June animal news highlights -- so far

 The well taught philosophic mind / To all compassion gives; /  Casts round the world an equal eye, / And feels for all that lives. -Anna Letitia Barbauld, poet, essayist and editor (1743-1825) 

Hello again, everyone, and happy summer!  I hope you’re as glad to see this post as I am to be back doing it. The hiatus was good in lots of ways, but I prefer learning, thinking and writing about animals to almost anything else. 

And who wouldn’t be interested in the mix of animal news out there since early June?  To whet your appetite: the raccoon who climbed a Minnesota skyscraper, the tusk-free female elephants in Africa, the bog turtle becoming New Jersey’s state reptile . . .  and more. 

NJ’s state reptile

Let’s start with the bog turtle, a local species in need of all the help it can get.  Thanks to Princeton school kids and others, people may now become more aware of bog turtles and in the process, help them survive and maybe even thrive.  When states make endangered or threatened species their state animals, enhanced protection and preservation can follow.

It’s estimated that fewer than 2,000 of the tiny turtles are left in NJ, with habitat changes and development, both caused by humans, as the main reasons.  Thanks, kids, for caring and fighting the good (legislative) fight!  

. . . and MIA shelter bill

Maybe we should get those student movers and shakers involved with making Senator Linda Greenstein’s animal shelter bill (S725) a reality.  Painfully slow in development and drafting, it’s now languishing in the state legislature, while animals suffer and die in horrible NJ facilities misnamed “shelters.”  Bad enough that some provisions won’t take effect till months or years after passage; worse that it currently looks like a half-hearted effort, at best, to move it forward.

Skyscraping raccoon

On to the wild raccoon who climbed a 25-story building in St.Paul, Minn., while (it seemed) the world watched. With time out for a nap near the top (where a trap awaited), the raccoon made it, using his “strong limbs, five-toed paws with long claws and immense dexterity.”  

Although raccoon specialists weren’t at all surprised by this feat, those with acrophobia probably hoped only that the raccoon wouldn’t look down.  Not to worry.  Once trapped at the top, he was fed soft cat food (!) and transported to a wooded area for release.  

Tusklessness can pay

Tuskless female, Addo      Finbarr O'Reilly/NYTimes

In South Africa’s Addo Elephant National Park, 90-95% of the female elephants lack tusks -- in contrast to most African elephant populations, where as few as 2% of females are tusk-free.

“Tusklessness” comes with a huge advantage: it protects these females from poachers intent on slaughter for ivory. And the tusks of bull elephants at Adoo tend to be smaller than elsewhere. Together with the “nearly impenetrable landscape” of “valley thicket,” these factors all deter poachers.

But elephants everywhere are still in jeopardy, if not for their tusks, then for their skin. The newest thing is elephant leather accessories and traditional remedies made from their hides.  According to Adoo Park’s conservation manager, who extols elephants’ intelligence and parenting skills, “I hate to say that they’re close to humans, because we’re the scourge of this planet. They’re not.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/16/world/africa/south-africa-elephants-tusks.html    

Meanwhile, back in NJ

Two bills crucial for animals -- Nosey’s Law (S1093), named for a long-suffering elephant now in sanctuary, would prohibit elephants and other wild or exotic animals in traveling animal acts, and S1860 (about pets left in hot vehicles and those who help them) -- are posted for full NJ senate votes on Monday, June 25.  Phone your state senator to request support, then help get these two bills successfully through the state assembly by Friday, June 29, before summer recess begins.  

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Back to basics: cats & dogs (& elephants) in brief

Rejoice, cat-loving readers willing to travel

                                                                                                  MSN image

Those who love cats, both in person and in print, will be delighted to learn about the Anna Marble Pollock Memorial Collection of books about cats, housed in the Beinecke Library of Yale University. With over 1,000 books, the collection was named for a serious cat lover and much-loved friend of Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964), the cat-devotee and specialist behind the library. 

(More later on VV’s own cat opus, The Tiger in the House, 3^rd ed., c. 1936.)

This cat-book collection in Connecticut cries out for a library-sponsored field trip to New Haven.  Cat-lovers could fill at least one bus. 

The dog’s great; the novel, less so

Essentially a monologue, The Friend (Sigrid Nunez, 2018) tells the story of a man, a woman and a Great Dane.  Named Apollo, the dog attracted me to the novel, even though of course he doesn’t have a speaking role.  He is the grieving pet of a man who committed suicide. 

