Archive for the ‘environmental’ category

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Scotland Invaded!

February 26, 2011

– – Scotland has been overrun by vicious invaders, and their goal is to kill them all!  Once the invaders are driven out of Scotland, plans are to drive them out of the whole of Britain.

Now this isn’t a William Wallace thing and Mel Gibson is nowhere to be seen,  but it’s rather a campaign against American minks brought to Britain in the 1950’s to be farmed for fur coats.  Now running wild by the tens of thousands, the minks are wrecking havoc on other native species, including birds, fish, frogs, and the beloved water vole!   About 95% of the water voles are gone, thanks in large measure to the minks.   Scottish novelist Kenneth Grahame used a water vole named Ratty as a main character in his children’s book, The Wind in the Willows.

Considered an invasive species, the minks are usually trapped and then shot.  While this sounds cruel, the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says the process is humane and necessary in order to protect Scotland’s ecosystem.  To quote Ratty the water vole, “It’s my world.  I don’t want any other.”



Categories: animal occurrences, animals, environmental, furry
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Comments: 1 Comment

Wildlife Conservation Officer Slain

November 16, 2010

– – People tend to think that being a game warden is a fairly tame job; not necessarily so.  When a Pennsylvania wildlife conservation officer recently caught a felon illegally night hunting deer with a spotlight and pulled over the poacher’s truck, a ferocious  exchange of gunfire ensued that killed the officer and left the later-captured suspect wounded.  David Grove became the first game warden killed in the line of duty in PA since 1915.

Poaching is a crime which sadly continues in the 21st century, and game officers, usually working by themselves, must routinely investigate men who are armed, and usually  better armed than the officers.   While game lands can be beautiful places used to enjoy nature, after dark wildlife conservation officers can find drinking parties, drug sales, and people that are knowingly breaking the law.

About 1.5 million acres are under the jurisdiction of game commission officers in Pennsylvania, an area nearly the size of Delaware…

Categories: conservation, environmental, historical perspectives
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Asian Carp Invasion!

November 4, 2010

– – Hah!- -Just when you thought that Halloween was over, the Asian carp are knocking at your door! They may already be in waterways near Lake Michigan, and five states are embroiled in a lawsuit against the City of Chicago, barge companies, and others to close Chicago area shipping locks in order to stop the spread of the ravenous fish!  The invasive carp, you see, may decimate a $7 billion a year fishing industry.  Biologists fear that the fish, which can weigh up to 100 pounds, would gobble plankton and starve out prized species such as salmon and walleye should they get into the lakes.

Opponents counter that closing the locks would undermine critical flood control measures in the Chicago area, and cost barge and tour-boat owners as well as others billions of dollars in lost business.  A U.S. District Judge is expected to rule on the matter within several week.

(I for one do not fear the Asian carp; they only want our computers for their young, and should be able to help me with my math…)

Categories: animal occurrences, animals, environmental, scalies
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Hold That Tiger!

September 24, 2010

– – Tigers tend to be thought of as jungle creatures, but a British television crew filmed a population of “lost” tigers living at a higher altitude than any others known.  These cats were spotted roaming in the remote Himalayan nation of Bhutan at an altitude of 13,450 feet!

While the number of tigers has plunged to fewer to 3,200 from 100,000 over the past century, countries where wild tigers range hope to double their numbers by the year 2022…

Categories: animals, environmental, furry
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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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Not Lazy, Just Evolved…

August 12, 2010

– – Orangutans aren’t exactly balls of fire but rather simian slackers; they can sleep for twelve hours a day, and then nap for several hours more!  In fact, orangutans use less energy, pound-for-pound, than any animal except for the tree sloth.   This is not necessarily a bad thing…

It turns out that orangutans are not lazy, but simply energy-efficient.  In the wild, orangutans live mainly off fruit, which can be hard to come by in their forest habitat for several months of the year.  Those who can survive on the least food for the longest therefore have the best chance of surviving and reproducing.  Although a large male orangutan can weigh in at over 250 pounds, a new study in the Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that such an animal consumes less than 2,000 calories a day, which is 20% less than a typical human male.

