Florida Fauna

Cormorant right off shore

As I mentioned before, we saw a lot of art museums in Florida. My family visited two places regularly whenever we went to a new place: an art museum and a zoo. As a family we appreciate animals and birds. Both my parents and I are birders and we are all fans of getting to see animals and wildlife whenever we get the chance. I did a lot of birding in Florida. We saw Anhingas, cormorants, ibises, pelicans, and tons of gulls and sanderlings. The favorites were the tiny sanderlings that fed at the shore, running in and out of the waves. Birds were everywhere. It was wonderful.

Great Egret just hanging out near the Ringling Art Museum

Birding was done on the beach and in the car, but we spent plenty of our time looking at other things. Our first full day in Florida, we headed out to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, to see both their star (Winter, the dolphin from the movie Dolphin Tale) and the rest of the aquatic residents. Clearwater's Aquarium is a rescue and rehabilitation center for marine creatures. Winter, the big attraction, is a dolphin who lost its tail in the lines of crab trap. The aquarium has taught Winter to swim with a prosthetic tail. We watched one of the training sessions as they explained how the dolphin got around regularly with and without the tail. Winter was interesting but I was more captivated by some of the other less famous residents.

Winter with her prosthetic tail

There were injured turtles who couldn't submerge after collisions with boats or fisherman which was heart-wrenching. I was so happy to see that these beautiful but damaged creatures had a place to go where they would be taken care of. There were otters, one of which had been hit by a car and the other that had been orphaned at too young an age for rerelease. But my favorite was a dolphin named Nicholas whose mother had beached herself (because of an illness) when Nicholas was very young. Both dolphins had been horribly sunburned and Nicholas' mother had died. The dolphin was now 11 and was quite the flirt. He'd swim by and check us out and pose for the camera. The white on his topside is where he was sunburnt. But my favorite part of the aquarium was talking with the volunteers and trainers. Everyone was so passionate about helping injured animals. It was incredible to see these beautiful animals being rescued and cared for.

Nicholas flirting with us

On Thursday my parents and I ended up in downtown Tampa to see the well recommended Florida Aquarium. After touring I can see why it was recommended. I don't remember the last time I visited an aquarium that I enjoyed so much. This had fish and birds I'd never seen in zoos or aquariums before. There was whole section on seahorses and other similar style fish, most of which were new to me. There were local Florida birds in vast open areas of the exhibition (one poor man even got pooped on by a Roseate Spoonbill). The main tank had a wall sized glass and benches set up, to just sit and watch the schools of fish swim by. As we were heading out a woman with a penguin in a cart stopped to tell us about them. The aquarium was both educational and beautiful. The fish and birds were well kept. Everything was sparkling and clean. It was lovely to see so many creatures well cared for at both aquariums.

Roseate Spoonbill with great aim

Seeing animals in aquariums is one thing, but seeing them in the wild is always a huge thrill for me. On Wednesday we drove north to Crystal, Florida to swim with manatees. Sadly I have no pictures of the day. I didn't bring my camera on the boat and I don't have anything that would work underwater. We had hoped to get the chance to swim with these incredible creatures and I'd found a number of companies that offered excursions. We chose Manatee Tour and Dive, because it didn't have pictures of people touching or hugging manatees on their website. I wanted something that respected the space that creatures need in the wild. They were a fantastic organization. We went for a two and a half hour tour with Captain Casey who took us out snorkeling to see these incredible animals. I had no clue how big manatees really are. They are like small cars underwater. My favorite encounter happened by accident. As we were heading back to the dock, Casey turned the boat back around after spotting a lone manatee out by an underwater spring. It was incredibly clear water and there were hundreds of fish around. But it was the manatee that made me catch my breath. We watched it surface to breath twice, completely undisturbed by us. The second time it rose, it stopped to watch me for a second and then returned to the bottom to rest. It was huge and slow and covered in algae and I realized just how beautiful and old these creatures look when they aren't in a zoo and scrubbed clean. Gentle giants of the water. So beautiful. So peaceful. It was an amazing day and an amazing trip.

The curious Epaulette Shark that walked rather than swam

Sandy the Penguin in his rolling glass wagon

Foxy Lady

I've been an animal lover since I was a very small child. I love to be around pets and wild animals. I spent a good chunk of my childhood in zoos, at least when I wasn't reading about animals. Some days I think I like animals more than people. At least some days. And I love photos of animals.

