Pandemic possibilities are all around us -- & growing

                     Coughing gorillas                           NYTimes image
                      

They’re unpleasant subjects – coronavirus, bats, wet markets – but as animal advocates, we need to know about them, to protect ourselves, our pets and the animal world at large.  With the pandemic surging again and vaccines becoming a political/cultural issue, it’s likely we’ll have Covid-19 with us (and in us) for the indefinite future. 

So we need to be armed with knowledge.  It should include (1) the importance of stamping out wet markets everywhere (yes, they’re here too); (2) the frightening situation of humans infecting animals, instead of the reverse; (3) the overarching need for us to bond with all animals and stop the trafficking and consumption of wild animals.

“We are animals, too,” David Quammen reminds us at the end of his latest column on infections and pandemics.  Reporting on coughing gorillas in a California zoo, he illustrates that what goes around comes around.  Tests showed that “SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, was among

Silverback gorilla

them [the gorillas].”

The most ominous part: “It could have come only from a person,” most likely an infected but asymptomatic zookeeper.

Instead of animals transmitting the virus to humans (a zoonosis), which is how the current pandemic began, those infected coughing gorillas signaled transmission from a human to a nonhuman animal.  That this human virus can now spill over to great apes (as well as domestic and big cats, minks and other animals) is fearful because of the potential for its being passed back and forth among animals including humans, and spreading widely.  Read it and weep: https://tinyurl.com/nr52nh3p

Just sign here

Great news: Passed by both NJ’s assembly and senate, the trunk-fighting bill now moves to Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk.  If he signs it or doesn’t act on it within 45 days, it becomes law.

Please ask the governor to sign this legislation into law.  Phone him at 609-292-6000.  And/or message Gov. Murphy through Twitter (@GovMurphy) and Instagram (@GovMurphy).

Allocations for animals

Yes, “the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021” is primarily designed to address continuing issues stemming from the pandemic.  But the government’s new relief law also helps animals, reports the Humane Society of the US.   

Bonobo

“Acknowledging the close link between public health and animal welfare, Congress also allocated millions of dollars to examine and mitigate risks posed by animals susceptible to contracting and spreading diseases, many [animals] of which are currently farmed and traded in local and global exploitative industries.  This includes the legal wildlife trade, wildlife trafficking and mink fur farms.”

Thanks, HSUS, for lobbying on behalf of animals!

Moving a giraffe

How would you move a giraffe from here to there?  Or a few giraffes?

Because poaching in Uganda has severely reduced its giraffe population, a once-yearly “translocation” of giraffes takes place.  It’s a tricky operation to safely move these tall, long-necked animals, as illustrated in a graphic NYTimes story.

Giraffe

Three straps (one on the neck and two on the sides) and 11 people make it happen once a giraffe is gently tranquilized, fitted with ear plugs and blindfolded.  Led to a specially designed trailer, up to 15 giraffes are moved to a livestock enclosure and ultimately to a truck bound for their new home site(s). 

And you thought moving that piano would be tough!  

https://tinyurl.com/yr5fnfwj

April animal events

In the last post, I promoted “Cat Camp,” the Saturday, April 10 session all about felines from Jackson Galaxy & Co.

This time, I’m recommending the Wildlife Conservation Network’s (virtual) Expo, on Saturday, April 24, 11 am-4:30 pm.  These events highlight conservationists in the field all over the world, emphasizing what local people are doing for the animals who share the land with them: all quite exotic -- and heartening.

To learn more about this expo and to register, go to www.wcnexpo.org.

Painted dogs

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Legislation to act on, a book to read & cat camp to attend

Two Assembly bills that would be horrible for animals are on their way to full Assembly votes, and activists should know about them and take action against them by contacting Assembly members.  

Already released from the agriculture committee, A1581 may soon be posted for a vote in the full Assembly.  It would give agricultural interests and their department at Rutgers the power to “develop plans and recommendations” to kill invasive species – read whitetail deer, geese and other animals.  The resulting plans would then be presented to the Legislature.

Also reported out of the agriculture committee and now heading to the appropriations committee, A4843 would require the state Department of Environmental Protection to write a “stewardship” plan for any forest of 25 acres or more acquired by the state for conservation or recreation.

Bobwhite quail

Based on past practice, “Stewardship” can be assumed to mean commercial logging, restocking hunted birds, and above all, killing deer.  Therefore, A4843 would require drawing up killing and logging plans for lands acquired for recreation or conservation.

It’s crucial that we let Assembly members know our strong objections to these bills.

End trunk fighting!

Activists’ efforts seem to be paying off in the effort to make trunk fighting a felony offense in NJ.  What a good cause to be working for: eliminating the depraved “fun” practice of locking two dogs in a vehicle trunk, then driving around until the (deadly) silence indicates their fight is over.

The trunk fighting bill, A3231, is likely to be considered for a Supplemental Board List for this Thursday, March 25, allowing the Assembly to vote on it at that time.

Please click here to send an email to the full Assembly:  https://actionnetwork.org/letters/march-22-2021-action-alert-trunk-fighting-a3231?clear_id=true&source=email

(NOTE: After you click the link above, the website should direct you to enter your address OR tell you, "We've got your address, [YOUR name]." If you don't see YOUR name, please follow the instructions. This is critically important.)

If you get an error message or prefer to send your email outside that system, please click here and follow the instructions:  www.lohvnj.org/2021-AssemblyEmails.htm

Wholly engrossing: Half Broke

This memoir by horse trainer Ginger Gaffney focuses on her year-plus at an alternative prison ranch in New Mexico, where she had agreed to help retrain the troubled horses there.  But her job also entails retraining the resident livestock crew in charge of those horses.

On her first visit to the ranch, Ginger demonstrates her expertise in a tour de force with the wild horses – and wins over the prisoners in the group, who recognize immediately that she knows what she’s doing.  Doesn’t that sound like a movie plot: the outsider who effortlessly shows her savvy, dispels doubt and wins believers?

But much as the horses have been traumatized, many of Ginger’s “believers” are also shattered from longtime drug and alcohol addictions, and other offenses.  Knowing intimately how to read horses (much better than she can read people, including herself), Ginger shares her equine insights with the crew, who gain both competence and confidence. 

Occasional chapters flash back to Ginger’s difficult earlier life and her reasons for trusting horses more than humans, while the current story follows her progress toward trusting people too.

For happy campers  

Save the date, Saturday, April 10, for “Cat Camp: Spring Forward,” a big day for learning and fun.  Hosted by Jackson Galaxy, of “My Cat from Hell” fame, the winter holiday version, also necessarily at home, was an event well worth “attending,” with guest speaker-specialists, projects, cat crafts and safe socializing.  For the spring edition, go to catcamp.com for details and registration.

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‘Prescriptive burns’ affect wildlife while improving habitat

“Prescriptive burn” – what does that mean?  It’s something I first heard about last month, then checked into it and got some questions answered.  Now that I’ve seen it happen (from a distance), I thought you might want to know about it too.

The purpose of prescribed burning is for the Mercer County Park Commission to manage invasive species and promote a habitat with more native plants.  It involves fire engines at the ready, with trained Forest Fire Service (FFS) officials and their team managing the process, as well as the widespread smell and noise of a fire and heavy smoke rising over burning, blackening fields. 

Cycling last summer, I saw a deer standing neck-high in grasses near the middle of one such field.  At first I thought it was one of those metal animals some farmers use as deterrents, but no, this was a real-deal deer.

House Sparrow

That particular field is flat and black today, with no protective foliage to offer.

My Q&A exchange with the county’s director of stewardship yielded information worth knowing.  I’ve condensed and paraphrased below.

Q – What about the animal inhabitants of the areas to be burned?  What’s being done to assure they escape the burn and find habitat afterwards?

A – Research indicates that wildlife experience a high survival rate.  The fire is loud and typically moves at a pace allowing wildlife occupants time to hide in a burrow, run or fly off – before moving back quite quickly, since mammal tunnels and burrows are not ruined during a burn.  Many acres of grassland nearby won’t be burned this year and spring growth of plants in burned areas is greater than non-burned locations.

Q – Is there any kind of noise/horn/siren that could be sounded before the burn starts to alert animals or even start them moving out?

Field Mouse

A – Beyond the FFS vehicles and crew that are actively moving about the area before igniting, and the loud sounds the fire itself then creates, we don’t have a method to preemptively warn wildlife.  

Q --  You mentioned a “high survival rate,” which means that not all wildlife survive the burn.  I’d like wildlife to realize the same outcome as would be the goal for human lives.  Why not?

A – Wildlife managers have used fire since the 1930s to improve habitat conditions.  The overall impact on wildlife populations is minimal.  Fire will kill a few individuals but not entire populations.  And the long-term effects of prescribed fire on our wildlife populations is beneficial, from insects to small mammals and birds.  https://tinyurl.com/npmekxdd

Wrong baby elephant!

In my last post I used a photo of a young elephant from my file because I couldn’t get a still pic of Endoto from the terrific video I linked to.  But you’ve got to see Endoto himself, as he gradually bonds with other orphan baby elephants.  So here’s that link again -- please watch the video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyYjokvbuzY

Definitely the list to avoid

Coyote

A graphic recently shared by the Humane Society of the US shows the six most trophy hunted animals in the US – a list that no survival-oriented animal wants to be  part of!  At the top: black bears.  At the bottom: foxes.  And in between: coyotes, mountain lions, wolves, bobcats.    

Not all six are found in New Jersey, but four are, and they’re watched over by the Animal Protection League of NJ: black bears, coyotes, bobcats and foxes.

Just one more reason to support the Animal Protection League of  New Jersey (www.aplnj.org), the organization that for more than 35 years has advocated and fought for animal welfare here.

 

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Selected short subjects – all animals, natch!

                         Red fox                       Gary Lehman pic          

Looking down from the dentist’s big windows at a picturesque forested area with a stream running through it, I thought, as usual, how beautifully bucolic the scene was . . . until a staffer mentioned foxes being sighted there recently “and now we don’t see squirrels anymore.”  I hid my surprise.

A little later and not far away, on a lightly wooded road near a canal, I drove past a hawk standing by the side of the road over . . . a large bird?  A squirrel?  Or some other critter s/he had recently killed.  More surprise.

Why surprise?  Because I’ve used tunnel vision (and thinking) on animals: I like foxes and squirrels and I’m interested in hawks – but I’d given no thought to who eats whom.  Hearing about the foxes, my first instinct was to deny foxes would eat squirrels.  Wrong!  

Nor had I thought about what squirrels eat (besides the predictable acorns and the salt-free peanuts I offer).  They’re described as “opportunistic omnivores,” which means they’re also predators themselves, albeit un-fussy ones.

Same with hawks, whose presence overhead, I should have remembered, sends birds and other animals into hiding.

Whether I like it or not, Tennyson’s line, “Nature red in tooth and nail,” is all too true.

Cave art stars a pig

Way long ago, when people (whatever variety of them) still painted in caves, someone immortalized the animal who may be humans’ most popular meat: the pig.  Discovered on an Indonesian island in a remote cave reachable only during the dry season (!), the painting’s estimated to be at least 45,500 years old – possibly the world’s oldest cave art.

The ancient pig picture resembles the warty pig, which still lives on the island.  However, the real mystery is who made the painting: Homo sapiens or a now extinct human species?  No traces of the artist(s) have been found, but while the search continues, the art work is quickly deteriorating.  https://tinyurl.com/2j7ewyce

Can’t beat ’em? Eat ’em.

Familiar to Caribbean locals and visitors, iguanas have gradually moved to Florida, over-populating the southern part of the state.  This has prompted a range of reactions to the reptiles, from capturing them for pets to selling them for food.

One man, basking in his title of “Iguana King,” says he and his friends “don’t club anymore,” choosing instead to hunt for iguanas and sell them for various (not-good-for-iguanas) purposes.  A short film about their lifestyle shows the “hunters” partying while grilling “South Florida tree chickens.” 

Sweet, huh?  People keep finding new ways to disturb wildlife as if it exists solely for human consideration – and consumption.  

https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/610942/iguana-king/

Bald eagles rebound

In 1982, only one pair of bald eagles was known to be nesting in NJ.  Today, the birds – decimated by human use of DDT until a government ban in 1972—are nesting in all of New Jersey’s 21 counties, the Times of Trenton reports.

Improved water quality that boosts fish populations and the discovery that eagles aren’t as fussy about habitat as once thought have also contributed to their growing numbers here.  Though half their nests are in southern counties near the Delaware Bay, the overall total of more than 200 nesting pairs is a major milestone in bald eagle recovery.

Orphan elephant needs others like him

Finally, here’s a wonderful video I came across while roaming around elephant territory online.  It’s about a dear orphan baby elephant who must win the acceptance of older orphans so he can join their herd to return to the wild. 

For a few years, I’ve seen and read nothing but good about David Sheldrick operations for animals, and this one is a stellar example.  You will be charmed and quickly start rooting for Endoto during 13 minutes of what I think is elephant bliss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyYjokvbuzY

 

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