Alabaminal

Sorry for the lack of recent posts, folks. I've had several ideas for posts, but not really the time or energy to actually write something up. My day job is extremely physical, and currently half of the AC units are out in the building, so we are dealing with temperatures indoors getting up around 90*F with outdoor temps hotter still. There is a lot of heavy outdoor labor involved, and there is no way to cool off when I get back inside, so it's really been very taxing and I'm too exhausted most evenings to do much other than care for the animals and try to catch up on hydration.

The warmer temps and longer days mean that all of the parrots are hormonal and acting up. Ripley, pictured, has laid an egg on the floor of her aviary, and to discourage her from continuing to lay, we are permitting her to continue "incubating" it (the egg is infertile). Right now, her "clutch" consists of the egg, plus two foot toys she's decided are also her babies. She is protecting them aggressively, making it difficult to work in the enclosure.

ACS's ten resident pigs are currently hitting the time of year I call "the summer uglies." Over winter, they develop a thick coat, and just like a dog might, they blow that coat when temperatures rise. You can see that Okja's excellent winter comb over (top) is on its last legs (bottom), and she's also losing the rest of her hair.

I know the tone of this blog isn't typically memes, but I had a moment of inspiration. And while it isn't actually funny when you reflect on it, it IS true; all of the animals above are disproportionately represented in surrender requests while also being incredibly difficult to place. For some, it's the aesthetic; people don't want a "boring" or common looking animal. For others, it's the husbandry demands. And for some, it's straightforward overpopulation.

Yesterday, we had a leisure day, because my parents were in town (they live back in NY where I grew up) for my father's 75th birthday. We visited the Birmingham botanical gardens, where the various turtles, fish, lizards, birds, and frogs pretty much stole the show, because my parents are also animal lovers. Alabama has such natural beauty and abundant, diverse wildlife that it is always a treat for them to visit as nature lovers.

My relationship with them is in some ways complicated, but one thing they very much did right was recognize from a young age my interest in animals and nature, and went the extra mile to nourish and foster those interests. I was given so many opportunities to engage with things that fascinated and excited me, and having a deep connection with animals and the natural world has brought me a great deal of joy in life.

I do think getting involved in rescue even as a young child exposed me to some harsh realities that were too frequent and too intense for a very sensitive and compassionate child, and while I ultimately had to step away from active rescue work/intakes in my mid-30s due to accumulated trauma, I do not regret having been a part of it.

Of course, you can never fully get away when you are driven by compassion, which is why I ended up with the stray kitten last week. He is flea free and feeling better. I am happy to report that pending a negative combo test, he has a home lined up with a qualified adopter and should be going to his new home Friday. Normally I do not place animals without them first being altered, but the individual in question is someone we know personally, a reliable and responsible party who will follow through with all future vetting needs and shares our stance on spay/neuter, diet, declawing, and remaining indoors.

To say that I am exhausted and heartsick and furious about the ever-worsening crisis of stray, feral, abandoned, and free-roaming cats and kittens in the United States would be a vast understatement. We are so far beyond the breaking point in this country where cats and their welfare is concerned, and we need to stop pretending we can TNR and adopt our way out of it. The "no kill" movement is a miserable failure that has shifted the burden of managing unwanted pets onto a general public that is not prepared to shoulder it, thereby increasing abandonment, and TNR is a band aid on a bullet wound that ultimately still leads to cats suffering and dying on a mind boggling scale (not to mention the environmental impact).

I don't know what the answer is, but I know at least part of it is something no one wants to talk about: the prospect of resuming shelter euthanasia as a form of population control, because there ARE fates far worse than never waking up, and I watch cats suffer them every single day. I also think we need a massive cultural shift and the legislation and funding to support it: widespread, affordable, accessible spay and neuter; spay abort for every shelter and rescue intake; penalties for abandonment; restrictions on free roaming animals; restrictions on intact cats; regulation of rescue organizations to discourage warehousing and hoarding, etc.

I don't see any of that happening with the current direction of rescue culture or cat ownership culture in the US. In fact, I bet a fair number of people reading this post will think I am monstrous and come after me in the comments (spoiler alert: I'm not responding) for daring to suggest solutions like spay abort and euthanasia for population control. I don't care. If you have a better solution than I've arrived at after decades in rescue, then by all means, I will pass you the torch and you can start your new organization with this kitten for your first intake, because I'm supposed to be closed. But how could I look at an abandoned animal in obvious danger and say, "Sorry, kid, I'm out of the game?"

This tiny kitten was screaming on the curb near my workplace at 9pm last night, its sibling dead in the road a few yards away. He is friendly and affectionate, so not born to a feral mom; someone dumped them there. He is so flea covered he is anemic. I have no idea what I'm going to do with him, because I still have 4 kittens (who are now cats) from last year that proved impossible to place, and our local shelters and rescues are turning away intakes because they are out of space. If I try to surrender him, they'll offer the same "solution" they do the general public: TNR. Then he'll be back out in the elements getting parasitized to death and at risk of being hit by a car or torn apart by roaming dogs (which are also a big problem here). The colony cats in my town are lucky to make it a year even when they are being "managed."

This week we were without power from about 3pm Monday night until 2am Wednesday morning after strong winds caused considerable storm damage in the area. Thankfully, we had no damage on the property, and the interior temperature only reached 78*F despite it being quite hot out - something I mostly credit to the tremendous amount of tree cover that shades the house (though it also makes storms like this pretty scary). All of the animals made it through fine, though with our misting systems down, there was a lot of spraying down enclosures with pump sprayers by headlamp.

