Utah is one of only a few states that still permits animal shelters to euthanize animals using gas chambers.
On a regular basis I share stories that I read on the Care2 website. Indeed, there’s a lovely story of a police officer rescuing a dog that is being republished by me at my usual posting time tomorrow.
But this petition so upset me that I wanted to share it with you all, and to do that now.
Here are the details:
Demand Utah Animal Shelters Stop Using Gas Chamber Euthanasia
Utah is one of only a few states that still permits animal shelters to euthanize animals through gas chambers.
This is a cruel method, that can take up to an hour or more to be effective. During that hour the animals are scared as they slowly die alone in a cage, box, or drawer. There is a much more humane way to euthanize animals by intravenous injection, which allows animals to experience a much more peaceful death – usually within 30 seconds.
Gas chamber euthanasia is inhumane and outdated, when there are better methods available. Sign this petition demanding that the Utah Legislature pass a bill to end gas chamber use in animal shelters.
I just signed a Care2 petition to demand that the Utah State Legislature pass a bill to end gas chamber use in animal shelters.
At all levels and in so many ways it is life-giving.
Animals must see touch as a natural way of living. We humans are less natural about touch especially with people that we don’t know so well. Not everyone, of course, but as a general statement it is probably not wrong.
The topic of touch has come to me today as a result of a recent item read over on The Conversation blogsite; specifically about the importance of touch between a doctor and his or her patient. Here it is republished within the terms of The Conversation:
In contemporary health care, touch – contact between a doctor’s hand and a patient – appears to be on its way out. The expanding role of CT and MRI imaging is decreasing reliance on touch as a way of making diagnoses. Pressures to move patients through the system more quickly leave health professionals with fewer opportunities to make contact. Our experience suggests that when doctors spend fewer minutes with patients, less time is available for touch.
Yet despite the rise of scanners, robots and other new medical technologies, the physician’s hand remains one of medicine’s most valuable diagnostic tools. Touch creates a human bond that is particularly needed in this increasingly hands-off, impersonal age. Medical practice is replete with situations where touch does more than any words to comfort and reassure.
The USC psychologist Leo Buscaglia, whose habit of hugging those he met soon earned him the sobriquet “Doctor Love,” bemoaned our neglect of touch in his book, “Love,” in these terms:
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
For thousands of years, touch has been recognized as an essential part of the healing arts. Native American healers relied on touch to draw out sickness, and kings and queens were long believed to possess the “Royal Touch,” through which the mere laying on of hands could heal. The Bible contains numerous stories of the healing power of touch.
Touch is an essential part of our well-being
An indication of our need for touch can be found among our primate relatives. Psychologists have observed that many such species spend upwards of five hours of each day touching one another, partly through grooming. For many human beings, however, the daily dose of touching would be measured not in hours but minutes, perhaps even seconds.
Lack of touch can be hazardous to health. In experiments with primates some 60 years ago,
A young mother participates in a ‘Kangaroo Mother’ program at the National Maternity Hospital in El Salvador. Luis Galdamez/Reuters
researcher Harry Harlow demonstrated that young monkeys deprived of touch did not grow and develop normally. Mere food, water and shelter are not sufficient – to thrive, such creatures need to touch and be touched.
The same can be said for human beings. During the 20th century, wars landed many babies in orphanages, where their caretakers observed that no matter how well the infants were fed, they would fail to thrive unless they were held and cuddled on a frequent basis. Touch offers no vitamins or calories, yet it plays a vital role in sustaining life.
More recent studies have corroborated these findings. “Kangaroo care,” using papoose-like garments to keep babies close to their mothers, decreases the rate at which they develop blood infections. Touching also improves weight gain and decreases the amount of time that newborns need to remain in the hospital.
Touch creates a bond between doctor and patient
Novelist and physician Abraham Verghese has argued that touching is one of the most important features of the patient-physician interaction. When he examines a patient, he is not merely collecting information with which to formulate a diagnosis, but also establishing a bond that provides comfort and reassurance.
The notion that touch can reassure and comfort has a scientific basis. Ten years ago researchers used MRI scans to look at the brains of women undergoing painful stimuli. When subjects experience pain, certain areas of the brain tend to “light up.” The researchers studied subjects when they were alone, when they were holding a stranger’s hand, and when they were holding their husband’s hand.