The woman narrates the story of how she had been mentored by the man, a writer, professor and womanizer.  Of necessity, flash-backs abound, allowing the woman (also grieving) to look back at her long, literary and personal relationship with the man, wonder about his suicide and agree to take in his giant harlequin Dane.  

Harlequin Great Dane

Also a literature prof, the narrator’s musings are replete with allusions to other writers and their works -- if you don’t like this stuff, you’ll never get through the book!  Only gradually does the Dane grow in importance as the woman becomes attuned to his feelings and grows increasingly protective of him -- her companion in mourning -- as he ages.

As for the title?  Reader’s choice.  

  

In Nosey’s name

Nosey’s Law, a bill named for Nosey, a long-abused elephant, has been released from the Senate Economic Growth Committee.  If passed, this law would make New Jersey the first state in the country to ban the use of wild animals in circuses: an historical humane event!

Please help make it happen by asking your state senator and two assembly members to vote YES when Nosey's Law reaches them for a full vote.  You can find your legislators’ contact info here.   

Worth knowing  

“Catio”: for a while, this was the word to conjure with when it came to cats and the great outdoors.  In myriad shapes, sizes and materials, catios are designed to let indoor cats go outside, protected from the hazards that abound there.  This overview from Adventure Cats is the most comprehensive I’ve seen.  Some of them look so easy, and all are so tempting.

http://www.adventurecats.org/pawsome-reads/catio-hacks-every-cat-owner-should-know/?ct=t(Webbys4_6_2016_COPY_01)&mc_cid=428f96b805&mc_eid=2273adc69f

                                                             Cynthia Fuller image 

Yes, cats definitely have, and exhibit, feelings that include grief (after the death of a feline or human housemate, for instance).  This article, with links to still others, spells out ways to help a grieving cat.

http://www.catster.com/cat-behavior/how-to-help-a-grieving-cat?utm_source=WhatCountsEmail&utm_medium=Catster%20Ful%20List+All%20Subscribers&utm_campaign=CED20180530

Maybe you decided against pairing rugs and cats a long time ago.  OK, but once rug-free, what’s the best flooring in households with cats?  Here’s the (surprising-to-me) answer.

http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/the-best-flooring-for-cats?utm_source=WhatCountsEmail&utm_medium=Catster%20Ful%20List+All%20Subscribers&utm_campaign=CED20180502

FYI, Readers:  I’m taking a "blog break" till after the summer solstice!  To assure you don’t miss anything once these posts resume, why not subscribe right now?  That’s always easier than remembering to check in.

And please don’t forget to spend some time with the Animal Protection League of NJ’s new website:  www.aplnj.org.      

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In Memoriam

In memory of all the animals who have died from human abuse, misuse and indifference.

Animals in War Memorial. Park Lane, London

So sad: we live in an age that requires protecting animals

Horse Rescue United 

Will a time ever come when the phrase “protecting animals” isn’t used or even recognized by people in our so-called “civilization”? A time when legislators don’t have to debate about what group or agency can best protect New Jersey animals?  A time when federal laws aren’t necessary to “protect farm animals” (that is, slaughter them more humanely), and when “preserves” need not be established, and patrolled, to protect elephants and other wild animals? 

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.

However, numerous people (including those charged with the take-over) are arguing for more time to implement the law -- passed in January and effective August 1.  How satisfactorily will this be resolved, and how quickly?  For now, as usual, animals needing all the help they can get are in the middle, left in limbo. (I invite readers with info and insights on this issue to comment.)

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.  

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/14/travel/chad-elephants-zakouma-park.html?emc=edit_th_180520&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=207602740520

a shining star of protection

Back in New Jersey, animal advocates keep on plugging.  One group -- the Animal Protection League of NJ (www.aplnj.org) -- marks its 35^th anniversary of action for animals this year. Newly re-designed, APL’s website provides an easy overview of the organization’s laudable scope and goals, as well as its needs.  (There is never enough monetary support for activism, and volunteers who speak out and pitch in are always welcome.)

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.”

Why not check out the new APLNJ website right now? 

Aren’t  you thirsty yet?

