Heroic Golden Retriever

Posted January 6, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animals, furry, furry heroes
Tags: , ,

– – Saturday night in British Columbia, Canada an 11-year-old boy was gathering firewood in his backyard when his18-month-old golden retriever ran towards him, jumping over a lawn mower and into the path of a charging cougar!

The dog, appropriately called Angel, took the brunt of the cougar’s attack and when Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrived, they found the dog under the front porch with the cougar’s jaws locked around her neck.  Two rounds shot into the cougar’s rear end were unable to break the death grip, and it was subsequently necessary to fire a third shot and kill the cougar.

Angel the retriever suffered extensive injuries including a fractured skull, but underwent surgery and her vets hope for a full recovery.  Greater love hath no dog than this, right?


Comments: 1 Comment

Elmer Does Geico!

Posted January 4, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animals, Brilliant but twisted, cartoons, television
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– – Elmer Fudd has always been the perfect patsy for Bugs Bunny; although the outcome of their encounters is a given and you know Elmer couldn’t possibly hurt Bugs, you have to admire the rabbit’s artful and leisurely baiting of the incompetent, bumbling hunter.–Just sit back, relax, and watch a true master at work!

The great classics never really get old, and the woodland encounters of this duo are timeless, playing as well in the present as they did decades ago.  Besides being hopelessly inept, Elmer is cursed with a speech impediment, engineered back in the days when Porky Pig stuttered painfully and it was not politically incorrect.- -Well, Elmer still has trouble with his /r/ sound, so “rabbit season” comes out “wabbit season.”– – We wouldn’t have it any other way!  But after being coached and corrected several times on the /r/ sound, Elmer is spent, stomping off with complaints that the director is “getting on his nerves!.”

As part of Geico’s “Rhetorical Question” series, it’s good to see the mighty hunter again.  Just be “vewy, vewy quiet, he’s hunting wabbits!”- –Looney Tunes forever!!!

Comments: 2 Comments

Santeria Animal Slayings

Posted January 3, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animals, deplorable practices
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– – Santeria is a religious tradition that originated in West Africa and the Caribbean whose practitioners have been known to practice animal sacrifice as a form of devotion.   Its practitioners can’t be prosecuted in the United States for sacrificing animals such as chickens or goats; however, the discovery of the remains of hundreds of animals such as birds, dogs, cats, and monkeys in a North Philadelphia home is another matter, and if it is proven that dogs or cats were killed in the home, those responsible could face charges.

In 1993, the Supreme Court struck down a law against animal sacrifice, but the decision does not mean that animal sacrifice is necessarily legal; it’s an ambiguous, rather gray area.   Animal sacrifice can still be prosecuted under other, more general laws, such as those against cruelty to animals, but interpretation of such depends on where you live.  In addition to cruelty laws, there are sanitary laws and even zoning ordinances which may apply.   Look for animal rights activists to continue to clash with religions outside of the mainstream on this issue.

Two living but emaciated dogs were also rescued from the Philadelphia property for which those responsible will face summary offense charges of lack of veterinary care and unsanitary confinement, according to the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals…

Comments: 5 Comments

Ellen DeGeneres Receives PETA Honor

Posted January 2, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animal rights, animals, furry causes, furry perspectives, television
Tags: ,

– – U.S. TV hostess Ellen Degeneres has been named Woman of the Year by PETA (People for The Ethical Treatment of Animals) for her work in raising awareness of their campaigns promoting a lifestyle friendly to nature.  Tim Gunn was named Man of the Year.  PETA said that it gave Ellen its award for being vegan and championing a meat and dairy-free lifestyle, as well as for some of the guests featured on her show.

“The message that animals must be treated kindly and respectfully has reached scores of people, and many of them have changed their buying habits, all because Gunn and DeGeneres spoke up for the voiceless,” said PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk.

…and that’s a good thing!


Comments: 4 Comments

Furry Happy New Year!

Posted December 31, 2009 by vulpesffb
Categories: animals, furry
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– – In Japanese folklore, foxes are believed to have magical powers.  According to legend, every year all of the foxes would gather to have a meeting to discuss their mischief and plan for the coming year.- -I say it’s time to get cracking!   Calling the tobacco shop and asking if they have Prince Albert in a can never gets old, right?

– – Happy New Year 2010 to all of our Foxsylvania readers!- -The Year of the Tiger starts in February… and by the way, you won’t need any Mayan calendars after 2012…  😉

Comments: 2 Comments

Beat It!

