Here comes the spring...

It’s starting to feel like spring – rain instead of snow, melting white stuff and mud everywhere.  In Manitoba we start thinking about our annual spring arrival – flooding!  How prepared are you on your farm, in your home and in your family?  There are many guides, links and resources to help people prepare for flooding, evacuation and cleaning up as you return home.  But how many people have used them?  Feeling pretty confident that, as a Manitoban, you have flood planning under control and you are ready? Okay, one more question: what is your plan to care for your animals?

There are three basic options when you are faced with a flood situation: stay put, evacuate with animals or evacuate and have ‘care-in-place’ for your animals.  Let’s talk a bit about each, with a focus on animals.

Stay Put: when you are behind a dyke or in an area where it is safe for you to stay in your home or on your farm there are things you should do in preparation for that stay, especially if you could be isolated there for a time during the height of the flood. 

• ·         Ensure you have enough food and fresh water for your animals
• ·         Make sure you have medications/prescriptions filled for any animals who are on medications
• ·         Have a first aid kit for animals handy
• ·         Make sure you have an evacuation kit for each animal in case you do have to evacuate (detailed below)
• ·         Have a container for collecting poop from your animals (if you have animals in a confined area or yard) to keep their outdoors area clean for you and them
• ·         Have a list of your animals, with their names, chip or tag numbers, ages and a photo of each attached with contact numbers should you and your animals become separated at some point during the flood

Evacuate with Animals:  there will be times you have to leave with your animals, and there are some special steps to take to ensure a smooth evacuation.

• ·         If you animals have special food (critical for sensitive animals such as those having treatment, or specialty breeds)
• ·         Be sure each animal has their own crate with name and contact number on it
• ·         Be sure each animal has a collar, tags, leash or other way of identification on them when possible
• ·         Take your list of animals with you when you leave
• ·         If you have an ‘Animals In Home’ sign in your window, take it down so rescuers know there are no animals inside
• ·         Double check that the evacuation centre you are going to will let you bring your animals, if it does not contact the Provincial Welfare Vet or a local rescue to find where your animals can go during the evacuation
• ·         Leave early! If you are in an area that is under evacuation notice, move your animals out early so they can be safely cared for with less stress
• ·         Ask for help! If you cannot transport the animals you have, ask for help and ask early!

Care-In-Place: there will be times that individuals and communities leave their animals behind to have ‘care-in-place’ provided for them.  This situation relies on volunteers to check on animals left behind after the people are evacuated.  Make their job easier using some of these steps:

• ·         Put up your “Animal In House” sign so they know it is a house with animals (these are a free download here and here)
• ·         Leave a list of animals, names and any special needs they may have
• ·         Ensure that they have adequate food
• ·         Do not leave any animals behind that are: pregnant, with very small newborns, having recently had surgery or otherwise need constant care as this is not the job of care-in–place volunteers. Make arrangements for them in advance and evacuate them early.
• ·         Animals which are dangerous, aggressive or threaten caregivers may be removed by animal control for everyone’s safety, be sure to notify caregivers if any animals have issues that can be dealt with before an issue arises

If you feel any animals are in danger, have been left behind without care or have other welfare concerns or questions about flood preparations please call the Provincial Welfare Vet at 945-8000, Animal CARE Line.  If you are outside of Manitoba, call your local ALERT or CARE line for assistance.  Link up with your Rescue groups on Facebook, in Manitoba we have the Manitoba Emergency Response For Animals (MERA) which is looking for volunteers but also will be helping with animals during the flood.

What do you use your Facebook for?

Picture this: a fire in a city, a dog is scared and runs away from the noise, the smell and the confusion.  The family is injured, the lost dog is older and alone in the night.  One message on Facebook gets the word out to hundreds of people, many of which start looking or messaging friends in the city to look.  Photos are posted, numbers are shared and later the dog is found and is safely being cared for.  Literally with a single message popular social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter can connect people from next door or around the world.

