Category Archives: Euthanasia

Pain can flow only as deep as the heart can love.

Even though we know that the lives of our pets are short compared to our own, we tend to avoid thinking about losing them.

Courtesy photo Dr. Mavi Graves tending to a patient.

We actually grow stronger attachments with our pets than with other people, said Adam Clark, a social worker and affiliate member of the faculty at the Institute for Human-Animal Connection in the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver. The security and authentic affection we get from them is different than any human relationships, which come with strings attached. We dont think about what to do if an animal gets sick, runs away, or how to cope.

In general, there are three options to help pet owners and their pet with the pets end-of-life journey: letting the pet die a natural death at home, a pet hospice program, and euthanasia, although in some situations all these options are available through pet hospice care.

It can be a prolonged or very short journey, said Mavi Graves, a veterinarian with Caring Pathways, which provides end of life care for pets and support for their owners. They service the Denver and Northern Colorado area, and have an office in Berthoud.

We are available 24/7 and provide in-home euthanasia, in-home pet medical consults, tele-advice appointments, in-home hospice care and cremation, burial and memorial keepsakes, she said.

Its a sacred time in a pets life and we want to do right by them.

It helped me tremendously to know having a vet come to the house was an option, said Jessica Pierce, a bioethicist and author of several books on pets including The Last Walk, about her dog Odys end of life journey and her struggles to do the best she could to help him.

Most pet owners dont know how to read signs of pain, or how to figure out what resources there are to relieve discomfort. When her book on pet loss came out she was flooded with responses from people who had lost an animal and were deeply traumatized, she said.

You dont have a hospice like you do with a human, you dont have any of that support. Youre on your own. It can get really burdensome.

Neither the vet nor the family have all the tools that can help take them through these complicated and emotional decisions, said Amir Shanan, a certified hospice and palliative care veterinarian.

Pet hospice care involves pet owners and a professional team working together to decide and do what is best for the animal, understand the animals quality of life and quality of the dying process experience, provide medical intervention as needed and as often as needed, and provide support for the pet owner(s).

Most of hospice is about the journey, said Shanan, about learning to live with and accept the uncomfortable uncertainty in the journey, distinguishing between what bothers us as caregivers versus what bothers the animal, and helps us define destination: a good death. The ultimate goal for the owner is for them to have the least regrets and be able to look back and know they did make good decisions.

Many pet owners hope their pets will pass away in their sleep, said Graves. For some, euthanasia is not an acceptable solution, perhaps because it is inconsistent with their religious beliefs.

Caring Pathways will provide a comfort care packet for these pet owners, she said, although they do not support natural death because of the suffering that can be involved.

Mother Nature is not kind, she said. Death can be brutal.

Caring Pathways will provide medications and heavy sedatives in these situations.

They will put the pet into a deep sleep if they are in the active phase of dying, she said. It will help them transition to death naturally.

Its not always easy to tell when is the right time to euthanize an animal when that is an acceptable option. A veterinarian can help the owner make that decision.

To me, euthanasia is a choice to prevent or end suffering, said Clark. Its a quality of life decision.

Many pet owners feel it is too soon and prolongs the decision until a crisis occurs, he said, resulting in more pain and suffering for the animal.

Its a sacred and precious time. Its better to let them go on a good day than a bad day. They can have treats and look in their familys eyes, said Graves.

Planning ahead for euthanasia can be helpful for the family and the pet. Some people create beautiful final memories by completing things on a bucket list that their pet will enjoy. Some bring a favorite toy for an animal to have during the process, so the animal will die happy, said Coleen Ellis, a self-described Pet Loss Pioneer who travels around the world to give talks on pet loss.

Encourage children to write a letter and read it to the animal and bring treats in, she said. Gives them an opportunity to ask questions, and gives them honest answers, lets them do their own ritual if they like, and lets them know its okay to be sad, she said.

Ellis encourages pet owners to give their surviving pets an opportunity to say goodbye too.

Its profound to watch what happens. Some wont leave the body, some show emotion and some dont, they may lay on their dead companion or try to bury them by pushing dirt over on them. Encourage them to see the deceased pet, to confirm the death through their sense of smell. Then let them do what they want to do.

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"A sacred and precious time" - Part 2 of a series on pet loss - BerthoudSurveyor.com

I'm pleased to announce that the 2021 First Things annual report is now available. The following is my letter to our readers and supporters:

Its often easy to see what we oppose. Were against woke tyranny. We reject the culture of death. We parry the unmerited claims that strong religious voices in public life run counter to liberal principles and Americas constitutional traditions. We are against tiresome claims about the arc of history and their threadbare second cousin, the outdated theological program of relevance.

I could go on. Theres a great deal of ruin in the contemporary West, and were right to oppose bad ideas and destructive trends. But if we define ourselves only by what we oppose, we risk losing sight of what we are for.

The salt of the gospel gains its savor from what it affirms, not what it opposes. The same holds for the salt of natural truths, which ask us to say yes in addition to no. Opposition to abortion arises from an affirmation of the sanctity of life. Rejection of same-sex marriage is rooted in our yes to the biblical vision of the natural and spiritual fruitfulness of the union of a man and a woman.

