O/T stories 09/22 PART 2
Billie
BISHKEK. Sept 20 (Interfax) - An unusual breed of rats is inflicting damage on
Kyrgyzstan's Dzhalal-Abad region.
The rats "are killing numerous farm birds, are damaging grape and corn crops,
and have destroyed 14 hectares of grain in one of the districts. These rats can
climb trees and are destroying apples, pears and other fruit. The rat invasion
may also give rise to different epidemics," parliament member Dooronbek
Sadyrbayev told Interfax.
The rats frequently attack people and young children are especially vulnerable.
Sanitary services are unable to deal with the situation. "The enormous amount
of rats cannot be estimated," he said. The rats are not susceptible to typical
poisons.
An Uzbek specialist bred the species by crossing an ordinary rat with a
muskrat, he said.
The parliament members asked the government to resolve the problem.
* * *
Pups Panting for 'Pawlished' Nails
FOX NEWS/By Catherine Donaldson-Evans
As if frilly bows and styled fur weren't enough, now the most posh pooches can
prance around with polished toenails.
With Sept. 21 to 27 marking National Dog Week, pup owners can take pet
pampering to the next level thanks to "Pawlish" nail polish for dogs — the
latest offering from high-end nail care company OPI.
"There are hotels for dogs, massages for dogs — why not nail polish for
dogs?" said Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI's executive vice president. "People spend
more money on their dogs than on their children sometimes."
So after Fifi the poodle is bathed, shaved, brushed and coiffed, she can have
her exposed nails painted pink, red, silver, blue, purple or green —
preferably whatever matches the bow on her head.
"They went crazy for this," said Weiss-Fischmann, describing early response to
the polish. "People treat their dogs like people."
But others found the idea of painting a dog's nails completely absurd.
"That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of," said Cristina Barden of
Long Island, N.Y. "I mean, please. What the hell is the matter with our value
system?"
Not surprisingly, the company plans to target the Hollywood set among its
potential Pawlish customers. It's hosting a star-studded launch event in
November with Much Love Animal Charity — which has a long list of celebrity
donors.
"They take their dogs seriously," Weiss-Fischmann said of the rich and famous.
The Pawlish is quick-drying, nontoxic and thick — so it only requires one
coat. And when it starts to chip, OPI sells "It's Dog Gone! Pawlish Remover"
and "Paw Pads Wipes."
Though OPI is the first major beauty company to market nail polish for pets on
a wide scale, groomers have long offered "pet-i-cures" to their four-legged
clients.
Groomer Vickie Zwart, who owns Heritage Pet Grooming in Parker, Colo., has been
painting doggie nails for 15 years — charging $3 for small pups and $5 for
large ones.
"Painting the toenails is just an easy way to spice up life," Zwart said. "It's
very popular around the holidays." Some dogs get their nails alternately done
in green and red for Christmas.
But not everyone is panting over the painted paws trend.
"Dogs don't really need this stuff because they are already beautiful and
loving, both inside and out, without being gussied up," said People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in a statement.
Though pet-friendly polishes can technically also be used on cats, feline
owners and groomers aren't purring at the thought.
"I don't see any reason to do it for a cat," Zwart said. "Their nails retract
right into their toes. You wouldn't see them unless they're getting ready to
slash you."
The OPI Pawlish, which retails for $9.95 a bottle, is packaged in a cardboard
doghouse that barks at passing customers and comes in colors with names like
"Poodle Pink," "Fire Hydrant Red," and "Doghouse Blues."
"We're so stressed out, and life is so hard lately. You want to have a little
bit of levity," said Weiss-Fischmann of the fanciful colors.
But Barden said pet polish is too over-the-top. "I know you can pamper your
pets, but painting the toenails? Come on. That's a little too much for me."
So what do the dogs think? Weiss-Fischmann has tested the Pawlish on her own
two pups, with mixed results.
Her black toy poodle went bow-wow over her "Pink Poodle" toes.
"She was born to have a pedicure — she loves it," said Weiss-Fischmann. "She
gets pink bows in her hair and pink nails. It's a riot. It's one of those L.A.
moments."
But there was no excited tail-wagging from the medium-sized Hungarian Vizsla.
"She wasn't thrilled," Weiss-Fischmann said. "She loves to hunt. It's not her
style."
