❦ Wild Kingdom Book Challenge! ❦

Hello, fellow book and animal lovers. I'm setting myself an animal studies/ anthrozoology based reading challenge and I would love it if you'd join me! Any genre counts, as long as it pertains to the human-animal bond. Anthropomorphic stories can count too, i.e. Alice in Wonderland and her waistcoat wearing white rabbit. Possible reads can include fiction, non-fiction, rereads, children's stories, textbooks, wildlife journals, whatever you'd like. Remember, you don't have to have a blog to participate and you can comment anonymously if you prefer.

- The challenge will run from January 1st-December 31, 2012.

-Books may count toward other challenges.

- Choose where you want to go:

1-3 books = The Hundred Acre Wood

4-6 books = Rikki Tikki's Bungalow

7-9 books = Best Friends Animal Society

10 or more = The Jane Goodall Institute

- You can use one of these banners to link your post to the main challenge.

- Here are some possibilities:

Black Beauty - Anna Sewell

City of Ravens - Boria Sax

Megan's Mare - Lynn Hall

The Ten Trusts - Jane Goodall & Marc Bekoff

The Animal Manifesto - Marc Bekoff

Putting the Horse Before Descartes - Bernard Rollin

Incident at Hawk's Hill - Allan W. Eckert

Charlotte's Web - E.B. White

The Yearling - M.K. Rawlings

Moby Dick - Herman Melville

Spoken in Whispers - Nicci Mackay

The Man Who Listens to Horses - Monty Roberts

Out of the Mist - Pat Lyne

Horsekeeping on a Small Acreage - Cherry Hill

Animals As Teachers and Healers - Susan Chernak McElroy

The Animal Within Us - Jay D. Glass

Never Cry Wolf - Farley Mowat

Gorillas in the Mist - Dian Fossey

Stories Rabbits Tell - Davis and Demello

Uncle Wiggly's Storybook - Howard Garis

Fury and the Mustangs - Albert G. Miller

The Black Stallion novels - Walter Farley

When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals - Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein

Buffalo Gals and Other Stories- Ursula K. Le Guin

King of the Wind - Marguerite Henry

Misty of Chincoteague - " "

All Creatures Great and Small series - James Herriot

The Midnight Fox - Betsy Byars

My Friend Flicka - Mary O'Hara

The Philosophy of Animal Rights - Mylan Engel & Kathie Jenni

Bunnicula - Deborah & James Howe

The Darkness is Light Enough: The Field Journal of a Night Naturalist - Chris Ferris

Wild Minds - Marc D. Hauser

Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat - Hal Herzog

The Man Who Talks to Whales: The Art of Interspecies Communication - Jim Nollman

The Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling

Thought to Exist in the Wild: Awakening from the Nightmare of Zoos - Derrick Jensen

In the Shadow of Man - Jane Goodall

Watership Down - Richard Adams

Hope you join me. You can sign up at my book blog, click HERE. Looking forward to hearing from other animal enthusiasts!

Female crocodile given waxing and pedicure in time for mating season

Click HERE, for the article from the Daily Mail.

To me, this sounds downright twisted.  How was this allowed to happen, because the creature came from a research center? Where were the professional handlers? If the poor crocodile had objected to this treatment just once by snapping or biting someone, you can bet she would have been put down. Absolutely unacceptable. Does anyone know anything more about this?

Examples of anthropomorphism in consumer culture

Anthropomorphism in fables and storytelling is one thing, but as a selling tool it's just downright creepy. This video is from SnickersBrand's youtube page.

This one is from redbull's Youtube page.

This one is from thesims152325's youtube page. The Sim Pets 3 website describes the game as a way to "take direct control of your Sims pets and explore new ways to mess with their lives." Control and mess with. After watching this commercial, I think the creators could use some therapy. What a great way to further detach people from animals' true natures. Don't spend time with your actual pets, sit in front of your computer screen and mess with virtual pets instead! You'll get brushed by a woman in a French maid costume and you can urinate on the furniture while your owner gets laid! Ugh.

Angry Birds!