In 2021, the First Things editorial staff met on a number of occasions to talk about what we affirmand how to bring those affirmations to life in our pages. Heres a snapshot.

We affirm beauty in art, intelligence in literature, and wisdom in tradition, publishing essays and reviews that bring before readers images, books, and activities worthy of their admiration: Gary Saul Morson on The Brothers Karamazov, Algis Valiunas on Charles Dickens, Bruno Chaouat on the sweet nostalgia of Chateaubriand, and Elizabeth Corey on Kims Diner and books for children. Our gaze is not uncritical, but our aim is to refine our love with critical judgment, not to dampen its yes-saying ardor.

We affirm moral truths. It is not sufficient to condemn abortion, euthanasia, and other grievous evils. We need a vision of human law guided by natural law and legislation that aims to promote the common good. These are contested notions, and rightly so. When we publish John Finnis or Hadley Arkes, we know that their arguments invite counter-arguments. But if we are to move beyond what we are against, then a substantive vision needs to be ventured, a yes needs to be proposed.

We affirm the tranquility of order, especially between the sexes. This is especially difficult to translate into a concrete proposal for society, given that so much has been disrupted by the sexual revolution. All the more reason, therefore, to applaud Scott Yenor and Mary Harrington, whose articles last year (Sexual Counter-Revolution and Reactionary Feminism) may not be the last word on what kind of culture we want to build for our children and grandchildren, but are at least a first word.

And we affirm Gods benevolent and life-giving power. Its not just that we believe modern conceits of autonomy are misguided and often destructive. When those conceits about autonomy infect theology, they impede our obedience to God, which is the royal road to true freedom. Whether Patricia Snows memoirs of conversion or Carl R. Truemans theological trumpet blasts, First Things exists to champion the triumphant yes of Gods love, which evokes from us the yes of faith.

Againstism. Thats what I call the no-saying temptation that is satisfied with opposition. This temptation shirks responsibility for leadership. I pledge to you that we will resist this temptation. First Things is published so that we can assume our roles as leaders, an imperative if were to bring sanity (and perhaps a smidgen of sanctity) to our confused, disordered, and increasingly tense and anxious societies. And to be leaders, we must build upon the very best of our inheritanceartistic, political, moral, and theologicalto venture a vision for a better future.

Read the entire annual report soon online. If you wish to receive a hard copy, drop us a line atft@firstthings.comand we'll put one in the mail for you.

R. R. Reno is editor of First Things.

First Thingsdepends on its subscribers and supporters. Join the conversation and make a contribution today.

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What We Affirm | RR Reno - First Things

During the past few years Gratiot County Animal Control has seen a significant uptick in the number of dogs and cats that have been saved from euthanasia.

During his annual report to the County Board of Commissioners, Animal Control Director Tom Clark noted the shelter had a save rate of 99 percent in 2021.

Our numbers were fantastic, he said. It was not too many years ago that the number was down in the 60 to 70 percent save range.

Last year the shelter took in 203 dogs, of which 62 were adopted and 137 reclaimed by owners. Only three were euthanized.

There were also 87 cats taken in with 83 adopted, three reclaimed and just one euthanized.

The biggest change for the shelter has been in the number of cats it now deals with.

In 2017, the shelter took in 496 cats with only 197 being adopted or reclaimed, while 144 had to be disposed of, according to Clark.

Cats are by far the hardest animalsto find homes for, he said. We have several organizationsin the area thatspecialize in finding homes for cats because of this reason.

Among those are Gratiot Animals in Need and Dalis to the Rescue.

Both sponsor low-cost monthly spay and neuter clinics for cats.

For the GAIN clinic the shelter contributes an average of $10 per cat to help keep the cost low. The cats also receive rabiesshots.

Last year alone we contributed through our (budget) donation line item $2,020 for the feral cat project. Clark said.

Animal Control also started a new program last year with a veterinarian from Grand Rapids who comes to the shelter once a month to spay and neuter between 50 and 60 cats each trip.

If you look at the numbers thishas dropped the total intake significantly, Clark said.

In addition, the shelter no longer accepts cages full of cats, he added.

We only take in cats that we know that we can move, Clark explained. Sometimes this can be a little controversialbut we do not have to put otherwise healthy, although maybe not adoptable cats down.

The shelter also runs a Home-to-Home program where an owner of a dog or cat cansend in a photo and descriptionof theirpet, along with a phone number.

We post it on our Facebook page where a potential adopter can call the owner directly and view the animal in a natural home setting, Clark said.

The(owners) have had tremendous success in finding (their pets) new homes. This keeps them out of the shelter environment.Clark has worked for Gratiot County Animal Control for 25 years, the past 18 as director. He has a staff of two, officer Emily OBoyle, now in her 11th year, and office manager Blair Woodgate, who has been there three years.

Like many others the shelter dealt with some difficult times the past couple ofyears during the pandemic.

Our department is small with only three people, Clark said. We had shutdowns and screenings coming into Animal Control. We had to be extra vigilant when we went out on complaints to try and not spread COVID to one another.

