"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.
~~ Friedrich Nietzsche
The Alliance for the Wild Rockies (AWR) filed a lawsuit, on Monday, in a challenge to "the U.S. Forest Service's decision to go forward with three road-building and logging projects in occupied habitat for the endangered Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bear. According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bear is almost certainly going extinct and roads pose the most imminent threat to these bears."
Do these government departments / bureaus ever talk to - or listen to - each other?
Here you have the FWS - part of the Department of the Interior - whose "... mission is, working with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitats ..." stating that building roads through the Cabinet-Yaak area is contributing to the decimation of the grizzly population. A population, by the way, that is limited to only 5 areas in the western United States and is estimated (April, 2007) to number less than 50 individuals in what is known as the Cabinet-Yaak Recovery Zone. This zone consists of the Cabinet Mountains and Yaak Valley.
Now, we add the USFS, part of the Department of Agriculture - but funded through the Department of the Interior. Their mission "... is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations." Doesn't sound incompatible to me? And yet, in practice, the left hand certainly has different goals than the right hand (non-politically speaking).
The USFS projects, which AWR is challenging, include:
Commercial thinning on 780 acres, regeneration harvest on 398 acres, prescribed burning only on 691 acres, 5.5 miles of new permanent roads, and 2 miles of temp roads in Little Beaver Drainage;
Commercial timber harvest on 2,506 acres and prescribed fire on 3,148 acres in Miller West Fisher; and
Timber harvest, prescribed burning, pre-commercial thin, and access mgmt changes in the Grizzly Planning Subunit.
The full complaint (PDF file) can be found on the AWR website.
One thing I like about living in Arizona is the lack of bugs. In fact, I can't remember the last time I saw a fly, and mosquitoes are virtually non-existent in every day life. There are bees, wasps, and scorpions, but we (personally) don't tend to see them.
You can imagine my surprise when I happened to catch movement in the kitchen light fixture last night. Expecting a nasty, yucky, evil critter, I crept closer only to find that our visitor was a very, very, very tiny lizard. Seriously! It couldn't have been much over an inch long (not counting the little tail) and was almost transparent. Looking up from below, I'd have sworn I could see through it.
Assuming it had wandered in to get out of the storm, we figured it would wander back out the same way and proceeded to ignore it, in favor of our steak and wild rice dinner. Well, we were wrong. We finished dinner, did the dishes, and were in the process of making popcorn several hours later, only to find that our guest was still in the light fixture.
A quick tap on the cover didn't elicit much of a reaction, so we decided that 'Lizzy' wasn't doing well and needed a little human assistance. Our first mistake!
In a comedic turn worthy of the Three Stooges, Mark loosened the plastic cover while I held a large bowl under our visitor. 'Lizzy' dropped out of the fixture, into the bowl, and expressed its lack of appreciation by jumping right back out! I got a hand under it, briefly, while the little thing continued to jump and fall.
Landing on my pant leg, it seemed quite happy. Although in hindsight, the poor thing was probably in shock. I mean that's a huge fall for a one-inch body! It was even rather cute, poised just below my knee.
Nonetheless, I really wasn't into wearing a lizard on my sweats, so I - again - attempted to scoop our friend up. Zoom! Zip! In a flash, it was gone!
With a lot more energy than it had just displayed sitting in the light, 'Lizzy' took a flying leap off my sweats, only to land between my toes! Now there's a feeling you don't experience every day! Not to mention, the impulse is to squeeze your toes together - not at all in the best interests of an itsy, bitsy lizard.
Another attempted grab and 'Lizzy' was scurrying across the kitchen floor toward Mark. Man! that baby could move! This was just not going well, at all. I was beginning to envision several hours of chase-the-lizard in my future.
Finally, while Mark avoided squashing our little buddy - who had developed a definite foot fetish and was trying desperately to get to Mark's toes - I snuck up behind the lizard and managed a quick scoop. Gently clasping my hands together, I cheered my victory! Woohoo!! Mission accomplished!
Now what?!
Although skilled, I couldn't exactly open the door with my feet. Mark, doing battle with the light fixture (amazing how those things come off in a flash, but it takes a team of engineers to get 'em back on!), looked at me like I had asked him to fly. Then, standing in the middle of the kitchen with my hands wrapped around a strange creature, it occurred to me to wonder if our little friend was prone to biting. I mean, tickling my toes was one thing. Biting my hand? Oh, hell no!
As it turned out, I didn't have to worry. Mark took pity on me, put down the light cover, and opened the door. Rushing along the walk, down the stairs, and toward the grass, it didn't occur to me - until I hit the gravel - that I had no shoes on! (I don't know which hurt more - running onto the rocks or trying to stop.)
Oh, well. The damage, hopefully minimal, was done and I still had a baby lizard in my hands. Leaning over the nearest rock, I lifted one hand. 'Lizzy' didn't move!
"Sure! Jump all over my kitchen and now - outside, where you belong - you want to sleep in my hand! I don't think so!"
Feet throbbing and attitude deteriorating, I tried to remember that the poor little lizard had had a much worse night than I had. With my hand tipped toward the rock, I waited and 'Lizzy' got the hint. Leaving him/her to explore, I hobbled back up the stairs.
Years ago, I wrote a novel about a woman who inherited a horse ranch from her eccentric uncle. In the process of putting it all together, I did a fair amount of research into ranches and horses. What I didn't research (and should have) is the care of livestock. Horses, cattle, sheep - different species, different needs, different problems.
I mention this because, a few nights ago, I had an idea for another story - about a woman and her daughter, and their collection of animals. This triggered the memory of a baby lamb in my aunt's farmhouse kitchen, next to the stove during one very cold winter. How did my aunt and uncle know how to care for this little creature? What did they feed it? How often? Did it have to have shots? Why wasn't it with the ewe?
Obviously, if I am going to write a story about caring for, in this case, a newborn calf - I need to get educated. So, since I'm really tired of unpacking and putting away, why not start my research?
After a couple of false starts, I found an interesting site that offers cattle suppliesand information about why, when, and how to use them. For example, there is an energy supplement to help calves under stress or when temperatures fall below 32 degrees. (An important thing for me to know, since my stories tend to take place on the chilly Colorado plains.) Then, there are pest-control items, grooming tools, feeders, mineral holders, fencing, and on and on and on. It would be impossible to rely on my memory of family farms from almost 40 years ago, so everything becomes important pieces of the whole. As they are for people with real livestock in real fields and real barns.
I'm glad I found Jeffers Livestock, because I need to know more than just what my characters' animals require. I need to know what supplies cost, how and when to use them, and how to get them from the supplier to the barn. Readers who know are not shy about 'educating' lazy authors!
The fact that twenty-one horses would become dizzy, disoriented, and dead at the same time defies logic. Even a virus or illness wouldn't, one would think, take all of the animals down at once. It's an odd - and disturbing - situation.
Now, the story has gotten even more interesting.
The team, apparently, owns 26 horses. Twenty-one were given a 'vitamin' shot, "a supplement known as Biodyl, which contains a combination of vitamin B12, a form of selenium called sodium selenite and other minerals." (AP News Story, 04/22/09) Five horses were not given the injection, designed to help with exhaustion. Simply put - 21 are dead, 5 are not.
There are a lot of unanswered questions about the compound's origin - was it the brand-name drug, a generic version, or a compounded version used? Where was the drug manufactured? (It's illegal in the United States - to make and to use.) Is this what caused the internal bleeding in all 21 horses, as found in the necropsies?
Legally, the supplements found in Biodyl could be purchased and administered separately. It will be interesting to see where the chemicals came from, who created or combined them, and whether there will be criminal charges. Although, we probably will never know the whole story.
Bottom line? Twenty-one amazing animals are dead. Definitely caused by human error; heavily influenced by human greed.
I don't usually read Science news; not one of my strong-suits. But the article on research into the secrets of bird flight caught my attention. Nature definitely works more economically than man could ever contemplate.
Scientists, now able to capture animals and insects on high-speed film, have discovered that the simplest flight pattern - a turn - is even more simple than imagined.
It appears that flying creatures, from tiny fruit flys to bats to birds, don't go through a complex process to turn. They start the turn by changing how they flap their wings. When they've turned as far as they need, they simply start normal flapping motions and immediately straighten out to normal flight. No muss; no fuss.
I can't wait to read what they learn about other maneuvers, as the research continues.
Scientists have been studying three families of fish for years. So far, only female Cetomimidae, known as Flabby Whalefish, have been found. In the families Mirapinnidae (Tapetails) and Megalomycteridae (Bignose Fish) only juveniles and males, respectively, have been studied. Very odd, isn't it?
