So cute and cuddly...until the kill

Look at that.  Isn't it just adorable?

That's Knut from the Berlin Zoo.  He was a newborn a few years back, and clearly his trainers were getting him ready for a life of dismembering his food.

Did you have any idea that about twenty years ago - in March of 1990 - a zookeeper at the Cincinnati Zoo had her hand and some of her forearms ripped off by a polar bear?  (Source: Orlando Sentinal)  She was later awarded $3.5 million because of the unsafe working conditions and improper training at the zoo.  (Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer & Cincinnati Magazine)  A coworker of hers was fired for reporting those unsafe working conditions to federal authorities but won a wrongful termination suit.  (Source: lawyers' website)

As of 2002, the zookeeper, Laurie Stober, was running a program called Full Circle Therapy that helps to "build self-esteem and confidence for kids who have been abused, neglected or marginalized due to disability".  (Source: Cincinnati Enquirer)  The last online mention I can find of Stober's Full Circle Farm is in a National Alliance of Mental Illness of Hamilton County, Ohio newsletter from April, 2007.

So, how cute's your little Knut now, folks?

Ok, actually, he's still really cute.

Careful you don't get up with the fleas

I think this might work...maybe

Sheriff Jones has done a number of things that seem pretty radical and have gotten him some negative press, but his newest idea looks frighteningly reasonable.

He's aiming to take the county dog warden under his office's purview and institute a number of new programs. The one that caught my eye was this one:

One such program that could start within a month would involve bringing animals into the jail for the inmates to care for, which Jones said is done in other states.

"They groom the dog, they work with the dog and they get the dog used to people," Jones said. "And then the dog goes back to the humane society for adoption."

"It has the potential to be a really good thing," said Dog Warden Julie Holmes

I can see that this could give some great benefit to both the prisoners and the animals. Most animals in the various sheltes I've known certainly could use a little love and companionship, even if that meant a little time behind bars.