Despite that, animal control responded to 1,180 complaints during 2021, up from 766 in 2020, 954 in 2019, 1,074 in 2018 and 811 in 2017.

Continued here:

Gratiot Animal Control sees improvement in save rate - The Morning Sun

Since the legalization of euthanasia in Canada in 2016, Ive had two people tell me of their parent who would be dying in this way. These were acquaintances who did not know me well, not even my last name, and yet they shared this deeply personal information. Yet in my entire life, Ive never had even one woman mention in passing that she had an abortion.Ive never had anyone casually tell me they accompanied someone to an abortion.

Theres an interesting reality packed into that contrast: Decades-worth of intense efforts to destigmatize abortion have failed. Since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision in the U.S. and the Canadian Morgentaler decision in 1988, efforts to normalize abortion have failed even as they have picked up steam, or perhaps precisely because of that.

Take the language game, for example, so pervasive in all debates over life. Ultrasound technology undid the spurious clump of cells argument a while ago. The latest effort calls us to reconsider what a heartbeat is. When Texas passed the so-called Heartbeat Bill in September 2021, effectively banning abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, we began reading reports asking whether a fetal heartbeat is the invention of pro-life mythology.

That quick fluttering muffled sound? Its not a heartbeat after all. Its cardiac activity. Doctors are partly to blame for the confusion, a New York Times journalist writes. She goes on: Many physicians whose patients are excited about a desired pregnancy will use the word heartbeat to describe the cardiac activity heard on an early ultrasound. The word has even crept into the medical literature. Even.

Then theres the growing strangeness of pro-choice activism, pushing not for abortion to be safe, legal and rare, but rather to be celebrated. Enter the movement to Shout Your Abortion using gold pendants and T-shirts. Have you never thought about a Thank God For Abortion onesie as a gift at your next baby shower?

The painful excessiveness of this is not lost on one post-abortive feminist. She feels no regret at this sad interlude in my young life. Instead, she notes that its gross when advocates for legal abortion have made this deeply serious issue into a chic lifestyle I see a pro-choice movement that has become unmoored from reality. the ugly truth is that the contemporary mainstream womens movement cannot be trusted with such a sacrosanct moral question, she writes.

For the average woman, abortion-as-sad-interlude sounds about right. Its not something to celebrate, to be proud of or to advocate for. There are countless tell your abortion story web sites out there, and if you read too many, all posted for the purpose of normalizing abortion, there is but one theme. They are just plain sad. To me, this speaks to something shared between all women: the innate knowledge that when you get pregnant, its not a potential life or a future life. Its your baby.

There is the very real possibility of Roe v Wade falling when the Supreme Court south of the border delivers a decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization imminently. Its a case that will consider Mississippis ban on abortion after 15 weeks. Theres a serious chance of returning decisions about abortion to the states, rather than enforcing a divisive law at a federal level.

That Roe could end is profoundly encouraging. It signifies the pending end of (another) dark blight on our countries records though that blight continues under the Morgentaler decision in Canada, at least for now.

But I suspect any celebration would be muted. Weve lost too many countless lives. Its taken so long. It remains divisive. And there is so much more work to do. But Id feel a sincere wash of quiet relief that we are finally on the right track.

There is another sadness embedded in the opening paragraph. For as unacceptable and foreign an idea as abortion has remained over decades, the trend line with euthanasia is the opposite. With lightning speed, talking about the death of your loved one by a doctors needle is not, apparently, strange at all. Im not diminishing the anguish of this. Y

et we can still pause for just a short moment to be grateful that respect for the beginning of life is increasing before returning to protection and respect for all life, from conception to natural death.

(Mrozek is Senior Fellow at Cardus Family.)

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Getting to the heart of abortion and MAiD - The Catholic Register

Wildlife smuggling is rampant worldwide, and it is characterized by the unauthorized transfer of an exotic animal from one location to the other, but mostly between two or more countries.

Government by international laws and respective border authorities have their own measures in dealing with this crime.

However, recent anecdotal evidence and empirical research suggest that Norway allegedly practices the killing of smuggled wildlife after confiscating them.

Regardless, the potential issue is within a larger context of international laws that govern either the moral or legal legitimacy of handling wildlife trafficking.

(Photo : Photo credit should read BAY ISMOYO/AFP via Getty Images)

According to the non-profit and independent online publication UNDARK, the Norwegian government has been killing confiscated smuggled wildlife animals through the so-called process of systematic euthanasia.

The organization claims that in 2010, a traveler by name of Bjorn Avik traveled from Sweden and was carrying alcohol, tobacco, and 14 African gray parrots.

However, Bjorn was not caught by Swedish customs as he did not declare his items.

Upon entry to Norway, its border customs inspected Bjorn's vehicle after its plate has been registered by a camera detector at the border.

The local authorities confiscated the traveler's items, including the wildlife birds, claiming they have no permit from the Norwegian Environment Agency.

Bjorn was convicted of attempted smuggling of endangered species and was sentenced to 30 days in prison with two years of probation.

