Sanders Wildlife Center Annual Wildlife Baby Shower

When: Sunday, May 1, 2011 at 1:00 pm

Where: Exploration Gateway (at Sippo Lake Park), 5712 12th St. NW, Canton, Ohio 44708

Happy Trails Farm Animal Sanctuary (Ravenna, Ohio 44266) will support their friends at Sanders Wildlife Center by setting up a booth, display items, and handing out newsletter and literature at their annual Wildlife Baby Shower held every spring for orphaned baby wildlife.

To raise awareness of Wildlife Rehabilitation in Stark County, Stark Parks is having a Wildlife Baby Shower to celebrate and welcome wild animal babies into the world. Raffle baskets and a silent auction will benefit the care of injured wildlife. Meet program animal ambassadors. Donations are appreciated, and a wish list can be found in the wildlife area of the Stark Parks web site.

This is a fantastic educational opportunity and offers a unique way to get involved with supporting our wild animal friends and those who rescue and rehabilitate them!

Things to Look Forward to:

Guests at Stark Parks’ fourth annual Wildlife Baby Shower from 1-2:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 1st will be treated to “close encounters of the personal kind” with a kestrel, red-tailed hawk, great-horned owl, and a barred owl. At 1:30 p.m. they will also be treated to a “Creatures of the Night” program featuring a screech owl, flying squirrel, an opossum, a brown bat and a toad.

This family-friendly event at the Exploration Gateway at Sippo Lake Park will benefit hundreds of wildlife babies that have already begun arriving at the rehab center, and guests are encouraged to bring a gift from a “wish list” posted on Stark Parks web site. (Click on the Wildlife Baby Shower icon at the bottom of the home page.) It also will showcase the work of the park district’s wildlife rehabilitation center staff and volunteers, who care for more than 2,000 orphaned and injured wildlife patients each year.

Reservations for the Wildlife Baby Shower are being accepted at 330.409.8096 or here until Monday April 25. There will be refreshments, raffle baskets, door prizes, and baby animal games.

“We particularly need baby blankets and towels,” said Stephon Echague, director of the wildlife rehab center. Other items needed to take care of the wildlife patients are animal cages of all sizes, pet taxis, paper towels, zip lock bags, heating pads, Tri-fectant disinfectant, almonds, canned salmon and sardines, unsweetened low-fat plain yogurt, chicken livers, sunflower seeds, finch/dove seed, gourmet bird seed, cat litter, plastic pet aquariums, heavy-duty pet dishes and more. The Center will also accept gift cards to pet supply and grocery stores.

FeLeap’s Lily Pad Gift Shop on the main floor in the Exploration Gateway will be open during the event, featuring Friends of Stark Parks’ apparel discounts for Mother’s Day, bird seeds and feeders, a bird-viewing area, and unique wildlife gifts.

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Vaccine Clinic at the Humane Society of Charles County This Sunday, May 1

When: Sunday, May 1, 2011 from 1 pm to 3 pm

Where: Humane Society of Charles County, 71 Industrial Park Drive, Waldorf, Maryland 20604

Rabies vaccines $10, distemper combo vaccine $15. Micro-chipping $20. Charles County dog licenses are also available. Dogs must be leashed and cats or ferrets in carriers. No appointment needed for this clinic.

HSCC accepts cash or checks. Clinic is co-sponsored by the Charles County Health Department.

The Humane Society also offers vaccines one Friday a month. Please call 301-645-8181 for a Friday appointment.

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What to Eat? The Environmental Impacts of Our Food

“What to eat?” It is the question on everyone’s minds at least three times a day — or more, depending on your appetite — and now a new short film, “What to Eat,” narrated by Jason Schwartzman (star of “Rushmore,” “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” and the HBO series “Bored to Death”) and supported by top environmental organizations including the Sierra Club, Worldwatch Institute, Food & Water Watch, Brighter Green, and Farm Sanctuary, aims to show how eating less meat can help lessen the environmental impact of factory farming.

By showing how our food choices have a more serious impact on our environment than the cars we drive, the light bulbs we use or the ways we recycle, the film makes the point that we can all take small steps for positive change.

The engaging film, produced by Greener Media, puts the viewer in the place of the main character — a relatable family guy voiced by Schwartzman — and follows him through a typical day, beginning with an early morning alarm and traditional breakfast of bacon and eggs, and ending with an epiphany and a surprise dinner that was not on the menu when he first woke up. Viewers tag along as the protagonist navigates his day — the morning commute, the office, lunch — eavesdropping on his often comical — always familiar — inner monologue as he grapples with the universal question of “what to eat.”

“The devastation inflicted on our environment by factory farms is something we all have the power to stop by doing something as simple as ordering a veggie burger instead of a meat one,” says Schwartzman.

“Please join me in taking the pledge to go meat free for a day, a month or longer. It’s a lot easier than you think, and let’s be real, all burgers taste the same with ketchup.”

Side-stepping traditional documentary-style expert interviews, “What to Eat” instead allows viewers to “stumble upon” them naturally along with the narrator while he watches television, listens to the radio, and surfs the Internet at work. By the time the film ends — a swift four minutes and 30 seconds later — our narrator’s rejection of his usual food choices brought on by exposure to a constant stream of media coverage examining the harmful impacts of factory farming on the environment, personal health and animals feels genuine and inevitable.

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Bring Your Peeps to the Humane Society of Missouri’s Bark in the Park

When: Saturday, May 21, 2011 from 10 am to 3 pm

Where: Cricket Field, Forest Park, Maryland

The Humane Society of Missouri (St. Louis, Missouri 63110) and Purina ONE® Present Bark in the Park-A Walk for Animals and Country Fair

Grab a leash and lace up your sneakers because you don’t want to miss the largest dog festival in the Midwest! The annual dog walk and country fair is fun for the whole family – with activities for adults, kids and dogs! Join us for the fun all while helping homeless animals at the Humane Society of Missouri!

Registration includes dog walk, country fair festival & the Official 2011 T-shirt!

• $25 for adults
• $5 for children 15 & under
• Children 3 & under are FREE!

More info

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