Well, not any more. Finally able to do DNA testing on samples of all three fish, scientists have determined that these 3 different families are the same fish at different stages of development.
Apparently, juveniles live within 600 feet of the surface, where food is plentiful. Males gorge themselves at this stage of development and, as they mature, their jaws fuse, their livers enlarge, and they stop eating. Females, due to the depths at which the adults live, develop large mouths and teeth in the gill area to aid in finding the minimal food available.
I read the above-titled press release with no small measure of joy.
Issued today, by Earthjustice.org, it explains the memo sent, by the White House Chief of Staff, to the heads of all executive departments and agencies. Effective immediately, all pending regulations are stopped and the rules must be reviewed by new agency heads in the Obama administration. A good start.
However, many of what they call midnight regulations, snuck in under cover of dark, were published before Obama took office and before the Emanuel memo was issued.
There are still many in Congress who support what Bush tried to do to the environment and endangered species in this country. President Obama's administration will not have an easy time, undoing the mess that was left for them. I urge you to join me and let your voice be heard.
Take a minute, if you would, and send your message urging President Obama to act: Five Important Ways to Break with the Bush Legacy.
1. Allow gray wolves in the northern Rockies to fully recover before removing federal protections
2. Protect Appalachian streams from being buried by mountaintop removal rubble
3. Restore oversight by wildlife scientists to the Endangered Species Act
4. Keep Western public lands free from oil and gas drilling
The person who said, "You train a dog, but a cat trains you," certainly knew animals. Paka has recently trained us to play a new game. It's actually really cute, and odd for a cat. And I started the nightmare a few days ago.
When we go into the bathroom to smoke, Paka now comes charging in - voice raised, rubbing on everything, and leading us to the shower. That's my cue to fill a glass with water and - slowly - pour it into the tub, so that he can watch it go down the drain. The odd part is - he absolutely hates getting wet or anything to do with water and the bathtub.
At first, that was enough. He would balance on the edge of the tub and enjoy it from a healthy distance. Then, still balanced on the edge, Paka started leaning over as far as he could to sniff the tub. Quite a sight, a cat-behind sticking out of the shower - pointing straight up in the air and tail waggling in happiness. And it was enough.
Paka wouldn't climb into the tub at all and if I poured more water, he wouldn't even look. But, you know cats! Ever curious, he eventually had to climb into the bathtub, shaking his wet paws in disgust, just to get a closer look and smell. When the water and the smell were gone, he would come out. Simple, quick; not a problem.
Then, I showed Mark how Paka loved his game -- and a feline ritual was born. After a second baptism of the shower floor, Paka walks along the edge of the tub until he can sit on the shower chair. Once he's comfortably settled, we are required to open the other shower door and play "Peek-A-Boo," one of us on each side of the open doors.
When I got up today, Mark was going back to bed. Paka yelled for 15 minutes - until I told him we weren't going to play in the bathroom and Mark shut the door.
Now, Paka is pouting! It's either terrible-twos or teenage rebellion (he's almost 3 years old) - true-age or 'cat-years' - he's just plain demanding.
One of the things I do, when I'm not crocheting, blogging, and avoiding housework is search out and add sites to a variety of categories at Best of the Web. Currently, I'm exploring species of birds - alive and extinct. It's a rather upsetting situation sometimes.
Take, for example, the Passenger Pigeon.
Two hundred years ago, in 1808, there were documented sightings, from the likes of Audubon and Muir, putting the population of these beautiful birds in the billions. Yes, Billions - per flock.
It didn't take long for humanity to wreak its usual havoc. Less than 100 years later, the last bird was gone from the wild:
The last wild bird was a female shot on 24 March 1900 by a 14 year old boy named Press Clay. He shot this bird at his family farm near Sargents, Pike County, Ohio, USA. The stuffed skin of this female is now kept in the museum of the Ohio Historical Centre, Columbus. A few individual passenger pigeons still survived in captivity. Some in Milwaukee (Wisconsin, USA), Chicago (Illinois, USA) and some in the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens (Ohio, USA). By 1909, only the Cincinnati birds were left. These surviving birds were a female named Martha and two males of which one was named George. By the of 1910 only the female Martha survived. Martha was found dead on the floor of her cage on Tuesday 1 September 1914 at 13.00h (1.00 p.m.) precisely. Her keepers had just checked a short while previously. Martha, the very last passenger pigeon, is now kept in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (Fuller 2000; Wilcove 1989)
http://www.petermaas.nl/extinct/speciesinfo/passengerpigeon.htm
Remember, this is billions of birds -- per documented flock -- wiped out in less than 100 years.