The said traveler was reportedly "expecting" the authorities would transfer the confiscated birds to a zoo.

Instead, a veterinarian killed the parrots purportedly under the direction of the Norwegian Environment Agency, said UNDARK.

Also Read:Wildlife Trafficking Plummeted Amidst the Pandemic, Giving Perfect Opportunity for Long-Term Solutions

In a book about wildlife trafficking published by Routledgein September 2020, the author Ragnhild Aslaug Sollund from the University of Oslo highlights the empirical research from Norway and Colombia regarding the dangers of illegal trade of wildlife and the existing measures against them.

In the past 15 years, the research claimed that the Norwegian government has seized smuggled animals at least 30 times.

A number of instances showed that some of these wildlife animals were killed, as cited by UNDARK.

These activities have raised questions about a country's handling of animal trafficking, which led to Norway and Colombia being the subject of such scrutiny in the book.

In Norway, the Norwegian Environment Agency is responsible for overseeing and implementing the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

It is a multinational agreement that aims to protect both wild animals and plants.

Under CITES, countries are required to send back confiscated animals to the exporting country or to a government-recognized rescue center or other facilities that the respective government deems credible.

First enforced in 1975, the agreement came into effect as a result of its first adoption in 1963 by members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature in Geneva, Switzerland.

The main proposition of the multilateral treaty is for governments worldwide to regulate or ban international trade for species under threat, as per the World Wildlife Fund.

Although the general provisions of the agreement are clear, there are no specific guidelines on how each country will interpret and enforce its own measures against wildlife trafficking.

Related Article:Cartels are Turning Into Illegal Wildlife Trade

2022 NatureWorldNews.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

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Norway 'Accused' of Killing Confiscated Wildlife Animals to Curb Smuggling - Nature World News

GALION The party had everything you'd expect for a pretty little girl celebrating her first birthday party decorations, a big cake and lots of friends stopping in to help celebrate. She even got to smoosh her face into a special treat.

But Mila's birthday was special: The golden retriever originally was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, and the first veterinarian who treated her suggested euthanasia. The puppy couldn't even hold up her head.

The birthday celebration was a way for Galion nonprofit Rescued Rollers to thank the many people who have helped make it possible for Mila and other special needs dogs thrive.

John Lizotte, who operates the rescue from his Galion home,estimated 70 to 75 people stopped by during the four-hour celebration event atHistoric Grace Church in Galion. People traveled from the Baltimore area, eastern Pennsylvania and southern Ohio to attend.

"The feedback I have gotten is amazing from everybody," he said. "If you imagine 70 really nice people in one room, that's exactly what we had."

Two other Rescued Rollers dogs were on hand to help celebrate Ginny, who has seizures; and Iris, a puppy who's blind and deaf. But Mila, with a birthday banner strapped across the back of her four-wheeled, blue wheelchair, was the center of attention, rolling around the room to greet her guests.

In February, an MRI revealed Mila's original diagnosis was incorrect, Lizotte said. Mila actually has a birth defect; her brain is deformed, with the left side smaller than the right. She also has some lesions on her brain.

"The vets say she's not going to improve; we've already proved them wrong," Lizotte said. He has been working regularly with her to stimulate neuroplasticity, "and it's working. She continues to improve to this day. Her improvement is amazing.

"This dog, she's the most work-intensive dog we've ever had at our rescue in six years. She's amazingly work-intensive. But her will to fight and her determination is amazing. ... The fact that she continues to improve is a miracle. She's got the right name."

One of Mila's very special guests was her first human,Cheryl Mohn, who lives near Baltimore, Maryland. Mohn said Mila was the smallest pup in a litter of three.

"I noticed she wasn't nursing as well, so I would make sure that she nursed to keep her growing," Mohn said. "And she always seemed to be on her side."

After a week or so, Mohn was concerned enough to made an appointment with the vet.

"The first thing he thought it was vertigo and that she would be able to live with it; learn to adapt and she'd be OK," Mohn said. But as days passed, she became convinced that wasn't the problem. Mila went back to the vet, and that's when she was diagnosed with hydrocephalus.

"They evaluated her and recommended that I put her down," Mohn said. "I couldn't do it. I'd spent a lot of time with this dog. I could not do it. Even with her deficit, she still was affectionate. She still had intent if she wanted to get from Point A to Point B, even on her side, she would do it. She just had incredible will."

The veterinarian referred Mohn to a neurologist, who made the same recommendation.

Unconvinced, Mohn reached out to the owner of a nearby pet store who also was involved in a rescue organization. After meeting Mila, the woman agreed, and helped get Mohn in touch with Rescued Rollers.

Mohn sentLizotte medical reports and videos of Mila; he said he thought Rescued Rollers could help. In June, Lizotte was able to arrange for Southwest Airlines to fly Mila to Cleveland, where he picked her up.

"If it weren't for him, her life would be on her side," Mohn said. "Shecouldn't hold her head up."

Since then, Mila's progress has been chronicled on the Rescued Rollers Facebook page, which last week posted a video of a jubilant Mila greeting Mohn, who drove in to attend the birthday celebration.

