Tag: education

Posted on

Beware, Corporate Body Bullies!

(Download the pdf version of this here: Beware_Corp_Bullies)

In recent times, there has been a development in policies of residential complexes and retirement homes that has had a significant effect on many people’s relationships with their companion animals. In many cases the tactics employed by Corporate Body Bullies are underhanded, illogical and prejudicial.

This document will give people a cleat understanding of the variables involved and some strategies for dealing with these dubious tactics.

The Law.

Firstly one needs to establish whether the scheme within which one resides is a sectional title scheme, a homeowners association or possibly even, the now outdated, shareblock scheme, as each of these have specific laws, rules and regulations.

In most cases, residential complexes are bound by the Sectional Titles Act. In addition, Municipal By-Laws will apply, and it’s a good idea to have an understanding of both before deciding to buy or rent in a given complex.

Sectional title schemes are established under the Sectional Titles Act of 1986, as amended, and within this Act are prescribed management and conduct rules, the latter of which [annexure 9 of the Act] deals with pets.

The Sectional Titles Act (ST) includes the following clauses relevant to this discussion:

35 (3) Any management or conduct rule made by a developer or a body corporate shall be reasonable, and shall apply equally to all owners of units put to substantially the same purpose.

35 (5) (a) If the rules… …are substituted, added to, amended or repealed, the body corporate shall lodge Continue reading “Beware, Corporate Body Bullies!”

Posted on

Bad Argument: Ten common errors of logic made by animal workers and activists (and others)

Critical Thinking is a relatively new discipline to humans and it’s formalisation and development is still in progress. It has been a subject in schools in the UK since 2008. In South Africa, I am not aware of such a course at school level, although UCT offers one for first-year students and most Universities only deal with the subject under Law and Philosophy.. It is a discipline sorely lacking among the general populace, and refers to the process by which we determine logically what is or isn’t so. I think it should be a mandatory subject for everyone, starting at around age 12, providing the student with a process that they can use throughout their lives and apply to almost any subject or scenario.

In many cases, it is not the ‘content’ or ‘data’ in a statement that renders it untrue; it is the manner in which the argument is constructed that does so. People are often infuriated when I point out that their argument is invalid, irrespective of the fact that the information they have presented is correct. Below are the ten ‘bad’ arguments I come across most frequently in animal welfare and rights circles: . Continue reading “Bad Argument: Ten common errors of logic made by animal workers and activists (and others)”

Posted on

Face to Face with PIT BULLS: The Real Deal

I saw this recently and I heard subsequently that it had been cited in a radio program:

Ten Commandments of Pit Bull Ownership

  1. Thou shalt NEVER trust thy Pit Bull not to fight
  2. Thou shalt contain thy Pit Bull securely when not supervised by an adult
  3. Thou shalt NEVER leave thy adult Pit Bull alone and unsupervised with another dog
  4. Thou SHALT attend obedience classes most faithfully with thy Pit Bull
  5. Thou SHALT keep thy Pit Bull socialized with ALL KINDS of people
  6. Thy Pit Bull wilt NEVER be allowed off-leash in a public place
  7. Thy Pit Bull wilt NEVER be allowed to roam free in thy neighborhood, EVER!
  8. Thou SHALT take thy well trained Pit Bull out in public and show him/her off – on leash for good breed PR!
  9. Thy Pit Bull shalt go forth into the world as an ambassador of the pit bull breed
  10. THOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY WRONG DONE BY THY DOGS!

I thought I would use these ‘commandments’ as a framework for an analysis of the breed from a real-world perspective rather than a sensationalist one, since a list like the one above reinforces all the preconceptions about the breed and causes people to fear them. Continue reading “Face to Face with PIT BULLS: The Real Deal”

Posted on

BREAKING the CYCLE: The Animal Welfare Imperative

‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’ – Benjamin Franklin

As a strategist and problem solver in the Corporate world, I was always somewhat dumbfounded by the degree to which problem-solving was directed rather simplistically at symptoms rather than root causes, effectively only solving part of the problem, or solving it only for a short time, or causing other problems that negated the solution anyway.

Animal Welfare SA suffers the same malaise. Many organisations and individuals focus on rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming, and of course there is a necessity that somebody do this, since there are so many homeless animals. This is an attempt at finding, for each animal, a ‘cure’ – a home in which they can live happy lives.  If we recruited more people to welfare, could we home more animals? That very much depends Continue reading “BREAKING the CYCLE: The Animal Welfare Imperative”

Posted on

PYOMETRA and the benefit of spaying your female dog

The word pyometra can be divided into two root words

  • Pyo means pus
  • Metra refers to the uterus

Pyometra starts after a dog goes through a heat cycle, usually within about 3 to 5 weeks

Spaying is the treatment of choice

Prognosis is usually favorable, providing that the patient is not profoundly ill

Anatomy

  • The uterus is a Y-shaped organ that has two horns
  • An ovary is located at the end of each horn of the uterus

Pathophysiology

  • The word pyometra can be divided into two root words

o        Pyo means pus

o        Metra refers to the uterus

Posted on

All about PARVO…

WHAT IS CANINE PARVO VIRUS?

EVERYTHING IS CONTAMINATED – WHAT NOW?

CHOICE OF PRODUCTS

Parvovirus is a HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS virus that attacks the intestines and causes sloughing of the inner layers of the intestine. The virus is minute but extremely hardy and can survive in the environment for months or even years.

WHO IS AT RISK?

Parvovirus is contagious to dogs only — not to cats or people. This potentially deadly disease is usually more severe in young dogs less than 6 months of age, old dogs and breeds such as Rottweilers and Continue reading “All about PARVO…”

Posted on

THE GRAVE OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER

(People who work in animal rescue and welfare speak of the ‘war’ – it is a war against incredible odds with scarce resources and a never-ending time-frame. I’m not sure we’re winning it. – animalman)

Today I put down a dog. I don’t know if she had an owner and I don’t know if she had a name.

She was just an old dog, probably not nearly as old as she looked, who had spent her whole sad life in a bad place. She was very thin and had bad mange of most of her body, and ticks and fleas and worms. Her hindquarter had collapsed, partly from malnutrition and partly from bad arthritis from old untreated injuries. Her ears had been cut short and were eaten away by flies. Her teeth were stumps, Continue reading “THE GRAVE OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER”