Yes!  It's that tabloid newsletter "Rangerdaze" once again!

Yeah there's more laughs here than a barrel of monkeys smokin their own banana skins!

It's far bigger than a politicians pay rise!  (Well maybe not that big).

&

More serious than Sam & Ray's audience with the Pope over magenta lights!

Welcome to Issue 7 of Rangerdaze for 2007.

Hasn't 2007 rocketed by?  The WARA Conference & AGM are only weeks away.  In fact the next Rangerdaze will have all the info on how this year's conference went with award winners and a few photos maybe.

The main aim of Rangerdaze is to keep you informed and entertained.  Are we doing that?  Please send us your comments in a short email and we will publish them on the next issue.  Whether they are positive or negative, it doesn't matter as long as there is no swearing.  Please click on the link below and send us your feedback.

My-comments-on-rangerdaze-and-everything-else-I-wanna-bitch-about@WARA

100,000

Congratulations WARA 100,000 visitors to warangers.asn.au

On Monday 20th August at 11.37:55pm Perth time, WARA registered its 100,000th visitor to our Website.

From very small beginnings in 2000 when the whole website was backed up on a floppy disk to the size it is today in 2007, the Site has developed into a very popular destination for many rangers, councils, government departments and the general public.

Here in 2007, no matter what sort of organisation you are, it is so important to maintain an Internet presence.  There really is no more effective avenue of communication than the Net.  We are now receiving around 2000 visitors every 30 days and for an Association of under 200 members, it speaks volumes about WARA and it's leadership.  As you will see in the Webmaster's Report in the Annual Report, Wikipedia the free encyclopedia has a direct link to WARA's Website in its definition of "Council Ranger".  Further to this, the National Dog Warden's Association UK and National Animal Control Association USA have the WARA Website as a link which is the only Association in the southern hemisphere to be linked.

Everything we virtually do is, or will soon be online.  In the past governments around the World wanted us all to have ID cards, an easy way to keep track of everyone.  No need these days.  We bank, work, shop and socialise online, so what sort of data trail are we leaving.  Nearly everything on the planet is connected through the Internet.  Crooks with a bit of IT knowledge are having a field day as Internet bank robberies are an everyday occurrence, so working online does have its drawbacks.  This information super highway is the planets biggest and most comprehensive library at the touch of a button.

WARA recognised these facts 7 years ago, and has continually worked at building its Website up to a level that works for us.  We do not have whistles, bells and very fancy graphics, just a working Website that can be navigated by school children through to our seniors.  We intend to keep our Site up and running for your information and enjoyment.  Any suggestions to improve the Site will be gratefully accepted.

To My Children

Written by an Australian serviceman in a dugout in Egypt  WW II

To you, my little son, my little maid,

A soldier and your father, I indite

A message for the time to come when I

Am hidden far from anguish and delight

For in that day you’ll hear a-many tongues

Bandy about the “motive” for our deeds

Some will be kind, but some will utter spite

For sheer delight in malice: all such breeds

That grind the gentle hearted underfoot

And mock the just.  But there’ll be others, too,

For whom our cause is inexplicable;

Whose doubts are genuine; who never knew

The whys and wherefores of this stern debate;

Or who, perchance, from height of afteryears

See – more than we – the hidden quirks of Fate;

The greater ironies; the jibes and jeers

Of Destiny.  Tell them our course was plain,

For we were simple men of simple views.

We were not seers, nor yet philosophers,

But facing bloody strife to win or lose

When all we love was menaced – them and you.

Violence had spread himself, with boasts, abroad,

Grinding the world beneath his iron heel,

And so we closed our ranks and drew the sword.

Thanks for the kind thoughts !

From Mo & Steveeeee in the UK

We wish to thank WARA for their kind thoughts through the Minutes of the last Committee Meeting, for the cards and best wishes from rangers around WA regarding our situation with the recent UK floods.

Also thanks to that "Jolly Joker" who sent Mo these 3 pair of evening footwear for flooded areas.  We did see the funny side of it.  After all that's happened, we still have not fallen victim to a humour by-pass.

Let's hope West Aussie football fans never go this far !

It's one thing to look and dress the same to support your club, but to develop the same stupid look on your face ???

