A new relationship with animals, nature and each other.

Posts from the ‘Animals’ category

    The Whale Who Took Down SeaWorld
    Egg Industry Concession Is No ‘Victory’
    For Chimps, the End of Vivisection, Almost
    Cecil Is the Least of It

    The Freaks (not dogs) of Westminster

    No, I’m not referring to those poor dogs, with all the health issues of inbreeding like squashed faces and crippling joint diseases. They’re as loving and lovable as any abused dog. I’m referring to the people who would do this to dogs, turning them into deformed shadows of their true canine nature.

    Horses in the Civil War

    C. Kay Larson writes about the the role that horses played during the Civil War. The Southern cavalry was “a rich man’s undertaking,” but the Union purchased Morgans, “a uniquely American breed known for endurance, versatility, heart and courage.”

    It’s an interesting article, but it goes wrong in calling the horses “the real heroes.” Nonhumans are never the heroes of a war; they are always the victims. Here are some of the numbers.

    The Nature of Dolphins

    In this video, we see a group of dolphins helping a confused seal pup find her way through the strong currents buffeting her around a rocky shore and back out to the ocean.

    Last week, we saw a tangled dolphin ask human divers to free her, as well as whales adopting an orphan dolphin, and dolphins nursing a sick family member. How many more such things happen on any given day? Hundreds? Thousands?

    And what does this tell us about the nature of dolphins?

    Cloning Cats, Cows and Neanderthals

    When Prof. Church and others offer, as a reason for cloning Neanderthals, that this may help save the human race from extinction, they simply betray their deeper anxieties about their own mortality.

    What’s Next for the Government’s Chimpanzees?

    The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has taken another big step toward bringing an end to the use of chimpanzees in research. But there’s still a long way to go – and it’s still quite uncertain where the retired chimpanzees can go and who’s going to pay for them.

    ‘Blackfish’ Orca Movie Is Talk of Sundance

    Is the new movie “Blackfish” – a powerful damning indictment of SeaWorld, screened at the Sundance Film Festival last weekend – this year’s answer to the 2009 Oscar-winning “The Cove”?

    The critics are giving it rave reviews, calling it “a damning indictment of SeaWorld” and even suggesting that “it stands a good chance of putting the “$2-billion theme park out of business.”

    Hunting Twinkle

    I was scrambling up the side of one of the dips after standing in the shade of some pine trees. Twinkle had reached the top ahead of me, peered back down and then ran off to play with one of the other dogs. Then a single shot rang out and I heard a single yelp.

    It took me a moment to realize what had happened.

    More Dolphins Bite Tourists

    The tourists in the dolphin pool were told to stand in a line and splash the two dolphins, who would splash back. But one of the dolphins became aggressive and bit Sabina on her leg. Two others were attacked, too, and one of them ended up in hospital.

    Who’s Killing the Dolphins?

    At least six dolphins have been brutally murdered along the Gulf Coast in recent months – shot, stabbed, body parts hacked off. Local authorities are encouraging…