Author: LATimes

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Animal welfare groups arrived in Haiti on Saturday to help protect earthquake victims by vaccinating stray dogs and maintaining the health of livestock.

One of the biggest animal-related threats posed by the magnitude 7.0 quake, which killed an estimated 200,000 people and left thousands more homeless, is an increased incidence of rabies, said Ian Robinson, of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

"When you get situations with a large group of displaced people, and hungry dogs wandering around, then you’ve got the opportunities for dog bites to occur, and that obviously leads to the spread of rabies," he told the Associated Press.

It is also important to maintain veterinary care for livestock, said Gerardo Huertas, of World Society for the Protection of Animals, because families in crisis need them all the more for food, milk, sale and survival.

"The concept of pets is quite foreign to Haitians," said Karen Ashmore, executive director of the Lambi Fund agricultural group in Haiti. "Most Haitians can barely feed themselves, much less a pet."

Robinson and Huerta’s groups — the world’s two largest for animal welfare — have joined a dozen partners to respond to protection and public health issues related to animals in Haiti.

The Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti will start by vaccinating stray dogs against rabies, said one official. They also will round up dogs to feed and protect them. Stray dogs have been forming packs, sometimes eating human remains.

"There’s nothing more difficult to watch than a semi-feral animal eating a human remain," said Dick Green of International Fund for Animal Welfare. "So the people react in the way you would expect them to react — they kill them. They either club them or shoot them or do something to them because they don’t want that to happen. And the dog is just trying to survive."

The coalition is reaching out to rural farmers whose lives depend on pigs, goats and chickens. A small Haitian Creole piglet will eat and forage in weeds, fatten quickly and sell for a good price, said Ashmore, whose Lambi Fund helps Haitians by giving them a starter pig or goat, veterinary care for a year and instructions on how to milk or mate the animals.

Goats account for 40% to 50% of the livestock in Haiti, Green said. He expects they will find some who’ve been injured by walking through rubble.

Many animals also suffer loss of productivity, he added: "This is a stressful time. Some of the cows and goats won’t give milk."

The coalition plans to distribute food to farmers to help sustain them until they get back on their feet.

If families are fed, animals that live off their food scraps will be fed, Green said.

Animal relief groups are using websites, Twitter, Facebook and every means they can find to raise money for the effort. So far, they have received about $140,000 in donations, but "it will be a million-dollar project for sure," Green said.

"It’s public health," said Heather Case, of the American Veterinary Medical Assn. "It’s animal welfare, and it’s what we need to do following a disaster."

— Associated Press

Animal news on the go: Follow Unleashed on Facebook and Twitter.

Top photo: Stray dogs in a road covered by debris in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake.  Credit: Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press

Bottom photo: A goat walks past the wreckage of the Sainte Rose de Lima church in Leogane, Haiti, on Jan. 20.  Credit: Patrick Farrell / McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Dog breeders in Iowa would see increased fees and tougher regulations under a measure unveiled today by supporters who called for cracking down on so-called puppy mills that often abuse animals.

Iowa’s roughly 400 licensed breeders produce about 20,000 dogs annually, ranking it third nationally behind Missouri and Oklahoma, backers of the measure said at a statehouse news conference.

"We are here to protect those 20,000 dogs," said Davenport Sen. Joe Seng, a Democrat who works as a veterinarian.

Under the measure, the state would increase the licensing fee from the current $20 annually to $100. The extra money would pay for an inspector at the Iowa Department of Agriculture who could respond to complaints at breeding operations.

Breeders in the state now are licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but supporters of the new measure argue that the agency’s inspectors don’t have time to check out complaints about facilities

"It’s time to come in and set a fee that’s adequate to do the job," said Sen. Matt McCoy, a Des Moines Democrat who is a key backer of the effort.

The measure also would increase penalties for unlicensed facilities, require veterinarians to report animal abuse and tighten enforcement of sales tax collections on animal purchases.

Lawmakers have debated the issue for years, but backers said they are optimistic they’ll succeed this year. The measure is expected to be approved by a House committee this week.

The Iowa Federation of Animal Owners opposes the effort, saying most breeders act responsibly and shouldn’t have to pay for new regulations. Instead, the group said, it favored targeting unlicensed facilities believed to mistreat animals most frequently.

Farm interests have also been leery of the effort, in part because they claim it’s being driven by animal welfare activists.

Backers rejected those arguments and said the measure won’t hurt breeders who properly care for animals.

"The bill is a compromise, but it is a good one," said Rep. Jim Lykam, a Democrat representing Davenport. "I’m hopeful that the 2010 session will mark the end of Iowa’s reputation for lax enforcement of pet breeding operations."

McCoy said backers would like to put the program in place for a year, then take another look at the fee after they have a sense of the number of complaints that are filed. He conceded that much of the enforcement would be sparked by the industry.