Must be Sydney Swans supporters !

rangerdazewarangers

DNA Evidence Dog Attacks

Local councils, livestock owners and police investigators are set to benefit from the new technology, developed by Melbourne DNA company Genetic Technologies.

Head of Genetic Technologies DNA testing Ian Smith said while there were as many as 100,000 dog attacks in Australia, most attacks were never solved.

There was often plenty of canine DNA material left at each attack scene, Mr Smith said.

DNA may be able to help when:

• A dog attack victim is unable to identify the exact dog;
• An attack happens in a park setting when there are multiple dogs;
• A dog owner refuses to co-operate with council investigations
• The owner of the alleged attack dog has multiple dogs of the same breed at their residence; and
• A farmer's livestock have been attacked by a rogue neighbourhood dog.

Dog DNA can be extracted from blood, clothing or skin wounds of the victim, dog derived material such as faeces or hair, or from anything that the dog has come in contact with such as fence palings or gates, Mr Smith said.

DNA is incredibly accurate. The chance of a second dog, selected at random from the dog population, having the same DNA profile as obtained from the crime scene sample would be around one in 80 million.

In November 2005, canine DNA was used to convict a West Australian man in an animal cruelty case.

This was believed to be the first time DNA evidence had been used in such a case.

Overseas caravan holiday anyone?

You Must Be Joking !

These are by far the dumbest jokes we have ever received !!!

A meat pie goes into a pub and asks for a scotch & coke.

The barman says, (wait for it), "Sorry mate, we don't serve food in here".

Ouch!

Two rangers talking.  One says, "I had to shoot a dog last week".

The other ranger, "Was he wild"?

First ranger, "No, but he was'nt too happy about it".

Some crooks just can't win.  A Monopoly board for repeat offenders.

More Photos from the Rockingham Pound

Children's Page Colour In Competition

Many of you may not be aware, but WARA runs a Colour In Competition on our Children's Page 2 or 3 times a year to try to get kids around the State to visit this page and learn more about responsible pet ownership and hopefully to visit other pages to learn more about the role that their local council rangers play in the community.

Over the past 3 or 4 years this has been very successful and very popular with each winner receiving from WARA an all expenses paid holiday for them and their whole family to Disneyland.  Well not really, but they do win genuine WARA ranger caps, water bottles and things of that nature.

In the past rangers around the State have been very active in promoting these competitions in their local schools which has given these rangers an opportunity to open up contact with schools and their pupils.

We wish to thank Morgwn Jones and the guys up at Shire of Ashburton for getting on board with the last competition in the schools up north.  Morgwn sent us these photos of winners receiving their prizes.  There were 5 winners from Paraburdoo Primary School, Tom Price Primary School, North Tom Price Primary School and Onslow Primary School.

Congratulations to the winners and thanks again to Morgwn and his team at Ashburton.

 Hi I'm Tazzy

More comment on "Restricted Breed" legislation.

See what you think and remember this is 1 opinion and not necessarily that of WARA's.

Breed measures are usually implemented rapidly following public disclosure of serious dog attacks, creating an emotive fuelled outrage and pressure on governments to “act”. They are either ill researched or all research showing their failure to solve dog bites is ignored for short term public admiration.

In Australia, various politicians and the current president of the RSPCA have successfully demonised dogs they call Pit Bulls as needing to be restricted or prohibited. Killing machines on a leash, wretched, one off breed…will turn on you and other similar dramatic terms have been used freely. In spite of this, no legislation documents that these restricted or prohibitive measures are expected to stop or reduce dog attacks. However no policies have been described to the public as successful models of the decided process or such desired outcomes.

In 2001 Premier Bracks told Victorians their government would ensure they can walk the streets in safety, sadly dog attacks still occured. In 2006 further prohibitions applied to one restricted breed and it is now being compulsory desexed out of existence.

The Queensland Childrens Hospital (with assistance from the Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit) released a study of dog bite victims. The hospital averaged 5 dog bites per day. As would be expected the culprits were all types of dog, rarely were restricted breeds involved. Interesting fodder considering the import Ban was introduced in 1991. Strangely why isn’t the implementation being reviewed and amended if, as implied, it somehow isn’t working?