One of the sites I follow on Facebook is Wild for Wildlife and Nature, which posts pictures numerous times a day. So many of the images are wonderful but I've noticed a trend recently that got me thinking. I've only saved a couple of images but a majority of them recently have been foxes. I'm drawn to the images of this shy elusive creature and I'm not sure why. Of course they are cute but so are many other animals. Why this creature?

A fox and a cat who've become inseparable friends

I've see them twice. The first was almost 15 years ago. I was waiting in my car at work to be let into the building. It was 5 in the morning. As I sat there, half drowsing I saw a blur through the windshield. I looked up to see a red fox darting across my path along a major road. I remember being thrilled. The second was just a couple months ago. Jeff and I were driving home when one came loping through the dark past us into the woods. Two fleeting glimpses in a lifetime of a magical animal.

So I read up a bit on the symbology of the fox. Foxes are crafty but aloof creatures. They are good at eluding people and predators. They are crafty at finding their way out of traps. Most of the totem pages say that they show the way through difficult confusing situations to places of simplicity. When I read that, a lightbulb came on. Work has been a difficult place recently. The politics are intense and often changable. And I'm not a good player. I find myself longing for a way to escape them, or at least navigate them. And suddenly I'm back to the fox.

 The man rescued the fox when it was a kit and raised it by hand.

Now I'm not a huge believer in totems or animals as symbols but it seems strange that I'm suddenly fascinated by foxes right now rather than before. I'm reading up on their calls (creepy sounding). I'm paying attention to their hunting habits and their family structure. I'm enraptured with them. I don't know if it has to do with my work politics or if I've just moved on to a new animal to learn about. Whatever it is, I couldn't help but share these pictures.

Squirrels and Squinties

Today I did an experiment. I sat outside and knit on the front patio. I set out some seed on the ground stretching from the feeder right up to my feet. I was curious to see how close the creatures and birds would get. I sat still, mostly. I avoided looking directly at them. I sat and waited. I got a lot of knitting done. The birds came down while I was there but wouldn't get any closer than five feet. They were wary of me. But slowly the squinties (It's a Des Moines name. Ground squirrels to the rest of the world) and one large grey squirrel started creeping closer.

Squinty

They started as far away as they could get and within an hour I had a squirrel sitting at my feet, less than a foot away from me, eating seed and watching me. I always wanted to be a Disney princess so that birds and small animals would flock around me. I wanted to be close to nature. Today I was close enough to squirrels and ground squirrels that I could have petted them. And trust me I thought about it. But as the squirrel inched closer and closer I started to worry. Rabies, rodent bites, and crazed creatures running up my pant leg ran through my mind. And for a moment I was nervous at the proximity. But it was an experience that was well worth any worry. If only I had gotten pictures.

Squirrel (albeit a red squirrel)

Bears and Seals and Deer, Oh My

I need a cleansing post after my last one on Keystone. As you know I'm an animal lover and I love heartwarming animal stories. So many of the stories we normally hear in the news are bad for animals but these last couple weeks have been fantastic. There have been a ton of sweet wildlife stories in the news recently. From the bear that took a ride on the garbage truck in Vancouver. To the bear found in a New Jersey basement. Both were captured and released without any harm.

There was the recent story of a New Zealand woman who came home to find a baby fur seal napping in her living room. The seal had apparently crawled out of the sea, crossed a busy highway, into the yard, through a cat door, and up some stairs to find the living room. There it had made itself comfortable on one of the sofas for a little nap. The woman was obviously shocked but quickly fell in love with the seal. The NZ Department of Conservation was called and the seal was captured and released into the sea without harm.

But my favorite story from the week was the Alaska Quest Charters captain who found himself in an interested position when four deer swam to his boat in the middle of Taku Inlet and wanted to board. He was in the middle of a chartered cruise but still pulled each of the deer onto the vessel. He turned the boat back to the shore and when he landed the deer got up and wandered off the dock and into the woods. The youngest deer had some issues getting back up after the exhausting swim and was helped off the boat in a wheelbarrow. After a period of time it too ran off into the woods. The event actually happened in October of last year but it has just started making the internet rounds. My sister posted it to Facebook yesterday and I immediately had to steal it. I love those kind of stories. Like the story last year of a firefighter giving a koala water after an Australian blaze, these stories reaffirm my faith in humanity. I hope 2012 is filled with them.

Enslaved by Ducks

Years ago, when I bought my first bird-feeder, Jeff had argued against it. I had been hinting around that I wanted to buy one for quite a while. But each time I brought it up, Jeff would just say no. He didn't have anything particularly against birds or the feeding of them, but he was a little concerned that like my mother I would go a bit overboard in the care and feeding of them. My mother doesn't just feed the birds, she prepares grand buffets for them. But I finally bought my feeder and now Jeff can recognize many of the unique birds that visit our yard. I consider it a success.

