Posted on 05/07/2013 4:02:41 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Paying Attention to Animal Quake Cues
Here are some additional animal clues gleaned from Diana L. Guerrero's animal disaster preparedness booklet, "Animal Disaster Preparedness for Pet Owners & Pet Professionals":
•Wild animals: Animals vacate areas, gather in groups, or enter human inhabited areas prior to incidents.
•Cats: You may see warning signs such as hiding, running around frantically trying to escape outdoors, and meowing.
•Dogs: Dogs will usually hide. Behavior before a quake includes howling, whining, barking, restlessness, aggression, and increased devotion to animal guardians.
•Horses and livestock: Hoofed animals often refuse to enter their barns or pens and often refuse to tie.
•Other animals: Caged birds will often hang on their cage; sometimes they will flap frantically or they can be abnormally quiet. Hibernating animals will emerge early (snakes, bears, etc.), spiders and ants will move indoors; rodents will invade the house, or if they are in residence will disappear.
• But note, not all but some animals can and do predict earthquakes, and a common thread is to leave their normal spots of security on first awareness of a coming temblor, which is just how many people react.
Earthquakes are pretty rare in NM, but a number of years ago we had a 3.8 nearby. Woke up my wife and me, but both dogs and the cat slept through it.
Are you in an earthquake prone state? (well not YOU, in a state prone to earthquakes LOL)
My dog has it easy in Michigan.
The only thing my Hannah can predict is when I’m going to open a can of Fancy Feast or give her Wild West treats.
I may have told this story here before, but...
My Dad grew up around the coal mines in in Wilkes-Barre, PA. We were talking about how hard the miners worked one day, and I mentioned the cold, the damp, the rats...
“Oh, no,” says my Dad, “the miners fed the rats and wanted to keep them around.”
“Why?” I asked.
He answered, “The rats could tell when a cave-in was coming long before the miners could. If the miners saw the rats running, they dropped everything and ran with the rats. Many a life was saved that way.”
It creeped me out, but I look at rats differently now.
We had a boxer once that was an earthquake dog. If I couldn’t find her I would look in the master bedroom closet, that’s where she hid. Within 1 day we would have an earthquake. Happened every time when she was alive.
Not enough earthquakes in NJ to worry about, but our dog is an anxious, attention-seeking nuisance a few hours before a thunderstorm comes.
And after a quarry blast, we need to take her out to potty right away - just what you’d need after an earthquake, right? “Quick, the dog has to poop!”
My mother in law told me one day over the phone that her cats were going crazy, charging all over the house, yowling & avoiding her even when she tried to feed them. That evening she called me back and asked, “Did you hear about that tidal wave in the Pacific?” This was the 2004 tsunami.
Everything has a purpose under God’s Heaven.
:)
[great story, too]
If that were true, nobody would be able to survive Sturgis Bike Week.
Don’t have much in the way of earthquakes here so I can’t say, but my hound is an early storm alert system better than any NOAA weather radio. If she’s camping out in the hall bath with a long face, there’s a storm coming. She no like, lol.
That’s how one of my cats is. We can be at the stage of “Well, I think I heard thunder, did you hear anything?” and if she’s hiding behind the hall door, then we indeed heard thunder.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.