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️Happy Pride Month from ACS!🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

All Creatures Small is a queer-owned and operated rescue. In the current US political climate, we feel it is important to state our support for and solidarity with our community, and give visibility to Southern queers, who are under attack with terrifying new legislation popping up throughout the Bible Belt. Stay safe, friends!

After several days of nonstop rain (which we needed! Most of AL is in a serious drought!) it's finally a fair-weather afternoon, so I've been puttering around the property doing animal chores at my leisure rather than racing storm clouds. I am looking forward to my PTO at the start of June to work on some projects, one of them being to move our resident RES, Tapestry, into a 300g stock tank finally. Tapestry is very growth stunted from prior neglect, so a 100g stock tank has been an adequate home for him, but frankly I just want everyone in the larger tanks and spent accordingly last month. All we need to do now is mesh it so it is predator-proof, hence waiting until June even though the tank is purchased.

Bolt, the feral dog we trapped in 2012 who has been a resident of ACS ever since, went to the vet today, and as you can see from this picture, he was feeling very done with everything by the end of his appointment. He is 15 this year, and while he has been highly active and in good health up until recently, he began showing signs of senility around 9 months ago, and over the past two weeks has been showing symptoms of discomfort in a few areas (ear, teeth, hindquarters). We took him to the vet today and predictably found age related explanations for most of his issues, aside from his ears which had a yeast infection, and we've started him on a few medications to make him more comfortable in his twilight years.

Bolt is very special to me, and I know that losing him is going to be incredibly painful; just thinking about it makes me tear up. I was extremely anxious all week that they might find something serious during his exam, and I was more stressed by his appointment today than he was. I know I'm going to be fretting nonstop until I see signs of improvement. I think the fact that I'm having such strong emotions surrounding this dog is actually a sign of healing, though.

At the height of my compassion fatigue, just before I halted intakes about six years ago, I became completely numb and detached about death. It was such a constant during my years in active rescue that the only way to survive the relentless exposure to suffering and loss was to stop feeling it. In fact, one of the things that most alerted me to the fact that I was in serious trouble psychologically was how non-reactive I grew to the deaths of even my personal pets.

The animal deaths I've had over the past year, however, have all hurt. I went through a process of grief each time. I rediscovered the raw emotionality of losing something I loved. And it sucks, but it's so much better than recognizing that you should be feeling something, and feeling nothing instead.

Another Duckweed update, he's learned to walk on a leash and his foster says he's thriving. People have already expressed interest in adopting once he is fully vetted. Honestly maybe more stray dogs should find themselves in A Situation on my property if this is the kind of outcome they get. (Dear universe: I am kidding, please no).

Speaking of strays, Bolt is coming up on 15 this year and for the first time in his life is having a health issue. His teeth and right ear are bugging him, so he's going to the vet Tuesday. I'm stressed about it because he will be stressed about it, and may require sedation for a proper exam, but I very much trust the vet team at the clinic we are using to do right by him. If I could do things all over again, I would have pressed harder on his socialization so he might be more comfortable in these situations, though having said that I do believe he's had a very good quality of life for a feral street dog in the almost-14-years he's been here.

The ball python market bubble has burst, and it's a big problem that is only going to get worse.

Over the past 10-20 years, the ball python has surged in popularity in the reptile trade, in large part due to morph breeding that has produced a seemingly endless variety of colors and markings, some of which fetch thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. Attempting to produce these high value snakes often results in warehousing double or triple digit populations of mature snakes in rack systems, the offspring of which are sold online and at reptile shows all over the country. People who seek morphs often consider themselves "collectors," who will accumulate a large number of ball pythons of varying morphs, while more casual inexperienced owners are sold the less expensive varieties as "beginner" snakes.

Unfortunately, ball pythons are not a beginner species; they can live over 30 years, are often finicky eaters, demand specialized care and vetting, and require more space and enrichment than a rack provides despite persistent outdated care standards. And a market for expensive snakes can only exist with buyers - buyers who are, in the US, increasingly cash-strapped and forgoing high dollar purchases. Snake breeders can't sell their surplus, and snake owners can't afford the snakes they already have; rescues across the country are reporting unprecedented surrender requests for ball pythons, often large groups of animals needing placement from a single owner.

The industry is at a tipping point, and the snakes will be the ones paying the price. There are fewer adopters for snakes than for common companion animals, and they aren't as easy to raise funds or garner public sympathy for due to anti-snake biases that are deeply culturally embedded in America. Snakes are not only being surrendered to rescues, but are being left behind in vacated homes and apartments, dumped in parks, thrown in dumpsters, or 'culled' by inhumane methods like freezing.

The problem with keeping live animals like collectibles is that they face consequences when their popularity declines, value drops, collectors lose interest, or lack the resources to continue their upkeep. We owe ball pythons what we owe every animal: a high standard of lifelong care, not being treated like trading cards or Labubus. Please consider the care needs and lifespan of this species before embarking on ownership, and consider checking your local rescue groups for adoptable animals if you are just looking for a reptile companion rather than a specific morph. The need for qualified adopters is immense right now.

A filthy mud boy who has greatly enjoyed the aftermath of yesterday's storms. He has no regrets.