen suddenly.”

Destiny, now age 11, has friends who come over to her house. Her parents understandably don’t want to leave her with people who won’t know how to react to her seizures. Over the course of the last 5 years, Destiny has had a series of seizures. She spent two weeks in the hospital where doctors removed four inches of her brain, a small part of her skull, and put in six clamps, which will eventually come out. The clamps are helping to reform her brain.

When Destiny was first admitted, her doctor suggested she get put on a list for a therapy dog. It took 5 years, and now Salsa, a 2-year old Golden Retriever is always at Destiny’s side. “Salsa is my SBFFE,” says Destiny, which her mom translated to: “Super Best Friend Forever and Ever.”

Training Service Dogs

Salsa was trained by Meghan Hopkins, who works with Canine Assistants, a nonprofit organization that trains service dogs for people with physical disabilities and seizure disorders. “We start training the dogs from the time they are a few days old and they graduate when they are between 18 months and 2 years of age,” says Meghan.

Meghan, a former school teacher, explains, “Destiny’s service dog, Salsa, was born and raised at our facilities in Milton, GA. She was trained to help people with physical disabilities and seizure disorders so she learned how to do things such as picking up dropped items, opening and closing doors, turning lights on and off, and going to get help. When Destiny has a seizure, Salsa can go get Destiny’s mom. She can bring her medication or the phone and will lay next to Destiny. Salsa has also begun to alert Destiny to her seizures about 15 minutes before she seizes. This isn’t something we can train the dogs to do; we aren’t even really sure what they are picking up on. It could be a sense of smell but we can’t guarantee that the dogs will do this.”

Detecting Seizures before they Occur

Shortly after Salsa came to live with Destiny, she woke up the entire house around 1 a.m. “Salsa sleeps in Destiny’s room,” says Rachel. “She was acting strange, jumping on and off the bed. We let her out because we thought she needed the potty. That wasn’t it. She just kept on jumping on and off the bed. Finally, she got tired of us not knowing what she wanted to tell us, and she jumped on the bed and lay across Destiny. Then Destiny said, ‘Mom, I think I’m going to have a seizure.’ I rushed and got her medicine, and she was fine.”

Since Salsa has entered Destiny’s life, Destiny takes less meds and has had fewer seizures. Her parents hope that she grows out of this entirely. Some children with this rare form of epilepsy do grow out of it when they reach early adulthood. Her parents don’t know what the future holds, but they are a lot calmer having Salsa around.

Service Dog Goes to School

Salsa sits quietly at Destiny’s side at school. When she is “working” the other children in the class leave her alone. “We let people play with her during play dates at our home,” says Rachel. “In school, she is working, and shouldn’t be a distraction.”

However, one day at school, Salsa acted out of the ordinary. She left Destiny’s side and lay across the teacher’s legs. Salsa didn’t want to leave the teacher. Later that day, the teacher had her first seizure. “I got a call from the teacher’s husband, and he said his wife had a seizure, and that Salsa picked up on it,” says Rachel.

Love at First Sight

Destiny, her parents, and her 9-year old brother, Devon, got to meet Salsa a few weeks before she came to live with them. “Destiny and Salsa seemed to have an instant connection,” says Meghan. “Destiny came to one of our training camps where she worked with a few different dogs. Salsa pretty much picked her out; they loved each other right away! The camp is 10 days long and the recipients are matched with their new dogs on the second day. We teach them our training methodology and show them how to get the dogs to work for them.”

Destiny always loved animals. Her family owns 5 horses, 3 cats, and another dog.

Top Pets for Kids

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 02:40:44 +0100

By: Alex Lieber

Your 6-year-old comes to you and says he needs more meaning and direction in his life – just the sort of thing a pet can provide. Then comes the begging and the bargaining.
But what sort of pet is appropriate at his age, and how much responsibility should he undertake? Fortunately, there is a wide world of potential pets that can help answer those questions.

No matter what pet you choose, recognize that the parent is ultimately responsible for the health and well being of the animal. A child's interests can swirl like a leaf in a strong breeze; but the pet still requires daily care and love.

