Keep Your Pets Safe This Halloween

The following post is by PETA celebrity marketing coordinator Lauren Gordon.

Each October, Halloween ushers in its own brand of awesomeness in the form of pumpkins, candy, and costumes.

Spider webs and creepy decorations set the stage for ghost stories and trick-or-treating. But holiday fun for humans can translate into hazards for companion animals. Halloween is the busiest time of year for the Pet Poison Helpline because companion animals often accidentally ingest Halloween candy or décor. Check out the following tips to help keep your furry friends safe and happy this Halloween season:

• Keep your animals inside around Halloween and away from the front door during trick-or-treating. Animals can become excited or threatened by visitors, so keep them in a separate and enclosed room where they can remain calm—this also eliminates the risk that they will escape. Don't leave dogs in the yard because they can escape or be subjected to torment by passersby. As an added precaution, make sure that your animal companions wear identification at all times. And if you're going trick-or-treating, don't take your animals with you.

• Although all cats should be indoor cats, this is even more important during the month of October—especially if you have a black cat. Black cats are often associated with dark forces and are an easy target for Halloween pranksters who commit violent acts against unsuspecting kitties. You can also help black cats this Halloween by supporting PETA's SNIP mobile clinic.

• Decorations pose a threat to dogs, cats, and other animals. Keep your animal companions away from jack-o-lanterns, candles, balloons, or other decorations that they could ingest, become tangled in, or be injured by.

• One of the biggest hazards to four-legged friends during Halloween is candy. Keep candy in secure containers and in an area that your animal companions cannot gain access to. Chocolate is toxic to dogs, and sugary candy can lead to pancreatitis. Raisins, certain nuts, and xylitol (an artificial sweetener found in some gums and candies) can also be poisonous to furry friends. Plus, animals don't remove the wrappers from candy and may try to eat discarded wrappers—ingesting these wrappers can cause choking or life-threatening bowel obstruction.

• If you think your animal companion has ingested something, symptoms to watch for include vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy, not defecating or straining to defecate, agitation, increased thirst, an elevated heart rate, and in severe cases, seizures. Contact your veterinarian or the Pet Poison Helpline immediately.

Do not hesitate to contact your veterinarian or the 24-hour Pet Poison Helpline immediately at 1-800-213-6680 if you suspect that your animal companion has ingested something or might be injured. Keep these numbers on hand for quicker response—the faster that you can get help, the less your animal companion will suffer and the more likely he or she will make a speedy recovery. Learn more about keeping your animal pals safe on Halloween here.

PET+BLOGSPOT is the ONLINE BLOG of the Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association (Petpositive). Our reports and stories are CURRENT, ACCURATE and RELIABLE. We offer both local and foreign news on animals, disability and the elderly. PET+BLOGSPOT was first established in October 2007. Our hits since then is now 70,000 and going strong! PET+BLOGSPOT is updated daily. Sometimes even twice or three times a day. Kindly take note that views expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of PETPOSITIVE. You may also visit our Webpage by browsing: www.petpositive.com.my You can also find us in Facebook as PETPOSITIVE EMPOWERMENT. Please sign up as a FOLLOWER of this Blog if you haven't done so already in order to show us your kind support. Thank you!

Halloween Is The Latest Religion In England

30 October 2010 Last updated at 00:02 GMT 

 

Pagans celebrate Halloween as the country’s newest religion By Robert Pigott BBC News religious affairs correspondent

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Inside a witches' coven, where the coming of the god of darkness is marked on the day also known as Halloween

In a riverside meadow in the Dorset town of Weymouth, a witch is using a broom to sweep a sacred circle in the grass.

The rest of the coven stand, some in hooded gowns, in a circle around an iron cauldron where a fire is burning.

They've met to celebrate Samhain, pronounced "sah-wen": the turning of the year from light into dark.
Many think of Halloween as a time of ghouls and ghosts, and for some retailers it has become the third most lucrative event of the year.