Currently I'm happy with my one feeder and its constant visitors. But I could see myself tipping over into overfeeding, overcare. Similar to Bob Tarte's hilarious memoir Enslaved by Ducks, I could easily see animals taking over my life. I'd read Enslaved by Ducks years ago on a whim and had fallen in love with Bob's household. With parrots, doves, rabbits, cats, ducks, turkeys, geese... all running around his house, I found myself laughing at the chaos and energy that I had grown up with. We often had cats, dogs, rabbits, mice, and some poor injured bird in the house. Bob's story takes that to an extreme. These creatures were not just in his life, they had taken over his life.

This past weekend I sat down with Bob's next book Fowl Weather. I was again transported into that wonderful menagerie where animals of any kind find a home. But this is a book that offers equal parts poignancy and humor. Bob mixes stories of his father's death and mother's growing forgetfulness with the antics of his household animals. He talks about his fights with his Muscovy ducks in the same story as the death of his beloved parrot. The story of how one of his parrots bit the bunny's tail off is intermixed with stories of his mother's constantly mislaid/hidden purse, a growing sign of her Alzheimer's. And it's a very personal set of stories. Through all of them, the animals seem to provide a balm for the chaos of Bob's life, even when they contribute to them. The stories show off the craziness of keeping forty animals, some of which hate each other. But it also shows how animals can be more than just pets. They can be saviors. I love to read stories of animals lovers. I can't imagine a more wonderful house for animals to end up at. Read Enslaved by Ducks for humor, read Fowl Weather for compassion.

In Mourning

Dove hunting started September 1st in Iowa. For the first time in 93 years it is now legal to kill mourning doves in the state. The Des Moines Register had a huge article the very next day glorifying a group of hunters who bagged dozens of birds yesterday. And not surprisingly, I couldn’t be more pissed.

Now I’m not a hunter as you all know. Hell, I don’t even eat meat much less go out to kill the creatures that provide it. I don’t know the emotions that come with hunting. But dove hunting is particularly loathsome to me. Mourning doves have some of the most beautiful calls of any bird in our area. Their soft coos and owl-like calls are a constant in my neighborhood. Since I feed the birds I get to listen to the beautiful whistling their wings make when they take off. They are surprisingly pretty birds. But that’s not what really makes dove hunting unsportsmanlike to me.

The reason I’m pissed is that doves are relatively easy pickings. Doves tend to be the last to leave an area after all other birds are startled. They cannot silence their wing whistles so they are easy to track as they fly away. I will admit that they aren’t the brightest birds on the block (if hunters really wanted a challenge they should gun for crows). They can be downright stupid sometimes. Instead they are beautiful gentle birds who are going to see their population drop very significantly in the next couple years. Like the passenger pigeon (which was exterminated in less than 50 years) the dove I think will start to see a serious decline. And I’m saddened that I won’t be hearing their calls or their wing whistles. Like most times when humans and creatures mix, the creatures have lost. And very few are mourning them.

Knitting Night Wednesday

It's Wednesday and I've spent most of the evening out knitting. That means I'm energized but it's way to late to do a decent post. So instead I'm putting up a picture or two. I thought I'd share a couple from my recent trip to the Iowa State Fair. I know you'll be surprised but most of these will be animal focused.

I love the fair and I particularly like walking through the animal barns. This year the animal production industry opened their new educational facility. It's an attempt by the industry to fight against the stereotypes that we animal activists are creating. I'm not buying it but the animals there were pretty cute.

Like a baby ostrich. Yeah that's an ostrich! He was about a foot tall.

Or the baby turkeys. These were tough to watch. They kept pecking at each other.

There were quite a few miniature horses this year. And I mean miniature.

And on the other end there was the biggest boar. This sucker was huge.

Lastly, there was a pretty fish. Well okay a knitted fish. I want to make one.

Plunderers

I woke at 4 am this morning. With the windows open any outdoor noise wakes me up, although I don't think that's what got me. I woke from a horrible nightmare with a start and then, only then, did I notice the odd thunking sound. It sounded like someone pounding on my fence. I stood up and glanced out the window to see plunderers attacking my bird feeder. Two raccoons decided to make a feast of my seed and were practically pulling the feeder off the shepard's hook. I hissed at them from the upstairs window but they didn't even bother to look up. I woke Jeff up who had the idea of going downstairs and trying to scare them away from there. He flipped the light on and off, opened and slammed the door and the bigger one didn't even bother to jump off the fence. It was only when he went outside (not ten feet from them) that they scurried away. But they were back within seconds. He finally went out and collected the feeder before they went away.

It was eerie, standing there watching them. They don't seem mammalian. Or at least not the type that I'm used to. And they were big. Bigger than I expected. I've only had one other run in with a raccoon before and that was way too close for comfort. I didn't get a good look at its body as I backed away hurriedly from the bushes it had been hiding in. I just remember screaming. Raccoons will not hesitate to go for the eyes if they feel threatened. So I had forbidden Jeff to go outside last night. He didn't listen and I'm very thankful. They would have easily ripped the hook down (it was loose this morning) and destroyed my feeder. The cat, wisely perhaps, chose to watch from the safety of the upstairs window. They easily had a good 20 pounds on her.

I tried to get pictures but none turned out. If I had been thinking (it was 4 after all) I would have just turned on the light and clicked away. Instead I tried to get shots with and without the flash, none of which turned out. After the feeder was in we went back to bed, only to be woken twenty minutes later by a woodpecker who was trying to break through my neighbor's metal gutters. It's become a daily habit with the stupid bird. I hiss at him and he goes away but is normally back within half an hour to try again. I'm not sure how well his tiny little brain is working. Or mine. I'm beginning to think that the feeder might not be such a good idea.

Losing Faith

I don't normally talk politics on the blog. I don't normally follow a lot of politics, except what I need to for my job. I read enough state code to bore anyone to tears for work. I don't want to pay attention outside of the office. But this week has me angry. More then angry actually. I'm disgusted and today I lost a little bit of faith in humanity.

Iowa is an agricultural state primarily. We grow much of the country's corn and soybeans. But our biggest industry is animal products. We harvest three times more eggs then our closest competition. We raise millions of pigs, cows, and chickens for meat and other products. And we most often do it in large factory farm situations. These places are not nice. I've heard them described as everything from horrific to Hell on Earth. Every couple of months, an organization like the Humane Society, Mercy for Animals, or PETA sends some of their volunteers into these facilities to take covert video. It's the only way that we, the public, know what is going on.

Today, my home state's House passed a bill that made it illegal to take video of these type of places. There is now a possible 5 year prison term for showing what occurs in a factory farm. Agribusiness is claiming that this is just for the protection of their animals and their livelihood. I say that they're full of crap. Just because we can't see the horrific conditions and the abuse doesn't mean it won't occur. Instead they simply cover it up. They can sweep regular abuse under the carpet and we will never see about it. Never learn what is truly happening.

I have learned that to get people to take animal welfare seriously, you have to hit them where it hurts. In their food supply. The largest salmonella outbreak came out of an egg farm here in Iowa. I wonder if that could have been avoided if we had eyes in the factory. If we had seen the rat droppings and piles of excrement. I guess we won't know. I know that from now on we really won't know. There are severe penalties for whistleblowing. We can no longer see where our food is produced. And that makes me awfully happy that I'm a vegetarian, moving more towards vegan each day.

I won't apologize for this political rant. I'm so angry right now that I can't even think straight. When I had first heard of this bill I had hoped that it wouldn't get out of the house. I had hoped that people would see the light. But I know how powerful the animal industry lobby is. I know how well money talks. And animals can't. Today I lost just a little more faith in politics to speak for the people. To protect me. And I lost some faith in humanity.

HeroRats

I love to read stories about animals, particularly happy stories about animals. So when I found a story about the HeroRat program on Amusing Planet, I knew I had to write about it. HeroRats is a program started by an organization named APOPO in Sub-Sahara Africa. The organization was looking to find a way to deal with the huge numbers of unexploded landmines that harmed hundreds of innocent citizens every year. A standard program of sweeping with mine sweepers was too slow and dangerous. So the group came up with a novel solution.

What they suggested was using rats to find landmines. Rats have an amazing sense of smell and are light enough not to trip a landmine. The rats were sent into the fields to cover it inch by inch. When the smelled a landmine they would sit up, and receive a food reward. The mine clearers would then enter the field and deactivate the mine. I wonder how many mines they have found over the years but I can imagine that there have been hundreds of lives saved. Over the last couple of years, the rats role has changed to include illness detection. They can sniff out TB faster than any doctor can.

