On a misty morning like this, its easier to see the new growth on all the evergreens along our favourite trails. This cool damp weather has been good for more than rhubarb this year ..... even the shrubbery and perennials in my own yard have bounded ahead this year.
The yard has come a long way from the old cow pasture I found fifteen years ago. Over the years, bits of shrubbery and perennials have found their way here. Gardens have been built and the pathways just wound up naturally working their way around them.
Every step of the way, the needs of the native wildlife have been respected with (I hope) sensitivity ... and my yard has actually been registered as a designated wildlife habitat. To the untutored eye, my yard looks as unkempt in spots as the middle aged granny who lives here.
A livable landscape takes time to grow. But the one thing that all the landscape experts agree on is the need to live in a place for a year before making any changes.
There are no shortcuts to that. Rash impetuous decisions generally take more time in the long run when they prove to be inappropriate for the lifestyle of the landowner. That type of thing also gets expensive when plants do not survive that first crucial season.
In a world of where sixty minute solutions are neatly wrapped up each evening on the tube, it is too easy to expect the immediate 'answer to a prayer'. Fastracking is never the path to success whenever living things are involved. If life is to flourish and fit in where it should, care and caution need to be the primary concern.
This morning, when we came back from the woods, my newsletter from the CFHS http://cfhs.ca/, was waiting in my inbox. In it they discussed their recent attendance at Woofstock The CFHS, attended the festival in partnership with Kijiji, to raise awareness about purchasing pets online. With such an overwhelming number of people approaching the Kijiji booth to talk about how they found their pet online, the CFHS recognizes the importance of educating potential pet owners about choosing a responsible breeder as many disreputable breeders and puppy mills use online sites such as Kijiji to post ads for animals. The CFHS is working with Kijiji to help identify puppy mills and disreputable breeders so that their ads are taken down and their actions are being reported to local humane societies for investigation.
I'm an organic granny and that type of thing is normally put in big buckets around here to make the gardener's version of green tea.
I'm constantly surprised at the folks who think that it would be an infringement of their rights to peddle living breathing sentient beings on EBay's free online ad site. If http://ebay.ca/ recognizes that Animals and Wildlife Products to be inappropriate for online trade and specifically prohibits such trade, why would this parent company condone the practice in its free online ad site, Kijiji?
Of course any law prohibiting the traffic of living sentient breathing beings on free online ad sites will pose a restriction .... to the backyard breeders and unscrupulous sorts like the Benoit's who prey on unsuspecting animal lovers.
Who would the law protect? Besides the helpless animals who are passed around like old socks because their so called guardians were under no obligation to fully disclose health and behavior issues? It wouldn't just be animal welfare legislation ... its an important piece of consumer protection legislation that is long overdue.
(As a sidebar note to that , if you wish to express your opinion on this issue, you can find contact information for any of the executive team at EBay at http://pages.ebay.ca/aboutebay/thecompany/executiveteam.html)
However, I am wandering afield here. One could run out of fingers and toes to count how many ways that it is inappropriate for CFHS to engage in any partnership with Kijiji. If you would like to lend your voice to those who have already expressed their dismay, http://cfhs.ca/info/contact_us/
The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing... - Albert Einstein
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