At Home in Wooton Manor

In order to produce veal, young calves are taken from their mothers and chained by the neck in crates measuring just two feet wide. They cannot turn around, stretch their limbs, or even lie down comfortably. This severe confinement makes the calves' meat “tender” since the animals' muscles cannot develop.
Scientific research indicates that calves confined in crates experience “chronic stress” and require approximately five times more medication than calves living in more spacious conditions. It is not surprising, then, that veal is among the most likely meat to contain illegal drug residues, which pose a threat to human consumers. Researchers have also reported that veal calves exhibit abnormal coping behaviors associated with frustration. These include head tossing, head shaking, kicking, scratching, and stereotypical chewing behavior. Confined calves also experience leg and joint disorders and an impaired ability to walk.
Veal calves are fed an all-liquid milk substitute which is purposely deficient in iron and fiber. It is intended to produce borderline anemia and the pale-colored flesh fancied by "gourmets." At approximately twenty weeks of age, these weak animals are slaughtered and marketed as "white" veal (also known as “fancy,” “milk-fed,” “special-fed,” and “formula-fed” veal).
Please don't buy veal, and educate others about this abuse.Support Farm Sanctuary's campaign to end cruel veal production

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW... ER... RATS
My niece The Beautiful Brianna (who started all this rat business!) gave me her pet rat Ratty-Ratty-Ratboy to keep for a while because she dint have the time to spend with him as he needs. We had already made plans to breed them when they were old enough (Ratty being male & Rizzo being female) because I had read that rats can die of loneliness & so we were gonna split up the babies by gender. Seems now, I am gonna have a rattery! But I don’t mind. Ratty is a sweet boy.
I put Ratty & Rizzo in the bath tub to meet & they seemed to like each other. I put a towel in the tub for warmth & traction. Ratty tried several times to jump out & when he is larger, I am sure he will be able to! I had to color code them. I put blue food coloring on Ratty & pink on Rizzo. They are both black & white hooded rats & altho their patterns are different, they are about the same size each & it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between them. I made a tunnel out of cardboard for them to run thru & they enjoyed it very much! They are now napping inside it together. I was sitting beside the tub watching them & kinda felt like Jane Goodall or Diane Fossey. I made a mental note to name Rizzo & Ratty’s babies with "R" names but now I am not sure. Maybe I should alphabetize them? That way, I would know which generation each particular rat is from? OR, give all the girls "P" names & all the boys "B" names? Hopefully, there will be eight & not twenty! I wonder if they will all be black & white like their parents? I am anxious to find out! I may become a neurotic rat breeder!! I don’t know of anyone in the immediate area who raises pet rats. Ok... off to post this on my blog & then think & look up some "A" "P" "B" & "R" names!

We had had a setback by which she has been refusing to "step-up" & so I have assumed she didn’t want to ride on my shoulder. (She just now did a "step"!) I have been telling her I loved her & I wish she loved me or at least dint hate me.
Saturday, I got a pet rat who is just as sweet & precious as possible. I named her Rizzo & she loves to ride on my shoulder. I let Noor out while I had Rizzo on my shoulder (because Noor dint want on my shoulder anyway, right?) & she flew a little bit but dint seem to want to be out all that much. But now my theory is: birds have excellent eyesight & I think maybe she saw I had another creature on my shoulder & got jealous. She asked to be out so she could have my shoulder but since it was occupied, she dint have anywhere to land. This morning after she refused to "step" she flew around my head & landed on my arm. That is the first time she has ever done that! So, I think all though Queen Noor doesn’t trust me yet, I think she likes me. And I know how difficult it is to trust even the people you like

We’ve had a breakthrough!!

Today, Queen Noor came out of her cage & flew around! The poor thing hit the window on the door to the front porch but she recovered quickly. I felt like a heel. But I picked her up & put her on my shoulder & she seemed content. She sat on my shoulder while I but an X on all the windows with brown tape. She flew a little bit more & then, she sat on my shoulder while I ate lunch & played a computer game. I shared an occasional small piece of corn chip with her & she preened my hair a little. I was so afraid she would never be able to come out of her cage. She still doesn’t like hands & will hiss & try to bite me when I ask her to step up. But after two hours of communing, she went right back into her cage. A good time was had by all!