Every dog bite occurs not from one factor alone. The dog is a product not only of genetic predispositions, but of interactions with humans, socialisation, training, containment and its own mental and physical health. Not to be forgotten (which it so often is) is the human interaction at the moment of attack. In a nutshell the truly dangerous dog is very much the exception to the norm.

·         Due to unclear definitions and the lack of scientific, practical or discriminating breed identification methods worldwide, breeds such as American Staffordshire Terriers, Staffordshire Bull Terriers, Bull Terriers, American Bulldogs, Bull Arabs and the Dogue de Bordeauxs are confused with the undefined Pitbull dog.

·         Crossbreeds have fallen foul of this scatter gun type of law with perfectly innocently obtained cross breeds embroiled in litigation in desperate attempts by owners to save the life of a loved pet.

·         The head of RSPCA Queensland, Mr Mark Townend, has made several attempts to persuade the Queensland government this failing law should be reviewed and is causing unnecessary hardships.

·         Breed bans have robbed responsible, tax-paying, dog-owning citizens of their rights and companions. They punish good dogs and good owners for the sins of the minority.

·         Breed bans have caused community complacency about other breeds and potential for bites.

·         Breed bans have failed to comprehensively and accurately inform the community in the importance of supervising children and teaching them how to approach and respect unknown dogs.

Breed bans do not hold owners fully accountable.

·         BSL funding diverts scarce community resources into seeking a small percentage of dogs of one type. Dogs which look a certain way and have not needed to commit any sort of law infringement. Under many laws these pets die despite owners’ pleas.

·         The existing democratic dog control laws have not been consistently enforced or fully reviewed, yet unsocial, selfish community attitudes of non compliance are easily seen and documented - loose dogs, fouling dogs, barking dogs, untrained, unleashed dogs biting dogs - etc - not confined to any one state, city or jurisdiction or type of person.

·         It has minimal effect in creating a safer community for children. Most at risk are those under the teenage years. The majority of bites on children are by known or neighbourhood dogs. Highlighting loose dogs attacking doesn’t change recorded facts that about 75%+ of  bites aren’t by public area culprits but occur in or near homes with local/known dogs.

The law is always a reversal of the British justice system. An owner has within a short time frame to prove the dog isn't a Pitbull. Sadly the pet is guilty until proven innocent. How does one prove beyond doubt the pets parentage if he is an unpapered dog?

If you think Oz has a restricted breed can of worms, check out this list of 75 Banned or Restricted Dogs in the USA.

For anyone reading this outside the U.S., the dogs listed below are not NOT UNIFORMLY banned/restricted across the entire U.S. This means that the breeds listed below are banned or restricted in different places around the U.S. , and that individual states, cities, counties or towns all make their own LOCAL LAWS - and those laws differ according to individual communities. Also - it's important to note that the list includes even MIXES of these breeds.

So - without further ado, here is the list of 75 - count 'em - SEVENTY FIVE - banned or restricted breeds .....................

