Archive for the ‘furry’ category

Die Hard Cat To Live!

January 22, 2012

 – – While cuddly, felines are also tough and resilient.  I’ve heard it said that a cat will survive if all of its parts are in the same room.  That seems to have been the case with a stray orange tabby in Houston nicknamed Cupid” who survived a piercing shoulder-to-shoulder arrow wound.

The incident was not thought to have been an accident, and somehow the courageous cat survived its wound and still managed to elude neighborhood residents for about three days before being captured by the city animal rescue group and being taken to an animal hospital.  A vet there took x-rays and determined that there was no “paws for concern” before surgically removing the arrow, which had missed all vital organs…

…Cupid is expected to make a full recovery.- -Don’t you love stories that have a happy ending?!

 

Enter the Wolf…

January 18, 2012

– – Before vampires were pretty and made babies with human girlfriends, Anne Rice showed us how things should have been in her acclaimed Vampire Chronicles series that began in 1976.  Rice’s vampire Lestat was cunning, ruthless, rather classy, and quite magnetic, his exploits detailed in a series that had considerable literary merit.  Even folks not ordinarily into vampires found Rice’s  tales a powerful draw.  The giddy ride ended when Rice began writing books about angels and the life of Christ, leaving us literate horror fans to cry in our root beer.

That long dry spell may be alleviated with Rice’s return to horror at least  to a degree in her upcoming release, The Wolf Gift, coming in February on Valentine’s Day (–what could be more appropriate?)!  Called both a return and a departure, Rice’s new work marks a return to the horror genre, but with spiritual  elements as the lead male werewolf character is a kind of protector or guardian.  The book is also a departure in that Rice has never done the lycanthrope scene before.  She is, however, expected to bring her intelligent blend of class and romanticism to the effort while delivering the jolts.

While details about the work are few, it sounds promising.  Perhaps most interesting is the fact that the featured werewolf, a reporter operating in California, suffers no “disconnect” following a transformation; rather, he can recall all of his actions the previous night when in the wolf state.  This werewolf would also appear to suffer less angst about his status, and rather to see the potential in the “gift.”  We learn how the central character became a werewolf, and follow his growth in that condition and as part of a greater scheme.

So I’m looking forward to reading this one, and won’t wait until it’s on the bargain table…The Wolf Gift is not a present I’m likely to return!

Carnival Cruise Commercial With Wildlife!

January 12, 2012

 – – “Ah, so much better than last year!,” muses a contented passenger on a Carnival Cruise ship as he and his companion look over the railing of a ship at sea.  Next we are shown a flashback to last year’s vacation, where at a camp site the same man is shown screaming behind the wheel of a car, his passenger also screaming on her side of the vehicle as a bear and a mountain lion both on their hind legs paw at the vehicle. 

“Throw the food out the window!,” screams the man in fear and desperation as the bear roars.  Unfortunately, we’re never shown the outcome of the encounter.   Then we return to the cruise ship, where the woman takes a bite of a treat and swears, “Never again!”   It’s all part of Carnival’s “land versus sea” campaign extolling the virtues and pleasures of sea travel vacations…

…in my twisted little mind, however, I can rewrite the ending of this commercial with an anthropomorphic bear and lion standing along the cruise ship railing, having financed the trip with the proceeds of their profitable campground takeover!

Roadkill Harvest…

January 10, 2012

 – – It’s an inherently gruesome topic, but our distaste for roadkill doesn’t eliminate the existence of it, and  it’s a problem that must be dealt with.  In many areas, state highway crews or private contractors are brought in to remove animal carcasses along roadways; in my area, one private contractor is a grandmotherly-looking woman.  For those with sufficiently strong stomachs, roadkill removal is a fairly lucrative business; removal of a single deer carcass can bring $50 or so.

In Illinois, a “roadkill bill” took effect last year that allowed anyone with an Illinois furbearer license to salvage pelts or even food from the unfortunate fauna that lost a fight with steel-belted radials.  The promoter of the bill was a retired state conservation officer who thought it was a waste to allow  animal pelts to rot along the roadside, and saw it as an opportunity for some people to make a little money.

At least 14 states have laws related to roadkill, including those that allow motorists to keep animals that they hit although some laws pertain only to deer or bears… 

(Pictured is a desktop from Roadkill Toys.)

The Yodeling Cat…

December 28, 2011

— Some have referred to the Yodeling Cat as being “creepy” or “disturbing” or even “horrifying,” but the holiday season seems to spawn such things,  and one may see the creepy and disturbing prowling the aisles at Walmart anyways, so I welcome this white-furred warbler as a twisted commentary on where the excesses of Xmas can lead us. It’s also perhaps the most significant intrusion of yodeling into pop culture since the late great Andy Kaufman  yodeled to an African drum rhythm,  or yodeling was used as a potent weapon against alien invasion in the movie,  Mars Attacks!  

