Animal Safety - Tumblr Posts

sorry if i’m being a party pooper but because rabies is apparently the new joke on here ??? please remember that rabies has an almost 100% fatality rate after symptoms develop so if you’re bitten or scratched by an animal that you aren’t 100% sure is vaccinated then GO TO A DOCTOR. it’s not a joke. really. 

As someone from an area with a lot of these bastards (alligator snapping turtles specifically, which are much larger), this is all great and true, but I feel like yall are underestimating these guys a bit. Admittedly i don't have as much experience with the smaller ones, but better safe than sorry.

Not contradicting the instructions, those are super good and I have helped snapping turtles across the road w similar methods, but if you're not familiar w animals or not confirdent, JUST LEAVE THEM ALONE and call animal control or your local department of wildlife. I have seen the damage these guys can do, they will literally bite off chunks of your hand or arm. Also, if you do help one along the road, remember their neck is MUCH longer than you think it is, and there's a solid chance when you put them down they will turn and snap at you, so back up immediately. They're faster on land than you think.

Not to ruin the mood of the cute comic (which is wonderful, my only critique is to add that they may turn and snap when you set them down at the end) but seriously, these are dangerous wild animals, please be careful.

trying to decide if i'd rather be a tortoise or a turtle. on the one hand I prefer dry land, on the other hand turtles can breathe out of their cloacae so. it's tricky

Actually yes I do think you should need a standard qualification to own an animal, and that there needs to be heavier regulations on person-to-person animal sales and backyard breeding.

Owning an animal immediately becomes a lifelong commitment, just like having a child. The only difference is the animal can't use words to tell you how its feeling, what it needs and what's wrong with it. Getting an animal means you need to learn an entirely new language and need to learn to adjust your behavior and life, constantly, in order to communicate with your pet properly.

Yes, even dogs and cats. The two most available, unregulated type of pet after fish. Its not cute when you let your baby/toddler trample all over your pet and pull at them and chew on their ears. Its not cute when you try to snuggle your pet and it growls at you. Its not cute to have a pet that tries to attack you whenever you're in the same room. Its not cute to let your fish languish in a tiny bowl without the proper filtration, space, habitat stimuli and food.

The fact that at any one time I can just make a Facebook post saying I want a kitten and within 24 hours I can just get one, no home or background check necessary, no medical history or evaluation of the kitten, no proper knowledge of if its old enough to leave its mother or what it needs to eat, is actually fucking terrifying.

You need to learn the body language and sounds of your pet and what they're indicating to you. Animals have hundreds of ways of communicating. Some animals will specifically adapt to your means of communication or will invent entirely new forms of communication to try to engage with you.

You need to learn the proper methods of training your pet and which methods work best for you, your pet, and are over-all the clearest forms of communication and most beneficial. Including what methods are safe, which are outdated or harmful, ect.

You need to learn the proper nutrition your pet requires and ways you can enrich and vary their diet. You need to be capable of doing species/breed appropriate research and activity research to discern exactly what your pet needs out of its diet.

If and where necessary, you need to modify your home and your own behaviors within the home to make it safer for your pet. You may need to give up your essential oil candles or stop leaving the doors open where your pet can escape. You may need to remodel your backyard so its safe and appropriate for your pet to have freedom within.

You need to learn ways you can safely enrich your pet's day-to-day life and ways you can provide them with stimulation and entertainment. Especially for the hours you won't be there.

You need to have proper medical coverage for your pet and set aside money weekly or monthly to build an emergency savings fund for them, the exact way you would for other expenses.

You need to properly assert ownership of your pet. Paperwork, microchipping, an evidence file of ownership in case your pet gets lost or stolen, proper registration, ect.

You need to have contingency plans for emergencies and events where you need to navigate the stability and safety of your pet. If you went into hospital tomorrow, who can look after your pet? If there's a natural disaster, do you have the means to get your pet to safety?

And, yes. I realize this will inherently disadvantage poor people and people who don't have hours in a day free to pay attention to their pet, but unfortunately, that's the reality of choosing to be responsible for another living creature. Its the reality of just how much actual work goes into owning, raising and training an animal.

Pets are not inherent rights. They're essentially luxuries in a world where we no longer need to rely on animals the way we did hundreds of years ago. Pets are not just little accessories and fun little distractions and add-ons to your home. They are independent, sentient creatures that you are fully and solely responsible for in every single aspect of their lives.

Pets. Are. Not. Toys.

If your child is old enough to learn boundaries with people and appropriate behavior around people they're old enough and aware enough to learn boundaries and appropriate behavior around animals.

Its really that simple.

Its actually appalling how few pet owners have safety, evacuation and rescue training and plans in place for their pets.

actually, I’ve been thinking about pet evacuation recently and this reminded me of how I’m about to start trying to get my cat to go into his crate (or at least allow me to get him in easier) because I’ve started to overthink about scenarios where we need to evacuate. Not trying to start an argument or make a snide comment, I just find the timing of your post interesting

There is no argument. Anyone who does not yet have these plans and this training in place or is preparing to is being irresponsible. Even if you don't live in an area known for natural disasters, you literally never know what could happen.

You could have a house fire. A sinkhole. A burst pipe. Gas leak.

Anything could happen that means you need to get your pet out and you need to get your pet out now. It could literally mean the difference between life and death for both you and your pet to have these things in place.

I've seen so many heartbroken stories about how people lost their pets in things like housefires because they didn't know where it was hiding or didn't have a carrier to get it outside or it wouldn't go in the carrier because it had never been in one before.

