2011 sept oct primary grades k 2 Sharing and caring for shelter animals p. 7 Meet Hannah the pygmy hippo p. 8 tm Speaking of Prairie DogsPrairie dogs talk to each other! a publication of
inside this issue: Hear what Martha 4 Animal talk 6 One happy hippo has to say 8 4 Home Sweet Home Help Patty the prairie dog find her four babies. 2 2 kind news Prairie Dogs Dig It! Where do prairie dogs live? Underground! Prairie dog homes are called burrows. Prairie dogs dig their burrows deep in the ground. Burrows have front doors and back doors. There are rooms for sleeping. There are rooms for prairie dog pups. There are rooms used as a toilet! who else lives in prairie dog burrows? Look at the pictures below. Can you find them in the maze? 1 Black-footed ferrets wait for prairie dogs to move out. Then they move in. At night they hunt prairie dogs for food. sept/oct 2011 2 Burrowing owls 3 Ground squirrels cover: kathy milani/the hsus. this page, top, from left: kathy milani/the hsus; martha speaks tm/ wgbh, book characters/art tm/ susan meddaugh; raymond eubanks. bottom, clockwise from far left: dave showalter; daniel j. cox/naturalexposures.com; jim mckinley/flickr/getty images. opposite page: carlyn iverson/absolute science 3 How is your home like a prairie dog burrow? How is it different? Look for these animals too! 4 Hawk 5 Great Plains toad 5 you did it! start 1 humanesociety.org/kindnews 3
Furry Friends Prairie dogs come out of their burrows during the day. They greet each other with a kiss. They look for grass and weeds to eat. Prairie dog pups play together. It s short, but my tail comes in handy. I use it to send signals to my friends. Prairie Dog My ears are small and flat against my head. They don t get in the way when I m going underground. talk Prairie dogs talk to each other. They make many sounds. Each sound means something different. opposite page: cheryl ann quigley/bigstock. this page, right: kathy milani/the hsus; inset: jeremy woodhouse/digital vision/getty images How do other animals talk to each other? Match the animals below with the sound they make. A yip and a jump means it s safe to come out now! put on your thinking cap! 4 kind news sept/oct 2011 My strong legs and sharp claws make digging easy. One sound means danger, a coyote is near! Coyote 5
A Big Job you can Do It! hold a shelter collection! martha says, Be a Shelter Helper! Animal shelters care for many animals. Shelter staff feed them. They play with them. They wash and brush them. They try to find homes for all the pets. Shelters need lots of supplies to care for all the pets. here s how: Have an adult call your local shelter. Ask them what supplies they need. Shelters often need things like: pet food paper towels pet treats kitty litter Place collection boxes around your school. Make posters asking other students to help. On the posters, tell when and where to bring supplies. Hello, my name is Martha. You might know me from my TV show, Martha Speaks. I want to talk to you about helping homeless pets. You see, I was once homeless. I lived in an animal shelter. One day a nice family visited the shelter. They brought me home with them. Now I m part of their family. They give me lots of love. 6 kind news sept/oct 2011 did you know? Martha learned to speak after eating a bowl of alphabet soup! illustrations: martha speaks tm/ wgbh, book characters/art tm/ susan meddaugh; others: michelle riley/the hsus Shelters have many pets waiting for homes. Visit pbskids.org/martha for more ways to learn with Martha! Watch Martha Speaks on PBS Kids! (Check local listings.) sharing and caring Plan a day to deliver the supplies to the shelter. Make a card thanking shelter workers for all they do for animals. November 6 12 is a great time. it s national animal shelter appreciation week! humanesociety.org/kindnews 7
to the rescue! Hannah P. Motamus The HSUS's Fund for Animals Wildlife Center ramona, california meet Hannah the Hippo! HannAH is a pygmy hippopotamus. Hippos love to swim. They love to roll in the mud. Someone tried to keep Hannah as a pet. She became very sick. Hannah was lucky. She was rescued and brought to a sanctuary (sangk-choo-air-e). Now she is healthy. She swims in her pool. She rolls in her mud pond. Wild animals like Hannah should not be kept as pets. Wild animals belong in the wild. riddle rat! hmmm... What do birds pass out on Halloween? SeNT in by: Mrs. Smith s CLAss, Tampa, FLOrIDA Answer: Tweets! hannah: raymond eubanks; riddle rat: digital zoo/photodisc/getty images 2011, the humane society of the united states, 2100 l street, nw, washington, dc 20037. all rights reserved. kind news may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the hsus. printed on recycled paper. to subscribe, call 1-866-512-3111 (toll free) or visit humanesociety.org/kindnews.