Fridays Chat w/ Vlad - June 18, 2021

Friday Chat w/ Vlad

Hey, It’s Vlad. So I looked on the JABCECC bulletin board yesterday and it said there were trainers scheduled. This must have been a typo as it should have read trainees. I mean everyone should know they are not training me, I’m training them. I try to use all positive reinforcement with them but I find that sometimes I need to resort to negative punishment when I want to reduce the likelihood of a bad behavior. For instance, the other day one of the trainees gave me a treat I did not like. I just walked off and stopped engaging...Me engaging with them is very rewarding as I am sure you can imagine. It wasn’t until the better treats came out that I would interact again. Nipped that bad behavior in the bud. B.F. Skinner would be proud. I do need to talk to my pals about their interactions with the trainees. Sasha for instance, she just wants to be everyone’s friend. I keep telling her that she can’t give the milk away for free but she doesn’t seem to get it. It just makes my work that much harder. I look at my instruction of these trainees much like Michelangelo viewed his sculptures. “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.” Every person has a perfect trainee inside, I just need to chip away the superfluous material, ie. bad behaviors. Sometimes I use classical conditioning with them as well, you know the type used on Pavlov’s dogs. I started this by doing something funny while chewing on their cameras and they would laugh. Now I can just chew on their camera and they will laugh hysterically. I mean I think it is laughing and not crying. You should see what happens when you ring a bell around them....hint, bring napkins. I am also doing some leash work as I hear the Viktor Pub crawls are starting again and we will need some way to keep the trainees from running off. By the way, I do question why Viktor gets to have an event named after him when yours truly does not. I think I will need to plan one celebrating me that puts Viktor’s silly little events to shame. The only question will be whether to call it Vladapalooza or Vladstock. What do you think?

Vlad out

Fridays Chat w/ Vlad - June 25, 2021

Friday Chat w/ Vlad

Hey it’s Vlad. I think I figured out why I have not heard from Slash yet. My connections inside the “bis” tell me that Guns N Roses is going to be touring with Wolfgang Van Halen’s band Mammoth WVH. I’m sure they’re very busy with that and Slash doesn’t want to make Wolfgang feel like a third wheel by working with me right now. The thing is I am fine with inviting Wolfgang to join my band as well. As a matter of fact I think it would be pretty cool to have their Wolfie meet our Wolfie (Lucan). As a bonus, Lucan is a bit like a Mammoth...very big and very woolly. Introducing this powerhouse band at Vladstock would be perfect. And speaking of Vladstock, I have so much to plan. Right now I am trying to convince Lucan to give pony rides 🐎 at the event. I am not sure he is sold on the concept at the moment but he will come around. I will just have to use my Jedi mind tricks on him...”yes Lucan, this IS the saddle your looking for”. The #dorkwolf is a nice guy and all but his intellect is just not up to that of a fox, especially a Russian domesticated fox. A study just came out that showed when they domesticated us our brains actually got bigger. I’m sure that is especially true for yours truly. I told Lucan that my name Vlad meant I was destined to be a ruler... so now he keeps asking me if I can measure stuff for him. See what I’m saying? Gotta luv the guy.

I also have some very good news for you. Israel has passed a new law banning the sale of fur products. If all countries would just do this the world would be a better place. Now I’m not sure why the people of Israel were buying fur in the first place. Isn’t it generally hot in Israel? I can tell you from personal experience when it gets hot I can’t wait to shed my winter coat. By the way, don’t I look simply dashing in my summer coat? The fur trade simply needs to be a relic of the past. It’s just stupid to make animals suffer to support an unneeded product. But you know what they say....Human genius has its limits while human stupidity does not.

Vlad out.

Fridays Chat w/ Vlad - July 2, 2021

Friday Chat w/ Vlad

Hey, it’s Vlad. Something is up at the center. Management is being tight lipped about it but I know something big is in the works. I’m sure it’s a rescue as there are new habitats being built. It was a year ago that the Panda Pals Project was in the works and I hear there was a lot of construction going on for that as well. I’m still not sure why Panda got her name on that rescue..likely cause management couldn’t think of appropriate “V” words to describe the endeavor. I mean how hard is it to crack open a dictionary to give Mr. Vlad here credit for getting his fellow Vulpines to safety in that Venture.

