Bits for Pets Blog

In a laboratory in the heart of the east end of London, an unmistakeable buzz fills the air.

The small room is packed with bumblebees - hundreds upon hundreds of them going about their business in small wooden hives.

Despite their scientific setting, the insects look just the same as bumblebees found in the wild, apart from one small - really small - difference.

Most are adorned with minuscule silver tags, so tiny that at first they are hard to see. But every so often, as they catch the laboratory lights, they glint and sparkle, standing out from the bees’ fuzzy bodies.

These tiny accessories are Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags - the same technology used to track stock in warehouses or supermarkets or employed for transport systems such as the Oyster Card payment scheme used on the London Underground.

They have been fitted to the bees by scientists at Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL), who want to keep track of the animals’ whereabouts so as to better understand these brainy bugs.

The tiny RFID tag can be just seen above the bee’s wings
Biologist Nigel Raine said: “Bumblebees have a relatively small brain - they have about 950,000 brain cells, humans have 100 billion - but they can achieve rather impressive feats of learning and memory given what they have got.”

Recent research has revealed that bees are able to recognise individual human faces, which, according to Dr Raine, is not that surprising given the daily challenges they face whilst foraging.

He explained: “When you think about your average park or meadow there might be dozens of species of flowers which are all different in terms of colour and shape and scent, and they are all differing in the rewards they are providing.

“Ultimately, the bees’ job is to go and find the best rewards from these flowers and they have to be flexible and learn and remember information, all the while making and breaking associations. This is all really quite complicated.”

Their navigational skills are impressive, too.

“These tiny animals leave their nests, fly back and forth between flowers, then they are somehow able to add all of these vectors together and fly back to their nest in a straight line,” said Dr Raine.

Click Here! For the full story

Endangered heathland species in England could become extinct because of the poor condition of their habitat, conservationists have warned.

Natural England says wildlife, such as the stone curlew, nightjar and sand lizard, could disappear if lowland heathland is not protected.

It found all of the 104 sites surveyed were in poor condition, even those which were in conservation schemes.

Heathland is currently a priority for the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.

Expansion of cities

Until about 100 years ago, heathland was a valuable resource for local communities. Trees were felled for fuel, animals grazed the land and the wildlife that favoured such open areas flourished.

Now, due to the expansion of urban areas and arable land, only 60,000 hectares (148,263 acres) remain covered by lowland heathland in England.

But even these do not meet the standards set for protected Sites of Special Scientific Interest, the latest survey for Natural England, the RSPB, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has found.

Sir Martin Doughty, chairman of Natural England, said such habitats needed to be protected to ensure the plant and animal species they support were “not lost forever”.

“There is clear evidence that many of the larger heathlands - such as the Devil’s Punch Bowl in Surrey and the East Lizard peninsula - managed for conservation and recreation are in better condition.

“To help restore other sites to these high standards we must ensure that they are properly targeted through stewardship schemes to secure appropriate management.”

Click Here! For the full story

It may come as a surprise to most people that there are any seahorses at all in British coastal waters, and more surprising still that numbers appear to be increasing.

Seahorse experts met in London this month to discuss the apparent population surge in seahorses and their close relative, the pipefish.

The reasons for this increase, described as “rapid and dramatic” is not yet clear and a number of theories have been put forward including a natural population boom or warmer waters.

As with any shift in population, it is also having a knock-on effect upon other species, including sea birds.

They say although there have been changes in water temperature in the North Sea since around 1988, the large numbers of snake pipefish have only appeared in the last four or five years - putting a global warming theory in doubt.

“There is no doubt that numbers of snake pipefish have increased. In the last few years they are just everywhere,” said Professor Mike P Harris of CEH.

“Although climate change may well have had an effect, the jury is, we think, still out on this matter.”

Cindy van Damme of the Netherlands’ Wageningen IMARES - the Institute for Marine Resources and Ecosystem Studies, believes she may be nearer an answer.

She says recent shifts in ocean currents have led to a change in the composition of plankton - it has shrunk.

“Plankton is the major food item of pipefish and sea horses. The mouth opening of this group of fishes restricts the prey size they can handle. We think this mechanism explains the huge increase of snake pipefish. Hence this outbreak may very well last for only a limited number of years.”

However long it lasts, it is impacting startlingly upon pipefish predators - which include everything from mackerel, dolphins, otters and sharks to seabirds.