"I was a puddle," Mohn said.

ggoble@gannett.com

419-559-7263

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For Galion nonprofit Rescued Rollers, Mila's birthday celebration a way to say thanks - Telegraph-Forum

Anantirby michel houellebecqflammarion, 736 pages, $29

As Chekhov conveyed boredom without being boring, so Michel Houellebecq conveys meaninglessness without being meaningless. Indeed, his particular subject is the spiritual, intellectual, and political vacuity of life in a modern consumer societyFrance in this case, but it could be any Western country. One gets the point early on in his oeuvre, but his observations are so acute and pointed that his variations on the theme are always worth reading. Houellebecq reveals the absurdity that often lurks behind the commonplace.

He is so acute an observer of social trends that he sometimes appears almost prophetic: He foresaw the terrorist attack in Bali and the advent of the gilets jaunes in France. He has long held that the threat of Islamism to the West comes not so much from Islamism itself, with its nugatory intellectual resources, but from the weakness, the doubts, the cowardice, and the venality of Western societys response, itself the result of the spiritual vacuity from which the West suffers and which he describes so well, withoutof courseoffering a solution (it is not the place of novelists to be constructive, except in the sense that criticism is the first stage of taking thought for the morrow).

His latest book, Anantirnot published in English until the second half of 2022is by far his longest: too long, in fact, its 734 pages more than the content justifies. The first print run was of 300,000 copies, which is remarkable for a serious work of fiction and suggests that the author is now so great a literary phenomenon that he is quite beyond editing. All the same, he is never less than readable, and in this book he has somewhat controlled, though not altogether, his tendency to pornographic descriptions of what are clearly his own sexual fantasies. Perhaps his levels of testosterone are declining.

It is not for his plots that one reads Houellebecq, nor for his characterizations. His protagonists are always the same or similar: men approaching or in middle age who are intelligent and well educated and who, from a materialistic point of view, have no problems; they do not suffer the sordid anxiety that arises from having to make ends meet. Their only problem is that they dont know how to live or what to live for. They are not disillusioned, because they have never had any illusions. They are without religion, without political belief, even without culture, at least in the sense of its being a vital force of their lives rather than an ornament or a pastime. Their human, familial, and sexual relations are shallow, based on the feelings of the moment, without any adherence to or control by traditional values. In a sense they are free, but only in the way that a particle in Brownian motion is free. Loneliness is their fate, and it is, one may infer, the natural consequence of the kind of freedom promoted by the revolutionaries of May 1968. The revolutionaries sowed the wind and reaped nihilism; and so there is a strong element of nostalgia running through Houellebecqs work, without any consolatory suggestion that the omelette could be returned to its eggs. Never before in history, suggests Houellebecq, have we been so prosperous, and never before so incompetent in the matter of knowing how to live.

Anantir (Annihilation) is a polyphonic work, with several themes interwoven. It is set five years after its publication date, in the election year 2027. The protagonist, Paul, is a civil servant and the confidant of a successful technocratic Minister of the Economy, Bruno, who re-establishes the French economy on the path of growth. Bruno, a highly capable man, is a possible candidate for the presidency, which gives Houellebecq the opportunity to describe the auto-satirizing nature of modern politics, in which communication is all and substance practically nothing. Those who coach the candidates in the arts of communication are all young women, the world having become both feminized and masculinized: feminized in the sense that more leading roles are taken by women, masculinized in the sense that those women have taken on a typically male set of ambitions and attitudes toward work.

Interwoven with this political theme is a mystery story. A rash of strange messages, including digitized film of Bruno being executed by guillotine, appears on the internet worldwide; container ships are blown up; the worlds largest sperm bank, in Denmark, is burnt down. The secret services try but fail to discover who is behind this activity, and by the end of the book we still dont know. This is unsatisfactory: it is like reading a whodunit without ever discovering whodunit. It gives the author license to roam freely in his imagination without the disciplining need for plausibility.

The personal lives of the characters occupy most of the book. They are, as is to be expected in Houellebecq, unsatisfactory, to say the least. For example, Pauls weak and ineffectual younger brother, Aurlien, whose only interest in life is the restoration of medieval tapestries, is married to a minor journalist of vicious character who has a child by artificial insemination, though Aurlien is not himself sterile. She choses a black sperm donor to maximize her husbands humiliation, publicly demonstrating that the son is not his, and at the same time claiming liberal virtue for herself, her son being living proof that she is not racially prejudiced. Houellebecq is here suggesting that what in the modern world counts as political virtue is often compatible with, or even the product of, extremely unpleasant personal character.

Another theme of the book is our societys treatment of the old. Pauls father, who was a senior officer in the French secret service, has a devastating stroke and is admitted to a special unit for people in the vegetative state, but for vindictive administrative reasons this humanely run unit is closed down soon thereafter and Pauls father is transferred to a home that is, in effect, an institution for euthanasia by neglect.