I have heard people talking about building a Capybara pond in the past so that could be it, but I have not been down to that piece of the property to see what’s going on. That would be cool. If your going to get a rodent why not get the world’s biggest. You know what I always say? Go big or go home. I’m just not sure how many Capybaras there are in need of rescue so that could be a long shot.

I’ve also heard talk of Komodo dragons. I hope it’s not that. First, we all know they are just large monitor lizards and not real dragons. If we are getting a dragon I want it to be like Drogon from Game of Thrones, that’s a real dragon. & then there’s Puff the magic dragon but I hear he was a bit of a stoner. The second problem with a Komodo dragon is their saliva is a bacterial laden cesspool. There is not enough Bactine in the world that would make me feel OK about hanging out with one of them.

Of course it could be a fox from a fur farm. Who knows the name of the fox that lives at the center, that was rescued from a fur farm as part of the poorly named Panda Pals Project? People don’t see her much as she’s kind of shy. You really can’t blame her as she lost her tail and an ear on that fur farm and the things she has seen are likely horrifying.

Bottom line I don’t know what it is and it’s driving me nuts. You would think everyone’s favorite ambassador would be kept in the loop. Despite that, the new arrival/arrivals will be welcomed with open arms by the JABCECC ambassador crew and I’m sure all of you as well.

- Vlad out

Fridays Chat w/ Vlad - July 9, 2021

Friday Chat w/ Vlad

Hey it’s Vlad. As you all know I, along with 8 other foxes, came to the US from the Institute of Cytology and Genetics in Novosibirsk Russia. All the members of the Novosibirsk nine, that’s what we call ourselves, were having a talk last night. We were discussing how lucky we were to get picked to be ambassadors for the JABCECC and how much we enjoy living here. I casually mentioned how it seems that Panda gets all the credit for getting us here and how maybe going forward the rescue could be known as Vlad’s Vulpine Venture AKA Panda Pals project. That’s when all hell broke loose. Sergei shouted “get over yourself Vlad” Lena chimed in with “The world doesn’t revolve around you Vlad”. And then I hear Maksa, who wasn’t even part of our conversation, say “you’re too much Vlad”. Those of you who know Maksa are aware her favorite food is sparkling water with blueberries in it..she is a bit bougie. Sometimes I think the blueberries are a bit fermented if you know what I’m saying 😵. The worst comment came from Leika. She actually had the nerve to make fun of my color. I am what’s called a cross fox. It’s a mix between a red colored fox and a silver fox. This can create foxes with both red hairs and black hairs and a dark cross on the shoulders. So Leika says “Cross doesn’t just describe your color but also your attitude”. Can you believe it? When am I ever angry, annoyed, or in a bad mood? If you follow my chats you know I’m just a positive ray of sunshine. Anyway after that things calmed down a bit. We started discussing everyone’s color. There are over 60 different colors that red foxes come in but in the wild you mostly would only find 3. Red like Sergei, silver like Dimitri and Cross like yours truly. The ICG doesn’t have many colors as they breed for tameness and not color. They do have a color called Georgian White (GW) which is only found in Russia. It is caused by a mutation of the silver gene. Panda is an example of this. Crossing a GW and a Red can get you a GW with red. This is like Sasha and Vasily. Then there’s a color called Platinum, also a mutation of the silver gene. Yuri is this color.

~ Vlad out

Fridays Chat w/ /Vlad - July 23, 2021

Friday Chat w/ Vlad

Hey, it’s Vlad. Well it seems as though we are entering the dog days of summer. These are the hot, sultry days of summer and boy has it lived up to this. If I could sweat, I’d be sweating like a germaphobe at microbiology convention. I do question why they are called dog days and not fox days. Any day that’s a fox 🦊 day is a good day. It turns out they are called this after the star Sirius which is also known as the Dog Star. This star rises in conjunction with the sun beginning about July 19. The Romans thought this brought about the heat of summer. Now there IS a constellation called Vulpecula, or the little fox, which is located in a part of the sky called the Summer Triangle. It is called this as the stars making up the triangle are visible overhead during the summer. Consequently I think it would be perfectly appropriate to talk about the fox days of summer. Or we could just talk about the Vlad days of Summer....why the Vlad days?? Cause Vlad is rad. Say it with me. Some say I’m cocky but it’s just my Vladittude. I do feel bad for Lucan. Even with his summer coat he still resembles a woolly mammoth. He really doesn’t like the heat. I’m told when he was little, as if he ever was truly little, he would avoid the sun so much there was concern he might be part vampire.

