Dear Lord of All Creatures, Great and Small:

On this day of Thanksgiving, I give You thanks for a loving master, a warm bed, plentiful food, a home where I am safe and loved, and the opportunity to use the gifts you have given to all Rescued Animals. I know that my life will be short by human standards, but I also know that I shall have someone for whom to wait at the Bridge when my time has come.

And on this day, I think of all my brothers and sisters who are unloved, abused, and do not know the love and comfort that I enjoy. I ask You to look down upon them and bring them Your peace and comfort, and bring them to a home such as I have; but if they never come to enjoy that which I take for granted, then I ask that you allow my master to Bring all of the animals that remain unrescued with him when it comes his turn to cross the Bridge with me and those who have gone before me.

Thank you, Lord, for my wonderful life, and for the people who love me.

AMEN

For the past month I was prepping for then writing a novel as a participant in the National Novel Writing Month. I’ve been a part of this crazy endeavor for the past 9 years, and it took me away from all my other interests. But now I’m back.

After over 3-weeks of writing with any free time I could grab, it got to the point where it wasn’t fun anymore – so I decided to stop. The pull of my other interests were greater than the one to write a horror novel.

As I worked on the novel, it didn’t take me away from watching other horrors like Paranormal State sucking worse with every show and the Ghost Lab’s Klinge brothers excitedly jumping to conclusions – but to their credit, they do go back and replicate and usually find out what they thought was exciting was actually nothing.

I have also been watching TAPS and still enjoy watching Jay, Grant and the crew do what they do and despite Zak’s excitable theatrics, I still watch and enjoy Ghost Adventures.

To complete my weekly fill of things Paranormal, I started watching Ghost Hunter’s Academy. Not so sure I like it. It seems like a paranormal version of the early days of Real World. It is, however, fun watching Steve be a hard-ass.

Over the past weekend, I stumbled upon a show on The Animal Planet (Discovery Channel) called The Haunted. It combines the story of a haunted location, how certain animals react or are involved in it along with evidence footage from paranormal groups that did the investigation. I thought it was pretty good. Definitely worth checking out.

Телеканал Animal Planet представляет очередное доказательство того, что человек может установить дружбу с самыми опасными представителями животного мира и и остаться при этом живым и невредимым.

С 6 декабря на Animal Planet выходит передача «Жизнь в стае» — репортаж о сверхэкстремальном проекте дрессировщика Дэйва Салмони, осуществленном им в дебрях африканской Намибии.

На территории охотничьего заповедника Эринди Дэйв полгода в буквальном смысле жил в прайде диких львов, славящихся на всю округу своей агрессивностью. Узнайте во всех подробностях, как человек становится своим среди диких зверей, из программы «Жизнь в стае» с 6 декабря по воскресеньям в 21:00 в эфире Animal Planet.

Дэйв Салмони — канадский зоолог и дрессировщик больших кошек, известный своими экспериментами по «внедрению» в сообщества диких животных. О ходе этих рискованных проектов зрители разных стран узнают из телепередач, в которых Дейв выступает в роли ведущего и главного действующего лица.

Салмони уже общался с африканскими львами в их естественной среде обитания в программе «Жизнь со львами». Во время съемок этого фильма он прожил вместе с царями зверей три месяца, не имея при себе никакого оружия. В телепроекте «Жизнь с тиграми» Дэйв вместе в зоологом Джоном Варти обучают двух рожденных в неволе тигрят выживать в условиях дикой природы. Салмони является ведущим передач «После нападения» и «Природа как она есть с Дэйвом Салмони» на Animal Planet.

В программе «Жизнь в стае» Дэйву предстоит особо сложная задача. Ему необходимо наладить отношения с семьей необычайно агрессивных львов, крайне недружелюбно настроенных по отношению к человеку. Чтобы стать своим в львином прайде, ведущему нужно подружиться с царем здешних мест — доминантным самцом стаи по имени Брутус. Дабы расположить к себе зверя, Дэйв применяет самые неожиданные методы, но эта задача — ничто в сравнении со следующим этапом. «Супруга» Брутуса Клепатра никак не хочет принять Дэйва за своего…

Этот проект — не просто демонстрация смелости. Львы, с которыми имеет дело Салмони, слишком опасны, и если дрессировщику не удастся перевоспитать животных, весь прайд может быть уничтожен. Задача Дэйва — сохранить ценную популяцию. Кем станет для львов Дэйв — другом или обедом? Узнайте это из программы «Жизнь в стае» с 6 декабря по воскресеньям в 21:00 на Animal Planet.

