Summer Camp 2014

Since this week is a holiday week we decided to offer a series of one-day camps.  This way parents can send their kids multiple days and work around their vacation schedules. 

25 kids are here today, and are having a blast.  The weather held out and so the kids were able to walk several dogs outside, in addition to meeting kittens, rabbits, guinea pigs, a ferret and a rat.  We even had them stuff kongs so that our shelter dogs get an icy treat. 

Summer Campers are Here!

Although HAWS is only into our second week of Kids 'N Critters Day Camp, I can say that it's started out to be our best year ever.  All of the counselors have returned from previous years, we have several teen volunteers helping out, and a mix of the familiar faces of returning campers along with new campers as well!

The kids have had a lot of fun, but they've also been a lot of fun.  I enjoy spending time with them and talking about what animals they love, answering their questions, and watching them play games and interact with the many animals here at HAWS.  It makes my job better to know how excited kids are to spend time at HAWS and learn about animals.

Cletus and the 5th Grade

For the last few years Mrs. DeShong's 5th grade class at Woodside Elementary in Sussex has taken advantage of HAWS' Teacher's Pet program and fostered one of our Guinea Pigs.   This year's chosen guinea pig was Cletus. 

Cletus started his school year in September, and bonded with the kids pretty closely.  I went to pick him up over Winter Break, and some of the kids were virtually in tears at the thought that they wouldn't get to see him for two weeks.  Each of the students had to say goodbye before I left the room with Cletus.

Since none of the parents of the students in Cletus' class wanted to adopt him, the kids made a huge effort to find a home for him on their own, rather than have him returned to HAWS and be in limbo as he waited for an adopter to fall in love with him.  This is from the email that Mrs. DeShong sent me in early May;  "Just wanting to let you know we have launched a school wide (including posters, visitations and slideshow) to find Cletus a forever home. My students are so involved in this!"

 The campaign the kids put together worked, and the mother of a student in a different classroom contacted us and wanted to adopt Cletus for her son.  The boy was so thrilled to have adopted him that we were told he teared up when he found out Cletus was going home with him.

It's wonderful to know that the Teacher's Pet program was successful in not only teaching students about being responsible pet owners, but also helping them learn to love animals and going above and beyond to do the right thing for an animal you love.  Enjoy your forever home, Cletus

Valley of the Kings

Each semester the HAWS Critter Club goes on a field trip to an animal related location.  A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to be able to visit Valley of the Kings, a sanctuary for large cats and other exotic animals. 

Unfortunately there are people who aren't satisfied with the selection of pets from those animals humans have already domesticated.  Wanting something "different" or because it would be "cool" some people get animals such as lions, tigers or wolves. 

Unfortunately in many states this is legal, and additionally private owners are usually unable to care for the animals properly.  Good zoos spend a tremendous amount of time and resources to ensure their animals are cared for properly.  Not only does the animal need food and water, but they need an appropriate habitat and their emotional and instinctual needs met.  Many zoos place a priority on environmental enrichment which allows their animals to use their natural behaviors and keep their minds engaged. 

Often people who get exotic pets don't do their research and aren't able to provide for the animal in a humane manner.  Additionally many times exotic animals are dangerous since they are still wild animals, and require enclosures that are much more secure than needed for a domesticated animal.   And sometimes private owners
 of these exotics end up being neglectful or downright abusive.

Many of the animals at Valley of the Kings come from previous owners such as this.  Some are retired circus animals which are no longer useful after just a few years performing tricks in front of audiences. 

The Critter Club kids learned about these animals on our visit to the sanctuary and how damaging it is to keep them as pets.  The kids were able to meet all the animals, and feed the big cats raw chicken legs by piercing it on the end of a bamboo pole and passing it through the double layer of fencing to the cats. 

Valley of the Kings tries to provide a final home for wild animals who previously lived terrible lives.  While they should never have been born into these lives, the sanctuary tries to make their last years comfortable and as happy as possible.   Hopefully the Critter Club kids can pass the message on that people should stick to keeping animals that were actually domesticated and therefore happy living with people. 

Spring Break Camp 2014

For the past several years HAWS has collaborated with the Hadfield Elementary Boys and Girls Clubs to provide a Spring Break Camp.  This year we had 10 boys and girls from the 4th and 5th grades spend four days learning about HAWS and the animals we take in.  Additionally we try and expose them to science and some of the research that's been done with animals. 

Last week the kids learned about Chaser -- the border collie who has learned the names of over 1000 of his toys, and Alex the African Grey Parrot who had learned to identify objects and label them by color, size, shape and material.  They also had an opportunity to put together their own experiment using dogs. 