Ok, so enough about the weather. I have this secret that I have been debating whether or not to tell you. Most of you obviously think of me as this debonair guy...a real Rico Sauve, and you are correct. However I am also a bit old fashion. I am not one to go around bragging when it comes to matters of the heart and that is what this secret has to do with. I think I will just give you some hints and see if you can guess my secret. This secret is about something I did, there is evidence that the very first human civilizations did it as well. About 10% of present day human cultures do not do this. There have been many poems written about this including one by Shakespeare. Several songs feature this in the title including ones by Katy Perry, Hall & Oates and Faith Hill. There was even a band named this. Do you know my secret?
-Vlad out

Fridays Chat w/ Vlad - Aug 6, 2021

Friday Chat w/ Vlad

Hey it’s Vlad. As you all know, I am the leader of the ambassadors at JABCECC. When you combine that, with my larger than life personality, it is easy to see how some of the others might feel insignificant. To help with that, I have decided to dedicate this weeks chat to one of the other ambassadors. Today I have Lena with me. She is one of the foxes I was able to get out of Russia as part of my rescue. Welcome to my chat Lena. Thanks Vlad, happy to be here. The first question I have about you is something all our fans are dying to know..what is your favorite thing about me? Geez Vlad, 🙄 that IS a tough one...I would have to say your sense of humility. Yes, good answer Lena. While it would be easy to get full of oneself when you have the looks, the charm, the intelligence and are a natural born leader, I have somehow managed to stay quite humble. It’s truly a testament to my excellence. Vlad, I may need to change my answer. The best thing about you is your ability to comprehend satire. Yes Lena, I am quite good at that as well. Next question, do you like being an ambassador at JABCECC? Oh absolutely Vlad, it is super duper cool. The best thing about it is all the people I meet. They are all so nice. I get to show everyone how awesome foxes are so they can help the foxes out there that are less fortunate than us, which lets be honest, is like 99.999% of all the foxes that exist. Very touching Lena, and you are correct it is sad and unfortunate the most of the foxes of the world don’t get to hang out with me. Whatever Vlad, I also really like the trainers at JABCECC. They have taught me to do all kinds of cool stuff. I especially like the nose work. It lets me use my natural instincts to find things using just my sense of smell. Of course when I succeed I get lots of super yummy cheese. So Lena, I’ve told you this before, we are supposed to be training these people to give us treats and how we liked to be scratched, they aren’t training us! Is that so Vlad? Well I’ve heard about you and one of your trainers. You hot for teacher Vlad?? Anything you’d like to say about that Vlad? Yes Lena....Vlad out.

Fridays Chat w/ Vlad - Aug 13, 2021

Friday Chat w/ Vlad

Hello, it’s Wilson. I know y’all were expecting a “Hey it’s Vlad” but you won’t be hearing from Vlad this week. Last night he asked me if I could fill in for him. Actually, that is not 100% accurate. Last night he TOLD me I WOULD be filling in for him. This is the note I got. “Hey Willy, you’ll need to do my chat on Friday. I’ll be otherwise occupied. If you get stuck for something to say just talk about how great I am. People can’t get enough of that. You’ll do great. Hugs, Vladdy”. From what I have been able to learn about Vlad, when he says “otherwise occupied” it has something to do with world domination. Anyway, it’s great to meet everyone. I am the newest member of the JABCECC team. I came here with my sister Agnes. We were both orphaned when we were just a few days old and our mommy died. No one knows exactly how it happened, but seeing how so many people hate coyotes it would not be a surprise to find that humans where involved. We were found by some people who thought we were wonderful and deserved a life. I have to think our mommy was looking over us and guided these people to us. My sister and I made our way to our foster mom who bottle fed us to keep us alive. We are very grateful for everything she did for us. As we got older our foster mom realized we could not stay with her forever. Also, we never learned how to live like wild coyotes and we associated humans with positive things so our chance of survival, if we were set free, was very low. Our foster mom searched the country for a home for us. Everyone was so happy when JABCECC reached out and said they could provide a forever home for both me and my sister. I argue with my sis sometimes, when I’m mad at her instead of calling her Agnes I call her Anus, but I don’t know what I would do without her. In the habitat next to ours at JABCECC we have an emotional support wolf named Lucan. In the wild wolves and coyotes would not get along so the staff here wasn’t sure we could stay next to him. It turns out we love the guy and he loves us as well. When we grow up we would like to teach the world that coyotes aren’t evil and make our mommy proud.