1. AIREDALE TERRIER
2. AKBASH
3. AKITA
4. ALAPAHA BLUE BLOOD BULLDOG
5. ALASKAN MALAMUTE
6. ALSATIAN SHEPHERD
7. AMERICAN BULLDOG
8. AMERICAN HUSKY
9. AMERICAN PIT BULL TERRIER
10. AMERICAN STAFFORDSHIRE TERRIER
11. AMERICAN WOLFDOG
12. ANATOLIAN SHEPHERD
13. ARIKARA DOG
14. AUSTRALIAN CATTLE DOG
15. AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD
16. BELGIAN MALINOIS
17. BELGIAN SHEEPDOG
18. BELGIAN TURVUREN
19. BLUE HEELER
20. BOERBUL
21. BORZOI
22. BOSTON TERRIER
23. BOUVIER DES FLANDRES
24. BOXER
25. BULLDOG
26. BULL TERRIER
27. BULL MASTIFF
28. CANE CORSO
29. CATAHOULA LEOPARD DOG
30. CAUCASIAN SHEPHERD
31. CHINESE SHAR PEI
32. CHOW-CHOW
33. COLORADO DOG
34. DOBERMAN PINSCHER
35. DOGO DE ARGENTINO
36. DOGUE DE BORDEAUX
37. ENGLISH MASTIFFS
38. ENGLISH SPRINGER SPANIEL
39. ESKIMO DOG
40. ESTRELA MOUNTAIN DOG
41. FILA BRASILIERO
42. FOX TERRIER
43. FRENCH BULLDOG
44. GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG
45. GOLDEN RETRIEVER
46. GREENLAND HUSKY
47. GREAT DANE
48. GREAT PYRANEES
49. ITALIAN MASTIFF
50. KANGAL DOG
51. KEESHOND
52. KOMONDOR
53. KOTEZEBUE HUSKY
54. KUVAZ
55. LABRADOR RETRIEVER
56. LEONBERGER
57. MASTIFF
58. NEOPOLITAN MASTIFF
59. NEWFOUNDLAND
60. OTTERHOUND
61. PRESA DE CANARIO
62. PRESA DE MALLORQUIN
63. PUG
64. ROTTWEILER
65. SAARLOOS WOLFHOND
66. SAINT BERNARD
67. SAMOYED
68. SCOTTISH DEERHOUND
69. SIBERIAN HUSKY
70. SPANISH MASTIFF
71. STAFFORDSHIRE BULL TERRIER
72. TIMBER SHEPHERD
73. TOSA INU
74. TUNDRA SHEPHERD
75. WOLF SPITZ

How's that for scary? You're wide awake now, I bet.

What's a dog owner to do? For starters - BEFORE you move, buy or rent a home, wherever you are - be sure to check with the local city hall - NOT THE REALTOR - to find out about local dog laws and if any breed-specific measures are in place or are being considered.

But don't take city hall's word, either. Ask for a COPY of the local ordinance, and then ask your local city council rep if they support breed-specific laws or measures.

This is just the US and not every state has every dog on it's list.

Politicians, don't you just luv em ?????????????????

Come on you pollies, try to get it right.  A very good start would be talking to professionals who enforce and administer dog laws.

You Must Be Joking!

SOMETHING FOR OUR YOUNG RANGERS TO LOOK FORWARD TO:

THE PERKS OF BEING OVER 40  

1. Kidnappers are not very interested in you.

2. In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first.

3. No one expects you to run--anywhere.

4. People call at 9 pm and ask, did I wake you????

5. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.

6. There is nothing left to learn the hard way.

7. Things you buy now won't wear out.

8. You can eat supper at 4 pm.

9. You can live without sex but not your glasses.

10. You get into heated arguments about pension plans.

11. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.

12. You quit trying to hold your stomach in no matter who walks into the room.

13. You sing along with elevator music.

14. Your eyes won't get much worse.

15. Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off.

16. Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the national weather service.

17. Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't remember them either.

18. Your supply of brain cells is finally down to a manageable size.

Rangers please note, Alltype specialise in Local Govt work, rodents, roaches, spiders & feral birds.

Over 25 years experience, Wayne French offers an excellent, honest pest management service using only quality products!

All domestic & commercial work.

Call Wayne on Tel: 9302 3936 or Mob: 0414 242075

or Email

Wayne@Alltype

Visit Alltype's all new Website.

Address:  1-3 Chapel Road, Moorabbin,  VICTORIA  3189

Postal:  PO Box 591  Moorabbin,  VICTORIA  3189

Phone: (03) 9532 6069   Fax: 9555 7829 or e-mail.

On The Move

Person

K9 Collars

MAJOR SPONSOR

K9 Collars are a major sponsor of the WA Rangers Association and especially of the WA Ranger of the Year Award.  To obtain further information on K9 Collars Western Australia. 

Mr Colin Seal  Ph: (08) 9276 4937 or 1300 306 707  Fax: (08) 9375 6500  Mob:  0421 213 007.

K9 Collars

West Australian based.

Bark Busters are another quality company WA Rangers Association are proud to be associated with and a very kind sponsor of WARA Conferences.  Thanks Bark Busters, we appreciate your support.

Cliff Guelfi  BARK BUSTERS  Free Call: 1800 067 710

Some hangovers last a lifetime.

Don't drink and drive.

rangerdazewarangers