It is the time of year when some churches remember the souls of the departed.
For the witches of Weymouth it is one of their most important religious festivals, a time when they believe the barriers between the physical and spiritual worlds are at their thinnest.
 

They invite the spirits of north, south, east and west into the circle, and cut apples to share with the spirits of people who have died.
The leader of the coven, Diane Narraway, bids farewell to the goddess of light, and kneels before the head of a horned ram, holding her hands out as if to a flame.

"I kneel before... the horned god, Lord of Witchdom, as we welcome him back to reign over the dark months," she says.

The coven meets regularly to make spells, using a variety of potions and differently coloured candles in order to achieve particular ends.
 

Green is for money, pink is for love
They say the spells are exclusively positive, and should be seen more as prayers.

Anouska Ireland, a 35-year-old teaching assistant, is wearing a hooded cloak in pale blue - the colour of good health.

She says: "We sometimes use the cauldron to mix spells... it could be for the purpose of healing, and in harnessing positive intentions for someone who is unwell."

Sarah Sanford, a mother-of-three, uses spells to protect them.

"When my children are going to school I'll do a protection spell for them, so they get through the day all right," she says.

Among the youngest witches is Holly Syme, who says spells serve several purposes.

"You do a money spell, or you do a happiness spell, and it's giving you the motivation to go out there and get it as well. And it makes you feel better in a way," she says.

The coven is composed entirely of women, and as in other branches of Paganism, a particular regard for the female is driving its widening appeal in contemporary society.

Ronald Hutton, Professor of History at Bristol University, says Paganism is partly a reaction to a perceived discrimination against women, practised by mainstream religions.
 

He says: "It's feminist. Women have an automatic place... and in some areas of Paganism they are actually in charge. And they're working with a goddess or goddesses who are just as powerful as gods, if not more so."
The increasing popularity of Paganism is visible in the Dolmen Grove, a group of Dorset druids.
It claims a total membership of around 1,000, double what it was a year ago.

Its leader, or bard, Tony Jameson, says Druidry is functioning more and more as a mainstream religion.
Spectacular headdress and horns
Wearing a spectacular headdress and horns, he presides over a wedding, or "hand-fasting".

Beth Irving and Teach Carter have their hands bound in coloured ribbons representing the elements of earth, wind, fire and water.

They drink mead and bread representing the blood and body of the earth.

It is symbolism strikingly similar to Christian practice.

Indeed modern Paganism is a reinvented religion, whose members seek the divine in nature.
Death and danger
It originated among ancient Celts for whom the natural world was a wilderness that brought them death and danger as well as sustaining life.

In contemporary Britain its members are more worried about the destruction of the natural world.
Although Paganism is largely a recent invention, and imposes very few constraints on its members, one important branch of it has been designated "officially" a religion.

Earlier this month the Charities Commission gave the Druid Network the status of a religion.
It said its worship of a supreme entity, its set of coherent practices, and its beneficial moral code, met the definition of a religion.

The Dolmen Grove does not belong to the Network, but Mr Jameson says the decision is hugely significant, a sign of official acceptance that religion need not be all about rules and a prescribed form of spirituality.

"We've come to a time, after thousands of years of dogmatic religion... for human beings to take hold of their spirit and become free. Free themselves of all the dogma, of all the rules and regulations, and let the conscience grow on its own," he says.

Cat Treadwell represents another sign of official acknowledgement of Paganism as a mainstream religion.
In her everyday life she wears the green uniform of an NHS ambulance worker.

But she is also listed by Derby NHS Trust as their Pagan Hospital Visitor - a kind of Pagan Chaplain.
At home, in the long hooded cloak she wears as a Druid priest, Cat stands at a small altar on which is the sculpted form of a woman, green leaves and an apple.

She lights a candle at a small altar for the patients she has tended to during the day.

"Druidry has changed a lot in the last 20 years in terms of public perception. It's now certainly more legitimate to actually go out now and call yourself a Druid. I generally get a little bit of fun (made of me) but people understand that it's a specific and serious faith," she says.

