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Issue #5 Volume #3

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Coverpage


A Forgotten Promise


Contributed by: Jillian Michelle Abram (Nature's Guardian Angel), abram@newnorth.net

"Since only the sun and moon made light, I have known you. I watched you from the once vast, impenetrable forest. I was witness as you discovered fire and strange tools. From ridges, I watched you hunt, and envied your kills. I have eaten your scraps. You have eaten mine.

I have heard your songs and watched your dancing shadows around bright fires. In a time so distant that I can barely remember, some of us joined you to sit near those fires. We became part of your packs, joined in your hunts, protected your pups, helped you, feared you, loved you.

We have existed together a long time. We were much alike. It is why the tame ones adopted you. Some of you, I know, respected me, the wild one. I am a good hunter. I respected you, too. You were a good hunter. I would see you hunt in a pack with the tame ones and catch meat. Then there was always plenty. Then there were few of you. Then the woods were big. We howled to the tame ones in the high. Some came back to hunt with us. Some we ate, for they had become very strange. It was this way for a long long time. It was a good way.

Sometimes I would steal from you, as you did from me. Do you remember when you were starving and the snow was deep and you ate the meat we killed? It was a game. It was a debt. Some might call it a promise.

Like many of the tame ones, most of you have become very strange. Now I do not recognize some of the tame ones. Now I do not recognize some of you. We were once so much alike. You made meat tame, too. When I began to hunt your tame meat (they are foolish creatures and do not honor death, but the wild meat was gone), you hunted me. I do not understand. When your packs grew larger and fought among themselves, I saw. I watched your great battles. I feasted on those you left behind. Then you hunted me more. I do not understand. They were meat. You killed them.

We wild ones are now very few. You made the woods small. You have killed many of us. But I still hunt, and I feed our hidden pups. I always will. I wonder if the tame ones who live with you made the right choice. They have lost the spirit to live in the wild. They are many, but they are strange. We are few.

I still watch you, too, so I can avoid you.

I do not think I know you any longer."

An Alternative Kind of Medicine


By: Sarah-Jane Noden, sarahj@tinet.ie

Karen Maxwell had been lying in her hospital bed for two years. A serious car accident had left her drifting in and out of consciousness, moving nothing but her eyes. That is how James found her when he first took Bosworth in to visit her. He put Bosworth up on the bed and he snuggled up close to her. That was all for the first visit. On the next visit, a week later, James did the same thing and soon it became a regular routine. One of the nurses took a picture of Karen and Bozzie and it was placed in a frame by her bedside.

Once when they arrived, Karen's parents were in the room. James put Bozzie on the bed as usual. But this time Karen smiled and very slowly and distinctly said one word, "dog." As James was leaving, Karen's mother came up to him with tears in her eyes. "I never thought I'd ever hear my daughter's beautiful voice again," she said.

A few weeks later James went downstairs and found Bosworth dead. He had died from cardiac failure at the age of four. James dreaded going to the hospital that evening. He went straight up to the nurse on duty and told her about Bosworth. Very quietly she told him that Karen had died in the night. James Ryan's bloodhound, Bosworth, may have had a short life, but it was a worthwhile one. Bozzie was one of many dogs used in pet therapy programs all over the world.

Pet therapy is now being used to help with a whole range of medical and emotional ailments. Animals are used to help with stress relief, physiotherapy, depression and short- term memory. They are especially useful to children with behavioral disorders, or those who have been physically or emotionally abused. Patients with heart conditions are often given small pets to look after; this lowers their blood pressure and improves their mood. Therapy animals have also proven to be beneficial in prisons and institutions and are often brought to senior- care facilities.

Bubba is a large, white cockatoo. His owner brought him to such a facility where they met an elderly lady. At first the lady did not seem to notice their presence, but then she saw Bubba. His owner says, "It was as though a spark of life came back to her. She smiled, and stroked his head and back, and told him what a lovely creature he was. On every visit after that there has been the same reaction."

Most pet therapy organizations screen animals before they allow them to begin visiting. The animals must be well- behaved and have good manners. They are assessed in walking around equipment like wheelchairs and walkers and their reaction to noise, loud talking , petting and friendliness is observed. As one handler puts it, " They have to be able to remain calm. Jumping on someone is an absolute No-No."

