Critters Anonymous Animal Blog First Appeared In 2004 - The Original and Best

We have been using the name 'Critters Anonymous' since 2004. Long before any others who have since adopted the name. We then started doing a show on BlogTalkRadio in 2008, also called Critters Anonymous, which ran for several years until the company changed their format and used shows merely to promote the advertisements of others. Our shows on BlogTalkRadio clocked up over 50,000 listeners (according to internal statistics) and we mentioned a wide variety of themes.

Our first BTR show on Critters Anonymous in 2008 was all about Parslow's Hamster Farm.  Percy W Parslow  bred fancy hamsters of all diferent types from his base at Common Side, Great Bookham Surrey.
My father would buy me hamsters from Parslow's Hamster Farm by mail order and they would be sent as livestock to us by train.  My father would then pick the hamsters up at the local station. Percy Parslow produced many different breeds of hamster as well as having many other  rare strains for sale.
We have also mentioned the plight of many over-looked or badly treated animals, including the controversy over the billion dollar industry of horse racing and the senseless death of Helga the sheep.
We are devoted to the well-being of animals and birds at all times.

Animal Aid's Plea to Leave Animals Out Of Christmas Festivities

Animal Aid have recently made a plea which was published in my local paper (and probably published also in countless other papers in the country), to leave animals out of festive parades, for the sake of their health and well-being.

The article can be read here.

I remember when I was little, a real live donkey was used in our church's nativity play. The donkey became very stubborn and refused to move after going half way up the church aisle.

The nativity play nearly fell in to chaos except that the donkey finally agreed to co-operate!

Having read the letter opposite though, I wonder if the donkey should have been used in the play at all?

Season's Bleatings!

This flyer shows some extremely happy looking sheep - racing.
 It is very pleasant to see these interesting and complex animals being taken seriously, as worthwhile and lively, vivacious creatures in their own important right.
Pan is the most famous God of shepherds and flocks.  He is also the God of wine and merrymaking.
The word 'panic' comes from this god form and rituals associated with Pan can cause this uneasy anxiety feeling...
Dion Fortune's interesting novel 'The Winged Bull' deals with the Pan ritual...

Little Donkey, Little Donkey On The Dusty Road...

I stopped by the library yesterday evening and I found a distressing leaflet, part of which is shown here.  It is a great shame that, in the 21st century, some animals, particularly beasts of burden, are so badly treated in some parts of the world.

Whilst yes, such animals as donkeys are needed by some to earn their family's daily crust,what doesn't seem to be realised is that a fit, healthy and happy donkey would be far more beneficial to their owners than a sick and ailing one.

All life is precious and as such animals should be treated with a lot more respect, regardless of what religion (or not) their owner's follow.

We humans are supposed to have come a long way since the 'War Horse' syndrome of 100 years ago. So why aren't some people reflecting a more positive and caring attitude towards the working donkey?

It beggars belief that world governments even allow creatures to be treated in such a dismal and cruel way.  Poverty is no excuse for abuse of animals such as that being inflicted on the donkey shown in the photos contained within this leaflet.  It is truly sickening.

Critters Anonymous: The Welfare State

A responsibility for life, not just for profit. Critters Anonymous explores some of the prime examples of the misuse of animals, historically and at present. The passages contained within present the material not only in a physical sense as each story dictates but later considers the spiritual sense and the ultimate being that any mentioned animal may become. Their own spirituality can carry a personal message or have its own meaning and so man’s physical dominance is just that, physical.  The mystery and wonder of these creatures, their essence and its embodiment within their souls, continues to thrive in another dimension.

Lolita Salome Rabbit - Goodbye Beautiful Girl

Lolita Salome was purchased from a well known pet store in March 2008.  She was an agouti-brown, partial lop and had a good, even temperament.  Lolita was quite boisterous and loved running about and jumping around.  She appeared in a number of photos as shown here, once thinking she was Lady GaGa, as shown by the huge sunglasses!

Lolita died after a short illness on May 7, 2013 and will be sadly missed by her family.  Lolita received the usual send off and appropriate gifts were purchased for the graveyard Barons and Guardians to assist in her journey to the afterlife.

We played a number of songs, both to celebrate her life and to help her pass on to pastures new. Goodbye beautiful girl, we will always love you and wish you well in your new life in the spirit world.

Saltaire Rabbit Stone

This is a photograph of the Saltaire Rabbit Stone, found near Salt's Mill in Saltaire, Shipley, West Yorkshire in 2011.

Salt's Mill is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was founded by Titus Salt in the 1850s on land once occupied by a corn mill.  Titus Salt built the village of Saltaire for his mill workers and named the streets mainly after his family members.  Titus Salt was once Mayor of Bradford and obtained a baronetcy.  In those days many industrialists received titles - Samuel Cunliffe Lister of nearby Lister's Mill of Manningham, became Lord Masham.

We feel the rabbit stone was quite a rare find.  Rabbits represent the Goddess Eostre, or Ostara, that the Christian Easter was named after.  Eostre is a goddess of spring and fertility.  When Britain converted from Paganism to Christianity, the dates, places and times of Pagan festivals were replaced with Christian celebrations at the same period.  Churches were often built on the site of Pagan altars to encourage people who had gone to these places to worship Pagan gods, to embrace the Christian beliefs instead.

Today with the New Age revival, religions like Druidism are officially recognised legally in their own right.