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On the Pirates Set…

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Did you know?

• Johnny Depp works well with pigs.
• Geoffrey Rush has a real way with monkeys.
• You can’t take a poisonous snake to Honolulu.

Beth Langhorst knows all this, because she has served as Senior Certified Animal Safety Representative on the set of all four Pirates of the Caribbean movies — including the latest, “On Stranger Tides.” Since the Pirates film series began in 2003, Langhorst has monitored hundreds of animals on its sets. The 14-year Animal Safety Rep veteran can say, with certainty, that “No Animals Were Harmed”^® on the sets of these Walt Disney films.

“Everything that looks dangerous in the film was done as safely as possible,” Langhorst said.

Weather matters
The filming of “On Stranger Tides” lasted about six months and took the crew to London, Hawaii and Puerto Rico to capture Captain Jack Sparrow’s (Johnny Depp) adventures. The on-set weather involved everything from cold, boggy gloom to tropical jungle swelter. To help ensure the comfort of the horses used on set — about 70 in total — the producers used three different groups of horses, each native to the climate of the filming locale.

Aloha CGI
Hawaii prohibits venomous reptiles on its islands, and those in its zoos are not allowed to leave — plus, Johnny Depp would probably rather not hold a poisonous snake. So, the producers used computer-generated imagery for all the frog and snake scenes in the movie.

Some Pig
One of Langhorst’s favorite animals to work with on the set was the pig, who started out a little wild but soon got used to working for food rewards and belly scratches.

“He was a great little pig,” she said. “By week four, we had turned him into a star.”

Fifth movie?
Sorry, we can’t tell you — but if there is another Pirates of the Caribbean movie, Langhorst will be there on the set protecting animals.

Source: American Humane Film and TV

Rhode Island’s New Reptile Laws Take Effect

Providence, Rhode Island (April 7th, 2010)

Wide-ranging new laws governing the importation and possession of exotic animals will take effect on April 15th 2010.

The new laws define all animals as one of three categories: Domestic Animals, Exempt Exotic Animals and Exotic Animals. Only animals classified as Exotic Animals, which includes any animal not on either of the other lists, will require a permit. Under the new laws, a Domestic Animal is any animal that has been bred to a degree that makes it distinguishable from wild individuals of their species.

An Exotic Animal is defined as “any vertebrate or invertebrate other than those defined as domestic animals, native wildlife, or exempt exotic animals under this regulation”. Any animals imported or possessed that does not fall under the Domestic Animal or Exempt Exotic Animals lists and does not have a permit can be confiscated. Permits will be considered on a case-by-case basis and will require that the animal is in a position where it can not escape.

Any amphibian that is “kept, housed or maintained” outdoors will require a permit. Indoor amphibians will no longer require a permit, as in an earlier draft, but all retail amphibian vendors must provide written notification to purchasers of the permit requirement and keep a sales log that includes the name and address of the buyer, and details of the species purchased. All species of turtles can be kept without a permit except endangered species, the red-eared slider turtle, the Argentina or Chaco tortoise; gopher tortoise and pancake tortoises.

All venomous snakes require a permit, except for boa and python species other than the emerald tree boa, green tree python, African rock python, reticulated python and all species of anaconda. Permits are also not required for some species of snake in the families Uropeltidae, Xenopeltidae, Typhlopidae, Leptotyphlopidae, Anomalepidae and Colubridae. Most species of lizard require that the owner has a permit, except for some species of skink, girdle-tailed lizards, geckos, iguanis lizards, agamid lizards and night lizards.

This news story is independently sourced and PetPeoplesPlace.com

Posted:  Just One More Pet

11-foot python unexpected guest for California family

LAKE ELSINORE, Calif. (AP) – Imagine this visitor…  A Southern California family got a slithery surprise when an 11-foot python turned up in their front yard.

Francisco Delgadillo says he was chatting with his sister on their porch Sunday night in Lake Elsinore when he saw an enormous snake moving across the fenced yard.

The first animal control officer who saw the size of the critter had to call for backup. Two officers then wrangled the 50-pound snake into a truck and took it to a shelter.

Authorities say the Burmese python probably was somebody’s pet. If the owner doesn’t claim it by the end of the week, it probably will be given to a snake rescue group.

Abandoned snakes into the wild, including Burmese pythons has become a huge problem in many areas within the U.S., especially in Florida.