In the ruins of a church on Portland Bill in Dorset, the hand-fasting ceremony is reaching a climax.
The beat of drums reaches a crescendo as Beth and Teach run down what was once the church's nave and jump over a broomstick.

It is a leap into married life, and a religion whose members say its time has come.

More on This Story

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• The transatlantic Halloween divide 29 OCTOBER 2010, MAGAZINE
• Halloween boost for spooked retailers 25 OCTOBER 2010, BUSINESS

PET+BLOGSPOT is the ONLINE BLOG of the Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association (Petpositive). Our reports and stories are CURRENT, ACCURATE and RELIABLE. We offer both local and foreign news on animals, disability and the elderly. PET+BLOGSPOT was first established in October 2007. Our hits since then is now 70,000 and going strong! PET+BLOGSPOT is updated daily. Sometimes even twice or three times a day. Kindly take note that views expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of PETPOSITIVE. You may also visit our Webpage by browsing: www.petpositive.com.my You can also find us in Facebook as PETPOSITIVE EMPOWERMENT. Please sign up as a FOLLOWER of this Blog if you haven't done so already in order to show us your kind support. Thank you!

Wheelchairs Are Scary Too!

T’WILL be Halloween this Sunday where people the world over will be taking part in devilish activities at night.

These will include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and visiting haunted houses and places to have a literally screaming good time. 

In Western society where the annual holiday occasion originated, people with disabilities like the blind and the physically handicapped in particular, will often join in the fun as well with the able bodied to carve jack-o’-lanterns, create bonfires and go on ghost tours.  

I recall being invited to one Halloween costume party in Kuala Lumpur a few years ago.

It was organised by a local radio station. I had such great fun that day.

Whilst everyone else came dressed up as vampires, werewolves or some other ghastly creature, I decided to come plain and simple in my wheelchair.

There was a good reason for using my wheelchair as a Halloween costume by itself.

After all, wheelchairs do in fact happen to frighten a lot of people.

I’ve discovered over the years that people are generally afraid of them because of the realisation that a time may come one day when they might have to sit in one permanently – God forbid – because of a disease or an accident or just old age.

However, being in a wheelchair is far from life being over for any individual.

In fact people who have lived in wheelchairs long enough will tell you how fantastic life can really be once you have made the right decisions.

And disabilities can profoundly enrich one’s perspectives on life tremendously.     

My interaction with the vampires and other monsters in the costume party that day proved to be a plus point for both sides.

For me it was a great opportunity to be included as a disabled person in a normal activity.

I was in the company of so many new and exciting people in the event. Had I been stuck in my home, it would have taken me years to get to know and be blessed by their friendship.

By interacting with me, many of them told me that it was their first time too in meeting and chatting with a disabled person.

By the time the curtains came down that evening, the masks all came off and wheelchairs were no longer an object of nightmares for anyone.      

They told me that until then, they had no idea that handicapped Malaysians were just as interested in normal things like the able-bodied.

This Sunday some of my disabled chums tell me that they are looking forward to play some harmless pranks on their able-bodied friends. Others say they are looking forward to watching horror films with their families and neighbours.

And others still, are waiting to scare their chums with some truly frightening stories for Halloween.       

Here is one ghost story sent to me from a blind individual who wanted me to share it with readers of Wheel Power. The writer who wishes to remain anonymous swears it’s his true encounter just before he became permanently blind.  

He writes:

“It was exactly a week before I crossed the 'bridge' from the sighted world into the unknown dark world of the blind.

“I was alone in my apartment at night with an episode of nonstop diarrhoea with high fever. There was also an irritating discomfort in my eyes.

“Suddenly, I had a strong sense of the presence of several uninvited and ominous company in my room.

“Exhausted and struggling to open my eyes, I watched in horror at something that made my hair stand on end and sent a cold shiver down my spine.

“A male stranger walked slowly past by me and across the bedroom. The next thing I knew, he headed straight out of the window.

“He was carrying a small bag in his hand and looked emotionless.

