Opera and Lion Poop

Loulou has said it would be okay to share her fun suggestion to keep coyotes away from our pen.

Get your brother or any MALE to pee all around your property and the coyotes will NOT be happy and they will NOT come around after a few pees. The other thing to strew around is manure from lions, if you have any.

Loulou suggested it because her mama actually went to the zoo and GOT lion manure when the coyotes were slithering around Beverly Glen Canyon in LA and her kitties were out often.  The coyotes would come in back of the house and yip at night...sort of high, wild notes that make her not want to go in the yard!

We're not sure a pee competition would be legal here in town and Jan doesn't think she could ask anyone to enter.  Not with a straight face, anyway.  But the lion poop sounds like a great idea.  We don't have a local zoo, but we will have Jan knock on some neighbors' doors.  If none of them have any, perhaps she can order some on Amazon.com?

A while ago we decided this would be, for the most part, a fun blog.  There is too much pain and sorrow in the world and we all need laughter in our life.  We think we were doing so-so at entertaining readers, until Miss Klutz took up flying again in the beginning of February.

To review just the high points:  In one crash landing, she managed to sustain two head injuries (same head, separate injuries) that gave her a beaut of a hematoma and two black eyes.  Plus injuries to her neck, one hand, a shoulder, her back and both knees.  She has not been a good patient.  Humans with a head injury are supposed to rest.  She slapped a bag of frozen peas over her face, made a phone call, finished a partial cleaning of the bathroom and then vacuumed the house. 

After a week, she tried  to resume walking the dogs and was "roughed up" by a territorial dog that tried to attack - twice.  In between those two dog events, Marcus was physically attacked by a neighbor's dog.  He came through it with a small cut under his eye.  Jan managed to stay on her feet but had chest pain and trouble breathing. That was about the time she lost her sense of humor and energy and although we've turned the house upside down, we haven't been able to figure out where she lost them. 

Then one week ago Cameron died.  Jan tried to dig a number of holes in rock hard dirt/clay. She finally managed a small one and buried him.  Overnight, a coyote came into the dog pen and stole Cameron's body, but the dogs next door broke out of their fence and the body has been re-buried, but only after a dozen or more attempts at digging a new, deeper hole. The coyote must have come back two nights later and we didn't get much sleep worrying about the dogs next door breaking out and not being found again.  Fortunately, as hard as they tried, those hero dogs did not escape and were safe. 

Digging those holes, left Jan barely able to stand, walk or sit all week.  Her thinking has been fuzzy, too. 

This, as you know, is Marcus.  He is no longer a puppy but when excited or playing canine soccer, he sings in a continuous soprano. Or if you prefer, in a very high tenor.  Guess he will now be singing opera.

Yes, arrangements were finally made for Marcus to be neutered.  Monday night Jan set the alarm for 6:45 to call her ride at 7 a.m., as requested.  When she decided to get up without the alarm, she found it was already 7:15.  It turned out, she had actually set the alarm for 7:45. 

After Marcus was left at the vet's, she fed the rest of us, then herself.  As the coffee pot heated, she realized she had set the pot of water on the warming pad instead of pouring it into the machine. 

She did remember to set Buddy's 2-step stool on the porch to help Marcus into the van.  When she arrived to pick up Marcus, the assistant asked for his leash. Leash?  Uh ...

Her ride thought these things hilarious.  They scared the he** out of her!  She has not just been feeling "out of it", her pain level has been through the roof!  So we will be around even less while she tries to rest and recover.  There will be no Mousebreath interviews until then.

Oh, and you won't believe this, but Jan has another black eye.  Nowhere near as colorful as the first two.  While Jan was trying to sleep Wednesday night, Cyndi leaped over her head.  A back paw kicked Jan's eye as she slipped and left a small cut.  It wasn't Cyndi's fault.  Jan should have moved her head out of the way. Right?

You Will Be Okay

Seldom a dull moment around here.

I don't know that I will ever actually feel safe here again.  Not since one or more coyotes came over my dog pen fence Friday night to dig up Cameron's body and carry it away before the neighbor dogs scared it/them off.  It amazes me to learn they can easily jump or scale a 6 or 8 foot fence.  All those stories I have read about them jumping a fence to grab a cat or small dog -  I assumed the fences to be about 4 feet tall. 

First, a couple of years ago, all the feral cats along our walk route disappeared.  Last year all the squirrels disappeared.  They are repopulating now but not the cats. There was the coyote I sighted nearby last summer while walking Buddy and Sam.  And then a couple of reports from neighbors of coyote sightings right here. The neighbors and I have no doubt it was a coyote(s).  But why the bottom of the fence was torn loose and Cameron dragged through such a small opening is a mystery.

