Poll: Americans consider pets family, bestow human names
NEW YORK — An Associated Press-Petside.com poll released Tuesday found that half of all American pet owners consider their pets as much a part of the family as any other person in the household; another 36 percent said their pet is part of the family but not a full member.
And that means pets often get the human touch: Most pet owners cop to feeding animals human food, nearly half give the animals human names and nearly a third let them sleep in a human bed. While just 19 percent had bought an outfit for a pet, 43 percent felt their pet had its own “sense of style.”
Singles were more likely to say a pet was a full member of the family than married people — 66 percent of single women versus 46 percent of married women, for example. And men were less likely to call their pet a full member of the household.
The AP-Petside.com poll was conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media from May 28-June 1, 2009.
Montana city ends policy seeking Internet passwords
BOZEMAN, Mont. — The Bozeman City Commission has voted to eliminate a hiring policy that allowed the city to look at information found on social networking sites in considering job applications.
Officials voted Monday to end the practice, which city Commissioner Jeff Rupp called an “egregious violation of privacy.”
“We have checks and balances that should be used, and I don’t think they are,” Rupp said. He also asked why it wasn’t vetted by the legal and information technology departments before being added to city hiring manuals.
Applicants for city jobs were asked for usernames and passwords for Web sites and social networking sites, sparking an outcry from those who thought the policy went too far, according to a report last week from KBZK-TV.
TV show helps Utah boy survive night solo in woods
SALT LAKE CITY — When he realized he’d been separated from his family on a weekend hike in a northern Utah forest, 9-year-old Grayson Wynne’s thoughts turned to television.
Grayson watches “Man vs. Wild” on the Discovery Channel every week with his brothers and his dad. On the show, host and adventurer Bear Grylls strands himself in the wilderness and then shows viewers how to survive the sticky situations.
That’s where Grayson says he learned to leave clues behind to help searchers find him.
On Saturday, when he was scared and alone in the Ashley National Forest, Grayson started tearing up his yellow rain slicker, despite the intermittent downpours, and tying pieces to trees.
“I just used my hands,” said Grayson, who was found safe Sunday after spending 18 hours lost in the forest. “I don’t know how many times I tore the thing but quite a lot.”
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