— Every dog has his day,/That is what the people say…dang, I’m stuck in rhyme, Aieeee!
…and for Chanel, Guinness World Record holder for oldest living dog, that day is over. The 21-year-old wirehaired dachshund died August 28th. She resided in New York, and had been rescued from an animal shelter in Virginia when just a young pup.
Chanel was 147 in dog years, and wore sunglasses for cataracts but otherwise was in good health. –RIP, mon ami!
— It’s been called, rather unkindly and dismissively, “a movie for furries.” I don’t think that James Cameron’s Avatar is going to be that, but there may be furry elements in it, specifically ten-foot blue humanoids called Na’vi who are striped like tigers.
Avatar is, first and foremost, a sci-fi movie written by James Cameron, the visionary behind such cinematic gems as Terminator and Aliens. I like his stuff; if you don’t like sci-fi, there’s always Cameron’s Titanic. Even if you don’t like the subject matter, Avatar promises to be the most ambitious 3D movie experience to date. Cameron supposedly conceptualized the movie 15 years ago but basically had to wait until technology could match his vision. Avatar is described as a movie revolution that will push technical effects to the limits while delivering kick-ass action and a solid storyline.-—And BTW, the incomparable Sigourney Weaver will appear in Avatar.–Alright, I’m sold!
The story of Avatar follows a future battle between Earth and an alien moon called “Pandora,” a terrifyingly beautiful world full of rich minerals and strange creatures. “Avatars” as in the movie’s title are human-Na’vi hybrids controlled by human drivers who project their consciousness into the Avatar bodies, since ordinary humans find the environment on Pandora toxic.
—Would I be my avatar?–Yes, in a heartbeat…and Avatar opens in December 2009… advance trailers may be seen…watch for 3D televisions to be introduced in the not-too-distant future, BTW…now I want my flying car!
— I had an unusually vivid dream last night about Bigfoot…In my dream, I went to the Post Office, and they had a juvenile female Bigfoot there in a back room, acting like it was nothing new and really no big deal to them; the postal workers went about sorting their mail. The Bigfoot was not being held captive, but could apparently come and go as she wished to; she was about the size of a human teenager, and was completely covered with reddish-brown hair. The Bigfoot was using a wheeled canvas mail carrier as sort of an impromptu chair.
I didn’t discern any menace from the Bigfoot; she was actually rather endearing, and seemed to be appealing to the postal workers for hugs at times, wanting physical touch; in spite of this, she conveyed obvious physical strength. Most startling was the fact that the Bigfoot appeared to have limited use of language, coming out with simple single-word utterances that were usually outreach-type comments to the workers, or appeals for things that she wanted. After a few seconds, I was hustled out of the room.
I was of course astonished, and asked the postal workers if they had reported the find. They said that they had not, and that no good would come out of doing so. I was admonished not to tell anyone of what I had seen, but told the workers that this was far too important a discovery to be kept secret. Bursting from the Post Office, I was racing to alert authorities when, of course, I woke up…
…my heart was almost pounding out of my chest at that point, and it took me quite some time to calm myself. I have since pondered the significance of this dream, wondering if it was a symbolic representation of my own wishes and desires, or whether:
A.) The government knows more than it’s telling, or…
B.) A major discovery on Bigfoot or another major cryptid is about to be made…
C.) Bigfoot is messing with my mail, causing many of my magazines to arrive mutilated?
…In either case, I wish I could follow up on this dream!
— Sperm whales are pretty awesome; equipped with a massive “battering ram” type head, they can dive to 10,000 feet and remain submerged for over an hour! They also grow for 50 of their 80 year life cycle, and so must eat constantly. Oil contained in two chambers of their head was once burned, fueling the New England economy of an earlier day; one sperm whale could provide 100 barrels of oil.
When whales were hunted by wooden ships, the tables occasionally got turned, and the whales got to take a few whalers and their vessels with them. One such ship, the Essex, was sunk by a whale in 1820, the incident providing the inspiration for Herman Melville’s classic, Moby Dick. The 20 crewmen of the Essex endured for 3 months in open whale boats following the sinking of their ship, and only 8 crewmen ultimately survived. Now Melville used a natural history book of the day for factual information on sperm whales, then exaggerated their aggressive qualities. His legendary white whale was almost an embodiment of evil, but hey, I wouldn’t like being harpooned, either!
So the MonsterQuest team went searching for aggressive albino whales in the Atlantic off Portugal in a recent offering, and initially spotted dolphins, fish, and turtles; one diver even suffered a nasty facial sting from a Portuguese Man o’ War. When whales were actually spotted, they tended to dive before the team got into position; can you blame them? Eventually, pilot whales were inspected up close by team divers.
