Wildlife/FreeLiving Animals
New Scientist: Japanese Whaling Activities Are Not Research
Published June 17, 2009 @ 11:08AM PT
Japan has already been widely criticised for its whaling, which is generally seen as a thinly disguised hunting operation. But with the 2009 IWC meeting looming, it is worth rehearsing the arguments against scientific whaling.
The New Scientist article's authors go on to explain just why Japanese whaling is unnecessary for research purposes. Check it out.
On a related note, have you been watching the second season of Whale Wars? I'm missing it because I no longer have cable (actually, I no longer have television service period, given that I've kept putting off getting a DTV converter box), but if you do get Animal Planet, you can tune in on Friday nights; it just started in the last week or two, I believe.
(Thanks go to Alex Felsinger for the tweet about the New Scientist article.)
Gov't Employees Kill Mountain Lions for Sport, Gov't Fires Whistleblower
Published June 16, 2009 @ 07:05AM PT
The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility announced last week that "a federal agent who reported that his colleagues had illegally used government airplanes to hunt mountain lions was fired in retaliation." What we have here is not even an friend to animals reporting the killings, but a fellow hunter. The U.S. government hires hunters to kill incredible numbers of free-living animals every year, mostly on behalf of ranchers who don't want the hassle of competing with predators (who must kill to eat and survive) over who gets to kill domesticated animals or of dealing with animals whom they consider just a general nuisance.
Indeed, the press release from PEER explains,
Bug Love
Published June 10, 2009 @ 04:30PM PT
No, not love between bugs, but love for bugs. That's right--I like bugs, a lot. I watch them. I take photos of them. And as long as they're not biting me, I don't mind when they crawl around on me either. (Someday I'll tell you about how fascinating it feels to have a walking stick moving gently across your face, checking out the terrain, and what it feels like to have neighbors stare at you like you've lost it when you're lying in the grass in your pajamas at 6:30 a.m. watching ants move along a garden-hose freeway.) And obviously, I don't (intentionally) kill them.
So I'm naturally pleased to have discovered the Web site BugGuide.net:
Endangered: The Amphibians of the World
Published June 09, 2009 @ 01:12PM PT
Earth's amphibians are in trouble for various reasons, including habitat loss for which humans are responsible, pollution for which humans are responsible, climate change for which humans are responsible, and a deadly fungus whose spread humans are responsible for because of our practice of experimentation on frogs. Please take a few minutes today to learn more:
A Lesson in Beauty
Published June 07, 2009 @ 11:03AM PT
If there is one instinct
I just can't get with at all,
it's the urge to kill something beautiful
just to hang it on your wall.
-Ani DiFranco, "Unrequited"
Some friends and I are Twittering Ani lyrics today, and I figured I'd let that little project blend into the blog. We'll forgive her the unfortunate "something" and "it" this time.
Beautiful, natural:
"Pet" Mountain Lion Killed for Walking Out Her Open Cage Door
Published June 04, 2009 @ 02:19PM PT
A couple weeks ago, someone at the Kansas zoo left her cage door open. So naturally, but apparently timidly, she walked out of it.
The lion traced the fence to the edge of the zoo's timber wolf exhibit, became frightened, and ran back toward the grizzly bears. Eventually she crouched in some bushes next to the bobcat exhibit.
Cargill said the cat was never more than 150 feet from her own enclosure. (AP)
But she was nevertheless shot and killed--not tranquilized, but killed. One Kansas news station explains,
Wildlife Groups Sue for Wolves; "Terrorism" Hypocrisy Continues
Published June 02, 2009 @ 12:07PM PT
There will be an overdue "Animals in the Blogs" roundup of other interesting posts sometime tomorrow or Wednesday, but in the meantime, please check out the following press release and post. [Edit: Was no one going to tell me that when I wrote this, "tomorrow" and "Wednesday" were the same day? Everyone was content to let me go on thinking it was Monday? Sheesh.]
First, wildlife/conservation groups--including the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, and HSUS--have today filed suit in response to the removal of Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves. Read more from the press release here: "Suit Filed to Challenge Removal of Endangered Species Act Protection From Northern Rockies Wolves."
Second, all over the news and blogosphere in recent days, there has been outrage and mourning over the assassination of physician and abortion provider Dr. George Tiller. But there has also been frustration and outrage over what his murder is--or rather is not--being labeled. In "3 Reasons Why Murdering an Abortion Doctor Isn’t Being Called 'Terrorism,'" Will Potter of GreenIsTheNewRed.com lays out the facts and obvious hypocrisies. Please read Will's post. He does a great job of deconstructing what's happening here.
