Bears in jeopardy, looking at platypuses, a cat's job & elephant show coming

NJ black bear 

That Gov. Phil Murphy has once again gone back on his word to stop black bear hunts in New Jersey, and that his latest deceptive decision is based on false numbers and a false sense of urgency has already been said, although it bears repeating, for our bears’ sake. 

On this and many other issues, Murphy is not to be trusted.  Problem is, he can call the shots.  So now, as the Animal Protection League of New Jersey (APLNJ) says,

“We understand Governor Murphy acted in bad faith and showed his true character when he reinstated the bear hunt.  This fact does not preclude us from exposing the lies, the sham, and the truth.”

APLNJ urges those against this latest projected assault on our black bears – the great majority of NJ residents! – to make their voices heard.  Start this way: Tweet on X: @GovMurphy #SaveNJBears.  Tell him to do the right thing and cancel the hunt.  Last time, the “emergency" hunt, the bear population estimate and the bear complaints were a sham that led to the deaths of 114 bears: Lives for trophies!

On APL’s website (APLNJ.org), scroll down past the opening about whales to the “New Call to Action for the Bears” and click on the bear advocacy page to read expert opinion on bears from the Bear Group, an APLNJ program.  Talking points there are invaluable arguments against bear hunts here.   

Platypus protection   

It started with the first nautical-history novel (Master and Commander) in Patrick O’Brian’s series set during the Napoleonic wars and following the lives of a ship’s captain and ship’s surgeon – two good friends.  Fascinated, I sailed through all 20 books. 

In one of them, I joined Stephen Maturin, surgeon, naturalist and spy, in meeting up with a platypus – a strange creature wholly new to both of us.  Unaware of the secret weapon the male platypus possesses – a protective poison spur on his heels -- Dr. Maturin was stung and seriously injured, requiring long recovery time.  

Startled by that event, I looked into platypuses.  Yikes!  Hoping that as native to Australia, they stay there -- or at least the males do.     

With a duck bill, webbed feet and waterproof fur, the aquatic platypus suggests a strange composite animal.  It ranges in length from 15-24 inches and weighs from nearly 2 to more than 5 pounds.

Dog-as-platypus  

Platypuses are the only mammals able to produce poison and just one of two living “monotremes”—creatures that lay eggs rather than bearing live young.  (Also from down under, the echidna, or spiny anteater, is the other.)  Like other mammals, platypuses have fur and produce milk to feed their young.

‘Billy the Great’

Since Jersey joined us last October, my reference to either family cat has usually been to him, the insistently unique newbie in the family.  But this time, Billy gets the spotlight because he too has unique qualities . . . like being a life-long “great white (and black) hunter.”

Believe me, “great” in this context is accurate.  While now 16-½ years old and slowing down a bit (though not in his devotion), Billy has always been the in-house pest-exterminator, a job he does matter-of-factly and with vigor. 

 Billy Summers

It began, and continues, with flies.  Let one manage to get inside and Billy is on duty till he dispatches it (yum!).  Same with uninvited crawling bugs.  

A few days ago, his reach exceeded his grasp: Before I even saw it, Billy dove at a grasshopper right outside our front screened-door, which I was opening.  He was inside and the ’hopper was outside, with four free inches between them.

My closing the door killed Billy’s dream, even though he scrabbled at the area for a frustrated while longer.  Happily, I didn’t have to witness his handling of the grasshopper.  Or vice versa!     

                                                               African elephant                                   AMNH image

Merely the space devoted to them here would leave no doubt that I love elephants and fear for their future.  And now, answering my unprayed prayer, New York’s American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) -- site of the recent, much-extolled “Sharks” exhibition -- announces “The Secret Lives of Elephants.”

Opening in mid-November, it allows us time to plan a visit and reserve tickets.  And you can be sure that regular reminders about this great-sounding show will appear in blog posts here.

Elephant ear of the botanical kind