The Wacky World of Chris Knight

My life is blessed with knowing a fair number of exceptional individuals. For that reason I tend to ‘far see’ into the future and imagine the amazing things life will have to offer just around the corner. One in a while though, I am reminded just how low and pathetic the human race can be as a species. I share 99.99% of the genetic material of some pretty disgusting monkeys, and it sickens me.

I was using Feedster to find recent blog entries on prairie dogs, and I encountered a blog at perlgurl.org about the Plight of the Prairie Dog. The entry itself was fine, but the google ads displayed on the page were something altogether different.One of the google ads read like this:

Trophy Prairie Dog Hunts
Hundreds of Acres of Prairie Dog Towns for Hunting in West Texas!
www.bossranch.com

These people have a page on their website specifically about shooting prairie dogs. These sick bastards actually say “This hunt is available anytime of the year, although the summer months are the best time. The prairie dog pups are still young and untrained to the effects of hollow points.” Exactly how inbred does a person have to be in order for this to seem like fun? One of their photos shows a dead prairie dog hanging just below a sign proclaiming membership in the “Texas Wildlife Association”. Texas must be the land of double-speak if an organization named “Texas Wildlife Association” condones the use of hollow points on prairie dog pups and allows their signs to be used in this type of photo.

If there is one thing that did come of this sickening encounter it is that I have taken the time to learn how to block ads in Adsense from ever showing up on my site. I may have cost these bastards a few bucks as well, with all my click-throughs to make sure I had all their URLs for the various ads that came up on the perlgurl site. 🙂

For the record, I don’t have a problem with hunting for food. I have a problem with senseless violence for sport.

Please, let me know if any twisted ads show up in the ads below so that I can block them:
[I have temporarily removed the ads from this entry, as Google Adsense does not yet seem to be honoring my exclusion list. I may need to give it time to process.]

Government bans prairie dog sales, calls for smallpox vaccine to control monkey pox – DANIEL YEE, Associated Press Writer -Wednesday, June 11, 2003

“The U.S. government banned the sale of prairie dogs, prohibited the importation of African rodents and recommended smallpox shots Wednesday for people exposed to monkey pox, the exotic African disease that has spread from pet prairie dogs to humans.”

In 2003 the first confirmed case of locally acquired Monkey Pox occurred in the United States. In our terror fueled media mad nation, this demanded swift and decisive action. After all, this was a ‘pox’, and the media was pumping the idea of terrorist driven small pox attacks against the United States. If the government had not reacted to this perceived threat, say like the way the government failed to react to a hurricane that was on the radar for days, people would get upset.

According to a CDC investigation, the source of the infection was an ill Gambian Rat obtained at a pet ‘swap meet’. From there it was passed to prairie dogs purchased at the same time. Several of the prairie dogs were sold and passed on the infection before they succumbed to the disease and died.

Monkey Pox is not native to North or South America. The prairie dogs could not have contracted Monkey Pox were it not for their contact with the Gambian Rat. That prairie dogs became the crossover point for human infection was a coincidence, and not a result of their being more susceptible than other animals. That same CDC report states: “Animal species susceptible to monkey pox virus may include non-human primates, lagomorphs (rabbits), and some rodents.”

Logically, banning prairie dogs because they became infected in this outbreak makes a much sense as banning children because they became infected as well. Had that pet distributor purchased rabbits that day, or guinea pigs, or hamsters, I doubt the CDC would have chosen a full ban of the infected animals. It is a shame that swift and decisive action was required, and that prairie dogs are not as firmly entrenched in American childhood as guinea pigs and hamsters. Can you imagine the reaction if hamsters had been banned?

Despite the knowledge that prairie dogs were not the source of the outbreak, despite the lack of any further outbreaks, the ban is still in effect. The ban restricts the transportation, not just the sale; and I wonder if the ban played a part in the incident where Habitat for Humanity gassed an entire prairie dog town because it could not be relocated in what they considered a reasonable amount of time?

It is now over two years later. While the sale of prairie dogs was banned, the owning of them was not. I know several people who had purchased, or rescued, prairie dogs prior to the ban. Prairie dogs continue to make great pets for those that own and love them.

The source of the monkey pox outbreak was a rodent imported from Africa. As long as the sources for those animals are controlled it seems unnecessary to completely ban our own North America native prairie dogs.