"We’re talking about the unlicensed breeders that are operating under the radar screen," McCoy said. "We are asking for help from the legitimate breeders in the state. We believe that there are legitimate breeders in the state who will in fact turn those unlicensed, unregulated breeders over."

— Associated Press

Animal news on the go: Follow Unleashed on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo: Although this poodle and her puppies were rescued in Pennsylvania by the group Main Line Animal Rescue,  puppy mills are a problem in many parts of the nation. Credit: Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press

KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Afghanistan — The U.S. troop surge in Afghanistan has led to a dog surge — and unexpected problems in procuring high-quality dog food with enough protein and nutrients for hundreds of canines used to find explosives and perform other energy-intensive missions.

Along with about 37,000 U.S. and NATO troops, the number of military working dogs being brought into the country to search for mines, explosives and to accompany soldiers on patrol is increasing substantially, according to Nick Guidas, the American K-9 project manager for Afghanistan.

Guidas, a civilian contractor who primarily oversees dog operations in southern Afghanistan, said he has 50 dogs on operational teams and about 20 more awaiting missions. He expects that number to go up to 219 by July.

"It may go as high as 315 dogs in Afghanistan," he said Saturday at a crowded kennel full of highly trained German and Dutch shepherds, Belgian Malinois and Labradors on this air base, the hub of U.S. and international security forces’ operations in the volatile Kandahar area.

"Because of the surge there is more need for working dogs. But one of my main problems is getting dog food," he said. "It’s hard to convince people sometimes that it’s a priority, but it’s a necessity if we are to keep these dogs working."

Guidas said because of the energy-intensive demands of their missions, the dogs require special food and can’t just eat scraps.

The dog food, which is made commercially in the United States and has extra protein and nutrients to keep the dogs healthy while working in the heat and cold, must be shipped to Pakistan and then trucked to Kandahar.

But space on trucks is limited and prioritized. Food and supplies for humans come first, and logistics planners are still adjusting for the eating needs of the bigger pack of dogs to be put to work.

"It doesn’t get a higher priority than a Coke or some potato chips," Guidas said of the dog food. "It moves when it moves."

Even so, the dogs have become an essential component of many units because of their versatility. They can be trained to search for a wide variety of explosives and parts used in making improvised bombs.

In the last month alone, military dogs in southern Afghanistan have made 20 finds of unexploded devices, weapon caches and other materiel.

The U.S. has about 2,800 military dogs, the largest canine force in the world. It has used dogs in combat since World War I.

The dogs don’t come cheap. It costs about $40,000 per dog a year, and each goes through about five months of training. This year, Guidas expects the cost of the dog food that he needs to reach $200,000, up from about $80,000 last year.

He said each dog can work for five or six years, but the demands of the terrain and of the mission are harsh, particularly on the dogs’ joints. If a dog is injured or sick, it is not sent out on operations.

Only two military dogs have been lost in southern Afghanistan in the last five years, Guidas said.

"We take very good care of these dogs," he said. "In some cases they are treated better than us."

— Associated Press

Animal news on the go: Follow Unleashed on Facebook and Twitter.

1st photo: A soldier relaxes with a bomb-sniffing Labrador in the Afghan province of Helmand.  Credit: Christophe Simon / AFP/Getty Images

2nd, 3rd photos: Tosca, a Belgian Malinois, during a training exercise with the Afghan National Army in Kandahar.  Credit: Kirsty Wigglesworth / Associated Press

This inventive moose came up with a unique way to compensate for his lack of a salt lick: He simply wandered from car to car, licking off the salt accumulated from driving on snowy roads. 

You know, sort of like a giant, metallic Popsicle, only less delicious (and less clean). 

We bet that’s not quite the car wash the vehicle’s owner had in mind, but it certainly did make for a good photo-op (and an adorable video)!

— Lindsay Barnett

Don’t miss a single adorable animal: Follow Unleashed on Facebook and Twitter.

Video: dhjgonzo via YouTube

Have a non-emergency question about your pet’s health?  Dr. Heather Oxford of L.A. veterinary hospital California Animal Rehabilitation (CARE) is here to help!  In this installment of Ask a Vet, Dr. Oxford has some tips for reader Steph on helping her dog to overcome bladder-control problems.

Steph’s question: I have a 2-year-old male (neutered) golden retriever. He
wets on the floor every time he gets excited or if he does anything
wrong. It is awful! I can’t have company over without worrying about
my dog wetting on the floor. Will he ever outgrow this, or is there
any medication that I can give him to help him control his bladder?

Heather Oxford, DVM: Your dog may be experiencing urinary dribbling due to overly submissive behavior, which is not easily corrected with medication. He will likely not outgrow this, and it may worsen if not addressed appropriately. The problem is that you cannot correct this by verbal reprimands because this will actually trigger more fear and anxiety, making the problem worse. The key is prevention. 

