Archive for the ‘animals’ category

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Big Bad Wolf?

September 18, 2010

– – Ah me…as if Sarah Palin shooting wolves from aircraft wasn’t enough, government agencies are seeking broad new authority to ramp up killings and removal of gray wolves in the northern Rockies and Great Lakes, despite two recent court actions that restored the animal’s endangered status in every state except Alaska and Minnesota…

Although once poisoned to near-extermination in the lower 48 states, wolves have made a major comeback in the last two decades under the protection of the Endangered Species Act.  A backlash has occurred, however, as wolf packs have developed a taste for livestock and big game herds coveted by hunters.

As wolf populations have expanded in numerous states, they tend to push into agricultural and residential areas where domestic animals offer an easy meal.  Various proposals would gas wolf pups in their dens, surgically sterilize adult wolves, and allow “conservation” or “research” hunts to drive down the predators’ numbers.

Wildlife advocates and animal rights groups contend, however, that the response to depredating wolves has become too heavy-handed, and that a string of court decisions in their favor underscores that the species remains at risk…


Categories: animals, endangered species, environmental, furry
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Do Woodchucks Chuck Wood?

September 16, 2010

– – Geico has brilliantly re-invented classic lines and slogans, beginning with the little piggy who cried wee-wee-wee all the way home, and now posing the question of,  “Can Geico save you 15% or more on car insurance?–Do woodchucks chuck wood?”- Remember how kids love that old chestnut of a tongue-twister when they’re about ten?

Well, these anthropomorphic woodchucks certainly chuck wood, and they appear to have made an afternoon’s entertainment of it, taking turns heaving the wood into a pond accompanied by their own maniacal laughter, sorta like the Beavis and Butthead of the rodent world.- -Oops, watch out, here comes the farmer, and he’s mighty ticked, shouting “Hey you dang woodchucks, quit chucking my wood!” None too deterred by the farmer, the woodchucks continue chucking their wood…and do you blame them?– They’re woodchucks, for crying out loud, it’s what they do!

– -Catch this video airing on television or YouTube and elsewhere, sure to be a classic!

Categories: absurdities, animals, anthropomorphic, cool things, furry, television
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– -Nessie’s Kin?

September 15, 2010

– – In Lake Windermere,  England’s largest natural lake, may reside an unidentified creature estimated at 20 to 50 feet in length described as perhaps a “distant relative” to the legendary Loch Ness monster!

Called Bownessie because of the bow wave of about twenty feet in length that it produces, the creature has been described as a giant eel or sturgeon, although others claim that they have seen a creature with humps; the cryptid has also been called Windie after the lake.  The first publicly reported sighting of Bownessie occurred in Lake Windermere in 2006 and the number of people who claim to have seen something continues to grow.  The most recent sighting of the creature was in July of this year, when a local hotelier was hit by a three foot wave while swimming.  Another witness who claimed that the creature passed beneath him said that the movement in the water was so powerful that he though it was a submarine!  A total of seven sightings have been recorded in the past four years.

A recent video seems to support the existence of some kind of creature in the lake, with an unexplained bow wave of around 20 meters in length recorded.  A new investigation on the lake involving state of the art equipment and a specially chartered yacht has been launched.   A dark smudge reported to be a photograph of the creature follows for your perusal, with the photographer grabbing a pair of binoculars and describing the creature as having a head like a labrador dog only “…much, much bigger…”

Categories: animals, cryptozoology, strange happenings, unexplained, unidentified
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Sufferin’ Shellfish!

September 6, 2010

– – I realize that it’s hard to form an emotional attachment with a crustacean.   I also know that Klingons eat some of their food raw and wiggling.  I am glad, however, that a restaurant in Sacramento, California will no longer serve a cruel dish that’s often called “dancing shrimp” or “dancing prawns.”  The dish’s name is a reference, you see, to the writhing that the animals engage in when their protective shells are ripped off and acidic lemon juice is squeezed onto their raw flesh before they are eaten alive...

Scientific research has demonstrated that prawns feel pain, just as other animals do.  A 2007 Queen’s University Belfast study found that when prawns have acid dabbed onto one of their antennae, they respond by grooming the affected area and rubbing it against the side of the tank, just as a dog might lick an injured paw.  When given painkillers, the prawns felt no need to groom or rub their acid-dabbed antennae.  The researchers concluded that these results are consistent with the idea that these crustaceans can experience pain.

When PETA presented their findings and numerous complaints about the practice of serving “dancing shrimp” as cruel, the restaurant agreed to stop serving live shrimp…

Categories: animal rights, animals, Invertebrates, science
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Katz the Cat!

September 3, 2010

— Cats kind of tolerate us because we are useful to them; one can see this orientation in Katz, villain of Courage the Cowardly Dog. Now Courage has faced many enemies, often anthropomorphic, including my personal fave The Cajun Fox, who treats even his rivals with friendliness and can drive a car and pilot a plane!

