Animals

With the midday sun beating down on his tricorn hat, Jim Nichols, 27, heaves rocks into a wheelbarrow. Nichols, in 18th-century linen breeches, shirt and vest, is restoring a barnyard wall at the Colonial Plantation, a "Living History Farm" at Ridley Creek State Park in Edgmont, Delaware County. Nichols, director of the farm, surveys the 118-acre domain with satisfaction. Down in the pigsty, five hungry piglets suckle from their fiercely protective mother. In the field, dark-brown Belgian mares graze leisurely.

Gerta was quite the little nibbler. As throngs of admirers passed by her pen, Gerta couldn't resist the temptation of nibbling at their clothes. While all the other goats admired their fans from eye level at last week's Burlington County Farm Fair, the 6- month-old Toggenburg dairy goat took advantage of the strategic space between the planks of her pen to get to know their clothes. "Gerta is really curious about people," said Michael Angermeier, 7, of Indian Mills, as the little nibbler gently chewed his shirt.

My son William never liked zoos. He felt sorry for the animals, stuck in cages and far away from their real homes. With this in mind, I decided that for our annual vacations we would travel to the national parks and refuges. There, we would get a glimpse of wildlife in their own habitat. It has been a challenging undertaking that has never disappointed us. Our trips have been filled with fun stories and serendipitous animal sightings. A rare wood stork appeared to us in J.N. "Ding" Darling National Reserve on Sanibel Island, Fla. A giant basin rattlesnake darted out on the trail a few feet in front of William at Zion National Park.

Many pets die in home fires even when their owners escape. For the protection of all, be sure you have smoke alarms and hold family fire drills at least every other month. Include rescue plans for pets in these drills. Keep extra dog leashes at all planned escape points in your home. Put a small cat carrier where the cat sleeps at night. If one of your means of escape is through a window by means of an emergency ladder, put dog and cat crates at the window as well, along with a rope so that animals can be lowered.

The rockets' red glare and bombs bursting in air that accompany tomorrow's Fourth of July celebrations are part of the partying for most Americans. But for pets, Independence Day can be terrifying or, at the very least, disruptive. Dogs, cats, birds and other creatures suffer when subjected to startling noises. Holidays also can upset their normal routines. In addition, festive occasions often lead people to stuff not just themselves but their pets with treats. But peanuts and salsa are not good for animals.

You can hear the animals talk at the Philadelphia Zoo. The newest exhibit there, "Xtinkshun: A Wild Puppet Xperience," is a multimedia presentation, featuring seven puppets created by the Jim Henson Co. that talk about animal extinction. The company is best known for creating the Muppets and the puppets for Sesame Street. Theatrical puppet presentations at outdoor stages, daily parades, and a short "mockumentary" film make up "Xtinkshun," which opened Saturday and closes Oct. 31. Most of the puppets represent endangered species, and one, Didi the Dodo, stands in for an animal that is extinct, sharing her wisdom in the hope of preventing other creatures from dying out. Didi is joined by Leo the Golden Lion Tamarin, Alfreda Cheetah, Iggle the Eaglet, Phibi Frog, Igor the Tiger, and the Douc Langur.

I FAIL TO see how letter-writer Mike Franklin can think that a dog, or any animal for that matter, is "soulless. " I am one of those dog-lovers that he talks about so disdainfully. But I do not consider myself to be "over the top" - I'm simply a human being who's intelligent enough to realize that animals are living beings who can experience joy and pain. I know firsthand how much love a dog can bring to one's life. If Mr. Franklin thinks a dog doesn't have a soul, he should go back to school to learn how to be a compassionate human being.

Patricia Traub's passionate empathy for the welfare of animals, wild and domesticated, pervades the paintings and drawings she is exhibiting at Rodger LaPelle Galleries. Traub paints as a realist, but with a strong allegorical inflection. Her pictures pronounce a fraternal bond between humans and animals that we exploit for food or whose habitats we threaten. This proselytizing concern leads Traub to compose intensely lit canvases that combine naked humans and animals such as cheetahs, goats and wild dogs.

Fashion and appearance are high priorities for 14-year-old Myira. A typical teenager, she delights in having her hair done, using makeup, and shopping for new outfits with matching accessories. She dreams of becoming a fashion designer and even now does sketches of clothing. An animal lover, Myira particularly likes small dogs that she can cuddle and play with. She enjoys going to school, where she receives some special education services. Art, gym and computers are her favorite subjects.

Marian Rodee doesn't like the term fetishes for the carved animals on display at the University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. An anthropologist studying the Zunis applied the term back in the 19th century, and it stuck, said the co-curator of the traveling exhibit "The Fetish Carvers of Zuni. " But as far as she's concerned, it smacks too much of Freud. As far as the Zunis themselves are concerned, though, they use the term when speaking in English, "but in their own language the word is we-ma, meaning animal," Rodee said during a brief visit to Philadelphia to set up the exhibit, which will be on display through May 28. There are 130, well, all right, fetishes, in the exhibit - bears and badgers and lizards and rattlesnakes, mountain lions and buffalo and horned toads and owls, wolves and coyotes and sheep - with an occasional human figure, corn maidens and priests.