First, maintain a calm, soft vocal tone when addressing the dog in any way to avoid hyper-excitation for good behaviors or overly submissive, fear-based reactions to bad behaviors. Second, ignore the dog when you first come home while he is overly excited and pay him attention only when he has calmed down. This should help to discourage him from becoming overly excited in the first place, since he gets the reward of your attention only when he displays the desired behavior.

Finally, if you catch him in the act of an undesired behavior do not punish him; simply redirect his attention to a more constructive activity. For example, if you catch him chewing on a shoe instead of yelling "No!" or "Bad dog," remove the shoe and replace it with a chew toy. After following these guidelines, if your dog shows no improvement, consult with a veterinary behaviorist.
Good luck!

To submit your question for Dr. Oxford, just leave a comment on this post and look for her answer in an upcoming installment of Ask a Vet!

About our vet: Dr. Oxford received her bachelor of
science degree at Bowling Green State University, Ohio.  She also
received a master’s of public health degree in epidemiology from Emory
University and went on to work at the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention in Atlanta. She then went to the University of Tennessee,
College of Veterinary Medicine, where she received her doctor of
veterinary medicine degree.  She practices at California Animal
Rehabilitation and is also certified in veterinary rehabilitation and
acupuncture. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Wade, and
German shepherd, Tess.

Photo: Just a hunch, but we suspect reader Steph would like to cut down on the number of times she has to hire an outside carpet cleaner like this fellow to help clean up her golden retriever’s mess.  Credit: Los Angeles Times

PERRIS, Calif. — Opee is only 8, but he’s already a popular veteran in the down and dirty sport of motocross.

He can pull 6 Gs. He’s been the centerfold for Cycle News and poses regularly for fan photos. He’s a survivor of the grueling Baja 500 and has racked up more than 10,000 hours on a dirt bike.

Sometimes, you can barely see the 70-pound pooch — a blue merle Australian shepherd — through the dust on his goggles and his custom helmet, complete with cam.

"I am his biggest fan," said Mike Schelin, Opee’s owner, race partner and a purveyor of used motorcycle parts from a shop next to his mobile home.

Schelin got the dog in 2001 shortly after his divorce. He raises him with other dogs and two horses at a spread he calls Miracle Flats. Known as "The Dogfather" to some in the sport, Schelin always takes a back seat to Opee.

"He was my instant best friend," Schelin said. "He slept in my tool bag. There was something about him. He’s had charisma since Day One. I knew I had a dog who could make a difference."

Schelin, 41, realized he had a four-legged motocross fan as a pet when he started riding in the desert with Opee on the chase.

"I felt bad for him, he would run so long." So Schelin bought a four-wheeler and they went desert riding together. The dog didn’t like the dust in his eyes, so Schelin got him goggles. One day, Opee ditched the four-wheeler and hopped on the motorcycle tank, where he’s been ever since, Schelin said.

If the bike isn’t moving, Opee will just fall asleep on the tank. They keep it bare because they’ve never found a covering that’s comfortable for the dog, Schelin said.

Reaction to Opee was magic. He was an instant canine ambassador to off-roading. Finding sponsors was no problem and soon Opee had his own custom gear, including a specially made neck brace, inflatable vest, backpack, water supply and several jerseys. He got his American Motorcycle Association card and his SCORE International card, the latter so he could race in Baja.

The dog does lots of other things, too. He’s been a search and rescuer, a California assistance dog and visits kids in hospitals with Schelin. They regularly work crowds at races in the area, including the Supercross in Anaheim.

Opee appears to be Schelin’s biggest fan as well. "From what I see, he loves Mike and would go anywhere with him," said Ricky Johnson, a seven-time national motorcycle champion who owns Perris Raceway near Schelin’s place.

Opee and Schelin race, but not to win. Because they’re different and for safety’s sake, they always start in the rear and they only compete with the cyclist in front of them, Schelin said.

Schelin’s greatest triumph came when his five-member team — with Opee in the driver’s seat for 276 miles — finished the cross-country Baja 500 with 10 minutes to spare — in 17 hours, 49 minutes, 36 seconds — and ahead of half the pack.

"The average person races eight times before he finishes," he said.

In the beginning, Schelin had trouble seeing around Opee, but they worked out shifts and leans and it’s seldom a problem now. Schelin also uses voice commands.

"When we come up to a jump, I tell him to set it up and he will drop down and give me more of a view," Schelin said. If they’re at the bottom of a cliff or big hill and there’s too much weight, he just tells Opee to get off and meet him at the top.