Alfred Hitchcock may have been onto something. Today's shared article is from page 32 of National Geographic's July 2011 issue. Just click the pic to enlarge and read.

Hey, I've known people that have been less than friendly to the birds trying to nest on their porches. Turn about is fair play.

Xenocide? Really?

And this is a great example of why I want to study anthrozoology in a cultural context and educate the uneducated.

Elephant problem? These beings have as much right to be here as we do. Killing them for needing to share the limited resources and space is NOT the answer.

Tilapia Farming

From the NYTimes, The Flip Side of Tilapia. Hm, what do YOU think about fish farming?

Recent Local Goings On: Lots of Links and Bernard Rollin!

Happy Earth Day, Or Easter if you celebrate it! I'm so glad it's spring, green is just hitting the slopes around here. Aaaaah.

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Came across this article in the Denver Post recently. Hopefully, it will turn out to be a local story with four happy endings. I'm going to follow these four, I'll keep you updated about how they're doing.

This makes me so angry and impatient. Mr. McKinley can expect to be getting some mail from me soon.

Yesterday, I met and volunteered with three other House Rabbit Society Members to take some calm bunnies to an Easter celebration event for the Anchor School for the Blind at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, in downtown Denver. It was a lot of fun, the children were adorably curious and innocent with the buns. No pics, I forgot the camera. The other volunteers were interesting; an animal educator, a Society fundraiser who was also originally from Ohio, and an animal rehabilitator/and vet tech.

And one month ago, I made a visit to Colorado State U.'s campus to meet and listen to Bernard Rollin. I heard about it through the Animality Studies events page. And what a fierce and compassionate personality. He talked about some of his experiences, triumphs, and failures in his involvement in animal advocacy. I learned in the state of Colorado, you can go straight to local authorities and report abuse if you see it, and they are obligated by law to check it out. I also bought one of his books and he autographed it for me. Whee!

I agree, Hobbes

1/3 Say Pets Listen Better

Okay, I know it's Huffpost, but this article made a lot of sense to me. I've only been married 3 months today and my pet rabbit Sadie is my official shrink and secret keeper. Interesting idea for a poll. Some interesting comments in there too. Enjoy. Heh heh, Cray Aiken.

Bunnies, Bunnies, Everywhere...

...and not a drop to drink! If you can overdose on adorable, then the Colorado House Rabbit Society is the place to do it. I visited last weekend. I met some wonderful bunny people and I start my volunteer training this weekend. They are right in between where I work and live, only about ten minutes away. Does that seem like a sign? Here are some of the bunkind I will be working with. Ah, the air is thick with cuteness and the disapproval of healthy buns!

It's a little bunny stable! I loved it, it smelled just like a horse barn, like clean sweet hay and healthy herbivores.

Here are the outdoor runs where the buns can stretch their legs in warm weather.

The bunny barnyard.

Little Dee was fast asleep when I first got home.

But she woke up...

...and silently judged me, for coming home smelling like other bunnies. I believe from this look that I'm to understand she is deeply disappointed in me. But, she's just going to have to learn to share me.

"Lip mashing is an oddity in the wild kingdom"

Just click on the photo to enlarge it. Any Berkeley Breathed fans out there?

Meet Joel Sartore

"My job is to...get people to see what's going on. It's not hopeless." -Joel Sartore

No, it's not hopeless. But getting the public to realize that simple things they do every day without thinking about them ( like flushing the toilet, throwing away recyclable things, and using non-biodegradable cleaning products), can have huge impacts on the natural world isn't easy. But we are past the point that thoughtlessness and ignorance are excuses. I came across this article last April and saved it. Giving voice to the voiceless is not hopeless, but it's no easy task and there need to be more people doing it. This is what I want to do, FIGHT THE APATHY! I would like to meet this man and pick his brain. And shake his hand.

Animality Studies @ CSU

This past fall (shortly before I met Marc Bekoff in Erie and had a Wayne's World "I'm not worthy" moment), I came across the Animality Studies program at CSU. And I realized the graduate program I'm looking for is right here in Colorado!

AND this Monday is the day. I get a chance to meet the director of the program. God, it's going to be a long weekend.