(From The Register-Guard )

Like your average toddler, Sydney gets a kick out of throwing things on the floor.
On a recent sunny morning, the 16-month-old blue and gold macaw - a South American parrot - sat on a large perch in the middle of Andrea Larsen's kitchen, grabbed a spotless metal bowl in his beak and dropped it on Larsen's unsuspecting dog Elvis, an aging pug who skittered out of the way.
"He's pretty outgoing and boisterous," Larsen said. "He's still got baby tendencies and won't mature for four or five years."
But Sydney's not just your average playful youngster. He's a bird with two serious problems: torn ligaments in his left leg that make it impossible to stand on both feet and a scissor beak with upper and lower parts crossing over, making it more difficult for him to climb around or to munch the fruits, vegetables, grains and nuts that make up his diet.
He's come to Larsen's north Eugene home because his owners could not give him the care he needed. Larsen, the chairwoman of Exotic Bird Rescue of Oregon, is providing foster care for Sydney, hoping to find an adoptive home for the bird.
She'd also like to get him to the vet for a beak trim and an operation to repair the ligaments, but that costs $800 and her nonprofit network of volunteers has 89 other birds in foster care and not enough in the bank to pay for Sydney's operation.
He needs it soon, Larsen said. Parrots spend their entire lives on their feet, often standing on one to rest the other. Sydney doesn't have that luxury and his good foot already has pressure sores, she said.
For a bird that can live a century, it's an untenable situation.
Exotic Bird Rescue, a 10-year-old Eugene nonprofit, takes in birds throughout Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Northern California from owners who can no longer care for them, Larsen said.
The very things that attract people to cockatoos, cockatiels, macaws, parakeets, lories and conures, the family of birds commonly known as parrots, also make them challenging to live with. The birds are smart, loud, long-lived and require plenty of attention and discipline. Larger birds like Sydney have a powerful beak that can crack a walnut or break a finger.
More people have been contacting Exotic Bird Rescue, said Larsen, seeking to give up a problem bird that's developed destructive habits such as self-mutilation, pulling its feathers or constant screaming. Some well-behaved birds come to the group because owners can't provide the attention the birds need.
Sydney belonged to a Newberg resident who purchased him from a Louisiana breeder, hoping her local veterinarian could correct the bird's ligament problem, Larsen said.
But that vet didn't have avian training and was unable to help Sydney, so the owner contacted Exotic Bird Rescue, Larsen said.
Larsen's home is alive with the birds. In addition to fostering four birds needing adoption, Larsen has also purchased or adopted 10 others. They range in size from tiny Sweetie, a 5-inch Pacific parrotlet to imposing Zelda, an umbrella cockatoo about 18 inches tall.
Larsen's love of the species surprised her, she said. She and her fiance first purchased Presley, a cockatiel about three years ago when they lived in an apartment that didn't allow cats or dogs.
"He blasted all my misconceptions about birds," she said. "They're more than something you put in a corner and show to your friends. ... The relationship is way more intense than you would get with a cat or a dog. They recognize you. They call out to you. They listen to you. They understand you."
Soon after that, she got involved with the local bird rescue group and after buying a house, more birds came into her life. Some she adopted; others she purchased. The birds all have different personalities.
For play, she turns to Scrunchie, a blue front Amazon. For conversation, it's Spock, an African gray.
"He'll sit there and listen to every word I say, and I know he understands," she said.
Most of the birds talk, saying things like, "Good morning" early in the day, and "Good night" in the evening. They know "good bye" and "hello" and "peekaboo," a game they enjoy playing.
Scrunchie, the blue front Amazon who once lived with people in a house by a lake, always greets her when she comes home, saying "Did you catch any fish?"
Larsen believes that such birds should not be domesticated, that they belong in the wild. But once they are habituated to people, it's almost impossible to return them to their native habitats, she said.
While fewer birds are captured in the wild now, a proliferation of breeders churn them out for purchase by people who don't always understand what they're getting into.
That's why groups like hers have become part of the avian landscape, Larsen said. Occasionally they get birds that are on endangered species lists and try to move them into conservation breeding programs, she said.
Currently, the rescue group has 40 people providing foster homes for birds that can be adopted, but they won't let just anyone take one of their parrots.
Adoption is a lengthy process that includes a class, several in-home visits with the bird in foster care, site visits at the prospective owner's home and the approval of the Exotic Bird Rescue board and the foster care provider. After the adoption there is a probationary period that can last up to six months.
"After that, they're tied to us for life," she said, with a contract that allows the group to take the bird back if it isn't well-cared for or the relationship doesn't work out.
"Lots of people don't understand how much work it is," she said.
Larsen herself spends between 40 and 60 hours a week, either taking care of her birds or working on issues related to the rescue group. Her fiance, an automobile mechanic, is supportive of her passion, helping out especially with the group's senior and disabled companion program.
She'd like to see more members, more people providing foster care, and financial support from the broader community.
Sydney's not the only bird with medical needs. Larsen is also caring for a Sammy, a sun conure with a fungal infection in need of about $300 worth of blood work and cultures.
The group's main income comes from its $20 annual membership fee. They currently have about 100 members, Larsen said. The money goes to provide food, cages, toys and medical attention for the birds in their care.
Some area vets already provide free and reduced-cost services to the group, Larsen said.
"We need the help because we have such a small membership and the number of birds needing a place to go has tripled," she said.