Consider your child's age and emotional development. Although they don't intend harm, a preschooler can injure a pet by playing rough. You may want a pet that is interesting, but cannot be handled by your child unless you're present.

If your child is under 6, consider these animals to begin with:

# Guinea pig
# Hamster
# Gerbil
# Rats
# Small birds, such as budgies
# Fish

Rabbits should not be given to young children as pets. They can grow to be quite temperamental. In addition, they are usually active at night or in the morning, when children are usually asleep or in school. Reptiles are also not good choices for pets because children under 6 are more susceptible to contracting salmonella.

You can give your child some age-appropriate responsibilities in caring for the pet. They might clean food or water bowls, or help clean cages once you have safely removed the occupant.

When they have shown responsibility for caring for a smaller pet, you may want to graduate to a dog or cat. But always remember, though it may be his or her "pet," the parent is always responsible for making sure the animal is well cared for.

Older children have a wide range of options to choose from. To learn about these many choices, see Pros and Cons of Pet Types for Kids.

The Intriguing Lundehund

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 04:08:38 +0100

Those who see a lundehund out on the scree (the old Norse word is uren - the landscape is that of north Norway, Northern England, Iceland -- rocky, steep, slippery cliffs or slopes from the mountains down towards the sea) or up on the mountains are greatly struck by its agility: the dog is completely adapted to the terrain. In addition to their foot's natural part in their particular movements, their unusual neck- and shoulder-joints are astonishing. The way a lundehund can arch its head up and backwards over its spine is a characteristic we can not explain with any certainty. Among mammals, only a reindeer has the same flexibility. If one takes a lundehund up by the front legs and swings them out to the right and the left, the lundehund shows no discomfort. To understand why this is so one needs to imagine oneself right out in the lundefugl (puffin) screes. When one sees a lundehund in action--up, down, slantwise over the rocks and unevenly over the cliffs -- one sees a lightning-swift, sure-footed dog. If one has seen the lundehund here, one can better understand the unusual development of its body: nothing could have been at all different in its body, otherwise he could not have functioned so well.

It is tempting to ask if it is not the hundreds of years' experience which has shaped the lundehund. Has this dog been capable of adapting itself so well, or do we possibly catch in the lundehund a glimpse of something far older than the usual dog of today? The scientist Torbjorn Aasheim says, "We have now the remains of an old breed of dog which, because of the area where it has been a working dog, has characteristics which are not found in other parts of the world. We know that the breed is genetically undisturbed by foreign blood. The breed has therefore not alone an antiquarian value, and is not merely a canine rarity. It represents perhaps the most valuable material for scientific investigation of areas in which we can learn how heredity is modified, and how a species or breed can modify itself to its specialized milieu. Science has not yet come far enough to answer all our questions, for it is tomorrow's "dog science" we are talking of here. It is the responsibility of dog-lovers to make sure that this sort of investigation and its source are not destroyed. The lundehund is the canine world's last example of undisturbed breeding. It is our duty to guard it as such." *

Today's lundehund has many unique characteristics. It has the same jaw as the Varanger Dog (a fossilized dog found in north Lapland, Russia), which dates back 5000 years. Both these dogs have one less tooth, on both sides of the jaw, than other dogs. Some scientists suggest that lundehunds are the original, Ur hund, and that it has survived from before the last Ice Age, on the outermost islands of Lofoten. (These islands were ice-free during the last, third Ice Age)

