Oh gross me out! 200 vultures have taken up residence in a Leesburg neighborhood. Nothing could be uglier or nastier than a vulture. I am assuming these are what we call “buzzrds.”
Monday was Day One of the effort by Leesburg, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to remove the committee of vultures who have made the Mayfair neighborhood near Edwards Ferry Road their winter home. As always on this job, it was fun and educational — a group of vultures is known as a committee, you know — and from the outset, it seemed to work. Except that the promised, much anticipated “pyrotechnics and lasers” weren’t really needed much.
To recap, the 200 or so vultures need to go because their excrement is extremely acidic and they can destroy both trees and important stuff on houses and cars. They are a protected species, so you can’t shoot them.
What amazes me is that buzzards are a protected species. Why? How stupid is that? Who do we write to about this? The vulture is no more endangered than kittens.
The first trick to remove the vultures was to hang an effigy–not a toy vulture but a real dead vulture, upside down from a rope in “their” tree. Apparently vultures do not like effigies, considering their personal eating habits.
Be sure to read the rest of Tom Jackman’ article to see the outcome. Meanwhile, why are we protecting vultures? They are nasty and ugly. They serve on purpose. They clean up road kill. They are too lazy to kill their own food. Ewwwwwwww!
Keep your fingers crossed that the “committee” doesn’t decide to reside in the fun place to live, work and play.
Many people feel more comfortable with canine support rather than guns.
Take my house, for example. When the mailman or other delivery people approach my porch, the hounds of hell cut loose. They make one hell of a racket. You can often hear me hollering and cussing at them. I sound demented and crazed. What person would want to break in my house. There is no warm fuzzy feeling.
I can’t have a gun now. I would shoot the “homeland security.” I have already threatened to buy a shock collar for one of them.
More than 125 dogs are being flown from a North Carolina airport to Virginia to save the animals from kill shelters.
Officials with the PilotsNPaws program say more than 80 pilots are participating in the single-day airlift of more than 300 dogs on Saturday.
The dogs are being flown from the Charlotte-Monroe Executive Airport in Monroe, N.C. to seven states, including Virginia.
About 100 of the dogs are set to be flown to Middle Peninsula Regional Airport in West Point, with others going to Warrenton.
Hats off to these pilots. Dogs will also go to other states. In all, 300 dogs will be airlifted today. Even if you can’t take a rescued dog, you can give a small donation on the website to help this initiative.
This Saturday, May 5 will be the annual 138th Kentucky Derby. No charming horse stories jump out at us this year. That might happen post race. The slight favorite this year is a horse named Bodemeister. Why that almost sounds like Blogmeister!
Every year I go out with friends and play our dollar bets on the each race of the Triple Crown. It sounds silly but it is a rite of spring for us.
To view the horses for this race, go to the Washington Post section. CLICK HERE .
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney got himself in a heap of trouble with animal rights group PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. How did the press secretary get in hot water?
According to the Code of Military Justice, the following regulations have been repealed:
(a) Any person subject to this chapter who engages in unnatural carnal copulation with another person of the same or opposite sex or with an animal is guilty of sodomy. Penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete the offense.
(b) Any person found guilty of sodomy shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.
During a White House press briefing, World Net Daily reporter Lester Kinsolving threw Jay Carney a real curve ball. Kinsolving is known for asking ridiculous, outlandish questions.
KINSOLVING: The Family Research Council and CNS News both reported a 93-to-7 U.S. Senate vote to approve a defense authorization bill that, quote, “includes a provision which not only repeals the military law on sodomy, but also repeals the military ban on sex with animals, or bestiality.”
Does the commander-in-chief approve or disapprove of bestiality in our armed forces?
CARNEY: I don’t have any comment on–I don’t have any comment on that. Let me go to another question.
KINSOLVING: Does the President believe this will be approved by all animal support groups, such as –
It’s here! P.A.W. Express, Prince William County’s new Mobile Pet Adoption Van, has arrived.
The 26-foot van, purchased by the Prince William SPCA with a $154,565 PETCO Foundation grant, is being housed at the Prince William County Animal Shelter and will make its public debut at the Animal Shelter’s Holiday Open House on Saturday, December 10, at 2 p.m. The van has the capacity to hold approximately 26 animals, and has roll doors that allow the animals to be viewed from the outside. Walk-through capability will allow potential adopters to meet the pets in the van.
The custom-built van will be used to increase adoptions of pets at the Prince William County Animal Shelter. The van will also assist in relief efforts of companion animals in crisis and serve as a transport vehicle to a spay/neuter facility.
It was the news the world breathlessly waited for immediately after the 9/11 terror attacks: a report of the first American troops on the ground in Afghanistan.
All at once the world’s attention focused on an iconic photo of those Special Operations Forces doing something no American military had done in nearly a century: They rode horses into combat.
