Probably.  At least, I hope so.

But take a look through this MSNBC.com feature about animal smarts. I was particularly impressed with Betty the crow who fashioned a food-retrieving tool.

And I’ll always be fascinated with dolphins. Researchers believe they have their own language and are one of the more creative mammals (outside humans, of course.) When I visited a dolphin preserve in Florida this spring I attended an hour-long lecture on dolphins and their behaviors and I was super impressed… and informed.

Did you know that dolphins consider a person nodding their head to be saying “No?”

That it’s considered “rude” not to look them directly in the eye?  Or that they sometimes like to play tricks on humans and each other?

Just one more reason animals need to be treated with a lot more respect than they get from most.

Beauty the bald eagle will soon be able to regain the use of her beak for eating, drinking and preening.

The 7-year-old eagle suffered severe damage after her beak was shot off and scientists have built her a prosthetic to keep her alive.

A CNN.com article details the efforts made to save Beauty with a procedure experts aren’t sure will even work.

 (AP Photo/Young Kwak)

That’s the word from the Norwalk attorney M. Jeffry Spahr after finding out his city was being sued by Mahopac mom Kelly DeBrocky.

DeBrocky wants $100 from the city as compensation for having her day ruined (RUINED!!) by having to go through the horror that was her toddler stepping in dog poo in a parking lot near the aquarium.

She says her son’s $54 shoes were ruined and she wants to be reimbursed the aquarium and parking fees.

I don’t have children so I’m not even going to go into why a baby needs $54 shoes, but stepping in poo happens. A lot. I just did it last weekend. And you know what—I cleaned my shoes. I’m not suing my town (granted, it was my own dog’s poop I stepped in) and I’m not appearing in the local newspaper because of it.

And it could have been worse. You guys with dogs out there know what I’m talking about. The barefoot poo tromp. Oh yeah…  There’s nothing like the feeling of dog poo squishing between your toes on a hot summer day.

Did you get your pet from a pet store? Has your cat not yet been spayed or neutered? Does your puppy pee on your rug?

If you answered yes, you may be making a common mistake with your pets. The mistakes, listed in a recent MSNBC.com article from the Today show, include buying dogs and cats from pet stores (which perpetuates the animal trade and a lifetime of abuse and neglect for the breeding stock) and giving your new pet too much freedom.

According this article (and, from volunteering with rescue I can tell you the author is correct) it’s not at all uncommon for a family to make an impulse buy at a pet store, give the puppy the entire house to wreak havoc on and then wonder what is wrong with the puppy.

It’s nice to see advice like this given on a national Web site. The tips in there are what many in animal rescue have been preaching for years. Give pets boundaries. Supervises them with children. Research before bringing Fido or Fluffy home.

And please—get them spayed or neutered. IT WILL NOT CHANGE THEIR PERSONALITIES!

Denver area news outlets reported this week on Lulu, an English spring spaniel who was pulled from the rubble of a Breckenridge, Colo. building that had exploded, critically injuring her owner.

Lulu had been underneath the wreckage of the collapsed building for eight days,  yet suffered only mild dehydration and an eye injury.

Read more about Lulu’s rescue here.