“Then, suddenly, another stranger did the same thing and jumped out of the window.

“I kept the lights switched on out of fear for what I saw and couldn’t sleep again.

“My health condition got worse the next day and I was admitted in hospital for observation.

“I was put on drips by the nurses. Then to my horror again, I saw ‘strange beings' mingling with the nurses as ‘helpers’ in the ward.

“When the nurses left, two of the beings – again males – walked over to my window and started leaning and looking out of it. They looked like westerners and were dressed in white.

“I just stared at both of them until I became very tired and fell asleep.

“When I woke up, it was just before dawn.

“The strangers were no longer around.

“That was the last and final encounter with such unexplained beings before I woke up the next day in a totally dark world where I am now a person who is permanently blind.” 

The End

TOMORROW: DEMENTIA INCREASING IN MALAYSIA

PET+BLOGSPOT is the ONLINE BLOG of the Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association (Petpositive). Our reports and stories are CURRENT, ACCURATE and RELIABLE. We offer both local and foreign news on animals, disability and the elderly. PET+BLOGSPOT was first established in October 2007. Our hits since then is now 70,000 and going strong! PET+BLOGSPOT is updated daily. Sometimes even twice or three times a day. Kindly take note that views expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of PETPOSITIVE. You may also visit our Webpage by browsing: www.petpositive.com.my You can also find us in Facebook as PETPOSITIVE EMPOWERMENT. Please sign up as a FOLLOWER of this Blog if you haven't done so already in order to show us your kind support. Thank you!

Halloween: Keep your pets safe from human ghouls!

Many youngsters dabble in devilish behavior this time of year, and often, animals are the targets of their pranks. But what's a "treat" for the kids can be a cruel trick for a dog or cat. Here are some tips to help keep your animals safe on this haunting holiday:

Most importantly, keep animals inside. For cats-especially black cats, who have unfairly been associated with "evil forces"-the days leading up to Halloween can be dark, indeed, as pranksters often go on the prowl for roaming kitties. In fact, many animal shelters refuse to adopt out black cats during the entire month of October. (As a worker at a Detroit shelter put it, "Nobody gets a black cat during the month of October if they ask for one, no matter how nice they are.")

Dogs should be kept indoors, too. Some kids think that letting dogs out of their yards on Halloween is a great trick, but it's a terrifying experience for dogs, who run from the noise and strangely dressed people and become lost. Dogs can also be injured when kids poke at them through fences or pelt them with eggs.

Put animals in a secure room during trick-or-treat time. Cats can quickly slip out the front door, and dogs sometimes try to bite unsuspecting kids, thinking that they're intruders. For everyone's safety, it's best to keep animals inside a bedroom or family room, away from all the commotion.

Don't take dogs on trick-or-treating trips, when most kids are more interested in collecting candy than watching the dog. Dogs can easily become frightened by the endless stream of laughing and screaming children and run off or bite someone.

Keep bowls of candy out of animals' reach, and make sure that kids know not to share their goodies with four-legged friends. All candy (and wrappers!) can cause animals to become sick, and chocolate, which contains an ingredient poisonous to dogs, can kill. A simple cat or dog treat will make animals' Halloween great without making them sick.

Keep curious noses and paws away from candles and party favors. Jack-o-lanterns lit up by candles are appropriately spooky, but they can burn animals (and children) or start fires if tipped over. The ink used in some brightly colored decorations, like orange streamers and paper pumpkins, is toxic to animals, and swallowed balloons or party favors can block an animal's digestive tract.

Remember that animals aren't party props. Fido may look cute wearing a witch's hat, but many animals become upset if forced into clothing. Costumes that are kept in place with tight rubber bands can cut off circulation. And while some party-planners think that it's frightful fun to have a black cat jump out of a closet at guests, the frightened kitty (and guest) probably won't agree.

By taking a few simple precautions, everyone-humans and animals alike-can have a safe and happy Halloween.

Note: This article is by People for the Ethical Treatment of Pets or PETA.

