anastasia: Some years ago, a neighbor/friend brought me a "domestic" rabbit that she found in the park, it was the dead of winter, and I took her in. She pretty much had free range of the house and the yard (knew what the litterbox was for, and for some odd reason, female bunnies know better - my experience anyway) plus I had a really old big doggie that loved bunnies, so he protected her. Turned out she was pregnant, and even tho she made a "nest" in a box behind the TV with towels, etc., when they were born, she ignored them, and we watched them pass on one by one, hoping that she'd come around and care for her babies, but she didn't. I still wish I had not taken her in, maybe they would've lived if left outdoors where I guess she wanted to be...never again...maybe sometimes humans get involved when they just shouldn't, true?

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A handout picture shows a polar bear cub born by polar bear Vera at the zoo in Nuremberg January 11, 2008. The zoo in southern Germany, under fire for letting a mother polar bear eat its five-week old cub, has bowed to media and public pressure and decided to hand rear its last surviving baby.

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Overseer of small mammals at Bristol Zoo Gardens Caroline Brown with the young aye aye named 'Raz', (Daubentonia madagascariensis) in Bristol Zoo in Bristol, England, Wednesday Jan. 9, 2007. The aye aye is only the second of his species to be born in Britain. The rare species of lemur, hunted to near-extinction and seen as a bad omen in its native Madagascar, has been born at the Zoo

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Oui the frog sits on a miniature motorcycle in the eastern beach town of Pattaya January 10, 2008. Oui's owner says Oui loves playing with human toys and posing for photographs.
REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang (THAILAND)

anastasia: Awwwww, what a beautiful pic of them Thanks to Rose, I can see it now - they are gorgeous

anastasia: I'm not seeing it

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Cats cuddle in this February 2, 2007 photo. Hoping to send the message that pets are life-long partners not disposable accessories, a Japanese maker of medicines for animals has begun giving employees who own dogs or cats a monthly "family allowance" for their pets.

anastasia: Wow, it's a shame that your average AKC dog-owner doesn't seem to know all the facts. My neighbors (same ones) let their $700(?) GS roam alone all the time and I always wondered why they would risk him being injured by a wild animal, attacked by a bear, even shot (game lands abound here), maybe they already know. And ROFLMBO on the "sterilizing a rock" - silly vet And GO Niki - they both seem like such incredible dogs (but, honestly, I think all God's creatures are pretty darn incredible, except humans most of the time, they puzzle me)

Jim Dandy: Ohhhhhhh, I LIKE that one - Thank You for the suggestion - maybe they can help I've always just concentrated on the "legal" end of it, never thought of that angle .......

anastasia: Definately Every shelter doggie I've ever adopted had at least three/four different breeds mixed in. Almost four years have passed and I'm still guessing when people ask me what breed (s) my current doggie is - why do some people think that they can make money breeding dogs that really aren't a "breed"? Unless they are "purebred", I don't see a reason to breed them. Don't get me wrong, I truly LOVE my doggie, but she's a mix on top of a mix on top of a mix ..... ..... I guess, if nothing else, I'll make sure the kitten has a warm bed outside tonight before I head to work (more snow is on the way)

Jim Dandy: Already have on the way they were treating a 150 lbs.+ German Shepherd, but they still have him and I heard from someone that they weren't fined due to financial hardship. My problem with all this is that when I'm out and about with my dog and we see a possum (or whatever), it hisses, and she knows to back off.....what the heck is a cat supposed to do, other than run, and run where if it has nowhere? Absolutely amazing how some humans treat domestic animals ...

anastasia: They just don't seem to get "it" ..... or anything remotely close to "it" Maybe I'll take it to a "city" shelter this coming weekend, I think it's chances would be better there, seems like here 50% of people just own animals to breed them and make money off them, canine or feline ... I really don't want to find this kitten dead outside one morning and it's definately in distress, I've never heard a cat howl this much ... wish there was a way to keep them from doing this over and over ... I was literally arguing with them at one a.m. after work the other night because my dog wouldn't shut-up because the kitten wouldn't go away from my door, and, in response, he was trying to give me the cat and saying that it wasn't theirs, it belonged to Mother Nature ...

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In this Dec. 31, 2007 photo released by the Florida Keys News Bureau, Lola, left, and Nosey, right, pause for a moment during the annual Key West Dachshund Walk in Key West, Fla. The third New Year's Eve procession of canines down sidewalks that border the island city's Duval Street is scheduled to begin at noon Monday, Dec. 31. Organizers anticipate the event will attract more than 100 dogs and their owners.

It's actually not legal here for you to leave your domestic "pet" to roam unattended outdoors (we have bears and such passing thru from time to time), but it's the third cat (not even a cat really, kitten is the better word) that they've done this with in less then a year (they see them as "throw-away" pets, I've actually asked) and just go get another when one disappears. But I know if I take it to a shelter here, it will just be put down, it's a really, really sad-looking kitty. I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place on this one, I don't think this little one would meow for hours on end at my door (and probably others) if it was okey out there in the four inches or so of snow that fell last night. If I do adopt it, give it a place to sleep, feed it, etc. (I can't have a cat inside, I'm allergic to them) - what happens to it when I move from here in a few months? I'll never understand the "outdoor" pet either, I guess, my doggie LOVES this weather, but I'd never make her spend the night outside in it

my neighbors have a very young cat (less than six months old, very small, doesn't weigh much, doesn't look healthy or well-fed, I guess) - how cold is too cold for a cat to be left out all night? It cries/whines to come in for hours and hours & it averages 20something degrees (or less) here at night ... they keep telling me that cats can take such weather (we are in the mountains so it also snows/rains/sleets at least half the time here) ... I keep banging on their door until they bring the cat "in" ... am I terribly wrong here?