It's a relief I couldn't dig more than an inch in the clay outside the pen or Cameron would have been gone.  I re-buried him Saturday.  It was a long hard, brutally painful day.  Between my back and the latest knee injuries from the fall in February, it was all I could do to use a shovel.  NEVER, EVER try to dig in clay unless you are a big, strong, young dude, which I am not!

Saturday night was quiet.  It was hours before I could crawl out of bed Sunday.  Last night I slept hard for a while and got up before 4 a.m.   There was no barking but it sounded like the neighbor dogs were trying to get out of their yard again.  I opened the door to hear better and Marcus hit the screen to run out barking.

He's funny.  He has a habit of getting so excited, he runs bravely to the fence barking madly, turns his head, finds he's alone, turns tail and runs back toward the house.  As usual, Sam and Merci charged through the door to his rescue and the three ran to the back fence and barked. I got a squirt bottle (well, it's better than no weapon at all) and followed in the slushy mud.  There was a face peering at me from inside the wooden fence the neighbor had just boarded over Saturday. 

There was nothing I could do at 4 in the morning, but I was so worried I stood at the door watching for well over an hour, then sat on a stool.  The noise continued and there was a lot of whining between breaks.  No barking, so I had slept through whatever had happened to initiate this.  Before 6, it got quiet.  I felt terrible.  The dogs had escaped and I couldn't even let the neighbor know until after daylight.

When I tried to go back to bed, I discovered Buddy had been left gated in the bedroom so he had pulled back the covers to make himself comfortable and had vomited.   There is a pad under the sheet for such an emergency but I had to dig up another sheet and remake the bed.  Sleep was a long time coming and thankfully the phone rang at 9.

I would be devastated if my dogs got loose, so I dressed and went next door.  There was such relief as I checked their back fence.  The dogs had not made it out after all!  But the folks do know the fence needs repair again.  She said they will try to put up some type of camera back there to see what is going on in that area at night. 

The funny part is that after I fed the animals and was about to fix my own breakfast, the dogs started carrying on.  I found a city worker on the outside of the fence reading the meter.  He pointed to Marcus and said, "What is he?  He's beautiful."

I guess it's time to get Marcus a bigger bowl.  I don't think his nose is going to fit in it for the swelled head he has now. 

I really enjoy a singer called Kaoma.  He often makes a capella singing videos, but this one has music.  It seems an appropriate time to receive a YouTube notification about his song titled "You'll Be Okay".  I sure hope so! (One guy, four parts.)


If the video doesn't play, click here.

Surprising Update on Cameron

I thought it was hard to bury Cameron on Friday.  It was hard to bury him again on Saturday.  But before I tell you that peculiar story, I would like to thank everyone for the kind facebook and blog comments and emails.  I do intend to thank each of you individually after I recover from the past two days.

Meanwhile, thank you Miss Ann the Zoolatry Human for sending this lovely graphic after our Friday post.

And We Bees Siameezers made this lovely graphic on imikimi for us.  Thank you, Ingrid. 

Just over Marcus and to the right of our logo, you can see the area where I tried twice to dig a grave so Cameron could be buried beside his old Funny Farmer siblings but the Georgia red clay is rock hard and I had to change the plan.

I decided he would be safe inside the pen.  It was not any easier and I could only manage a shallow hole.  Marcus didn't want his friend buried and dug up the dirt as fast as I could shovel it in. After I finished, I half-filled a large plastic storage container with water to temporarily protect the grave.

Late that night all the dogs in our corner started barking. It was more intense than usual. The 2 dogs next door could be heard scratching and beating at their wooden fence.  I had a hard time getting my dogs inside but they finally came.  There was nothing to be seen and I wasn't about to go back near the alley late at night.  And whatever the ruckus, it was out of sight.

I was up with Marcus about 3 times during the night.  Each time he went out to the container and stared toward the corner of the wooden fence.  He didn't want to come back inside.

After the sun came up, I let Marcus outside again and saw this.  It's the shirt I wrapped Cameron's body in before burying him.  There was a small shallow hole dug under the end of the container.  Something strong had dug just far enough to grab the body and pull it out so the grave collapsed on itself.  Something strong had worked an opening at the bottom of the chain link just barely big enough to drag Cameron's small body through. 

A coyote can leap over a six foot pen.  It can climb a chain link fence.  There are coyotes in this area.  I saw one for myself last August or September.  Cameron was gone!