Not as relaxed and laid-back as the Cajun Fox, Katz is a red, lanky anthropomorphic cat with purplish stripes who specializes in scam businesses, such as a vacation resort and motel, always with the intent of killing the patrons when he has no further need of them.  Katz’s catchphrase is, “I wish you hadn’t done that,” usually uttered after he gets injured.  Katz enjoys a “little spot of sport” with Courage, as all of his battles with the dog are games, such as a staring contest.

Springboarding off our previous post featuring spiders, an episode called A Night At The Katz Motel was indebted to Hitchcock’s Psycho, and featured Katz trying to kill Courage’s masters by using giant, horrifying spiders to eat them.  Katz is a smooth and wonderfully sadistic feline who has a vaguely British accent and his own sinister background music, and lovingly maintains a spider collection.

As Katz did say,  “Yes, set a plan; cunning, elaborate, over the top!”- –This is a furry villain you’ve got to love! 


Categories: animals, anthropomorphic, cartoons, furry, furry art, television
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The Spider Dies Hard

September 2, 2010

– – Most spiders are beneficial creatures, but so many try to kill them, at times to their regret.  So was the case for one guy in Essex, England when summoned by his wife to deal with a spider she had seen scuttling behind their toilet bowl.- – Well, unable to reach the spider, the man attempted to spray it with an aerosol can, after which point he struck up his cigarette lighter to determine if he had been successful as the bathroom light had blown out.  You probably can see where this is going by now…

Yuppers, the lighter ignited the fumes and caused an explosion so strong that it lifted the man off his feet, threw him into his hallway, and lifted the loft door off of its hinges!  The man suffered flash burns to his head, legs, and torso and was rushed to the hospital.

The spider?–Well, there was no sign of it at the scene afterwards, so it may well have gotten away, probably with a great story to tell to its innumerable offspring…

Categories: animals, insects, strange happenings, things humans do
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Lizardman Waxed!

August 31, 2010

– – Lizardman, aka Erik Sprague, walks the walk of physical transformation into his species; he’s got implants in his head, a forked tongue and fangs, and has had his body inked about 70% green, representing about 700 hours of tattoo work!

Despite his startling appearance, Erik is intelligent and highly personable, and is soon to have a wax likeness of himself displayed at Orlando’s Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! museum.  More figures of Lizardman may be made for other Ripley’s museums in the future.

Erik has been transforming himself for ten years, and in addition to multiple appearances on television and sideshow performances, he does stand-up comedy and plays in a metal band called (–what else) Lizard Skynard.

He’s remarkable and one of the few so extensively transformed, but I think I’ll be sticking to a few  tattoos, thank you!

Categories: animals, Brilliant but twisted, cool things, scalies
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Fur-give?–Suffering Succotash!

August 26, 2010

– – A 45-year-old British woman recently became a hate figure after she was caught by a security camera putting a living cat into a trash bin and slamming the lid.  The cat, named Lola, was found distraught and hungry by her owners some 15 hours later by following her cries.

The woman, a bank worker, has apologized for the incident but just doesn’t seem to fully understand the outrage following her behavior.  She apparently trashed the poor cat on a lark, thinking that it would be “funny” to put the feline into the dumpster.  “OK, I shouldn’t have done it,” the woman is quoted as saying, “but it’s just a cat at the end of the day.”

–Just a cat?!- –Some of my best friends are cats, and perhaps we should participate in such merry sport by confining the woman responsible in a trash dumpster for 15 hours.   Police are guarding the house of the woman after a Facebook page urged that she be put to death…  😦

Categories: animal abuse, animal occurrences, animal rights, animals, deplorable practices, furry, things humans do
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Gators in the City!

August 24, 2010

– – Summer in the city!–Back of my neck feelin’ dirty and gritty!–Be grateful that you don’t feel something else in the city, too…like alligators!

You’ve heard the popular urban myth that ‘gators have been known to make their way to city sewers, and take up housekeeping there?–Well, this myth may have some legs to it, as police in New York caught an 18-inch gator on Sunday after it reportedly crawled out of a storm drain in the Queens neighborhood of Astoria, then hid under a parked car, according to the New York Post. Police grabbed the gator, taped its mouth closed, and said they would send it to a reptile sanctuary or a wildlife rehabilitator.

Sightings of alligators far afield of their traditional domains are usually felt to be associated with careless pet owners who discard their pets when they outgrow their habitat.

Residents of Chicago have spotted  at least two different alligators on the Chicago River this summer…

Categories: animals, strange happenings, unexplained
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James Bond, the Dog…

August 22, 2010

– – We’ve all suspected for some time that our animal companions lead secret lives, like Perry the Platypus.–Well, a beagle in Thunderbolt, Georgia has tapped into the social networking thing and has his own Twitter account, spending the day tweeting about his day with the aid of his human.  He has over 3,000 followers, a number which continues to grow daily.- -Catch this canine spy at JamesBondTheDog on Twitter…I just hope that he doesn’t run afoul of Blofeld or another of the Bond villains! 

Categories: animals, cool things, furry, trends
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Comments: 2 Comments

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