Schelin doesn’t go racing without Opee these days. "I can’t go as fast without him. I can’t jump as far without him. I don’t feel as safe without him. He’s become a natural part of the bike with me. We have this natural rhythm."

Even the most skilled motocross racer has a plaster cast past and Opee is no exception. His worst crash came in the 2006 Baja 500.

"We took a spill at 75 mph in the dirt and went into a 40-foot skid," Schelin said.

The dog isn’t attached to the bike or Schelin in any way. He skinned his nose and scraped his paw. Schelin sliced his leg. The injuries weren’t enough to put them out of the race though.

"I would never do anything to hurt my dog," Schelin said. "Opee keeps me in check at all times. If he doesn’t jump up on the bike, we don’t go."

Schelin is not only racing partner but stage dad for his dog, with a few goals for the future: Do a back flip with Opee into a foam pit ("he would hold on the same way I do — gravity"); see Opee recognized as the fastest dog on the planet (he’s written to Guinness); take a tandem skydive; and go to the movies to see Opee in a major motion picture.

Schelin answered a Hollywood agent’s TV ad three years ago, but he hasn’t heard back and is looking for representation. Opee, he said, is too talented to go undiscovered.

"The only thing missing is the cape."

— Associated Press

Photos: Chris Carlson / Associated Press

Police in Mexico City have rescued 150 ferrets from armed robbers after a high speed chase.

Police
say they found the furry contraband after the suspects crashed their
car into a tree and then fled on foot. Fourteen boxes of ferrets
imported from the U.S. were taken by force by three robbers from a
truck after it left the Mexico City airport. Two suspects are under
arrest and another escaped.

Police said Friday that a veterinarian who purchased the ferrets reclaimed them.

The ferrets were unharmed.

— Associated Press

Photo: Three ferrets (not the ferrets involved in the Mexico City chase) in a 2008 photo.  Credit: Los Angeles Times

Last January, Lancaster city officials voted to adopt an ordinance designed to discourage gangs by imposing penalties on the owners of dogs deemed "potentially dangerous" or "vicious."  You guessed it — the law singled out two breeds in particular, pit bulls and Rottweilers.  Our colleague Ann M. Simmons has the details on what’s transpired since the law went into effect; here’s an excerpt:

City officials said that 1,138 pit bulls and Rottweilers were impounded last year by the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control. Of those, 362 were voluntarily surrendered by their owners in response to Lancaster’s ordinance.

"A year ago, this city was overrun with individuals — namely, gang members — who routinely used pit bulls and other potentially vicious dogs as tools of intimidation and violence," Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris said in a statement.

"These individuals delighted in the danger these animals posed to our residents, often walking them without leashes and allowing them to run rampant through our neighborhoods and parks. Today, more than 1,100 of these animals have been removed from our city, along with the fear they create. Lancaster is now a great deal safer because of it."

Parris believes there is a correlation between the results of the dog ordinance and a drop in the city’s gang crime rate. Lancaster’s violent gang crime, which includes homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, fell by 45% last year, and there was a drop in overall gang crime by 41%, Parris said, citing statistics from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

THERE’S MORE; READ THE REST.

Photo: Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris in 2009.  Credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times

When the Station fire raged in Southern California last fall, veterinary hospital chain VCA stepped in to help, offering free boarding for the pets of residents forced to evacuate.  With severe rainstorms pounding the very areas hit by the fire, residents are again being evacuated — and VCA has announced that it will once again offer boarding services free of charge for evacuees.

"VCA wants everyone affected to know that during this difficult time, they have this free boarding option to keep their pets safe," Art Antin, the company’s chief operating officer, said in a statement.  Since room in the hospitals’ kennel facilities is limited, owners are encouraged to call ahead to ensure that space is available to house their pets.

To find the clinic nearest you, check VCA’s online clinic locator.

— Lindsay Barnett

Photo: A Tujunga resident holds her dog as she watches a Public Works Department skiploader clear the road in front of her home, which was threatened by mudslides.  Credit: Reed Saxon / Associated Press

TAN UYEN, Vietnam — The three tractor-trailer containers sat in a row, divided with metal partitions into 19 tiny, sweltering cells.

Massive claws and furry black noses poked between the iron bars: Nineteen rare Asiatic moon bears awaiting their next gall bladder milking. Their bile is a coveted traditional medicine ingredient used to treat everything from hemorrhoids to epilepsy.

Some paced nervously inside the cages, panting and foaming at the mouth with wild bloodshot eyes. Others laid in their urine and feces, resting on the cool concrete floor. They devoured the bananas and chunks of watermelon — including the rinds — offered to them, a welcome treat from their usual diet of rice gruel.

The bears were found at an illegal Taiwanese-owned operation in southern Vietnam. On Friday, four days after being hoisted onto tractor trailers and driven 1,240 miles north, they reached a new home with grass and tire swings at a rescue center about two hours outside of Hanoi, the capital.

