My friend Balaur (her Animal Jam username) brought up a horrible topic, something that she thought that I should post on PAWS;
 Animals in scary situations being filmed on-camera.

For example, imagine being a cat and having your head caught in a fishbowl whilst you were trying to catch a fish. You would panic and try to get it off, right? Well, some humans might pick up their cameras and take photo after photo as the poor animal struggled. >.<
Now wouldn't that be an awful and horrid experience for you if you were a cat?

Here's a video of a cat that was stuck in a fishbowl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yQDO1pmLU4
Now wouldn't you be terrified if YOU were the cat, and you had to figure out how to get out BY YOURSELF, while being filmed?!
Sometimes 'funny animal videos' unquote are terribly traumatizing to the animals!
"Imagine if you were standing in front of unfamiliar people. Imagine if they were pointing a camera at you, forcing you to do something that you didn't want to do." -Balaur
This very preventable form of animal cruelty NEEDS to stop.

Balaur, if you have anything else to add, please comment it and I'll add it in.

EDIT:
Apparently, in some videos where animals don't want to make certain noises, the owners feed it something bad that causes it to make those noises! Awful! DX
~Edwing

Animal testing is horrible, horrible, horrible. >.<

I'm pretty sure that we all know about it; it's when chemicals or products are tested on animals to make sure that they are safe for humans.

It has it's pros. It can save lives and help better products to be developed. However, I don't believe in it because it's cruel and inhumane, and often causes the poor animal being tested on injury, or even death!

You'd be surprised at how many companies in the US use it.

Here are a few examples:

• Febreeze
• Vaseline
• Pantene (which I happened to donate 9 inches of my hair to before I knew o.o)
• Old Spice
• Oral B

Yep, animal testing is used in toothpastes, shampoos, perfumes, house products... it's very awful. If there are any more products that use animal testing that you can think of off of the top of your head, please comment them below.

On your bottle of shampoo or house cleaner or whatever, always look for something like this that says 'No Animal Testing.' This is an example from a bottle of conditioner that I use:

It's very important that we're aware of which brands do and don't use animal testing. For a few examples, look here and here.

Thanks for reading. (:

Horrific Cat Crimes

Go to this link for an article about these horrific cat murders:
Cat Cruelty
There is also a link to an article about dead cats being hung in bags from trees. :( I trust this site, so I believe that this information is true. THIS CRUELTY HAS TO STOP!
~Amy

IM BACK MUCHACHOS!

Well, I dont really know if anyone has done this yet, but rather instead of focusing on the negatives of all this animal stuff, I decided to look at the positives :)

Pets (Petaí)

Alright, so we all love our pets, right? If you don’t, sell them to a better home, make sure they are happy :)

Anyway, ways to make sure your pet is happy is not always easy. There are some plants and foods that can be fatally poisonous to some animals, so if you’re unsure about it, google it :)

Anyway, some basic steps that go for every pet:

• Food! Normally twice a day, but it may vary depending on medical issues or size, etc
• Shelter! We don’t want them out in the rain, but if it’s a fish you obviously need a tank and something inside the tank like a little water plant that they can do something with
• Water is vital. Go without water for a little more than a week and you die of dehydration. Fresh water preferably.
• Love! Without love you feel lonely. And if a dog is lonely, they won’t see you as their leader, and they won’t be afraid to attack. This can be dangerous, and maybe result in death.
• Grooming- if it is needed, it is important for hygeine.

