Out of Egypt: Cairo to Shoot Stray Dogs

Another one for the Crazy-Things-Other-Countries-Do-With-Animals Department. This just in: Cairo will resume shooting stray dogs in a cost-saving measure intended to reduce the expense of dealing with strays. Apparently, shooting stray dogs will cost 1/1000th what it would cost to sterilize them.

PETA is obviously upset, but so is Bridgette Bardot. In a move that will certainly bring the country to its eastern-facing knees, she is boycotting all things Egypt. Presumably, this includes Omar Sharif movies.

Obviously, this book needs to be translated to Arabic and sent to Egyptian authorities post haste. If not, the dogs will certainly have their revenge.

If Michael Vick Had a Whippet

I just came across this image on Flickr. Holy Canole! At first I thought it was photoshopped, but it looked just too real. I work with PhotoShop a lot at work, and have done my share of silly photo edits, and getting a picture like this is tough. Perfect lighting, no telltale blurry spots, and very detailed.

So I dug around and found that this is a real dog named Wendy
that lives on a farm in Canada. She has a rare genetic mutation that doubles her muscle. Apparently, she's very friendly, even though her disorder means she's characterized as a "bully" dog.

Here's another article with better photos, including one with Wendy next to a normal whippet for perspective.

She's been part of genetic studies and has had an appearance on the Today show. Yes! I'm late to the party.

Making a Flag Into Something Dogs Pee on Maybe Not a Good Idea

Hey, don't get me wrong. It's a cool looking fire hydrant. But maybe not such a great idea to actually put it in a dog park where dogs, you know, celebrate their freedom to pee.

So the hydrant is being removed by the folks in Hillsboro, Oregon, though there had been no reports of dogs actually taking a wiz on the hydrant.

"Parks officials had thought of that problem, and had put the red, white and blue hydrant on an 18-inch-high base, surrounded by 'dog-unfriendly' shrubs including prickly barberry bushes."

Did anyone think the 4-inch bushes would deter anything but a dachshund? Just curious.

Deadly Brain-Eating Amoeba a Risk To Pets?

I happened upon two articles today that had a eerie similarity. The first article is about the spike in deaths this year from a "brain eating amoeba," and the case of a dog that has apparently died after swimming among "algae blooms." Interestingly, the amoeba-related deaths among humans come from swimming in water near algae blooms, which the deadly type of amoeba feeds on. The first article recommends against swimming near algae blooms because the fatality of infections from the amoebas that feed on them is near 100%. The dog's death is blamed directly on the algae, but seems like it could be related more the the amoeba possibility. Same climate and conditions as the human's death. I wonder if it's a case of better diagnosis for people than for pets.