They found the highest levels of pain activation when the women were alone. When they were holding a stranger’s hand, the pain response was decreased. And levels of activation were lowest of all when they were holding their husband’s hand. Interesting, the higher the quality of subjects’ marriages, the more pain responses were blunted.
Touch from parents helps kids in intensive care
We have been studying this phenomenon in our own institution, looking at the effect of touch not only on patients but on the parents of patients admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit.
The project, called ROSE (Reach Out, Soothe, and Embrace), sought to determine whether increasing opportunities to touch patients could promote parent well-being without compromising patient safety.
Instead of merely determining whether patients could be taken off the ventilator or fed, we also identified patients who could be safely touched and even held in their parents’ arms. When a patient was deemed safe to hold, a magnet bearing the image of a red rose embraced by two hands was placed on the door to the patient’s room.
While we are still analyzing the results and further study is needed to fully delineate the health benefits of touch, several findings are already clear.
First, increasing opportunities for touch does not compromise patient safety. Second, the subjective well-being of family members is enhanced when touching is encouraged. Third, promoting touch empowers family members to become more involved in their child’s care.
To be sure, inappropriate and unsafe touching can be harmful. But when touch is encouraged in the right ways and for the right reasons, it is good for patients, family, friends and health professionals alike. Touch is one of the most fundamental and effective ways to create a sense of connection and community among human beings.
In the words of the 20th-century theologian Henri Nouwen, who wrote in his book, “Out of Solitude”:
When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand.
So next time you find yourself confronted by a person in distress, remember the power of touch. Medicines and words both have healing power, but so does touch, and it is perhaps the most widely available, financially responsible and safest tool in the healing arts. When we touch, we connect, and when we connect, we create a healing bond for which there is simply no substitute.
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“When we touch, we connect, and when we connect, we create a healing bond for which there is simply no substitute.”
Jean with my mother back in July, 2014.
The healing touch!
Or to repeat the elegant words of Leo Buscaglia:
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
I wrote about this last Tuesday under the heading of Helping Hands and warned you that today and next Sunday would be picture parades of that event. For those that didn’t get to read that post here is how it opened:
The PetSmart Pet Adoption Event.
Over the days of the 13th to 15th May, in other words roughly a week-and-a-half ago, a number of pet adoption charities in Northern California and Southern Oregon came together courtesy of PetSmart in Medford, Oregon to find new homes for unadopted dogs and cats.
I came to hear about this from an email sent to me by Tammy Moore of the organisation Shelter Friends. Tammy also c.c.’d her email to Tana Mason who is Fundraising Coordinator for the charity. Tammy’s email was an invite for me, and Jean, to attend the event on the Saturday as the author of my book.
So, more pictures from the day (and my apologies for not noting names and details of each picture).
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Do hope you can handle a further selection of these event photographs in a week’s time! My motivation is to give everyone concerned a bit of a special focus for they did so well.
In gratitude to Roger Davis, long-time friend from my UK days, who forwarded me the link to the following. (Caution, the video does contain some coarse language probably unsuitable for those below the age of 16.)
If you had to make a playlist of your life, what would be on it?
That intriguing sub-title comes from a video that Jean and I watched a couple of weeks ago.
But first I want to return to the matter of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) that was written about in a post dated the 24th February Personal Journeys. I wrote, in part,
Sue, and everyone else, we returned from seeing Dr. Lee, the neurologist, a little under two hours ago. Dr. Lee’s prognosis is that Jean is showing the very early signs of Parkinson’s disease, and Jean is comfortable with me mentioning this.
Everyone’s love and affection has meant more than you can imagine. I will write more about this next week once we have given the situation a few ‘coatings of thought’.
Jean sends her love to you all!
In recent weeks Jean has been experiencing increasing feelings of apathy, lack of motivation, lack of energy, all of which she summed up as a feeling of isolation. Plus the tremor in her hand has been slowly worsening.
Last week we decided that rather than waiting until August for the next planned appointment with Dr. Eric Lee, the neurologist, we should appraise Dr. Lee of the decline in Jean’s overall mood. That has now been done and Dr. Lee’s response is that Jean should start a trial course of the drug Sinamet® that a quick web search (see link on trade name) explains is:
SINEMET® (carbidopa-levodopa) is a combination of carbidopa and levodopa for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and syndrome.
As before, Jean is happy for me to share this with you.
So back to the theme of playlists of our lives.