As one who loves dementedly random things as well as juxtaposition,  by extension I’m also led to wonder if perhaps by yodeling we who are furry might also also use it as a force for societal change, or at least by yodeling cause Donald Trump’s head to explode as those of Tim Burton’s aliens did.- – It’s worth a try…

We’ve come a long way since the 1955 novelty hit, “Jingle Bells” by the Singing Dogs, right?– No, I didn’t think so either…

Honey Badger…

December 24, 2011

 – – Although only the size of a medium dog and weighing in at about thirty pounds, it’s hard to find a more vicious and tenacious predator than the African Honey Badger (Mellivora capensis), also known as the Ratel.  A relative of the Wolverine, the Honey Badger has been listed in the Guiness Book of World Records as “The World’s Most Fearless Creature.”  

The Ratel’s well-deserved fearsome reputation has been earned based on the fact that it has no known natural predators, and has been known to attack jackals, wildebeest, wild boars, buffalo, humans, monitor lizards, and even lions and cheetahs!  Armed with razor-sharp teeth and inch-and-a-half long claws, the Honey Badger routinely eats poisonous snakes, spiders, and scorpions.  The Ratel also loves honey, from which he gets his name, acquiring such by boldly invading a beehive and using his quarter-inch thick skin to absorb the hundreds of stings he’s likely to receive in the effort. 

Not registering fear, pain, or any emotion other than anger, the Honey Badger has become a popular internet meme, and may be seen in commercials opening pistachios by flailing them with a cobra…

 

Feline Survival Tale…

December 23, 2011

– – A large black and white cat survived a road trip of 200 miles and four hours duration while traveling under the hood of a car in Ohio last Sunday afternoon.  The driver of the car smelled something burning when he stopped at a rest area near his Cleveland destination, and raised his hood to discover the feline hitchhiker stuck in the engine compartment!

Although the cat suffered burns to his right side, he survived his ordeal remarkably well, and a vet who checked the cat out said that he’s going to be fine.  The cat has been named “Eclipse” as that was the model of the car, and the SPCA is trying to find the cat’s owner…

Rats Who Care…

December 20, 2011

 – – It’s OK to call someone a “dirty rat,”  as rats do get dirty;  it might not, however, be scientifically supportable to refer to rats as uncaring in light of a new University of Chicago study on empathy-driven behavior in rodents. 

Appearing in the prestigious journal Science, the results of this landmark study show that untrained laboratory rats will free restrained companions,  even when those restrained rats are not in pain.  Rats will even choose to free other restrained rats when offered the alternative activity of feasting on chocolate!  Greater love hath no rat than this…

The new study on rats sets a precedent for future research on sentient and empathic animals; it’s also safe based on what we know to assume that numerous other animals display empathy, which is thought to have deep evolutionary, biochemical, and neurological underpinnings. 

Findings of empathy in animals may force uncomfortable questions about how humans treat animals, especially with regards to horrific invasive research.  Birds, rats, and mice are presently excluded from some federal legislative definitions of animals, with only about 1% of the animals used in research in the United States currently protected by legislation.

Cabela’s “Big Game Hunter” Buck

December 13, 2011

 – – I don’t like hunting, even in its video game incarnations since the goal is killing the most helpless, majestic animal that you possibly can.  The commercials for the PS3 version of the product, however, are a hoot, featuring as they do a sentient and articulate buck who sits on the couch while playing the game and winging comments at his human host as he does so.  In one commercial version (not depicted) the buck even mocks an outrageous sweater that the host is wearing!

While it’s arguably creepy that a deer would be depicted killing other animals including his own kind, perhaps he’s just imitating his human models…and I’ll take as much of a deer trash-talking humans as I can get!

Female Lycanthropes…

December 9, 2011

 – -Males tend to dominate the werewolf world, but accounts of female werewolves do exist and are noteworthy!  One such tale takes place in the Fichtel Mountains of Germany, where in the 18th century a local shepherd hired a hunter to kill a strange, huge wolf which had been devouring lambs in his flock…

…well, the marksman supposedly located and fired upon the creature, and although at least one hit the predator head on, the bullets had no apparent effect!  The plot thickened when the shepherd the next day observed an old woman long suspected of practicing witchcraft hobbling down the street as if wounded!  The shepherd deduced that the witchy woman was a female werewolf who would transmogrify herself into a large wolf at night to attack his sheep.  The shepherd reported the woman to local authorities who arrested her and chained her to the floor of a prison cell, Miranda rights being unknown in the 18th century.  The resourceful werewolf had vanished, however, when authorities went to question her the next day!

Two nights later, the shepherd was again out in the woods with the hunter looking for the shapeshifting witch when she obligingly sprung at them!  Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on whose side you’re on, the hunter had in his possession a silver knife with which he slashed at the poor lycanthrope,  causing her great pain and to writhe on the ground in agony where she morphed into the human form of the old witch, proof positive that she had been a female werewolf!

Since such things seldom end well for those of the furry persuasion, the wolfy witchy was buried 20 feet deep (“that oughta hold her!”) in a grave topped with what is now called the Wolfstone cross, erected in the hopes of sanctifying the location and containing the evil…

…but to this day, locals claim that eerie phenomena such as spectral lights are seen near that accursed site…ahahahahaha!