A new relationship with animals, nature and each other.

Posts by Michael Mountain

  • Introducing the Whale Sanctuary Project

    This blog is taking a break for the next few months so that I can devote my energies to the Whale Sanctuary Project. Here's why.

  • Is the Sloth Sanctuary a Zoo?

    The Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica was the first of its kind for these wonderfully engaging animals, and it was a model for others that followed. But questions have arisen. And…

  • Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary

    Tafi Atome looks like a typical forest in Ghana. The monkeys have been revered in this village for two centuries. But being “sacred” is no guarantee of survival.

  • The Great Irony of Animal “Rights”

    The great irony of the animal rights movement is there is still only one species that has any rights at all: humans. But the Nonhuman Rights Project is setting out to change that.

  • Why Mass Extinction Is Part of Human Nature

    Why would a supposedly “intelligent” species behave in a way that’s bringing about a mass extinction – one that will likely take us down along with so many other animals?

    Is the Stock Market a Global Ponzi Scheme?
    Sacred Activism in the Service of Animals
    Of Humans and Persons

    Elephant ‘Stud’ Shipped Around the World

    The Denver Post calls Billy the elephant a “pachyderm heartthrob”. We’d call him a cardiac patient in the making.

    Billy is on his way to the Denver Zoo from Europe in hopes that he’ll father a new baby to put on display there.

    Elephants at zoos are dying faster than replacements can be born, and there’s talk of zoo elephants needing to be classified as “endangered”.

    So it’s no surprise that zoos are racing to keep their populations from dwindling – and that rather than address the cause of the problem (major diseases stemming from obesity), they’re shipping more elephants from one zoo to another as part of an emergency breeding program.

    Latest case in point: Billy, who was born in Ireland, then shipped to Belgium, and is now being prepared for the 5,000-mile flight from Brussels to Denver.

    Ladybug Playtime

    A student leaves some sprinkles lying around in her dorm room. A ladybug flies in. The student posts what happens next. Is it play? Does the…

    An Elephantine Obesity Epidemic

    We already know that most of the major health problems for humans – heart disease, many cancers, diabetes, arthritis, etc. – are the product of an unhealthy lifestyle. The same is true for elephants at zoos.

    And a new study, commissioned by a zoo, concludes that unless radical action is taken, the situation is so dire that elephants will be extinct at zoos within a few decades.

    The study flies in the face of what zoos keep telling us about zoos being the last refuge of elephants, protecting them from the ever-increasing dangers of living in the wild.

    Meet Your Ancestor . . .

    This is Archicebus achilles, or “beginning long-tailed monkey.” One of the very earliest of our primate ancestors, she weighed about an ounce, could fit in the…

    Giant Feral Cats Are Eating Australia

    In Northern Australia, feral cats are growing enormous – more than three feet long – and consuming much of the indigenous wildlife.

    Now the federal government is taking action to save the wildlife by killing as many cats as possible.

    Will it work? Probably not. But neither, frankly, will a trap/neuter/return program. After all, we’re talking about what’s become essentially a new species of wildlife, fully integrated into the “bush”.

    For the Love of Sloths

    Monique Pool has up to 200 sloths at her sanctuary home in Paramaribo, Suriname. Outside of the city, the rain forest is being bulldozed for cattle…

    For Pigs, a Match Made in Hell

    Smithfield, the world’s biggest producer of factory-farmed pigs, has agreed to be taken over by Shuanghui, China’s biggest pork producer.

    Shuanghui has 13 factory farms that produce more than 2.7 million tons of meat each year. For $4.7 billion, it will take possession of Smithfield and its 460 facilities that raise 15.8 million hogs a year.

    What does this mean for the pigs?

    Dear Diary

    Buzzfeed’s latest feline philosophy. “Like Sisyphus, I am bound to hell.”(For deep thoughts on why cats are better than dogs, go here.)