Although they are eaten by birds such as gannets, kittiwakes and puffins, their spiny, ‘armoured’ forms, like seahorses make them difficult for young birds to swallow and digest - some young birds even choke to death on them.

Pipefish form a distinct family with seahorses (syngnathids) and as the name would suggest, look like straight-bodied seahorses with tiny mouths.

Numbers of the snake pipefish, once rarely seen in northern British waters, now often end up in the region’s trawler nets in vast numbers, say scientists.

Once associated with deep northern waters, they have even been found recently further south by fishermen in the Thames Estuary.

A European team led by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) says that the numbers of snake pipefish in British waters has increased more than one hundredfold since 2003.

Click Here! For the full story

A Californian dog-lover has agreed to pay $150,000 to have her dead pit bull recreated in the world’s first commercial pet cloning project.

The dog, named Booger, died a year and a half ago but his owner kept part of his ear in cold storage and South Korean scientists will now attempt to create an exact replica of the pet.

RNL Bio, based in Seoul, said it is already working on the order. The work will be carried out by a team of Seoul National University (SNU) scientists led by professor Lee Byeong-chun, a key member of disgraced stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk’s research team.

Most of Hwang’s well publicised breakthroughs in cloning human stem cells were discovered to be fake last year. But the SNU team was successful in creating the world’s first dog clone, an Afghan hound named “Snuppy”.

Bernann McKunney, the American who really misses her dead dog, is thought to have become especially attached to it after the pit bull saved her life when another dog attacked her.

Specific breeds of pit bull are banned or restricted in several countries including the UK, New Zealand and Canada.

Cho Seong-Ryul, RNL’s marketing director, said the company’s success rate for producing dogs by cloning was high with around one out of every four surrogate mother dogs producing cloned puppies.

Cells have been extracted from Booger’s ear tissue and inserted into ova which were then implanted into eight bitches.

Since Lee and Hwang cloned Snuppy no other scientists have succeeded in creating cloned dogs.

“This will mark the first time that a dog is being cloned in a commercial contract,” Cho said. “The cost for cloning a dog may come down to less than $50,000 as cloning is becoming an industry.”

Click Here! For the full story

A pet boa constrictor has gone missing from a family home in Newcastle.

The 5ft (1.52m) snake, a Colombian rainbow species, escaped from the property in St Anthony’s House, Byker, on Wednesday.

Police said the reptile, called Shakira, is not believed to be dangerous but its owner is concerned it may intimidate residents in the area.

Anyone who finds the family pet is advised to call Northumbria Police or RSPCA officers.

Sgt Paul Roberts-Bee said: “While the snake is a pet and has been brought up around children the owner is concerned it might intimidate anyone who comes across it.

“The reptile is not venomous and not thought to be a risk to the public.”

Click Here! for the full story

Rusty, the obese chocolate Labrador, who hit the headlines a year ago when his owners were found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering, has reached his target weight.

Rusty weighed 74.2kgs, more than twice his ideal weight, when he was removed from his owners in March 2006.

Between March 2006 and January 2007, Rusty lost 24.6kgs in RSPCA care. He was returned to his owners in January 2007 on condition that he did not put the weight back on and remained under the treatment of his veterinary surgeon, Alex Wylie of Eastgate Veterinary Group in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

In December 2007, Rusty finally reached his target weight of 40kgs after receiving a special Royal Canin diet.

Rusty had also been suffering from untreated arthritic conditions, which have eased since his weight loss, and he is receiving arthritis medication donated by Meriel Animal Health Limited.

Rusty’s vet, Alex Wylie, said, “Rusty has made huge progress. We can now feel his ribs and he has a waistline at last. He is a much happier and healthier dog now, his pain is well-controlled and he walks much better than he could before. He can stand for long periods of time and doesn’t tire as easily.

“Prior to his treatment and weight loss Rusty was the most disabled dog I have ever seen in practice. However, he now has a proper life again.

“I honestly think that without the help of the RSPCA, Meriel’s donation and Royal Canin, Rusty would have been put to sleep by now.”

Give your pet a new lease of life and visit: www.petsgetslim.co.uk

Click Here! for the full story

Six abandoned kittens have found an unexpected new mother figure - a pet rabbit.

Veterinary nurse Melanie Humble took the three-week-old kittens to her Aberdeen home.

The kittens seemed to think Summer the rabbit was their mother and began to climb all over her and try to feed from her.

Efforts will be made to find the four males and two females permanent homes in the coming weeks.

