Pet-iquette Maneka Gandhi

DNA , Tuesday, April 02, 2013
Correspondent :
A man offered me an owl saying that if I cut it up it would bring me good luck. Is this a common myth?

Unfortunately there are people who believe that killing an animal brings them luck. No form of violence on an innocent brings any luck or happiness and it certainly brings no relief for any disease. The owl is very necessary for human survival as it eats rats, but it is becoming rarer and rarer due to cutting down trees and poaching because of this myth.

Many people sell dried owls legs as “taveeze”. If you come across such persons have them arrested at once under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 as the owl is a protected species. These people are anti nationals.

Are cats day or night creatures?

Cats can be night animals and/or day animals. Cats have very good vision in both high and low light which means they have no problems seeing in either situation. However cats usually lean more towards being nocturnal. They prefer to sleep during the day and stay more active at night. In fact it’s not uncommon for cats to sleep for hours at a time during the day. The average cat sleeps anywhere from sixteen to twenty hours a day. Even though they have been bred to be brought up as domestic pets they are predators by nature so they still have that natural instinct to hunt at night and sleep during the day.

Many cat owners find this to be problematic, as their cat is so active at night it often keeps people in the household wide awake. However there are ways that one can help their cat adapt to your lifestyle and change its sleeping patterns to be diurnal. Keeping it awake during the day is one of the easiest ways to get your cat to sleep more during the night. Playing with him can exhaust him so that he is tired out by evening. Keeping lots of cat toys prevents him from becoming bored. One of the reasons they prowl at night is because they are hungry. Feeding the cat its biggest meal at night would stop it looking for food.

Do hens lay eggs every day?

No, and nor are they supposed to. In the best conditions they are supposed to lay eggs every few days. In normal conditions, maybe once a week or even less frequently, but egg farms give their chickens hormone injections and all sorts of terrible medicines and genetically engineer them so that they lay an egg every day and some twice a day. This is not normal. The egg is bad for humans as it carries the medicines /hormones and the chicken is exhausted and dies quickly.

The only chickens we have seen are white ones. Are chickens any other colour?

The white chickens are not natural. They have been bred to be that colour. Chickens in the wild are truly spectacular in colour. They range from bright reds to a mixture of every colour including purples and greens and blues. Unfortunately there are not so many left but I suggest you go to the villages to see them.

Are brown eggs healthier than white eggs?

No, the colour of the egg has no effect on how healthy it is. However, how chickens are kept does have an effect on how healthy the eggs are. Which is why, commercially sold eggs from chicken factories are really bad for your health.

I have a small pond in my garden and I find snails in it quite regularly. Should I take them out?

No. Snails, in fact, keep a tank or a pond clean since they are natural decomposers, and they are more likely to eat all of the food and algae that collects at the bottom . They also live peacefully with fish and are sometimes eaten by them. They are eaten by birds that come to drink at the pond.

However, that doesn’t mean that if you find a snail in the garden, you put it in the pond. Aquatic and algae eating snails can breathe underwater but your average garden snail cannot breathe if placed under water and will most likely drown. Just as aquatic snails will die in about a week’s time if they do not have water.

Do bees come out at night?

Very rarely. Most stinging insects stay in at night. Bees come out and are active when the sun’s rays hit them. They like heat. They do not like the cold and are less active late evening, night or early morning.

 
SOURCE : http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/1817600/column-pet-iquette
 


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