Health experts say the medical records of cats and dogs could serve as an early warning system for diseases such as avian flu. The GLRC’s Rebecca Williams has more:
Transcript
Health experts say the medical records of cats and dogs could serve as an
early warning system for diseases such as avian flu. The GLRC’s
Rebecca Williams has more:
The health records of thousands of dogs and cats throughout the country
are tracked by the National Companion Animal Surveillance Program.
Larry Glickman helped design the system. He’s an epidemiologist at
Purdue University. He says it was originally designed to track anthrax or
plague outbreaks in pets. Glickman says now, the system could be used
to monitor pets for avian flu symptoms.
“What we’re concerned with in the U.S is for example, a pet animal like a
cat will come in contact with a bird that is sick or even died of avian
influenza, then the cat will pick up that virus and will become infected,
and the very same day it might climb in bed with people and transmit
that virus to people.”
Glickman says the system can pinpoint areas where quarantines are
needed… to slow the spread of disease in both pets and people.
A tiger sits inside a cage at "Valley of the Kings Sanctuary and Retreat" in Sharon, Wisconsin. (Photo by Christina Shockley)
Although the tiger might look tame, some experts warn that domesticated big cats are still wild at heart... and can be dangerous. (Photo by Christina
Shockley)
Lions lounge at the sanctuary. (Photo by Christina Shockley)
When you think about lions or tigers, you probably think of African savannahs or Asian jungles… or the zoo. You probably don’t think about exotic cats living in the
house next door. But the number of big cats in homes has grown over the
years. The
Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Christina Shockley reports on one woman who has turned her home into a sanctuary for big cats that need a place to live:
Transcript
When you think about lions or tigers, you probably think of African savannahs or Asian
jungles… or the zoo. You probably don’t think about exotic cats living in the house next
door. But the number of big cats in homes has grown over the years. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Christina Shockley reports on one woman who’s turned her home
into a sanctuary for big cats that need a place to live:
“Hi, handsome… hi, handsome. He loves to be scratched. He has absolutely no teeth.
He had every single one of his teeth taken out and he was declawed by a movie producer
in California. So he’d be safe to sit next to stars. Isn’t that sad? You can scratch and
cuddle him. He can’t hurt you in any way.”
Charlie is a big black panther.
He lives at “Valley of the Kings Sanctuary and Retreat” in the little town of Sharon,
Wisconsin.
About fifty big cats live here, along with bears, wolf hybrids, goats, foxes, chickens,
domestic cats, geese, ducks… and pretty much anything else that needs a home.
Before they got here, some of the animals—like Charlie— were altered so they’d be less
of a threat to people.
Others were mistreated in circuses… or zoos simply couldn’t take them in. Nearly all of
them would have been killed if they hadn’t found a home here…
Valley of the Kings is a private non-profit run by Jill Carnegie and her husband Jim Tomasi.
They live in a modest farmhouse on the sanctuary grounds. But even that has been partly
turned over to the animals.
At least five domestic cats roam the main floor, and Charlie the panther lives in a room
that’s been modified into a cage.
Jill Carnegie says animals have always been important in her life. She says they fill a
void. Carnegie says in her big family, she didn’t always get the attention she felt she
deserved.
“I never felt loved, but I always felt it from the animals. Their love was unconditional.
They didn’t lie to you. They didn’t betray you. They didn’t stab you in the back. They
didn’t hurt you. They were always, always 180 percent there for me. Always.”
Then, when she was about four years old… Carnegie says she came to believe she had a
gift.
“I remember going out into our side yard, and sending a message to the squirrels to come
and they would all come. And I would have bread and treats for them. And they would
eat, and we would just be really happy.”
Carnegie believes everyone has the ability to communicate with animals, but most people
choose to ignore it. Carnegie says it has helped her understand the big cats in her care.
Out on the sanctuary grounds, it’s clear that every big cat has a personality, like Kia.
Block: “She has a thing about women. She doesn’t like them (laughs).”
(Kia growls)
Chris Block has been volunteering at the sanctuary for about eight years. He says some
of these animals come from people who wanted to keep them as pets.
“But she’s this way to basically most people. She’s very antisocial. (cougar hisses) She
was owned by a truck driver, a cross country truck driver who wanted to get a baby
cougar and wanted to take her in the cab with him.”
Block says average people who buy exotic animals as pets don’t know what they’re
getting into. The cats can attack unprovoked, need special food, and get a lot bigger than
they are when they’re young.
Jill Carnegie, the sanctuary owner, has allowed some big cats to roam free in her house,
including a spotted Asian leopard.