The Italian, Piero Overini, was shipwrecked in 1432 on Sand Island during a January storm and was, with the last surviving members of his crew, found by a poor fisherman and his sons. Sand Island is a tiny, uninhabited island below Rest, which itself consists of 365 islands and grass-covered slopes. When Quirini arrived home in Italy he wrote a book in which he described the land, the population, and a good deal of the fauna. This description of the land of winter and the midnight sun doubtless helped lure many to travel northward to study people and nature in the North., One of these was the Italian Francesco Negri. He traveled to Finland in 1664-65 and described the capture of puffins by lundehunds. So also did the North's poet-preacher, Petter Das (1647-1707) in his immortal book, Trumpet of the North. There is considerable agreement between Negri and Das, quite independently of one another. Negri describes Finland and his book was printed in Pdua in 1700. Petter Das' Trumpet of the North was written at the end of the 1600's but published only after his death. Petter Das says himself, in his introduction, that he had never been north of Iielgoland: he got all his information about the capture of puffins and about lundehunds from the island Lovunden. This remarkable island is the world's largest breeding-area for puffins, and prominent scientists often visit it. As early as 1591 Erik Hansen Schennebol, a bailiff, tells of the puffins' nests in the scree and earth-passages and says that "one cannot easily get them out of these deep nest-holes unless one has an agile dog who is accustomed to crawl into the passages and drag out the birds." Schennebel set this description in his chapter on Vxroy. The use of lundehunds for this work has therefore been general since Schennebel's time. Nicolei Jonge describes lundehunds and the use of them in 1779, as does also the German geologist Christian Leopold von Buch, in 1807. The lundehund is also known from Iceland, for Sven Nilson has described them in SCANDINAVIAN FAUNA, in the first half of the 1800's:" this breed of dog, which has got the name Icelandic Sheep Dog, came with the colonists from Norway to Iceland. The same breed is found in notable numbers in the islands north of Trondheim, especially in those area where the puffin breeds. This dog is about the same size as a fox, with reddish brown or black color, is accustomed to hunt puffins and other sea birds who lay their eggs in holes and cracks in the cliffs."

By about 1850, men changed over to catching puffins with nets--this was necessary because the puffin began to disappearand with the puffin, the lundehund. But to be exact, one must note that there was a great contrast between the dogs who were used in the Lofotens and those used on the coasts of Finland. Today there exist only Senja dogs (Senja is a very large island in the Lofotens) and lundehunds (these are called by many people Mastad dogs): there are no dogs like them. Mastad, on Vxroy, clearly drives its name from a Viking king, King Mas. His large holding consisted of sheep and goats, and at that time the lundehund was certainly both a bird-hunting and sheep-herding dog. Mastad, as noted earlier, is very isolated, which explains why lundehunds survived without inter-breeding with other dogs. So the lundehund is the oldest breed of dog in the North. The parish priest's home, which carries the postal address "North Vxroy," has from far back in time been assessed at 6 vog. All of Mastad's village-cluster, which at that time consisted of 30 homesteads and about 150 persons, had a total assessment of 3 vog. This shows very clearly that Mastad's material assets were small--material wealth consisted of a dangerous harbor swept by wild currents, rocks, and mountain cliffs. Some hundred years ago an official commented in his report that "the place was easy" for fish but "difficult" for hay harvesting. He was correct in his observations, for Mastad's fishing harbor is part of the famous Rost Harbour which a Professor Rugh describes as a "whirlpool." All along Mastad's coast rolls a turbulent sea, and, not to be forgotten, countless reefs. The sea was rich in fish but men paid a high price for this. People say that in that area most women were married twice. The entire harvest of hay lay up on the mountain fields and it was necessary to harvest the whole in order to get enough hay. In some places men harvested where it was so steep that they had to be on rope-lines--"difficult" is surely the word, and not least because the hay had then to be taken to the village by boat. Despite all this the population was regarded as prosperous. When the harvest and the fishing were not good, the birds saved the place. The people of Mastad never went into a winter without 3 to 4 barrels of about 400 salted young puffins per barrel.

The Puffin

The puffin, also called a sea-parrot, is a bird of the Alk family. Its characteristic is that it breeds in large colonies in holes and subterranean passages, with many breeding birds in each passage. It is found in great numbers in the western lands on and north of Lofoten. The breeding period is 40 days and when the young birds are 40 days old they must take care of themselves. The puffin comes to the breeding places in March-April. Before they leave their nests again, they clean the nests and passages of all traces of occupation, carrying out material in their strong beaks and burying it under rocks or moss, so that the passages are clean for the birds in the following spring. The puffin leaves the puffin-fjeld (the Norwegian word for mountain-meadow, mountain cliffs, moore) about 23 August. In a good year the young birds are so fat and heavy that they cannot get out of the passages , but after a couple of days without food they lose so much weight that they get out. They cannot, however, yet fly and are pushed (the word is puffed, hence their name) by their parents out over the mountainside, a somewhat unhappy experience. Many come to grief on the cliffs or rocky coast and are smashed. These unlucky birds are gathered up by lundehunds. Sometimes the older birds go ahead of the younger, calling and tempting them out to the water. Sometimes when the young are pushed out the older birds manage to take them on their wings, or even fly beneath them and so help them down over the cliffs and out to the sea.