You need to practice these things. You need to have a plan in place. You need to teach your pet that in an emergency you are the safe place. No matter how sure you are that you know your pet or you'll never be one of those people who needs to do it.

All pets where it is realistic to do so should be trained in:

Not freaking out if they wind up stuck or tangled in something. Especially prey animals like horses who can severely injure themselves and anyone trying to help them by panicking this way.

Evacuating the location in an emergency/rush and in the transportation method available. Trailer, carrier, ect.

Taking medicine, being inspected and treated for injuries.

Having their faces/eyes/ears/noses covered in the instance you need to do so to prevent them from inhaling something, getting something in their eyes, ect.

Re: pet evacuation

I don't know how you'd do it with other creatures since I've never had any, but I've always trained my dogs to come find me immediately when they hear the fire alarm. Not too hard with food motivated creatures; give them a tasty treat whenever they hear a fire alarm and they'll learn to search you out real damn fast when they hear it. You start out more often so they learn what to do and what everything means, but now I just reinforce it every once in a while.

Sending this ask bc so many people are so daunted by how to approach this type of training that they just never do it; maybe it'll help take away some of the "holy shit how the fuck do I even do that" panic

Pretty much any animal can be trained via food. Animals are extremely motived by food due to the instinctual drive to eat to survive and eat what they can, when they can.

Training an animal just takes time, effort and consistency. In the future I'll probably compile a list of resources for people who are interested in training their animals with emergency protocols and desensitization.

Training your dog to come to you or go to the front door in emergencies is a good place to start

Extremely important to increase awareness that often large herbivores are even MORE dangerous to you than the majority of carnivores. We don’t have natural predators anymore. We actually look very inherently intimidating and unnerving to most animals because of our body language and build. There are incredibly few species, few and far between, that may opportunistically try and see if we are a potential food source, usually desperate and exotic predators our most vulnerable are severely unlikely to ever encounter.

If something that eats meat is attacking you, incredible odds are that it is defending itself, its resources, or its young against you as a last resort. If they come out of a fight with a disabling injury, they are practically already dead. Their ability to fight starvation is so determined on keeping themselves in fit shape. They might not be able to go without food long enough for a broken leg to heal or at all if their sight is damaged enough. Even if they are trying to test out if you are good prey, most predators will somewhat reliably give up the attempt as soon as you can prove you are more more trouble than you are worth the calories spent trying to subdue.

To prey animals, you are the predator they have to dissuade or terminate in order to save their own lives if they have decided you are threatening them. The options they have to survive you in their mind are fight or flight. And if they did not evolve to primarily flee, watch out. Any scuffle they start with you they have started with the full expectation that either you or them may not make it out alive. Megafauna like moose are literally evolved to stomp opportunistic wolves to death (why they attack sled dogs) and beat grizzly bears back just to earn another day of browsing greenery. Hippos are 3,000 pounds of fresh meat surrounded by half a dozen infamous large predators. Do the math and it will be obvious why they are the most aggressive beasts in Africa. Why they have to be to stay alive.

The nutshell at the end of the day, and what I think is a much more bumper sticker worthy piece of wildlife advice we all would love to beam into the heads of average people is this:

If it does not fear humans, humans SHOULD fear it.

Any entirely wild animal that doesn’t react to your presence by trying to leave the area is not something laymen should want to interact with. Ever ever. If it is approaching you, back away. If it is holding its ground, back away. If it is in fact trying to get away from you, ffs, don’t chase after and corner it. Not adhering to this one idea I really really feel is the number one reason preventable wild animal attacks happen at all. We need less of whatever everybody calls the Disney princess mentality and more immediate suspicion when animals don’t treat you like they treat any other unpredictable predator. Because when it comes to something like foxes or skunks, this is literally a potential red flag for rabies. When it comes to black bears, you might be about to become a victim of some idiot who’s been feeding them. And when it comes to moose, and it’s too late to get away from them, you need to be ready to respect some very hard boundaries, put the animal down, or play dead and pray to whatever higher authority may or may not be.

There is a ton to enjoy about wildlife, and it is unironically really majestic and wonderous and all that jazz. This is never meant as encouragement to lose that awe and wonder for the world, only as another reminder that it serves everyone in the long run when you channel that into loving and respecting the wild for what it actually is. 

If there was one animal literacy thing I could change with a wave of a wand, it would be increasing people's understanding of how dangerous megafauna are. I think that in the US (and probably other Western countries too), we're so removed from wildlife and even large domesticated animals that people really have no perspective on how much a big animal can fuck you up. Even if they're "gentle."

This is a discussion going on on Twitter, too, the last few days: there was a thing where an Iditarod musher shot a moose to protect their team, and a lot of people are confused as to why that needed to happen. Apparently this moose had been hanging around the course for quite a while and was becoming quite dangerous to the sled dog teams. Moose are territorial and not to be fucked with. Everyone from Alaska or areas with moose are like "yup, that's just reality."

Same thing with the bison birth I watched last year. Folk really thought the staff should be in the habitat on the ground with the bison herd, helping with the birth. Sure, that's what we do with cows if we have to, but... bison are definitely not cows and, again, will squish you.

People tend to get it more with the predators. Few people will argue that a cougar or an alligator or a bear isn't dangerous. I think people kinda go both ways on wild pigs / boars depending on their experience. But herbivores or things that don't look traditionally pointy... it just kinda doesn't click.

Any large animal is probably stronger than you think and more likely to hurt you than you realize. Be it a dolphin, an elk, a sea lion, or even an emperor penguin... just don't go near them, buds.