In memory of all the animals who have died from human abuse, misuse and indifference.
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| Animals in War Memorial. Park Lane, London |
Sunday, May 27, 2018
Sunday, May 20, 2018
So sad: we live in an age that requires protecting animals
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| Horse Rescue United |
Speciesism and dominionism,
coupled with human carelessness and overriding greed, when focused on non-human animals who can’t speak or
fight for themselves, make for a deadly combination, one requiring ever more animal protection.
This week’s newspaper described
the legal requirement for country prosecutors and municipal police departments
to take over enforcing animal-control laws from the NJSPCA. While my experience with the NJSPCA isn’t
extensive, it’s been enough to jaundice my view of its approaches and effectiveness.
Meanwhile, in Chad, African
elephants are thriving and multiplying after years of death and decimation by
ivory poachers. But to reach this happy
position, it took a leader who cares about animal conservation yet has a
horrible human rights record, and “imported” South African experts to set
things to rights. Only lately have locals been encouraged to accept and
protect their country’s animals.
So, this desirable result occurred through a seriously flawed
process.
a shining star of
protection
Angi Metler, co-founder and
executive director, says, “Our website will always be a work in progress, as we
welcome new input and suggestions. If
anyone notices something missing, let us know.”
Aren’t you thirsty yet?
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| Harry |
Yet I regularly see articles the
importance of cat-hydration, together with
tips for how to lead a cat to water and make him drink. So I’ve been sure to keep
water (and food too) far removed from litterbox areas; I’ve regularly changed
the water in bowls on two floors -- apparently untouched day after day -- and I’ve
sometimes added ice cubes and enthusiastically pointed them out.
No, I haven’t tried a fountain, even
though cats reportedly love moving water. Nor have I taught either of the Summers boys
to sit in a sink and turn on the water, as I’ve seen happen online. A can of chicken
broth has sat on a counter for weeks while I consider whether and how to add it
to their water bowls. Chicken-flavored
water?!
Any suggestions, readers?
http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/cats-drink-more-water-health
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Sunday, May 13, 2018
For the love of elephants
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| Gabon landscape |
The sentence that snapped me into consciousness of the wild animal I feel most strongly about
was: “Can you imagine a world without elephants?”
That was years ago. Of
course, my answer to the question was a resounding “NO! I don’t want to imagine such a thing! The
world needs elephants! Elephants must
live!” And so on. Then, learning that elephant
extinction was a real possibility, as these giant, intelligent, family-oriented
animals were being slaughtered en masse, for their tusks -- to make ivory
trinkets for inhumane, greedy fools -- I was horrified by what was happening to
elephants, and why.
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| Save the Elephants image |
And
now, despite appeals to save the elephants from a wide diversity of people (a famous
Asian basketball player, an American movie star and other celebrities, world-renowned elephant-protectors and their organizations. . . and everyday people
who donate, write and march), elephants are still in great jeopardy.
Why? For me, the many
possible reasons for elephants’ continued slaughter come down to one: human greed.
Despite responsibility to protect
elephants or expressed good intentions or seeming moral strength, money wins
out and elephants (continue to) die.
This message is the central point of Mlima’s Tale, Lynn Nottage’s play running in NYC through June 3. For me, it was brilliant, and depressing,
theater. Mlima is a famous “big tusker”
in Kenya who, early in the play, is killed by poachers for his tusks. Then follow the attempts by all involved to
get away with the murder and make money on the tusks.
They do so. Sickeningly.
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| Satao |
Throughout the play, all the
characters’ interactions are accompanied by the ghost of Mlima, powerfully portrayed by one of the show’s four
actors. Not one person who encounters
the tusks and the drive to smuggle them out of Kenya and sell them sounds the
alarm. Not one. The tusks of the mighty
elephant become “an exquisite ivory set in the penthouse of a rich connoisseur,”
as the
reviewer puts it, adding this killer point: “unconditional virtue is nonexistent within the
international system of economic power that keeps the play’s world
spinning.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/15/theater/mlimas-tale-review-lynn-nottage.html
As long as that remains true
-- is human nature likely to change? -- elephants don’t stand a chance.