There were distinct rules connected with the puffin catch. The young-puffin hunt began early in August and lasted 2-3 weeks. The birds were always fairly high up on the puffin scree, and gathered on a large stone that got the name "Food Table." Alk (razor bills) and guillemots were salted. Tola (young puffin almost ready to fly) must not be taken as long as they have down on their backs, for then they were not edible, thought specialists. Most of the young leave the fjeld along with their elders but there are always some left behind, perhaps born too late or else poorly developed. These were hunted a good deal -- they were known as "sour young puffins" because they were so scrawny that to be edible they had to be cooked in a mixture of sour milk and water, otherwise they would have had no taste. Nam nam (the equivalent of saying in English, num-num) were delicacies, fresh puffin dried out on lines like fish: there was always enough salt-cured food. Snadderet was their Sunday food, especially if there were potatoes to go with it. The young puffins were scraped clean of feathers and down, the skin left on the bird -- there was a special knife for this. Then they were cooked long and thoroughly, opened with a sharp knife along the spine and folded out, then roasted under a weight--not under just any old stone or piece of wood but rather with the "young puffin stick" and the "young puffin stone." Just before serving they were browned in a very hot oven until crisp, and with them went Norwegian flat-bread and new potatoes, and lots of salt and pepper. This WAS a delicacy. Everyday food was puffin soup, for which the flesh was peeled from the bones and put in the soup. For the population as a whole, these were all tasty foods but, as Petter Das remarked, "everything tastes of fish, for puffins live on fish."

The down of puffin was also important for the population -- it was just as soft and light as eiderduck down, and provided a welcome addition to their income from fishing and small farming. Puffins were therefore of enormous value. On Fugleoya (Bird Island) in Gildeskal in 1880 a good puffin had the same value as a cow.

People in Mastad have always said that there one heard always an incomparable noise of dogs, and this was certainly no exaggeration. As a rule, the women and older boys conducted the hunt, and often enjoyed a cozy coffee-pause at the Food Table at midnight under the midnight sun's light. It was considered fine if a dog took 30 birds a night, so that a hunter had to have 2 to 3 lundehunds in order to get a grown man's catch, which was up to 80 to 90 birds. But there are dogs who can take 80 birds in one hunt. One dog got up to 130 birds! The puffin is not an apathetic bird which just waits until fate overtakes it. It has a fine weapon in its powerful beak. It has happened that the bird has got the best of it, although it is not often, and it has always been a bloodied dog with ears lying quite flat who has come out of such a fray. If a puppy is so unlucky as to meet a feisty puffin the first time he is out on the scree, he may be afraid for the rest of his life. It was unavoidable that once in a while a dog came to grief, or disappeared. Loose stones could cause a sudden landslide; often it happened that the dog could get in but could not get out of the passage and the owner could only stand and wring his hands. Once one of the finest Lundehunds, old Lord, did not come out even after his owner had spent a very long time trying to urge him, to tempt him to come out. The owner finally tried to calm himself by saying that Lord has been on his final puffin hunt; but three days later Lord came home again, visibly thinner but otherwise in good shape -- the swift weight-losing cure had saved him.

Men are also unlucky and are killed. One false step and death was near, especially if the man used a fixed belt -- that is, one tied around his waist while he tucked the birds' heads up under it. When there was no room for more birds, he used his own belt as well. The weight of this could drag a man down into the abyss. Men went over to using loose-belts (not fastened to the waist), which could be slung to one side if an accident seemed likely. (The path up and down the cliffs was often no more that 1 meter wide.)