Thankfully, I found his body in the area under our logo in this picture.  This photo was taken after the hole in the fence was boarded over and bricks spread to "fill in" the hole that was dug.  That patch is just out of sight around the corner in the photo below.  That's why Marcus had stood staring.  Cameron was on the wrong side of our fence.

I went next door.  The guy was at work.  When his girlfriend checked, his dogs were missing.  She called and he came home to search.  Fortunately, he found them a mile down the road. I am so grateful those dogs are safe because I really believe they broke out of their yard in time to chase off one the predator(s) carrying off Cameron's body. 

Marcus was so happy to have Cameron back.  I tried to dig deeper but couldn't, so I wrapped Cameron in two plastic bags and tied them closed.  Then I moved the dog house over the grave and perched a container on top to discourage any idea of using the dog house as an entrance or exit aid.  Marcus is quite the athlete.

Marcus became attached to Cameron the last couple of months and is acting out his stress.  He started three fights with Sam (one included Buddy) before breakfast Saturday and two more last night. I hope all the Funny Farmers will calm down soon and there won't be any more midnight raids in the back pen.  And definitely no more grave digging! 

A Coyote and Marcus Writes

Cameron:  You probably didn't notice but we've been among the missing for a few days. 

Cyndi: Jan had a rough few days and we've had to keep an eye on her, but we think we're back. 

Buddy:  Sam and I had an interesting encounter when we walked Jan mid-morning Friday. We saw our first ever live, up close and personal coyote. 

Sam:  It was standing very still hoping we wouldn't notice it and we were rushing so we were all the way down the hill before we did. When we walked over to the fence for a better view, it was still as a statue about 4 or 5 yards away from us. 

Buddy:  It was weird.  We all just stood and stared at each other.  Then the coyote turned slowly and loped away up the hill.  It was beautiful with the sun shining on its coat. 

Sam:  I know, you're probably thinking, so what, I've seen lots of wild animals when I've hiked the trails.  But this coyote was not in the woods or in the rural county.  We know there are coyotes in the county.  He was on our daily walking route - in the city!

Merci:  Jan said if there is a coyote living at the mill or in the vicinity, that could explain why we haven't seen any feral cats on our walks this year.  We used to see oodles of ferals along that stretch of woods across from the mill and we'd watch the kittens grow up.  But this year, no cats   Or it could be the coyote was just passing through. 

Percy:  On another subject, Marcus has some exciting news.  I'll let him tell you.

Marcus:  Thanks, Percy.  I finished my first solo review and it published yesterday.

Rusty:  Now, I know you're all about to say, but you (meaning we ... us .. oh, you know who we are)  didn't publish a post yesterday.

Micah:  And you're correct.  We didn't post yesterday.  But Marcus did.

Marcus:  Yes, I taste tested the new Canidae grain free puppy food and then told Canidae what I thought of it for their blog.  Many of you know Julia Williams from Purr Therapy.  She writes for the Canidae blog.  You can read New Canidae Grain Free Puppy Food Passes Taste Test by Marcus Price, Canine Guest Blogger on the Responsible Pet Ownership blog.  Let me know how you like my humor.  I'm thinking of becoming a humor writer.  (Jan says no one would take me seriously because of my big ears.)

Oh, and just for the record, Canidae provided the kibble, but I wasn't paid. 

Pawsitive Energy and Coyotes

Yes, today is the big day for the 2nd Annual Worldwide Movement. It will be at 6:00 PM EST here in Georgia.  If you aren't sure what hour 11 PM GMT is in your area, you can easily check at the (UTC/GMT) Time Zone Converter site.   

And if you've missed the news circulating around the pet blogs, visit Jake & Fergi's post for background information.  We hope to "see" you there.

One other thing we would like to post before we forget again is an Animal Welfare Institute alert we received recently.

Help End the Senseless Poisoning of Coyotes and Other Wildlife:
Your Comments Are Needed by Nov. 22!


As citizens concerned for the welfare of our wildlife and for the health of our environment, we have an opportunity to make a difference for coyotes and other native carnivores. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently reviewing the use of sodium monofluoroacetate (also known as Compound 1080) and sodium cyanide to kill coyotes and other wildlife. Your voice is needed during this important public comment period to urge the EPA to ban these deadly poisons.


The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services agency continues to rely heavily on Compound 1080 and sodium cyanide to kill coyotes and other animals deemed a ‘threat to livestock’ – despite the fact that only a small percentage of sheep and cattle are killed by predators. In 2009, these two poisons killed more than 13,000 animals, causing agonizing deaths for many.


