If you had the power to change one law, what would it be and why?
I would make a law that all dogs and cats kept as pets have to be spayed and neutered to end animal suffering. Animal mills for breeding and animal hoarding would not exist.
BELLEVUE, Wash. – Bellevue Police shared video of an officer rescuing ducklings that fell into a storm drain Sunday afternoon.
According to police, a mama duck and her ducklings were marching through Downtown Park, when the little ones slipped through the grating of a storm drain and landed in the muck underground. A bike patrol officer in the neighborhood popped the lid off and started pulling ducks back up to the surface.
The mama duck is seen in the video pacing nervously and quacking while she waits for her kids to come back.
Here’s the happy family, no doubt heading to the pond to get clean. pic.twitter.com/ZwoyMzN6YS
— Bellevue, WA Police (@BvuePD) April 24, 2022
In all, the officer rescued nine ducklings, who police say likely went to the pond to take a much-needed bath!
Thank you for stopping in.
Spread a little kindness today. It’ll make you and another animal or person happy 😀☘️☕
Austin American-Statesman
Guinea pigs can learn people’s voices. That’s why every time Elizabeth Mack goes downstairs and says good morning, she’s greeted by a high-pitched chorus of squeaks.
The squeaks continue whenever Mack retrieves some lettuce from the fridge next to her dining room, which she converted into a sanctuary for the 24 little rodents — 31 if Mack’s own seven are taken into account. Large, topless cages sit on and underneath several tables, each one housing usually two or three guinea pigs.
Then there are the two, free-roaming lop-eared rabbits that Mack said act as the guinea pigs’ guardians.
Mack is the president of Austin Guinea Pig Rescue, an organization that’s been around for 17 years. But in just the past few months, Mack has faced a hefty challenge: There’s apparently a breeder dumping dozens of guinea pigs along Interstate 35 and MoPac Boulevard and in park bathrooms.
Many of these guinea pigs came to Mack pregnant or with health problems such as satin syndrome, which causes skull deformity and bone decalcification.
“The reason why this person is offloading pregnant animals and (satin syndrome guinea pigs) is this is what happens, and they get sick, and they die horribly,” Mack said. “We knew it was a breeder because let’s just say in an average year, we get maybe one or two satins. We’re up to 22.”
The dumping started in August in Northeast Austin. Since then, it has grown more frequent. Mack keeps track of the abandoned guinea pigs’ locations, and she said the breeder never reuses a spot.
“In August, I got a phone call about two pigs in the park, and some lady brought them to my house, and they were satins,” Mack said. “And I thought, ‘That’s weird.’ Then a week later, the shelter said someone had dropped off guinea pigs found in the woods. And I was like park, woods, interesting.”
Mack said she’s speaking out about the dumpings now because she needs fosters and adopters for the increasing number of guinea pigs — and their soon-to-arrive babies.
“We think (the breeder is) getting more desperate because the number of pregnant females they’re dumping, which is the breeder stock, pretty much every female we’re picking up, they’re all pregnant,” Mack said.
In one particular rescue, Mack said she took an entire deck apart “in the pitch-black dark” to reach a guinea pig.
“It was going below freezing, and they can’t survive freezing temps,” Mack said. “And the city of Cedar Park was so wonderful because it took me 3½ hours to get the whole deck a part, get the guinea pig and then we had hours putting it back together. And, of course, we didn’t do it perfect, and they were really sweet about it.”
Mack said she hopes to eventually build intake centers for rescued guinea pigs, but in the meantime, she needs help finding homes for the current ones. Practically all of them, she said, love affection such as scratches and cuddles.
“Guinea pigs are born loving and gentle. Abuse makes them mean. They’re literally born absolutely gentle and docile, … which is why they make really good pets.”
Those interested in fostering or adopting as well as volunteering or donating can visit austinguineapigrescue.com for information and application forms. The organization provides fosters with all needed supplies, Mack said. If at any point a foster or adopter can no longer take care of their guinea pig, they can return the animal to Austin Guinea Pig Rescue.
Guinea pigs with satin syndrome will not be available for adoption. They will become what Mack called sanctuary pigs and go to special foster homes that handle their medical needs until the end of their lives.
Mack wants to offer amnesty to the breeder for the sake of the guinea pigs’ health and safety.
“Look, no questions asked. We understand you got over your head,” Mack said. “Please just surrender so we don’t have to lose any more of these animals.”
Thank you for visiting today.
By Diane Herbst
Charley, 10 (left), Ryan, 16, Zaven, 6 months, Jeannie (center), Paizley, 7 months, John, 10, and Jody Thompson (right). PHOTO: POTEAU POLICE DEPARTMENT
Poteau, Oklahoma police officer Jody Thompson lives in the house he was raised in with his wife of 22 years, high school sweetheart Jeannie. On April 28, 2015, he was off duty, but heard a child abuse call come over the police radio that he thought he may be able to assist thanks to his background in investigating child abuse cases for the district attorney’s office, prior to joining the police department. Unable to walk away from the terrible abuse he saw, he ended up adopting the boy, John, and his infant sister, Paizley, in 2017. This is his story, told in his own words to PEOPLE.