Carnegie would sometimes even let the leopard sleep in her bed at night.
But at least one expert says this is going too far.
Richard Farinato is the director of captive wildlife programs at the Humane Society of the
United States.
“Every time you come into direct contact or you allow someone to come into direct
contact situation, with a big cat, you’re just playing the numbers game. It’s only a matter
of time before someone’s going to get hurt. Badly.”
Carnegie says she knows the cats are dangerous. But she says her bond with the big cats
and her experience working with them sets her apart from the rest.
“Again it goes back to common sense. I’ve been doing this for 32 years. We’ve never
ever had an injury, ever. And again, we’ve only had a handful of cats that have been safe
in the house, that I would trust anybody with.”
Authorities and neighbors have had some concerns about the sanctuary. Jill Carnegie
says she’s not even thinking about giving it up.
But, partly because of the concerns, Carnegie wants to find a new location for Valley of
the Kings.
She says then she’d have more room to expand and take in additional animals that need
homes and care.
For decades, wildlife agencies in several Midwestern states have denied there are wild mountain lions in the region. But as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Celeste Headlee reports, the debate is heating up again following the release of a recent video:
Transcript
For decades, wildlife agencies in several Midwestern states have denied there are wild mountain lions in the region. But as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Celeste Headlee reports, the debate is heating up again following the release of a recent video:
Carol Stokes regularly videotapes deer and other animals as they emerge from the
trees near her southern Michigan home. But in April, Stokes filmed two large, sandy colored cats picking through a cornfield.
(sound of video: “Are they dogs or coyotes? They look like lions…”)
Pat Rusz is with the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy. He says the cats are cougars and his organization has gotten thousands of reports from people who’ve spotted mountain lions in Michigan.
“This is not a mysterious, ghostlike animal, as sometimes is written about it. The things leave tracks, they leave other signs that are highly visible and in some cases they walk right out in front of people. The problem is, is that when one sees a cougar or sees a track, one is simply not believed.”
The debate over mountain lions has raged for years in Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. Wildlife agencies in those states say people who’ve spotted cougars have probably seen a large dog or a house cat.
Todd Hogrefe is with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. He says residents may release a pet cougar into the wild from time to time, but the DNR is really waiting to see the carcass of a cougar before they’ll draw any conclusions.
“We don’t dispute that there may be cougars in the state of Michigan, but the question is whether or not those cougars represent a viable, reproducing population. And at this time, the DNR doesn’t feel as though there is strong enough evidence to make that conclusion.”
Wildlife agencies from neighboring states also say they’re waiting for more definitive evidence. The Michigan DNR has sent Carol Stokes’ video to 14 independent cougar experts for analysis.
The Michigan Wildlife Conservancy says state officials should end the debate and start implementing policies to protect this endangered species.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Celeste Headlee.
A mallard duck hen sitting on her eggs in a strip mall tree planter in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Ducks Unlimited researchers have found that recent declines in duck populations are partly due to a lack of corridors between grasslands where ducks nest and wetlands where they thrive. (Photo by Rebecca Williams)
When this mallard hen's ducklings hatch, they'll have to cross a parking lot and busy intersections to get to water. (Photo by Arthur
Cooper)
Another view from the nest. (Photo by Rebecca Williams)
Researchers with the hunters’ conservation group Ducks Unlimited are reporting they’ve found some of the reasons the duck reproduction rate is falling in the Great Lakes region. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
Researchers with the hunters’ conservation group Ducks Unlimited are reporting they’ve
found some of the reasons the duck reproduction rate is falling. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
(sound of birds, a duck quacking and a truck door slamming)
YERKES: “Load in.”
Two years ago, we went out in the field with biologist Tina Yerkes and other Ducks
Unlimited researchers.
YERKES: “Every day these guys go out and they track the birds and that’s basically how
we figure out what they’re doing. ”
(sound of newly hatched ducklings peeping with hen hissing)
At the time, they were tracking mallard hens, watching them nest, and watching them as
they moved their ducklings from the nests in the grass to nearby wetlands and lakes.
After three years of study, they found some of the reasons duck reproduction rates are
down. We recently had a chance to sit down and talk with Tina Yerkes about the study.
She says, surprisingly, they found that egg production and nesting are good, despite nests
being destroyed by mowers and predators eating the eggs.
TY: “The problem is duckling survival. We have very poor duckling survival in this
area. And, that leads us to believe that we need to alter habitat programs to actually start
doing more wetlands work.”