The newly rescued bears — two of them missing limbs and one blind — were sedated and removed one by one from their tiny cages Friday at Tam Dao National Park. They are joining 29 bears already at the rescue center.

Ultrasound tests found evidence of thickened gall bladders, a telltale sign of milking, said Animals Asia veterinarian Heather Bacon. She said some may need to have the organ removed because of extensive damage.

Many of the black bears, some standing 6 feet tall on their hind legs and weighing 330 pounds, have been caged since being snatched from the wild as cubs up to seven years ago, said Tuan Bendixsen of Animals Asia Foundation in Vietnam, which rescued the bears this week.

Bear bile has been used for thousands of years in Asia to treat fevers, pain, inflammation and many other ailments. In the 1980s, China began promoting bear farms as a way to discourage poaching. The bears were housed in small cages, and the green bitter fluid was sucked from their gall bladders using crude catheters, sometimes creating pus-filled abscesses or internal bile leakage. Many bears die slowly from infections or liver ailments, including cancer.

The idea caught on in Vietnam and elsewhere as demand grew alongside the region’s increasing wealth. Bear bile products are also illegally smuggled into Chinatowns worldwide. An informal survey by the World Society for the Protection of Animals found 75% of stores visited in Japan selling bear bile products, followed by 42% in South Korea. In the U.S. and Canada, it was about 15%.

Bear bile harvesting remains legal in China, where the government says 7,000 bears are milked on about 250 farms, though animal welfare groups say the real number could be double that. Demand for illegal wild bear bile, believed to be more potent, is also increasing, they say.

Amid international pressure, Vietnam outlawed the milking practice in 2005, and some 4,000 bears in captivity were implanted with microchips to help identify any new bears added illegally. Owners were warned not to tap them for bile. But the practice continues, and a black market thrives.

"We want this industry to end. Government has decided to phase this out, and we understand it’s going to take time," said Chris Gee from the World Society for the Protection of Animals in England. "Across the whole of Asia there’s probably 20,000 bears on bear farms."

Last year, a farm in northern Vietnam was raided for selling bile to busloads of South Koreans, who watched it being extracted as part of their sightseeing tours. Some of the farms in Vietnam are owned by South Koreans and Taiwanese.

"They’re more organized and bigger. They’re run like a business now," said Bendixsen. "It’s part of a package tour."

Bear bile contains a high concentration of ursodeoxycholic acid. A synthetic version is sold as a pill and used in Western medicine for treating gall stones and liver ailments.

The pill is sold in China but cannot be used in traditional medicine because it is not derived from a natural source.

In a paper published last year, Yibin Feng from the School of Chinese Medicine at the University of Hong Kong suggested herbal substitutes that produce the same healing elements for various ailments could replace bear bile.

Another option is to use bile taken from slaughtered pigs or rabbits, which contains lower concentrations of ursodeoxycholic acid, or use artificial bear bile, which has a similar chemical makeup and produces the same medicinal effects.

"We found some animal bile and plants have better effects than bear bile in some diseases," Feng said. "Given all these, people in China should accept these alternatives. Of course, some people in mainland insist that no matter how close those substitutes can be, it is still not as good as the real ones."

The moon bears, named for the tan crescent-shape marking across their chests, will remain in quarantine for 45 days. They will then be moved to a building with large living cells where they will learn to mingle with other bears, before moving to a bear house where they can play outside in an enclosure with trees, grass, tunnels and swings.

They’ll also be spoiled with dollops of honey and peanut butter.

— Associated Press

Top photo: A bear looks out from a cargo container in Tan Uyen, Vietnam, on Jan. 18.  Credit: Margie Mason / Associated Press

Bottom photo: Heather Bacon, a veterinarian from Animals Asia Foundation,s sedate a bear in order to give it a health exam on Jan. 22.  Credit: Margie Mason / Associated Press

We don’t know about you, but we were glued to our TV screen earlier this afternoon as the effort to rescue a large dog trapped in the flooded Los Angeles River was broadcast live. 

The rainstorms that have been pummeling L.A. over the past few days have caused the river to swell.  It’s unclear who, if anyone, owns the dog, or how it managed to fall into the fast-moving river in Vernon.  Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Erik Scott told KTLA News that the animal was first reported walking in shallow water near Washington Boulevard at around 11:30 a.m.  At least 50 firefighters responded to the scene, according to the Associated Press.

Firefighters first attempted to rescue it by dangling flotation devices from a bridge overhead, to no avail.  The dog then evaded firefighters who tried to approach it, sloshing further down the river.  Around 12:30 p.m., it managed to reach the edge of the river and attempted to climb up a steep concrete wall to safety, but several times fell back into the river. 

