Welcome to This Wild Life!

Also, be sure to check out our blog, Pets and the Planet.

This week on Pets and the Planet: traveling with pets, unusual recycling, and more.  Check out some of our stories below.

Dog on the Road

On the road again: Whidbey Island.

This week I’m at school from early in the morning to late at night. The good news is my dog is coming with me. That’s also the bad news, from her perspective.  What’s been helpful this week is feeding her in her car-crate, after the potty break and upon returning her to the crate . Morning. Noon. Night. This keeps her interested in returning to her crate associating the crate with food rather than just being “restricted” to a long nap. 
Tip: During the breaks, we move as much as we have time for, and then take a few minutes to be quiet together before she returns to the car. 
Tip: Use two buckets in the crate.  First one, fill with ice, and a little water. The second save for the meals and snack each time you return your dog to the car.

73 Million Sharks for Soup?

A spiny dogfish, one of five species of sharks that reside in the
Oregon Coast Aquarium’s Passages of the Deep exhibit.

Did you know that about 73 million sharks are killed each year for their fins, used in the preparation of shark fin soup? The practice called shark-finning – catching a shark, slicing off its fins and then discarding the body at sea —is reducing the populations to dangerously low levels.

Sharks are important members of their habitats in oceans around the globe—from warm shallows to the cold, deep sea and even fresh water lakes. Sharks and their ancestors have patrolled the seas for nearly 400 million years. Today, more than half of the shark species taken in high-seas fisheries are classified as Endangered, Vulnerable or Near Threatened.

Despite the scary animal programs you’ve seen,  only a handful of the 350 shark species pose a threat to man.

To learn more about sharks, visit The Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, OR, or your local aquarium. Special note: From August 1 – 14, the Oregon Coast Aquarium plans a celebration of sharks with plenty of up close and personal experiences with these incredible creatures.