Winkie the Cat

Here is a link that I would like to share for people who don't know about the plight of Winkie: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=275879&id=516512252

WINKIE NEEDS OUR HELP... We are trying to save the life of a cat, Winkie, who was turned in to the Howard County, Maryland, Animal Control shelter by a local resident named Chrissy who didn't realize they would kill him and is desparately trying to get him out before his kill date of March 3rd. 

Chrissy emailed a local animal rescue group, Companion Animal Rescue Alliance, about a friendly cat she'd found at her apartment complex, which doesn't allow pets, but the rescue group contact person was preparing for a board meeting and didn't get back to her for 2 days, and by then Chrissy had taken Winkie to the shelter. 
The shelter director insists that Winkie is aggressive (he's not; he's just scared; Chrissy has pictures of him in her apartment cuddling with her daughter) and won't release him to any rescue groups or Chrissy (a relative of Chrissy who lives nearby in a house wants to adopt him, so he has a place to go). She has said she will kill him on March 3, 10 days after he was turned in.
What NKR fans can do to help Winkie get out of the shelter and off of death row:
Send an email requesting that Winki not be killed but released to Companion Animal Rescue Alliance. Please communicate that it is not ethical to kill Winkie who has a rescue group willing to take responsiblility for him, rehabilitate him if needed and find a loving home for him. Also, ask them to respond to your mail and tell what they have decided to do about Winkie.
dbaracco@howardcountymd.gov
Let's not let Winkie down...Steve
PS...Please Share everywhere...

It is necessary to help this cat, at least that's how I feel. If we can. There is no reason for him to be killed. He has a place to go. He has people willing to rehabilitate any aggressiveness in him if it is found.

Contact Ms. Baracco about Winkie's release in the follow ways, if you can:

E-mail: dbaracco@howardcountymd.gov

Mail: ANIMAL CONTROL DIVISION

Deborah M. Baracco

8576 Davis Rd

Columbia, MD 21045

Phone: 410-313-2780

Letter to Animal Control Division Administrator of Animal Control Shelter in Howard County, Maryland about Winkie the Cat

Ms. Baracco,

I was shocked and dismayed to learn tonight that there is a cat, Winkie, in your Animal Control Shelter in Howard County. This cat is friendly and there is evidence to support that. However, this cat is also afraid and like most animals when they are afraid, they can be a bit defensive when they perceive threats. This does not make this cat aggressive. The woman that turned Winkie in regrets this after realizing later that the shelter was a kill shelter and plans to kill Winkie on March 3. Ever since, she's been trying to get him out. There is a rescue group, Companion Animal Rescue Alliance, which is ready to take him in and find him a home, to rehabilitate him if necessary since the Animal Control Shelter seems worried about aggression. There is even a woman who is in an ideal position to take him in, who is a relative of the woman who turned him in in the first place, and wants to adopt him.

However, despite all of this the Animal Control Shelter has taken the unethical stance that despite the fact that there are facilities and an adoptive care giver who would like to take Winkie in and spare his life, that they would instead rather just kill the poor cat on March 3. This is unethical because there is NO REASON that this animal should have to be killed. It is not an overcrowding issue, because the cat has people who want to immediately take him in. It is not an aggression issue, because if there was an aggression issue the Companion Animal Rescue Alliance has already said they will work to rehabilitate him if it should turn out that he is, indeed, aggressive.

I find it extremely disturbing that the Animal Control Shelter in Howard County would rather kill an animal than relinquish it to a facility and adoptive caregiver who can and will give it a chance at life, a stable and good home, etc. This is beyond unethical. This is beyond inhumane. It borders on sadistic. There is no reason to kill this cat, as it stands.

Please, look into this matter thoroughly and do the right thing, the humane thing, the ethical thing. Order the Animal Control Shelter of Howard County to hand Winkie over to the Companion Animal Rescue Alliance so that he may have a chance at life. He might just be a cat, but his life matters, too. There is no reason he should have to die, so please don't let him be killed for no reason.

Thank you,

Traci Miller

My response letter to Senator Lager over Prop B

Senator Lager,
I thank you for your response to me about Proposition B. I have received letters from you about my concerns in both postal and electronic mail forms.

However, I still have grave concerns over Proposition B and the way it is being handled. While I am aware that you have an obligation to the 12th District and the counties and people therein, you also have a duty to Missouri as a whole and the Missouri people as a whole. Whom, as a whole, passed Proposition B. To repeal or drastically alter Proposition B would be trampling on the rights of the voters as a whole, and the will of the people of Missouri as a whole.

I am very glad that you do not want to repeal Proposition B, however I have very real and urgent concerns about the possible changes on the table for it. You say that you are all for reasonable changes, and if a compromise is what is necessary right now then I am also all for reasonable changes. The problem is, these changes proposed are not reasonable. They effectively render Proposition B impotent and change nothing. That is the same as repealing it.