LG: “So, what’s happening is the ducks are able to nest, they’re able to hatch out the
ducklings, but then when they move from the grasslands where the nesting is to the
wetlands where the ducks feed, they grow, they’re not surviving. What’s killing them?”
TY: “What we’re seeing is that hens, once they hatch their young, they move right after
the first day into the first wetland and it’s a dangerous journey. Basically, because our
habitat is so fragmented that they’re moving these ducklings through non-grassed areas,
across parking lots, roads. It’s dangerous. And, a lot of the ducklings either die from
exhaustion or predators kill them on the way. A lot of avian predators get them at that
point.”
LG: “So, we’re talking about hawks and not so much domestic animals like cats and
dogs.”
TY: “Ah, cats are a problem, yeah. It’s hard to document exactly what is getting them,
but feral cats and domestic cats are a problem. Hawks and jays, sometimes…”
LG: “Blue jays?”
TY: “Blue jays can be mean, yeah. But, it’s interesting to note that if you put those
corridors back between nesting sites and wetlands, it’ll be a much safer journey for
them.”
LG: “So, what are you proposing?”
TY: “I would look more away from urban areas where those infrastructures are already
intact. We would not certainly expect anybody to tear that type of stuff up. But, outside
the cities and urban areas there are lots of opportunities to look at areas where there is
grass existing or wetlands existing and then piece the habitat back together where we
can.”
LG: “There are places, for instance in Chicago, where they’re working to do exactly that.
Do you see that kind of effort in most of the states you studied?”
TY: “Yes, actually we do. Some states like – Chicago’s a very good example. A very
strong park system not only throughout the city, but out in the suburbs as well and we do
see that in a lot of different places. That’s a positive thing.”
LG: “Where are the worst places for duckling survival?”
TY: “The worst duckling survival was the site that you were at two years ago in Port
Clinton, Ohio. And, if you think about what that habitat looks like, what you have is a
few patches of grass and an area that’s heavily agriculturally based, but all the wetlands
have been ditched and drained so that when a bird has to move from an area where it
nested to get to a nice, safe wetland habitat, they have to make a substantial move across
a lot of open fields that don’t have a lot of cover on them. So, here you’re looking at
maybe piecing cover back between the wetland areas and still being able to maintain farm
operations at the same time.”
LG: “What can farmers do to help duck survival?”
TY: “Oh, let’s see. Leave some patches of grass along the fields, especially if they have
wetlands in their fields. Leave a nice margin around the wetland, a nice vegetative
margin around the wetland because the ducks will nest right in that edge as well. Then
they don’t have to move very far to take the ducklings to a nice food source and a nice
wetland.”
LG: “Now, this is not just about making sure that mallard ducks reproduce. What’s this
going to mean for the ecosystem as a whole?”
TY: “Every time we replace a wetland or replace grass on the landscape, we’re
improving the water quality because those types of habitats remove nutrients and
sedimentation from runoff. So, there’s all kinds of benefits. There are benefits to any
other species that depends on grasslands to nest in or wetlands to either nest in or even
for migratory birds. So there’s just a suite of benefits beyond ducks.”
Tina Yerkes is a biologist with Ducks Unlimited. She says the group will be working
with states to develop programs to encourage development of corridors between the
grasslands where the ducks nest and the wetlands where they thrive.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Lester Graham.
Some Florida bobcats are threatening the reintroduction of migrating whooping cranes to the eastern U.S. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:
Trapping is still a popular past time in the northern half of the
country. Mostly trappers are looking for beavers, raccoons and
muskrats.
But every year, a small number of household pets are caught as well.
As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports, one pet
owner
is fighting to change that:
Transcript
Trapping is still a popular pastime in the northern half of the country. Mostly, trappers are
looking for beavers, raccoons, and muskrats. But every year, a small number fo household pets are
caught as well. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports, one pet owner is
fighting to change that.
Valentine was Meg Massaro’s best friend. She was a black and brown boxer. And, at one time, a
mangy stray. Massaro found her on the side of the road and nursed her back to health. The two
became inseperable. Then, on a cold January morning, they went for a run on a local bike path.
“So I let her off the leash. She bounded happily in front of me for about thirty seconds. The next
thing I know I heard her screaming and I jumped in after her and she was sailing through the air
with a bucket over her head. I took the bucket off her head and there was a trap and I said to my
husband, ‘What is it?’ She kept looking at me, pleadingly her eyes were just getting bigger and
bigger. She couldn’t breathe. And animal control with the help of police were finally able to get
it off. It was about an hour and a half that she was in the trap. Of course, by that time, she was
long gone. It was gruesome, very grisly.”