The Australian Broadcast Commission, ABC, have a YouTube channel ABCTVCatalyst that is full of great science programmes. As that website explains:
At Catalyst we know that science is a dynamic force for change. Each week Catalyst brings you stories from Australia and around the world. Our passion to meet scientists at the forefront of discovery is matched by our fascination with science breakthroughs however big or small. Science changes all our lives. For better or worse, we are committed to showing you what our future holds.
That is how Jean and I came across the following incredibly interesting talk about the role of music in our past lives assisting those with fading cognitive skills, as in my case, and including those with PD. It is just twenty-nine minutes long and something we should all watch, irrespective of our present age.
Published on Mar 8, 2016
If you had to make a playlist of your life, what would be on it? And if, toward the end of your life, your mind and memories were fading away, would this soundtrack help bring them back?
My final observation is that as a direct result of watching this programme I blew the dust off my iPod that I hadn’t used in many months. It was remarkable that despite me struggling at times to recall something I did just a few hours ago, I can hum along with tunes that are on my iPod that go back ten or twenty years.
Sully the Saint Bernard still hasn’t outgrown his love for mud.
I was working outside until late afternoon so wanted to find something quickly for today’s post.
Came across this video on YouTube from Rumble Viral – enjoy!
Published on May 19, 2016
At 4 years old Sully the Saint Bernard still hasn’t outgrown his love for mud. Here we find him playing with another dog as they run, jump and lay in a big pool of muddy water. If you’re wondering what pure happiness looks like, this is it!
One hopes these two happy dogs don’t go home and lay on the furniture.
Over the days of the 13th to 15th May, in other words roughly a week-and-a-half ago, a number of pet adoption charities in Northern California and Southern Oregon came together courtesy of PetSmart in Medford, Oregon to find new homes for unadopted dogs and cats.
I came to hear about this from an email sent to me by Tammy Moore of the organisation Shelter Friends. Tammy also c.c.’d her email to Tana Mason who is Fundraising Coordinator for the charity. Tammy’s email was an invite for me, and Jean, to attend the event on the Saturday as the author of my book.
(I would have written about the event before now but many of you will recall that was the weekend when my internet connection was down for a number of days.)
Anyway, that Saturday started off rather damp and grey but all the pet charities had previously been set up for the Friday.
But soon Jean and I had our own stand all ready for the opening time for the event and we were very grateful for being offered a table position just inside the main entrance door.
People soon started arriving and all were very friendly.
I shall continue with the photographs of the day over the next two picture parades.
But let me leave you with the results of all the fine people involved, both volunteers and the great staff at PetSmart.
In the words of Tana in answer to my question of how many animals were found homes:
I have the total for all three days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday: 9 puppies, 9 dogs and 14 cats!
I am not sure if this is a complete list of all the shelters that attended but certainly the following wonderful charities did:
Shelter Friends, Grants Pass, OR
Friends of Animals, Brookings, OR
Goliath Mountain Rescue, Yreka, CA
Rescue Ranch, Yreka, CA
Curry County Animal Shelter, Gold Beach, OR
“I believe in preventing cruelty to all living beings in any form.”
This quote from Morarji Desai, the former Prime Minister of India, is a very appropriate introduction to me republishing a post courtesy of Roughseasinthemed. It concerns the cruelty being meted out to some Spanish dogs. Or in her own words:
Thanks for picking up on the ‘dangerous’ dogs aspect. I think it is really important that dogs are not mislabelled, responsible dog owners have enough problems as it is. People are too quick to point fingers, and those of us who rescue dogs know what a difference food, water, a home, love and affection can make to a starving street animal. No dog asks to be thrown out. Or mistreated and abused. I’m currently trying to get some help and advice for a man who lives next to six Spanish hunting dogs that are chained up all day in a shed with a tin roof, where temps can go up to 50 degrees celsius, no food in their dishes and a floor covered in shit. Deplorable. These poor dogs must be traumatised.
Katherine later sent me a link to another blog with the details and some pictures. It is republished below, first in the original Spanish and then with an English translation.