Finally, a firefighter dangling beneath a helicopter managed to grab hold of the terrified dog, who responded (rather predictably) by biting its rescuer and thrashing about.  Despite the inherent difficulty of rescuing an animal that doesn’t want to be rescued, the firefighter managed to lift the dog to safety; both were deposited on a nearby bridge.  The dog was transferred to an ambulance for veterinary care and its rescuer was taken to a hospital for treatment of bite wounds, KTLA reported.

— Lindsay Barnett

Video: KTLA

Dozens of exotic birds are being nursed back to health in Colorado after animal control officers found them malnourished in a condemned house without heat or water.

Authorities went to the place in Pueblo on Tuesday after getting a tip from neighbors and found 45 macaw parrots, about 150 pigeons and some dogs and cats.

By the time officials went back the next day, two of the macaws had died. Authorities say the elderly owner was feeding them dog food to try to keep them alive.

The 43 surviving macaws were seized Wednesday and taken to a veterinarian. The pigeons, cats and dogs remain on the man’s property, with officials bringing them food and water.

The homeowner hasn’t been named or charged with a crime.

— Associated Press

Photo: Avian health technician Karen VanderHyde, left, and veterinarian Noel Opitz, both of the Colorado-based parrot rescue organization the Gabriel Foundation, examine a macaw at the Pueblo Community Animal Shelter on Wednesday. Credit: Bryan Kelsen / Associated Press

We love Japanese macaque monkeys for many reasons. They’re intelligent and fun-loving, as evidenced by the fact that they like to make snowballs just for the sake of entertainment. As if that weren’t enough, these little monkeys also share a common trait with most humans we know: They love to relax in a nice hot tub. 

This fellow and his compatriots are shown enjoying a nice soak in a mountain hot spring in Japan’s Nagano province. Outside the spring, the weather is frigid; inside the spring, it’s nice and toasty!

See more photos of the bathing monkeys after the jump (and if that’s not enough for you, you’ll be pleased to learn that you can view the macaques via webcam as well).

— Lindsay Barnett

Don’t miss a single adorable animal: Follow Unleashed on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo credit: Everett Kennedy Brown / European Pressphoto Agency

Whew!  With National Penguin Awareness Day behind us, we can finally turn all our energies toward celebrating today’s made-up animal-related holiday: Squirrel Appreciation Day.  You know, the day when all Americans take time out to remember those feisty, funny, athletic little guys with a penchant for obstacle courses and an unfortunate tendency to overdo it with the fermented pumpkins.

Christy Hargrove, a certified wildlife rehabilitator from North Carolina, started Squirrel Appreciation Day back in 2001.  Although it’s the most unofficial of unofficial holidays and no events are scheduled to commemorate it, "you can help celebrate by putting out extra food for the squirrels," Hargrove writes on her website.

RELATED:

Your morning adorable: Enterprising squirrel tries to eat a coconut

Hosing down the squirrels

— Lindsay Barnett

Video: A squirrel makes use of a Squngee, which is pretty much just what it sounds like.  Credit: nrolls74 via YouTube

Michael Vick returned to the site of his gruesome dogfighting crimes, looked at an empty dog bowl left behind in a dingy cage and wondered how he ever could have risked fame, freedom and fortune for "Bad Newz Kennels."

"This is hard to imagine myself doing this years ago, man," Vick says, cameras rolling.

His visit to the property he once owned in Surry County, Va., where he trained pit bulls for vicious fights and helped drown or hang dogs that didn’t do well, is a teaser of what’s ahead in his docu-series "The Michael Vick Project."

Vick candidly tells how he became entangled in a dogfighting ring that sent him to prison and temporarily halted his NFL career as part of a series that debuts next month on BET. Vick says the 10-part series that premieres Feb. 2 will show he’s a changed man after a tragic fall from stardom he says "was all my fault."

"At times, it’s hard to talk about it, but for the most part, if you talk about it and let it all out, it kind of helps put the demons to rest," Vick told the Associated Press on Thursday.

Vick served an 18-month prison sentence for operating a dogfighting ring. He returned to the NFL this season as a backup QB with the Philadelphia Eagles.

In the first episode, Vick openly discusses living a "double life" of running the operation at the same time he was making Pro Bowls and signing a 10-year, $130-million contract with the Atlanta Falcons. Vick explains in detail the childhood experiences he had with dogfighting and how the activity morphed from his NFL sideshow job to a bustling second career that spanned state lines.

"I really took to it," Vick said on the show. "I was intrigued by what was going on. It kind of excited me and I gravitated to it."

Vick told the AP that walking over the burial spots of some of the dogs killed as part of his dogfighting operation "cut me deeply" and was the moment when he "really realized all the wrong that I did."

