∙SPAN Thrift Store is open to the public and looking for donations of adult clothing, household items and tools if you’ve got items you no longer use.
SPAN Thrift Store regularly provides $10 spays and neuters for low income households with cats and dogs.
Three upcoming clinics are: Tuesday, December 7th at Shiells Park, in the parking lot, located at 649 C St., Fillmore, 93015, a second clinic on Tuesday, December 14th at SPAN Thrift Store parking lot 110 N. Olive St. (behind Vons on Main), and a third clinic at the Albert H. Soliz Library – El Rio, 2820 Jourdan St., Oxnard, 93036 on Tuesday, December 21st.
Please call to schedule an appointment (805) 584-3823.
∙Fourteen Search Dog Foundation (SDF) search teams achieve FEMA certification.
Before deploying, a canine disaster search team must first achieve state or federal certification. During the test, each handler and dog team searches two separate rubble or debris piles, being allowed 20 minutes to complete each, showing teamwork, strategy, and, most importantly, trust in each other. After initial certification, each team must re-certify every three years to ensure they are up-to-date and ready to respond when needed.
Despite the disruption in testing scheduling due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 14 SDF-trained search teams and many others across the nation achieved certification in the last six months.
Now, these teams can deploy with their task forces when needed in the aftermath of a disaster. None of this would be possible without you, and folks like you, who help these dogs not only go from rescued shelter dogs to rescuers but who also support partnered search teams in their training, ensuring they are ready when called upon to help others.
∙ Mark your calendar! The 10th annual Purrs & Paws Holiday Boutique and Marketplace is scheduled to return on Saturday, Dec. 4, for a day filled with holiday spirit, shopping and fun!
This event, organized by the Humane Society of Ventura County’s Animal Ambassadors, will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Chaparral Auditorium and adjacent lawn at 414 E. Ojai Ave. in Ojai. Admission and parking are free.
Among the more than 30 vendors, you will find fun, festive and unique crafts, artistic creations and vintage items. This is a perfect opportunity to find one-of-a-kind holiday gifts including fashion accessories, jewelry, gift baskets, fabric creations, pottery, baby items, bath and body products, plants and an array of unique holiday décor.
All proceeds from this charity event will benefit the Humane Society of Ventura County.
If you are interested in being a vendor, please email [email protected].
The Humane Society of Ventura County is a nonprofit, compassionate care shelter dedicated to the protection and adoption of animals in need throughout Ventura County. For more information, visit www.hsvc.org.
∙ The fossil of a jawbone could prove that domesticated dogs lived in Central America as far back as 12,000 years ago, according to a study by Latin American scientists. The dogs, and their masters, potentially lived alongside giant animals, researchers say. A 1978 dig in Nacaome, northeast Costa Rica, found bone remains from the Late Pleistocene period.
Excavations began in the 1990s and produced the remains of a giant horse and a piece of jaw from what was originally thought to be a coyote skull. “We thought it was very strange to have a coyote in the Pleistocene, that is to say 12,000 years ago,” Costa Rican researcher Guillermo Vargas told AFP.
“When we started looking at the bone fragments, we started to see characteristics that could have been from a dog. So, we kept looking, we scanned it… and it showed that it was a dog living with humans 12,000 years ago in Costa Rica.”
The coyote is a relative of the domestic dog, although with a different jaw and more pointed teeth. “The dog eats the leftovers from human food. Its teeth are not so determinant in its survival,” said Vargas.
Costa Rican researcher Guillermo Vargas says the fossil sample could be the oldest evidence of a dog in the Americas “It hunts large prey with its human companions. This sample reflects that difference.”
Humans are believed to have emigrated to the Americas across the Bering Strait from Siberia to Alaska during the last great ice age.
“The first domesticated dogs entered the continent about 15,000 years ago, a product of Asians migrating across the Bering Strait,” said Raul Valadez, a biologist and zooarcheologist from the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
The presence of humans during the Pleistocene has been attested in Mexico, Chile and Patagonia, but never in Central America, until now.
Originally published on Live Science.
∙ It’s flu season, but not just for people. As the warm weather dies down, the largest recorded outbreak of canine influenza is sweeping through Los Angeles County.
At the Santa Barbara Humane Society, its staff recently decided to vaccinate all the dogs at the Santa Barbara and Santa Maria locations.
The virus is similar to the common flu; causing coughing, sneezing and a lack of appetite.
Santa Barbara County Animal Services director of shelter medicine Ginger White has been keeping a close eye on the rapid transmission of this virus.
Veterinarians are advising all animal owners to be on the lookout for this highly contagious virus. “The only way to get a diagnosis is by seeing the veterinarian and having pretty specific swab testing done,” White said. “The test needs to be sent out to a laboratory, which can take a couple of days to get results.”
In order to slow down transmission, Marrie recommends that dogs that get sick spend a month in quarantine.