Under French law, in the case of a patient who cannot communicate, the treating doctor has the right and duty to determine what is in the patients best interest. So Paul and the rest of his family contact a group, supposedly linked to the far right, that rescues old people from the clutches of the institutions that will, de facto, kill them. Is this the next social movement to arise? The intrigue and its consequences, the bureaucratic indifference, cruelty, and incompetence of the modern state, are very plausibly depicted. Houellebecq, incidentally, has been a consistent and ferocious opponent of the drive to legalize euthanasia in France, which once again sets him at odds with the bien pensant intelligentsia of his country. When a countrya society, a civilizationgets to the point of legalising euthanasia, he wrote last year in Le Figaro, it loses in my eyes all right to respect. It becomes henceforth not only legitimate, but desirable, to destroy it; so that something elseanother country, another society, another civilizationmight have a chance to arise.

Anantir implies that individuals, no less than civilizations, destroy themselves. Modern people, in Houellebecqs stories, have a will to self-destruction: They seek out misery when there is no external, or objective, cause for it. Toward the end of the book, Paul, aged fifty, suffers from a cancer of the mouth that will soon kill himhence the title of the book. In the meantime, he and his wife have rekindled their love after years of estrangement. They have continued to live together, though without any real contact between them. Their estrangement seems to have been the result of self-destruction, since neither of them changes essentially when they rediscover their love for each other.

Love redeems life and gives it a meaning, we may infer from this book. But unfortunately, love is especially difficult to find in the contemporary world, where money, power, success, and Brownian-motion-type freedom are valued much more. We value limitless possibilities, whereas love necessitates commitment and self-limitation.

For me, however, the pleasure of reading Houellebecq is in his laser-like observations. Here, for example, is his description of a huge modern office complex for the secret service, through the eyes of one of the characters:

Has there ever been a better summary of the efforts of such architects as Frank Gehry, Renzo Piano, Jean Nouvel or Zaha Hadid? They build in genuflection to Martians.

Over and over again, Houellebecq makes observations that are as sharp as the maxims of La Rochefoucauld. Here, again, he describes how any conversation in France may either be restarted if it stalls, or diverted from its previous course:

Such brilliant passages are to be found throughout the book.

Notwithstanding literary faults (from which, after all, no author is entirely free), there is no contemporary writer known to me who is a finer dissector than Houellebecq of the cultural, psychological, and spiritual predicament of the West in the present day. His palette is restricted, perhaps, but his canvas is large.

Theodore Dalrympleis the author, most recently, ofAround the World in the Cinemas of Paris.

Image by ActuaLitte viaCreative Commons. Image cropped.

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Houellebecq's Omelette by Theodore Dalrymple | Articles - First Things

South Carolina's first execution in more than a decade could face another delay.An attorney for Richard Moore -- an Upstate man sentenced to death for killing a convenience store employee in 1999 -- filed a motion Thursday ahead of Moore's April 29 execution. Moore was sentenced to death in 2001 after he was convicted of murdering 42-year-old James Mahoney, a convenience store employee in Spartanburg County. In the motion, Moore's attorney, in part, calls for a review of the firing squad and its legality.The South Carolina Supreme Court has to take up the motion before Moore's scheduled execution at the end of the month, said Greenville attorney John Reckenbeil."There's no question that they're going to come up with some sort of answer, either to stay pending further deliberations by the Supreme Court or further argument, or the fact if there is going to be a ruling and then ultimately an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court there could be some sort of issuance of a stay."Last May, the firing squad officially became an option for death penalty executions, joining the electric chair and lethal injection -- which the state hasn't had in years. Lawmakers opted for a firing squad option, in large part, because the state hasn't been able to get lethal injection drugs. Over the weekend, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston called the death penalty modern-day barbarism. The Catholic Church stands firmly in opposition to the Supreme Courts decision and the use of the death penalty in South Carolina. Mr. Moore must choose his means of execution between the firing squad and electric chair. This is modern-day barbarism.The tragedy caused by Mr. Moores actions is not justified by killing another human being. Justice is not restored when another person is killed. Capital punishment, along with abortion and euthanasia, is an attack on the inviolability and fundamental dignity of human life. Respect for life is, and must remain, unconditional. This principle applies to all, even the perpetrators of terrible acts. The Catholic Church will continue to stand for the inherent value of all life. We beseech the state of South Carolina to commute Moores death sentence and conduct a meaningful review of his case. The Church prays for the day when the state reverses its decision to end the cruel and unjust practice of capital punishment.Before the motion, Moore would have had to choose an execution method by Friday.

South Carolina's first execution in more than a decade could face another delay.

An attorney for Richard Moore -- an Upstate man sentenced to death for killing a convenience store employee in 1999 -- filed a motion Thursday ahead of Moore's April 29 execution.

Moore was sentenced to death in 2001 after he was convicted of murdering 42-year-old James Mahoney, a convenience store employee in Spartanburg County.

In the motion, Moore's attorney, in part, calls for a review of the firing squad and its legality.

The South Carolina Supreme Court has to take up the motion before Moore's scheduled execution at the end of the month, said Greenville attorney John Reckenbeil.

"There's no question that they're going to come up with some sort of answer, either to stay pending further deliberations by the Supreme Court or further argument, or the fact if there is going to be a ruling and then ultimately an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court there could be some sort of issuance of a stay."