Интересные факты

- За последние 10 лет в разных странах львами было убито 210 человек.

- Специально лев редко нападает на человека. Людоедами обычно становятся старые самцы, изгнанные из прайда. Люди для них — самая легкая добыча.

- Однажды смотритель заповедника в Кении наблюдал, как двое львов охотились на носорога. Жертва была убита за 20 минут. Вес взрослого льва составляет около 200 кг, вес носорога — 2—3 тонны.

- За один прием взрослый лев может съесть 18 кг мяса.

- При строительстве железной дороги между городами Момбаса и Найроби (Кения) на одном из участков работы долгое время были парализованы: каждую ночь на лагерь строителей совершала налеты пара львов. Всего хищники убили на стройке 28 человек.

- Численность львов в мире сегодня стремительно падает. Причина — браконьерство и разрушение среды обитания львов человеком.

- За последнее время количество львов в Кении сокращалось на 100 особей в год. Через 20 лет эта африканская страна может полностью лишиться этих редких животных.

- В некоторых странах львов используют в целях экотуризма. Например, в индийском штате Гуджарат животных для показа туристам выманивают на открытые лужайки. Делается это при помощи приманок — связанных буйволов, коров и коз. Туристы о приманках не подозревают.

Узнать больше о взаимоотошениях человека и льва вы можете из программы «Жизнь в стае» — с 6 декабря по воскресеньям в 21:00 на Animal Planet

http://stargate-tv.com/778/index.html

There is no real excuse for animal abuse yet it happens everyday. I see more neglect in dogs than anything else. Collars become embedded in a dog’s neck when the owner never changes it from when they were a puppy. Now how can you not notice that?!  Or if you did notice it, why not take it off when you realize maybe its too small or get a bigger one?!  I have seen the same thing with horses and halters getting embedded into their face. It’s sick, skin starts to grow around it and it gets infected. Imagine how that must feel. truly absurd. I don’t understand why people do some of the things they do. Like why even get an animal when you don’t have the funds to care for them or don’t have the interest in giving them the attention they crave? Other things that anger me are dog fighting and starvation. Yesterday, I was watching Animal Planet and on this one show the Humane Society was at a house to pick up two dogs. One dog was laying down, eating snow. It was so thin and weak it could not get up and walk. They actually had to pick him up and carry him to the truck.  This angered me so much. When they got to the shelter, the dog swallowed his food and just collapsed. He was so skinny, he could not hold himself up for a long period of time. It was so sad to watch and for things to get that bad he must not have been getting fed for a long time.  Not just one or two days. Animals know when they have been wronged you can see the distrust and sadness in their eyes.

Dog fighting is one of the most cowardly, ignorant things I have ever seen. It’s so hard to watch happen. Same show on AP this guy had 15 pitbulls, all locked in cages in his backyard. Two of them were pit puppies. Little black and white babies that licked his face when he took them out. He was totally denying that he used any of the dogs for illegal activities. Every full-grown dog was bitten up. Their ears, necks and legs were torn up, and even in the cages they had heavy chains around their necks. (which are used to make their necks strong for fighting)  The puppies were obviously going to be used for bait. What a horrible fate. They have no choice in matter. What if they don’t want to fight? They either fight or die and it’s all because their owners force them to so they can make some money. Well, that’s an honest paycheck huh? Fighting dogs that cannot prove to be champion fighters are often killed, left to die or used for bait.  Ear and tail cropping is also something they like to do to give their dogs a tough look. But, do you think they do this the right way? No, they do it the free way. They tie a rubber band around it and let it fall off on its own, or even cut them off with scissors. Pitbulls have a bad rap because of selfish, ignorant people who want to train them to be aggressive towards other dogs and in return they are aggressive to people, which makes it harder for them to be adopted out. Pitbulls are rated 2nd most family friendly dog to the golden retriever. They are naturally loving, good-natured dogs as long as they are not brought up to fight. People like this should be locked up, beat and left to suffer.

