"So a bear walks into a bar in Estes Park..."

Yikes, I have over a year's worth of saved articles and links to share.  Time to catch up!

This story could have had a less than happy ending, but instead it made me smile.

I know some individuals need genuine emotional support, but maybe this privilege should have tighter restrictions on airlines so that dogs that have depression or anxiety issues of their own aren't put through this by owners abusing the system and ignorant of their dog's own emotional needs.  

While I believe everyone has a right to worship their deity/deities of choice, I don't think anyone has the right to practice religion at the expense of other animals' lives, whether it's confinement, handling, or sacrifice.  I hope the snakes win this one.

"Do you consider your pet to be part of the family?"

My aunt sent me this clipping, from USA Today.

Happy puppy dash!

Romeo sprints!

It's Not Too Late For the Black-Footed Ferret

Not too late...yet.  You hear a lot of people around this area (notably cattle farmers and real estate developers) complain about prairie dogs (cattle break their legs in the little dogs' burrows and it's expensive and inconvenient to kill them and clear their little towns).  But why did prairie dog populations spike in recent decades anyway?  An ecosystem exists in a very sensitive balance and needs all its players to maintain it: take away the predators and this is what happens.  Hopefully this species can make a successful comeback, 18 individuals the unsuspecting Adams and Eves in their own Genesis project.

If You Meet A Mountain Lion

...chances are it's already had some bad encounters with humanity and it's not going to be happy to see you.  Protect yourself if you need to, but be respectful of the animal as an individual with its own motives and possibly its own family to protect.  (Parents come in all species.)

Some photos taken in the Wildlife section of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  What do you think?  IS there room for human people and the rest of the animal kindgom?  There could be.  The potential is there.  But with SEVEN BILLION humans on the planet and limited resources to begin with, it's up to us to find ethical solutions to live peacefully with other living things and we're doing a horrible job.

Increasing impact.  Uncontrolled slaughter.  Relentless slaughter.  Reduced habitat.  Near extinction.  Gone forever.  Completely vanished.

Remembering a Friend

The following is part of something I was writing when a companion animal friend died in July.

"Two rabbits also live here in a two-room cardboard house, a quiet lapine couple who don't hesitate to share their opinions with me. I pay close attention to my roommates. They are like any typical couple, lapine or human. They don't always get along. Sometimes there's shoving when treats are being passed out, sometimes one of them hogs the bunny sofa all to themselves. And sometimes there is a deep and obvious bond being expressed between them, a communication all their own and quite obviously what can be construed as love. I see it in the way Lin washes Rollie's face like a human wife might stroke her partner's cheek. I see it in the way Rollie hops over to Lin and flops beside her with his head at her shoulder, as if to say 'hi sweetheart.' They have emotional lives that have nothing to do with me and I would be ignorant and arrogant to think otherwise. I can't communicate with them in their language regardless, only watch them and enjoy how adorably cute they are when they fold their paws under them in what my husband calls 'loaf mode'."

I miss you, Dubious.  I know Lin does too.

Roland Dubious.

I took a lot of videos and photos of Rollie Doobs and his Lady Linda, before he passed from cancer a few months ago.  Here is a video I took in early April of them exploring the rest of the bunny proofed apartment for the first time.  (My office is the bunny bedroom.)  As you can see, there was a lot of going back and forth while they enjoyed the new space.  **You might need to refresh the page to get the video to appear.

In the shadow of man?

This is a photo of a tiny prairie dog community on 104th Ave, next to the Albertson's chain grocery store.  This is one of the lucky little groups who have only been rounded up into an 'open space'.  Many are gassed to death in their little homes for the convenience of humans' urban sprawl and the clearing of grazing land.

Read more about prairie dog management and human reasons for exterminating them HERE.  I especially recommend the last article on the list from the Colorado Cattlemen's Association, dated 3 years ago.  I believe putting beef producers (and for that matter, oil companies) in charge of any part of wildlife welfare is unethical; in this particular case, these are people who "represent the interest of Colorado's cattle industry".  While I agree that they have their own interests to look after in this situation, where are the folk representing the interests of the ferrets and prairie dogs?  Someone completely outside the beef industry needs some level of jurisdiction; what is to stop the cattle ranchers from killing the white-tailed dogs as well if there is no one to regulate them?  Regular bi-monthly surveys of prairie dog habitats on beef producers' lands by government consultants should be mandatory.  In the meantime, the ghost of the black footed ferret haunts the hapless cattle in their pastures, while prairie dog populations are checked only by humans' whose best interest is to exterminate them.

Here are some other links:

Contest Kills

Seekers of the Red Mist

Listen my dears, and listen closely.  So that you can enjoy all the convenience and comfort of your modern day life of iPhones and fast food wrappers, others (and by others, I mean other species and your own kind) must thin out and die out, or live with the inconveniences.  Think about that and how disconnected we are from what is really happening outside our computers and television sets.  And have the humility to feel guilty.

Thumbs and bipedalism do not a person make

I know some human people who would read THIS and still think they had valid arguments to the contrary.  What is it that makes some human peeps feel so threatened with the idea that other animals are more like us than not?  Why does the fact that other species are capable of emotions and compassion make some two-legs so full of fear and WANT to distance themselves from it?

Sigh, some days I seem to see/read more about the terrible things people do to each other and other species than the good things, and have to remind myself that we have a good side.  HERE are some more photos from the same website that a friend sent me awhile back, to help remind us that human people are capable of good deeds too.

Incident at the Bronx Zoo

Maybe I'm cold hearted, but I have zero sympathy for the man who recently received a tiger smackdown at the Bronx Zoo.  I don't wish death on the guy, but he earned those swipes.  What could he possibly have been thinking?!  The man, who's motives aren't clear from this article, voluntarily invaded a tiger den in which cubs had recently been born.  Is it safe to say the adult tiger(s) involved were protecting their family and space?  I believe so.  I also believe they had the right.  I think it's just as important to protect the captive wildlife from the human people staring at them through the glass as vice versa.  There should be stronger measures to ensure the public can't pull stunts like this.  Have you read Marc Bekoff's Animal Manifesto?  Or Wild Justice?  Or The Emotional Lives of Animals?  You should.  It should be required high school level reading.

The caption headline of the article on MSN.com's homepage is entitled, "Man badly mauled by tiger attack".  It should say, "Man badly mauled by tiger after invading tiger's personal space, tiger protects cubs".

❦ 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.