Be responsible and take any pets that you can no longer keep or take care of to a rescue, a sheltor, or find them a new home; please do not just release them for the sake of the animal as well as people that it could harm.

Related Resources

• Toddler Dies, Python Wrapped Around Her
• Florida’s python problem may be spreading

Toddler dies, python found coiled around her

The snakes are not native to Florida, but many people keep them as pets

OXFORD, Fla. – A 2-year-old girl apparently was strangled Wednesday by her family’s 12-foot-long pet Burmese python, officials said.

Shaunia Hare was already dead when paramedics arrived at about 10 a.m., Lt. Bobby Caruthers of the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office said.

Charles Jason Darnell, the snake’s owner and the boyfriend of Shaunia’s mother, said he discovered the snake missing from its aquarium and went to the girl’s room, where he found it on the girl and bite marks on her head, Caruthers said.

Darnell, 32, said he stabbed the snake until he was able to pry the child away, and then called 911.

Authorities remained outside the small, tan home, bordered by cow pastures Wednesday afternoon, awaiting a search warrant to remove the snake from the home. It was unclear if it was still alive.

Darnell did not have a permit for the snake, which would be a second-degree misdemeanor, said Joy Hill, a spokeswoman with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. He has not been charged, but Caruthers said investigators were looking into whether there was child neglect or if any other laws were broken.

NBC affiliate WESH reported that Darnell told deputies he left the snake in an aquarium in a bag when the family went to sleep.

The python was one of two snakes in the home — the other is a 6-foot-long boa constrictor. Both snakes are alive, Carruthers said.

Two other children also lived there, WESH reported.

The Humane Society of the United States said including Wednesday’s death, at least 12 people have been killed in the U.S. by pet pythons since 1980, including five children.

Pythons are not native to Florida, but some residents keep them as pets, especially Burmese pythons, which can grow to more than 15 feet and weigh more than 150 pounds.

When the snakes become too large, some owners release them into the Everglades and other wild areas, Florida officials say.

The fast-growing population of snakes has been invading southern Florida’s ecosystem since 1992, when scientists speculate a bevy of Burmese pythons was released into the wild after Hurricane Andrew shattered many pet shop terrariums.

Scientists don’t have an accurate estimate of how many pythons are in Florida, but estimates range from thousands to hundreds of thousands.

This is just another example of the epidemic of the  loss of personal responsibility and the loss of common sense that has swept the United States.  These situations come from a lack of thinking things through, a loss of self-responsibility for our actions and a lack of concern for others… people and animals.  Was this the snake’s fault??  Heck no!  It was the owner’s fault – the parents’ fault.

Related Articles:

• Florida’s python problem may be spreading

Where there is a will…

One of the greatest tragedies of the failed housing market is the cost to pets and animals.  And although highlighted now and again after some tragic event where a pet has been left behind to starve without food or water in an abandoned house or chained to a tree when their family moved, it has been under reported. 

Losing your home, often after having also lost your job in today’s uncertain financial environment, can be both scary and overwhelming.  People become panicked and often make rash and unsound decisions under the pressure or go into a state of denial.  But leaving your pet or any animal behind without making arrangements for them to be taken care of could end up haunting both you and your family forever.  A pet is a family member and abandoning them, besides being illegal, could leave permanent scars, especially on children. 

Often lack of planning is the greatest culprit.  Friends or family members will usually take your pets, either permanently or until you or an adoptive family can take them, if you really cannot or do not know where you are going or cannot take them along.  Running an ad in the local paper, online, or in the neighborhood ad sheet is usually free for pet ads, but people tend to want to believe that things will get better so often wait until the last minute when they are out of time and therefore often also out of options.  I have seen people walk their pets or sit outside a market with them wearing a sign:  ‘I need a home’ or ‘Will you take me home?’ with relative success.  Networking with friends, neighbors and co-workers, or putting up signs at markets, at your veterinarian’s office, church, and on community boards and mailboxes are also great sources, as well as contacting local rescues and no kill shelters.  Many pet sites also have message boards where you might find an adoptive parent or  a foster family for your pet, giving you more time to find another solution. 

I have also seen people negotiate with new landlords or network to find a place that will allow their pets to move with them, even though the listings originally said no.  Getting a written reference from either a former landlord or neighbors is helpful and working through a realtor or leasing agent also usually ups your chances.  Remember if you are going to rent, the owner pays their fee, not you. 

