the buzz log

Groom your Schnauzer. It's time to take the pup to work.

Friday, June 26, is when man's best friend learns what you do all day to bring home the bacon bits. If you haven't heard of Take Your Dog to Work Day, you've been stuck in a doghouse for the past 10 years.

Pet Sitters International, a member organization of human beings, unleashed the event in 1999 to get attention for pet adoption. The North Carolina group doesn't discriminate against other household species: Take Your Pet to Work Week started on Monday. The poor odds of getting Kitty into your car, much less to your cube, probably explains why dogs are singled out for their own day.

Some pooch-loving companies have been welcoming four-legged visitors with perks like doggie buffets, dog-park outings, or doggie costume contest... we never said this day was dignified.

Pups running underfoot sound cute, but could turn into a Cujo nightmare. To forestall your workplace from devolving into more of a dog-eat-dog environment than it already is, MSNBC suggests "7 doggie don'ts." Among them: improper office attire (in this case unbathed and leash-free) and squeaky chew toys. One more to add: Don't stick a microphone in their faces. They prefer barking off the record.

Filed under: Animals, Dogs

Just when you thought it was safe to take a romantic walk along the beach, another Montauk Monster washes up on the shores of Long Island.

Another, you say? Yes: Last year, the original Monster caused a huge stir across the Web. Nobody knew what it was, but reports indicated it was big, bloated, beaked, and rather gross-looking. Naturally, onlookers couldn't turn away then, and they can't turn away now. (If you're feeling brave and you haven't eaten in a while, check out the story and images from Newsday.)

After Fox News and several other publications reported the latest Monster discovery, queries on the corpulent carcass roared like an angry wildebeest. Within 24 hours, searches on "what is the montauk monster" (a very good question) and "montauk monster pictures" were both red-hot.

Additionally, blogs are now chiming in with their theories on the creature's origin. Was it planted by pranksters? For what it's worth, the urban legend experts at Snopes.com write that there seems to be "no consensus" as to whether the original Monster was real, photoshopped, or just a very large raccoon.

Want to decide for yourself? Beware — even for the Internet, these guys are pretty gross.

Filed under: Animals

Signed by President Richard Nixon in 1973, the Endangered Species Act has recently been pitting man against man (more specifically, Republican against Democrat) over significant proposed changes.

An alarm cry by environmentalists and scientists (as well as kids under 13 likely doing homework assignments) has renewed searches for "endangered species." Requests for a "list of endangered animals" focus on the struggling breeds. While the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service page lists North American denizens from abalone (white) to the Zebra (Mountain), the World Wildlife Fund tracks more than 26,000 species across the globe. (In a twist, blog Webecoist recently singled out 20 of the "strangest" diminishing populations in the animal kingdom.)

News has long been grim for creatures dodging the dangers of clearcutting, melting ice, tribal warfare, and even prescription drugs. The past month has been no different. Australia's distinctive koala mascot may soon sign up for the endangered list because of brush clearing. New worries surround the rare oriental white-backed vulture, native to Pakistan and India with a wingspan wider than Michael Phelps. While birds who circle corpses aren't exactly viewed as cuddly, these vultures partake in a religious tradition by eating the dead of Parsi practitioners. They're being poisoned en masse from feasting on the carcass of animals fed an inflammatory drug.

Luckily, evolving conservation efforts have produced some results on the endangered front. Not long after a community of African Western Lowland gorillas were discovered in the Congo, soldiers left a Sengalese national park to give those mountain gorillas their space. Snub-nosed monkeys have doubled their population in China. Canada boasts a rescue service for North Atlantic right whales caught in fishing nets. In an unlikely rehab, an endangered Asian elephant kicked a heroin habit that started after animal poachers snared him with bananas laced with the drug.

Propagation of the species may ultimately lie in cyberspace. Zookeepers have also ventured into the online dating world with a matchmaking service for animals in captivity. Among 20 test sites to bring these "studbooks" online: Walt Disney World in Orlando. That's putting the magic back in the Magic Kingdom.

As for the proposed Act changes, the 30-day public comment period (which can also be done online by reviewing the document and commenting in eRulemaking page) is set to end Sept. 15. Meanwhile, the fight over the 1973 act still wages on in the capitol and the habitats.

Filed under: Politics, Animals, Government, Environment, Plants