The first alarm bells rang about four years ago when the makers of Scotchgard ever so quietly ditched the chemical recipe we trusted for decades to protect our lounge sofas and car upholstery.America's 3M company didn't want to create too much of a hoohah about the health dangers of its stain-proof treatments.Scotchgard had always been "safe" it said, but the company hinted rather vaguely that there could be some trouble afoot.And now it seems that the game may be up.Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs for short) have gone on trial in the United States for mass assault, with intent to do grievous global harm. Culpable homicide charges could follow.According to tests done in America, Japan and elsewhere, this all-but indestructible group of man-made chemicals has crept into the blood of almost every living creature in the northern hemisphere and will remain there for several years.No tests have been done in South Africa, but our blood is almost certainly polluted with the same chemicals.And medical tests, sponsored mainly by the industries which benefit from PFCs, are showing ever-stronger evidence of potential health damage to humanity and wildlife - from cancer to birth defects and weakened immune-systems.Earlier this year, Teflon-giant DuPont was charged with violating United States' toxic substance laws after it allegedly covered up the results of blood tests on pregnant chemical workers from the early 1980s.In a group of seven female DuPont staff, two mothers gave birth to children with confirmed or suspected birth defects similar to those seen in a disputed laboratory rat study.The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) charges that DuPont failed to provide immediate notification of tests showing "substantial risk of injury to human health", including birth defects and liver damage.Had this evidence been disclosed 20 years ago, the agency said the US government might have been "more expeditious" in trying to protect public health from the uncontrolled use of perfluorooctanoic acids (PFOA) and other PFC compounds.DuPont, which denies the charges, now faces fines of up to $313 million (R1.9 billion) for the non-disclosure claim and other charges of polluting drinking water in West Virginia.According to DuPont's 56-page denial, the tests did confirm the presence of this chemical compound in the blood of women workers and unborn children.However, it says the mere presence of a chemical in blood does not amount to evidence of substantial risk.The case is scheduled for hearing on December 16.Two months ago the com-pany also agreed to spend R518 million to settle a class-action lawsuit linked to the pollution of drinking water next to a Teflon factory.But perhaps the biggest nightmare for DuPont and 3M is the prospect of new laws to regulate these chemicals, as well as global media publicity which threatens to dent profits and consumer confidence. The 3M company took a "voluntary" decision in May 2000 to phase out the use of a group of sister-chemicals after a government investigation showed evidence of unexpected toxicity.Both chemical groups (PFOA and PFOS) have been used widely throughout the world - virtually unregulated - since the 1950s.The company said its decision to phase out the chemicals was for "environmental" reasons, but the New York Times reported that if 3M hadn't jumped, the EPA would certainly have pushed the company into halting their use.The Environmental Working Group (EWG), a Washington DC-based watchdog group which maintains a website on the controversy, charges that 3M was aware of the hazards for nearly 20 years, but only responded under threat of government regulation.Less than a year before the phase-out, 3M was still pushing for approval of PFOS in microwave popcorn bags.More recently, the US EPA said it had pushed PFOA to the top of the pile of potentially dangerous chemicals and a new human safety review is due to be published soon.The history of TeflonTeflon, as it came to be known, was discovered virtually by accident in 1938 by the DuPont scientist Roy Plunkett.At the time, he was tinkering with Freon refrigerants. While checking on a frozen, compressed sample of gases, he found they had changed form spontaneously into a white and waxy solid state to form the new compound polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).It was one of the "most slippery materials" in existence, according to DuPont, and the non-stick properties led to a range of revolutionary uses in anything from frying pans to stain repellent fabrics and the aerospace industry.The first products were sold under the Teflon brand name in 1946. But it was