Definitely need heartworm prevention for your pets. There are MANY heartworm positive pets in shelters, simply abandoned by their "owners" because they can't afford the treatment. Being on 2 rescue mailing lists, it's simply dismaying seeing how many people just don't think about prevention for those 4 legged creatures we claim to love.
I laughed about the "state bird" comment...that's exactly what my mom wrote in the welcome book at one of the state park beaches we visited down here when I was a kid. We can't even eat out at night because we don't have a screened porch