Last May, the firing squad officially became an option for death penalty executions, joining the electric chair and lethal injection -- which the state hasn't had in years. Lawmakers opted for a firing squad option, in large part, because the state hasn't been able to get lethal injection drugs.

Over the weekend, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston called the death penalty modern-day barbarism.

The Catholic Church stands firmly in opposition to the Supreme Courts decision and the use of the death penalty in South Carolina. Mr. Moore must choose his means of execution between the firing squad and electric chair. This is modern-day barbarism.

The tragedy caused by Mr. Moores actions is not justified by killing another human being. Justice is not restored when another person is killed. Capital punishment, along with abortion and euthanasia, is an attack on the inviolability and fundamental dignity of human life. Respect for life is, and must remain, unconditional. This principle applies to all, even the perpetrators of terrible acts.

The Catholic Church will continue to stand for the inherent value of all life. We beseech the state of South Carolina to commute Moores death sentence and conduct a meaningful review of his case. The Church prays for the day when the state reverses its decision to end the cruel and unjust practice of capital punishment.

Before the motion, Moore would have had to choose an execution method by Friday.

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SC Supreme Court to hear motion ahead of first SC execution in more than a decade - WYFF4 Greenville

A couple of cats can produce a litter that, over the course of the next six years, can balloon to 70,000 offspring if none of them are ever spayed or neutered. Its part of the battle facing animal shelters across Alabama, including Shelby Humane in Columbiana.

The staff of 43 is awaiting the annual spring influx of puppies and kittens, when the facility may swell to 600 animals needing health care and boarding until they are adopted. Shelby Humane is a no-kill shelter, with a 97% live release rate in 2021.

On a recent day, about 30 feral cats and kittens were brought in by Shelby County Animal Control officers who seized the animals from a near-hoarding situation, which is a fairly common occurrence, said Bill Rowley, director of operations at Shelby Humane. When owners fail to have their pets spayed or neutered, a few cats can quickly grow out of hand. In the past, the only option for these animals was euthanasia, but now confiscated cats can be altered and returned outdoors for rodent control.

It costs more than $6,100 per day to operate Shelby Humane, where on an average day employees and volunteers take care of between 100 and 300 animals. The puppies, dogs, kittens and cats eat an average of more than 250 pounds of food each day. Many of the boarders need medical treatment, ranging from vaccinations to flea preventatives to treatment for respiratory infections, ringworm, scabies and emergency injuries. Spaying/neutering requires frequent transports to and from veterinarian clinics. (Alabama is the only state that doesnt allow shelters to hire veterinarians to work on staff; veterinarians can only work for licensed veterinarian practices.)

Its a challenge, said Rowley, who took the director job in 2021 after years heading educational and church organizations. The failure of pet owners to spay and neuter their animals is a huge, continuing problem.

A visitor to the 8,523-square-foot shelter across the street from the Shelby County Jail will find wall-to-wall animals of every size, age, sex and breed, most of them rushing to the front of their pens clamoring for attention. There are isolation rooms for new arrivals to avoid the spread of disease. There are special rooms for kittens and puppies, where they are often kept with litter mates for comfort. There is a room for small dogs, where some pens have blue tags to show they have already been adopted.

The largest area in the 21-year-old shelter is for larger dogs who live inside 3-by-5-foot and 3-by-6-foot fenced pens, each with a bed and bowls for water and food. Containers holding treats hang outside the pens, and the quiet is frequently broken as employees approach each area and dogs rise for a special handout. Pens lining the outside walls have sliding doors that open to larger run areas. Each employee walks at least one dog daily some walk as many as 10.

Under a tall outdoor shed, playpens await the dogs while their inside pens are cleaned each morning. A large, fenced area provides a place for recreation, where dogs can run and play with others. The area is also used for behavioral training. Farther out on the facility grounds are three smaller covered enclosed areas, each with a picnic table and benches where employees and potential adopters can interact with animals.

Adoptions are very fluid around the holidays, when we have our biggest influx of visitors, Rowley said. Other days we will have almost no one show up.

Rowley said Shelby Humane makes financial ends meet through funding from Shelby County, by being awarded grants and with donations from people in the community. Nearly 200 volunteers, about 70 of them active, provide additional support for the staff that would otherwise be costly. The volunteers do laundry, post photos to social media, walk dogs, feed animals, work at fundraisers and aid adoptions, among other efforts.

We have a great staff here, so Im actually able to focus on how we make the shelter better, rather than focusing on individual animal welfare issues, he said.

Rowley would like to keep the number of animals at Shelby Humane to around 100, rather than seeing it reach current or seasonal levels that stress the staff, animals and facility. He understands that there may always be a few pets like Velvet, who has been there terminally ill for two years, after veterinarians expected her to have only a few months to live. In such cases, the staff is always looking for an adopter who can provide a healthy, loving environment for a dying dogs or cats last days. Otherwise, employees want to find a forever home for every animal in the shelter.