The rats are trained using positive reinforcement for three months and then sent out to serve. The company has found that African Giant Poached Rats work well. They live for a long time and learn quickly. They are also incredibly cute. They are used mostly in Tanzania and Mozambique which had a huge number of mines. You can check out the profiles of these unusual animal heroes at their website. You can also sponsor a rat if you would like. I'm in awe of this program. The rats are treated well and save lives on a daily basis. Both the rats and trainers are heroes in my book.

My Mother is More Adventurous Than Me

I had a whole post-it note worth of things to write about today. I simply have to tell you about the play I saw this past weekend in Minneapolis. I have to tell you about the weekend. I should mention the two straight days of snow that will hit us tomorrow. But all that changed with a phone call this morning. Now I have to tell you my mother's story.

My sister called me this morning and the conversation went a little something like this.

Alissa: Have you talked to our mother recently?

Me: I haven't talked to her in about a week or so. Why? What's up?

Alissa: Mom's had a bit of an adventure.

Me: (worried) What type of adventure?

Alissa: Well she drove to Florida this week...by herself.

Me: Ah ah ah (that's the sound of me being speechless.

And the story only got better. My family had been down in the Turks and Caicos islands over the holidays and my mother had fallen in love with a wild little dog she found down there. She contacted the rescue league on the island and told them to keep an eye out for it. Well I guess last Monday they called her to tell her that they found the dog and were shipping it to Miami for her. Would she be able to pick it up?

So my mother did what any animal lover would do. Or maybe not. She jumped in the car and drove to Florida. By herself. She didn't take a cell phone or make any plans. She just jumped in the car and drove. After three days of 12 hours of driving, she arrived in Jupiter, Florida and picked up her new puppy. Then, without even much of a stop, she turned around and headed home.

Since my mother doesn't drink caffeine she simply didn't eat so she could stay awake, only eating when she reached her evening destination. She drove through Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, and Iowa. In Illinois, at a rest stop, she found another straggler. A young kid looking to get to Minneapolis and she picked him up for the drive to Des Moines. My mother!!!! My mother picked up a hitchhiker. This is the same woman who has warned me for the last 30 years not to trust strangers. Not to talk too freely with odd people. And to never pick up hitchhikers. When I asked her about it, she says that he was such a sweet kid. When she dropped him at the rest stop in Ankeny she gave him a bit of money and her phone number with the promise that he would call her when he got home. She got her call at 8 that night.

As I talked with her this evening I had conflicting feelings. My mother is more adventurous than I am. And that makes me incredibly proud. She's normally very reserved and a bit suspicious. She's normally a stay at home person. And in the last week, she's broken all of my impressions. She's had the kind of adventure that only college kids tend to have.

And at the same time I'm furious with her... for acting so rashly. For putting herself in harms way. For being so much of an animal lover that she would do something this crazy. But what can I say, my mother may be becoming a vagabond. My mother!!! If you know her you'll be shocked by this story. Shocked and a bit awed. I'm just excited for her. She's had an incredible adventure and I could hear the pride in her voice. She'd done it by herself. She did it for all the right reasons and I couldn't be more proud of her.

Not Quite Poetry Friday (or Cat up on her soapbox again)

I've been thinking a lot about the oil spill in the Gulf. The first fine layer of oil started washing up on the Louisiana shore this morning and they say that the slick is much thicker just a little bit off-shore. I think a lot about what kind of world we are leaving, not just for our children, but for all the species that live on this beautiful planet.

I'm a big believer that everything we do has an impact, positive or negative. And that this relentless push called progress is really just a slow form of destruction that no one seems to recognize. Every building we build, just pushes the boundaries of our cities out further and further, plowing over farmland. We pave over green things and call it progress. We build endless strip malls because we have created a society that can only move forward by producing and selling more. More, more, endlessly more.

And what we seem to forget in this endless push is that we are only one of the species of creatures that live here. We pave over their world to create ours. Animals are only looking to get by. To eat and survive. We buy endless toys and find new destructive ways to entertain ourselves. Animals work to eat, we work to buy.

I don't mean to be so pessimistic. I'm actually in a good mood today. But as I watch this oil slick destroy another section of our oceans and I watch the trees in my city plowed over for yet another Target; I start to wonder where it ends. People remind me that we can't go backwards. But the forward looks even scarier. And the whole time I think of an old Cree proverb that I have tacked up at home.

"Only when the last tree has died
And the last river has been poisoned
And the last fish has been caught
Will we realize that we can't eat money."