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Perros de caza maltratados en Benissa:
Tenemos un “vecino” aquí en Benissa (Alicante), con 6 perros de caza encadenaros y estaban encerrados en una zona pequeña de 2 x 2m, un agujero tapado de placas de alumnio… las temperaturas en verano pueden subir a más de 50 grados, y los perros sufren terriblemente, lloran y ladran día y noche, viven y mueren en el infierno y sobre su propia “mierda”… Mi esposa y mi suegra están traumatizadas por esta crueldad, mandamos nuestra queja al Ayuntamiento y después de 8 meses respondieron que era lo que esperábamos por vivir en el campo… Tengo fotos tomadas de estos perros y su infames condiciones pero no estoy seguro de qué hacer con ellos porque aquí nadie parece querer saber nada…
We have a ‘neighbour’ here in Benissa, Alicante with six hunting dogs, chained up and imprisoned in a tiny hole of a place (agujero is a hole but it’s not a literal hole, or you could use hellhole, which would be my choice), two by two metres, covered with a tin roof.
The temperatures in summer get towards fifty degrees Celsius (122 deg F.), the dogs suffer terribly, they cry and bark day and night, and they live and die in the hell of their own ‘shit’.
My wife and my mother-in-law are traumatised by this cruelty, we’ve complained to the council and after eight months they’ve replied: ‘what do you expect when you live in the countryside?’
I’ve taken photos of these dogs and their suffering but I’m not sure what to do with them, because here, nobody seems to know what to do.
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In a response to Katherine I wrote that these dogs must be given better lives. She then added:
Fair enough Paul. We do too, so, easy to do. Sadly this man has contacted Seprona, which is the Guardia Civil section in charge of hunting, and they have washed their hands of it. But people are trying to help, coming up with suggestions, and that is the important thing.
When you read this please hold these dogs in your thoughts and hope that their terrible ordeal will soon come to an end. Also go to that blogsite that is carrying the story and leave your messages of support, in whatever language you choose! Every little bit helps, as this comment on that Spanish post illustrates:
Contact DeAnimals, a firm of lawyers in Murcia who work with the police, judges, vets etc on animal abuse cases. Also ACTIN in Murcia. They will tell you what to do.
“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”Martin Luther King, Jr
Slowly picking up the pieces from our internet outage.
The fact that I was sitting in front of my PC at 4:30am yesterday morning writing this says a lot about the inconvenience of losing our internet connection last Friday evening. We love living in this rural part of Southern Oregon surrounded by such dramatic scenery but it does have a couple of downsides, one of which is that we are very limited as to internet service providers.
Anyway, on with the show!
One of the posts that I had in mind for earlier this week was this rather poignant piece from Chris Snuggs. Chris and I go back many years to the time when he was Head of Studies at ISUGA; a French college based in Quimper. I was a visiting teacher at ISUGA covering entrepreneurial topics.
Enough of me, here is that story from Chris. It was sent to me on the 10th May.
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My sister’s dog died last night. Margaret woke me at 03.00 in the morning saying she needed my help. I found her at the front door, where Jasper was lying motionless, having crawled there in his last moments.
“I think he’s gone,” she said, sobbing quietly.
I knelt down and felt his side; indeed, there was no sign of breathing, though his body was still warm. Jasper had died. He had been ill for a few days, been down to the vet and got some medicine, but it had been to no avail. Maggie said he had been unusually quiet and motionless that last evening, making strange noises as his lungs failed him. At 12 years old, one cannot say it was a surprise, but until the last few days he had been right as rain, barking senselessly at nothing in particular when let out into the garden, getting under my feet as I did jobs around the house.
But death of any companion – or indeed of any living creature – is moving, shocking. He was not my dog, nor do I see him often or for long, but the one thing about dogs is that once they make friends with you – as Jasper had with me – you are a friend for life.
No matter how depressed you are, no matter how low an opinion you have of yourself, no matter how sheit your day was, whenever you walk through that front door, a dog will greet you with his tail wagging. They have infinite love, devotion and optimism; they take you as you are and love you whatever you are.
And so Jasper will be missed by me, but of course more so by my sister, who had him from a puppy. As anyone who has lost a companion knows, the house seems empty afterwards. There will be no more greetings with the wagging tail, no more forbidden jumping up onto the sofa to be patted, no more barking at the seagulls in the garden.
Death is a part of life, but hard to accept even so.
Chris Snuggs
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Chris also forwarded some photographs of dear Jasper that are offered in memory of the little chap.
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Embracing the reality of death: One of the most important lessons that we learn from our dogs.
Demand Utah Animal Shelters Stop Using Gas Chamber Euthanasia
Learning from Dogs 