A summer round-up: weather, issues, pleasures!

And so, spring has now deferred to a major heat wave, heralding summer.  Happily, though, before the wilting weather began, I noted some first-for-the-season animal sightings -- 4 caterpillars, 1 chubby groundhog, wasps flitting in and out of the birdbath (backyard birds too), bunnies, a hummingbird (but only at a friend’s feeder – not yet visiting my trumpet vine) & a peacock (thanks to Hamilton’s Grounds for Sculpture).  

Then on a recent day at the beach I logged seagulls and other shore birds – while looking in vain for land (and sand) animals, as well as dolphins and other marine creatures. 

But the full summer-shore population will soon re-appear – including one of my favorites, horseshoe crabs.  On earth for 300 million years, these "living fossils" predated dinosaurs.  Only now are their numbers dropping because people use them for bait and fertilizer, draw their blood for medicine tests  and destroy their eggs through development. 

Covid – how?

Now a bit of unfinished blog business: the subject of Covid and the lingering, debated questions about its origin.  Was it started in a Wuhan lab accident?  Or transmitted to humans from an infected animal in the Wuhan market?  The strident arguments on each side recently prompted a NYTimes columnist to review both origin theories; take your pick!    https://tinyurl.com/mwzubbm5

Sick, not fun

In our would-be enlightened world, some inhumane humans still engage in animal-killing contests.  You read it right: animal-killing contests, perverted as that (accurately) sounds.  Photos accompanying media stories about these competitions often show truck beds filled with bodies of animals, often coyotes. 

Although seven states have outlawed such contests, New Jersey has not. Actions to stop the hideous cruelty are described as “a growing national movement,” so come on, NJ:  Ban them! 

https://aldf.org/project/banning-killing-contests-new-jersey/

‘Read it & weep’

A “powerful new book” takes readers through the historical stages of Americans’ sympathy for animals that began in the late 19^th century.  Attending a bull fight in Seville, a man was horrified by both the treatment of the animals and the “degrading effect of such violence on spectators, especially children."  In 1866, that man founded the ASPCA.

And on from there, through the reprint of Black Beauty, the story of a sorely abused working-class horse (shades of EO, the sad, sad 2022 movie about a donkey), as well as descriptions of how stray dogs were once treated in NYC, how live rabbits were used in med school classes and how millions of birds died so their feathers could decorate women’s hats.  

And further on, through decades of selective sympathy for animals, bringing us today to the plight of “food animals and other mistreated species” that deserve concern and action.   

Our Kindred Creatures: How Americans Came to Feel the Way They Do About Animals (Knopf) is the work of journalist Bill Wasik and veterinarian Monica Murphy.

SOG = save our geese

This is the month when countless NJ Canada geese will experience hideous deaths: being gassed when
they can’t fly away to escape.  The Animal protection League of New Jersey (www.aplnj.org) will sponsor a banner protest on Saturday, June 29, objecting to this treatment.  Please save the date and be there!    https://conta.cc/4bFLO7Y

A time out

“Summer afternoon -- summer afternoon; to me they have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” 

Henry James said it, and I agree.  That’s part of my reason for taking a blog-vacation, from now till around Labor Day.  I’ll use the extra free time for more reading and writing, editing photo files,  swimming, sleeping in, loving Jersey . . . and, finally, learning how to cook broccoli well.

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy summer!

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