The trap was about fifty feet from this bike path just outside of Albany, New York. Massaro
remembers thinking this had to be illegal. It’s an area with playgrounds and picnic benches. So,
she called New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation, and found out the trap was legally
set.
“They were really like, ‘Well what do you want us to do, lady?’ And I said, ‘I want you to go out
and see if there are any more traps and if there are, I want you to remove them.’ And the guy
said, ‘We wouldn’t be able to do that.’ So I just said, ‘Thank you very much,’ and hung up the and
I thought, ‘This is war.'”
Massaro started calling newspapers. She circulated a petition with thousands of names. And she
began lobbying – full time – to get traps out of residential areas.
“I can’t imagine that anyone wants traps near their home, near where their kids play, near where
their dogs are walking; it doesn’t make any sense to allow that.”
Albany County legislator Paulette Barletti talked to Massaro over the phone after the incident.
But she wasn’t sure it was an issue she wanted to adopt. Then, she saw photographs the police took
after Valentine’s death.
“I was actually horrified. And the first thing that came to my mind was, good grief, this could be
a child.”
Barletti introduced legislation to ban trapping on state or private land. That’s because New York,
like most states, regulates trapping on the state level. Traps can be set on most state land and
on private land with permission of the landowner.
Gordon Batcheller runs New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation’s trapping program. He
says trappers often serve as their eyes and ears in the field.
“Trapping is actually very hard, it’s hard work and it takes a lot of skills. Studies have shown
that trappers, of all outdoor users, have the highest level of all wildlife biology. They’re
extremely knowledgeable about animals. They can tell us what’s going on out there and we really
value what they tell us because they’re knowledgeable and they see things.”
Batcheller says the majority of trappers are extremely careful about where they set their traps.
And there aren’t too many pets being caught. but Batcheller says it’s clear that in those cases,
the trapper made a mistake.
“In the incidents that we’ve evaluated, the traps simply should not have been set where they were
set. Even though it was legal, poor judgement was used in those instances and experienced trappers
that look at these cases, they shake their heads and say why did they do that.”
Now, thanks in part to Meg Massaro’s campaign, Batcheller is trying to find a compromise. He’s
come up with new recommendations. They’d require trappers to move traps off the ground and onto
stands and trees where dogs can’t reach them. And, he’s proposing tougher restrictions near roads
and bike paths. Batcheller hopes the recommendations will be in place by next fall. But Meg
Massaro says it’s not enough. She’s lobbying for local control so counties can make their own
decisions about trapping. And she wants traps banned from recreational areas. But mostly, she
wants to make sure that this never happens to someone’s dog again.
“When I drover her home that first time, tears were running down my cheks that day because I
couldn’t believe how abused this dog had been. And i promised, I said it out loud to her, no one
will ever hurt you again. And I lied. I didn’t mean to, but i lied and i can’t live with that. I
have to do something to compensate for that. She deserved better, and other people and their pets
deserve better.”
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Karen Kelly in Albany, New York.
Ann van Dyk isthe
director and owner of the De Wildt Cheetah Center in South Africa. Her
efforts to breed cheetahs in captivity have been recognized as thechief
reason the cheetah is no longer on the endangered species list.
A young'King'
cheetah basks in the sun at De Wildt. More than 500 cubs have beenraised
at De Wildt since the center opened in 1971.
Zoos in North America have been working with
a small farm in South Africa to save one of the
fastest animals on earth. In the first report of a
two-part series… the Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Lester Graham reports… the effort
has helped restore populations of cheetahs in the
wild and in zoos:
A pair of cheetahs in a gamepark
in Swaziland are protected from hunters. However, there are few places left
in the wild for the sleek cats.
This cheetah was born and bred at
the De Wildt Cheetah Center in South Africa. Its home is now the Saint
Louis Zoo where it's part of a 'Species Survival Plan.'
Although the cheetah was removed from the endangered species
list more than a decade ago… zoos are still breeding the animal in
captivity. In the second report of a two part series… the Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports… along with a cheetah center
in Africa… the zoos plan to keep producing cheetahs in case something
happens to the animal in the wild:
Humans first domesticated cats in about 2000 B-C. Since then,
our view of felines has ranged from loving to loathing …depending on
the
time and culture. Now, a new book traces the history of cats …and
makes
some connections about their impact on human health. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Wendy Nelson reports:
Across the country, there’s a homeless population you may not have
heard a lot about. It’s not people…but cats. And as the Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Wendy Nelson reports, there’s a growing movement
underway to help them:
