Two creatures, small (not rare) & great (rare)

BBFSF -- or foe?

She’s baaaaack!  my BBFSF (best bathroom female spider friend), and I was so glad to see her (or her body double) again.  Our relationship began last winter, when she seemed to like the shower area -- a choice that made me extra careful about water direction.

Earlier this week, she appeared again in the shower area, but this time she was wily: after jumping around a bit up near the ceiling, she moved behind a grab bar on the far wall, as if to shield herself from the water.  That’s one smart spider.

A few hours later, she disappeared . . . then resurfaced near the door.  Then, she was absent altogether till yesterday, when she was back in the shower.

Are spiders born knowing that many people react to them with a swat or a squash?  If so, I hope my

Brown Recluse

BBFSF has somehow figured out that I like her company and won’t hurt her.  (In contrast to the child-me who used to scream at the sight of spiders, water bugs and such, then wait for a parent to save me.)

Now, an ethical dilemma: if summertime is when outdoor spiders build their webs, catch prey, lay eggs and ultimately die with the season (shades of Charlotte’s Web), does my BBFSF yearn to be out there too?  Should I try to gently catch her and take her outdoors so she can live au naturel?

That question was complicated when I googled and read about spiders in Wikipedia and “spiders of NJ” entries. The numerous varieties of spiders include poisonous ones, and not all spiders make webs or, I now hope, find their way into bathrooms.  

Judging by the number of exterminators whose websites describe spiders, these air-breathing anthropods with 8 legs are not universally welcome indoors -- you know who I'm thinking of, black widow and brown recluse. 

What have I got here?  Who am I hosting?  What to do? 

from the dark & deep

Squid

“We did not find a monster. Our perspective as humans has changed.  What were once monsters to be feared are now curious and magnificent creatures that delight.” 

Earlier this month, a deep-sea exploration crew in the Gulf of Mexico caught a giant squid on video -- the first sighting in US waters -- as it briefly examined a bait object some 3,000 feet down. Determining it was not a meal, the squid quickly withdrew from view.

 

To see life deep down and dark, the crew had used a special camera system with red light undetectable to creatures there.  Nearing the end of their two-week search, they got much more than they expected: the first giant squid to be seen anywhere since 2012, when another squid had been observed off the coast of Japan. 

Countering their joy was the threat of a water spout forming near the ship, then a lightning strike of the metal vessel that could have knocked out their film record (but didn’t).  Their brief squid glimpse was a thrill for those involved (some of whom had seen the earlier one, off Japan), as well as anyone following news of its sighting.  

And what a sight it was: “It’s got eight writhing arms and two slashing tentacles. It has the largest eye of any animal we know of, it’s got a beak that can rip flesh. It has a jet propulsion system that can go backwards and forwards, blue blood and three hearts. It’s an amazing, amazing life form we know almost nothing about,” according to Edith Widder, an expedition leader.

https://www.thedodo.com/in-the-wild/giant-squid-captured-on-video-in-us-waters-first-time

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/06/23/scientists-captured-historic-video-giant-squid-watch-it-emerge-darkness/?utm_term=.35d041deb5a1&wpisrc=nl_animalia&wpmm=1

https://www.difference.wiki/squid-vs-octopus/

Squid Sculpture  (artist unknown)

phone early & often!

No decision by Governor Murphy yet on the horrible S2419, so our course is clear: Phone the governor and ask that he veto this bill -- which is little more than a license to kill wildlife in reprehensible ways over expanded areas of NJ.  (609-292-6000) 

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Your comments are always welcome!  Just go to 1moreonce.blogspot.com and share your thoughts. 

A world-saving challenge for meat-eaters

“Until we have real leadership on climate, changing what we eat is the biggest thing we can do to save the planet.”  This from a writer who loves meat yet knows people must stop eating it, for the sake of the earth and all the people on it.

                      Impossible Burger                               NYT pic              

In his latest column, Timothy Egan also said, “At a moment when animal-based agriculture is near the top of planet-killing culprits, ditching meat for substitutes, faux or otherwise, is the most effective thing an individual can do to fight climate change.”  He writes favorably about the increasingly popular “Impossible Burger” and other substitutes for meat.

And he argues against the great cost of producing one beef burger: “Industrial agriculture to produce meat is the coal-mining of food production.  Producing a single beef burger takes about 660 gallons of water — equivalent to a full week of water use by the average household in the United States.”

Egan doesn’t even need to mention the astronomical numbers of innocent animals bred for slaughter to keep feeding meat-eaters what they want.  He’s already won with his save the world argument.

Beef cattle shed

What more (till the 2020 election) do we need to know before making a dramatic change in our eating lives by eschewing meat?  As Egan put it: “Fake Meat Will Save Us”!

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/21/opinion/fake-meat-climate-change.html?em_pos=small&ref=headline&nl_art=5&te=1&nl=opinion-today&emc=edit_ty_20190621?campaign_id=39&instance_id=10381&segment_id=14527&user_id=a360dad7b26df61ea65737080d3deedd&regi_id=20760274emc=edit_ty_20190621

 I’ve mentioned Impossible Burgers here before (http://1moreonce.blogspot.com/2019/05/justice-comes-to-hamilton-twps-animal.html), along with Field Roast’s delicious vegan hot dogs and burgers (sausage and roasts too).  There are alternatives to meat, and apparently they’re getting better every day. As recent experience demonstrates. . .  

The day Egan’s column appeared last week, my friend and I returned to the Savory Leaf Café (Trenton Farmers Market) for lunch. A fan of Impossible Burgers from the get-go, she had another one and found it delectable, again. I opted for a vegan Reuben, with “fake” corned beef, vegan Russian dressing and real sauerkraut on excellent rye bread.  I’d do it again.

OK, beef cattle, maybe your long ordeal will come to an end (along with the damage you do to the environment).  Now, what about pigs and their short, brutal lives necessitated by meat-eaters who consume their bacon, ham and pork ad nauseam?

                   Brutus & Debbie                                APLNJ pic                   

Treated as commodities, not sentient beings -- social and playful, with intelligence that rivals dogs’ smarts -- pigs are routinely tortured through cold indifference or outright cruelty. In discussing video footage from pig factory farms in the US and British Columbia, Daniel Paden, a VP with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) describing the horrific ways pigs of all ages are treated: a “hellish, dungeon-like existence in extremely close confinement” with nothing to do but “stare at the cinder block wall just in front of their noses. . .”  

Their slaughter can be even more ugly.

Pigs have no choice, Paden says -- but we do.  If we refuse to support this kind of abuse, “there’s only one choice left: to leave pigs off our plates.”  

  

There it is again: only people can stop the horror behind meat-eating, and the only way to do that is to stop eating pigs.  And other animals.

Will we?  

Call for veto of S2419

Protect NJ wildlife from pitiless hunters! A piece of legislation that’s particularly horrible for New Jersey wildlife is moving toward becoming law -- unless state residents urge Gov. Phil Murphy to veto it.  (609-292-6000)

Bill S2419 would legalize a number of hunting practices usually associated with low-down animal poachers, and it would also greatly enlarge areas in the state where these cruel tactics might be used.

S2419 appears to be little more than a license to kill wildlife in reprehensible ways over expanded areas of NJ. 

If you agree, please act now: ask the governor to veto S2419.  (609-292-6000) 

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‘Read it & weep’ -- then contact Governor Murphy asap

Something very bad for New Jersey’s wild animals is about to happen. This time, after years of others’ preventing it, only Governor Murphy can stop it -- and only those who care about our wild animals can encourage him to veto A3242/S2419!   (609-292-6000).

Here’s what’s going on.

On June 10, the state senate passed S2419, also known by animal advocates as “the poaching bill” because it would legalize some hunting practices that animal poachers -- illegal animal killers -- typically use.  And not only legalize them, but spread those practices as well. 

You read it right: S2419 would not only permit and thereby make legitimate a number of horrible practices toward wild animals here, but also broaden the areas where they can be used.

For 11 years, humane organizations and the NJ Sierra Club fought successfully to keep this legislation from becoming law.  But now, it has made it through the legislature and will go to Gov. Murphy’s desk for the signature that will make it law.  It will empower hunters to kill animals virtually any way they can.

That’s what we must keep from happening! 

  

The following are just some of the worst things about S2419:

1 -- “Baiting” animals -- attracting them with food, then killing them as they “take the bait” -- is illegal in New York and Pennsylvania, yet encouraged here. (What kind of “sportsmen” would bait animals to kill them?)  S2419 would add hundreds of thousands of NJ acres where baiting can take place.

2 -- Still other poaching practices would also be permitted in the acreage added by S2419.  They include shooting deer from moving vehicles at night and “jacklighting,” or stunning deer with bright lights.  (What kind of “sportsmen” would do that?)

3 -- Giving hunters even more territory where they can kill animals, as well as far more animals to kill, S2419 broadens what is known as “depredation permit killing” -- that  is, killing all animals believed to cause crop damage on specified lands: those under forest stewardship, forest management and woodland management plans.

The legislation does not define the amount of crop damage necessary to permit killing animals on the land; it does not identify crop-damage causes other than animals; and it does not even suggest humane, non-lethal ways of dealing with the animals believed to have damaged crops. 

To all appearances, S2419 is a wide-reaching hunting permit under the guise of protecting crops.

Detailed information on this subject is available on the website of the Animal Protection League of NJ:  https://aplnj.org/wildlife-advocacy/deer-resources-information/. 

For the animals, it’s urgent that Governor Murphy hear, early and often, from New Jersey residents who are against this legislation becoming state law.  Please phone 609-292-6000, and urge as many others as possible to do the same.

a reference for animals in war  ...................................................

In my blog post for Memorial Day, Monday, May 27, I referred to London’s Animals in War memorial and included photos I had taken there.  Later, I realized that some readers might want more information on the subject of animals in war, upsetting as it might (and should) be.  I recommend Jilly Cooper’s book, Animals in War: Valiant Horses, Courageous Dogs, and Other Unsung Animal Heroes.  (The Lyons Press, an imprint of the Globe Pequot Press, c. 2002)

The animals in war mentioned in Cooper’s book include pigeons, mules, horses, donkeys, dogs, camels, elephants, cats, canaries, sheep, mice, goats, pigs, bats, bullocks, oxen, monkeys, rabbits, guinea pigs and dolphins. 

http://1moreonce.blogspot.com/2019/05/honoring-supreme-sacrifice-innumerable.html

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Right now, please: phone Gov. Murphy about the horrible A3242/S2419!   (609-292-6000)

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‘Rescue’ & ‘save’ are words for today -- & every day

“They’re just as important as people, as far as I’m concerned.”  -- Shawn Smith, volunteer firefighter turned animal rescue team member, saving cats and dogs stranded by flood waters

in Webbers Falls, Oklahoma (late May, ’19)

                     Charlie                          NYT pic

It’s hard for me to imagine people leaving pet(s) behind when they have to evacuate quickly.  But it happens.  Just think of the recent wildfire and flood stories, including happy tales of animals saved afterwards.  The latest stories came from Oklahoma, where raging floods overtook whole towns, with people barely ahead of the waters.  

Animal-rescue efforts that followed focused on “Charlie,” described as a “dog-about-town,” and pets who had been left behind.  Charlie eluded rescue teams for a while, but finally there was a happy ending for him and numerous pets.  

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/27/us/oklahoma-floods-pets-rescue.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_190528

Shelter cats need  YOU!

Speaking of saving, June is adopt a shelter cat month.  Let’s go!  Shelters are the worst places for cats to be for their lives’ sake, given the horrible percentage of cats who die in shelters.  It probably starts with feral, or community, cats, who are routinely euthanized in some shelters. (As always, that word “shelter” is such a cruel misnomer!)

Then, life in a cage -- often one that’s far too small, lacking the space for a cat to stand up or turn around -- can be hideous, with the Five Freedoms totally ignored.

As a former shelter-cat volunteer, I saw these things, and worse.  For instance, cats were never allowed out of their cages. They couldn’t walk around, look around, socialize. Their food was whatever was available (only sometimes within “best by . . .” dates), and their interactions with people depended mostly on volunteers. 

So are you ready to adopt a shelter cat, or two, yet?  

At the very least, I suggest you visit your area shelter.  Ask to see and meet the cats there.  As that happens, ask questions and notice what you can.  Who knows: maybe you’ll leave a donation, or volunteer to help out once a week, or drop off quality cat food and/or towels (never enough of those in animal shelters).  

Even if you don’t adopt right now, there’s plenty you can do to make life better for shelter cats, starting with visiting them.  

 

Will the governor sign?

New York may become the first state in the US to ban declawing cats, putting that state on a par with several US cities, most Canadian provinces and Britain, Germany, Austria, Sweden and other countries where declawing is outlawed. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/06/05/cat-paws-may-soon-be-safe-new-york-state-is-poised-become-first-ban-declawing/?utm_term=.fa794724fd4f&wpisrc=nl_animalia&wpmm=1

After breezing through the NY legislature, the bill now awaits the governor’s signature.  If it becomes law, veterinarians performing the procedure for non-medical purposes would be fined $1,000.  Declawed cats of all sizes often suffer for the rest of their lives from this “cruel, unnecessary amputation,” as one legislator described it -- a procedure likened to chopping off a human finger at the first knuckle.  

(The Paw Project (https://pawproject.org/) offers compelling arguments and a powerful video against declawing.)

Declawing became the (convenient, couch-saving) thing to do back in the 1950s, when a vet’s letter to the editor of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Assn. advocated it as a “practical measure.” 

The AVMA still has not come out unequivocally against declawing cats, and you have to wonder why not.  However, the American Assn. of Feline Practitioners has done so -- to its great credit.   https://catvets.com/guidelines/position-statements/declawing

 

“They need rescue, they need help, and they don’t have the ability to help themselves, like we do. “This is our home. This is our community. These are our friends and our family. I volunteered 11 years ago to take care of that.  Our animals are our family as well.” -- Shawn Smith

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Threatened animals: microcosm to macrocosm

Raccoon

Here at home, we protest the brutal murder of a raccoon in Lacey Township, rally for non-lethal deer management in Bergen County and await Tuesday’s primary results that may improve life -- save lives! -- for shelter animals in Hamilton Township, Mercer County.

There’s plenty to do for animals in our state, including support for pending legislation and a continuous fight on numerous fronts against the Division of Fish and Wildlife (DFW), a hunter-backed state agency that ostensibly supports wildlife.

But it’s a big world, with animal jeopardy everywhere -- and misunderstood, under-appreciated animals too.  The columnist linked below writes appealingly in praise of “ugly, unloved animals” who in fact do a lot of good.  Opossums, for instance, consume cockroaches, carrion and venomous snakes; while the vulture, “soarer of air currents,” eats gore, completing other animals’ life cycle.

Mosquitoes, wasps, spiders, red bats and rat snakes can seem at first to be no friends of ours, yet they serve as food for birds we love; they spin silk that supports bird nests and babies; they eat caterpillars who forage in our gardens; they catch the moth larvae that can destroy trees; they thin out the field mouse population.   

Opossum

Fruit flies: what about them?  Or (shudder!) are they invulnerable, with license to turn up on our banana bunches or be used in lab experiments?  And where oh where is the predator of house flies, who are, unarguably, “unloved”?     

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/27/opinion/praise-ugly-unloved-animals.html?em_pos=small&ref=headline&nl_art=6&te=1&nl=opinion-today&emc=edit_ty_20190528

Meanwhile, in Vietnam

Scenic, exotic and accessible, Vietnam was for some time a place where “new-to-science” species of plants and animals were discovered during the last 30 years.  Comparatively crammed with national parks where these anomalies could once be readily seen, this Southeast Asian country is now the scene of  widespread animal elimination.  

Eventually writing about all this, two tourists were warned off these parks, where wildlife has been decimated.  The resulting article, “Vietnam’s Empty Forests” (linked below) tells the story: “The Asian nation is a hot spot of biological diversity, but local and international conservation groups are struggling to halt what amounts to animal genocide.”

The “usual suspects” are blamed:  habitat destruction, human population growth, appetite for animal parts (used in “medicine”) and animal meat (served in upscale restaurants).  Increasing tourism is a potential threat: high-rise hotels going up on the edge of wildlife parks.

And, as in so many other places, Vietnam has become a world center for criminal wildlife trafficking, with low-paid rangers often abetting poachers.  Some species are already wiped out, while in safe pockets of the country, tiny populations hang on. 

“So it goes.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/01/travel/vietnam-wildlife-species-ecotravel-tourism.html?em_pos=small&emc=edit_sc_20190409&nl=science-times&nl_art=8&nlid=20760274emc%3Dedit_sc_20190409&ref=headline&te=1

New elephant danger

Making a geographical jump to African wildlife, particularly elephants (whose numbers have dropped from the millions to around 400,000 on the continent), Botswana has issued an upsetting announcement. After a five-year layoff, elephant hunting will resume there. 

While probably appealing to residents of rural areas, where human-elephant conflicts occur without sufficient means to curtail them, the decision has hit conservationists hard.  Botswana, after all, has the largest elephant population in Africa -- about 1/3 of the continent’s (ever-shrinking) total.

One argument supporting resumption of hunting is that it will balance the country’s economic needs with conservationists’ demands.  Further, the current population, resulting from the ban, is argued to be unsustainable.  And ultimately, sacrificing 700 elephants (to trophy hunters, who presumably will pay for their murderous “sport”) may save more elephants.  

That’s very hard to see.  Once African elephants are gone and functionally extinct, they are gone!

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/23/world/africa/botswana-elephant-hunting.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_190524

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