Oh Deer!

Posted March 1, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animal oddities, animals, furry, furry art, strange happenings
Tags: ,

– – A statue of two deer making whoopie in the missionary position caused quite a stir when it graced the Herron School of Art’s campus in Indianapolis in the summer of 2005.– -How deer they! Although the statue left the premises in late 2006, it continues to evoke memories and controversy.

Entitled “Trophy,” the sculpture was crafted by Wim Delvoye, a Belgian artist.  According to him, the statue was never supposed to evoke a sense of shock.  “These animals love each other very much,” he explained.   “Only in the United States was this sculpture regarded as shocking.”

“It is funny, but I see a lot of tenderness in the way they kiss,” noted the artists.  “I tried it with dogs and cats, but it looked like they were fighting.”

(We sophisticates, of course, know that they were wrestling!)

The buck naked statue which you see incompletely here is currently back in Belgium with its creator…

Comments: 2 Comments

Stand By Your Whale…

Posted February 28, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animal occurrences, animals, furry perspectives
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– – SeaWorld has announced its intention of keeping the killer whale Tilikum, who dispatched veteran trainer Dawn Brancheau earlier this week in front of a horrified audience.  Some have argued that the whale in question should be set free or put to death like a dangerous dog.  Tilikum would not be likely to survive in the wild , however, as he has been captive for so long, and destruction of the animal is not an option either as he’s an important part of the breeding program and a companion to the other whales there.  Brancheau’s sister has commented that the trainer would not have wanted anything done to the whale.

SeaWorld now faces the rather daunting task of reassuring the general public that the parks are safe.  Ordinarily, however, there is virtually no contact between visitors and the orcas at SeaWorld shows, although in the past VIP visitors have occasionally been allowed to come down to the edge of the pools and pet the whales, a  practice which will no longer be allowed.

The attack could actually drive up attendance of teens and young adults at the parks, groups that get excited about risks and the potential for drama…and wouldn’t Stand By Your Whale have been a great Tammy Wynette song?


Comments: 3 Comments

Pennsylvania’s Pigeon Shoots…

Posted February 27, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animal rights, animals, endangered species, furry causes, furry perspectives
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– – One can be less than fond of pigeons but still abhor their use as living targets.  The practice of live pigeon shoots continues to exist in the state of Pennsylvania despite unsuccessful efforts to eradicate it, drawing the attention of none less than animal rights activist and former long-time game show host Bob Barker! Now pigeon shoots involve hunters firing at birds as they are released from small cages and attempting to fly away, and still takes place through a circuit of gun clubs holding shoots in the fall and winter seasons, typically involving 500 to 1,000 birds and about 40 to 50 shooters.

In 1998, a long-running annual pigeon shoot in the town of Hegins, Pennsylvania came to an end following a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that participants could be guilty of animal cruelty.   An attempt at a statewide ban on such “hunting” failed to be passed by the legislature in 1999, and an updated ban proposed in 2007 remains under debate.

Viewing the infamous Hegins pigeon shoot, together with its use of children in the horrific killings, led one long-term hunter, Steve Hindi, to abandon hunting altogether and found SHARK, “SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness,” a registered non-profit charity that deals with any issue involving violation of the innate rights of living creatures.  SHARK also conducts animal rescues and education projects.–Bravo!

Comments: 2 Comments

Fatal Killer Whale Attack at SeaWorld

Posted February 25, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animal occurrences, animals
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– -In a horrific attack today witnessed by audiences,  an employee at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida has died after being attacked by a killer whale.   The employee, a trainer, had just finished explaining to the audience the show that they were about to see when the veteran trainer apparently slipped and fell into the water.   The whale then suddenly came up from the water, grabbed the trainer around the waist, and according to a park guest, “thrashed her all around” to the point that the trainer’s shoe fell off.

Paramedics were summoned to the Shamu Stadium at the theme park just this Wednesday afternoon where they found the trainer who could not be revived.  The death is characterized as a drowning.  Guests were evacuated, and the park was closed.  The bull whale involved, Tilikum, is the largest Orca in captivity, weighing about 12,000 pounds.

The fatal attack was not the first time that a killer whale at a SeaWorld park has turned on a trainer, with a trainer attacked in November of 2006 but escaping with a broken foot…

Comments: 3 Comments

Komodo Dragon Attack!

Posted February 24, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animal occurrences, animals, scalies
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– – Here in the U.S. of A.,  you really don’t hear much about the Komodo dragon, which is a shame since they are the world’s largest lizard species.  Perhaps it’s because they are found in the wild only on the eastern Indonesian islands of Komodo, Padar, and Rinca, or maybe they just need a good publicist, or perhaps a spin doctor! They are more than deserving of our attention and respect, being capable of growing longer than ten feet and weighing 150 pounds.

Komodo dragon attacks on humans are rare, but they seem to be becoming more aggressive.  This month, an Indonesian park ranger escaped an attack by a Komodo dragon when his colleagues heard his cries for help and drove it off with wooden clubs. The big lizard had the right foot of the ranger clamped in its shark-like, serrated teeth, causing deep lacerations.