I, by no means, feel that I'm doing better. I work in a job that brings those companies in to plow over more farmland and drive more creatures out of their homes. I buy gas to drive myself to work creating the need for oil rigs that explode and destroy ecosystems. I don't grow my own food. I'm just as much to blame as the companies doing all the damage. But I do believe that I can start to change that. I can get that dusty old bike down and start using it to get around. I can start growing my own food in containers at the townhouse. I can buy less, particularly all the stuff that I simply don't need. And when a job comes up that offers me pride instead of just money, I can jump on it. I figure I'll do what I can to help. And perhaps the corporations will get the hint.

Tool Use

For the last couple decade the definition of being human (and separate from animals) has relied on the concept of tool use. Humans use tools, animals don't. After our definitions which were based on language, culture, and emotions were thrown out, we had to settle on tool usage. When it was determined that chimpanzees use tools to gain access to food, we started to lose what little ground we had. Over the past several decades we have found species after species that uses tools to make things simpler or gain access to resources. So this definition will eventually be busted as well.
British scientists have been working with rooks (same family as crows) for many years and are amazed by their clever use (and even invention) of tools. These are not trained behavior but are the result of problem solving. I watched a video recently where a rook lowered a hooked piece of plastic that it had been given into a beaker in order to snag a tiny little bucket with treats. The scientists were impressed by this. The rook then carried the bucket to the top of it's cage to eat the treat. When it couldn't reach it with it's beak, it hopped back down to the hook and fished the food out with that. Impressive tool use and understanding of how the tool worked.

This past week, scientists found evidence of tool use in octopuses. Divers took video of an octopus finding and unburying a coconut shell. It hollowed the shell out and then carried it along the ocean bottom. If attacked it will overturn the shell and hide under it. Or if it finds two shells it will bring them together to form a protective ball. Octopuses have long been known for their intelligence but the use of tools had not been documented in the species before. Another crack in the human/animal definition. This video has been circling the internet for a couple days now, partially because of it's amazing discovery but mostly because it's pretty funny to watch the octopus run. If nothing else I hope it reminds people that animals are far smarter than we give them credit for. And tool use is no longer a valid difference.

Image by Roger Steene (courtesy of BBC)

Eating Animals

It is hard to imagine that two years ago I had never heard the term Battery Cage. That I had never really thought about where my eggs come from. That I had never even really thought about the chicken that I ate. Some would say that I was blissfully ignorant but I find my lack of information incredulous. How was it possible for me to not know how my food was produced? But that was the case. Over the last year and a half I have learned perhaps far more than I ever cared to know. I have learned enough that I plan to never eat meat again. I have learned enough that I'm actively contemplating becoming vegan. And they say that a mind, once expanded, can never return to its original size. I cannot unlearn what I have learned. Nor do I want to.

Over the last year and a half I have read everything I can find on food production, with a focus on animal production. Jonathan Safran Foer's newly released book "Eating Animals" immediately jumped to the top of my list when I heard about it. I asked for the book for my birthday and finally sat down to read it over Thanksgiving. This had to be one of the toughest books I've ever read about any topic. I've read war stories that didn't affect me as much as this very true story of systematic torture. I broke down halfway through and had to put the book down for a while. I've always been sensitive to animal suffering but knowing that this is all true and that this is how the industry is trending makes me angry, disgusted, and sad at the same time.

Foer starts out with a tongue in cheek discussion of eating dog. His arguement is that with dogs we would have a steady stream of good tasty meat. Dogs are plentiful and eaten around the world. And by now you are starting to get angry. We can't eat dogs. We don't eat companion animals. I've mentioned before that companion animals actually have a pretty good life in the US, certainly compared to farm animals. Foer states that pigs are just as smart as dogs, just as loyal. Yet the dogs we invite into our families. The pigs we keep in horrible conditions and slaughter in terrible ways. And pigs have it far better then our feathered friends. Chickens, whether kept for eggs or for meat, are some of the most tortured creatures on the planet. Both their lives and their deaths would make most horror films look tame. And this happens to hundreds of millions of birds every year. And chickens, like dogs, are playful, curious, and social.

Foer tells stories of both animal lives and animal deaths and all are enough to make you ill. He also gives the opposition a chance to speak. His book includes letters from cattle ranchers, factory farmers, along with the more expected letters from animal welfare activists and PETA. The only one he doesn't represent is the Agribusiness executives, mostly because they refused to answer his letters, request for tours, or even inquiries. As Foer points out, shouldn't we get a chance to see where our food comes from. We used to be able to but now that factory farming has become dominant, that is no longer the case. Mostly because the more we know about where our meat comes from and how the animals were treated, the less likely we would be to eat it.