Be creative!  I recently came across someone who traded their car for an old camper by running an ad in the newspaper.  It gave the family and the pets a crowded but temporary place to live and stay together.  We are surrounded by community, sometimes our greatest failing is the fear or hesitance to ask for help. 

Where there is a will… there is a way, and it starts with planning.

By:  Marion Algier/Ask Marion 

 

Related Articles:

• Economic Forecast: One Million Pets May Lose Homes in the U.S.
• Father Arrested for Allegedly Killing Family Dog in Front of Children
• Abused and abandoned pets need our help
• Doomed Dogs Get On The Rescue Wagon to Other Shelters

New First Pooch Is Arriving Soon

Warren Harding with Laddie Boy Library Of Congress / Getty ENLARGE + Print EmailShare ReprintsRelated

During the dog days of last summer, perhaps the most important looming decision facing Barack Obama was choosing a dog for his girls.  Way back, as he set out on this quest for the Presidency, he made the one campaign promise he absolutely could not break: that when it was all over, whatever the outcome, his daughters could get a dog.  And if they ended up at Pennsylvannia Avenue the pup would certainly not be the first dog or pet in the White House so would have a long legacy of presidential pets to follow and live up to.

Things have changed since the days when George Washington could name his hounds Drunkard, Tipler and Tipsy. Warren Harding’s Airedale Laddie Boy had a valet and occupied a hand-carved chair at Cabinet meetings. Ulysses S. Grant told his White House staff that if anything happened to his son’s beloved Newfoundland, they’d all be fired. Teddy Roosevelt had, along with a badger, a toad, some snakes and a pig, a bull terrier named Pete who once ripped the pants of a French ambassador. Cousin Franklin’s dog Fala had a press secretary, starred in a movie and was named an honorary private in the Army. George H.W. Bush’s springer spaniel Millie wrote a book, which sold more copies than the President’s autobiography. And then, of course, there was Checkers. Harry Truman supposedly once said, You want a friend in Washington? Get a dog. ( By Nancy Gibbs/TIME)

It’s hard enough to pick the right dog.  But adding the fact that you may be the First Family and need a hypoallergenic breed increases the difficulty of the process.  So the American Kennel Club (AKC), hoping to help ensure the 23rd purebred dog into the White House, conducted a survey. The public could even vote online for the type of dog they thought the Obamas should get for the AKC survey, and other groups sponsored similar surveys. Since first daughter Malia has allergies, the AKC limited the ballot choice to five hypoallergenic breeds. It suggested the bichon frise with its history as a companion to French noblemen implying qualification of the breed for the White House. But perhaps it was not the exact image the Obamas were looking for. It recommended the miniature schnauzer as an excellent watchdog, for a little added security (although probably not needed), and the soft-coated wheaten terrior with its sweet-temperament as a positive goodwill ambassador, though it “must be handled firmly and with consistency,” which also may not have been the ideal characteristic choice for the candidate of Change.

The AKC’s preference for purebreds, however, missed the obvious stellar opportunity for the Obamapup. Surely a self-proclaimed postpartisan reformer, who promised to ‘reach across the aisle’,  would lean toward some stunningly blended mutt, a rescued shelter dog or at least one of the American Canine Hybrid Club’s 500 plus registered hybrids. Afterall, the hybrid pooch or designer dog was bred to give you the best of both breeds: a Labradoodle, a Peke-a-Poo, a Bagle (half basset, half beagle) or a Chiweenie (half chihuahua, half dachshund). A bully pulpit seeking candidate might like the Bullypit (a bulldog-pit-bull mix), or he could go for a Sharmatian–part Chinese Shar-Pei, part Dalmatian–and get the whole East-and-West, black-and-white thing going in one single pooch.

There was even a suggestion during the campaign, that their decision for a type of dog, if not actually getting one before the election,  should be moved up, given the competition from the ‘McCainines’. An AP–Yahoo News poll last June (2008) found that pet owners favored John McCain over Obama, 42% to 37%, with an even bigger margin among dog owners. One participant explained that it “tells you that they’re responsible at least for something, for the care of something.” Or, in the McCains’ case, “many somethings”:  their menagerie includes a slew of fish, some parakeets, turtles Cuff and Link, Oreo the cat and four dogs, including terriers Lucy and Desi. Obama could take comfort in his 14-point lead among non–pet owners, except that they form a definate minority of U.S. households.