While sperm whales were not sighted muchless any white ones, the episode was nonetheless interesting for the lore on whales and whaling, which thankfully is no longer widely practiced. Most intriguing was the fact that Melville apparently changed his ending to Moby Dick, originally planning to have both the whale and the ship perish in the finale. In his published version, the whale takes out the Pequod and survives, heading out to parts unknown of the sea, a malevolent force of nature unconquered by man…
…now that’s what I call a happy ending!—You rule, Moby!–Woo-hoo!
— Jeez!–Even cadaver dogs may be replaced by electronics someday! Cadaver dogs need to be fed and housed, ‘ya see, and require expert handling.–It’s science to the rescue!
Two Pennsylvania State University researchers are analyzing the smell of corpses looking to automate the process of detecting them. Now fresh human corpses are hard to get in time, since it usually takes at least three days to get permission forms and other bothersome arrangements. The solution is to use pig cadavers, since pigs decay at the same rate as humans and go through the same phases of decomposition.–Dang thoughtful of them!–Dead pigs are being put into small wooden chambers for the research.–Buried pigs?–Lucky stiffs!
Now the composition of chemicals released by corpses changes over time, with some acids released earlier, some later, and yet others in a rather uniform fashion. An electronic nose could detect changes in the electrical conductivity of various substances when they absorb target molecules, and help establish time of death for use in murder investigations as well as aide in the detection of bodies.
While more research is needed, I guess I’ll have to abandon my in-home program of study to be a cadaver-detecting canine…something smells rotten, here!
— He’s furry, he’s fun, and he’s…everywhere!–The crasher squirrel, that is!
It all started out when some people were taking a family photo in Alberta, Canada’s Banff National Park…ho hum! A ground squirrel then decided to check out what was going on, perhaps intrigued by the novelty of the camera or the sounds being made, and stepped right into the foreground of the photo, taking it over and casting the intended subjects into the background!–What could be more appropriate?–This little guy brightens up any photo, and looks like he belongs!
The rest, as they say, is internet history. Photos of the little guy have appeared in a variety of settings, both past, present, and future. He has been seen with people famous and unknown, the former including Lincoln and his generals as well as contemporary leaders. The crew of the Enterprise-D would certainly have benefited from a furry crew member, even if he is out of uniform…
There’s no reason why you can’t join in the fun as well. Just go to http://www.lutralutra.co.uk/squirrelizer to invite the little guy to step into your favorite action!
Two paws up for the crasher squirrel, easily the furry of the week!
— By most accounts, the big cat population in upstate New York was eliminated by the early 20th century; how then to explain a series of eyewitness reports of seeing them there, in particular large black cats? The mountain lion is believed to be the only large cat to exist freely in the U.S.–Are people seeing an escaped exotic pet?
It’s MonsterQuest to the rescue, setting up thermal-sensing cameras and sending out decoy calls to lure the elusive cats! As usual, deer, raccoon, squirrels, and even lynx were detected by the cameras. The cameras revealed food sources sufficient to support a large cat. More intriguingly, claw marks were found on a tree, and tracks were found that match those of the leopard…
…additionally, more lions and tigers are believed to be in private ownership than exist in zoos! The first leopard arrived in the United States in 1768, with the first tigers brought in in 1806. Sadly, there is little or no regulation by most states on the private ownership of exotic animals. An animal who is fun when adopted as a cub grows up to be a predator, and “there is no such thing as a tame wild animal.”
MonsterQuest additionally performed a DNA analysis of 30 captive tigers, finding that over half showed moderate to severe inbreeding; this leads to increased genetic abnormalities which in turn can cause behavioral abnormalities, including increased aggression. Such aggression can lead to cases like that cited by MonsterQuest of a couple hiking that were attacked and mauled by a large cat in January of 2007.
The conclusion of the MonsterQuest team was that big cats are out there in the eastern United States, but are not easily found…and as the poet once wrote, “If called by a panther,/don’t answer!”