The Pet Therapy Society of Northern Alberta is involved in three types of animal therapy. As well as the usual pet visitation there are Animal assisted activities and animal assisted therapy. Animal- assisted activities are a kind of occupational therapy. Patients are involved in making bird- feeders, rabbit hutches and similar items. Animal- assisted therapy has specific objectives. For example a patient might be advised to walk a dog for 15 minutes a day, to help with mobility. The length of the walk will be increased as the patient gets stronger.

The Delta Society runs a program called Pet Partners. It trains owner volunteers and screens pets for suitability. The training is by home- study courses, videos and newsletters from the society. You don't have to own a pet to be involved with the program. There is always work to be done in answering the phones, administration and handling all the animals on the society's books. The program uses a whole selection of animals including dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits, horses, goats, donkeys, pot- bellied pigs, cockatoos, parrots, chickens and llamas. Incidentally llamas are often used in preference to horses when visiting nursing homes because they have pads on their feet instead of hooves.

As well as helping with specific medical problems, a pet visit can simply lift a patient's mood and make the day that bit more bearable. This is borne out by the request of one cardiac patient to his doctor, "I would like a prescription of one dog visit a day doctor."

The Gray-Banded Kingsnake


from The Forked Tongue a publication of The Greater Cincinnati Herpetological Society

The Blair's phase of the gray-banded kingsnake (Lampropeltis mexicana alterna) is considered by some, including the author, to be the most beautiful of the kingsnakes. This snake is one of several subspecies named which are very difficult to define except by geographic location. Those most frequently referred to are the San Luis Potosi Kingsnake (Lampropeltis mexicana mexicana), Blair's Kingsnake (Lampropeltis mexicana alterna), Thayer's Kingsnake (Lampropeltis mexicana thayeri), and Greer's Kingsnake (Lampropeltis mexicana greeri).

The Blair's phase kingsnake is typified by broad, bright red to orange blotches surrounded by thin black and even thinner white bands on a background of light gray to slate blue, although even individuals within the same clutch can vary tremendously. These snakes range from southwestern Texas southward into northern Mexico. Once considered rare, some believe that these animals are somewhat plentiful in the areas where they reside, but their remote habitat and secretive nature contribute to their infrequent sightings. Typically located in rocky limestone ridges, this snake is seldom seen except after heavy rainfalls. Texas state law protects these snakes from capture as they are a favorite of reptile collectors. Their habitat is rugged and collectors have access to only a very small percentage of their range due to construction of highways. It is believed that they are very common in these areas and that collection in areas exposed by new highways has been ecologically insignificant to wild populations.

The gray-banded kingsnake is primarily nocturnal and preys on lizards, occasionally taking small mammals and nestling birds. This is the only member of the kingsnake family which does not eat other snakes. Small clutches of 3-12 eggs are deposited between late May and July. The hatchlings are 9-12 inches in length and emerge approximately 9 weeks after the eggs are laid.

Although one of the most handsome snakes available through captive breeding programs, the gray-banded kingsnake is not recommended for the amateur enthusiast. Approximately seven years of captive maintenance experience with these snakes supports this statement, especially during the period soon after hatching. The snakes I have maintained have all been purchased as hatchlings from captive adults. My typical housing consists of a ten gallon aquarium lined with newspaper, a water bowl large enough to allow the snake's submersion, and a secure pegboard lid with wingnut locking. I keep them at a constant 83 degrees day and night--with minimal fluctuation caused by children leaving the door to the snake room open!

Hatchlings are notorious for being finicky feeders, often refusing everything offered other than lizards. I have not acquired a hatchling which was not difficult to get feeding on rodents. Unless a ready supply of lizards is available throughout the year it is obvious why it is necessary to acclimate the animals to a staple diet of rodents. Several "tricks" can be used to convince these snakes that rodents are acceptable. Rodents can be scented by rubbing a lizard on the animal prior to feeding. Some finicky snakes can often be coaxed to eat by placing the food animal in a margarine bowl with a hole in the lid large enough for the snake to enter. The bowl is then placed in the larger cage and the snake "hunts" its prey and makes a kill. There are a few more drastic techniques that may be necessary to save animals from starvation. One method is to split the head of a feed animal, specifically a new born rodent, with a razor blade to expose brain matter and blood. Then place the feed animal in a small bowl with the snake overnight. As grisly as this sounds, it has worked wonders on animals which were sure to die. Even though all of the animals I have maintained have started out as difficult feeders, they have all been successfully coaxed into accepting rodents as their primary food items. However, sometimes adults do go through periods of less than aggressive eating.


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