Harry 

“Water, water everywhere, / Nor any drop to drink.” Harry and Billy Summers better not try that “Ancient Mariner” line on me, even though it seems to be their mantra. These two cats are, and have long been, “water teetotalers,” which worries me. My only solace: they consume a lot of water with their canned food and they keep getting good vet reports.

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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For the love of elephants

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. 

                                                        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. 

   

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.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/07/science/elephants-earthquakes-vibrations.html?em_pos=medium&emc=edit_sc_20180508&nl=science-times&nl_art=1&nlid=20760274emc%3Dedit_sc_20180508&ref=headline&te=1 

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.

Yao Ming with orphaned baby elephant

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Spring brings both bad news & good

So, can we safely assume that spring is unstoppable at this point?  Shades of green everywhere, from soft new tree leaves to brilliant grasses, accented by varied yellows, pinks and whites, with more recent lilac additions -- they can’t possibly revert to browns and grays now, can they?

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

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.

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/travel/animals.html

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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2 confusing black birds & plastic strikes again, big time

American crow

So we’re looking out the window and see a couple big black birds strutting kind of stiffly around.  Are they crows?  Or ravens?  Or what? 

Of course if they stood still, showing their profiles, or flew in slo-mo overhead, we could probably tell the difference, but they’re not that thoughtful.  Crows are often seen in large groups, while ravens often travel, and forage, in pairs.

With equal-length feathers, a crow’s tail resembles a rounded fan, while its longer middle feathers make a raven’s tail look wedge-shaped.  Bigger than the American crow, a common raven averages 25 inches in length (to the crow’s 17-1/2 inches) with 2.6 pounds in mass (to the crow’s 1.4 pounds), and it has a larger, curvier beak.  

 

Crows make a “cawing” sound and ravens emit a lower, croaking sound  (the link below includes their sound effects); ravens ride the thermals and soar, while crows do more flapping.  Both birds are described as “opportunistic foragers,” who will eat just about anything. 

Most basic of all, both birds are part of the Corvidae family, also known as the “crow family,” or “corvids.” Their relatives include rooks, jackdaws and magpies – but don’t worry: those birds aren’t part of this comparison.

Common raven

Now, if only those black birds outside would line up and let us see their profiles, or spread their tails, or  . . .  !  

 http://www.audubon.org/news/how-tell-raven-crow

The water’s not fine

"Everybody into the pool!”  Oh, yuk!  Get out, quick – the water’s filled with plastic bags, bottles, cups and glasses, straws, utensils, and other such garbage. . . Who wants to swim in trash like that? 

Or worse: live in such trash?

Pity the creatures in our oceans, which are now being taken over by plastic – not only the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” between Hawaii and California, but other, ever-growing versions of it.  One estimate: by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans.  Re-read that sentence and try to picture it.

And picture this, also reported in recent Earth Day coverage: It’s as if a garbage truck filled with plastic/trash is dumped into the ocean every second.  How have the seas survived, let alone their inhabitants?

Plastic absorbs toxins, then fish eat the plastic, then people eat the fish. Maybe you’re thinking, “Serves them right” or “Turnabout is fair play” for the humans who brought this on, but fish and other sea creatures don’t deserve that life-threatening habitat. 

Can’t people reduce their brief, single use of those ubiquitous, dangerous plastic bags, or better yet, quit using them?  Some supermarkets push paper or fabric shopping bags, while others seem totally indifferent to the environmental disaster they’re feeding.  (Can you hear me, Wegman’s?!)    

                                                                                                                                                               image from Isle of Dogs

No dog is an island

Isle of Dogs: Wes Anderson’s crazy-jarring yet appealing mix of techniques (stop-action animation! use of puppets!)  and messages about pets and people . . . combine for a highly watchable if not wholly comprehensible movie. Banished from their city to an island garbage dump, these dogs are sympathetic and plucky characters, deserving to prevail over terrible loneliness. Animal-loving viewers may experience long patches of anxiety along with  unexpected humor.   

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/22/movies/isle-of-dogs-review-wes-anderson.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_180323

But who’s counting? 

In case you’re interested, this is the 54^th post in AnimalBeat II, after about a dozen earlier posts that appeared on the website of The Animal Protection League of NJ (www.aplnj.org). and moved here a year ago this month.  Now, for the best of both worlds, you can find all posts on the APLNJ site, under “blog,” and at www.1moreonce.blogspot.com (where you can comment – please do!) – and by subscription.

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