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

    Elephants and Slavery

    The mindset that has permitted atrocities to be inflicted on humans is the same mindset that allows the abuse of animals to occur. Just as my…

    Inside the World of Zoo Elephants

    Zoos love baby elephants. When baby Packy was born at the Portland Zoo in 1962, people lined up for half a mile to see him. Life magazine devoted an 11-page spread to the event.
    But real life for zoo elephants is a whole other story, and it’s told in this remarkable series of stories, videos and photos from the Seattle Times.

    Humpback Whale Freed from Fishing Gear

    The whale had probably been dragging this fishing gear around for months. Now he was weakened to the point where he could barely move or lift his tail. Thick rope was wrapped around his body – so tightly that it was clear that he had become entangled when he was younger and smaller, and, over the months, had grown deeply into the ever-tighter synthetic material.

    Poland Bans Kosher and Halal Slaughter

    Poland’s top court has ruled that ritual slaughter of animals according to religious requirements is illegal. Specifically this means that the kosher and halal method of slaughter, by which a conscious animal is held upside down while her throat is slit, cannot be continued.

    Sea Levels Rising Ever Faster

    New research shows that sea levels are rising considerably faster than previously calculated. The study shows that children being born today can expect to see low-lying…

    Vivisection, UCSF-Style

    A rhesus monkey, named Petra, kept in a botched brain study with screws and a piece of acrylic waste buried in her head. Mice having their toes cut off without a drop of anesthesia. Others dying of thirst. Birds cut open without anesthesia. All of this, and much more, at the University of California at San Francisco, which experimented its way through 800,000 animals last year.

    Worst Place to Hold a Climate Conference

    It’s a bit like McDonalds hosting a conference on the obesity epidemic. You can’t help wondering who decided that the best location for what may be the world’s last-chance climate convention would be the fabulously wealthy Persian Gulf emirate of Qatar.