Picture this: an animal lover learns about two senior dogs that no longer have people caring for them on their remote farm, and the neighbor is going to shoot them if no one gets them out before winter.  Someone stops by and drops off food but they are essentially alone.  Their photos and a story are shared with a breed rescue group (in this case Hulls’ Haven Border Collie Rescue, of Teulon, MB).  The group posts the photos to their Facebook pages, and asks their members to cross post and share. The request?  Find a home for these two dogs to ‘retire’ to, and find drivers for their rescue relay (a series of drivers or sometimes planes, which transport rescue animals from distant areas to a safe place) and arrange for everyone to put the trip together.  The dogs found a home, the drivers volunteered and the diligent Customs Officers’ ensured they were properly documented for entry and they are enjoying a working retirement on a Manitoba ranch.

What would the outcome for these three dogs have been without the efforts of rescue volunteers and the power of social networking? Certain death for two, and possibly a long, cold time spent alone and lost for the other.

One of the quickest ways to get in touch with people, Social Networking has been tested and used by Emergency Measure’s Organizations to notify members, by animal rescue groups to get help for animals in need and by the community while looking for people who may be at risk.  The world shrinks according to how connected we are to each other, and while this can lead to many challenges it opens up far more opportunities. When planning to be prepared for emergencies, social networking can be a key tool.

There are many ways that social networking can help provide resources, and information about animal care and animal welfare.  Through groups and fan pages information can be shared, requests and posts can be uploaded, photos and calls for assistance can be circulated and people from the animal rescue community can connect with each other, share resources and talk.   A quick search for ‘animal rescue’ revealed over 775 pages and almost 4000 groups!  Not all are going to be actual rescue organizations, some maybe support groups, authors and resources.  Some could be activists or just folks fooling around but even with all that where else could you find literally thousands of people who share, care and work together with a common goal – in this case, animal rescue.

Other ways to connect include blogs and websites – one a newer media and the other an old standard.  The trouble with either of them is the lack of immediate connection you get in social networking.  You literally can put out a message and come back with response minutes later. From grass roots local organizations working with groups from both sides of the Canada-US border, to international groups sharing information with their hundreds of thousands of members and everything in between.

Post, cross post, share, like and comment can make all the difference in the world to an animal or animal rescue group. What do you use your Facebook for?

Dr. Temple Grandin - on HBO!

As many of you know I admire, and very much enjoy, Dr. Temple Grandin, and now so many more people can learn about this remarkable woman.  HBO did a special on her life and work.  Here are some links for it, watch it and post some reviews here in the Comments section.


Interview with Dr. Grandin by Red & Black
http://www.redandblack.com/2010/02/02/autistic-scientist-relates-to-animals/


Film Shows Many Sides to Renowned CSU Professor
http://www.ncbr.com/article.asp?id=27678


Information about the Movie
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hLhXMhN6wb7NpsGBu1-WZQ9InsLQ


Be Sure to Go to HBO to see the trailers and more info!


Read some of Dr. Grandin's papers here at www.grandin.com and learn about autism and her work at www.templegrandin.com, and be sure to read some of her books.  An amazing lady who I've had the honour of visiting with a few times.

Some Headlines To Share...

Lots going on in the animal world, some funny, some tragic and some hopeful...browse the stories and share your thoughts...

World's Animal Groups Work To Help Animals In Haiti
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jwWMzJf8tGwKhRjVdXmxn0h-rD5Q
Three cheers for the animal rescue and aid organizations for working together for the animals of Haiti, which in turn helps the people of Haiti...and the rest of us!  

New Zealand Dog Shooting - Dispute Between Neighbors
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/91222/decision-charges-a-week-away-spca
Since when does a 'dispute' between neighbors lead to the shooting of dogs?  This has folks riled up from the top down.


Chicken Plays Chicken in CA
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/29/AR2010012903147.html
Should the Rescue Ink guys or some Manitoba Chicken catchers head down to help out?  One black chicken is giving some pretty 'black' eyes in a California town.


