Dutch needs help

Dutch is a very sweet old chocolate lab who needs a retirement setting.

We have found sanctuary for him in Hinckley, MN, but he requires transport from Davenport, Iowa.

We have filled most of the legs of the transport, but we need to be able to reimburse gas costs.



Can you donate a few dollars to our Chip-In account?



I’m still hoping this guy could find love in a real home…

Denise (d4luke@gmail.com)

ORIGINAL PLEA RECEIVED:
Trying to find a place for a Senior chocolate lab who hasn't had much of a life to life out whatever is left of it in peace and comfort....

So I was looking at the Best Friends Network here and in surrounding states, looking for a rescue but more so a sanctuary as I don't think this dog would ever be adopted because of age, and he's not going to be placed up from adoption here...

He's at the shelter because of an abatement order. The owner has an ACO file going back to '05. He was listed as an adult back then, so even if he was 2 or 3 back then, that would make him 9 or 10 now.

REALLY sweet, gentle, VERY housebroke...

Carla (carla.heim@mchsi.com)

Study ties GMO corn, soybeans to butterfly losses

Article by: JOSEPHINE MARCOTTY
Star Tribune - March 16, 2012 - 9:37 PM

Genetically engineered corn and soybeans make it easy for farmers to eradicate weeds, including the long-lived and unruly milkweed.

But they might be putting the monarch butterfly in peril.

The rapid spread of herbicide-resistant crops has coincided with -- and may explain -- the dramatic decline in monarch numbers that has troubled some naturalists over the past decade, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Minnesota and Iowa State University.

Between 1999 and 2010, the same period in which so-called GMO crops became the norm for farmers, the number of monarch eggs declined by an estimated 81 percent across the Midwest, the researchers say. That's because milkweed -- the host plant for the eggs and caterpillars produced by one of one of the most gaudy and widely recognized of all North American butterflies -- has nearly disappeared from farm fields, they found.

It is one of the clearest examples yet of unintended consequences from the widespread use of genetically modified seeds, said John Pleasants, a monarch researcher from Iowa State in Ames, Iowa.

"When we put something out there, we don't know always what the consequences are," he said.

Pleasants and Karen Oberhauser, of the University of Minnesota, published their findings online last week in the journal Insect Conservation and Diversity.

"It is quite an extraordinary paper," said Chip Taylor, an insect ecologist at the University of Kansas and the director of research at Monarch Watch, a conservation group. He noted that Oberhauser and Pleasants were able to tie the loss of habitat to a decline in numbers across the country.

But the evidence they present -- estimates of the number of milkweed plants across the Corn Belt and a decade's worth of butterfly egg counts by an army of volunteer citizens -- is indirect, say others.

"It does not resolve the debate," said Leslie Ries, a University of Maryland professor who studies monarchs.

Butterflies in decline

The orange and black butterflies migrate every year to the mountains of Mexico, where they collect in fluttering clouds in trees, an extraordinary event that has inspired festivals and tourism.

But for reasons that are not well understood, the number of butterflies that make it to Mexico -- half of which come from the Midwest -- has been on the decline. This year, according to a report released Thursday, the butterflies occupied seven acres of trees in their refuge west of Mexico City -- 28 percent less than last year and a fraction of the 45 acres they occupied in 1996, a peak year.

Experts said last year's drought probably had a serious effect on the insects. Others say damage to the wintering grounds from logging and development are also playing a part, and that the number that make it to Mexico does not necessarily reflect the health of the species.

But some scientists have for years wondered whether the use of genetically modified crops is affecting the spring and summer reproduction in this country.

Earlier studies suggested that monarch caterpillars would die if they ate milkweed dusted with pollen from another kind of engineered seed known as BT corn. It contains a gene that produces a toxin that kills corn-eating pests.

That theory was disproved, but it led scientists to take a hard look at milkweed plants in corn and soybean fields, said Pleasants. "Surprisingly, monarchs use those milkweeds more heavily than milkweed outside [farm fields]," he said. The butterflies lay nearly four times as many eggs on farm field plants as on those in pastures or on roadsides, the researchers said.

More important, they also found "that milkweed in the fields was disappearing," he said. That's because more farmers are using a new kind of genetically modified seed developed by Monsanto, Roundup-ready corn and soybeans, that contain a gene allowing the plants to withstand Roundup, or glyphosate. That allows farmers to spray their fields without harming the crop.

Monsanto, which did not respond to a request for comment, says on its website the seeds help farmers increase yield. Today, it's used by 94 percent of soybean farmers and 72 percent of corn farmers, according to federal data.

Assessing the effect on milkweed plants both in and out of farm fields, was difficult, researchers said -- never mind the challenge of counting butterfly eggs.

Pleasants said he used data on the change in milkweed density in Iowa, and extrapolated those numbers to landscape use data across the Midwest. That showed an estimated 58 percent decline in milkweed plants throughout the Corn Belt, primarily on agricultural lands.

Oberhauser supplied data she has been collecting for years through the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project. Every week during the monarch breeding season, volunteers across the country go to the same patches of non-agricultural milkweed in their communities and count all the eggs they can find.