Melanie, 29, told the BBC Scotland news website: “The abandoned kittens were handed in when they were about three weeks old and I took them home.

“Summer the rabbit was taken inside on Bonfire Night because of the fireworks and the kittens seemed to really like her and thought she was their mother.”

‘She’s gigantic’

She added: “They were trying to get milk from her and climbing over her. And Summer was not bothered by them at all.

Click Here! for the full story

The RSPCA found 32 dead horses after receiving a tip-off about an enclosure in Buckinghamshire. Almost 100 other animals were found at the site, which was described as a “horror story” by the Horse Trust.

More than 80 animals were removed from the site yesterday, where dozens of ponies, donkeys and horses had been found in an advanced state of neglect.

The RSPCA was given an anonymous tip-off about an unwell horse at the site, but had not anticipated the scale of cruelty its officers were about to find. With no food and water, rows of emaciated horses were found tethered in pens, standing among the carcasses of those that had not survived the grim conditions.

The scene of devastation that greeted rescuers has been described by some as the worst they have ever witnessed.

Click Here! for the full story

Click Here! to make a donation to the Horse Trust

Actor Neil Morrissey has helped launch a national adopt-a-dog campaign which highlights the plight of animals abandoned in rescue homes.

The actor, best known for his role in the TV series Men Behaving Badly, owns a dog from a shelter.

He joined 100 dogs and their owners in a walk from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home to Battersea Park at the launch.

Some 7,800 dogs were put down in the UK in 2007 when homes could not be found for them, the Battersea home said.

Morrissey, whose dog Tiggy was adopted, said: “Tiggy was taken from the Mayhew animal centre in Kensal Rise, she was dumped once, obviously as a pup and then dumped three years later as an adult when we got her.

“The extraordinary thing was she was already chipped and when the shelter phoned the family and said we found your dog, the family said well we don’t want her.”

The actor said more dogs are abandoned during the Christmas period as many new owners abandon the dogs when they get “feisty” or they are unable to take care of them.

In other cases dogs become homeless when owners either move or die, leaving the animal to fend for itself.

“All dogs need training and attention. Never be afraid of a pooch, they can always have their behaviour changed, there are no bad dogs, just bad owners,” said Morrissey.

Helen Baxter from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home said: “We had about 270 dogs coming in just over 10 days over Christmas.

“We would ask please just go to a rescue centre, they are all over the country, take on a dog that is no longer wanted anymore rather than going to a breeder or a pet shop because there are so many great dogs out there at rescue centres.”

The campaign aims to raise £500,000 by the end of March for dog rescue centres across the UK.

Click Here! for the full story

Click Here! to visit Battersea Dogs & Cats Home

A greedy dog who wolfed down 20 competition pies was entered in the eating contest put in jeopardy by his raging appetite.

Charlie, a bichon frise, raided the fridge of 1995 champion Dave Williams while his owner was distracted by a pigeon flying up his chimney.

The contest was saved by frantic calls to bakers for a new batch for the World Pie Eating Championship, in Wigan.

But instead of being in the doghouse for his antics, Charlie was entered.

The dog saw his chance when Mr Williams was busy attending to the pigeon at his home in Preston, Lancashire.

He wolfed down 20 pies and damaged a further 10, organisers said.

Tony Callaghan, owner of Harry’s Bar which stages the competition, said: “Charlie could have jeopardised the whole competition but luckily we managed to get a fresh bake this morning.

Click Here! for the full story

“The twist is that Dave has turned up this morning saying he wants Charlie to enter the contest.

“We’ve nothing in the rules to say dogs can’t compete so he will be lining up against the other pie eaters and judging by his performance yesterday he’s got a great chance of winning.”

However, it seems that Charlie was still full from Wednesday’s mammoth eating session as Mr Williams revealed that he did not even finish his competition pie.

Rescue dog

The winner was 42-year-old Adrian Frost from Wigan who downed his pie in a record-breaking 34 seconds.

Mr Williams said: “Charlie was a rescue dog and has habit of picking food up from the street.

“We think this trait has stuck with him because he never knew where his next meal was coming from as a youngster so there was no way we could be angry with him for eating all the pies yesterday.

“However, it seems that he didn’t have much room for anymore today when the competition was staged.”

Past competitions used to be judged on the number of pies eaten by competitors in a three minute period but after falling victim to the “healthy eating lobby”, the format was changed last year.

A separate vegetarian competition was also introduced after “relentless pressure” from the Vegetarian Society, Mr Callaghan said.