Mystifying Side Note In Trump World: Missing USDA Data

My dogs Tonks (foreground) and Jackson said they are angry
the USDA removed information on animal welfare from
the government website. We want it back. 

I was watching the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC the other night and she was mystified by something I was equally confused about.

My dogs Jackson and Tonks, who were also watching, said the issue Maddow was discussing is very important and I should put it in my blog.

I agree.

The Trump administration took down animal welfare data from the Internet that had provided the public with information on, say, whether the puppy they were thinking of acquiring comes from an abusive puppy mill.

The USDA makes animal breeders pass inspections. Seven states and New York City have laws that say stores and such can't sell puppies and other animals unless they come from a reputable breeder. The USDA insspections help guide this, and that's what the USDA database was for.

On her show Tuesday, Maddow said:

"Pet stores or law enforcemet in these states, if they want to check and see if a dog breeder is legally allowed to sell puppies to a pet store, they get on the USDA web site, look them up by license number and read their inspection reports, see if they have clean inspection reports. That's it"

You could do this at home, too. Get ahold of the breeder's licence number and check out the easily navigable USDA data.

Until the Trump administration came along. It's gone now. No reason given.

The removal of the data means the seven states with the animal protection laws can't enforce those regulations. And you can't find out whether the breeder you're thinking of getting Fido from tortures puppies.

Almost makes you think the Trump administration is in favor of torturing kittens or something.

Digging further, I found a Science article that contained a statement from th USDA saying the data removal was part of the agency's effort in "striving to balance the need for transparency with rules protecting individual privacy."

Wait, what?  Bad animal breeders want to torture puppies or whatever away from the annoying, prying eyes of law enforcement and the public? Hey, leave me alone here, can't you see I'm torturing puppies. Get outta here!

The statement from the agency said some horse breeders and others were suing the USDA to get the animal welfare information out of the public eye and the data was removed out of an abundance of caution while the litigation was going on.

But these lawsuits were ongoing well before Trump came into office. The Obama administration was presented with the option of removing the animal welfare data from the USDA website, but chose not to, as Maddow notes. 

Also, as Maddow notes, the Trump administration has been quietly taking down things from various websites, but, when there's an outcry, a lot of it goes back up.

There's already a public outcry brewing. The Dodo reports tbat people are inundating the USDA and other government officials with photos of their pets as a protest against the removal of the information from the web site.

Also, it looks like the Humane Society is going to sue the USDA over the missing public information.

The Science article noted that the decision by the USDA to take down the animal welfare data is not final, so maybe it will reappear.

I hope so. There's no reason why anybody who abuses animals, or even potentially abuses animals, should have that kind of act hidden, out of respect for "privacy."

Very Young "Veterinarian" Helps Beagle With Injured Foot

Little Laura, in her white veterinarian's coat, treats
a cut on her companion Charlie the Beagle's paw.
Charlie has since made a full recovery. 

I often resist cloyingly cute videos involving kids and animals, but I somehow couldn't pass this one up.  

It's just too adorable, and I keep wanting to see nice things in a world that sometimes feels so evil.

The backstory is that a little girl named Laura and her companion, a beagle named Charlie, have had some viral video fame as we've seen what besties they are ever since Laura was born.

Previous videos show Laura as a baby, but now she's a grown up toddler.

Recently, Charlie cut his paw on a thick blade of frozen grass. So, Laura did what she had to do. She put on her white veterinarian coat and went to work.

As you'll see in the video below, I have to give Charlie huge credit for what a patient "patient" he is as Laura treats the injured paw.

I have to give a lot of credit to Laura, too. She may be too young to know how best to treat a minor dog injury, but who cares? The love she has for Charlie is crystal clear in the video, as is the fact that Charlie knows this.

Side note in the video you'll watch below. The people involved are talking in Polish, which makes my heart melt more because I'm of Polish descent.

Every little moment in the video is incredibly sweet, including the hugs, and the blanket Laura puts over Charlie.  By the way, spoiler alert: Laura's treatment worked. Charlie is all better now.