This year's experiment involved the creation of two very large mazes and a person at the end of the finish line.  The question posed was will a dog learn the maze faster with a stranger with a treat at the finish, or with the dog's owner with a treat at the finish.  Two mazes were created; one for the stranger and one for the owner, with the two mazes being similar in difficulty level.  Each dog was given 3 trials per maze with each trial timed. 

The results at the end showed that dogs learned the maze more than twice as fast when their owner was at the finish, than when a stranger was at the finish.  I guess relationship means something after all! 

The kids had a really fantastic time at HAWS, enjoyed spending time with all the animals, and had fun with the experiment.  Hopefully they've learned that science is fun as well. 

Here's a video of my dog Mystic on his second run through each of the two trials. 

Hank the Brewer and other Non-famous Strays

Recently a small white stray dog showed up at the Milwaukee Brewers spring training.  Hank has been a staple in the news on a regular basis since then. There has also been a lot of buzz by average news followers, and one comment from a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article  in particular struck me as an example of public confusion over the word "stray". 

"Hopefully the owner doesn't come forward. If the owner cared about him in the first place he would not have been a stray."

In my almost ten years of working in a shelter I've talked to many people who think a stray pet is one that has been fending for itself for a very long period of time.  People are amazed that we have strays up for adoption that are "so friendly!"  Many people think that a stray would most likely behave in a fearful, feral state. 

I've also heard of people who find a stray animal state that they're going to keep it, and don't plan on looking for an owner.  These people are under the same assumption as the person who commented on the Journel Sentinel article -- that the owners must not care about the pet.  Additionally many people don't realize that under Wisconsin State Law (Statute 170.02) the finder needs to make an effort to find the owner. 

What many people don't realize is that a stray animal is simply a pet or domestic animal that is in public and no one knows who it's owner is.   So a cat born to a feral cat colony who has never lived with people and behaves like a wild animal is considered a stray.  But so too is the dog who escaped from the backyard 20 minutes ago and is found by someone a mile from home. 

Just because an animal is found as a stray doesn't mean that the owner doesn't care about him.  HAWS takes in many stray animals that got loose by accident, and whose owners are desperate for their return.   In one case we had a stray come in and once we checked the microchip found the owner who lived in Minnesota.  It turned out that the cat went missing from their home, and it's a mystery as to how it ended up in Waukesha County, WI.  In another case the microchip on a dog led us to an owner who told us their dog had been stolen from their backyard a year earlier, and they were thrilled to get her back. 

As to why Hank's owners never came forward we most likely will never know.  It's possible that the owners didn't want him and abandoned him.  However it's also possible the owners don't realize that Hank is their dog.  Perhaps he got loose or was stolen from his family and then transported several hundred miles or more before being dumped in the area of the Brewers spring training camp.  Because we don't know for sure we shouldn't make assumptions. 

Fourteen Rats in a Snow Bank

One of the worst parts about working at a shelter is that you see the unpleasant way that some people treat animals.  From people behaving impatient and yelling at an animal that isn't behaving the way the owner wants them to, to outright abuse and neglect.  Sometimes we can help and the animal ends up better off.  Sometimes there isn't anything we can do legally or otherwise, and we have to accept that we did the best we could. 

When cases of abuse or neglect to animals such as cats, dogs and horses are publicized, many people are understandably outraged and feel a great deal of empathy for what the animal had to endure.  For many people it's harder to empathize with animals that are not universally accepted as good pets.  As a matter of fact many people shudder at the thought of sharing their lives with pet rats. 

Rats actually make excellent pets.  They are social animals and enjoy interaction with people.  They are very smart and can learn to come when called and to perform tricks.  And they are fun to watch.  Many people dislike the hairless tail, but the tail is hairless because rats are easily over-heated, and the lack of hair on the tail helps them to cool their body temperature down.  No matter how you feel about rats, no animal deserves to be treated in an abusive and inhumane manner. 

The call came in on the morning of Thursday, January 2 that someone had found 14 domestic rats in a snow bank.   By the time our staff got out there several had died of exposure and a few had feet that were frozen to the ice.  HAWS staff had to take hair dryers to free them.  Eleven eventually survived. 

Several of the rats were females, and were sent to foster care on maternity watch.  Only one of the females ended up giving birth and mother and babies are still in foster care and doing fine. 

We don't know who abandoned these animals in such a cruel manner.  Where they originally feeder rats for a snake that were no longer needed, or did someone get in over their heads with too many rats and not enough resources to care for them?  We'll never know. 

What I do know is that through the kindness of someone who cared enough to call HAWS we were able to save most of them.  I'd like to think that for every act of cruelty there's a balance of an act of kindness.  Hopefully we can get all our ratties adopted out into good homes so that they never need to experience the worst side of human behavior again.