How can people be so cold-hearted towards a totally helpless animal? They depend on us to eat, drink, exercise, play…everything. They cannot really be happy without attention, love and care. It’s like child, you can’t just bring it home, lock it in a room and expect it to take care of itself! Why treat an animal any differently?

Animal abuse is a growing problem everywhere. The only way for it to stop is for people like us to report it when we see it. Even if you suspect abuse, neglect, dog fighting…etc, call your ASPCA or Humane Shelter. They will go down there and check it out.  They will only take the animals away if they feel or see that the animals are in fact victims.

Never feel guilty about reporting it, you may be saving a life.

Make a Difference: Donate, volunteer, become an ambassador and hold events in your town to raise awarenss and money for your local shelter, or adopt an animal from a shelter.

Meezers on the mind. It must be Maximum Meezer Monday!

Foggy Like Saturday, Winter Like Sunday

Not much to see, …

… not much to talk about.

It was a weekend for power naps, and to dream of warm summer days.

Cats 101

If you’ve been watching Animal Planet the last two Saturday evenings, then you’ve seen the program “Cats 101.” Simply, the program is all about cats, the different breeds and how well each breed fits into a forever home. For mom cats and dad cats, it’s squeeeeeeeee time, especially when the kittens are shown. Another new episode is scheduled for Saturday (9 pm ET/7 pm MT), with two previous episodes shown afterward. You may want to block the channel with your satellite/cable remote (or block the web site) as not to cause your staff to get “ideas.”

The Turkey Bird Arrival

Our turkey bird has arrived for next week’s big feast. Rather than having the traditional bird with drumsticks and wings, this year’s bird is a turkey breast. We understand it’s the most desired part of a turkey bird. Anyway, the turkey breast we have must have come from a big bird since it weighs a bit more than five pounds.

Along with our turkey bird will be the other foods … cornbread stuffing, candied yams, lots of gravy, a veggie, a salad, and pumpkin pie.

Before I go on to the body of this article I would just like to say that no Whales, Dolphins, Tuna or any other kind of marine mammal or fish was harmed during the writing of this post.

Yesterday the controversial and notorious Sea Shepherd Conservation Society best known for putting themselves between whalers’ harpoons and their prey, has purchased some speed in the form of a world-record holding powerboat “Earthrace,” renaming it the “Ady Gill.”

Earthrace is a powerboat that holds the record for circumnavigating the globe (60 days). It is called a wave piercer, and can submarine up to 7m (23ft) underwater. She can travel over 13,000 nautical miles (over half way around the planet) on one tank of fuel….And she runs 100% biodiesel made from sustainable sources.

One blog post I read about this beast said it ran on human fat…which I thought a bit scary that an organization such as Greenpeace would be running around killing people in order to fuel its boat to save whales.

This statement conjured up all kinds of thoughts as to how they would obtain their fuel source…I don’t want to mention them here, but a couple were pretty gruesome and made me read the fine print on my organ donor card.

Outside the International Whaling Commission meeting in Portugal, Sea Shepherd announced plans for their sixth campaign against Japanese commercial whaling in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary – Operation Waltzing Matilda. They also revealed the incredible news that the Earthrace will be joining the SS Steve Irwin in this new operation. And yes, it will change from its current silver to the Sea Shepherd’s striking black.

Anyone who has followed the Sea Shepherd may know that it is the vessel behind the hugely popular Animal Network reality show “Whale Wars.”

This show came to my attention last season when Captain Paul Watson and other chief officers of his crew were on Larry King Live.

Of course the reason for the interview was to promote the upcoming season of the show and some really awesome footage was shown. If I had known that what I had just watched was about as exciting as the show was going to get, I would not have urgently called my cable provider and forked out an additional $2.79 to add the channel to my package.

My hope after watching the Larry King show was that the series would bring to the forefront the travesty of the whale hunt to a world audience and help apply pressure to the Japanese government. Sadly however the show has missed its mark.

Canadian Captain Paul Watson steers his ship around the Antarctic in search of the Japanese Whaling fleet assisted by his zany crew of idealistic and naive, though well meaning, collection of volunteers, with often amaturish and hilarious efforts.

