"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
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?
Experts differ in opinions as to the cause. Some blame overfishing, which is forcing the penguins further out to find food and leaving them vulnerable to stronger ocean currents. Another theory, that global warming has altered ocean currents, created more cyclones, and made the seas rougher. As most of the birds are newly out of the nest, either of these make a great deal of sense.
So many animals are at risk these days, thanks to global warming and pollution, it's so sad to see the young ones in trouble.
As you can imagine, I was outraged when gray wolves were delisted in March, with several states planning wolf hunts for this fall. With a population of only about 2,000 in the area, the species is not nearly sufficient to withstand 'culling'. As the judge pointed out, the genetic diversity in the Rockies wolves is far from where it needs to be.
The order isn't permanent, and government attorneys may yet appeal the decision. Let us hope that it becomes and stays permanent.
We were watching this video from YouTube earlier and, being the skeptic I am, I had to look into this. According to Snopes, this is a True Story. Although, it's not quite what it seems.
These domesticated elephants are trained to use the paintbrushes and recreate the same picture, over and over. When they want a new color, they drop the brush. Obviously, they are not able to pick up a paintbrush, so their trainers give them a new one. That is, beyond the repetitive training, the only intervention by humans in the 'painting' process.
The organization that trains these elephants and sells the artwork offers this mission statement:
The Asian Elephant Art & Conservation Project (AEACP) is a non-profit organization dedicated to saving the diminishing number of Asian elephants left on our planet through its work with domesticated elephants. The AEACP raises funds through donations and the sale of artwork created by elephants in order to fulfill its mission.
Asian Elephants are seriously threatened in the wild, with populations estimated at less than 35,000. I'm not certain that I agree with teaching an elephant to paint, but I do support any efforts to protect these beautiful animals.
I've recently taken on editing at BestOfTheWeb. My favorite categories are in the Kids and Teens section, especially different Science-related areas, such as Health and Living Things.
Just recently, I was working on categories for several Marsupial species. You know them - Kangaroos, Wallabies, Wombats, Possums, and their relatives. They are amazing creatures and I had a great time learning about them.
Then, today, I was channel-surfing and found "Growing Up Marsupial" on Animal Planet. It's about three people who become 'mum' to marsupial babies, with the goal of releasing them back into the wild. One has been working with a Quoll, another has Tasmanian Devil siblings, and the third a baby Wombat.
I've attached a link to the website and the schedule for subsequent airings. Please take a look. These babies, and their human 'mums', are just incredible.
I have always trusted my cats to give me their opinion of the people who visit my home. Most people don't make much of an impression - because each kitty was either happy to see people or terrified to see people - consistently. Until Paka.
Paka is an interesting detective. Interesting, to me, because I have been - consistently - unable to predict his reactions. The people that I don't mind, he does; the people that I mind, he doesn't. With the exception of anyone under the age of (about) 5.
This kitty loves little kids. He will jump into the window to see the 'little one' walking by. If the door is open, it's all we can do to keep him from going out to get 'loves' from any child nearby. Adults, not his favorite humans, don't generally warrant the same affection, though he will tolerate some of these 'tall kids'.
Then . . . we had a visitor for a few days.
In the beginning, there wasn't much of an issue; although Paka did hide more than usual. We didn't worry much, since he has places where he can go and no one is allowed to bother him. Apparently, that wasn't enough, because Paka began hissing - loudly - whenever our guest got within about 3 feet of him. We weren't happy, but we still weren't overly concerned, because Paka could still get away .
Or so we thought . . .
Mark and I had gone to bed. Everything was quiet and we were playing TextTwist™. Then, out of the blue, there was a feline scream - not a hiss or growl - from the other room! Supposedly, nothing happened. But Paka doesn't cry out - ever - unless he is in distress.
We immediately moved everything into our bedroom for the night - for the first time since Paka was a baby.
I don't think we'll be having any roomies . . . ever again.
I was reading this news story and just couldn't believe my eyes!
Imagine lifting the toilet seat and having a nearly 6' long snake staring up at you. Well, apparently, that's what residents of a high-rise apartment building in Darwin, Australia were experiencing. The man who captured the python felt that the runaway pet had been wandering through the building's sewer system. Judging by the reported smell, he must have been right.
My question is: How, exactly, does one pull a 1.8 meter snake out of the toilet?
Along with the rising cost of . . . everything, is a rising cost in caring
for our cat, Paka. It's amazing how much prices have increased lately.
The
stores where I usually buy my pet
supplies now charge 35% to almost 100% more on different items. So,
you know me, I've gone shopping. After all, cat food and litter is not a
luxury item - gotta have 'em every day.
After the scares we had
from the melamine in pet foods, it's difficult to be sure that products
are safe. But that doesn't mean that we need to be held hostage by
manufacturers.
It's possible to find natural, healthy safe foods
out there. Tell the companies that support pet owners how much you
appreciate them, by buying exclusively from them.
Well, ladies and gents - it appears that our lonely, lovesick young lady has been jilted. These fickle white swans. I tell you! It's just not right! Get a woman's hopes up; start her thinking about a nest and little cygnets - then, poof!
Luckily, the zoo in Muenster still had the 'address' of Petra's former love, who was faithfully 'pining' away on the lake where they met. The two 'lovers' will be reunited on Friday.