I would like to draw your attention to these web pages which I think accurately sum up a good concern over why these changes are not reasonable. I have personally looked at the bills myself, and I agree that the information in these web pages is accurate, not hyperbole.

http://puppies.burningbird.net/comparing-old-laws-new

http://puppies.burningbird.net/article/reality-hb-131

http://puppies.burningbird.net/article/reality-sb-113

Also, I would like to draw your attention to Rep. Jason Smith, who has a very personal interest in Proposition B's repeal or change. During the House meetings on Proposition B, he has been proven to be very aggressive toward anyone who is supportive of Prop B. This man is not part of the committee holdings group, but he has attended as an Ex-officio, because he is Majority Whip. If he were simply passionate about procedure, perhaps this might be overlooked a bit. However, the problem is that that is not what it is about. For him, this is personal and he should not have been allowed to be there in this fashion.

His mother, Mary Ann Smith, is part of the HSUS's report called Missouri's Dirty Dozen. And when I say she's part of the report, I mean she gets placed as number 6 on the Dirty Dozen list. http://www.humanesociety.org/assets/pdfs/pets/puppy_mills/report_on_mos_dirty_dozen.pdf

http://midwestdemocracyproject.org/blogs/entries/rep-jason-smith-and-his-mom-prop-b-personal/ This link provides further information about Smith and his personal grudge against Prop B. I cannot blame him for wanting to stand up for his mother, however I think his personal interest is mucking things up and he should not be there in the capacity that he is.

He is also a member of the House Ethics Committee, so he should know this better than anyone. Yet, he decided to abuse his abilities and power in order to do this.

Even Fox News has something to say about Rep. Jason Smith's personal interests in Prop B

http://www.fox2now.com/news/ktvi-fox-files-prop-b-foe-may-have-conflict-of-interest-20110222,0,3145505.story

http://www.fox2now.com/videobeta/?watchId=a08dd93b-5921-48db-a286-4a7ad2221d53

If you are sincere about wanting a reasonable compromise between the people of the 12th District and Missouri as a whole on Proposition B, by making reasonable changes, please...look into what I've said here, look at the links. Read the articles. Watch the videos. They aren't long, none of them. They are all straight forward. They all get the point across.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to compromise, but the offered changes, all of them regardless of the bill they are found in, are unreasonable and are not compromises at all.

I love WebMD

Apparently, people think its weird for female dogs to hump, and that if they do they must be lesbian or something (not that that would be bad). According to WebMD, though, humping is normal for both sexes. Males tend to do it more often than females, but both sexes do it. And it doesn't always have a thing to do with what they're humping against, since even furniture will do sometimes.

Watching your dog get personal with the new sofa may make you cringe, but it's not abnormal. Many dogs discover that humping feels good or relieves stress, so they keep at it. Both males and females are known to indulge in this behavior, though males do it more often. Reid says it's fine to look the other way in most cases. "But if they're humping family members or guests who come to the house, behavior modification is in order." (via WebMD ) It should be #5.

Although, dogs can still be bisexual or homosexual. Humping, however, is not a sign indicative of either one, if its just simply normal behavior in the way that it is described above. There are many, many, many species of animals, dogs included, that exhibit homosexual or bisexual tendencies and animals just simply don't care. :p So, apparently, Nature isn't very homophobic. The only homophobic animals seem to be humans.


However, my point is that its not a big deal in the animal kingdom to be homosexual or bisexual. Or to be straight. Humans are the only animals with actual hang-ups over this.

Here's the shocking new truism: In the wilds of nature, to not have some level of homosexual/bisexual behavior in a given species is turning out to be the exception, not the rule.

This is a little snippet from a 2009 article I found on CommonDreams.org, which they took from the San Francisco Chronicle. It can be found here.


So, this sort of behavior is normal in the animal kingdom. Humans are animals. It stands to reason that humans, like other apes, are also subject to the same sexualities found in 1500 other species of animals. And, even if you don't believe humans descended from apes, it still has merit. Why? Well, because most Christians whom I talk to (even those in my own family), say that homosexuality is unnatural in animals, too, and that it isn't what nature or God intended. Well,perhaps the Bible (and probably other holy texts from other religions) does have something to say against humans having homosexual relations (although Jesus never mentioned it once). But, obviously neither nature nor God had a problem with animals getting freaky with the same sex or multiple partners.


Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not a Christian. But, I notice that the majority of people I hear speaking out against LGBTs and their rights and equality tend to be Christians (or at least they have the loudest mouths). So, that's why I bothered with this post at all. That, and I just thought this information was interesting.