If I recall correctly, there is a lame duck in Washington who seems to think that this is the way to treat non-human residents of this planet. And, rumor has it, he was a History major.
Apparently, some lessons don't stick.
And do not get me started on the mammals that this moron is endangering!
I read an interview with soon-to-be-ex President Bush recently. He was detailing his religious beliefs. I think he missed a page or two (thousand) in the how-to-be-a-Christian manual!
Check out this press release from Defenders of Wildlife:
For Immediate Release
December 11, 2008
Contact(s) Cat Lazaroff, (202)772-3270
Bush administration takes parting shot at endangered wildlife
Last minute Endangered Species Act regulations put nation's wildlife at risk of extinction
WASHINGTON—Rushing to put in place changes it failed to secure in the past eight years, the Bush administration has finalized new Endangered Species Act (ESA) regulations today, cutting huge holes in the safety net that protects animals and plants in danger of becoming extinct.
First proposed by the Department of the Interior a little over three months ago, the new regulations will eliminate the requirement that agencies seek advice from expert biologists with federal wildlife agencies in decisions about whether dams, towers, highways and other projects will likely harm imperiled species.
"This administration’s disdain for wildlife and the environment has never been more clear than it is today," said Jamie Rappaport Clark, executive vice president of Defenders of Wildlife and former director of the Fish and Wildlife Service. "For 35 years, the Endangered Species Act has helped save and recover imperiled wildlife on the brink of extinction. Now, with this administration facing its last days, they are doing everything they can to cement their anti-environmental legacy before the Obama administration takes office."
The Bush administration’s last minute rulemaking has drawn heavy criticism from the public, lawmakers, conservation groups and newspaper editorialists around the country. More than 250,000 comments opposing the changes were submitted to the Interior Department in the 60 days it allowed for the public to respond to the changes.
But the massive public outcry seems to have fallen on deaf ears. In its push to finalize the rules before President-elect Barack Obama takes office, the department had only 15 people spend only 32 hours reading the comments, averaging mere seconds in reviewing each of the more than 250,000 comments. Department officials then ignored the major concerns raised by the comments, making only cosmetic changes to the original proposals.
Both President-elect Obama and key Democratic leaders have signaled that they will oppose the ESA changes. In addition, Defenders intends to take immediate legal action to stop these regulations.
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has argued that the new regulations are needed to keep the ESA from being used to limit emissions from coal power plants and other polluting sources that contribute to global warming. This continues the Bush administration’s failed approach of ignoring the problem.
"Global warming presents the greatest threat this generation has seen to ourselves, our wildlife and our environment, and yet the Bush administration has dragged its feet on addressing the impacts of a warming planet for its entire time in office," Clark said. "While the ESA by itself certainly can't provide a comprehensive solution to global warming, its protections will be essential in helping at-risk species survive a changing climate. If allowed to stand, these regulations will deprive the Obama administration of a powerful tool to protect wildlife and ecosystems from the effects of global warming."
Many of the ESA regulation changes finalized today were tried before in a failed legislative effort by former Representative Richard Pombo (R-CA), whose anti-environmental record and repeated attacks on the ESA contributed to his defeat in the 2006 elections.
"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service are the keepers of the flame for our threatened and endangered wildlife. They are equipped to make decisions based on looking at the whole picture for a species, on what’s happening to their habitat, their health and other significant impacts," Clark said. "It seems that the Bush administration has prioritized the interests of its industry allies over its responsibility to the public for protecting our nation’s imperiled wildlife. We will work in the courts, with Congress, and with the Obama administration to overturn these damaging regulations, so that we can begin to address the environmental neglect and damage that has been done over the last eight years."
###
Thank heaven we only have a few weeks left before sanity retakes the White House. Contact President-elect Obama and let him know that these abominations need to be reversed!
I love to play computer games - online and offline. We belong to a game club and get one game each month, at about 1/3 of the regular price, for download. Of course, there are a bunch of great sites that let you download demos or play online, so I'm never short of games to play.
Since we've added pages on Facebook, I've found a great set of games - Save the Planet! For zero out-of-pocket, I can play great games and have a positive impact on the world.