"I wanted to go out there and just totally put it all away and forget about it," Vick said by phone. "I felt like once I did that, I’d be able to do that. For the most part, I did. Since I’ve been out there, it’s eased a lot off my brain as far as thinking about it."

Vick said he’d never be able to completely forget the horrific acts he witnessed and committed. Returning to Virginia made Vick deeply consider a question that still nags at his conscience: Why?

"Why sacrifice so many animals and put them in vulnerable positions to be harmed and injured?" he told the AP. "It was pointless."

The first episode does offer a glimpse, however, at answering that question. Vick said he saw his first dogfight as a 7-year-old. Vick’s brother, Marcus, tells the cameras that growing up "we never knew there was nothing wrong with it."

Michael Vick said on Thursday that dogfighting was a part of black culture.

"When you grow up in the inner cities, when you grow up in the urban neighborhoods, that’s pretty much what you get," Vick said. "You don’t have opportunities to do certain things at your own leisure. When you have down time, if you’re not playing football, basketball or baseball, then you’re looking for some activity to get into."

Vick said he’s learned the last few years to deal with his heinous crimes and their repercussions.

"I had counseling sessions when I was about to be incarcerated," he said Thursday. "It was therapeutic for me."

Vick’s mother, sister, and Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer were among the people interviewed on the first episode. His fiancee, Kijafa Frank, says she pleaded with Vick to quit. Vick said when he was charged in 2007, he believed "money will get me out of this situation" and lawyers could make all the legal issues vanish.

Only months later, Vick surrendered to U.S. marshals.

"I cried all the way to the jail," he said on BET.

Wearing a white button-down shirt and jeans, Vick appears at ease as he discusses how his dogfighting stable rapidly expanded and spiraled out of control. He wanted to end it, but never found the courage to say stop.

Vick now says he’s a new man. Vick, the former No. 1 overall pick, said the show chronicles the real story of his rise to the top, his precipitous fall, and path toward redemption. Vick is shown playing catch with his son, and laughing with his two daughters in a scene that softens the image of him as a dog-killing monster.

"I think people will see him in a different light, respect him in a different way," producer James DuBose said. "I don’t say people are ever going to forget what he did or the mistake that he made. But we all, in my mind, deserve second chances if you own up to your mistake and help others not make that same mistake."

Vick worked with the Humane Society of the United States this season and gave speeches at schools and churches about how wrong he was to ever get involved with dogfighting — especially with so much to lose.

Vick said he’s turned his life around and wants to show people that he can change. He knows he’ll always have his detractors — protests are included in the first episode and later ones — but he’s trying to make amends.

"It’s still a work in progress each and every day and it’s going to be that way the rest of my life," he told The AP.

His football future is in limbo. He attempted only 13 passes and rushed 24 times in limited action with the Eagles season. The Eagles hold a $5.2-million option for next season and might not pick it up if Donovan McNabb and Kevin Kolb return. Vick, who said he started working out Wednesday, hasn’t thought much about next season.

"I’m excited about everything," Vick said. "Whether I’m in Philly or Tampa Bay, it wouldn’t even matter."

— Associated Press

Photo: Vick looks on from the sidelines in a Jan. 9 game between the Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys.  Credit: Jamie Squire / Getty Images

NEW YORK — Federal officials want to keep nine kinds of constrictor snakes out of the United States, saying they belong to invasive species that pose the single biggest threat to the nation’s environment.

"This is the story of the invasion of the snakes in the United States of America," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday, standing near a live python at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

He said the Burmese python and the other "alien snakes" are destroying some of the nation’s most treasured — and most fragile — ecosystems.

New York is the biggest point of entry in the U.S. for imported wildlife, the secretary said. The ban covers any kind of import of invasive snakes into the U.S.

In 2009, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Inspectors at Kennedy handled more than 27,000 wildlife shipments valued at more than $1 billion, or 16% of all U.S. wildlife imports.

Last year, 54,000 live reptiles entered through the New York airport.

The proposed ban covers nine species of giant constrictor snakes including the Burmese, North African and South African pythons, the boa constrictor, and the anaconda — green, yellow and Bolivian, as listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

About 1 million such snakes have been imported in the last 30 years and more have been bred domestically.

The snakes are popular as pets but destructive when released into the wild, especially in sensitive ecosystems like Florida’s Everglades National Park and the Florida Keys. Having no natural predators, the adaptable snakes feed on alligators and other imperiled species whose remains have been found in their stomachs.

"This is an important day for conservation in the United States," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Sam Hamilton.

He joined Salazar at a news conference in a Kennedy customs warehouse where the live python was on display along with an intercepted collection of snake skins.

Teams opened and examined shipments of snakes and other animals, wearing gloves and using crowbars to open crates containing potentially dangerous creatures.

The ban proposal will be open to public comment for 60 days before a final decision is made.

