July 2010

The next time you meet a horse, know that you are making a friend for life. According to Discovery News, horses never forget a good friend. When they experience a positive relationship with a human, they remember that human later in life—even after not seeing him or her for a long period of time. They will also remain loyal to such humans.

It’s not surprising, since—also like elephants—horses form strong relationships with other horses in the wild. They have strong familial bonds, as well as keen social skills for interacting with animals from other groups, making them similar to humans in this light. Some horses even form lifetime bonds with other horses.

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People are always talking about how online activism—also sometimes referred to as “armchair activism”—and causes on social networks don’t make much of a difference, if any at all. Having worked for a nonprofit organization for several years, I can attest that this is not true. In a single organization alone, we raised money for dozens of organizations—including ones that helped homeless children, shelters, animal sanctuaries, and a program to get toilets in a developing country. We also raised awareness through hundreds of debates, articles, online and offline discussions and training sessions, and helped develop hundreds of projects across the globe with our site’s resources. You bet online campaigns and activism work!

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"A mother bear and an Alaskan fisherman team up to rescue a black bear cub from a fishing net." See the video.

Why do I like this video? It shows a mother's love for her cub. It shows a man's respect for nature. It shows what a little cooperation can do.

Note that the man helped the bears, and he didn't jump out of his vehicle to try to help the mama bear wrestle the cub from the net. He understands the nature of bears and man, and he used the tool that he had to help, (the truck). He helped the best and most effective way that he could. If he had forgotten his place and the bear's, and had run out to help at the mama bear's side, his intentions probably would have been misunderstood, and instead of helping the bears, it is very likely that he might have had to fight the bears. Actually, more than very likely, almost a certainty.

Our leaders should see this.

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It’s not a machete, a string of poachers with stubbly beards, or a right wing conspiracy that animals and plants do not exist. The Internet itself has been declared the biggest threat to rare species. (And while I’ll note that many people do not have access to it, those of us able to read this post right now obviously do.) Since the invention of the Internet, poachers and animal smugglers across the globe have had better access than ever to selling their “wares,” such as gorilla hands as ashtrays, baby lions as pets, and even wine made from the bones of endangered tigers.

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When I was a little girl, animal rights—specifically the rights of circus animals—was one of the first social issues that I learned about from my mother. She taught me to never cross a picket line, that girls were never inferior to boys (though we had to fight for the same rights and freedoms), and that the circus was a cruel place. I remember at first feeling sad that she wouldn’t let me attend the circus when it came to town when I was five or six years old; then, when I was a bit older, I began to understand why she wouldn’t support such cruelty.

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car criticMaybe the bears in Colorado are smarter than the average bear? Maybe they are just curiouser?

The Associated Press reported --" A bear got into an empty car, honked the horn and then sent it rolling 125 feet into a thicket, with the bear still inside -- The bear managed to open the unlocked door of his 2008 Toyota Corolla early Friday and climbed inside. A peanut butter sandwich left on the back seat is probably what attracted the bear."

Peanut butter sandwich, huh? I wonder if this bear watches television? Could it be too much Yogi Bear?

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July 25 is a perfect day to go out and enjoy the merry-go-round. A Sunday this year, it affords most families the chance to hit the park and, if there’s still one left (as my old favorite park no longer has one), show their children—as well as the parents themselves!—a good old-fashioned time on the merry-go-round. If there is a carousel or carnival near you, that’s a great opportunity as well.

I have a wonderful story about a merry-go-round. In fact, I wrote about it in junior high, much to the delight and disgust of my classmates. Reading it aloud was some of the most fun I’d ever had in school to that point!

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6. Take Care of Your Current Pet Rabbit

Have you ever had your rabbit checked out by a vet or vaccinated? Do you let him or her have plenty of bouncing play time, and sweet carrot treats to eat? If not, now is a great time to start doing so. Many people do not think of rabbits like cats and dogs, but they do have many similar needs. People who raise rabbits to sell should also make sure they provide proper food, shelter, and care, as well as safe, clean breeding boxes. You can learn more about rabbit issues here, and you can schedule an appointment with your local veterinarian to make a plan of action for your rabbit’s health needs.

5. Learn All About Rabbits

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After the recent news that New York City purged a park of over 400 Canada geese on the sly, a surprising lack of outrage has cropped up across the internet.  Even at Metafilter, where most users tend to be against killing animals for no reason, sentiment against the geese was running high.

Canada geese are, it must be said, not easy to love.  They have created a problem in our cities which is entirely our doing.  This is not a situation like the gray whale migrating through shipping lanes on its route between Baja and Alaska every year.  This is a situation more like that of rats, who found life in our cities to be amenable, and have decided to stay.


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Not another Fearsome Critter, the drop croc is a real thing!  (Or was, having become extinct in the Pleistocene.)  

The drop croc is, just as you might expect from the name, an arboreal species of crocodile which "may have attacked prey by climbing trees and dropping on them."

Today there are only three families of crocodilians: crocodiles, alligators, and gharial.  But the Eocene was an era with expansive growth in the crocodilian line, which expanded to fill the ecological niches left behind by the sudden absence of the dinosaurs.  


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The Octopus, Oracle Paul to retire. Such wisdom!

The Associated Press reports that with World Cup over Octopus Paul, who became a world renown oracle, is retiring from the swami business. Paul, a German -- rather a resident of the the Sea Life aquarium in Oberhausen, -- I 'm not sure if he has German citizenship. His handlers have not taken me into their confidence. I haven't seen his papers. He could be from outer space.

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The city of San Francisco is considering a ban on all pet sales.  Why?  "The real problem, staff said, is hamsters." 

Originally the city was looking on a ban on the sale of puppies and kittens, in order to help put a stop to pet mills.  But apparently hamsters are such a problem at local animal shelters that the San Francisco Commission of Animal Control and Welfare decided to extend the ban to everything but fish.  

San Francisco residents will still be allowed to keep pets.  But if the ban passes, San Francisco residents will have to seek their pets elsewhere.  This seems a little nonsensical, since the shelter staff say that most pocket pets that get dumped at the shelter weren't originally purchased at pet stores.  I guess these are gifts, or were the products of accidental breedings.


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Japan keeps slaughtering whales. The Japanese slaughter about one thousand whales a year — primarily minke whales — as part of a government-sponsored and financed program that the Japanese government claims is for so-called scientific purposes. People concerned about this slaughter rightly call it for what it is -- commercial whaling, which has been banned worldwide since 1986. Japan is thumbing her nose at the world.

Today, Wednesday, Peter Bethune, an antiwhaling activist from New Zealand, a member of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, was convicted by a Japanese court of trespassing, vandalism, assault and obstructing Japan’s whaling fleet in the Antarctic. His sentence was suspended, and is expected to be booted out of the country

Various groups confront the Japanese whaling fleet to interfere with the whale hunts. These confrontations have led to some violence.

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