Jody and John Thompson. POTEAU POLICE DEPARTMENT
Once I went into the house, I see this little boy, he was facing me, sitting on a couch, I’ll never forget. He was shivering, the kid he was shaking so bad, I guess probably shock and cold because he was soaking wet. He had a knot on his head the size of a tennis ball that that I’ll never forget.
He was obviously malnourished, you could see every rib in his body, and he was in bad shape. His hands were bound by belts, it was a pretty horrific scene. An ER doctor later testified that he couldn’t find a two-inch square on John’s body that didn’t have a cut, a bruise, an abrasion in some stage of healing.
I was with him for mere seconds when I scooped him up, got him in my car and put him in protective custody. I took him to the emergency room, and he weighed just 61 pounds. They went ahead and decided to put him in intensive care.
I stayed with him, never left his side. I had separated from the law enforcement side of it. I’d realized that I’d already gotten too involved in this to be objective. I’ve done some crazy cases in my career, but this was one of the craziest. It was bad.
Jody Thompson.
I learned that at his mom and dad’s they started water abuse with a shower head, spraying him in the face. When he got bigger, they’d put him in a small gray storage bin with anything out of the freezer, juice or cold peas or frozen vegetables, to make the punishment more severe.
And then we find out mom comes up with the idea to put a good sized trashcan inside the house and they’d raise the water up to about his nose level and put cold articles in it from the freezer.
But that day was different. They tied his hands together. He was held by his feet and put in headfirst until he quit fighting. They put the lid on the trashcan that day and put stuff on top of the lid. They told John they was going to the store to get ice.
As soon as he heard the truck leave, he just stood up, got out of the trashcan. He was locked in from the outside so he climbed out of a window and went to the neighbor’s house [who called the police].
The parents would each be charged with two crimes, child abuse by injury and neglect, and each were sentenced to 35 years.
Thompson family. JODY THOMPSON
After about two days John was released from the hospital and he went to a traditional foster home here in Poteau. And I couldn’t get him out of my head. I couldn’t stop thinking about him, if he was being treated right, if he was getting taken care of. There was no way that I’d ever be able to relax until I knew he was safe. And the only way I could guarantee him being safe was with me.
At the time, me and my wife, we had two sons of our own: Ryan was 16 and Charley was 8. I made some phone calls and filled out an application to become a foster parent and three days later they let me pick him up.
John and Paizley. JODY THOMPSON
Jeannie: And then two days later, we found out that we were pregnant with our third son.
When we brought John home, we’re trying to get as normal as we can get. John and my son Charley, they’re only six weeks apart in age. So they’re the same age, same grade, two second graders. They were best friends and all that. But it didn’t take long for the sibling rivalry to kick in!
Jody: On November 3, 2015, I was with John’s caseworker on a separate child welfare case, when she gets a phone call. She said, ‘I just got word that John’s mother had a baby in jail. What are we going to do?’ I said, ‘What do you mean what are we doing to do? I’m going to pick her up.’ The very next day, on the 4th, we picked her up from the hospital.
Jody Thompson.
Jeannie: And I was about six weeks out from having Zaven, he was born December 14th, 2015.
Jody: Early on, it was panic mode. I was one of six, and I always thought my parents were crazy having that many kids. So when John came along, I was comfortable that we were led by God in the right direction to do this, I wasn’t fearful then. But when Paizley came along, that was the first sign of panic. I thought, ‘We might have overdone this.’ But we just figured out a way.
My police department, this entire town of Poteau, Jeannie’s co-workers at the crisis center where she had been a domestic violence counselor, my family, my siblings, just everyone rallied around us and we’ve never had an issue.
Paizley and Zaven act like twins. They play like twins. They’re inseparable. They love each other. They worry about each other. I think that’s probably what they needed at the time. God knew that, they’re doing really well.
John and Paizley Thompson. JODY THOMPSON
We formally adopted John on August the 18th of 2016, and Paizley on February 16th of 2017. Paizley just turned six and she doesn’t have a clue what happened. That’s what we’re working on with counselors and with professionals.
Jeannie: When is the right time? Because we just want her to be mature enough to understand it.
Jody: We’re really working hard on John to let him know that this, it was a bad thing that happened, but it doesn’t define who he is.
Jeannie: John did go through some trauma therapy and did really well with that. We obviously had to deal with hoarding of food, with him being malnourished and not knowing when his next meal was going to come. He’s doing much better now with the food issue.
Jody: Jeannie and I both promised him, ‘You’ll never have to worry about food in this house. It will always be there.’ He’s a straight A student now and pretty active. He does marching band and drama and the thespian group and all of that. He is doing really well.
John: This happening has given me a lot of opportunities to do the things that probably I wouldn’t have gotten to do, find the things that I like and have the ability to pursue what I like. And my parents, they care.
Thank you for stopping in for my positive post for the day. There is Beauty in Every Day.
By Char Adams
PHOTO: KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST VIA GETTY
Ever since he was little, Michael Platt has loved to bake.
The 13-year-old boy, of Bowie, Maryland, has also been passionate about advocacy against childhood hunger and income inequality, according to the Washington Post. Two years ago, he decided to combine his two loves and founded Michaels Desserts, a bakery in which Michael donates a treat to the homeless and hungry for each cake, cookie or cupcake sold.