Sorry, but many of these folks seem to be full of enthusiasm, but severely lacking in common sense, blindly devoted to their cause.

 Although their mission is truly inspiring – stopping or at least slowing down the Japanese fleet processing ships from slaughtering these beautiful and endangered species under the thin guise of “research” at times misses and incompetence takes over the show’s center stage.

 Every episode begins with the hope that this time they are going to make crippling strike against the Japanese fleet but consistently ends in failure.

Perhaps a better idea would be to hire Somali Pirates to go after the Japanese Whaling fleet. They at least are successful at stopping ships.

The boat Earthrace is not itself without controversy. While on its record breaking journey it was involved in a tragic accident off the coast of Guatemala when it collided with a small fiberglass fishing boat. The Earthrace boat was basically unscathed except for prop damage but the fishing boat was demolished, killing one of the fishermen.

“It looks like a spaceship. It can do 40 knots and dive under waves completely. We’ll be using it to intercept and block harpoons,” said Captain Paul Watson, He added that the organization was outfitting the vessel with half a tonne of Kevlar to toughen it against the ice. “It has the endurance to go half way round the world on a tank of fuel,” he said. “They won’t get away from me.”

The organization has confirmed that they will be returning to the Antarctic taking the most powerful anti-whaling weapon available: a film crew. “The cameras are more powerful than cannons and our ammunition is the naked truth about illegal whaling. We intend to keep the focus on Japanese crimes and we intend to sink the Japanese whaling fleet – economically.”

I sincerely hope that this season the show focuses more strongly on getting that message out. After all what is more important – entertaining T.V. about killing whales, or the fact that the slaughter is even allowed to take place?

PB & P has quickly and easily become my new favorite show, showing Friday nights on Animal Planet at 10pm. It shows the nearly impossible work, the passion, the dedication, the triumphs and tragedies of running a pit bull rescue.

Information courtesy of animal.discovery.com.

Last weeks episode showed the rescue of an abandoned and left for dead white pit bull nicknamed “Gringa.” After Gringa was assessed by a veterinarian they concluded she had cancer and was too sick to treat. Tia made sure the camera crew was there to observe and film the truly heartbreaking and all too often unavoidable decision to end Gringa’s suffering. The camera focused on her eyes as she lay on the cold vet floor and took her last breath. If it weren’t for the heartless negligence of Gringa’s previous owner her cancer, suffering and untimely death could have all been avoided.

I hope PB & P will show people the monstrous acts committed against these dogs and just how forgiving and loving they can still be.

On sunday a new cat came into our lives. He’s huge. Mind you our own cat is tiny and old. But this cat, he’s big. Really big. I’ve never seen such fat cat outside of the internet before. The cat is used to being the only one and used to going out. And obviously used to having his own people and own territory. Suddenly this 8-year old is whisked away to live among people and animals he’s never met or smelled before. Hell, I’d be pretty pissed too. He doesn’t mind us, the people. But the pets. Oh boy! I’m astounded by the fact that our cat couldn’t give a toss really. When the new cat hisses and growls the old one hisses too, but if he’s left alone, there is no problem. While I’m writing this I’m surrounded by all three. My cat is at the end of the bed hidden behind the duvet, so the new cat won’t see him. My dog is lying on my left, on the floor. I’m sitting by the edge of the bed and the new cat is on my right growling. The other too are pretty much relaxing and sleeping. The new cat can see the dog, but there’s no movement. I wonder how long it’ll take before they get used to each other.

When the dog came into our world, my cat was pissed. He kept staring at me loathingly for weeks. He still doesn’t like the dog, but as long as he’s left alone he’s fine. Actually the new cats behaviour is pretty much the same as was my old cats when I once took him to visit my aunt, who at the time had 2 cats. My cat placed himself on the sofa beside me and hissed and growled at my aunts cat anytime they got even a step closer. Needless to say I didn’t stay too long and the cat didn’t go under the care of my aunt. We’re supposed to take care of the new cat for about a year… At the moment I’m just hoping to make it through the week without anyone being killed! time time time, it just takes time.

Angry puss