Animal Welfare

Given the question marks raised on yesterdays journal entry about the animal welfare conditions for our boarding quail, Sir Henry, we shouldn't perhaps have been surprised when the Animal Rescue people unexpectedly and unannounced turned up at  the front door.

However no alarm - it was friend Michael who runs the unit, popping by to say hello as he was returning from a rescue mission. Amongst all the other animals he personally keeps at home, quails he confirmed were one of the strangest.

The animal rescue set up in much of Germany, or at least from my limited knowledge, in Bavaria is semi-state run and sponsored. Parishes have the responsibility for animal welfare and for housing lost and found animals. However of course most are not in a position to do this so "delegate" this to a local animal rescue centre and then  pay for the cost of any treatment, board and lodging so long as the animal is there. They can and do then re-charge the costs to the owner if they are found. This system has the huge disadvantage that the parish council gets very upset with people who deliver found animals directly to the animal rescue. They are then forced to pick up the costs even though little or no chance of finding the owner.

Alternatively the parish can do a flat rate deal with the rescue centre by  paying an annual "animal rescue tax" based on number of inhabitants, I think it's usually about 1€ or less per inhabitant.

Memmingen city has an animal rescue centre which deals with all the issues in our parts. They of course still never have enough cash for what they would like to do but in comparison to many parts of the world, animals are likely to find good to excellent care if they end up here. However donations always welcome!

Shortly after another van turned up, the sewage unit maintenance guy who we had asked to come by and adjust the software as the compressor unit which aerates the tanks seems to be running far more than needed and since having PV installed we have become even more energy use aware. About 4 months ago he had replaced the controlling hardware which had failed and we forgot to ask him to reprogramme / reset the software for 2 inhabitants rather than the standard 4.

And finally Angie out for a ride in the evening  see extra photo. Must be the first time for weeks. In the photo, the two dogs and Eddie the cat joined in. Despite his broken leg and very narrow miss from being killed by the horses as a kitten, he doesn't show any fear at all. Flash who will from time to time try to nip at the horses heels if he thinks they need moving on, nowadays keeps his distance as he really can't move fast enough to get out of the way.