Hunting

One natural scientist tells of a time when he made an appointment with the farm's serving-girl to go out to hunt. At 2:30, the serving-girl stood out in the middle of the yard and whistled, and 6 lundehunds came barking and yipping around her. The dogs were small, with pointed noses, short legs, and tails half the length of their bodies. When the dogs reached the area for the hunt they at once spread themselves out to various places on the scree and began to crawl into passageways towards the birds. There were 5 "officials" on the island, of whom only 3 had 3-to-5 dogs with which they hunted.

Erik Pontoppidan, the bishop in Bergen, wrote, in "The First Attempt toward a Natural History of Norway" (1753): "The dogs are trained partially for hunting, especially for bear-hunting, and for this small dogs are used because the bear cannot so easily embrace the dog and therefore fears the small ones the most. For bird-hunting, dogs are for the most part widely trained in the Northern lands where there are favorable conditions for bird-hunting, and every farmer keeps 12 to 14 such dogs. they are small and low to the ground. Their catch enriches the farmer very often more than does his other work. No farmer may own more lundehunds than his neighbor, otherwise there is some little hostility among them. Thirteen is, therefore, often the "count" of lundehunds."

The dog enthusiast, Sigurd Skaun, was the first to "discover" the lundehund. In various articles during the 1500's dogs were mentioned who were used for puffin hunting on Vxroy and Lovunden. When he read those articles, Skaun came to think that some of these dogs must still exist, and he began his investigation by writing to countrymen. He received an answer from Lovuden: the countrymen there had learned from older people that there had been such dogs on the island, but they had all disappeared. He heard nothing from Vxroy, so he got hold of the postmaster, Lange, from Bode, who asked the ferry-postman of Vxroy for help. Skaun got much interesting information here. Lundehunds were still known on Vxroy and were still used for puffin-hunting. He wrote an article about the breed, in a Norwegian journal for hunters and fishermen, in 1925 -- the title was "A Norwegian Breed of Bird-dog which is on the road to Oblivion." He demanded that the Norwegian Kennel Club recognize the breed, but at the time the Club was not interested. Editor Olaf Holm expressed himself skeptically about the breed, for he thought the "Vxroy Dog" would prove to be of the same breed as the Buhund; but should the Vxroy Dog, against his expectation, prove to be unique, it should be recognized as such. Later the NKClub recognized the breed but it was some time before the Club understood that they were looking at a canine rarity.

In 1937, Eleanor Christie read Skaun's article and wanted to get to know the breed better. During a railway trip, Mrs. Christie met a political official from Rost and they talked about lundehunds. He promised to get hold of some lundehunds for her. But this turned out to be difficult, for on Rost there was a considerable loss of the breed because the men there has for a long time caught their puffins with nots. The dogs were superfluous, did not get enough to eat, and when they began, therefore, to attack the sheep, the community set a tax of 8 kroner on each dog. This was a lot of money then and offected a swift solution to the problem of the dogs -- in a few years they had all disappeared, except a few who remained and were mixed with other breeds. At last he got hold of Monrad Mikalson in Mastad -- he was a fisherman and a farmer in the southwestern part of Vxroy, and he hunted with lundehunds. Out there the people were dependent on lundehunds for no other breed could perform the work of these small trained dogs. No other breed was known on Mastad and the lundehunds were purebreds. Even although in-breeding was fairly extensive the breed had in no way degenerated. In-breeding is surely also the reason for the lundehund's uniqueness. At that time there were about 50 dogs. Although the dog-tax on Vxroy was only 2 kroner per dog in 1895, that was a lot of money at that time, and when the tax was raised in 1904 to 10 kr. per dog there was a lot of grumbling. Vxroy was the exception -- there the tax remained at 2 kr. Later there was a demand for lifting the tax from lundehunds, the "unique Lundehund", and they were exempted in Mastad, Asker, and Bxrum, where today we find the most lundehunds. But the majority pay a tax for their lundehund. Monrad Mikalsen got 4 large puppies for Eleanor Christie and they were all vaccinated against canine distemper ( the disease had already appeared on Vxroy). These four were the bitches Hild, Lyey, and Urd, and the male Ask, whom Mrs. Christie got in February 1939. The whole stock was up to 60 Lundehunds in 1943, the same year that the NKClub recognized the lundehund as an independent breed.