The story of what’s happening
to elephants can make misanthropes of those of us who believe reason and “humanity”
will prevail. Fools that we are. And media stories about new ways to help save elephants can’t quite generate
the optimism they may have fostered before. The realization that most humans would rather
make money than stop iconic, sentient beings from being slaughtered is overwhelming. .
. and seems to be reinforced every day.
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| Hamilton |
In spite of all that, I will continue to read, write
and donate as I can because I can’t stand the idea of doing nothing for elephants. The organization I
trust is "Save the Elephants" (www.savetheelephants.org), founded by Dr. Iain
Douglas Hamilton, a scientist considered one of the world’s foremost authorities on African
elephants. I’ve read about him for years and thought he was very impressive at a NYC demo a few years ago. (To donate to Save the Elephants, click “Donate” then scroll down for
the Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN), a San Francisco-based US partner to
STE.)
The sentence that most recently hit me hard was: “One
elephant killed every 15 minutes.” Mlima’s Tale continues. Save the elephants.
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| Yao Ming with orphaned baby elephant |
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blog and want to comment, please go to 1moreonce.blogspot.com
Saturday, May 5, 2018
Spring brings both bad news & good
Once safely into
springtime, we’re also UN-safely into tick and mosquito season, which many of
us have good reason to dread. For those
who are prey to these jumping and flying pests -- the nicest word for them -- here’s
useful info about why they’re proliferating and how to combat them. (Right, this is a blog about animals, but we definitely
don’t like or welcome all of them!)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/01/well/mosquitoes-ticks-lyme-disease-protection.html?em_pos=small&emc=edit_hh_20180504&nl=well&nl_art=1&nlid=20760274emc%3Dedit_hh_20180504&ref=headline&te=1
Collectively speaking
No room in my last post, about two confusing black birds, to mention
other names for crows and ravens: collective nouns. If you see a number of
crows, for instance, sure, you could refer to them as “a flock of crows,” and be
accurate. But more poetically, you could refer to them as “a murder of crows.” Doesn’t that add a nice sinister note?
As for a mundane “group of ravens,” try “an unkindness of . . .” or “a
conspiracy of ravens” -- much more colorful. That wording better suggests connections
like Hitchcock’s movie The Birds or
Poe’s poem “The Raven.”
Shades of the collective noun “clowder” for a group of cats, right? Another option there, btw, is “clutter” of
cats, which seems especially apropos now, in the thick of kitten season. And
for many of us ailurophiles, “a pounce of cats” says it too.
Safer flights, we hope
Safer flights, we hope
After
a series of mishaps and one death for pets involved with United Airlines, the
company has announced new policies and customer requirements for pet air
transportation. Aimed at improving the safety of the travel experience for animals, they
take effect Monday, June 18, and will be modified as needed afterward. This link leads you to all that, and more.
Tell it to the . . . Gov!
Please keep up
the pressure with frequent polite phone calls to Governor Murphy: remind
him of his pledge to end New Jersey’s bear hunts. 609-292-6000.
In an earlier stage of our development most human groups held to a tribal ethic. Members of the tribe were protected, but people of other tribes could be robbed or killed as one pleased. Gradually the circle of protection expanded, but as recently as 150 years ago we did not include blacks. So African human beings could be captured, shipped to America, and sold. In Australia white settlers regarded Aborigines as a pest and hunted them down, much as kangaroos are hunted down today. Just as we have progressed beyond the blatantly racist ethic of the era of slavery and colonialism, so we must now progress beyond the speciesist ethic of the era of factory farming, of the use of animals as mere research tools, of whaling, seal hunting, kangaroo slaughter, and the destruction of wilderness. We must take the final step in expanding the circle of ethics.-Peter Singer, philosopher and professor of bioethics (1946- )
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