And yes, the Komodo dragon can and has killed people, most recently an 8-year-old boy killed on Komodo Island in 2007…

Comments: 1 Comment

Frankie the Fish!

Posted February 22, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animals, Brilliant but twisted, television
Tags: , ,

– – Not to be confused with the Big Mouth Billy Bass fish, a horrendous novelty gift of almost ten years ago, Frankie the Fish is a similar but distinctive item who memorably hawks McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwich.

“Gimme back that Filet-O-Fish/Gimme that fish,” sings Frankie in his own distinctive fashion in a commercial that tends to run through your head over and over again until you’re ready to filet yourself.   Notable is the fact that the two human actors in the ad don’t talk at all, one shrugging off the singing  fish on a plaque and the other displaying surprise.  The sandwich is made from cod and pollock, and originally a taxidermist created a pollock fish with a remote control device to operate his head and tail.  That creation was considered too scary, so the fish was made more toy-like to be less creepy.

McDonald’s sells about 300 million Filet-O-Fish sandwiches annually, 25% of them during the 40 days of Lent.  Frankie himself is quite the spokesfish, with the ad viewed on You Tube more than a million times…


Comments: 3 Comments

Seen Any Aliens?

Posted February 21, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: aliens, cool things, science, space
Tags: ,

– – Have ‘ya seen any aliens lately?–No, not the illegal immigrant types, but rather the extraterrestrial variety.–Well, if you have, you may wanna hook up with setiQuest…

Now SETI of course is an acronym which stands for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, and setiQuest adds a community involvement component, an effort to tap into the global brain trust and harness the power of citizen scientists!  If you have the chops, you can participate as a software developer or signal detection algorithm developer, or simply help sort through data received from such programs. It is felt that a more global community can more rapidly discern and sort through anomalous signals in search of the proverbial needle in a haystack that might finally alert us to E.T. – – very cool stuff to be rolled out in the next year or so!

Comments: 2 Comments

“Scooter’s” Salvation!

Posted February 18, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animals, Brilliant but twisted, humor, television
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– – This Minute Maid commercial is priceless!  “Mr. Hill, there’s something wrong with Scooter!,” cry elementary school students in alarm to their teacher.  At first, he’s drowsy and really doesn’t care, only reassuring the kids that he’s kept the store receipt for the unresponsive rabbit.- –Somebody forgot to boost!

Then in an alternate scenario, the teach when alerted slams down some Minute Maid Enhanced Strawberry Kiwi juice, spies floating helium balloons tethered nearby, rubs the balloons on his hair, and then applies the balloons to the bunny in distress, the static electricity acting like a cardiac defibrillator! Scooter is saved, jolted back to life and awakening with his static-charged fur standing on end while the class cheers!

Now you see why science education must never be neglected, to say nothing of enhanced fruit juices…

Comments: 1 Comment

Fur Flies Over Skater’s “Fashion”

Posted February 16, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animal rights, animals, deplorable practices, furry, furry causes, furry perspectives
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– – It is hard for a vulpine American such as myself to remain dispassionate about the topic of any individual wearing real animal fur, which I strongly feel should be worn only by its original owner.  The decision of U.S. men’s figure skater Johnny Weir to wear a costume trimmed with genuine white fox fur at US Nationals did not sit well with me, and accordingly his decision to dispense with such costumes at Vancouver for the Olympics is welcomed.

Anti-fur activists and animal advocacy groups such as Friends of Animals and PETA had posted open letters to Weir decrying his fashion choices, but deny having sent hate mail and death threats to the skater as he has alleged.  Weir contends that threats caused him to scrub plans to stay at a hotel rather than the Olympic Village.

A spokesman for Friends of Animals has pointed out that the pelts of foxes are obtained from their original owners by the foxes being beaten or electrocuted and then skinned alive…hardly a practice we want a potential role model to underwrite.

Comments: 5 Comments

The Tiger Trade…

Posted February 13, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animals, body parts, deplorable practices, endangered species, rare animal
Tags: , ,

– – As we are about to enter the Year of the Tiger, it’s important to remember that the commercial tiger trade is threatening the big cats with extinction, with only some 3,200 tigers remaining in the wild, nearly half of them in  India.

The tiger population is down from 100,000 worldwide a century ago due to growth in the human population and a demand in China, Vietnam, and Laos for tiger parts to be used in folk medicine.

Environmental activists are also worried about private ownership of tigers in the United States, where more than 5,000 tigers are believed to be in private hands as backyard pets or roadside zoo attractions.  Now tigers are often too dangerous to handle after six months of age, after which point they risk exploitation as they outgrow their usefulness.  While 26 states ban private ownership of tigers, nine states, including North and South Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin  have no regulations at all!

The highest number of captive tigers are found in Texas, which has regulations on tiger ownership but rarely enforces them.  China has nearly 6,000 tigers in captivity, and is trying to stamp out the tiger trade.  A growing private industry of  underground “tiger farms” in Asia, however, is putting new pressure on the endangered species as marketing tigers tends to stimulate and sustain demand for them…

Comments: 2 Comments

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