1244. The Truth About Dog-Lick Bacteria

Russ Kennedy holds down security at Charleston’s Yeager Airport. He’s also the handler for Greg, a border collie that clears runways from geese and other wildlife that could cause a fatal aircraft accident. Also, a Wisconsin man made headlines after a dog lick led to a rare infection resulting in the amputation of part of his legs and arms. This has set off unwarranted alarm. While the bacterium is extremely common in dogs and cats, the risk posed by being licked is infinitesimally low. Also, a coalition of animal groups in Washington, D.C., have started the D.C. Cat Count, which will try to create a more accurate estimate of the city’s entire cat population, including both feral cats and pet cats. The project is expected to take three years and cost $1.5 million. The groups hope the information will help improve efforts to manage the cat population. The project will use many different strategies to arrive at a total population count, including an app allowing residents to snap their own images of cats they encounter. Also, a dog groomer in Japan is literally turning dogs into fluff balls. Yoriko Hamachiyo is clipping usually small dogs into a ball. He does this by cutting their hair so they look like a soft, fluffy round ball, a ball with legs. Also, dogs can communicate through scent, leaving their mark everywhere. New research finds that smaller dogs “cheat” by using higher raised-leg angles to leave higher urine marks, thus exaggerating their size to other dogs that would come along and sniff later. And finally, The voice of Bart Simpson is our flashback guest. Nancy Cartwright really loves animals. She has an entire menagerie at her L.A. ranch. Her prized pet is a fiberglass cow. Nancy felt that because she’s always saying, “don’t have a cow man,” that she should have one. She also has seahorses.