DEAR READERS: Many of you have lawns and gardens, and may be using pesticides and chemical fertilizers that are harmful to us, to our animal companions and to wildlife. Douglas W. Tallamy’s book "Nature’s Best Hope" will give you the inspiration to give back to nature by creating a wild space of native plants and trees to combat climate change and the species extinction crisis.

If every homeowner in the United States repurposed just half of their yards to make space for native species of plants, shrubs and trees, Tallamy argues, we would create a vast network of “homegrown national parks” that would provide more wildlife habitat than all the national parks combined.

To facilitate this, local municipalities will have to change any ordinances that restrict residents from rewilding all or part of their properties. In the community where I live in Minnesota, I had to provide information on the seed mix I was using to confirm all were native plant species -- and pay $100 for a permit! For more on this issue, see my post: drfoxonehealth.com/post/lawns-be-gone.

I found this Oct. 3 New York Times article on the topic encouraging: "Hidden in Midwestern Cornfields, Tiny Edens Bloom," by Cara Buckley. The writer describes a project initiated by Iowa State University professor Lisa Schulte Moore wherein farmers of corn, soy and alfalfa are converting roughly 10% of their farmland into "prairie strips" -- rewilded areas seeded with native grasses and plants. This increase in biodiversity encourages beneficial insects and other wildlife, enriches the soil, creates a carbon sink, and stanches emissions and fertilizer runoff.

Coupled with no-till and cover crop practices and supported under the federal Conservation Reserve Program, the prairie soils virtually killed by conventional agriculture’s overuse of pesticides and chemical fertilizers may eventually be restored.

CANCERS ARE RISING IN YOUNG PEOPLE

In findings presented in September, international researchers said that cancer in young adults is on the rise in 14 of the 50 countries studied. Rates in older adults were holding steady.

From a BBC story on the issue:

"'It’s not uncommon for me to see someone under the age of 40 with pancreatic cancer,' says Eileen O’Reilly, a gastrointestinal medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. 'It’s almost every week, which is a scary thought. These are people in the prime of life, who are starting families and have everything to live for. The implications for society are profound.'" (Full story: BBC.com, Oct. 5)

What is driving this change? Researchers are not sure, but factors may include stress, sleep deprivation, microplastics, ultra-processed foods, and antibiotic use, all of which have increased over the past few decades.

While genetics can play a role in cancer susceptibility in dogs, the rising incidence of various cancers in our canine companions parallels, in many ways, these trends in people. Both are probably associated with the same carcinogenic factors we have unwittingly released into the food chain and environment.

ADOPT A DOG OR CAT

If you have the time and resources -- especially if you are an active, healthy retiree, or know someone in that category -- please consider adopting a dog or cat from your local shelter. So many facilities are currently overcrowded.

Adopting an animal is a more rewarding experience than taking another costly vacation! If you already have a dog or cat, consider adopting another, following the advice posted here (drfoxonehealth.com/post/introducing-a-new-cat) and here (drfoxonehealth.com/post/introducing-a-dog-into-cats-home).

Alternatively, volunteer to provide pre-adoption foster care or to help at the shelter. Animals need gentle human contact for socialization under the stressful conditions of confinement in a cage or kennel, and dogs can be safely taken for walks by volunteers.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)

DEAR READERS: Physicians, nutritionists and chefs need to wise up and stop promoting salmon as a “health food.” The "mass suffering" on Scottish salmon farms, as reported by Josh Loeb in the British Veterinary Association’s journal in September -- wherein sick salmon are removed from their floating cages and put on land to suffocate to death -- is further evidence that this sector of aquaculture has not rectified the issues I detailed almost 30 years ago in my book "Eating With Conscience: The Bioethics of Food."

Since then, intensive salmon farming has flourished along the coastlines of several countries with limited regulations and fewer discussions on the adoption of humane slaughter methods.

Emamectin, a pesticide, is fed to caged salmon -- already stressed with overcrowded confinement -- to kill the lice that often plague them. But this insecticide is then excreted, polluting local lakes and killing crustaceans such as crabs and prawns. The addition of discarded salmon parts to pet foods and salmon oil supplements needs to be questioned.

PFAS (“forever” chemicals) and microplastics in salmon and other seafoods are another consumer issue. Plastic pollution is creating a "plastisphere" -- a widespread habitat that includes pathogenic viruses and antimicrobial-resistant bacteria that affect the health of plants, animals and humans. Vibrio bacteria, for example, which are normally rare in the open ocean, are widely distributed in plastispheres throughout the mid-North Atlantic, where they can cause diseases in marine life as well as in humans. (See the study "Oceanic Hitchhikers: Assessing Pathogen Risks from Marine Microplastic" by Jake Bowley et al., published in Trends in Microbiology in 2021.)

