Montreal SPCA- Rabbits

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) was the first humane society in Canada. It was founded in Montreal in 1869 by a group of dedicated citizens. Their mission is to protect animals against negligence, abuse, and exploitation, represent their interests and ensure their well-being, and to raise public awareness and help develop compassion for all living beings. The SPCA receives 14,000 abandoned animals each year and relies on their volunteers and donations.

Easter is approaching rapidly and as some of you may be aware, every year there is a large number of rabbits who are adopted during Easter and then subsequently abandoned at the SPCA and other shelters. Buyers are not aware of the commitment a rabbit entails, rather they only see how cute they are. One big problem with this tactic is rabbits are usually not the best pet to have in the home with small children. Children normally want to pick up their pet and most rabbits do not like being picked up because it initiates being caught by a predator. They will kick and scratch; even in some instances rabbits will bite. 

Another harsh reality is that many unwanted rabbits are released into the wild to fend for themselves. Domesticated rabbits often lack the instincts to survive on their own and fall prey to predators, are susceptible to disease, or end up starving because there is no adequate food source. 

 
Impulse buying of a pet is always a bad idea-give children stuffed animals or chocolate as Easter gifts.

African Elephants

Elephants, the biggest of all land animals, are among the most recognizable and beloved creatures on Earth. They are slightly larger than the Asian elephant and can be identified by their larger ears that look somewhat like the continent of Africa.  Female elephants live in family herds with their young, but adult males tend to roam on their own. Elephants have a longer pregnancy than any other mammal—almost 22 months. They usually give birth to one calf every two to four years. At birth, elephants already weigh 200 pounds!!

Both male and female African elephants have tusks they use to dig for food and water and to strip bark from trees. Males use the tusks to battle one another, but the ivory has also attracted violence of a far more dangerous sort. They are hunted cruelly for these ivory tusks that are then traded on the black market Elephants are currently listed as endangered on the IUCN red list of threatened species.

Toronto Blue Jays

 

The Toronto Blue Jays will be starting their season on April 5^th at an away game in Cleveland. It will be the Jays 36th season as a Major League Baseball franchise, and the 23^rd full season of play at the Rogers Centre.

It is not easy to find many well-rounded major league catchers these days that can both call a great game and do some damage with the bat. Usually players are more talented in some areas than others. But the same cannot be said for Blue Jays catcher J.P. Arencibia. He showed surprising power in 2011, hitting 23 home runs to go along with 78 RBIs, 47 runs scored, one stolen base and a .219 batting average, while spending most of the year near the bottom of Toronto's lineup. Arencibia also set the franchise record for home runs by a catcher last season.

Arencibia played baseball for the university of Tennesse until he was drafted by Toronto in 2007. Toronto managers speculated if Arencibia should stick as a catcher or whether a move to first base would be in order for him. After the draft the Blue Jays decided to keep him at the catcher's position and work with him on his defense. This is the best move that the Toronto Blue Jays could have made, as J.P Arencibia is a crucial component to the team when he is behind the plate.

 

 

 

 

Guinness Book of World Records

Indonesia has entered the Guinness Book of World Records for the second year in a row... But for being the country with the highest rate of deforestation.

These record rates of destruction make Indonesia not only the fastest forest destroyer but also the world's number one greenhouse gas polluter. They destroy an area that is the equivalent to 300 soccer fields every hour! Illegal logging can be blamed for the forest depletion, as 73% of logging done in Indonesia is illegal so that oil palm plantations can be established.

As a result of this, Indonesia has the third highest number of threatened species, with 772 species. One of these species being the orangutan. The orangutan is on virtually every international top ten endangered animals list. Only two species of orangutan remain on earth, the Bornean orangutan and the Sumatran orangutan. In the 1990’s there were more than 230,000 orangutans wandering freely, but today there are merely 60,000 of them left in total.

“The survival of orangutans and other rainforest wildlife in Indonesia is seriously endangered by illegal logging, forest fires, including those associated with the rapid spread of oil palm plantations, illegal hunting and trade.” -United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)