I won't apologize for sounding preachy here. This is something that I feel incredibly strongly about. Although I won't attempt to convert anyone to vegetarianism, I do ask that you think about where your food came from. And think about what animal made that meal possible. Although I will not eat meat again, if the industry does return to more humane lives for its animals I won't begrudge someone for eating it. But with the current state of factory farming, meat production (along with dairy and eggs) is nothing short of torture. And that I can't have on my conscience. I'm currently a vegetarian but after reading this I'm heading towards vegan. I'm also planning other life changes. I won't say this is all because of this book, but the more I read, the more sickened I am. And what I have learned, cannot be unlearned.

Warriors

It's been a long time since I hid a book in my top desk drawer so that I could steal a couple minutes to read. But this morning I'm doing some work, and then opening the drawer to get my reading fix. I was late this morning because I was reading. I didn't even touch the computer last night so I could have some extra time with the book. Like I said, it's been a long time since I've had a book I couldn't stop reading.

I'm reading the first book in the Warrior series by Erin Hunter, called Into The Wild. Hunter is actually a pseudonym for three English women who write the books. The series follows several colonies of feral cats who have carefully divided hunting grounds. The book follows Rusty, a domestic cat, (or kittypet as the clans call him) who joins the group and learns the ways of the clan. This is complicated because the different clans are warring against each other for hunting territory. Somehow Rusty and an ostracized medicine cat will save the day and I'm dying to know how. I'm only halfway through the book but hope to be done with it tonight.

I picked up the book grudgingly because my nephew told me that I had to read it. I don't read series and thought it sounded kind of silly. I owe him an apology. Although I wouldn't put the book quite on par with Watership Down, it has that kind of feel to it. Each followed animal communities in their quest to survive. Each created elaborate customs and cultural orders in those communities. And each had just enough action to keep the reader turning pages fast to get to the resolution. I claim Watership Down as one of my favorite books. And the book had a number of strange influences on me. I still occasionally think silflay when I see a particularly nice dusk. I almost named a bunny sculpture Fiver. I'm not sure whether Warriors will have as much of an impact on me or even how many of the books (if any) that I read beyond this. But I'm definitely enjoying the ride.

Earth Day

I originally had a bit of a rant that I was planning to write for today. I get frustrated with the idea that we only celebrate the Earth one day. And normally we do it in ways that are not particularly environmentally friendly. But the office is letting me where jeans (not sure how that impacts the Earth) so I'm in a great mood. And just can't work up any rightous anger to do my rant. Lucky you!

Instead I want to share some of my favorite Earth pictures. I love photography and some of the ones I have received recently are incredible.

A friend of mine sent me this image of snow rollers this morning. What's a snow roller you ask. When the snow is right and the wind is right, it rolls itself into a ball. Now if nature could only learn to stack them and add coal for eyes.

Taken by Tim Tevebaugh in Idaho last month. See the rest of the pictures here.

While I'm on the subject of ice and snow, isn't this dock just amazing? I love the feet look that it has.

One of the guys at work sent me this stunning image of Mt. Fuji in Japan. I love that people think to send me interesting or beautiful photos they find.


And it wouldn't be complete without some animal/wildlife images. I love this little otter stopping by to say hello.

And last but not least, this mantis that reminds me that this is a celebration. And that I should be thankful that at least one day out of the year people stop and think about what we're doing to the planet. Happy Earth Day all!

Fun Photos that I Find

Hopefully this will be a regular thing. I love photos and particularly fun photos. And since I've been reading about farm animals I found these great pig pictures.

This is Pinto from Brookfield Zoo outside of Chicago. I've been to the zoo many times but never been to the Children's Zoo section. Well this pig has taken to painting. He does it independently, never with prodding. Pigs are very intelligent so the keepers try to find ways to keep them entertained. This one uses his hooves and his snout and other found objects to create his art.

Here is one of his paintings. I guess they are often sold on ebay. I might have to look into those. It's quite a bit better than some of the finger painting I can do. :-)

Both photos from the Associated Press.

Wonderous Wildlife

I both love and dread animal news. So much of the news tends to be terrible. We do some awful things to animals. And so many of these stories make me angry. But these past two days have been great for animal stories. Particularly water-based animals.

