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Washington, United States
loves: you win if you guessed "pets" and "museums". Also books, art history, travel, British punk, Korean kimchi, bindis, martinis, and other things TBD. I will always make it very clear if a post is sponsored in any way. Drop me a line at thepetmuseum AT gmail.com !

Friday, April 18, 2014

friday pet facts from hither and yon

In 1924 a black Labrador was sentenced to life in prison for catslaughter.  Or was he?  Don't let the mug shot fool you.

The Dickin Medal is awarded in the United Kingdom and "acknowledges outstanding acts of bravery displayed by animals serving with the Armed Forces or Civil Defence units in any theatre of war, worldwide."  It has been awarded to one cat, three horses, twenty-eight dogs, and thirty-two pigeons.

A bizarre and charming vintage photo of a German soldier with a kitten.  And a whole big bunch of Russian military cat photos (Russian captions, natch). Sailors love kitties, I'm telling you.

Astronomer Edwin Hubble's favorite cat was named Nicholas Copernicus.  Read about their relationship.



A long read but worthy: Adam Gopnik muses on how the dog became our master in this New Yorker essay.

2 comments:

parlance said...

I guess the dog in prison, for whatever reason, would think it was home and be happy.

The soldier photo makes me feel a bit sad. I've just been reading a book called 'Life After Life' set in the two world wars and I feel sad for all the young men and women who were made to be soldiers or other types of war workers. I guess dressing up and having fun might have given him a moment of relief from the awfulness.

curator said...

Parlance, I agree with you. The sheer tenderness we see in the photos of soldiers/sailors with pets tells us how they longed for a bit of love and sweetness in their realities.