Animal Report

Have you considered how harmful it is to use a glue or typical mouse trap? A friend of mine taught me the horrors of how animals get stuck and slowly die. It's incredibly disturbing to see. Since then, I've swapped to cruelty-free release mouse traps that not only work quickly (we even caught my teen's pet mouse once when he escaped!), but allow us to catch and release mice.

Amazon sells these, but they also sell cruel traps used to crush, drown and otherwise torture animals once caught. The reviews on the items are disturbing as well. It's long past time for these traps to no longer be used, let alone sold by a company like Amazon. Click here to ask them to stop selling these heinous devices.

Do you have any animal actions to share this week? Post them in the chat!

How many of you grew up with Jack Hanna giving you incredible peeks at animals on TV? I may be dating myself as a xennial when I mention that, but we always looked forward to seeing him and whatever creature he was going to be talking about when we were children. Hanna has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and will be stepping away from the career he clearly loved with all his heart.

My heart goes out to Jack Hanna and his family and I just want to thank him for all of the memories. I remember wanting to be a vet when I was young and he was one of the major reasons why. I didn't want to travel around and see the animals in the wild but I wanted to help them when they were hurt or sick and Hanna's obvious care for them inspired that. My family is full of animal lovers who just pore over National Geographic and encyclopedias of animals but Jack Hanna gave us glimpses into their worlds.

If you haven't, share Jack Hanna's YouTube videos with your kids and check out his work over the years. What's your favorite memory of him? Share it in the chat.

Did you know that global meat production has increased by 100 percent since 1988? That makes me so sad. I'm not a practicing vegetarian anymore but it makes me consider expanding my meatless days to most of the week instead of just three days. Wow, is that a lot of meat. And much of it is now produced via the American factory farm model, which is just awful.

The good news is that eggs that come from battery cages are on the decline. There's been a lot of pressure for people to provide cage-free eggs for different reasons--to stop cruelty, to get more nutrients in the eggs, etc. Entire states are even banning cages! This is fantastic news and it makes me hopeful that we'll create more humane legislation for farm animals, too. Factory farming may be on the rise but if this progress is being made, thatmeans that it can happen elsewhere.

As a hoby farmer with my own flock, I know I feel guilty if I can't even let my girls out of the run and into the yard to play. We like to keep an eye on them for safety (we still have raccoons and hawks around here!). I can't imagine them in tiny cages day in and day out. Chickens are funny, smart and have their own personalities. I'm totally okay taking eggs they aren't going to use anyway but I wouldn't buy an egg to support doing that to a chicken.
What animal protection is being legislated in your area? How did your community make it happen?

The poor First Dog just can't get a break. Major is an elderly dog and a Good Boy, but recently he was attacked by the press for looking his age. Members of the press were unnecessarily cruel to the elderly doggo, much to the dismay of the American people, and taunted his looks. Apparently they don't know what an elderly dog looks like.

Well now Major has been sent home because he nipped at a Secret Service agent. I'm sure the dogs are feeling wary of their new home and getting used to the environment is a lengthy process, and the injury was considered a minor one. Nevertheless it did land the dog a trip home.

Hopefully both Major and the agent are doing well. Have you read any other interesting doggo news this week?