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

    Cat Fight in British Politics

    As an unprecedented political drama continued to unfold outside London’s 10 Downing Street, police had to be called to break up the catfight over who should inhabit the Prime Minister’s official residence.

    Wildlife Park Owner: ‘Shut Down Zoos!’

    Wildlife park owner Damian Aspinall says it’s time to shut down zoos – especially city zoos. And to make his point, he’s preparing to release an entire family of 11 western lowland gorillas from his wildlife park in England to the wild in Africa as part of his charity’s Back to the Wild project.

    Penguin Speed Secrets Revealed

    How do emperor penguins manage to reach a maximum speed approaching 20 miles an hour when swimming in Antarctic waters where they have to avoid hungry leopard seals? The secret is in the bubbles!

    Hundreds of Sick Chimpanzees Held in Labs Until They Die

    Two thirds of the chimpanzees who died at vivisection laboratories over the past ten years were so sick from chronic illness or multi-organ diseases that they should, by law, have been retired from experimentation. Instead, they were simply held for further research.

    That’s the conclusion of a new study from the New England Anti-Vivisection Society (NEAVS) to be published in October 2012 edition of the journal Alternatives to Laboratory Animals.

    ‘I Was Raised by Monkeys’

    Kidnapped by human traffickers at age four, Marina Chapman woke up to find herself abandoned in the rain forest of Colombia. She spent the next five years living with Capuchin monkeys – like a female Tarzan.

    Now in her 60s, she’s finally telling her story.

    Dolphins "Beached" in Marine Zoo Tanks

    Wandering behind the scenes at a Japanese marine zoo, Chinese photographer Huang-Ju came across this scene.

    “I saw the workers scrubbing this tank,” he says, “but then I suddenly realized there were dolphins lying in the drained pool. I was shocked at how the staff ignored the dolphin and didn’t seem to be in any hurry to refill the pool.”

    The photo won Huan-Ju a special commendation in this year’s photo contest for the Veolia Environnement The World in Our Hands Award.

    How the World Ends – in Silence

    Proverbially, the world ends either with a bang or with a whimper. But last night we learned that it will end, instead, in silence.

    In a debate that was all about how we relate to the rest of the world, neither President Obama nor Gov. Romney ever mentioned the global devastation being wrought by climate change, the mass extinctions that are unfolding, the multiple pandemics that can break loose at any moment, the poisoning of the land, the oceans and the air we breathe, or any of the other enormous threats we face.

    Your Earliest Ancestor

    Shortly before a giant asteroid smacked into the what is now Mexico’s Yucatan, 65 million years ago, setting off a firestorm, a nuclear winter and the demise of the dinosaurs, a tiny mammal, weighing just over an ounce, was racing up and down trees and staying out of the way. Today, one of her descendants is you.

    Bach v. Bark

    A new study shows that dogs at a shelter who heard classical music tend to bark less and sleep more than when other kinds of music are playing.

    Crying Wolf

    They’re salivating at the prospect of a kill, stalking their prey in the wild, cunning and lethal … and we’re not talking about the wolves, but rather the wolf hunters. Five states – Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Minnesota and Wisconsin – are back in the business of killing wolves, and ’tis the season for hunters to be jolly.

    On Picking Up Starfish (Starhorses?)

    Last month, I wrote about my friend Tom, who, after doing much to bring an end to the killing of homeless pets, finds himself involved in horse rescue and rehab – one horse at a time. Last month, Spartacus, an 18-year-old Peruvian Paso who had had a horrible life, had just had a visit from the chiropractor. Here’s an update from Tom on how Spartacus is doing a month later:

    Call No Elephant Happy Until She Is Free

    It’s a terrible irony that Happy, the elephant who demonstrated to scientific researchers how animals of her species are capable of a high level of self-awareness, now languishes all alone in a cage about twice the size of her body. No animal with the kind of cognitive abilities that Happy has demonstrated belongs in a zoo – and, worse, in a cage.