Expanded Animal Shelter in Windsor
http://www.windsorstar.com/life/Feds+province+fund+expansion+animal+shelter/2497504/story.htmlNMore room to care for animals is a good thing...


BLM Finds Round Up Stress
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/29/AR2010012903077.html
Are they following the spirit or the letter of the law?  Is it about what is best for the horses and the land?  How can 22 horses die in a round up that is supposed to be humane?


Acton School Vandals Kill Fish
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/756167--animal-cruelty-charges-as-vandals-kill-school-pets?bn=1
Fish? C'mon! What did the fish do to them?


D.C. Animal Watch
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/27/AR2010012701861.html
A smattering of what our D.C. friends deal with...


China Changing The Menu?
http://blogs.citypages.com/food/2010/01/china_starts_re.php
Controversy surrounds movement in China to remove dog and cat from menus...for the animals or for the politics?


OSPCA Retains Reins to Humane Society
http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/01/26/12622701.html
The troubled Toronto Humane Society will remain under the watchful eye of the OSPCA.

Wintering Well

“Wintering Well”

 We’ve had a few successive “soft” winters, but this year we’re starting off with what’s looking like one of the old fashioned kind. November has been overcast, blustery, quite cool, and we have nearly two feet (60 cm. plus) of snow on the level in our neck of the woods.  Good sleighing - poor trucking!

Recollecting life on the homestead in northeast Saskatchewan in the early 1940’s, I remember bands of horses ranging free in winter, travelling through the yard, and on to the stubble fields or next hay meadow. In the spring, “winter lumberjacks” would become “summer stubble jumpers“, catching up and laying claim to an outfit for seeding, haying, bindering, stook threshing, perhaps hauling wood, before turning the horses loose, and themselves heading back  to the winter bush camps. We had our feed stacks fenced in next to the barn, protected and handy for Mom and her wee boys to feed our own stock, horses haltered and housed, handled  and hitched every day.  Quite a contrast, but those running out and those stabled in all seemed to prosper! I’m recounting this because it seems we are now in an age of “free expression” on standards of equine care. “Those who think they know may be a source of some annoyance to those of you who do!”

The “Recommended Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Horses”, developed in 1998 and currently under review, remains a voluntary educational tool, promoting sound management and welfare practices. http://www.carc-crac.ca/english/codes_of_practice/horse.htm The recommendations cover a wide gamut of horse husbandry levels of care, based on the best knowledge currently available. Recognition of the basic elements of responsible care: comfort and shelter, water and diet for full health and vigor, opportunity for reasonable movement, the company of others of like kind, the opportunity to exhibit normal patterns of behavior, prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment of abnormal behavior, injury and disease, emergency procedures to cover outbreaks of fire, the breakdown of essential mechanical services and the disruption of supplies ….these constitute the starting point of this 34 page document with which all

horse persons should be familiar.

Knowledgeable experienced horse people will generally be aware. “Fair weather” horse people, inexperienced owners, and those who have become “horse poor” are more likely to make judgment errors negatively affecting their animals over winter.

Horses should be in good body condition and health going into winter. We need to plan for them, because they can’t plan for themselves. If they are going to range out, they need range with enough residual to maintain weight with the higher energy requirements of the season. They need salt, mineral, and a source of water, especially in the transition period between freeze up and sufficient snowfall for them to meet their fluid needs. They should have been de-wormed after the first good killing frost to deal especially with large and small strongyles, pinworms and bots. Any dental problems need to have been checked out. All in a band should be reasonably compatible, with the very young and old grouped separately. Hooves trimmed, halters off and kept under a watchful eye.

