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

    The Cat Burglar

    Photo by Brazil’s General Superintendency of Prisons of Alagoas (SGAP) in Arapiraca, Brazil. Authorities in Sao Paulo, Brazil, have announced that they are trying to get…

    Will Humans Become Hobbits?

    A hobbit in the movie, and what real-life hobbits (homo floresiensis) looked like when they flourished on the island of Flores in Indonesia for about 80,000…

    American Humane’s Chairman Resigns

    Eric Bruner, chairman of the board of the American Humane Association, has resigned in the wake of questionable financial practices as well as general policies regarding the direction of an organization that seems to have lost its way.

    Packing Their Trunks?

    In the old and delightfully subversive children’s song, Nellie the elephant “packed her trunk and said goodbye to the circus.” Could this be coming true in…

    After the Sixth Extinction

    This smiling fellow, known as Thalattoarchon saurophagis, was cruising the oceans about 244 million years ago in what are now the mountains of central Nevada, snapping up smaller fish for dinner. And that, we’re told, is good news. Here’s why.

    True Facts about Sloths

    From Buzzfeed’s Ze Frank. (Fair warning: includes humor some may find tasteless!) [readon] And for more about sloths, visit the Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica –…

    Are Religions Bad for Animals?

    While religion itself is not in itself bad for animals, religions that seek to separate humans from the natural world are indeed a problem.

    (And, incidentally, there’s very little difference between a fundamentalist religious believer and an atheist transhumanist worshipper of technology.)

    More Bad ‘Luck’

    A senior ex-staffer at American Humane Association is suing AHA for having fired her after she reported abuse of horses on the set of the HBO racehorse drama series Luck.

    Barbara Casey, who worked as the director of production in the AHA’s film and television unit, says that abuse was endemic on the set, and that AHA thwarted her efforts to enforce the organization’s own animal safety standards.

    The Two Dogs in the Rose Bowl Parade

    Two dogs are featured in the Rose Parade today. One of them, Chuck, will be with conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall, who’s serving as the Grand Marshall this year.

    The other is Lucca, also a shepherd mix, who will be riding with Cpl. Juan Rodriguez. Lucca is a veteran of three deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Rodriguez says he owes his life to her.