Canada's Marineland Under Scrutiny for Poor Animal Care

Allegations are that sea animals are not being well-cared for at this Niagara Falls resort.

German Artist Wants to Kill Puppies to Protest Dog Killings

I had to read this twice before it sunk in. I wonder if he was just threatening to do this for the publicity. Bizarre.

An unidentified German actor has been stopped by Berlin’s administrative court, following his announcement that he planned to strangle two puppies with cable wires on stage to protest against the slaughter of sled dogs in Alaska and hunting dogs in Spain, with their death being accompanied by a funeral march music and loud gong. The performance, entitled “Death as Metamorphosis,” was to take place at a Berlin Theater in the Spandau District.

TV Shows and Movies that Hurt and Killed Animals

Here's a horrible listing of films and shows that resulted in the abuse or killing of animals, starting with an elephant execution in 1903. Disgusting and stomach-turning.

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

Efforts to Rescue Lolita the Orca from Miami

Read the rest of the article in the Courthouse News Service....

Animal-rights activists claim an orca is being held in an "inadequate tank" in the Miami Seaquarium. They sued the National Marine Fisheries Service for excluding captive killer whales from listing under the Endangered Species Act.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund, People for the Ethical Treatment of Individuals and three individuals challenge the NMFS decision "to exclude from the listing of the Southern Resident killer whale population all captive members of that population and their progeny."

The federal complaint focuses on a whale named Lolita, who was captured more than 40 years ago, and has been held at the Miami Seaquarium. The activists claim Lolita is being "kept in an inadequate tank, without companions of her own species or adequate protection from the sun."

Matt Damon at a Bullfight? Say It Isn't So!

It's true! He attended a bullfight in Mexico City. That sucks!

Followup: Witherspoon Will Stop Carrying Python Purse

I don't know what she's going to do with it, but at least she'll stop carrying it. She's supposedly a vegetarian and is friends with Walk the Line co-star Joaquin Phoenix who is a huge animal rights activist and vegan.

I still don't understand what she was doing. She knew it was an animal skin....and she spent $4,000 on it? CRAZY!

PETA is very happy.

Witherspoon in Trouble for Python Purse

For some bizarre reason (hopefully just ignorance), Reese Witherspoon has pissed off animal rights activists by purchasing and carrying around a purse made out of python skin. Python skinning is horrible, brutal and repulsive. And it's illegal for her to have it at least in the State of California.

And she paid $4,000 for it. Sorry, but that's stupid enough on its own. $4,000 for a frigging purse?!

Dutch Whale Denied Freedom; Must Go to Spanish Amusement Park

Unfortunate, but the court decided she would not survive being returned to the wild.

Here's an excerpt from the online Boston Globe...

Morgan, a 4-year-old killer whale, has lost her bid for freedom

Agriculture Secretary Henk Bleker ruled Wednesday that the orca, rescued last year ailing and emaciated from the Wadden Sea off the northern Dutch coast, should be transferred to an amusement park on the Spanish island of Tenerife.

A Dutch court had suspended the government's export permit after an animal rights coalition presented a plan to release her to the wild in stages. A judge ordered the coalition, the Agriculture Ministry and the Harderwijk Dolphinarium, which put her ondisplay after nursing her back to health, to review the scientific evidence and work out a solution.

Bleker said after hearing arguments from both sides that Morgan's chances of survival were too slim if she were freed.

"This feels like a defeat because an animal like this really belongs in the sea and not a zoo," Bleker said in a statement. "Morgan belongs in the wild, but not at all costs."

Henry Rollins to Host Weird New Show on National Geographic

This sounds to me like it's glorifying the use and misuse of exotic animals. I'm not particularly thrilled about it, even though they are claiming that they are not into encouraging the activities.

Anything for ratings I guess...

Excerpted from Reuters...

Rollins will host "Animal Underworld," which features people who own exotic animals as well as those who eat them. He visits Arizona's Road Kill Cafe, where the menu features not-so-exotic fare. And he meets people who consume things you would not find on the menu even at the Road Kill, like frog smoothies and tarantulas -- the former because it supposedly increases virility and the latter for medicinal purposes.