Perhaps it is time for this sector of aquaculture to close or transition to sustainable, carbon-sequestering kelp farming. Leave wild salmon to the hungry bears, wolves, eagles and other wildlife whose lives we imperil in so many ways.

If you must purchase salmon, choose only wild salmon caught by members of the Lummi tribe and other Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest. I have visited with Lummi elders and can attest to their reverence for this fish, and for their ecological stewardship and conservation.

SALMON SHORTAGE MIGHT NOT BE CAUSING ORCAS’ DECLINE

A shortage of Chinook salmon in the Salish Sea (off the Pacific Northwest coast) might not be behind the decline of southern resident orca pods in the area, according to a study in PLOS One. Instead, food shortages may be occurring elsewhere in the whales’ range. Additionally, noise from large ships in the area may be masking communication between orcas, impeding their ability to hunt, researchers wrote. (Full story: The Guardian, Oct. 16)

DEAR DR. FOX: Our indoor cats were found to have ear mites. Our vet insisted we put Revolution on all three of them, as well as give them an eardrop medication for a full month to get rid of the mites. Then we're supposed to dose them with the Revolution again for a couple of months.

But if the stuff is so poisonous that we need to wear gloves to apply it, how can it be safe for the cats? As for the eardrops, they have to be kept in the fridge, so they are horribly cold. The cats hate all this, and so do we. And all because one kitten got outside for about 10 seconds one day!

Decades ago, I had cats who got ear mites, but we had a miticide that we applied with cotton balls. Those cats grew to like that treatment. What are your thoughts on using these new products? -- D.K., New Haven, Connecticut

DEAR D.K.: This is ridiculous. Stop using the Revolution, and instead use what I have advocated for decades: olive oil. Put a few drops of cold-pressed virgin olive oil, at room temperature, on a cotton ball; squeeze some oil into each ear; then rub each ear to work it in, cleaning out any brown, gummy debris. Do this every other day for 10 days, then repeat a month later. This treatment will not harm your cats, but will smother the mites.

This parasite, which can be passed to dogs in the same home, driving them crazy, is common in outdoor cats. Ear mites are just one of the many health and welfare reasons that I am opposed to trap-neuter-release community cat colonies.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)

DEAR DR. FOX: Why are captive hunting facilities or shooting preserves still allowed? In today’s paper, there was an article about a rancher who cloned giant sheep for shooting preserves. (He was fined and given six months' prison time.) I just don’t understand why, in this day and age, these "canned hunts" are still in operation and haven’t been eliminated via legislation.

Just how sick can one be to shoot a typically semi-tame animal in a fenced area with no escape, all for a trophy? You’ve probably touched on this topic before, but as it was in today’s paper, I’m fired up about it. -- C.D.G., West Palm Beach, Florida

DEAR C.D.G.: I appreciate your concern. The prosecution of this rancher has been widely publicized, primarily because he illegally imported an endangered species of sheep.

From BBC.com, Oct. 1: "Arthur 'Jack' Schubarth, 81, illegally imported body parts of Marco Polo argali sheep, the world’s largest, from Kyrgyzstan, and sent the genetic material to a lab to create cloned embryos, court documents say. The cloning resulted in a single male, which he named 'Montana Mountain King,' or MMK. MMK was then used to inseminate ewes to be sold to shooting preserves, also known as captive hunting operations."

This venture was certainly expensive, and the money would have been better spent on rewilding indigenous species on ranch-land rather than engaging in this biotechnology purely for hoped-for profit.

"Canned hunts," where animals are in a large fenced area for people to come and shoot with guns or bows and arrows, are an atavistic “sport” and a sad reflection of the mental state of so many trophy and recreational hunters.

In his book “The Art of Happiness,” the Dalai Lama wrote: “Ask a hunter to visualize his favorite hunting dog being shot or caught in a trap to awaken feelings of compassion. Then he may better imagine the suffering of his prey.” Such envisioning is the way to build the bridge of empathy, enabling us to feel for others and to exercise our moral freedom of choice to act responsibly.

To take pleasure in the hunt and the kill, and to enjoy wearing furs from animals that were snared and trapped, are antithetical to the ethics of a subsistence way of life that was sustainable for millennia in our gatherer-hunter past. Now our children are corrupted by the values of consumerism and of treating other sentient beings as objects and commodities rather than as subjects of community.

CATS CAN PROVIDE MENTAL HEALTH BENEFITS

Pet ownership does not guarantee mental health benefits, of course, but studies have shown that spending time with cats can relieve anxiety for people who have chronic mental health conditions, says Howard Liu, chair of the American Psychiatric Association’s Council on Communications. “Having a cat can help people feel connected and gives them a daily routine that can be helpful for both the person and their pet,” Liu said. (Full story: Good Housekeeping, Oct. 12)

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)