bengal cat rescue: March 2010

t-MN-r

while some people in california and new jersey are working towards dismantling t-n-r initiatives these folks across the border are embracing it more than ever. plus, they've got wheels! not to mention a sweet nickname like the "neuter commuter."

i wonder if that could be shortened into a vanity plate. could come in handy during rush hour.

one of the many past-times of lucy madcat

another endangered cat

no, not the feral cats of new jersey. though they could be in trouble if some people don't see the light soon.

the flat-headed cat of south-eastern asia, one of the least-known species of wild cats and tiniest at only 3-5lbs, has been added to the endangered species list due to loss of habitat and increased distances between colonies preventing breeding. unfortunately, this is just another cat in a long list that is seeing its numbers decline across the globe in the wake of human activities.

interested in learning more about the various species of small wild cats, like the black-footed cat and the kodkod? check out the international society for endangered cats.

don't some of them almost look like monkeys? that must be where they got their goofy antics and jumping abilities. good thing the whole poop-throwing thing stayed on the other side of the gene pool.

dumb dog tricks

as cat people, we have to admit, sometimes we don't get dogs. especially when they'll do anything for treats:

they find the weirdest things to chew on.

and sometimes you just can't get them out the door. but they do make good babysitters.

march madcats

the ncaa tourney is well under way and even though the uw men's team bowed out last week it's still pretty exciting. looks like the fever of march madness has even spread to the cats.

madcatter miles, here, was rooting for the kansas wildcats for obvious reasons. though this kitty prefers the nba, and this guy would rather play than watch from a couch.

so, how's your bracket holding up? butler in the final four? who called it?

go to the dark side

tomorrow night, hundreds of millions of people across the world will participate in earth hour by turning their lights off for one hour at at 8:30 p.m. local time.

more than more than 125 countries will participate, including 56 national capitals and eight of the 10 most populated metropolises on the planet. the capitol building and governor's mansion will also be dark. even darth vader will be in on it:

in addition to making a bold statement about climate change, the sky, planets, and constellations will be easier to see with less light pollution.

so tomorrow night, get out your telescope and flick the switch. may the force be with you.

getting to know wyou

guess what we did yesterday? well, aside from hanging out with cool people and playing with neat toys, we met the new neighbors down on willy st. wyou, madison's community television, just moved in to the 'hood and were out catching up with the businesses in the area and filming interviews for their upcoming fundraiser.

be sure to tune in or watch online to catch us.

gabby madcat, superstar

who says you can't teach a gabby new tricks?

stop in to the willy street store for a high five from one of your favorite madcats.

lueders honored with genesis award

local isthmus reporter bill lueders was honored over the weekend at the humane society of the united states' genesis awards, held in beverly hills.

lueders was recognized with the outstanding written word award for his stories on local animal-related issues. most notable is his coverage of the ongoing ethics debate over animal testing at uw-madison and his personal story, "My monkey: The sad life of r04040," in which lueders catches up with the same rheesus maqaque monkey he saw born in the primate research center five years earlier.

congratulations, bill. the animals thank you.

don't shoot the cat, redux

anti-cat legislation - we defeated it in wisconsin. now, it's new jersey's turn.

there are efforts underway in the garden state to declare feral cats not native to the state, an "exotic species", which would make them fair game for hunting and trap-and-kill by animal control.

the interesting part of all of this is that trap-neuter-return programs have been in place all over the state and doing a good job of feral management while saving counties money.

check out the economics of t-n-r versus the trap-and-kill approach: "it would cost governmental entities about $16 billion to trap and kill these cats as opposed to about $9 billion for supporting [t-n-r] programs."

even the biggest cat-haters have to admit that's a lot of $$.

spring cleaning

it's a sun-shiny day here in madison - great for a nap in a window or some spring cleaning:

nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah....

catman! no, not that catman. or that catman. we're talking about the one who protects gotham city from evil... in between catnaps.

though a sidekick named robin might prove to be a distraction.

cat scene investigation

lucy could be the become next horatio caine as feline furr-ensics rise in popularity.

cat (and dog) blood, hair, saliva, urine, feces and tissue have all been used to recover DNA as evidence in trials in which animals were witness, victim, suspect or just stay-at-home pets.

so that pesky cat hair isn't just annoying - it could be evidence if you're ever convicted of "fowl" play.

more charges against uw animal research

it seems to be peta/uw-animal testing week around here.

peta and the alliance for animals have teamed up to petition a state circuit court to bring criminal animal cruelty charges against the uw for it's decompression testing on sheep.

"the alliance argued that a state law appears to make such experiments illegal, if indeed they result in fatalities. State Statute 951.025 reads, in its entirety: "Decompression prohibited: No person may kill an animal by means of decompression."

will this one actually go to trial? or are scientific experiments excluded from state statue?

happy st. paddy's day!

primate research debate

last night's debate on the ethics of non-human primate research at the uw was interesting but went nowhere. kinda like congress and health care reform, only more civil.

some highlights:
rick bogle of alliance for animals - "we are going to die. we can't fool ourselves into thinking that by experimenting on animals that we are going to find some magic bullet to make us immortal."

paul kaufman, uw chair of ophthalmics dept. - "if you're going to argue we're all equal, then this discussion is over. There's no reason to go on. but in fact there are differences. ... if you say an animal shares some characteristics with humans, that doesn't make them human beings."

in the end, we are monkeys, too. monkeys testing on monkeys. dance monkey dance.

people for the execution and termination of animals

no jokes. no cute pics or funny stories. just another post on the horrible things peta has done under the guise of animal welfare.

the 2009 numbers are in. peta killed 97% of the 2,366 animals they "took in" last year, adopting out only 8. this is the same organization that called out president obama for killing a fly, and wants punxsutawney phil to replaced by a robot. if it wasn't so shockingly horrific it would almost be laughable. these people are sick. no wonder they want to stop no kill.

but where is the outrage by hsus and aspca? where are the news corps? why are celebrities still lending their names to a campaign of lies? why is peta still receiving millions in donations? when will it end?

no kill now!

.

adventures in chatroulette

madcatter cleo spent some time on chatroulette this weekend looking for ashton kutcher, as suggested in a recent blog post.

instead in ten minutes she saw two penises, three naked men, and met someone who wanted to talk about kevin smith. she was not impressed.

the internet is a scary place, friends. cleo's going to stick to facebook.

dog park doo-good

with the snow disappearing, the remnants of a winter's worth of digestive evidence is giving spring a not-so-fresh smell. this year's dog park cleanup is set for march 27th when an army of dog-owners will bring out their best scoopers and get down to business.

i hope these two weren't invited. those dog parks are pretty big and you can only imagine the damage they could do with all that poo.

a standing ovation

this morning, for the first time ever, no animals were killed at the town lake animal center in austin, texas.

that's because last night, the forward-thinking and compassionate austin city council unanimously passed a no-kill policy for the city's shelter, thanks to the hard work of fixaustin.

the shelter euthanized 32 percent of all the animals it took in last year. the new policy will put an immediate stop to killing animals at the shelter if there is empty cage space, and mandate that austin move toward a 90 percent save rate at the animal shelter.

the council received a standing ovation after the measure was passed. we hope madison isn't far behind.