News Briefs for the Week of October 28, 2002
By Marcella Durand for Cat Facts
- Keep Pets Safe During Halloween
While Halloween is fun for us humans (except for the toilet paper wrapped around your tree), it's not just frightening for your cat, but potentially dangerous, too.
To help make Halloween a safer holiday for pets, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) have released a list of pet safety tips.
- Chocolate and candy are definitely Halloween highlights for humans (after dressing up as Indiana Jones and Cleopatra, of course). However, chocolate isn't quite so sweet for your cat. In fact, it can be deadly. never let a cat (or a dog) eat chocolate. Tin foil and cellophane wrappings aren't much better. So be sure to keep all treats far out of reach.
- Keeping kitty inside the house and in a quiet room makes sure she won't feel threatened by noisy costumed children on major sugar highs. "Keep your pet safe in an enclosed area with a toy and soothing music," says Nancy Peterson, HSUS companion animals issues specialist. Remember that frequently opened doors provide a perfect opportunity for feline escape artists. Be sure all your pets are wearing collars with ID tags, in case one of them does manage to slip out.
- It's important to realize that black cats are often the target of Halloween pranksters. Make sure your dark-colored kitty is safe inside at home with you.
- While it may seem cute to us, dressing your cat up in a costume can stress him out and even be dangerous. Keep the costumes on us fun-loving humans and let your cat be a cat.
- Watch that jack o' lantern! It's easy enough for a panicking cat to knock it over and cause a fire. And keep other decorations, such as streamers, out of your cat's reach. He could chew on them and choke.
- Single Panther Seeks Room
It looks like the Florida panther could be a victim of his own success, unless some more land is found--and fast-to expand his territory.
In 1967, when Florida panthers were first listed as endangered, there were only 30 left and biologists rushed to save them from extinction. While the panther has yet to reach the number needed to maintain a self-sustaining population-250--there are currently more panthers in south Florida than at any recent time, with 70 to 100 adults and kittens calling the area home.
The problem is that they've run out of room. Male panthers need ranges of 100 to 200 square miles, while females need 75 to 100, according to Darrell Land, the head of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's panther team. And panthers need dry land with lots of shrubs, palmettos and small trees. Citrus groves, farm fields, developments and roads are squeezing this coveted terrain. While the federal government has bought enough land in panther country to reduce privately-owned land from 50 percent to 40 percent, that 40 percent still lies in two of the fastest-growing counties in the United States. According to Land, a rise in lethal encounters and roadkills is one more indication that the panther population has reached saturation point.
At present, a plan is in the process to evaluate sites for panthers within their historic range, including areas in the Florida panhandle, north Florida and southern Georgia, central Florida and national forests in Arkansas and Mississippi.
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