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A cat in Connecticut has been issued a restraining order after attacking at least a half dozen people in the Sunset Circle neighborhood.

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This undated handout from the San Francisco Zoo(SFZ) shows female Siberian tiger, named Tatiana, which managed to escape from its enclosure and maul three people, killing one of them. US media report that the tiger may have been helped out of its den by one of the victims.

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In this undated photo released by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the body of a dead Tiger is shown at the Dallas Zoo in Dallas. A veterinarian at the Dallas Zoo performed a necropsy Thursday, Dec. 27, 2007, on the female tiger which was found shot to death near an apartment complex Christmas day. The tiger did not belong to the zoo and was believed to have been someone's pet.

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This 2005 photo provided by the Mount Washington Observatory shows the housecat Nin atop Mount Washington, N.H. The cat was the mascot for Mount Washington Observatory for a dozen years. Nin officially retired Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2007, and is moving off the mountain to live with Diane Holmes and Mike Pelchat, both rangers at Mount Washington State Park, at their home in Gorham, N.H.

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A cat hissing at the camara, in a pet shop. When a pet cat was taken to a veterinary clinic in Australia with dilated pupils, a racing heart and agitated movements, it turned out to be high on cocaine and other drugs left around after a party. It recovered.

Jim Dandy: ROFLMBO - they can have ALL the crocodile "pets" they want, as for me.....not so much.....

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RNPS PICTURES OF THE YEAR - A crocodile at a zoo in the southern Taiwan city of Kaohsiung holds the forearm of a zoo veterinarian in between its teeth, April 11, 2007. The crocodile bit off the arm of the zoo veterinarian treating it, an official reported.

Jim Dandy: Exactly Only animals that don't mind me rolling on top of them in their sleep if they crash on my bed or are smart enough to not sleep where I walk (stumble) thru at five am

Jim Dandy: LOL - me and "small" pets don't mix (I do things like step on them in the morning) - I need pets with some girth (they can take being stepped on in their sleep every now and then)

Jim Dandy: ROFLMBO - sure, why not I just got evaluated (and got a raise) at one of my odd-jobs and was told that they LOVE how clean I keep the floors, etc. - HaHa - they should see my house on a bad week

Jim Dandy: Awwwwwwwwwwwww - how cute are they

And this is one of Amillia four months later, on the day she finally got to go home - I'd love to see one of her now :)

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RNPS PICTURES OF THE YEAR - This handout image from October 24, 2006, shows the world's most premature living baby, Amillia Sonja Taylor's, feet held in contrast with adult hands, just after her birth at Baptist Children's Hospital in Miami, Florida. Taylor, only slightly longer than a ballpoint pen at birth was due to be sent home in the coming days from a Florida hospital after four months of neonatal intensive care, the hospital said on February 20, 2007

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Cats (top) are caged along with chickens at Qingping market in Guangzhou November 16, 2007. Scorpions scamper in bowls, water snakes coil in tanks and cats whine in cramped cages, waiting to be slaughtered, skinned and served for dinner. Welcome to the Qingping market, where everything from turtles to insects are sold alongside fowl and freshly caught fish

anastasia: Put me on that list also And give the bear or mountain lion "ten points" for "taking me out" - that's what the humans in my neck of the woods do when they hit a living creature with a vehicle

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Face-off : Lucy Fraser from the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary takes a closer look at 18 month-old salt water crocodile 'Coochie', in Brisbane.

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Rex Snyder speaks to front office manager, Roberta Reimers about checking-in with his 19-month-old bison named Bert at the Marriott Hotel in Ogden, Utah Thursday, Nov. 29, 2007. Snyder, a Wyoming resident, is in town for the annual Western Bison Association Show and Sale.

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About 40 people scoured part of Spain's rugged northwestern region of Galicia Thursday for about 1,000 minks released into the wild from a farm by animal rights activists, the regional government said.

rednaz23: I live in the mountains (about as rural as your getting for the state of PA) and I think it truly SUCKS that things are "hunted", be it deer, bear, quail, pheasant, turkey, squirrel, whatever, in my life, they ALL have a right to their existence (but then I don't eat meat either, the "carcass" thing is just disgusting to me). Humankind has definately over-encroached upon the wilderness areas of this country, state forests and game lands are all that's left of it here pretty much. I just think if a man (or woman) has such an urge to kill something, they should at least be required to do so by hand, doesn't seem very "manly" to shoot dead an animal grazing in the field to me...

***And as for predators, bring on the wolves, the coyotes, and mountain lions, at least that would be nature's way and not man's, true?

..... and all I can say is "How could you?" She's BEAUTIFUL .......

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anastasia: Congratulations & I hope you both feel proud - you should

anastasia: Wish You Both Much Luck - y'all be GREAT

http://www.diamondvues.com/archives/thanksgiving%20turkey.jpg

*** This guy says "Thank You"

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Ready to ride : "Dweevil" the chihuahua waits in his owner's arm before the start of the "Harley Davidson Love Ride" in Glendale, California.
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"aNiMaL": That's cheating - that's a "rat" - everybody's nice to them, they'll bite you

Ewe: Maybe they are one and the same? I would love to see one

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A Polar Owl sits in an open-air cage at the "Royev Ruchey" zoo in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk November 6, 2007.

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***he bay to freeze :)