This site is about being pet free and giving a voice to people who choose not to keep pets and/ or don't agree with having pets in public places.

In my case, I do like animals but I'm allergic to them. I don't want animals in the stores I would like to shop in. Service animals are necessary - pets are not.

I don't like animals kept in cages, especially in small urban places. Farm animals are fattened up for eating so why do people let pets get fat?

I don't like exotic pets or interbreeding of species which does not save species just mutates them and makes them unsavable.

I don't like hunting animals for sport, though I understand the need to cull animals due to the fact the natural predators have long been killed off to make way for shopping malls, condominiums, etc.

Being pet free has very little to do with being child free. I don't view animals (pets) as children. Animals should include ourselves, we are not so far above the food chain as some of us like to think.  I will never be a parent to a pet, an animal of a different species. A pet, once fully grown, is an adult animal and should be given enough respect not to be treated as an infant.

I will write more later. Just setting this site up today.

It's a shame people think of sharks as such dangerous killers when in fact, humans are responsible for far more human and shark deaths than sharks. That's something for you to think about next time you go swimming.

I read Beautiful Joe as a kid. I can still remember having the book with me for a sneak read at night. I’d go into the bathroom and sit on the side of the tub cause I could stretch my legs out there. Beautiful Joe was one of the books I most remember from my childhood. Much later I found out the story was from right here in Ontario and the story was not fictional.

Beautiful Joe was a Real Dog

Beautiful Joe was a real dog, a puppy in 1890, from the town of Meaford, in Ontario, Canada. The dog was a mongrel (or a mutt as we call them) and owned by a milkman who beat and starved the dog nearly to death.

The young dog was rescued by Walter Moore, a local miller. His daughter, Louise Moore, kept the dog and gave it a much different life and named him Beautiful Joe because of how less than beautiful he looked. The dog’s ears and tail had been cut off at some point. The dog grew old and eventually died still living with the family in Meaford.

Joe became famous and never knew a thing about it.

Margaret Marshall Saunders (1861 – 1947) met the dog while visiting her brother and his fiancée, Louise Moore, in 1892. The story inspired her to write a novel from the dog’s point of view.

However, she changed the location of the story to Maine (in the US) in order to enter a literary contest sponsored by the American Humane Education Society. She also changed names in the story and she wrote the story under the name Marshall Saunders because she thought a woman writer would not be taken seriously. She did win the contest and the book was first published in 1893.

Beautiful Joe was the first Canadian book to sell over a million copies. By the 1930′s the book had sold over 7 million copies around the world. Beautiful Joe has appeared in several editions, been translated into ten different languages.

The sequel, Beautiful Joe’s Paradise, was published by Marshall Saunders in 1902.

The book contributed to worldwide awareness of animal cruelty. The Beautiful Joe Heritage Society was started in 1994 and continues to run . You can find the Beautiful Joe Park and monument if you visit the town of Meaford.

Make Mine Chocolate

Sadly, unwanted former Easter rabbits are a problem for virtually all rabbit rescues, humane societies, and animal welfare organizations. The goal of the “Make Mine Chocolate!” campaign is to address the problem at its source: reduce the number of uninformed, impulse purchases by changing the public's attitude towards rabbits.

My Grandfather liked to birdwatch. Any Christmas or birthday I knew I could give him a card or drawing of birds and he would like it. When I watch the birds now I always think of him.

It's a peaceful hobby, birdwatching. You don't have to go out on a nature hike to find birds to watch. Instead you can bring them right to your back door, assuming you have one. Bird feeders are pretty easy to come by. See if you can find one that squirrels can't access too easily. Those pesky rodents will climb up or jump on top of just about any feeder and happily munch away. Chipmunks and other small rodents are the same.

Another creature that will bother your birdwatching are cats. Even if you keep your cat locked away while the birds are around that cat smell will still be there, alerting birds to danger. They won't come around as much when there is the scent of danger (cat) in the air. I've found we have lots more birds around now than we did a few years ago when I still had a cat. It does take awhile for the cat area to be neutralized, don't expect instant birds just cause you found a new home for Fluffy.

Stick your feeder on a pole at least a few feet off the ground. Also, keep the bottom clear of bushes or tall grassy type stuff. This way the birds can watch for predators while they peck around on the ground. Feeders set in trees give protection from flying predators like hawks. But, the squirrels will feast on the seeds and you will have to replace seed frequently. Of course, some people like squirrel watching too.

Mixed seed will give you quite a bit of waste, birds are messy, picky eaters. Different birds like different seeds and they will toss seeds around while they hunt and peck for favourites. If you have the birdfeeder on your lawn you can also expect some of those seeds to sprout and grow in your grass.

But, if you really want to get into the birdwatching in your own backyard get a few birdfeeders and stick to one type of seed in each. Black oil sunflower seeds are a good choice. The shells are relatively thin and the seeds pack a lot of nutritional value. Plus, if they grow in your lawn they will be pretty growing or easy to spot and pull out.

If all this bird feeder stuff sounds too complicated and messy try some bushes, trees and assorted other plant life birds eat in the wild. Think of plants that have seeds, berries and nuts during the Summer, not just in the Fall. You can always ask at a garden store or just take a hike and see what the birds are eating in a woodsy area near you. But, don't plant anything from the wild in your garden until you find out more about it. Some of those wildflowers that look so pretty and nice in nature will become an army in your garden and completely take over. Spreading by seed, root, leaf, you won't ever get rid of them without mass destruction to your garden space.

Back to the birds. One other thing you can do is put water out for them. Birds will come just to drink and wash in a bird bath. They also wash themselves in dust (dry, fine dirt) so you know they aren't really fussy bathers. Still, keep the water fresh and clear to avoid mosquitos laying their eggs in any standing water.

Happy birding.