The Obamas were pre-warned, that although a good one, they were definitely looking at another major life change by getting a dog for the first time. “A dog was never an option in the apartment where I grew up”, said Obama, “and my daughters knew that training the dog they so desperately wanted was nothing compared with training me to accept one”.

Well it is now two and a half months into the presidency and still no first dog, and it seems like the whole world, at least the pet loving world, is waiting for their choice and the arrival of the first pooch.  The word from First Lady Michelle is April, after their Spring Break family vacation, and possibly a Portuguese Water Dog…  and not a puppy (which could mean that in the end the AKC got their next purebred into the White House afterall).  Senator Ted Kennedy, whose neice Caroline got a pony while in the White House, highly recommended the breed.  He has two.  Their coat is a single layer and does not shed. In most cases, these dogs are hypo- allergenic, making them a good choice for those that have allergies.

So, there will be a new pooch frolicking on the South Lawn by the end of this month.

The next obvious question for speculation, of course, is the perfect name for the next first dog. Some suggest the Obamas should just get two, one for each of the girls, and call them Hope and Change.  Of course there are others that suggest getting two dogs but calling them Smoke and Mirror or Fear and “Quo”, for Status Quo, would be the best call, but that would be a subject for another type of blog or article.

Related Articles:  

• President Bush and His Pets
• Arrival of New First Pooch Imminent
• Bush and Barney, Just Like Old Times

By Marion Algier/Ask Marion – Posted – Just One More Pet

Alternative Oscars: The Most Humane Animal Movies

As America celebrated “Oscar Night” last Sunday, the American Humane Association saluted those films that earned the coveted “No Animals Were Harmed” end-credit.

American Humane, through its Los Angeles-based Film & TV Unit, has a long-standing presence in Hollywood.  Since 1940, it has overseen the use of animals in filmed entertainment. American Humane is the only organization authorized to monitor the safety of animals on the sets of movies, TV shows, commercials and music videos. Productions that make sure to have an American Humane Animal Safety Rep on set and follow American Humane’s “Guidelines for the Safe Use of Animals in Filmed Media” and keep animals safe on the set are awarded the famous “No Animals Were Harmed” end-credit disclaimer.

“The use of animals in filmed entertainment celebrates the roles of animals in our history, in our families and in our lives,” said Marie Belew Wheatley, president and CEO of American Humane.

American Humane’s Film & TV Unit, when asked what films it would recognize if the organization had its own version of the Oscars, named the following, all of which earned the right to say “No Animals Were Harmed.”

Best Movie Magic Featuring an Animal: The Dark Knight  – The film features a very dramatic sequence in which dogs attack a man and then are attacked themselves. Rest assured, no dogs were harmed. The production used a combination of techniques, including playing with the dogs, filming the dogs from various angles and using prop dogs, to achieve a realistic effect. 

Most Poignant Movie Illustrating the Human-Animal Bond: Marley & Me – If you saw it, you had to dig out some tissues. This movie shows that even an overly rambunctious dog is still a valued and important member of the family, and the loss of a companion animal is truly the loss of a friend.

Best Behind-the-Scenes Rescue Story: Beverly Hills Chihuahua According to Chris Obonsawin, American Humane’s Certified Animal Safety Representative™ on the set of this film, one of the lead dogs who played Papi was a day away from being euthanized before a trainer discovered him in a California animal shelter. The dog now lives with the movie’s head trainer. Many trainers find their animals at animal shelters – trainer Frank Inn adopted a mutt from a California shelter in the 1960s. The mutt became Benji.

Best Group Effort to Protect Horses: Appaloosa In Appaloosa, there is a scene in which men on horses cross a stream, then gallop up a ravine. The Animal Safety Representative, Ed Lish, explained that sending the horses through a stream, where sharp rocks or other dangers might be hidden under the water, would be against American Humane’s guidelines. The entire crew immediately jumped in to scour both the stream and the ravine to clear the way of debris and ensure safety and comfort for the horses.

Best Rescue by a Snake: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – When Mutt grabs a vine to save Indy, who is sinking in quicksand, they find themselves grasping a snake. The production used a real python for some gentle “establishing shots”, then brought in a prop substitute for the “real” action.

By:  Daphne Reid/Pet People’s Place

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