Why I wrote "Do Unto Others"

If anyone needs another reason as to why I wrote Do Unto Others (http://www.amazon.com/Do-Unto-Others-ebook/dp/B005KMBC1E), please read the following story (from the Orlando Sentinel, 1/11/12)...

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/crime/os-sea-gulls-killed-beach-animal-cruelty-20120110,0,806912.story#tugs_story_display

A Christmas "dog tale"...

My poor blog has been so woefully neglected that I thought I'd give it a little attention via hoping readers will give my short story a lot of attention...

Way back in 1996, we put one of our dogs - Beau - to sleep on the day before Christmas Eve. Lousy all the way around, to say the least. Got even lousier when Beau's sister, our precious Emma, mourned him for over a year. And, to be quite honest, I don't know why she snapped out of her grief...maybe because I did?

In any case, I sat down and wrote Zellwood: A Dog Story in 1998. And after two decades of professional writing, this little piece of work remains my favorite. So, I've decided that - this Christmas - I'm going to try and get as many dog lovers as I can to read it. Especially those who've lost and mourned a beloved pet, as we have (Emma died in 2004 and our third dog, Maggie, is now 16 so her days are surely numbered).

And although the story may initially sound like it's too sad for words...trust me...it has a glorious ending. So I hope all of you who read it will find it as cathartic as it was for me. Here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/Zellwood-ebook/dp/B004KAA9PC

To each and all...have a wonderful holiday season.

Dog Books

If anyone is still reading my pitiful blog, the reason it's rarely updated is because I'm so busy writing books for Amazon's Kindle...and marketing said books (which is a major p.i.t.a.)...that I simply run out of time and energy.

Anyway, on that woeful note, I'm going to list my current books below in hopes that my animal-loving friends will - at the very least - sample them. And although they range from short stories to a suspense novel to my previously-published columns, they all have one thing in common: DOGS. Beloved, beloved dogs.

Here are the links to the books:
http://www.amazon.com/Zellwood-ebook/dp/B004KAA9PC/
http://www.amazon.com/A-Three-Dog-Night-ebook/dp/B004M191IA/
http://www.amazon.com/Devils-Moon-ebook/dp/B004HFRGIS/
http://www.amazon.com/The-Animal-Advocate-ebook/dp/B0045OUK9S/

Very soon, I will have another book to add to this list. Again, think DOGS...:-))

Brevard County, FL Animal Services: Reactive vs. Proactive

Regarding the resignation of our current county animal shelter director and the search for yet another one:

This entire situation makes me so sad...I've lived in this county since 1965 and here we are in 2011 yet hardly a thing has changed in all those years. Brevard is 72 miles long and currently home to over 500,000 people. But we still have ONLY two animal shelters, both of which are in abhorrent shape. NACC should've been demolished decades ago (I used to work there so trust me on this one) and SACC never lived up to its touted expectations. So, if it weren't for the various humane societies, rescue groups, etc., I can't even imagine how our abandoned animals would suffer...as if they're not suffering enough already.


But it always seems to boil down to the same crap: money (not enough) and politics (too many). Animal services in this backwater county has always been reactive vs. proactive. As someone who has been involved with animal issues for over 30 years, I've never seen a time when this place didn't have serious issues with how we handle homeless pets.

For the record, I am not a proponet of "no kill" shelters UNLESS and UNTIL there are sufficient funds and space to make this program work. Nor am I a TNR fan. Sorry, but as a former shelter employee, I'd much rather see an animal humanely euthanized than to live out its life in a cage or simply "sustained" in a colony.

Do I have an answer? Well, I wholeheartedly agree that there should be more "publicity" (ie, adoption events, foster programs, etc.). I'd also be in support of a mandatory spay/neuter law for a set amount of time, one that was heavily enforced. But all that takes money. Personally, I'd like to see our shelters privatized as Brevard's powers-that-be still have their heads up their butts and I doubt a new director is going to be able to change a damn thing.

But since I know my "ideas" won't ever come to fruition, I just continue to beat my head against this wall that should've been demolished long ago. In my dreams, huh?

Flori...duh

With all the problems Florida has and with the current legislative session ending this week, our esteemed lawmakers in Tallahassee spent time working on a bill that would designate the Barking Tree Frog as the state's official amphibian. It would join the Zebra Longwing as the official butterfly and the horse conch as the state shell, among many other such designations.

I have lived here almost fifty years and I'm here to tell you that I wouldn't know a barking tree frog if it barked at me or a horse conch if it whinnied...no wonder people call us "Flori-duh".....

The Easter Bunny

My childhood Easter memories: A new spring dress, white shoes and gloves; a rainbow-hued cellophane-wrapped basket crammed with candy; multi-colored eggs in hiding…and the animals. Soft and furry bunny babies. Green, blue and pink chicks; little “peeps” that mysteriously disappeared after a few days.

I honestly don’t know where the tradition of giving tiny, helpless creatures to children on this holy holiday originated but it is a tradition that should be irretrievably broken.

Although I’ve watched TV ads with dismay as a lime-tinted hatchling popped out of a plastic egg, thankfully the horrible and inhumane practice of dyeing has been deemed animal cruelty by those who possess an ounce of decency. Yet, unfortunately, fluffy chicks can still be found in cheap abundance at your local feed store.

And much to the detriment of Peter cottontail, the Easter bunny myth rages on. Come the lovely month of May you need look no further than our animal shelters for proof. Rabbits galore, and they didn’t breed themselves silly to get there.

These hapless young animals are the remnants of Easter Sunday, tossed out as casually as that torn and crinkled cellophane, tragic symbols of an otherwise glorious occasion.

Far too many people do not project far enough into the future when acquiring a pet. Their own financial, physical, and emotional capabilities notwithstanding, the very real needs of the animal are often ignored.

This is especially true at Easter. For that fuzzy, itty-bitty chick will soon be a scratching, squawking chicken. And although baby rabbits are adorable, as adults they are a whole different animal than that precious little hippity-hoppity of six months ago.

So soon there will be a mini-farm in the back bedroom and the kids will have returned to their video games. Now what?

Humane societies constantly see the pitiful aftermath of these hasty, impulsive decisions. Yet they will take your feathered former-friend and hope for the best. They will try to calm your Easter bunny that, for lack of attention, has been reduced to a cage-trashing maniac. And they will listen to the loud and clear testimony cloaked in your sob story that the newness has worn off and, oh, what a mistake you made. That baby cluck has turned foul and the infant March hare is now a ‘dirty wabbit.’

Hopefully, the lesson will be learned here before it’s too late. For, although your children may beg and plead, the reality is that not long after the sun sets on a few Sundays, they will most likely ignore those once-upon-a-time little bundles of life.

If parents succumb to this seasonal whim, odds are great that it will be the animals who pay the ultimate price. Alone, neglected, and in a hell not of their own making, the meaning of Easter will surely be stained.

So please resist the temptation of crass commercialism and teach your children intelligent compassion instead. Cute and cuddly stuffed animals don’t mind at all being tossed aside and forgotten.

Patrick the Pitbull

Please take a deep breath - along with your painkiller of chioce - and watch the following video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYm7irMrlF4

Then please take a huge gulp of animal-loving righteousness and sign the following petition:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/patrick-starved-dog-thrown-down-garbage-chute/

'Nuf said...