Blogging About Critters Since 2007

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Pale Male's Mate Lima Dies Mysteriously

The New York City red-tailed hawk has had a traumatic year and it's still February. He lost his long-time mate Lola and ended up with new mate Lima with whom he had chicks. Now, she was found dead and the question is whether she was somehow killed by toxic herbicides used in Central Park.

Awful. Warning....graphic photos.

Monday, February 27, 2012

California Legislators Call for Wildlife Official's Resignation

The wildlife official in question is the President of the California Fish and Game Commission. He is a proponent of trophy hunting and was photographed with a dead mountain lion in Idaho. Full story here.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

CA Wildlife Official Photographed with Dead Mountain Lion

What was this idiot thinking? The full story is below and it comes from kcra.com.
Outcry is growing against one of California’s top wildlife officials after a photo of him holding a dead mountain lion surfaced online last week.

Dan Richards, president of the California Fish and Game Commission, is shown in the photo, holding a mountain lion he reportedly hunted and killed in Idaho, according to Western Outdoor Press, which published the photo.

Hunting mountain lion is legal in Idaho, but illegal in California.

On Monday, some animal rights advocates said Richards appears to be sending a message about his feelings on California law: The photo, marked "courtesy" appears to have been provided by either him or one of his hunting companions to the Western Outdoor Press.

KCRA 3 could not reach Richards for comment.

The Humane Society of the United States, whose members are outraged over the photo, are exchanging thousands of Facebook and Twitter posts and plan to urge California State Assembly members and Senators to vote to have Richards removed from the commission.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Amazon Sells Whale Bacon?

Ewwwww......
And it is, of course, on Amazon's Japan website.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Surprising NYTimes Editorial about National Egg Production

Surprising to me at least. The editorial advocates a national standard that establishes humane standards in all parts of the country.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

McDonalds Makes Positive Move to Help Sows

I'm no fan of McDonalds, but any little bit of help is progress.

Here's an excerpt. For the full story, check out this link to the New York Times article.
The McDonald’s Corporation said on Monday that it would begin working with its pork suppliers to phase out the use of so-called gestational crates, the tiny stalls in which sows are housed while pregnant.

Animal rights advocates have singled out the crates, known as sow stalls, as inhumane, and several states have moved to ban or restrict their use not only in pork production, but also in the production of eggs and veal.

“McDonald’s believes gestation stalls are not a sustainable production system for the future,” Dan Gorsky, senior vice president for supply chain management for McDonald’s North America, said in a statement. “There are alternatives we think are better for the welfare of sows.”

Friday, February 10, 2012

Siku the Danish Polar Bear

I don't usually post anything cute, but I have to do this at least once.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

PETA's Orca Lawsuit Dismissed by Federal Judge

Well, it's still historic and precedent-setting. Here's hoping we see more of these legal challenges. Full story posted on Global Animal and from the Huffington Post.

Do whales deserve constitutional protection against slavery? On February 8, a federal judge said ‘no,’ stopping a historic case filed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals against SeaWorld for violating the 13th Amendment on slavery. Five orcas were listed as the plaintiffs.

PETA filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in San Diego last October, complaining that the whales “were forcibly taken from their families and natural habitats, are held captive at SeaWorld San Diego and SeaWorld Orlando, denied everything that is natural to them, subjected to artificial insemination or sperm collection to breed performers for Defendants’ shows, and forced to perform, all for Defendants’ profit. As such, Plaintiffs are held in slavery and involuntary servitude.” PETA went on to request that the whales be freed and released to a habitat better suited to their needs.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller dismissed the case, writing in his ruling that “the only reasonable interpretation of the Thirteenth Amendment’s plain language is that it applies to persons, and not to non-persons such as orcas.”

Before the ruling, PETA’s attorney Jeffrey Kerr told HuffPost that the animal rights group’s argument was based on the belief that “slavery doesn’t depend upon the species of the slave, any more than it depends upon the race, gender or ethnicity of the slave. SeaWorld’s attempts to deny [orcas] the protection solely based on their species is the same kind of prejudice used to justify any enslavement. And prejudice should not be what determines constitutional rights in this country … Because they can suffer from the prohibitive conduct of being enslaved, the 13th Amendment protection against that conduct should be extended to them.”

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Another Anti-Bullfighting Protest in Mexico City

Yay!!!!! It happened last Saturday the 4th of February.

Mexico often has such an abominable attitude towards animals that it's easy to paint all citizens that way. I'm glad there are exceptions like these protesters.

Monday, February 6, 2012

US Judge Asked to Hear Case about Orcas

We'll see how it goes. Even when we lose these battles, the fact that they are heard at all is an important step. Barriers are broken and precedents are set for the future. I'm tired of being a pessimist all the time.

Excerpted from the Sydney Morning Herald....
A federal judge for the first time in US history has heard arguments in a case that could determine whether animals enjoy the same constitutional protection against slavery as human beings.

US District Judge Jeffrey Miller called the hearing in San Diego after Sea World asked the court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) that names five orcas as plaintiffs in the case.

PETA claims the captured killer whales are treated like slaves, forced to live in tanks and perform daily at its parks in San Diego, California and Orlando, Florida.

Advertisement: Story continues below "This case is on the next frontier of civil rights," said PETA lawyer Jeffrey Kerr, representing the five orcas.

Sea World's lawyer, Theodore Shaw, called the lawsuit a waste of the court's time and resources. He said it defies common sense and goes against 125 years of case law applied to the American constitution's 13th amendment, which prohibits slavery between humans.

"With all due respect, the court does not have the authority to even consider this question," Shaw said, adding later: "Neither orcas nor any other animal were included in the 'We the people' ... when the constitution was adopted

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Stupid Bull Tradition Catches Someone By Surprise

The title says it all....."Bull rampaging in Mexican streets gores man right in the crotch."

Maybe they should BAN this practice......

Full article in the Mirror.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Dead Sea Lions in Puget Sound - Again

This has happened before. I don't know whether these are disgruntled fishermen or regular jerks. Here's the whole story from the Washington Post National.

Washington wildlife officials say eight sea lions have been found dead in the Puget Sound region in recent weeks — all apparently shot.

KING-TV reports that both the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are investigating the deaths.

The bodies of seven sea lions with bullet wounds were recently found on the Nisqually River.

On Monday, a sea lion was found dead on West Seattle’s Lincoln Park beach. The animal protection group Seal Sitters says a necropsy showed that the sea lion had suffered a shark bite and had twisted intestines in addition to a bullet wound.

Investigators say they do not know who is responsible.

KING says one of the Nisqually casualties was a Steller sea lion, protected under the Endangered Species Act. The one found in West Seattle was a California sea lion, protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
blog stats