That showed two things: Butterflies were not flocking to breed on plants outside agricultural fields; those numbers remained the same. And overall production, measured in eggs, declined 81 percent between 1999 and 2010.

Taylor said the new study should help make the case that increasing monarch habitat along roads in pastures, gardens and on conservation lands must become a national priority because the milkweed will never come back to farm fields, he said.

"The scale of the loss of habitat is so big that unless we compensate for it in some way, the population will decline to the point where it will disappear," he said.

Josephine Marcotty • 612-673-7394

© 2011 Star Tribune

No "Luck" for the horses on HBO

LOS ANGELES - The horseracing series "Luck" was canceled by HBO after a third thoroughbred died during production of the drama starring Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte, the channel said Wednesday.

"Luck," about the seedier side of racing, will air the final two episodes of its first season now in progress, HBO said. But the series won't return for the second season that began production last month, it said.

"While we maintained the highest safety standards possible, accidents unfortunately happen and it is impossible to guarantee they won't in the future," the channel said. "Accordingly, we have reached this difficult decision."

The move was made with David Milch, the show's creator, and Michael Mann, his fellow executive producer on the drama that brought film actor Hoffman to series TV. It was a high-profile project for the premium channel that stakes its reputation on such fare.

HBO said it was "immensely proud" of the series and those involved in it, and the producers said in a joint statement that they "loved this series, loved the cast, crew and writers."

Retired jockey Gary Stevens, who co-stars on "Luck" and was in the racehorse movie "Seabiscuit," tweeted his support to the HBO series: "So bummed. Peace out to all my family in (hash)luck."

The American Humane Association, which oversees animal welfare on Hollywood productions, said that in light of the three deaths "this is arguably the best decision HBO could have made."

The group said it will work with HBO to ensure that horses used on "Luck" are "retired properly."

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which had been sharply critical of the production, welcomed the cancellation and offered advice to HBO and the producers if they decide to resume it.

"PETA will be calling on them, as we have done from the start, to use stock racing footage instead of endangering horses for entertainment purposes," the group said in a statement.

On Tuesday, a horse was injured and euthanized at Santa Anita Park racetrack, and HBO agreed to suspend filming with the animals after the American Humane Association issued an immediate demand "that all production involving horses shut down" pending an investigation.

The animal was being led to a stable by a groom when it reared and fell back, suffering a head injury, according to HBO. The horse was euthanized at the track in suburban Arcadia.

During season-one filming in 2010 and 2011, two horses were hurt during racing scenes and euthanized. HBO defended its treatment of the animals, saying it's worked with the humane association and racing industry experts to implement safety protocols that exceed film and TV industry standards.

The humane association had called for a production halt at Santa Anita after the second horse's death. Racing resumed after new protocols were put in place and proved effective, Karen Rosa, the AHA unit's senior vice president, said in February.

On Tuesday, Dr. Gary Beck, a California Horse Racing Board veterinarian, said he had just examined the horse as part of routine health and safety procedures before it was to race later in the day. The horse passed the inspection, the AHA said.

When the horse was injured, an attending veterinarian determined that euthanasia was appropriate, he said.

Dr. Rick Arthur, medical director of the state racing board, said such injuries occur in stable areas every year and are more common than thought. A necropsy will be conducted, he said, which is routine with all fatalities at racing board enclosures.

The necropsy and toxicology testing will be done despite the show's cancellation, the board said.

The first two horse deaths drew criticism from PETA, which said that safety guidelines used in filming failed to prevent the deaths "so clearly they were inadequate."

Kathy Guillermo, a PETA vice president, said at the time the group didn't consider the matter closed.

"Racing itself is dangerous enough. This is a fictional representation of something and horses are still dying, and that to me is outrageous," she said.

On Tuesday, Guillermo said PETA sent complaints about "Luck" to Arcadia police and an animal humane society in nearby Pasadena.

___

Associated Press Sports Writer Beth Harris contributed to this report.___

Cats purr to your heart's content

A new study suggests cat owners are less likely to die of a heart attack.

Article by: WILLIAM HAGEMAN
Chicago Tribune
March 12, 2012 - 11:04 AM

We know that pets are beneficial to our health -- they can lower a person's blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and provide opportunities for exercise and socialization.

In some cases, the source of the benefits is obvious. You walk a dog for 2 miles; you'll be in better shape. But some of the reported benefits are baffling.

A 10-year study at the University of Minnesota Stroke Center found that cat owners were 40 percent less likely to have heart attacks than non-cat owners.

Could a cat's purr be the reason?

"Cats will purr when they're content, but also they'll purr when they're about to be euthanized. It's thought they purr to communicate with their kittens," says author and animal behavior consultant Steve Dale. "It's thought to be a calming mechanism.

"If that's the case ... maybe they calm themselves or other cats, but maybe there's a fallout and there's another mammal species, us, that's impacted."

In another study, conducted at Kean University in New Jersey, subjects watched a "Lassie" movie. Their levels of cortisol -- a chemical associated with stress -- were checked before and after the film, and showed a decline after the movie.

This animal connection, Dale explained, "alters our neurochemistry. Not just the physiology, the blood pressure change, which is significant, but also the neurochemistry. The scientists are discovering there really is a difference here."

© 2011 Star Tribune