PHOTOS: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,98000,00.html
* * *
130 cats removed from south side house
By REID J. EPSTEIN
reps...@journalsentinel.com
Wearing a white moon suit, an air filter and duct tape covering his shoes, Donn
Jacobson marched into his own private war zone Friday. One of the cats removed
from a south side home waits in a cage in the front yard on Friday. The cats
are being held at animal control headquarters until authorities figure out what
to do with them.
Donn Jacobson, animal control officer with the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal
Control Commission, carries out a cage Friday containing the 128th of 130 cats
he has trapped in a house in the 2300 block of W. Barnard Ave. on Milwaukee's
south side.
Jacobson, 35, has been trudging into a south side house twice a day for a week,
carrying out cats that have crawled into the walls, ducts and ceilings of the
house in the 2300 block of W. Barnard Ave. So far, he's brought out 130 of
them.
"I haven't seen any mice," said Jacobson, an animal control officer for the
Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission.
He's also brought out one dog, a beagle. Jacobson said the dog looked well-fed.
Last week, neighbors complained about smells coming from the three-bedroom
house, which is assessed for tax purposes at $144,800. When city officials
checked out the house Sept. 11, they found "unbelievable squalor and filth,"
said Martin Collins, the head of the Department of Neighborhood Services.
Collins said he believed the number of cats to be a city record, smashing the
old mark of 82, set in the late 1980s.
When inspectors and animal control officers first went into the house, cats
were everywhere. They had overrun the furniture, destroyed the two cars in the
garage and used the whole house as their litter box. It wasn't pretty, and
still isn't.
"I go home at night and my clothes still smell, even though I have this suit
over them," he said.
The smell. Oh, the smell.
Without his air filter, Jacobson can't stand in the doorway without flinching.
Neither can anyone else, for that matter.
"The health department told me to close as many windows as I could to give the
neighbors a break," Jacobson said.
But because of the piles of trash and cat feces, which are 2 to 3 feet deep at
some points in the house, he's not been able to close them all. The brown muck
that covers the floors is topped with an endless stream of ants and other bugs.
The yellowed walls are stained with urine.
As bad as the scene is, it's better than it was when Jacobson first started. In
45 minutes Friday, he brought out nine black, gray and white cats, which he
baited into metal cages with canned tuna.
"It's going kinda slow now," he said.
The house has been condemned by the city. Because the cats have infested the
walls of the house, the building may have to be razed, Collins said.
"Once the cats breed inside the walls, its economically impossible to clean it
up," he said. "You can imagine what's inside those walls, and what the house is
going to smell like forever."
The house's listed owner is Irene Kustra, but she died in 1997. Collins said
her adult son, Marvin Kustra, returned regularly to feed the animals. When
inspectors first arrived, they found the sinks and bathtubs filled with cat
food. The cats had also ripped open a 50-pound bag of dog food and "did a
pretty good job" eating it, Jacobson said.
They drank water from the house's three toilets and a leaky basement pipe, he
added.
The cats, and the dog, all appear to be healthy and have been transported to
animal control's W. Burnham St. headquarters until authorities can figure out
what to do with them, said John McDowell, a field commander for the agency.
As for Jacobson, he'll return to the house Monday morning with his traps, and
surely will come out with another batch of felines.
"I'm hoping it will end soon," he said. "I'm sick of coming down here."
* * *
Overweight workers say they're often overlooked
By Diane E. Lewis, BOSTON Globe Staff
Bigger may be better - but not always in the workplace. Deidra Everett,
secretary of the New England Chapter of the National Association to Advance Fat
Acceptance, believes there have been a few changes in society's view of the
overweight.
In interviews and on the job, workplace prejudice against the overweight is as
prevalent today as it was a decade ago despite expanding American waistlines,
according to specialists.
''Size generates subtle biases as well as blatant ones,'' said Myrna Marofsky,
president of ProGroup, a Minneapolis diversity consulting firm. ''You might
hear, 'If she would just lose 25 pounds, she would have a better chance at that
promotion.' ''
Marofsky said overweight workers are often overlooked for promotions and
uninvited to client presentations even when they've done all of the work. Add
other biases such as race, gender, ethnicity, and age to that situation and the
issue can be magnified tenfold, she said.
But neither Massachusetts nor federal antibias laws, including the Americans
with Disabilities Act, protect obese or overweight people from workplace
discrimination. The exception: when a charge of appearance or size
discrimination is related to age, sex or racial bias, categories that are
protected by state and federal laws.
