Animals

For centuries man has played with nature, selectively breeding a cow to produce more milk or a flower to be more brilliant. And like Dr. Seuss, from whose imagination sprang Sneetchs, Lunks and Joats, scientists today are developing fantastic creatures, including salmon with chicken growth hormones and pigs with human blood.Such experiments have limits. "We are certainly not going to be able to create Mr. Ed, the talking horse," said Lawrence Cunnick, president of Biocon Inc. of Rockville.

Dr. Doolittle may have thought it grand to talk to the animals, but Western Maryland College biology major Martha Shaver thinks it's equally stimulating to watch them.As a mammalogy intern at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, she has ample opportunity to do just that."Animals have always been something of a fascination with me," said Ms. Shaver, 21, whose month-long internship with the Aquarium ends Jan. 29. "I just watch them to see their different personalities, traits, behaviors."Ms.

Call her the dog whisperer. Betty Kipphut is kneeling beside a black standard poodle named Jake, clutching a handful of shiny, 1-inch-long needles. "Goooood dog," she murmurs as she inserts the needles into his skin, one by one, until he resembles a canine porcupine. Jake's response to this indignity? He licks her.Jake, like Kipphut's other clients (a third are animals; the rest are humans), has come to her Clarksville office for relief. The 8-year-old poodle is suffering from lymphoma as well as side effects of chemotherapy.

HOLLYWOOD -- It's raining cats and dogs.More accurately, it's "Cats & Dogs," a two-hour special -- 60 minutes per species -- on cable's TBS channel tonight. Neither bark nor bite, it's lovable and slobbery.Then tomorrow comes a special edition of "Rescue 911," animal-advocate Arnold Shapiro's "reality" series whose life-saving stories usually feature only humans. This time the entire hour grants more than equal time to animals, from four-legged patients at the University of California, Davis' veterinary hospital, to Wilma the pot-bellied pig in Oregon.

After spending the winter in the care of wildlife rehabilitator Bill Trautman, a red-shouldered hawk that was hit by a car in Forest Hill in the fall was released this month at the Harford Glen Environmental Education Center in Bel Air."These are wild animals, and our mission is to get them back in the wild," Mr. Trautman told a group of nearly 100 Harford County fifth-grade students who watched as he loosened his grasp on the bird and it flapped skyward, settling into big, lazy circles above the treetops.

During his turn on the witness stand yesterday, animal control officer David R. Stair contradicted much of the previously heard testimony in the $581,600 slander and libel lawsuit brought by two Marston farmers against the Humane Society of Carroll County.The farmers -- August Frederick "Fred" Schisler and his brother, Carroll Lynn Schisler -- also named Mr. Stair and Humane Society Director Carolyn "Nicky" Ratliff, as defendants in their civil suit in Carroll Circuit Court.The suit claims Mr. Stair and Ms. Ratliff made statements to the media and released misleading videotapes to television stations after an April 11, 1990, raid in an investigation of animal cruelty charges.

Will someone please shut these animals up! "Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey" is like a talk show for dogs and cats. They're like old comedians gathered in a Beverly Hills deli to discuss the great days of live television; imagine Phil Silvers, Shecky Green, Scoey Mitchell and Nipsy Russell just kvetching away until the wee hours.The film, a remake of an earlier Disney version of the Sheila Burnsford best seller of the late '50s, tells of two dogs and a cat who, benignly separated from their masters in Northern California, set off on an epic trans-Sierra journey to return home.

Havre de Grace. -- All night long the Arctic wind rattled branches against the house, whistled in the chimney, shook the rabbits in their hutch and worried the dog. Deep in his bed under mounds of quilts the practical person stirred uneasily. The weather was putting his convictions to the test.The afternoon before, as the light was starting to go and the wind acquired a bitter edge, he'd checked his livestock. Most of the cows and all the calves had been in the shed, well fed and already bedding down.

Nilo Amier massages Bag Balm into her chapped hands. Formulated 100 years ago to soften the udders of milking cows, the salve works just as well on people, said Amier, who tends a half-acre mini-ranch in Tarzana, Calif.Feed dealers Odie Fox and his son, Jerry, swear by Flex Free, a pricey supplement for easing stress and strains in horses. One dissolves a pinch of the bitter powder in his orange juice. The other sprinkles it on breakfast cereal."It really works," said Jerry Fox, claiming it counters aches from slinging 120-pound hay bales.

THIS WEEK'S column is particularly meaningful to me because my family and I lost our 11-year companion, and our best friend, after surgery July 28 to save him.Losing Springer has been as hard as losing a child, even though he was our dog.It makes me wonder: How often do we stop to think about our pets?How often do we let them know how important they are to us?Here is your chance to let your pet know he is tops with you.St. John's Lutheran Church is having a Blessing of the Animals service at 10: 15 a.m. Sunday at the Chapel in the Woods.