ilkestonlife.com October 2017
22
In a spin for Macmillan nurses
Summer Reading Challenge volunteers
Library events
start date; librarians have been available to help on an appointment only basis. Contact us for an appointment if you need any help to ‘Animal Agents’ was the theme for this year’s apply online. Summer Reading Challenge, run by the ReadAnyone needing to brush up their computer ing Agency and supported by Derbyshire skills can also book a session with one of our County Council in all their libraries. Ilkeston computer buddies – we now have sessions Library hosted several craft events this year available on Tuesday and Wednesday morning. and over 420 local children registered, with On Wednesday afternoons we also have a famover 200 completing the challenge to read 6 ily history ‘buddy’ who can help you find and books during the school holidays. use ‘Ancestry’ and other websites – we won’t A medal ceremony was held in the library in September where children received their certif- do your family tree for you but point you in the right direction. icates and medals. Local optician Specsavers Don’t forget our monthly groups – Crafty Sew very kindly donated some book tokens which and Sews – the second Tuesday afternoon in the were presented to the lucky winners drawn at random. Many thanks to our wonderful young month; and Mindfulness Colouring group which volunteers who helped us through the holidays meet the third Tuesday afternoon in the month. – all who came from Kirk Hallam Community Contact us for more details; both are free and everyone welcome. There may be a small School. charge for refreshments. Erewash was one of the first districts in Derbyshire for the Universal Credit online system to Contact us on 01629 533275 for more information/appointments etc. be implemented. Libraries in Erewash have Jackie Swepstone, Ilkeston Library. been assisting some applicants since the May
WHAC Fun Day The family fun day on September 2nd was more successful than we could have hoped. Many of the visitors were aware of the Hillside Animal Sanctuary, and wanted to support their work. There are so many people we would like to thank for donations of raffle prizes, cakes preserves, garden produce and goods to sell, and for setting up and running stalls and games. Special thanks to Hovis for the generous donation of trays of bread. Most of all we are so grateful to Mel and Stuart Harrison and family who took on the lions share of the work both before and on the day.
We raised a total of £680, and in reply to our letter and cheque, Hillside wrote, “This (£680) will help to provide feed, bedding and veterinary care for the animals at Hillside. With all the rescued animals and birds in our care, we need a huge amount of feed for them every single day, so we really appreciate your help”. Our next event, will be an afternoon Christmas tea, which is on Saturday November 18th, and the following week, the 25th of November, is the date for the next German Shepherd dog Rescue open day. More details next month. Barbara Goodchild
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Argos Ilkeston colleagues and friends successfully completed a 12-hour Spinathon at Rutland Sports Park in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. Organiser Michelle Wyatt told us nearly 5,000 calories had been burnt off by participants who were in ‘loads of pain’ afterwards! However they were delighted to have raised money for such a deserving charity. TV character ‘Mr Blobby’ had put in an appearance to spur everyone on. The ones who completed the 12 hour spin were: Michelle Wyatt , Katy Louise, Sarah Blank , Stewart Charlton, Charlotte Hilton, Lisa Norris, Louise Gregory, Kirsty Hassle, Kaz Roach and Karen Buffery. Doing less than twelve hours but still making a great contribution were:
Leesa Jones, Wendy Moss, Selina Dorn, Megan Guest , Sue Larcombe and Pete Sutton. The teachers who gave up their free time were : James Dixon, Duane Turner, Rosie Watson, Holly Nunn and Chris Milner. They expect to have raised over £1,000.
Reflections of a vet ‘Game of Thrones’ actor Peter Dinklage recently appealed to fans of the hit show, asking them not to purchase huskies and related breed dogs, following an increase in their popularity due to their visual similarities to the fictional Direwolves featured in the show. This appeal was widely shared across social media, and I know has been publicised by welfare charities, as these type of dogs have specific exercise and social requirements, so are not suitable for many potential owners’ situations. This is of course just the most recent in a long list of “pet fads” that have been seen over recent years, and many of these crazes have serious effects on animal welfare. The Harry Potter books and movies sparked interest in owls as pets. A televisation of “Esio Trot” a couple of years ago caused an upsurge in tortoise ownership in the UK. And British waterways are still home to red-eared terrapins that were released into the countryside in the 90s by owners who purchased them as (admittedly, very cute) babies but didn’t take into account their longevity, adult size or husbandry requirements. As a vet dealing with some of the less traditional pet species, it’s really common to have discussions with pet owners who were not made aware at the time of purchase of their pet’s full needs. Obviously there should be guidance provided by the seller, but in this digital age there really is no excuse for people to not “read up” about a species before deciding whether this is the right pet for them. As a child, I used to do lots of research into pet species before I could even try to convince my parents to let me have one - and many of my peers at university said the same. Sadly, over the past ten years I have seen some tragic consequences when people have made ill-informed (or uninformed) purchases. The student who purchased two baby tortoises via mail order and had them for a year in an unheated pen with just lettuce and tomato to eat and no supplements, who had no idea that this was ultimately going to cause their painful demise. The family who purchased a baby parrot for their elderly dad, to “keep him company”, not realising that these need more social contact than a single person can usually provide, and that this, plus the inappropriate diet of almost entirely sunflower seeds, were almost certainly responsible for this bird causing himself harm. These cases will forever stick in my mind, and of course were not related to fashion purchases, but they are extreme examples of what can very easily happen. As the Direwolf/Husky example demon-
strates, this phenomenon is by no means restricted to lesstraditional pets. Certain breeds of dogs are used regularly in advertising campaigns and on clothing or home furnishings, and unfortunately these are often the breeds that have been bred to have deformities that can cause direct compromise to their welfare. For example, brachycephalic (short-nosed) dogs such as pugs and French bulldogs are very commonly seen on clothing lines and also on social media, but this potentially encourages unscrupulous and irresponsible breeding. I personally get very annoyed that although pugs are a very popular breed, it’s very rare to see one in the media, on social media or as a picture in a shop that is not overweight, which has led to most owners thinking that obesity is normal for this breed, which in turn further compromises them. Although these breeds do have a certain appeal, I do wonder if they would be as popular if they were not featured so much, particularly with celebrity Instagram accounts and reality TV stars making them fashionable. They may be seen as a status symbol - certainly I have known of people who have purchased very expensive dogs to go with a particular lifestyle image, but then have not been able to afford insurance or to pay for vet bills when their pet struggles with issues to which that breed is prone. This is unfortunately very common, and very frustrating - when you know that a dog cost £2000 (often owners will tell us this when they get their new puppy!) but then the owner is unable to afford even basic veterinary care after this. I’ve also seen owners who have purchased working-type dogs such as huskies or Border Collies and then had to rehome them or euthanase them because these very active and social dogs have developed psychological problems because they have not had the necessary socialisation, exercise and training. This can of course have an impact on the owner’s safety as well, in addition to compromising the pet’s welfare. Obviously, fashion is important to some people, and I’m not saying that this is necessarily wrong, but I think that people really need to think about whether their desire to have the “it” pet is so important that they are prepared to allow that pet to suffer. Unfortunately, in many cases, people are oblivious to the welfare issues. This is something that can only be improved by education, and hopefully people will start to think a bit more about these decisions.