Other things of course should be obvious like play things :)

Alright, I know this post is short, bit I have to go- early start tomorrow :(

Anyway, discuss your pets, grooming methods or whatever :3

Thats all ! :)

~ Izzy

Endangered Animals. :(

Go to the informational website that I found basically all of the information I had in this post here.
Hello.
So, we've done a lot of posting about animals who are jeopardized by the actions of humans--- and endangered animals are a perfect example of that.
I'll give an example of one of them: the Vaquita, which looks like so:

It's the world's smallest porpoise. Their numbers are dropping so drastically because of the fishing industry; humans are literally making the mistake of catching them in nets. .-.
To learn more, click here.
There's also the Red Panda and Polar Bear, which used to thrive in the wild, but now their habitats are being ruined by humans! Poaching, which I talked about in my last post, is one of the major causes of putting animals on the 'endangered animals' list.
There's also:

• The expanding of human settlements into forests and other places that animals make their homes in
• Acid rain. Don't know what it is? Well, acid rain is basicallly rain that is made acidic because of the burning of fossil fuels. It kind of 'kills' bodies of clean water.  

 

:(

There are several other reasons that I could name, but I want to end this post on a good note. 

You probably already know this story; I've heard it countless times. Quite a while ago, the population of Bald Eagles was rapidly decreasing because of some of the reasons that I listed above. I mean, back then, people would *shudder* shoot birds for game. That is how many birds became extinct. The US saw that this was happening and decided to pass a law protecting Bald Eagles (and later Golden Eagles.) Soon, Bald Eagle population increased, and they eventually left the endangered species list! :D

Though they're still protected, we can know that the Bald Eagles are in good hands. 

Feel free to tell me if I didn't get one of the details of the story right. It's been a while since I heard this story in school. 

Ciao!

Zoos

Yep, we're on the topic of zoos. :P
So, some zoos can be very fun, very fair to the animals, and generally very nice.
But other zoos can be very boring, very unfair to the animals, and generally very unnice.
Think of zoos as amusement parks, which they kind of are.
There are some amusement parks where the staff are always grumpy, the food is horrible, the rides are boring and dirty, and most of the toilets have pee or poo in them, sometimes on the floor.
There are others, however, where the staff are always happy, the food is delicious, the rides are thrilling and clean, and most of the toilets are completely clean, with nothing disgusting there.
So, today, unfortunately, I'll be talking about the bad zoos.
The ones that abuse animals.
For one thing, does THIS look comfortable? :(

(I don't own this image and take no credit for it)

(Image credit goes to the Humane Society, I do not own images)
Does it?
Nope.
Many bad zoos keep animals in conditions like this, where they are deprived of food, given little space, get ill very often, are stared at daily by people who throw things are them and poke fingers into their cages, and are otherwise abused. There are constantly people who try to keep zoos humane and rescue animals from those who aren't, but it all depends on YOU.
One way to keep animals in good conditions is to ONLY go to major zoos like the Minnesota Zoo or anything like that. If many people go there, chances are that the animals are humanely kept. If there are animals that AREN'T humanely kept, though, search for help online, or if you know what to do, DO IT! The sooner we rescue our captive animals, the better.
We should all work together to make all zoos look like the Minnesota zoo, where animals and humans are in harmony, and animals are kept in wide-open spaces. It is also a wonderful zoo with many animals and great attractions, so I recommend it! (I don't endorse the Minnesota Zoo, but its an awesome zoo.)
To learn more about animal abuse and how to stop it, go to:
http://library.thinkquest.org/07aug/01055/AnimalAnguish/Entertainment_RoadsideZoos.html

Chicken Nuggets

Yes, I have posted this before, but now I have a lot more information. :3

Picture credit from Google and to their rightful owners. :L

An "ordinary" box of chicken nuggets from McDonalds after being cooked.

But they might as well just call them Nuggets, because there isn't very much chicken meat in them. When they are made, first they take the actual meat (Legs, breast, etc.) and use that for different, real (as far as we know) chicken. Then what they don't use, is mixed all together: and boom: you have nuggets.

But what is it that they don't use?

-Eyeballs

-Muscle tissue

-Veins

-Tendons

-Bones

-Fat

Lovely, huh?

This processed chicken used for nuggets is also commonly used in dog food.

Do you really want to be eating that?

I haven't eaten chicken nuggets in months.

But when it comes to other forms of breaded chicken, such as tenders, strips, and fingers (lovely names), I've been informed that those are indeed breast meat.