“I always wanted to have a purpose for what I do,” Michael told the Post. “It’s all about helping people — not just having a purpose for yourself, but thinking about, ‘How does this touch other things?’ ”
He sells about 75 cupcakes a month, offering four for $15, the Post reported. With that, he makes more than 100 treats to give away and drops them off twice a month at locations including transitional housing, domestic violence shelters and McPherson Square in Washington, D.C.
Earlier this month, Michael handed out cupcakes in the square and met people from all walks of life.
“There was a man sitting in the park. He was wearing, like, a suit and tie,” Michael recalled to WJLA. “We gave him a cupcake and he said that he hadn’t eaten in three days. So we learned that hunger doesn’t really look like anything.”
He’s even teamed up with No Kid Hungry, a nonprofit organization working to end child hunger in America, according to the station.
“I knew that I wanted to make a business, but I knew I didn’t just want to make money — I also wanted to help people at the same time,” Michael told WJLA.
He bakes out of his family’s home and lends his culinary skills to events like birthdays, anniversaries and weddings, according to the Post.
Michael, who is now home-schooled, withdrew from public school after he was diagnosed with epilepsy and began suffering severe seizures in sixth grade, Platt’s mother, Danita Platt, told the Post.
“It was a very, very difficult time,” Danita said of the period after Michael was diagnosed. “He had to stop everything he loved: gymnastics, climbing trees, diving. So that’s when he kind of threw himself into baking.”
Michael has been able to show his creative side through baking and offers a new “chef’s choice” each month in which he carefully creates a themed cupcake, he told the Post.
He calls these his “freedom fighter cupcakes.”
“So I choose a person to base a cupcake off for each month,” Michael said. “And each month I have a flavor that represents them — and I’ll tell their story on my Instagram page.”
The special cupcake for June is a banana pudding cupcake made to honor Maya Angelou, according to the publication. He plans to make edible creations in tribute of Harriet Tubman and Nelson Mandela.
He’s honored Marin Luther King Jr. with a cupcake full of sweet potato pie filling twice, he said.
Have a beautiful day. Make someone smile today.
About The Book
A courageous doctor and his apprentice fight to save London’s poor—and discover that the hearts of men can be colder than a winter chill—in this gripping holiday mystery from New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry.
“Perry’s Victorian-era holiday mysteries [are] an annual treat.”—The Wall Street Journal
Scuff has come a long way from his time as a penniless orphan scraping together a living on the banks of the Thames. Now he’s studying medicine at a free clinic run by Dr. Crowe, a thoughtful if stoic mentor. But lately Crowe has been distracted, having witnessed an altercation between a wealthy former patient of his named Ellie—a woman that he not only treated but developed unacknowledged feelings for—and her controlling fiancé. It seems someone is forcing Ellie to marry the man. When Crowe’s emotions come flooding back, he sets out to uncover the troubling connection between Ellie, her father, and her betrothed.
With Crowe engrossed in his investigation just weeks before the holidays, Scuff is left to run the clinic on his own, treating London’s poor and vulnerable. In the holiday spirit, he offers Mattie, a young girl in need, a warm place to stay as the winter chill sweeps through the city. Together, Scuff and Mattie must also fend off the police, who are growing suspicious of Crowe’s amateur sleuthing. Will Crowe be able to help Ellie, and will Scuff be able to ensure that he and Mattie—and all of their patients—have a safe and peaceful Christmas?
Grab A Copy Here
My Thoughts
This is a wonderful mystery book with a Vintage Christmas vibe.
An old-time doctor, along with his apprentice that was an orphan he took in off of the streets and taught him everything he knows, have a free clinic set up on the Banks of the Thames.
He is a no-nonsense doctor but kindly, accepting fish wrapped in newspaper, whatever fruit is in season or odd jobs done for him. He knows not to make the poor feel unworthy or they won’t come to his clinic until it’s too late.
There is the sweetest little street urchin in the story, just five years old and she brings a kitten barely weaned as payment for taking care of her cut. She shows such bravery and even helps out the old doctor handing him towels and doing other small chores and in return gets delicious and nutritious meals.
There is just enough of a mystery to keep the reader reading and intrigued.
The setting feels as though you are watching a feel-good old-time movie.
The author has many books out, but I’ve only read two of them, both Christmas mysteries.
I really do need to read more of her books, they are so well written.
Pub Date 08 Nov 2022
I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.
About The Author
Anne Perry is the bestselling author of two acclaimed series set in Victorian England: the William Monk novels, including Dark Assassin and The Shifting Tide, and the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels, including The Cater Street Hangman, Calandar Square, Buckingham Palace Gardens and Long Spoon Lane. She is also the author of the World War I novels No Graves As Yet, Shoulder the Sky, Angels in the Gloom, At Some Disputed Barricade, and We Shall Not Sleep, as well as six holiday novels, most recently A Christmas Grace. Anne Perry lives in Scotland.
Welcome and thank you for spending some time on my blog today. I hope you are having a marvelous day.
Vegan Book Blogger