Their secret mission: secure northern Afghanistan by advising the warring tribal factions that formed the Northern Alliance. During the 2011 Veterans Day Parade on November 11, a new monument to these men — and to all Americans in uniform — will make its way down New York City’s famed Fifth Avenue on the way to its final home, a stone’s throw from Ground Zero.
Military men and women, along with New York City firefighters, policemen, emergency responders and other marchers, 50,000 in all, will escort the monument on its televised journey. The spectacle will feature members of the three original Special Operations teams — some on horseback, others walking alongside surviving spouses of fallen heroes.
Retired Army general and current CIA director David Petraeus will be among the parade marshals. Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer is producing a future movie about America’s “Horse Soldiers.”
Not all our vets have been human. Reckless makes Traveler, Little Sorrel, Comanche and countless other horses look like ‘also rans.’
Reckless was definitely like the little engine who could.
She was retired at the Marine Corps Base in Camp Pendleton where a General issued the following order…she was never to carry any more weight on her back except her own blankets. She died in 1968 at the age of 20.
U.S. health authorities have announced the first death by a vampire bat in the United States.
According to the AFP, on July 15, 2010, a 19-year-old man was bitten by a vampire bat in Michoacan, Mexico. Ten days later, the migrant farm worker left for the U.S. to pick sugar cane at a Louisiana plantation. He fell sick, presenting symptoms of fatigue, shoulder pain, numbness in his left hand and a drooping left eye.
Tests later confirmed that the teenager had rabies. There is no cure for rabies and the youth died within days after his family took him off life support. The only time rabies can be stopped is before the onset of symptos. This is the first human death from vampire bat rabies in the United States. To date, no vampire bats exist in the United States. According to the CDC:
”Although vampire bats currently are found only in Latin America, research suggests that the range of these bats might be expanding as a result of changes in climate. Expansion of vampire bats into the United States likely would lead to increased bat exposures to both humans and animals (including domestic livestock and wildlife species) and substantially alter rabies virus dynamics and ecology in the southern United States.”
Choose your hat and your horse. It’s the Kentucky Derby! Horse racing fans are headed to Louisville to participate in the annual opening volley for the Triple Crown. We have not had a triple crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.
The 70′s brought 3 Triple Crown winners. Secretariat in 1973, and Seattle Slew in 1977. Before Secretariat, the previous thoroughbred to win the Triple Crown was Citation in 1948. There were 4 Triple Crown winners in the 40′s. Then nothing for 2 decades. We have not had a Triple Crown winner for 33 years.
The field is full this year. To see the contestants, or horse athletes as they are sometimes called, go to the Kentucky Derby website. This year is the 137th Kentucky Derby. The Derby is the first leg of the Triple Crown. The Preakness Stakes and the Belmont will wrap up the series to declare a Triple Crown winner.
I have chosen my horse–Pants on Fire. Pants on Fire (#7) will be ridden by Anna Napravnik. Favorite jockey Calvin Borel will ride Twice the Appeal, (#9). I may switch by tomorrow, or put money on 2 horses.
The race begins around 6 pm tomorrow. It has been described the most exciting 2 minutes in sports. The winner will stand under a blanket of red roses, one of the official symbols of the Kentucky Derby. Dan Fogelbery recorded the now famous song, Run for the Roses.
Maryland is considering a bill that would allow dogs to accompany their owners to restaurant patios and sidewalks for a meal, according to Baltimore Sunwriter Jill Rosen.
If passed, the law would take effect in October. Florida, California and Minnesota already have similar laws in place. Currently, allowing dogs to accompany restaurant patrons, whether it be indoors or outdoors, is illegal. Restaurants who ignore the rule can be fined.
It is difficult to find restaurants in Virginia that welcome dogs on leashes for outdoor dining areas. Should Virginia have a similar law? How many dog walkers can’t stop for a meal or drink because they are walking their dog? How many people would like to dine OUTSIDE with their dog? Why would anyone care outside? How many people find traveling with your dog almost impossible because of unavailable restaurants and lodging?
What is a puppy mill? Different people have different definitions. The generally agreed upon definition describes a puppy mill as a place were dogs are bred in large numbers with most of the emphasis on profit rather than an effort to improve the breed. According to wikipedia:
A puppy mill, sometimes known as a puppy farm,[1] is a commercial dog breeding facility that is operated with an emphasis upon profits above animal welfare and is often in substandard conditions regarding the well-being of dogs in their care.
There is a bill on the Missouri ballot that would redefine how puppies are raised. Why Missouri? It is estimated that 1 in every 3 puppies sold in the United States comes from Missouri. Many people in Missouri want to put a stop to puppy mills. The following changes will take place if these voters have their way:
require large-scale dog breeding operations to provide each dog under their care with sufficient food, clean water, housing and space; necessary veterinary care; regular exercise and adequate rest between breeding cycles;
prohibit any breeder from having more than 50 breeding dogs for the purpose of selling their puppies as pets; and
create a misdemeanor crime of “puppy mill cruelty” for any violations.