In 1942 canine distemper came again to Vxroy and, because of the war, it was impossible to get the vaccine, so all the dogs died except one, and that one never again gave birth to puppies. Mikalsen sent a call for help to Mrs. Christie who, under extraordinary difficulties and with the help of the author Carl Schoyen, sent two pregnant bitches and two puppies to Vxroy -- these dogs succeeded in saving the entire breed from extinction. Although Otter, one of the two pups, had never before been out on the puffin hunt, he caught 14 puffins the first day Monrad Mikalsen had him out, and the next day he got 80. Otter also once saved the life of a girl who had been sent out to look for the sheep who had wandered out on the fjeld. It rained and stormed, the path was dangerous, many animals had fallen down. The girl fell backwards and began to roll down the scree. Otter got hold of her dress with his teeth and continued to hang on until she could herself use her hands and feet to scramble up again to safety.

Distemper came upon Mrs. Christie's dogs in 1944 and they all died except for the male, Ask -- he was 9 years old when he died in 1947, and he was sent to the Zoological Museum in Bergen. As thanks for her help earlier, Mikalsen sent her two new puppies in 1950 but they had no puppies. Mrs. Christie did not get help or encouragement from the NKClub, and later could not continue to run a kennel for her husband was ill for a long time, then died. But she did not give up. Once again Mrs. Christie took on the task of saving lundehunds. Monrad Mikalsen had not forgotten that it was Eleanor Christie who had helped him during the war, and he sent her 3 puppies, from the same litter, born 31 January 1960.

One pair from those three had puppies 12 August 1961. Interest in lundehunds now swelled. The doctor Carl Frimann Calusen )vice-president and alter president of the NKClub), with Mrs. Christie's help, got a male dog from Mikalsen. And later he saved a male from being put to death -- this was Buster, who came to mean a great deal for the breeding of lundehunds.

In 1963, Mikalsen lost all his own dogs, so that there was not a single purebred lundehund on Vxroy. Again Mrs. Christie came to the rescue and sent two puppies, by air. As it happened, they arrived on Monrad Mikalsen's 75th birthday. He was so happy that he at once rang Mrs. Christie on the telephone and shouted, "They are lying in bed with Katrine!"

The Norwegian Lundehund Club was founded in 1962 with the purpose of preserving and improving the breed. The club had an excellent foundation on which to build, in that all the dogs were gathered almost in one place and the Club could begin from the beginning -- full knowledge of each dog's pedigree.

Today we can say with certainty that the lundehund is saved form extinction. The story of how the lundehund has been saved a second and again a third time from extinction is as remarkable as is the breed itself. It is a good thing that the Lundehund does not himself know how many unique characteristics he has, or he would be very proud and not easy to live with. But in reality the lundehund is an extraordinarily loyal, observant, clever, good, and affectionate little dog. He is characterized by those who own one as lively, charming, and playful. Happy and always in top form as a companion for a tramp. Somewhat obstinate at times but on the whole obedient, and -- not the least of his virtues -- devoted as are few others.

In the summer of 1963 we were on holiday in Norway [Inger Kristiansen and her husband Aksel] when we say in one place a lively little reddish-brown dog. I was fascinated by his behavior and ways of conducting himself, so asked the owner what kind of dog this was.