the discovery of a separate detergent-like chemical compound (PFOA) which has sparked more immediate concerns. Though this chemical is not a major component, there is concern that traces are contained in Teflon or in the gases emitted from heated cooking pans.The health risksAs far back as the eighteenth century, the British coal mining industry realised the wisdom of sending canary birds down mineshafts.If the canaries stopped singing, or keeled over, miners had early warning that they were being exposed to dangerous gases or the risk of methane gas explosions.Yet when you buy a Teflon-coated, non-stick frying pan, your local department store is unlikely to warn you of the dangers of Teflon fumes killing your pet budgies and parrots.If it pulverises the lungs of pet birds, what does it do to our lungs, or the growing lungs of our children and embryos in the womb?There are several research reports which document the death of birds around the world from Teflon and other PFC fumes.A recent study by vets at the University of Missouri traced the death of more than 1 000 broiler chickens to special heating bulbs coated with the Teflon chemical PTFE.A study in 1975 documented the death of five pet cockatiels which died within 30 minutes of being exposed to fumes from an over-heated frying pan coated with non-stick PTFE chemicals.The owner of the birds also got sick from "polymer fume fever". Another study from 1975 records a woman coughing and gasping for breath when a Teflon component melted in her malfunctioning microwave oven. Two parakeets died within minutes, and the woman's lungs were damaged.But there is still too little data about the health effects on humans from Teflon.Teflon is everywhere"Teflon: It's everywhere!" is the proud mantra of the DuPont chemical corporation which has raked in billions of dollars from the sale of non-stick cookware and allied products for nearly 40 years.DuPont has a website where consumers can dis-cover just how pervasive the chemicals have become in modern society. Many domestic light-bulbs, for example, are coated with a heat coating to make them shatter-proof, while carpets, sofas and clothing can be doused with chemicals to make them stain-resistant. In the kitchen, small traces of these chemicals can be found in non-stick pots and pans, plastic place mats, non-stick baking and biscuit sheets, kitchen tools or the lining of ovens. Elsewhere in the house they are used in shower curtains, leather luggage, hairsprays and shampoos, irons and ironing-board covers, floor polishes and several motor-car components.They are also used widely in industry, from fire-fighting foams, computer and electronics components to brake fluids in Boeing aircraft.What is South Africa doing?The short answer to this question is: "Nothing . . . yet".The national Health Depart-ment acknowledges it does not have the capacity to conduct full-scale chemical safety tests on food packaging to the same extent as the US EPA or European safety bodies."We are simply not as ad-vanced as the US or Europe in this field," an official noted.Maryke Herbst, assistant director in the department's food section, said local legislation to protect consumers dates back to the Food and Disinfectants Act of 1929.This law places the onus on manufacturers to ensure the public is not exposed to harm or injury from food packaging.But recognising that "some things can fall through the gaps", the Health Department was also a member of the international Codex Alimentarius commission, which sets limits for chemical levels in food. Herbst said if bodies like Codex or US EPA identify new concerns with Teflon-related chemicals, SA will be guided by their recommendations.No evidence could be found that any work is being done to monitor PFCs in the blood of South Africans. Most industrialised countries only began to investigate the issue very recently.Japan, for example, ordered the first tests about three years ago. So far, only a few human blood samples have been collected, but all showed measu-rable levels of PFOS compounds according to the Japanese National Institute of Advanced Industrial Sciences.The chemicals were also found in the blood of sea creatures in several parts of Japan.High levels of PFOA were found in the blood of Taegu residents, South Korea's third-largest city. The Teflon scare also triggered "panic" among Chinese consumers in June this year. The Standard newspaper reported that stores in Guangdong province pulled non-stick cookware from their shelves after the US EPA decision to review the safety of PFOA. Published on the web by Daily News on November 24, 2004.
© Daily News 2004. All rights reserved.