Young horses in training, horses in everyday use may be kept at home, fed and exercised outside or stabled all or part time. I believe horses are by and large healthier and happier kept out. Fewer respiratory problems, fewer vices and boredom habits, a better attitude and a whole lot less work result. You need a well ventilated stable.  You need the very best of high quality dust and mould free preferably grass-legume hay. You need clean heavy weed-seed free oats. Barley and wheat are down the list as suitable horse feed unless you‘re planning on sending them to Japan. And you may need some oat straw for them to chew on to balance out the need for adequate roughage in the ration. A little flax seed will put a shine on the coats. A horse should be groomed from the inside out and the outside in!

Now, it’s a matter of your eye. You will know which one’s are easy keepers. You don’t want them to get too fat. Rest and fat are the two worst enemies of the horse (and us too!). Some will be hard keepers and take more to keep them up.  Sometimes there’s a reason for this (bad teeth, parasitism, nervous temperament, bottom end of the pecking order, poor digestion, heaves, overwork, manger fever, altitude disease, not all correctable). Sometimes that’s just their metabolism and you’ve got to feed them more.

Watch their eye, which should always be bright and full. Watch their eating, drinking habits, level of physical activity, and the degree of interaction with others. Note body eliminations for volume, consistency and colour. When you put him to work, does he stay the course? Along with coat and hoof health you’ll have a measure of overall wellness.

Next spring when he’s shed all that hair and you’ve found your horse again, let’s hope he’s wintered well!

B.W.R. Rothwell, D.V.M

Winter Feeding Tips

Courtesy Dr. Brynne Rothwell and Kathy Hyland

Winter-feeding of livestock

Livestock can adapt to living outside during the cold season; however, owners must be vigilant to ensure the welfare of their animals.

          ¯  Livestock feel the cold - provide shelter from wind and rain, snow or ice

¯  Livestock need energy to stay warm – increase feed rations at low outside  

     temperatures

¯  Livestock can only eat so much – provide supplemental feeds if roughage   

   (hay) does not meet the animals’ energy needs

¯ Livestock need water – provide water regularly or consider heated water

    sources. Check water sources daily. Snow is not an acceptable source of         

     water.

¯  Livestock shouldn’t lose weight – observe animals closely and address

     weight loss immediately

“Keepin’ Up the BTU’s

Three to the barn for oats and hay

           Orderly entering their stalls

A morning routine, pampered

           Creatures of habit in every way

Two hours in, then out to play

            Happy, curried and fed

Packed snow shed, from hooves

             Two harnessed and hitched to the sleigh

Two stand too close! TIMBER! Not understood

              As I fall and block

Split and pile, harvest

               Dead standing wood

Three follow me, axe in hand

                I open a hole in the ice

Each drinks in respectful turn

                “Order of rank” in the band

Atop the dugout mound of clay

                Three stand sleepily content

Broadside to the warming winter sun

                 On this clear crisp November day

                                                                          Rothwell 2006”

Horse Welfare Alliance of Canada

Not that long ago, when all the furor arose about the horse meat and horse slaughter industry, a group of concerned and caring horse people in Canada came together. 


Their goal, much like that of their counterparts in the US, was to create a united voice to provide information and increase knowledge about the horse industry in Canada.  There are many welfare issues concerning horses in Canada, and by education and advocating the people within the industry can provide information and support towards better care for all horses, across Canada and provide an example for the rest of the world.


Towards that end they have formed the Horse Welfare Alliance of Canada which has a website, Horse Welfare Alliance,  and has many articles and resources posted.  The objectives of the HWAC are simple: 

The communication of correct information related to the Canadian horse industry to horse owners and the general public.

Objectives

The Horse Welfare Alliance of Canada will:

1. support the existing education programs of each of its partners
2. promote humane handling of horses throughout all of their life stages.
3. inform its constituents and partners of matters and issues related to the welfare of the horse population.
4. enhance public awareness of matters and issues relating to the welfare of the horse and the horse industry.
5. strive to network with other organizations who might assist the Alliance in the achievement of its purpose and objectives.

I would encourage you to check out their site, and also cross link and share resources.  Informed people make informed decisions!