There are arcade, card, word, and strategy games, as well as the daily bonus games. Every day, one randomly selected game from each category becomes a bonus game and points are doubled for 24 hours. Why does this matter?
Points matter - beyond bragging rights - because the more one wins, the more one can donate to favorite causes. Or donate to them all. There are so many ways to win points and so many ways to help, I never want to stop playing.
Feed the Hungry with the World Food Programme. Help offset Carbon Dioxide through CarbonFund.org. Supply clean drinking water where it's needed most by helping Action Against Hunger.
Giving and helping has never been more fun! And those are just a few of the options on Facebook!
I was working, at BOTW.org, trying to find information about endangered species. There are a number of good pages and quite a number of bad pages. But there are not many that scream at me to share them with everyone I know.
The information is absolutely amazing! I found links to what they call, alternately, flagship species and umbrella species. It explains ecoregions, projects, and ways for us average peeps to take action.
But, what I just had to share was the section on, what they call, Camera Traps. These are places, around the world, where cameras with infrared sensors capture animals in their natural habitat. See incredible images from the Amazon, Sumatra, Cambodia, Indonesia, Costa Rica, and Panama.
So many species are in so much danger - thanks to humans. It's time to look these beautiful creatures in the eye and commit to their future, in any way we can.
After all, man is primarily responsible for the threats to their habitats, their food sources, and their - need I say it - lives.
Zoo handlers in Northern Japan brought in a 'friend' to mate with their female polar bear. The two animals got along well, but the zookeepers started to notice some odd similarities.
After two DNA tests and a physical exam . . . oops! Apparently, although determined to be a male from the age of three months, Tsuyoshi just wasn't going to be that-kind-of-friend, after all.
Note to zookeepers: might wanna check these things out - early?!
I get this great newsletter from Care2.com: Healthy & Green Living. It's filled with great ideas for, you guessed it, healthy and green living. There are natural remedies, cleaning ideas, and great recipes - among other things. I highly recommend it.
Friday's issue included a link to a fantastic site. If you're worried about the food that you're feeding your pet, worry no more! Pet Promise has the answer to all of your questions. I was seriously impressed.
They promise (good word, eh?) no animal byproducts, no added growth hormones, no antibiotic-fed meat sources, no factory farm meats or poultry. Pet Promise also promise natural meat, chicken, or ocean-caught fish; and they know where the meat comes from, because they only work with ranchers who can guarantee that their animals were raised without hormones and antibiotics.
What's even more impressive - to this niece and granddaughter of family farmers - is that Pet Promise didn't intend to be a pet food company. The original goal of their work was to support family farmers and ranchers; the people committed, for generations, to standards of quality and sustainability and humane treatment of animals. You just don't get that from corporate - grow everything with chemical-enhancements in a cage - farms.
I grew up watching my cousins show cattle at the local fairs and helping my aunt collect eggs from the chicken coop. (If you've ever collected eggs, you know that hens don't share well with others.) Not to mention, steak-and-eggs (or fried chicken) dinners that were the best on the planet. My uncle grew corn for the cattle, that lived in the barn and roamed at will. The chickens were in a large coop, with a nesting area that had more room than the bathroom of our old studio apartment.
This is something that means a lot to me - supporting family farmers, healthy foods for us and our pets, and reducing the market for products that flood our systems with growth-hormones and dangerous additives.
As a pet owner, okay as a person owned by a pet, I live in fear that my baby will have an emergency that I cannot afford. (Given that I can only occasionally afford food, this is a pretty safe assumption.)
Veterinary Emergency Funding Mission
If your pet had an emergency, would you be able to pay for it? Veterinary emergency care can be very costly and most emergency hospitals require payment up front. Lack of sufficient funds can leave an owner faced with euthanasia for a beloved companion. The Veterinary Emergency Funding Mission (VEFM) helps locate these funds.
A 'friend' of mine, with years of veterinary experience, understands the fear that many of us face. In 2004, our cat 'Bear' developed a bowel blockage that eventually, painfully, killed him. If we had been able to have him fixed, we would have reduced the probability that he would develop this condition.
If you need help - or if you can help - please visit VEFM.org.
I haven't had very kind thoughts about the governor of Alaska - pretty much since I first heard about her. And my opinion just keeps getting more and more negative.
For whom, exactly, does McCain think Sarah Palin has appeal? Seriously!? Oh, that's right - those who believe that humans are more important and take priority over every other species on the planet.
