When it was time to get colts Pagan and Arrow, and stallion Finn of the wild brumby herd, gelded, Billie sensed there was another spirit floating around.  Someone needed to be born.  Our lovely late herd leader Sarki had promised she would be back and soon.  But how could a spirit return if no babies were born?  Billie is always very big on asking the animal’s permission, and asked the boy’s if it was OK to geld them, as we are purely in the forever home department, not exploiting the animals in any way or wanting to separate families.  All the boys, even Finn, agreed to the gelding.  Finn said he was tired!  With gelding the boys could run with the girls, which is exactly what happened, and Finn was very happy to lead the herd.  Pagan and Arrow both said they had no need to be “king” of the herd.

After meeting Spirit — we know why.  A born leader he is feisty and confident!! Watch this space for his development

If you would like to be the sponsor of this gorgeous little guy, please see our Sponsorship page.

Hello from Willow (above) and all of us here at Ballyoncree. Yes, it has been a while. But we’re now on a new server, the site’s been given a new look, and we’re looking forward to posting again.

Slate magazine has a very interesting article on the over-servicing of animals for profit called But Doc, the Dog’s Already Dead: How to say no to your vet. A snippet:

Two trends are making a visit to your veterinarian an opportunity for endless guilt. One is the increasing acceptance of the notion that pets are family members (thus the movement to change the word owner to guardian). The other is the convergence of veterinary and human medicine—pets can get chemotherapy, dialysis, organ transplants, hip replacement, and braces for their teeth.

And this gem:

Busby also rails against the useless procedures foisted on healthy animals. Take yearly vaccinations. He writes, “[A]lmost all veterinarians insist on repeating these vaccinations over and over again throughout the life of the pet. Never forget how often they need to be given to you or your kids. ONCE!!!” Busby says that after the essential shots and boosters for puppies and kittens are completed, pets enjoy the same lifelong immunity humans do. (Legal requirements force more frequent rabies shots.) He points out unnecessary treatments are not necessarily benign because the treatments themselves can cause side effects.

No kidding.

How about this one:

He also thinks “wellness exams” are all about improving the financial wellness of the provider. Busby says the best guideline for when to take your pet to the vet is when you can tell there’s something wrong. But, with the same fervor displayed by the salesperson at the electronics store who encouraged me to buy the extended warranty on the clock radio, my local pet hospital has pushed me to sign up for its $440-a-year wellness plan, which will provide a full panoply of unnecessary vaccines, as well as dental cleaning, and twice yearly neurological, cardiac, pulmonary, blood, and fecal exams. Even in France, they don’t do this for people.

Read the whole article.

BTW, I’m one of those in complete favour of guardian over owner.

Photo by skyrocketstar

“Animal products are poisons and are not safe for human use,” Dr Young said.

“There are often serious side-effects, including nose and throat irritations, respiratory conditions, vomiting, dizziness and abdominal pain.

“The effects can be even more serious for young children or women who are pregnant and breastfeeding.”

Now, doesn’t that ring just the tiniest of warning bells about their use in animals? What is it about an animal’s biology that is supposed to make it OK to use something that’s a poison for humans on him or her?

This sort of thing makes me nuts.

Factory farming techniques, most commonly used with pigs and chicken, often involve keeping animals confined in cramped conditions.

For pigs, who are highly intelligent, these conditions can lead to stress and aggression.

However, GM scientists are actively investigating ways to remove the stress and aggression gene from animals, effectively turning them into complacent zombies.

The professor said it might become technically possible to produce “animal vegetables” - beasts which are “highly prolific and oblivious to their physical and mental status”.

Doesn’t that just seem like a bad idea? And where’s the role of the soul in all of this? One’s stomach turns.

Perhaps less ethically distasteful is this from Will the Petri dish put Daisy out to grass?:

Put simply, the process relies on a muscle precursor cell known as a myoblast, a sort of stem cell preprogrammed to grow into muscle. This cell is extracted from a living animal, and encouraged to multiply in a nutritional broth of glucose, amino acids, minerals and growth factors‚ Churchill’s “suitable medium”. The cells are poured on to a “scaffold” and placed in a bioreactor, where they are stretched, possibly using electrical impulses, until they form muscle fibres.

The resulting flesh is then peeled off in a “meat-sheet”and may be ground up for sausages, patties or nuggets.

Doesn’t that sound yummy? At least it doesn’t include zombie creatures.

Via Boing Boing and Dvorak.

Still, thanks to having bought hay and managing the paddocks as well as we can, the horses, alpacas, and goat are all looking well, and we’re confident of coming out the other end. Even so, we continue to be grateful to all of our Ballyoncree Angels, whose donations of as little as $2 make all the difference in the world to the creatures here.

Billie will be doing readings, so bring a photo of an animal with you. She’ll also have her new animal communication CD “Time of the Drum” with her, as well as some just-printed Ballyoncree greeting cards featuring some of Billie’s fabulous photos of Sanctuary animals. Hope to see you there!

Is it time? The answer is that it depends on the particular animal. Most of the time, the animals don’t want help dying. They want to make their transition in their own time and way. Some, however, clearly need help, but you know when that time comes when your heart says so.

There are some other heart-felt comments on the page, which are lovely to read. Pop over and have a look.

Having (sadly) buried five dogs, three horses and Billie’s father in less than two years, we’ve had a lot of direct experience with death and dying. Billie always asks the animal what they want to do, that is, whether they need help or not. For us, two did, the rest didn’t.

For those who feel they can’t communicate like Billie, she simply says, “Listen to the communication in your heart.”

What’s your experience with knowing what to do?

Luke Hura, the Australian animal trainer, once told us when he’s looking for a dog for movies, he’ll often find them in the pound. It’s the ratbag dogs who have the smarts to do that kind of work. But those smarts often get them into trouble in the world of humans.

Here’s another video of Skidboot.

It’s great to see how the guy doesn’t talk down to the dog. There’s a genuine appreciation and communication which imbues their relationship. We can all learn from this guy, even if our dogs don’t quite do the tricks.

Via Digg.