At the end of the video, Laura is done, and Charlie settles comfortably down for a nap, knowing he is well cared for and in good hands.

We should all be so lucky.

Here's the video to make you go "awwwwwwww"

City Council Wants To Evict A Library Cat, And The Fur Is Flying Over This

Browser the cat at the White Settlement, Texas public
library. That community's city council wants him
out of the library, and the town's residents
are rebelling at that idea.  

UPDATE:

Browser the cat can stay in the White Settlement, Texas library after all.

As the Dallas Morning News put it in their headline:

"White Settlement Council turns tail, lets Browser the Library cat stay after backlash."

After the council initially voted to oust the cat last month, a social media firestorm erupted.

The White Settlement Council caved in the face of the onslaught, and Browser will keep sleeping in the library, catching the occasional mouse and entertaining the children who come in

I guess sense and peace finally came back to White Settlement

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION:

The city council in White Settlement, Texas voted recently to evict Browser, the cat that's been living at the municipal library for almost six years.

There hadn't really been any complaints about the cat, and this vote to evict Browser came out of the blue, according to local media reports.

Browser was originally brought in to combat rodents that had been damaging books in the library.

Everybody ended up loving the affectionate cat, who helps children settle down and read their books.

But the city council suddenly had other ideas. Suddenly, Browser is a crisis and has to leave the library, apparently.

White Settlement City Council member sniffed, "City Hall and city businesses are no place for animals," as she voted to evict Browser, according to the Fort Worth Star Telegram. 

Of course, the entire community of White Settlement is up in arms as a petition circulates for a new vote on the matter coming up. Or a community vote to keep the cat.

But the White Settlement City Council is determined to get rid of Browser, the Star Telegram notes.

Council member Steve Ott said people might be allergic to cat dander, which is a point but you can keep Browser away from people with allergies.

Others point out that if Browser goes, the mice come in and pest control outfits will have to use chemicals to banish the rodents.

Still, Ott is unmoved. "That cat is just that - a cat. Not a person. So go ahead and sign all the petitions you want. The cat needs to go."

The community's mayor thinks this all got started because an employee at City Hall wanted to bring his puppy to work and they wouldn't let him, so he got revenge by getting the City Council to go after Browser.

By the way, Browser isn't costing White Settlement taxpayers anything. Library personal pay for Browser's feeding and care out of pocket.

Personally, I'm not a cat person. They're OK. But I can see how a cat could have a welcoming, calming influence at a library.

Maybe the White Settlement city councilors who don't like Browser should just chill. Or read a damn book or something.

Helping Hands: People Made Burn Treatment Mittens For Koalas Injured In Australian Fires

A koala bear with burned paws receiving
treatment with one of the special mittens
voluteers made for them. Image from
the International Fund for Animal Welfare.  

One of the saddest consequences of wildfires that recently burned through parts of Australia is that the flames consumed some of the habitat occupied by koala bears.

Many of the bears died in the fires. Others suffered burns, especially as they clung to hot trees or tried to escape the fires by running across flaming grassland.

Officials retrieved many of the injured koalas and brought them to wildlife rescue centers where workers are treating the koala bears burned paws.

A special call went out, and people responded: Wildlife rescuers released an easy to follow pattern where people could use cotton sheets or tea towels to make special mittens for the koalas.

Veterinarians have to change the koala bear's dressings daily to treat the burns, and between the treatments, they put on those specialized mittens to protect the koalas' injured paws.

The step-by-step instructions were simple enough so that even the biggest klutz at the sewing machine could make them.

So many people responded to the call to make the mittens that a new alert had to go out: Stop, for now. We have enough mittens.

In a Facebook post labeled "Mitten Accomplished," the International Fund for Animal Welfare thanked everyone for their outpouring of support. Because of that, there's a more than adequate supply of koala mittens.

"Our amazing supporters were more than koalified for the job," the animal welfare group said.

Let's hope the surviving koalas have a smooth and full recovery. And no more bush fires, please.




 And our amazing supporters were more than koalified for the job.