PETPOSITIVE: Hot On The Vampire Trail

HAUNTED HOUSE UPDATE:

It appears as if those nasty ghoulies are more elusive than we first thought!

After having learnt that an army of Petpositive's intrepid disabled ghost busters - armed only with white canes and sign language - had planned to storm into Count Dracula's castle in order to drive a stake right through his bloody soaked heart on the 3rd of December next Tuesday, the night creatures vanished into thin air, it seems!

However, not to worry folks because Petpositive has got hot on their evil trail again.

Little do those unsuspecting demons realise that on the Thursday, 6th of December, the blind and Deaf participants will be back to torment them.

Guys, if you believe all this, you'll believe anything!

See you on the 6th then at 8pm. Please note that only invited members of Petpositive will be exempted the costs of tickets - along with their stipulated volunteer assistant.

Anyone else who dares to turn up that evening will have to pay the full fare for their tickets to participate.

The Petpositive vampire slayers for the night are Captain Abdul Karim Stuart Russell and Fasidah Sabeh.

They would like participants to come simply dressed as there will be adventures where they will have to crawl in and out walls and also on the floor.

For further information, click on WEREWOLF.

Enjoy! aNt :)

Petpositive Visits The Dark Side

PETPOSITIVE BREAKING NEWS!

DEMONS, GHOULS EVERYWHERE!

LAST NIGHT three astoundingly gutsy (and quite naive) Petpositivians risked their all to confront ghosts, blood-slurping vampires and evil warlords!

Why on earth for? Just so that some of the Society's members can have a real scream on Fright Night on world disabled day next month.

Petpositive's Adviser Captain Abdul Karim Stuart Russell, soon-to-be-Committee Member Fasidah Sabeh and aNt checked out the haunted mansion in SS17 in Petaling Jaya.

aNt chickened out at the last minute. This left Capt Karim and Idah to brave the demons by themselves.

After climbing a flight of stairs and no sooner had they entered into the Devil's lair when they were suddenly attacked by night creatures from all sides.

Here are some of the pictures Capt Karim took as he fought hard to save Idah from the haunted house that was crawling with all sorts of creepy characters.

[For more information, please CLICK HERE]

[For the latest, CLICK HERE]

The End

Want A Good Scare On World Disabled Day?

WE'VE really done it this time, folks!

It appears as if the Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association have gone absolutely bonkers.

PETPOSITIVE is taking more than two dozen disabled persons to a haunted house in Petaling Jaya early next month. Our mission? To scare the living daylights out of our handicapped guests!

The only animals that will probably be around are vampire bats.

And how "more sadistic" can we be than to do this on International Disabled Day?

The fright night will start about 8.30pm. That is about the same time too when pontianaks start to roam the earth in search of their unsuspecting victims.

The disabled who will be taking part in the one hour event are mainly blind and Deaf individuals.

Why won't the physically disabled be present? Let's face it folks, even the ghosts and ghouls have yet to get their act together by providing wheelchair-friendly facilities in their haunted mansion.

The haunted house that we're talking about where creatures of the night will all be lurking in is at the third floor of Wisma Di Corp which is located at Jalan SS17/1A, Subang Jaya.

The owner, Christine C. Kumar has promised lots of chills, spills and ear piercing screams in a place with 20,800 sq ft. There will be mazes that take its unwary travellers round and round, shifting walls and even holes in them where participants will have to crawl in and out of.

The event on December 3 is fully sponsored for the disabled by Christine Kumar's group. Admission for the handicapped is by invitation only through Petpositive. Please contact aNt at 012 220 3146 if you are disabled and would like to participate.

The Event Coordinators from Petpositive are Captain Abdul Karim Stuart Russell and Lynda Merican.

In the meantime, the haunted house's hours are daily from 8pm until 1am. The last day for the witching hour will be on Dec 9 next month.

Tickets are priced at RM20 for adults and RM5 for children aged below 12. For more details, call 03-5635 2459.

CLICK HERE for more information.

End