In Thailand a 770 pound stingray was caught. This amazing animal was brought up using a fishing pole and required the strength of 13 men. I would have stopped reading there, thinking this was a commercial fisherman and that the animal had been killed but I kept going. This angler was part of a tagging program. This huge (7ft by 7ft) female was tagged and returned to the wild which is a wonderful thing since she was pregnant. Imagine a whole family of these beautiful creatures gliding soundlessly over the bottom of the ocean. I've been diving with rays and they are unbelievable beautiful in their element. As one gliding below me I held my breath and watched it for as long as I could. I could have reached down and easily touched it. It was a magical moment. And to see an animal like this brought in and then returned is wonderful.

The octopus was not nearly as nice but still an interesting story. An octopus at the Santa Monica Aquarium decided that it was tired of the water pipe that fed water into its tank. It used one of its powerful tenticles to push the tube out of the cage, slowly flooding the aquarium floor with water. Unfortunately it was a brand new floor and it might not be salvagable. But think of how incredible this story is. This tiny little creature (only a pound or two) was smart enough to figure out how to solve its own problem. In high school I helped out in a marine biology lab here in town and there was an ongoing mystery. Fish kept disappearing from the tanks. At night they would count the fish and the next morning some would be gone. We had no idea what was happening. So one night they finally caught the culpret. The octopus in one of the rows was sneaking out of its tank, into nearby ones, and eating the fish. Then returning to its own tank. Yeah they are that smart!!

And of course my favorite animal story of the last two weeks has to be Sam the koala. This image above completely reaffirmed my faith in humanity. The video does it even more as firefighter David Tree scrambles to find water for the koala. This random act of kindness fills me with joy and hope that we sometimes remember that these creatures are our neighbors. I hope to see more stories like these three. Although perhaps with a little less flooding.

A Lion In Winter

I love going to the zoo in the winter and particularly with our zoo (Blank Park Zoo). A couple years ago the zoo opened an indoor section which is very nice. Since then it has started staying open on nice days in the winter. So yesterday was beautiful here so Jeff and I went out for breakfast and then went down to the zoo. It was pretty busy but still not summer busy. And as always visiting the zoo in winter was magical. 

This trip I didn't have my camera but I figured it wasn't a big deal. I was wrong. The new red pandas stuck their tongues out at us. The birds were close enough to let them eat out of our hands. (we didn't feed them but we were close enough to) And the lions were pressed up against the visitors glass (mostly to avoid the snow). We watched an adorable gibbon grab leaves through her bars and eat them. And I found a bizarre little lizard that I spent at least 20 minutes just watching breathe. (Axolotl for those interested) 

The great thing about the zoo in the winter is that the animals are bored so they look forward to the few visitors they get. One year we went for my birthday (November) and my mother was able to play with the tigers. It was so cute to watch her run on her side of the fence and this big beautiful tiger to run on his side of the fence. The indoor tiger would put its paws up on the glass to greet us. A llama nearly followed us around the zoo. It was amazing. Here's Jeff with our new friend.

Over the years we have almost always made a trip to the zoo in the winter. And we have taken some beautiful pictures. And video. This is a video from last year's trip where the otters were amazingly active. Too much fun. Ignore the commentary...not my most eloquent moments. :-) 

Some Natural Observations

I should have been a biologist. The stories of researchers spending months in the field watching animals day in and day out, seems to me like heaven. Even the tedious note taking and sketching doesn't seem like a job to me. I don't have the education for it but I do have the interest. And strangely the patience. I can spend hours watching animals, even for animals that aren't moving. This comes from years of going to zoos, leaning on the rail, watching the tigers sleep. It didn't matter that they didn't notice me (or even move) it only mattered that they were these magnificent living breathing creatures and that I could see them. 

So when I came home tonight from work and stopped the car, I was excited to see a herd of deer in the woods near our house. I swiveled in my seat to watch them scavenge for food in the snow-buried field. They watched me at first but as I sat in the car and didn't move they eventually forgot I was there. That was when I noticed a buck closer to the river than the others. He watched me carefully. And then cautiously he moved closer and closer. He stopped at my next-door neighbor's door to nibble at her bushes. He was not more than 20 feet from me and I was even able to grab my binoculars that I carry in my purse for a closer look. He was so close I could see the patterns of his fur. He would occasionally glance in my direction but seemed curious rather than scared. I just kept hoping he would come closer. 

My across the way neighbor decided that was the time to leave the house and he raced off into the woods with his white tail up. I sat in the car long after she had left with the hope that he would return. He didn't and I finally went in. Jeff had thought I was angry with him since I'd been sitting out in the car for so long. But I could have waited longer. I have unlimited patience when it comes to animals. What a great end to a busy day.