Human cruelty

We are horrible to each other, so it really shouldn't come as a surprise that humans are often incredibly cruel to animals. It shouldn't............but somehow, it still does. Seven gorillas were killed in cold blood in an African wildlife preserve for absolutely no reason whatsoever: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/07/virunga/jenkins-text/1.

Why? What could possibly motivate a person to do something like this to innocent animals? What the hell is wrong with us?

More wildlife problems

It has received virtually no coverage here in my neck of the woods, but bats are dying in large numbers due to a strange illness known as "White Nose Syndrome", and the number of affected bats is spreading: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2008/05/14/qc-batscanadaquebec0514.html. No one seems to know where this illness originated, or how/why it is spreading.

Lest you think that this doesn't matter, let me disabuse you of that notion. Bats are key cogs in helping fruit-producing plants and trees pollenate, and they also serve as equally vital allies in keeping insect populations under control. Any decrease in their numbers would be a bad thing indeed..................

Do I have to boycott THEM, too???

I've previously blogged about the animal-lover side of my personality, and it's going to come out here again: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=3882449.

WHY, why, why do the Japanese need to resume hunting Humpback Whales? Are they seriously trying to sell the world on the idea that their culture will wither away and die if they don't kill these animals? Sorry, but that won't fly with me, nor should it with anyone else. It's a barbaric move on their part, and hopefully they will be condemned by the world community for it.

News from the Animal World

National Geographic is reporting a very rare bit of good news in the fight to save the planet's wild animals: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/06/070611-sudan-animals.html?email=Places15June07. Amazingly, despite a murderous civil war in the Sudan (started by, dare I say it, adherents to the Religion of Peace), massive herds of wild animals continue to survive.

The question is, for how long?

Depressing news from the Animal Kingdom

This falls under the "things that depress me beyond belief" department: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070612/wl_africa_afp/zambiawildlifepoaching_070612135653. I am an unabashed animal lover, and have always had a soft spot for rhinos, who are gentle giants in the animal world. Let me ask, what purpose did this poor animal's death serve? The only market for a rhino's horn is, you guessed it, the Middle East, where the horn is valued by Arabs as a dagger handle or in the Far East, where it is ground down because it is believed that it contains aphrodisiac qualities. For more on that, see here: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/white-rhinoceros.html.