An invasive species can be any kind of nonnative living organism that causes harm.

The legislation to ban the snakes was introduced in Congress by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.).

The Burmese python thrives in South Florida and there are boa constrictors south of Miami. Recent evidence suggests that northern African pythons are reproducing on the city’s western boundaries.

Hamilton said he hopes the nine snake species will soon join the list of illegal wildlife trafficking that includes poisonous snakes.

At Kennedy, inspectors handle all snakes as if they were poisonous, in case the documents accompanying them don’t match the wriggling goods packed in sacks inside wooden crates.

More than 169,700 shipments of wildlife and wildlife products entered the country last year, with an estimated value of $2.7 billion.

— Associated Press

Photo: A snake wriggles in its cage during Wednesday’s press conference.  Credit: Seth Wenig / Associated Press

Thai police said Wednesday that they have arrested two people accused of dealing in illegal African ivory, a day after an American and a Thai national were indicted in California on charges of smuggling ivory from endangered elephants into the United States.

Thai Police Maj. Gen. Misakawan Buara, commander of a division that handles environmental crimes, said the two women, Chintana Fahpratanporn and Chittima Chaiyakul, were picked up Sunday in a raid on ivory shops in Nakhon Sawan province.

Police believe the women supplied African ivory to Samart Chokchoyma, a Thai national who U.S. and Thai prosecutors say sold several pieces of ivory on EBay from September 2006 to November 2006 to Moun Chau of Montclair. He allegedly disguised the shipments as gifts and toys.

The women have been charged with selling and possessing illegal ivory.

Samart, who lives in Thailand, and Chau were charged Tuesday in Los Angeles with violating an international treaty that protects endangered species. Samart has already been charged under Thai law with violating the country’s Wild Animal Reservation and Protection Act.

The U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in 1989 banned all international ivory trade. But in recent years, poaching in central and eastern Africa has intensified with much of the illegal ivory exported to Thailand, Vietnam and China, where it is carved into jewelry, trinkets and statues for locals as well as foreign tourists.

Traders in Thailand have thrived in part because the 1989 ban did not address domestic trade. That loophole allows them to deceive authorities by claiming their African ivory came from domestic sources — a tactic that is effective because it can be difficult without DNA testing to tell the difference between African and Asian ivory.

Authorities say 10 tons of African ivory was seized in Southeast Asia last year, including at least 2 tons from a Thai airport in a single bust.

U.S. authorities said investigators seized several ivory specimens from a business owned by Chau in Claremont. DNA testing determined the ivory had come from Africa.

In their raid, Thai authorities said they seized six ivory tusks they suspect came from Africa worth an estimated $30,222. DNA testing has not been conducted on that ivory.

"This case demonstrates the power of cooperative law enforcement efforts, not only to enforce the law but to protect animal species that are threatened with extinction," Acting U.S. Atty. George S. Cardona said in a statement.

Samart remains free on bail in Thailand awaiting trial on the Thai charges, which carry a maximum four-year jail sentence and a fine of up to $1,200. The two women arrested Sunday face the same punishment as Samart.

After he is prosecuted in Thailand, Samart could then be extradited to the United States to face additional charges that carry a sentence of up to 53 years in prison. Chau, meanwhile, faces up to 25 years in federal prison if convicted. Chau will be summoned to appear for arraignment next month.

Steve Galster, the executive director of the conservation group Freeland, which assisted the Thai police in the investigation, said he expects the raids will slow but not stop the ivory trade in Thailand.

"We hope authorities keep working up the chain to put the kingpins of this destructive, multibillion trade behind bars before the world is permanently robbed of elephants and endangered species," he said.

— Associated Press

Photo: Police display an amulet made from illegally obtained ivory during a
news conference in Bangkok on Wednesday. Credit: Sakchai Lalit / Associated Press

An adorable brother-and-sister duo recently made their public debut at the Cincinnati Zoo; Najah and Fath, young sand cats, were born at the zoo in late October and officially became part of its Cat House exhibit Wednesday.

Sand cats, of which there are six subspecies, are desert dwellers native to North Africa and parts of Asia, including Iran and Pakistan.  (Najah and Fath’s parents were brought to the U.S. from a wildlife preserve in Qatar, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.)  Despite their house cat-like appearance, sand cats are actually well adapted to life in the desert; Their paws, for instance, are covered with thick hair, which helps them walk on hot surfaces and prevents them from sinking into the sand.  They can survive in temperatures as high as 126 degrees Fahrenheit!

Adult sand cats typically weigh about 4 to 8 pounds and measure around 20 inches in length (not including their tails).  At present, little Najah and Fath weigh just 2 pounds each!

See video of the kittens after the jump.

— Lindsay Barnett

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Photo: Ernest Coleman / Associated Press

Video: CincinnatiZooTube via YouTube