Tourist Tries to Smuggle 44 Lizards in Underwear

You can't make these things up.

Another Fake Animal Welfare Group

I was browsing for some quotes when I came across this group - The National Animal Interest Alliance (NAIA). They had a page with quotes from animal rights activists, but as I was reading, I noticed that they were very unfavorable quotes from such activists as Wayne Pacelle and Ingrid Newkirk. The quotes seemed designed to show them as extremists and/or insincere liars.

So, I'm like, waaaaaait a minute. Who are these guys? And here's the answer....

The National Animal Interest Alliance is an association of business, agricultural, scientific, and recreational interests dedicated to promoting animal welfare, supporting responsible animal use and strengthening the bond between humans and animals. Our members are pet owners, dog and cat clubs, obedience clubs and rescue groups as well as breeders, trainers, veterinarians, research scientists, farmers, fishermen, hunters and wildlife biologists. The membership roster of NAIA includes some of America's most respected animal professionals, advocates and enthusiasts.....

Note: There is a related organization by the name of NAIA Trust (www.naiatrust.org), which has a similar mission and goals to those of the National Animal Interest Alliance but is separate from NAIA. It was created in order to focus more resources on influencing legislation and defending the victims of animal and environmental extremism. NAIA Trust is a 501 (c) (4) so contributions to it are not tax deductible.

Ah. By the way, it's not only the name, but the web site is also designed to be deceiving with pictures of cute animals and strong human/animal relationships.

Clever bastards.

Rumors Circulate over Cancellation of Anthrax Project

Research supporters are going crazy over Oklahoma State University stopping anthrax testing on baboons. In addition to the threat of animal "extremists," they are also blaming T. Boone Pickens' wife Madeleine, whose husband is a big donor.

Serial Poachers Devastate Montana

This article describes the devastation being inflicted on Montana's wildlife by serial poachers. It's also an insight into how serial poachers think. I would have thought serial poaching and serial killing were essentially the same, with the difference being the species, but this article says there is a difference.

Brian Golie, FWP game warden in Wolf Creek, .....classifies serial poachers as people who target trophy animals and will do anything to kill them. Serial killers, on the other hand, are people who kill everything they see and simply want to run up a tally. In some instances people kill an animal and cut off its head for the antlers. Others take the entire animal and still others leave the dead animal, although Golie said he's seen people come back months later after poaching an animal to try to recover the antlers.

Polar Bear Supporters Lose Court Case

Another story from last week, but worth mentioning. From KTUU in Anchorage...

A federal appeals court made a final decision Wednesday on whether Fish and Wildlife could allow oil companies to interfere with polar bears.

The complaint is that the government isn't doing enough to protect marine animals from the effects of oil and gas development...

The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit because it felt the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service wrongfully issued authorization for oil companies to work in areas that could potentially hurt the bears.

They claimed Fish and Wildlife failed to consider effects of climate change and had a false idea of how many polar bears would be affected.

But the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's decision allowing the Fish and Wildlife Service to issue its own regulations on incidental take.

Incidental take, in this case, is the killing or harassing of polar bears resulting from oil and gas operations on the Beaufort Sea coast.

Yikes! Two TONS of Snakes & Tortoises Seized

Yes, that's right. TWO TONS. In Cambodia. Luckily, they were alive and released back into the wild.

From the AP last week...

Cambodian police confiscated two tons of live snakes and tortoises and arrested two men trying to smuggle the slithering cargo up a river from Cambodia to Vietnam, authorities said Thursday.

Acting on a tip, police intercepted the boat Wednesday on the Bassac River in southeastern Cambodia just before it crossed into Vietnam. They found 3,640 pounds (1,655 kilograms) of snakes, mostly pythons, and 263 tortoises that weighed a combined 697 pounds (317 kilograms), said Col. Chan Savouen, deputy police chief of Kandal province.

New Podcast Uploaded for 12/05/09

Finally, this thing is up.