''This is one of the only groups where an employer could say, 'We don't want
fat people,' and get away with it,'' said Massachusetts Representative Byron
Rushing. ''Fat people are still targets. Professional comedians can still make
fun of them, and fat jokes are still being passed around.''
Rushing, a Democrat who represents Boston's South End, has introduced a bill to
amend the state's antidiscrimination law to include protections against height
and size bias. The bill is now before the Joint Committee on Commerce and
Labor, but Rushing is doubtful that it will become law. Negative stereotypes
about overweight people are just too ingrained, he said.
Protests by groups like the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance as
well as a flurry of recent lawsuits have led to greater awareness of the
problems the overweight face in the workplace. Some of the lawsuits seek to
create new legal ground by arguing that obesity ought to be seen as an
impairment under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Take the case of David Warner of New Haven. On July 23, the 350-pound
ex-foreman filed a lawsuit in US District Court in Connecticut alleging
disability discrimination in the workplace. The lawsuit said that Asplundh Tree
Expert Co. in Watertown, Conn., laid off Warner in 2001 and then promised to
bring him back to work in January 2002. But it never did.
''He called after the New Year, and the company would not return his calls,''
said Connecticut attorney Gary Phelan, who represents Warner, who is in his
40s. ''Then, a former co-worker told Warner that the company got rid of him
because he was overweight and it thought he was going to die on the job. Now
he's working as a bus driver.''
Phelan filed the lawsuit under the ADA and Connecticut's Fair Employment
Practices Act, one of the few statutes in the country to bar employers from
discriminating against workers because of their size. Other states with
comparable laws include Washington and Michigan.
Michael Neubert, an attorney for Asplundh, said his law firm is requesting that
the Warner case be dismissed.
''One of our claims is that Warner did not file under the Connecticut statute
in time,'' he said. ''We feel it is too late for him to go back and remedy
that. Also, his versions of the facts are not sufficient to establish a claim
under the ADA or the Connecticut statute.''
In a separate lawsuit, Joseph Connor, also of Connecticut, claimed last year
that McDonald's Corp. rescinded a job offer because of his size. This month,
the fast-food company settled under terms both sides have declined to disclose.
The plaintiff, who weighs close to 420 pounds and is 6 feet 1 inch, had alleged
in court papers that the burger chain promised he could start work as soon as a
specially ordered uniform arrived. But the job never materialized.
Sixty-one percent of Americans are overweight, according to the Centers for
Disease Control. Of those, the CDC says 35 percent are moderately overweight
and 26 percent are obese. The findings, from a National Health and Nutrition
Examination survey, sounded an alarm when they were released in 2000, but the
hubbub did little to change poor perceptions of overweight people or spur the
creation of new laws.
While there is little data available detailing the extent of size bias, Deidra
Everett, secretary of the New England Chapter of the National Association to
Advance Fat Acceptance, believes there have been a few changes in society's
view of the overweight. ''Society has changed its image a little when it comes
to smaller large people,'' Everett said. ''It is more accepted now that a woman
can be a size 12 through 18 and still be fit. Also, in the media, the whole
extreme leanness [trend] is not as popular as it was six or seven years ago.
So, the media is trying to show that curves can be OK.''
At most workplaces, she said, little has changed. Everett, who, at 36, weighs
460 pounds and is 5 feet 10 inches, knows firsthand. She said prospective
employers have pursued her aggressively over the phone, and then suddenly
changed their minds after meeting her. Stunned by her appearance, the recruiter
will scan her body, pausing at the fattest part, and then look away.
''Eventually, they'll get back to your face and give you this nervous smile
that says, 'Oh, dear!' They don't know where to look. They become flustered and
there is not a lot of eye contact,'' she said. ''I can't understand how people
can be so judgmental without knowing who I am. It makes you feel terrible.''
Neither the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination nor the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission track size lawsuits, but employment lawyers
believe the filings are up. They say companies would do well to establish
guidelines or policies banning such discriminatory treatment in the workplace.
Marofsky, of ProGroup, expanded the company's services this year to include a
training forum on size discrimination. The firm, which has done other forms of
diversity training for clients like Deloitte & Touche, General Mills, and Saks
Fifth Avenue, hopes to use its videotaped vignettes to show corporate clients
how overweight people are treated at work and to heighten awareness of the
problem.
"STUPIDITY IS NOT A HANDICAP. Park elsewhere!"