— I now have a certified pre-owned cat without a tail; maybe he wasn’t pre-owned at all, but was simply cast out or born in the wild. It’s not that I needed another cat; I already had three, all of which were abandoned or rescued animals. I’m also supplying food for another cat taken in by an elderly woman, so I really didn’t need another cat! However, this cat needed me…
It showed up on my doorstep, one of a number of strays abandoned in my neighborhood but more pathetic than the rest. He had suffered a tail amputation, you see, from unknown causes. Possibly it was a less than favorable encounter with a dog or other animal, perhaps he had gotten trapped somewhere, or possibly the mutilation had occurred from a sadistic human; I’ll never know for sure. The wretched remnant of a tail leaked blood wherever the cat rested, and this battle-scarred little guy also had a piece out of one ear. I say little guy because this was more of a kitten still than a cat, perhaps nine months old. But it was the tail that really bothered me; I’m no vet, but can usually recognize the signs of infection when I see them. The blood-oozing stump of a tail lacked hair, with the tissue raw and angry-looking, resembling a rare hot dog fragment.
The clock was running on this little guy, and I knew that if I couldn’t get him to a vet, his chances for survival weren’t good. Like most strays, he appeared when he wanted to, and not on any schedule. In a few days, I was able to get him to accept my touch and later some food; he ate ravenously, and I could feel every bone under his hide. Disturbingly, the tail continued to ooze blood, and medical attention appeared imperative. I also had to live with the disturbing possibility that the cat might meet his end on roadways that he crossed whenever he left my property; I wasn’t sure how I’d handle it if that happened.
In time, the stray came to accept being held, and with that step I was able to get him into a carrier, which he liked not one bit. An emergency vet appointment followed, carrying a diagnosis of a smoldering infection requiring amputation of the remaining part of the feline’s tail plus antibiotics thereafter. — No, I wasn’t going to let him be put down, not while I had it in my power to save him, not on my watch! Fortunately, he came through the operation like a trooper, which is more than I can say for my wallet…
Summer months bring an abundance of unwanted cats and kittens at animal shelters, where felines outnumber canines in many states by a margin of three to one. Many are healthy animals that only need a home and someone to care…
As for the one I saved, he now lives in my home quite happily without a tail, and is the best $400 that I’ve ever spent; he seems to like residing with this fox in a man’s body. Sometimes we choose our animal companions, and at other times they choose us. A very sweet and loving cat, I call him “Lucky…”
— Disney has a mixed record on their portrayal of foxes, which range from the villainous to the heroic. On the one hand, “Honest John” Foulfellow of the 1940 Disney film Pinocchio was a scoundrel, a sly anthropomorphic fox and known criminal who tricks Pinocchio twice in the film; negative stereotyping! In fairness to Disney, however, both the fox and cat characters were depicted as con men who lead Pinocchio astray and try unsuccessfully to murder him in the original Adventures of Pinocchio story, a tale which is quite dark in places. The Fox and Cat in the original story even pretend to sport disabilities, the Fox lameness and the Cat blindness! Felines will probably take offense at the cat in Disney’s Pinocchio as well, as he isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer…
–There’s also the rather negative portrayal of foxes presented by Br’er Fox
in Disney’s Song of the South, a classic film now almost banished due to political incorrectness. While Br’er Fox and his dimmer sidekick Br’er Bear are likely offensive to vulpines and ursines, they are still portrayed in a rather broad comic sense, and we’ll let Br’er Rabbit walk away with this one, which you’re not likely to see anymore in public anyways! The film is accordingly relegated to the status of a cult classic, with 19th century southern drawls and all. If you’ve never seen it, try to catch it sometime and form your own opinion!
— Then for a heroic fox, it’s hard to beat Disney’s Robin Hood, with a very affable vulpine in the title role. Most furolks genuinely like this film and for good reason, even though the characters are somewhat stereotypic and parts of the film footage including dance sequences were borrowed or adapted from other Disney creations to save a little time and money.– Still, two paws up for Robin Hood and a positive portrayal of foxes!
This brief consideration should not by any means be considered an exhaustive look at all Disney fox characters, but is only regarded as a consideration of three examples possibly familiar to the readership. The views presented here are only those of the blogger (who is a real piece of work, anyways)…
–– So reads the headline of a Philadelphia newspaper following news of the hiring of convicted dogfighter Michael Vick by the Philadelphia Eagles.
Most humane societies and animal rights organizations were not pleased that Vick had been hired by the Eagles, feeling that the crime was horrendous and that professional athletes should be positive role models. Other individuals felt that Vick had paid his debt to society, and deserved to be given another chance. A local television station in my area of Pennsylvania took a poll, finding that 51% of respondents felt that Vick should have been banned from playing by the NFL, with around 30% feeling that Vick had paid for his crime and should be given another chance. The remainder of the respondents didn’t care one way or another…
I have re-created the poll here to see how our readers might respond!
FOXSYLVANIA 
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