Posted December 30, 2009 by vulpesffb
Categories: strange happenings, things humans do
Tags: ,

– – You know those drum circles that are supposed to be great guy-bonding rituals?- -Well, an unnamed female really got into some guys wailing away on skins at the United Campus Ministry near the University of New Hampshire, getting into showing off her moves, and maybe, I dunno, doing the funky chicken or whatever.- – Well, the babe came down with anthrax soon thereafter…

Experts are saying that while dancing, the young lady must have inhaled thousands of anthrax spores from the African drums being used, with such spores becoming aerosolized when the guys started beating on the animal skin heads of their drums!- -Sounds far-fetched, but stranger things have happened…

– – Heh, make our furry hides into drums, will they?!- -We’ll show them to beat it! 😉

Comments: 8 Comments

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Posted December 26, 2009 by vulpesffb
Categories: animal oddities, animals, furry, strange happenings
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– – We’re not talking The Wizard of Oz, either…but in 2001, police raided a local drugs gang in Atlanta, Georgia who were keeping a lion, a tiger, and a bear cub as status symbols.  Well, the three predators were rescued by the Noah’s Ark Animal Rescue Centre in Atlanta, and lived in the same enclosure upon their arrival at the animal sanctuary.

They were allowed to stay living together, and an unlikely friendship flourished.  Nine years later, Leo the lion, Shere Khan the tiger, and Baloo the bear are still together…Believe It, Or Not!

Comments: 5 Comments

Whale Wars!

Posted December 23, 2009 by vulpesffb
Categories: animal rights, animals, furry causes, strange happenings
Tags: ,

– – Animal rights activists and Japanese whalers have had a not always cold war raging for some time.  Last year there was a collision between an activist vessel and a whaler, as well as incidents when activists hurled rancid butter and stink bombs!–Whoa!

More recently this month, anti-whaling activists have accused Japanese harpooners of using water cannons, loudspeakers, and military-grade acoustic weapons as part of skirmishes in the Antarctic.  The Sea Shepherd animal rights group said a Japanese vessel closed in on their boat, the Steve Irwin, and deployed water cannons and long-range acoustical devices (LRADs) against them.  Acoustical devices have been used for crowd control, to repel pirates, and have also been used by U.S. forces in Iraq.  The Japanese whaling vessel, the Shonan Maru No. 2,  also is reported to have chased and circled the Steve Irwin for two hours in a campaign of harrassment, setting off that vessel’s collision alert alarm fourteen times.  In what must have been an awesome water war, the Irwin also deployed its water cannon against the Japanese vessel, resulting in two very wet crews but no injuries!

Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands have called for restraint on both sides before the rancid butter hurling gets totally out of hand…

(…rancid butter hurling and water cannons!–I’d have given anything to have been in on that!- -Then again, I smell funny when my fur gets wet…)

Comments: 3 Comments

Panda Love?

Posted December 22, 2009 by vulpesffb
Categories: animals, furry, rare animal
Tags: ,

– – Australia has acquired two giant pandas on loan from China, and the couple has been publicly encouraged to, err, be fruitful and multiply! Wang Wang (“Net Net”) and Funi (“Lucky Girl”) were encouraged by leaders at the Adelaide Zoo to “Look after yourselves, keep healthy and active, eat your greens and maybe, when the time is right, think about starting a family.”

Pandas are notoriously poor breeders, with females having only three days a year in which they can conceive. Artificial insemination has accordingly become a standard practice in breeding captive pandas, of which 120 are in Chinese breeding facilities and zoos and about another 20 in zoos outside China.  Only about 1,600 pandas exist in the wild.

We can, I suppose, be grateful that The Captain and Tennille never wrote a song called “Panda Love…”

Comments: 3 Comments

Soup of Cruelty

Posted December 20, 2009 by vulpesffb
Categories: animals, deplorable practices, environmental
Tags:

– – Shark fin soup can cost more than $100 a bowl, and is served at weddings and on important occasions in China and other Asian countries, both to display wealth, and in the belief that it can improve one’s health.

The soup is actually made by de-finning a shark, often while they’re alive, causing the animal a slow and cruel death as they are dumped mutilated back into the ocean.  The shark fin component provides gelatinous bulk to the soup but is itself tasteless; the soup  is then flavored with chicken or other stock.   Demand for shark fin soup, driven largely by Chinese consumers, has caused populations of some shark species to decline by as much as 99 percent, according to a WildAid study.  Furthermore, a 2007-08 study indicated that a quarter of all shark fin samples sold at Hong Kong markets were unfit for human consumption, containing high mercury levels that increase the risk of infertility and brain damage.

Fortunately, NBA star Yao Ming is featured in a commercial produced by the San Francisco-based conservation group WildAid which shows Yao urging largely Chinese patrons to stop ordering shark fin soup…and public awareness and pressure may eventually lessen consumer appetites for the item…

Comments: 2 Comments

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