This can be considered an evolutionary adaptation to deal with their habitat, with sleep being a low-energy state…

Categories: animals, environmental, evolution, furry, science
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Coyotes Near New York City!

July 2, 2010

– – Well, foxes are infringing on Detroit, bears are in many suburbs, and now coyotes are causing problems about 25 miles northeast of midtown Manhattan!- -Can the revolution be far behind?


In the New York City suburb of Rye, N.Y., two coyote attacks on little girls have police officers shooting at them, and parents keeping their kids inside on summer evenings.  A six-year-old and a three-year-old have been injured in separate attacks, with both girls being treated for rabies as a precaution.  The state Department of Environmental Conservation has given Rye permission to shoot coyotes on sight and to kill any that are trapped, according to a wildlife biologist for the department.

Coyote attacks are rare, with news media reporting only 142 coyote attacks on people in the U.S. and Canada between 1960 and 2006.   The only known fatality of a coyote attack involved a California toddler in the 1980’s.  The natural prey of coyotes includes rabbits, birds, and rodents but in suburbia easy food sources include garbage and pet food left out.  Some people even unwisely feed coyotes.  One coyote necropsy showed that the animal had eaten pork chops!

I prefer my coyotes to be the frustrated genius types who buy a lot of Acme products and fruitlessly pursue road runners…

Categories: animal occurrences, environmental, furry
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Impact of the Gulf Spill…

May 25, 2010

– – That the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is catastrophic is readily apparent although it presently cannot be predicted how long it will continue or just how devastating it will prove to be.  Compounding the disaster is the fact that numerous species come to the fragile ecosystems of the Gulf to feed, nest, breed, and spawn with peak migration and breeding times coming from late April through mid-May; the timing of the disaster accordingly could not be worse.

The animals most threatened by this environmental nightmare include brown pelicans, sea turtles, dolphins, shore birds, shellfish and crabs, and North  Atlantic Bluefin Tuna.


Categories: animal occurrences, animals, environmental
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Alternative Animal Trophies

May 23, 2010

– – Perhaps you have been in a bar, club, or private home that features animal trophies mounted on the wall, usually of the stuffed and decapitated variety.- -Yeah, nothing says “man cave” like the carcass of an animal,  shot from a safe distance with a high-powered weapon!   But as a furry, such spectacles make me want to lose my lunch or vent my indignation, especially when there is a better way…

…consider cardboard animal trophies by Cardboard Safari! You can choose either large or miniature versions of moose, rhino, deer, and the heads of other animals to adorn your walls, and all are made from recycled and non-toxic materials.–The environment and the animal kingdom will thank you!

Categories: animals, environmental, furry, furry causes
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Plants Behaving Strangely…

April 25, 2010

– – No, we’re not talking about the carnivorous plant in the musical Little Shop of Horrors, but let’s consider what’s happening to some like…(long pause)…the bloodroot, ahahahahaha!

This little herb, like a number of other plants including dogwoods and lilacs, is showing a life cycle that is sped up,  flowering earlier than usual or normal in many areas.   On average, spring is now coming several days earlier than it did a few decades ago, possibly as a result of global warming.   It’s easy to consider an early spring a good thing, but such may confuse plants and insects, making them shift their schedule.  If snow melts earlier, vegetation may suck up the water more quickly, leading to drier conditions for the ecosystem later on into the summer, and increasing the chances of wildfire.

Most climate scientists say that a warming climate would in turn be expected to affect the weather, but where, when, and the extent of such is hard to predict.  The fact that the oceans are warmer than they were about thirty years ago means that there’s on average about 4 per cent more water vapor lurking around over the oceans.  Since what goes up must come down, this could translate to more snowfall in winter and more extreme weather patterns generally…

Categories: environmental, science, trends

Comments: 1 Comment

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