Other programs at Shelby Humane are lowering the number of strays in the county and increasing the rate of dog and cat adoptions. In March, the shelter transport program had its most successful trip ever, moving 87 animals overnight in two vans to New Jersey and New York. Those states have a shortage of adoptable animals, and all from Shelby Humane were immediately adopted. More than 400 pets were adopted in 2021 through the transport program, which is seeking more drivers.

Working with Alabama Spay Neuter Clinic of Irondale and local veterinarians, Shelby Humane operates public clinics for vaccinations and alteration surgeries. Rabies shots are $15; spaying is $45 for cats, $75 for dogs; neutering $45 for cats and $60 for dogs. About 50 animals are treated through the project each week. (Contact [emailprotected] for appointments or information.)

In 2021, the Shelby Humane foster program placed in private homes 1,419 animals, newborn puppies and kittens, medical cases and some requiring behavioral training. Rowley said fostering is a major need in maintaining the shelters no-kill status.

Shelby Humane is the only shelter in Alabama offering the Safe Pet program that helps victims of domestic violence keep their dogs and cats through free, anonymous boarding beyond the animal shelter. Funded through a national grant, people in Shelby, Blount, Clay, Coosa, Jefferson, St. Clair and Walker counties are being aided, Rowley said. The program is being expanded next year to other counties to provide veterinary and pet care for up to 60 days.

Our goal is to help the survivors get the help they need without them worrying about the safety and care of the family pet, Rowley said. Victims who can keep their pets have a higher chance of not returning to a domestic violence situation. Typically, the aggressor will go after the animal if they cannot get to their domestic victim.

Meanwhile, inside Shelby Humane, employees and volunteers are continually touched physically and emotionally by the animals under their care.

I think everyone here has either fostered or adopted a dog or cat, Rowley said. It really is common to take your work home with you.

Adoption hours are Tuesday through Saturday from noon until 4 p.m. at 381 McDow Road, Columbiana 35051. Animals available for adoption can be viewed on the website at http://www.shelbyhumane.org. Call 205-669-3916 to adopt, donate, volunteer or for information.

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Shelby Humane's no-kill shelter found 'forever homes' for more than 1,400 cats and dogs in 2021 - Alabama NewsCenter

Governor Glenn Youngkin (seated) signs animal protection bills into law, with Del. Buddy Fowler (R-55th), Del. Rob Bell (R-58th), Sen. Bill Stanley (R-20th), and Sen. Jennifer Boysko (D-33rd)

Known as the beagle bills, the bills specifically protect the research dog breed of choice, beagles, and cats, bred for medical and scientific research and testing. Previously, research breeders were exempt from many of Virginias animal welfare laws. The newly enacted bills will place commercial research breeders under the same requirements as other regulated commercial breeders. The new laws cover cats as well as dogs; and require new record keeping, an opportunity for adoption consideration before euthanasia for unneeded animals, coverage under companion animal cruelty penalties; and prohibition of continued sales if found guilty of a certain number and type of welfare violations, after July 2023. Several of the beagles rescued from a life of research and allowed to be put up for adoption attended the signing ceremony with their new owners or foster parents.

In past years the hot advocacy for animal legislative action in Virginia was pet shop puppy mill sales. This year the focus of the majority of animal bills moved to protections for research dogs and cats. Members of both parties sponsored bills to address protection of dogs and cats being bred for research. Five of those 11 similar bills survived and received unanimous votes to go to the desk of the Governor, and were signed into law on April 4th.

Many of the aspects of the similar bills sponsored by Democrats were amended into the language of those final signed bills for which Republicans Senator Bill Stanley (R-20th) and Delegate Rob Bell (R-58th) were the Chief Patrons. By working to compromise, Sen. Jennifer Boysko (D-33rd) became Chief Co-patron to the Stanley bills, and Delegate Kaye Kory (D-38th), Chair of the General Assembly Animal Caucus, became House Patron to three of the bills, assuring that all provisions of the protections were included.

Virginias only commercial breeder of research grade dogs, Envigo, located in Cumberland, fell afoul of federal inspectors of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Over the period of nine months, USDA inspectors found 73 violations of the Animal Welfare Act, nearly half of which were classified as the most serious category. Documented violations included withholding food from lactating females, euthanasia without the required anesthesia, over 300 puppy deaths, injured dogs, and poor housing and sanitary conditions.

Original House bills sought to close the offending Cumberland operation, while Senate bills, after subcommittee amendment, allowed a one-last-chance philosophy. The subcommittee chairman, Sen. Dave Marsden (D-37th) took the position that Virginia should deal with the poor breeder operation rather than chasing them out of the state to become the problem of another.

Envigos abuses also came under scrutiny of United States Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. In a letter dated March 31, 2022 to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the Senators urged aggressive enforcement actions and set an April 20 due date for response to a list of questions related to the case.

Companion animal issues often represent a significant portion of the bills considered by the agriculture committees each session at the state and federal levels. Interest in animal welfare is high, given that 68 percent of American households had a companion animal in 2021, according to the Animal Legal Defense Fund.

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Governor Signs Bills to Protect Research Dogs and Cats - Virginia Connection Newspapers