I Googled and found this. "The "expected life span" of butterflies(which is usually much shorter than the "maximum life span" because of predators, weather, etc.) ranges from about 2 to 14 days after they emerge from the chrysalis. Maximum life span ranges from about 4 days (spring azure) to 10 to 11 months (mourning cloak). Females generally live longer than males." Would I pull the wings off a butterfly for a million dollars? Yes,I would not hesitate to pull the wings off of one little butterfly for that much money,only because it would allow me to help a lot of people in my family.I guess that makes me "barbaric"!

This is a really good question. To me, I think a huge factor in this situation is what kind of animal or being it is. Fish, bugs, animals of those sort, don't feel pain. They don't have thoughts or emotions, so to me, it makes me feel better if they are killed. Mosquitos will die and I don't think I would feel bad killing one because in that situation, they are putting me in danger. Same with poisonous spiders. You can go through the trouble of trying to catch and release, but like mice, a lot of them will find their way back to you. I suppose it is just a situation of what puts you at risk that you can decide!

I found this thread by accident and am very happy that I'm not the only person in the world who doesn't like dog - or any droppings for that matter - in my yard. We live on a corner and it amazes me how people will allow their dogs to run 20 feet up into my yard on one of those 'wonderful' retractable leashes. To me that's trespassing, plain and simple. On more than one occasion I have flung open a window and shouted quite loudly 'CAN YOU KEEP YOUR DOG OFF MY GRASS PLEASE', and then slammed the window shut so they got the hint that not only didn't I appreciate it but let them know they could be seen. I mean, what is it about windows, they think you can't see out?? And I don't care if they pick it up, it's STILL there. If you doubt me, go step on the grass where someone has just 'picked it up' and then sniff your shoes. Nice, eh? It's still on the top of the grass and you're gonna track the smell everywhere you walk. My favorite is what happened recently - I walk a treadmill in the evenings after dinner when many people walk their dogs, and I can see out two windows, one on the side of the house and one in the front. One evening I see a couple come walking two big dogs, a couple I've seen before, not every day but off and on. Never really paid much attention to them, I just see them through the window when they go by. On this particular night I'm walking, and I see them coming back from the end of the street, and I saw a bag in her left hand and thought, Oh, well that's good, at least they're one of those walkers who picks up. And as I'm looking at them - and this all happened in a matter of seconds - she suddnely turns towards her husband (which meant she was turned away from my house so I'm just seeing her back), she kind of leans in towards her husband, like she's saying something to him, then straightens back up and continues walking. As they continued walking, I notice a bag at the edge of the neighbors grass across the street and immediately looked at her hand. No bag. So here you have someone who probably picks it up but then will simply drop the bag somewhere so they don't have to take it home. As hubby said, not only is that a really low thing to do, it's littering. So I got in my car and followed them to see where they lived - which was in a completely different neighborhood than ours so obviosuly they come to OURS to do this - and then after dark I retrieved the bag and 'returned' it to them by tossing it up onto their driveway. I was really hoping it would still be dark when they left for work in the morning and they would drive right through it. At any rate, no one has seen them since, which I would hope is because they're too embarrassed to be seen on our street knowing they were caught doing something so unkind, and also because they now know WE know where they live. And like my husband says, we're pretty sure this probably isn't the first time they've done this, they just never got caught before.

We have a 4mth old puppy (Foodle). We both work 1hr from home and cannot come home to attend to Burt during the day. He is has full run of our garage which is an internal access garage, fully insulted (we live in New Zealand) and has all his toys, bed, water etc to keep him occupied and safe. We have a young girl who comes by twice a day to take him outside for walks and to feed him his lunch (he's still getting fed 3x times a day). She does this 3 days a week and the other 2 days he goes to doggie day care (which is loves so much he never wants to leave!). We also have a webcam in our garage which provides live streaming, so we can see him. I can assure everyone that most of the time he either plays with his toys or sleeps. We believe we have done the very best for our wee pup to ensure that he is not cooped up all day and that he gets good socialisation with other dogs, and because of this he is the most well behaved, adorable, loving family member. We would love to spend all day with him if we could, but we think we have provided the best arrangement for him and us. I would recommend for those that worry about your dog being stuck home all day, to invest in someone to drop around at least once a day to walk and play with him/her. A small amount of $$ to give you peace of mind and for your doggo to have some outside play time, is worth it.