Lush USA Charity Pot Supports Animal and Environmental Causes

Lush USA has a program where they sell hand and body lotion that supports a variety of animal and environmental groups. Called the Charity Pot, they donate 100% of the retail price minus taxes to a group you can designate. I found this through Sea Shepherd, which is one of the groups that you can donate to through the program.

They also sell a variety of other bath and cosmetic products that are hand made and not tested on animals.

Protest To Stop Pointless Radiation Experiments

PETA organized protests to stop these stupid radiation experiments on spider monkeys. The purpose is to determine how astronauts would fare on the way to Mars.

To Mars? We can't even get out of Afghanistan and we're going to Mars. When? Next year? Give me an effing break.

Best Opinion Ever on Humans and Nature

At least to me. Read it yourself as I can't do it justice. It's by a Ugandan political scientist.

I'm sure it will make a lot of people angry. But it crystallizes the conclusions I've been heading towards for the last 40 years.

By the way, if you ever read Jared Diamond's Collapse, you'll understand why I also think this is the perfect response to his book. He wants to save the planet for humans alone. I believe we have not earned that privilege.

(Bea, I tried to email this directly to you, but your email kicked it back!)

Huge Ivory Seizure in Africa

From the Environment News Service...

More than two tons of illegal ivory have been seized and more than 100 people have been arrested in the largest international operation targeting wildlife crime across Eastern Africa, the Kenya Wildlife Service and INTERPOL announced today.

Meat Grown in a Petri Dish?

From an opinion piece in the Times of India....

Scientists at Eindhoven University in the Netherlands have grown in-vitro meat, using cells from a live pig to replicate growth in a petri dish. They haven't been able to actually taste
the pork they've grown because of lab rules. Nevertheless there's potential here for two giant breakthroughs. It could mean not only an end to killing animals for food, but also significantly aid the fight against climate change.

This would be great. But what is this drive to eat the flesh of a living creature? Why this stubborn disconnect from the fact that we are eating corpses? Why is that my husband won't eat bones with fat on them because they are "gross," but will eat burgers and processed meat? They come from the same source right? Or is it because one is so much cleaner and antiseptic than the other? You can forget who you are eating when it's processed so cleanly.

So many people I know get really guilty when they hear about conditions at factory farms, but then just keep eating the same things. Da da da da! It's like...hello?!

Quote of the Week

There are, in fact, only two categories of doctors and scientists who are not opposed to vivisection: those who don't know enough about it, and those who make money from it.

--Dr Werner Hartinger, MD

Oklahoma State Stops Anthrax Vaccine Testing

It's too controversial because the baboons involved would have to be destroyed after the testing.

From Bioprepwatch.com...

Administrators at OSU decided not to let the project, funded by the National Institutes of Health, commence as the primates being used would be euthanized. An internal faculty committee spent more than a year preparing protocol for the care and use of the primates...

OSU administrators said in a statement that, "this research was not in the best interest of the university. The testing of lethal pathogens on primates would be a new area for OSU that is controversial and is outside our current research programs.

"OSU is focused on enhancing and expanding its existing research strengths including our ongoing programs in bioterrorism research. The proposed work would have distracted from those efforts.”

I think this is the first time I've personally heard of a University pulling away from primate research due to controversy.

Primate Breeding Facility Generates Controversy In Puerto Rico Itself

Good! I come down hard on Puerto Rico, ever since the scandal in which dogs were being thrown off bridges by an animal control company. Plus, the horrible pictures I've seen of strays in Puerto Rico. Plus the fact that I personally know the Latin attitude towards animals. Plus, well, you get this picture.

They've been planning to build a facility to breed research monkeys in Puerto Rico for some time. Hey, it's a chance for some jobs for the young folks. I'm sorry, but this is not the way to create jobs. Horrible things like the slave trade created jobs. That didn't make it right.

I'm glad this is sparking a dialogue in Puerto Rico. People such as Jane Goodall and Benicio del Toro have also voiced their opposition.