Despite strong scientific, ethical and public opposition to aerial hunting, Governor Palin has…
* Proposed paying a $150 bounty for the left foreleg of each dead wolf.
* Approved a $400,000 state-funded propaganda campaign to promote aerial hunting.
* Introduced legislation to make it even easier to use aircraft to hunt wolves and bears.
From: Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund
I urge you to watch this shocking video. Chances are pretty good that - if McCain is elected - this woman will be President before the 4 years are out. Can our animal friends afford that?
I DON'T THINK SO!!
As much as I don't trust Obama and crew, I truly cannot abide the thought that this morally reprehensible person could ever reach a position of national power!
For anyone in doubt - the bible was written by man to control man's behavior - just ask King James. Mankind has evolved since those days - or at least some of mankind has.
Please! Stop buying into the nonsense that organized religion and questionable politics keeps foisting upon us! Think and live beyond yourself!
Help save the planet! For all the creatures who are trying to survive here!
For more than 30 years, the Endangered Species Act has protected wildlife at risk of extinction. Now the Bush/Cheney Administration wants to eliminate vital checks and balances that are crucial to protect our polar bears, wolves and other imperiled wildlife.
Announced earlier this week, the Bush/Cheney proposal would severely limit scientific review by the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service of projects that could harm imperiled wildlife. And it would explicitly limit the ability of these expert agencies to consider how greenhouse gas emissions from such projects could impact polar bears, wolverines and other wildlife that may go extinct due to global warming.
Instead, agencies proposing projects such as highways, dams, mines, oil or gas drilling and virtually any other activity would be allowed to decide for themselves whether a project is likely to impact any of the nearly 1,400 species currently protected by the Endangered Species Act -- without the crucial independent review now provided by scientific experts at the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Many of these agencies do not even have biologists or other qualified staff to make such a determination.
Even worse, the new regulations would impose a brief 60-day review period, making it even less likely that anyone involved in the process will have the time or expertise to fully evaluate the potential harmful effects of a given project on sensitive wildlife or the habitat it needs to survive.
There are less than 160 days left in the Bush/Cheney Administration -- and even less time for your Members of Congress to act. Please take action now to help stop the Bush/Cheney Administration’s last-minute attempt to eliminate effective protections for the wildlife that you and I love.
Sincerely,
Rodger Schlickeisen President Defenders of Wildlife
P.S. Two years ago, Defenders led the fight that stopped Congressional legislation that would have gutted the Endangered Species Act. Now we need your help to stop the Bush Administration from trying to do the same thing. Please take action now!
Defenders of Wildlife is a national, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to the protection of all native wild animals and plants in their natural communities.
Defenders of Wildlife can be contacted at: 1130 17th Street, NW Washington, DC 20036
I am a huge fan of social networking, with pages all over the Internet. Thanks to these sites, I've managed to reconnect with friends from grade school, junior high and high school. Some of those relationships go back over 40 years.
Today I found a site for Paka and me to join - pets are welcome at Zootoo.com. Unlike some sites, it was really easy to build a profile and add pictures of Paka. I think I even found one of his 'relatives' - amazing similarities.
Meeting people and exploring profiles is fun, but Zootoo.com is much more than just socializing.
Sleepy Paka
All actions on Zootoo.com - adding photos, journaling, reviewing, asking and answering questions - earn points. Those points can be used to support the shelter and/or rescue group of your choice. In my case, I've chosen to help the Arizona Humane Society and Arizona Rescue Center.
I don't know about the Humane Society office in your area, but out here we're in trouble. There are so many abandoned cats, for example, that any new drop-offs are virtually guaranteed to be euthanized. Through my activities, which are interesting and a lot of fun, I can make a difference.
Please consider joining. Where else can you meet fellow pet lovers, get and give help with pet-parenting problems, and give to the organizations that need your help?
According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bear is almost certainly going extinct and roads pose the most imminent threat to these bears."
Now, we add the USFS, part of the Department of Agriculture - but funded through the Department of the Interior. Their mission "... is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations." Doesn't sound incompatible to me? And yet, in practice, the left hand certainly has different goals than the right hand (non-politically speaking).
Obviously, if I am going to write a story about caring for, in this case, a newborn calf - I need to get educated. So, since I'm really tired of unpacking and putting away, why not start my research?
One of the things I do, when I'm not crocheting, blogging, and avoiding housework is search out and add sites to a variety of categories at 