"He is a lundehund and you may not buy one because there are only 10 in Norway and none may be sold until we have 200 here at home, " said the owner. The lundehund had stolen my heart, as he had so many others'. But I continued to have that delightful little dog in my thoughts, and although I doubted that I could have both Bjorneuhnde and Lundehund together, I wrote to Norway. In 1972 a film was made for TV about lundehunds and the puffin-hunting. The got a dispensation from the Preservation Committee and the film was made on Vxroy. (Danish TV bought the film but has not shown it yet.) As a result of this film, lundehunds suddenly became very popular in Norway and the waiting list for those who wanted to buy one became even longer. I wrote again to the Club at the beginning of 1976, and in June we received a letter saying that we could have a puppy at harvest time. There was not a lot of time to consider the matter, and in early October we traveled to Bergen to get Ogar av Enerhaugen. This turned into a big event, for all the lundehunds for miles around were brought to show us, so that we could see as many as possible and thereby get an impression of the breed. We were to stay with the breeder, Christen Lang, who is, to say the least, a walking encyclopedia on lundehunds. Before we came home he had given us all the information about their pedigrees and history, also about the ways lundehunds behave at Dog Shows, had told us about the Lundehund Club's major work, and at the same time arranged a meeting with Mrs. Christie and after that with the Club's president. Mrs. Christie, a lively old woman in her eighties, had just recovered from a broken leg, and was very glad to see us -- we talked about lundehunds until my head swam. At the same time she told us that she was to have an audience with the King of Norway because she had saved the Lundehund Breed. The Club's president, Sofie Schonheyder, a most remarkable woman who, in spite of all she has to do always welcomes us to stay with her, and to talk a lot -- about lundehunds.

Half-a-year later we were offered Embla av Valpason, and there, also, at the home of the Harbitz sisters, we were welcomed. They had bred lundehunds after they got one of Mrs. Christie's first puppies. That same year, there was a male puppy at Hersholm so at Christmas, 1977, we were again with Sofie Schonheyder -- but things did not go well with Balder (the male pup) because one of his testicles was too large and did not fall into place, so we were offered Froy av Tunvin instead. We found a home for him in Kerteminde before we accepted the offer, then traveled to fetch him in the summer of 1978. At this time we again visited the many friends we had come to know in Norway, and had Froy with us in the car. We discovered that the Norwegians are very observant! On the way to Balder's birthplace, we became front page news. A dog in a Danish automobile must be a dog with rabies, and we were held up a couple of hours by county police who said we were sought after in the whole district. But everything was O.K. and we were allowed to continue, after a telephone call to clear up the matter, but the police could not promise us that it was the last time we would be stopped. Therefore we ourselves sought out a police station and got a stamped, official statement that the dog had just been bought in Norway. But we did not see many friendly faces, and drove home at night, Froy sleeping and not visible to anyone.

My doubts about having both breeds together was but to shame. The small dogs could manage perfectly well. Aksel called them the Karelians' brakes, for the smaller dogs sprang up, set their teeth fast in the Karelians' tails and their toes firmly in the carpet, so that both Karelians and Lundehunds stood, motionless.

One summer Eberhard Trumler visited us in order to take a closer look at lundehunds. He compared their behavior with that of the jackal and their feet with those of the grasping hand of an extinct kind of ape. But, inasmuch as a lundehund says "Bow-Wow," I say that there is no cross-breeding with either a jackal or an ape. (pics and video)

Too Graphic for YouTube

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:03:56 +0100

PETA's new "China's Cruel Fur Industry" video gives a firsthand view of the horrible suffering that animals face on Chinese fur farms. YouTube has banned the video, but you can watch it here. Scroll down until you see a video with a raccoon on it.

Animals who are bred and killed for their fur in China live in misery from birth to death. Chinchillas, foxes, minks, raccoons—and, yes, even dogs and cats—are jammed into crowded wire cages, and the close confinement and filthy conditions quickly lead to mental illness. As documented in our undercover video, fur farmers kill animals by bashing their heads in or breaking their necks while they are still conscious.
Animal protection laws are nonexistent in China, but PETA Asia is working overtime to change that. Whether by submitting recommendations for China's first-ever animal protection legislation, going undercover at fur farms, or exposing the hideous conditions for animals in Chinese zoos, PETA Asia is tirelessly on the front line for animals.
Please take a moment to write to the Chinese ambassador to the U.S., Zhang Yesui, and ask him to do everything in his power to put animal welfare on the agenda in his country. Share the video with family and friends, and remember: If we don't watch it, we can't stop it.
Posted by Jennifer O'Connor