Y'know, considering that Theo's friend's experience was in the Bay Area and mine was in Durham, two wonderful places with the occasional unfortunate tendency of fostering the worst in liberal smugness, I'd say those animal shelters were the exception, not the rule. For instance, I'm positive that here in the People's Republic of Austin, the shelter folks simply don't care. Of course, we have a viable no-kill shelter here, too, even though it's not the one run by the city.

ION, New York is the world's politest city, according to a Reader's Digest investigation.

What that study really shows is that people who go to Starbuck's in New York are the world's politest people. It shows the civilizing effect of caffeine.

The House Rabbit Society website has lots of good information about having a rabbit as a pet.

It helped me when I had my bun. (The mailing list - etherbun is kind of overwhelming.)

The Burbank shelter we got one of our cats from had us in and made us fill out forms and interview, but they didn't ask to see where we lived. The person fostering our dog came over, but she just wanted to make sure we HAD a house. The ASPCA wouldn't let Jason take home our other cat once they found out he lived with someone until I came in too. They said they instituted that policy because too many animals got returned after one spouse "surprised" the other, so it makes sense.

>I got my cat from the pound, because my friend who worked at the ASPCA told me to -- I actually saved his life, as opposed to getting a cat from a no-kill shelter or rescue organization. Needless to say, they didn't ask much.

Yeah, the place I got my cat from is not no-kill. Fill out form, talk to counsellor, wait for cat to be fixed, take cat home. That was pretty much it.

A friend who owns a bunny says that the cuddle factor depends on the bunny. She says to look for one who is calm and to raise them with a lot of contact and it helps. Also, to give them some exercise time out of the cage every day.

Elephant psychopathology, chimpanzee infanticide and other un-animal-like behaviors are part of a growing body of research that suggests science is building toward a radical paradigm shift.

Infanticide is un-animal-like? Since when?

I dunno. I'm suspicious of mixing up words like "psyche" with descriptions of behavior. But I guess that's why I like Skinner.

Is that a roundabout way of saying that monkeys don't have souls?

Bob is reading the book "Do Animals Think?" right now and apparently the answer is: no.

Erm. Sure! I don't think people do either, if that helps.

The interesting thing to me isn't "Animals act just like people!" but "People act just like animals!" It's all a matter of emphasis.

Is that a roundabout way of saying that monkeys don't have souls?

Yes. Except for evil monkeys - they have souls so they can be sent to Monkey Hell....

(I think I should start a religion....)