If "Animal Underworld" sounds a little edgy for the august National Geographic brand -- which has a standards and practices department that vets everything for accuracy -- senior vp Geoff Daniels assures it is in keeping with Nat Geo's mission of exploration and investigation.

"It's really an investigation into our relationship with animals," he says. "It's covering the full range from the off-beat and quirky to the potentially illicit. And our approach to (the latter) is to make sure that we're obviously not encouraging that behavior."

Funny Cat Video

Maybe it's just me, but I think it's funny.

Celebrities who Disappoint

This is an interesting article that reveals some stuff I didn't know about celebrities I like.

**Angelina Jolie used to be a vegan. She went back to red meat because she said the vegan diet almost killed her and was aging her hands. (I just don't believe she tried all that hard or was very firm in her convictions. To go all the way back to red meat? She could have just become vegetarian if she had to do so.)

**Carrie Underwood, a vegetarian, is a spokesperson for Olay Skin Care, owned by Proctor and Gamble which perform animal testing.

**Hugh Jackman promised to become a vegan and still has not done so.

Disappointing, but, as the article asks, is it fair to hold celebrities to a higher standard?

Paul the Octopus Picks World Cup Winner!

I'm totally disappointed that Spain won the World Cup. That really sucks. The only cool thing is that Paul the "psychic" octopus was right again.

For those of you who would prefer a more sensible explanation to his abilities, this article provides a more real-world explanation.

Apple Rejects Idiotic Seal Clubbing Game

Designed by, who else, a Canadian! One who can't understand what all the fuss is about. It's just like all that clubbing you usually see in cartoons.

Idiot. Thanks to Apple for not accepting this game onto their app store.

Celebrities Joining in Campaign Against Marine Animal Captivity

This article claims that Raul Julia's son is recruiting celebrities to help end the captivity of marine animals. Supposedly these celebrities include actors Johnny Depp and Wesley Snipes, singer Elton John and rapper RZA.

I'm sorry, but considering Wesley Snipes' serious tax problems, is he a help for the cause? But I would be thrilled if Johnny Depp signed on. He's one of my favorite actors.

New Film About Bullfighting Stars Adrian Brody

Too bad. I really liked Adrian Brody, but here he is showing up in a movie about a Spanish bullfighter. To the film's credit, though, it did spend a lot of money to avoid using real bulls.

"Bold Native" is Film About Animal Rights

We received an email from Open Road Films with a link to the Bold Native website and trailer. The film looks really interesting to us and we are definitely going to check it out upon its re-release this summer. They will also be making the DVD available from their website.

Here's the trailer.

Animals Should Kept in the Wild

Nice argument for animals to be kept in the wild, not in captivity. It's from a Malaysian news site.

PETA Attacks Jack Hanna

Sea World has hired him to defend the use of captive whales. PETA calls him an animal pimp "entertainer." You can read some pretty strong words from PETA here.

Stupid TLC Show Called "My Monkey Baby"

Thanks to Chimpanzee Information for pointing this travesty out.

It's a TLC show about humans that adopt monkeys and treat them as their children. This is seriously weird stuff.

Monkey business is big business in the United States, where some people pay up to $5,000 to adopt a monkey of their own, often a capuchin monkey, which can grow up to 22 inches and 9 pounds. There are hundreds of videos on the Internet of proud parents enjoying their monkeys, and an estimated 15,000 monkeys live with humans as pets or surrogate children in the United States.

And in some cases, monkey babies are more than pets: They are sons and daughters. These families dress their monkeys, feed them at the dinner table and treat them like any other member of the family.

I don't care how much these people love their "babies," these are wild animals that should be with their own kind. They are not humans and it's not psychologically healthy for them to be treated that way. Remember Travis? Second of all, this exploitative show only encourages people to make stupid impulse purchases or adoptions. Who suffers? The individual primate and the species that is depleted for this "trade."

Stupid TLC. Where is the "learning" in that name?