Banned by previous administrations (and then later re-legalized as a result of pressure from agricultural and livestock interest groups), these poisons have been condemned as cruel, indiscriminate, and dangerous. Non-target victims include domestic dogs, gray wolves, federally protected birds of prey, and people.


Because of the dangers and cruelty associated with these poisons, citizens in California (1998) and Washington State (2000) passed ballot initiatives that banned Compound 1080 and sodium cyanide.


After 9/11 the FBI listed sodium fluoroacetate as "a highly toxic pesticide judged most likely to be used by terrorists or for malicious intent." According to the FBI, the main criteria for a poison being added to the list are those with "high dermal or inhalation toxicity, common malicious use reported, and prior use by terrorists." The FBI, the EPA, and the World Health Organization classify Compound 1080 as an “extremely hazardous toxic pesticide."


Yet our tax dollars continue to subsidize the use of these poisons – often on public lands – while audits by the Office of the Inspector General found that there is improper and unaccountable stockpiling of these lethal substances.


WHAT YOU CAN DO:


Now we have an opportunity to ban these poisons! Please, send a message today to the EPA and urge them to end the use of Compound 1080 and sodium cyanide nationwide.


TO SUBMIT COMMENTS:

Comments must be received by Nov. 22, 2010 and must be identified by the docket identification number EPA-HQ-OPP-2010-0752 and EPA-HQ-OPP-2010-0753.


Please follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments at the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov


Or mail your written comments to:
Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP)
Regulatory Public Docket (7502P)
Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20460–0001


Points to Include in Your Letter:


* I am writing regarding EPA Docket numbers EPA-HQ-OPP-2010-0752 and EPA-HQ-OPP-2010-0753 in support of prohibiting use of sodium monofluoroacetate (Compound 1080) and sodium cyanide.
* Compound 1080 and sodium cyanide are extremely dangerous and inhumane.
* Death by Compound 1080 is agonizing, excruciating, and slow (it usually takes between 3 and 15 hours). Exposure can result in cardiac failure, progressive failure of the central nervous system, or respiratory arrest following severe prolonged convulsions.
* Compound 1080 is one of the deadliest poisons on earth and has no antidote.
The EPA classifies Compound 1080 as an “extremely hazardous” toxin that poses a significant hazard to human health and safety and to non-target wildlife. For these reasons the EPA banned Compound 1080 throughout the U.S. in 1972.
* Compound 1080 is a potential terrorist threat to water and food supplies; according to its own records, Wildlife Services cannot account for all the Compound 1080 it has and uses.
* In addition to these poisons’ toll on wildlife, they put public safety at risk; hundreds of pet dogs are harmed or killed by sodium cyanide each year, and humans have also been severely injured by accidentally triggering M-44 sodium cyanide ejector devices or handling poisoned pets.
* Paradoxically, killing coyotes can increase their numbers by triggering breeding and larger litters.
* Rather than killing predators, ranchers should make better use of good husbandry practices such livestock guard animals, electronic sound and light devices, penning animals as night, lambing in structures, promptly removing any carcasses and fencing appropriately.
* Scientific research shows that it makes more economic sense to implement long-term predator deterrents than to kill coyotes and other predators.


Thank you for helping to end senseless poisoning of coyotes and other wildlife by Compound 1080 and sodium cyanide!


Please be sure to share our “Dear Humanitarian” eAlert with family, friends, and co-workers, and encourage them to contact the EPA, too. As always, thank you very much for your help!


Sincerely,
Cathy Liss
President

NOMS

We have noticed "NOMS (not of my species) Friends" mentioned on several blogs, so we thought we would introduce you to some very unusual NOMS friends, in case you haven't already met them.

photo ©2007 Shreve Stockton
used with permission






These two beautiful creatures are Eli the cat and Charlie the coyote. Yes, the cat and the coyote are brothers and friends.

They haven't always been friends. Charlie was a small orphaned cub when they met, and at first, Eli identified Charlie as a predator and feared him.

Now before anyone gets their tail in a knot, in Wyoming, it is legal to keep a wild animal as a pet and there is no permit required. So raising Charlie is legal.

That said, you can visit Charlie, Eli and their human at The Daily Coyote. It is worth the time to scroll down and read about Charlie and to watch him growing. There is a time lapse of several months between the photos and the postings, so there is more to come. You can also sign up to receive the daily photo updates. There is both a paid photo subscription and a free one.

Ah, if only humans could get along this well.

(s) Cyndi, for Jan's Funny Farm residents