Fridays Chat w/ Vlad - Aug 20, 2021

Friday Chat w/ Vlad

Hey it’s Vlad. So did everyone miss me? I know, that is a silly question, of course you missed me. So let me tell you I had quite an experience last week. I was sitting in my house having very deep thoughts. You know the type..what is the meaning of life, is it more important to be liked or respected, if a cannibal eats a clown would they say this tastes funny? Anyway, I suddenly become aware of a bit of a rumbling in my stomach. It had been a few hours since my last meal and I was getting a bit hungry. As luck would have it my strong sense of hearing picked up on a distinctive buzzing sound. There was a fly somewhere nearby. A little sky raisin would be just what I needed to tide me over until my next meal. We foxes do enjoy eating bugs. They actually have high amounts of the amino acid taurine in their nervous systems which is good for foxes. Soon I was able to catch a glimpse of the flavorful fly on the other side of my enclosure. I sprung into action, quickly closing the distance between me and my soon to be snack. Of course the other foxes in the enclosure noticed my sudden burst of activity. If I was not careful one of them could get to it first. Thinking quick, I blurted out that I just had a leg cramp and needed to work it out. This clever ruse gave me the time I need to leap into the air and catch the fly in my mouth. Ok, so this is where things started to go bad. I suddenly felt a burning sensation and quickly realized my afternoon snack was actually one of those jalapeño sky raisins also known as bee. I must have let out a yelp as the others inquired if I was ok. Not wanting to admit my error I said “of course”. Now my tongue must of been swelling a bit as Sergei asked if I just said saw horse. I started walking back but must have been trying too hard to seem normal as I tripped over a pink squeaky pig and fell face first into the dirt right on top of the pig. I was writhing around trying to get up and that pig just kept oinking at me. Vasily comes over and says “Dude, you look like a pufferfish with a peanut allergy in a peanut factory”. Yes, my face was swollen. How was your week?

Vlad out
#vlad

Fridays Chat w/ Vlad - Aug 27, 2021

Friday Chat w/ Vlad

Hey it’s Vlad. Sometimes conservation work gives me whiplash. For every bit of good new, there seems to be an equal amount of bad news. So which would you like first the good news or the bad news? It turns out you humans have actually studied this. When you ask which news people want first, 78% of them say they would like the bad news first. However, when you ask the person (or fox I imagine) which news they would like to give first, most say the good news. Further, when you examine the mood of the individual after both pieces of news, those that got the bad news first were happier. So it would make me happy to give you the good news first but it would make you happy to get the bad news first. Seeing as I am such a selfless giver, I will tell you the bad news first.

You know how wolves were recently removed from the endangered species list right. And then you know how the states where the majority of wolves live started campaigns to exterminate them? It was said that this policy was a product of the last people in charge and the new people in charge would surely reverse this policy. We now know the answer to this question. The current people in charge decided it was ok for the states to keep killing wolves. Doesn’t this just frost you? Wolves are such important members of the ecosystem and yet some people think it’s a good idea to reduce their numbers to levels that set back conservation efforts by many years.

Ok, so now the good news. You have probably heard about the fires burning in Northern California. Some of these fires are in an area that is known to be inhabited by two wolf packs, the Lassen pack and the Whaleback pack. Given the magnitude of these fires biologists were fearful that none of these wolves could have survived. A recent expedition sent out to check on the status of the packs found them alive and well. When the researchers approached the pack they immediately ran away but the biologists did spot this years puppies. GPS data from the tracking collar on the mother shows when the fire burned through she stayed with her pups instead of fleeing for safety. What a mom.

Vlad out
#jabcecc #friday