Falconry Scotland includes befriending owls

girl with harris hawk

Jeanne the barn owl loves people. She calls out for them. I was worried my daughter was being too friendly. But the falconer assured me Jeanne would only give an affectionate nibble.

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Stop using hunters as an excuse for assault weapons

Hunting is dying off. Only 5% of Americans hunt and the number is set to plummet as Baby Boomers retire. Stop using hunting as an excuse for giving anyone a military weapon.

Keep reading It’s time for hunters to stop being human shields for the NRA

In Defense of Flying with an Emotional Support Animal

two beagles and an adorable child get ready to board a plane. playing in device to see if they fit in carry-on space.

Getting your dog certified as an emotional support animal seems to be the way of the future. Eventually someone will come up with a way to let airlines just charge us for a regular seat for our dogs. But for now this is the uneasy truce between dog people and the airlines. Over Christmas I flew roundtrip from New York to Chicago in a way that goes against everything airlines stand for today: I paid no extra fees and had no unnecessary paperwork despite the fact that my daughter and I flew with two beagles at our feet as Emotional Support Animals. The planes didn’t crash. The beagles didn’t unpredictably go wild. They didn’t even steal any cookies.

Keep reading How to Fly with Emotional Support Dogs

Puffins near Portland

Puffins, one of the oddest, most charming and hardest to see birds to see in the United States, but it’s getting easier because their numbers on Eastern Egg Rock, a southern Maine island hit a record 148 pairs in 2014. Warming water temperature threatened the efforts of Project Puffin to bring the cartoonish seabird back to its lost colonies.

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Most dog (and kid) friendly beach in New England? Plymouth

Plymouth, MA, lets you bring your dog on a summer day–which sets it apart from most of New England which has taken to banning dogs during some hours, all summer or just forever.

Keep reading Most dog (and kid) friendly beach in New England? Plymouth

5-0 on the Long Meadow: Cops bust French bulldog meetup in Prospect Park

The City of New York executed a daring undercover raid on a menacing group of French bulldog owners meeting in Prospect Park’s Long Meadow on a recent Saturday morning. Their crime: having their miniature dogs off leash past the 9 a.m. curfew in a park obsessed with the enforcement of dog rules.

Keep reading 5-0 on the Long Meadow: Cops bust French bulldog meetup in Prospect Park

Dogs Can No Longer Walk into Famous Brooklyn Bar

dog walks up to a bar

One of New York City’s most famously dog-friendly bar, The Gate, in Park Slope says it will no longer allow them because it was busted under the city’s outdated health code.

Keep reading Dogs Can No Longer Walk into Famous Brooklyn Bar

Brooklyn's Elusive White Squirrel Returns

The mysterious white squirrel of Prospect Park is back. And, better yet, there might be more than one living on the western edge of the park, where people have reported white (leucistic, not albino) squirrels since at least 2006, delighting even jaded New Yorkers.

Keep reading Brooklyn’s Elusive White Squirrel Returns

Elusive Cardinal Nest

Baby cardinals, so hard to find, have a weird red tint to their bodies. After years of looking I finally found a nest. The babies left before I thought they could make it. I’ll never know if they did.

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Atlanta's Duck Pond cracking down on geese

One of the last places it was safe for families to feed ducks falls for the frenzy to eliminate Canada geese.

Keep reading Atlanta’s Duck Pond cracking down on Geese