Today's awwwwwww

Photo: Eloy Alonso / Reuters

Wednesday Pet Roundup

Hi and welcome to Wednesday Pet Roundup!
I wanted to start out with this. While not exactly pets, I just love this short video, especially the sound of the webbed feet on the pavement. Here's your smile for the day:


* Leash laws: For or Against? Should dogs be able to run off-leash in national parks? The New York Times reports on laws restricting unleashed dogs to fenced-in areas in certain national parks and recreation areas. Damage of habitat is cited as one problem. In the San Francisco area, for example, dogs are being blamed for contributing to the endangerment of the mission blue butterflies and western snowy plover.

* Cloning your beloved pet: For or Against? L.A. Times tells us that businessman Peter Onruang, has paid $310,000 to have his dogs Wolfie and Bubble cloned.

* New pet technology. The Daily Kibble reviews Pet Hub, a dog tag containing ID and other information in an online presence for your dog.

* From the Huffington Post: Whose mouth is cleaner, dogs or humans?

*OC Moms, the Moms Blog, ponders Why are people choosing pets over kids?

* Enter the Name that podcast contest, over at Fully Vetted.

*One more smile for the day. Slo Mo Bath Time. Enjoy!

One nice thing about winter

Photo credit: Gary Woodward / NBCchicago.com

Taking the kids for a walk

AP Photo/Gail Burton

Let's eat!

Chicago's City Council has repealed the foie gras ban. It legal once again for city restaurants to serve up the delicacy made from duck and goose liver.

Mayor Richard Daley, who had once dismissed the ban as "the silliest law the City Council has ever passed," squelched debate on the measure and commanded the council to vote. The 37-6 vote repealed the 2-year-long ban.

Photo: Chuck T

A honking pile of poop

In California, downtown Oakland's bucolic nature reserve has such a serious overpopulation of Canada geese -- which drop about a ton of poop a week on the 122-acre park -- that the city is considering introducing dogs to herd the geese into fenced enclosures, buying a goose poop Zamboni and spraying the goose eggs with mineral oil to prevent them from hatching.

"No one's talking about shooting the geese -- we don't need more gunshots in Oakland," said Jennie Gerard, chief of staff to Oakland City Councilwoman Pat Kernighan. "But people cannot lie down on the lawn because there's so much poop. It's an aesthetic issue. It's gross."

They're so well adapted to city living that their population throughout the U.S. is expected to double by 2010, from 220,000 to nearly half a million, according to Oakland's Canada Goose Management Study.

'Goose Whisperer' Bonds With Park Birds

Martin Hof has become a minor celebrity here, in part for his ability to communicate with fowl, which some say borders on the magical. And while there's something special, and a little comical, about watching him talking, humming, and yes, whispering to the birds, there's more to this than meets the eye.

At age 23, Hof has developed an unusual approach to managing urban geese populations that is gaining adherents in the animal-friendly Netherlands - the first country in the world with an animal rights party in parliament.

"It's all about respect for the geese," he says.

The main problem at the Hof van Delft and most parks is that the birds have been allowed to overbreed and are clashing with the humans whose territory they share. But rather than destroying them, Hof finds new homes for the geese, dividing them along family lines to reduce the trauma of the move.