Digest Number 935

[Guest guest]

Hi Cybrena,

 

I want to second Laurie's request that you take the gopher to a licensed

wild animal rehab hospital. As someone who volunteers at one (and I also

did the internship there), I would like to point out that not only can

they do a better job of meeting the animal's nutritional and entry back

into the wild needs, it is also illegal to keep and raise a wild animal

yourself. I volunteer at Wildcare in San Rafael, and we've gotten many

animals that were " raised " by caring people in your position.

Unfortunately, these animals either suffer from nutritionally-caused

diseases, or the animals are now habituated to people and cannot be raised

in the wild. It is also illegal to keep such animals as pets once they

are grown, so you can sometimes doom an animal by doing so.

 

PLEASE bring it to a licensed rehab in your area who will know how to feed

it, perhaps have some other gophers for it to be with, and will teach it

how to be a " proper " gopher before releasing it into the wild.

 

You can also call Wildcare for advice, even if they're not in your

neighborhood: 415-456-SAVE

 

Thanks for posting on this important manner.

 

Emily

[Guest guest]

I just wanted to let someone know how proud I am of my husband. He's

not vegetarian, and while he supports raising our daughter meat-free,

he's from a very meat-centric background and a little wary about

discussing it with other people. He had to take her for her checkup

alone yesterday, and when the doctor asked if she was eating meat yet,

first he said " no " , and then he took a deep breath and said,

" actually, she's vegetarian " .

 

Turns out our pediatrician was very supportive of the whole thing

(asked a few questions about what she ate and then gave her diet an

A+), but for DH it was a very scary thing to take the step of possibly

having to stand up to a Medical Authority without me backing him up.

 

And one comment about making kids eat things - for older kids, I'm all

for it, but right now I'm suffering horible guilt. My daughter won't

eat carrots, has never eaten carrots, won't even touch them. I'd sneak

them into foods like pasta sauce and thngs - and that's how I found

out she's actually allergic to them. Who ever thought someone could

have a carrot allergy, of all things? Anyway, she's fine now, but just

pointing out that sometimes kids do know about what they should and

shouldn't be eating.

 

-kt