ANIMAL FORTEANA

In the beginning of things men were animals and animals men. ~ Algonquin saying

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

'Tiny fish that survived tsunami, ocean crossing from Japan makes debut in Seaside'



Why not keep all the fish in the aquarium, instead of killing them save for one?

Tiny fish that survived tsunami, ocean crossing from Japan makes debut in Seaside | OregonLive.com: About five striped beakfish were found on a boat from Japan that washed ashore near Long Beach, Wash., last month. The Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife euthanized most of them, perhaps because of fears that the fish would become an invasive species.

But not before someone spirited away one of the black-and-white striped fish to the Long Beach City Hall.

Employees there in turn called the Seaside Aquarium, which came to the rescue.
More
Continuing coverage of the debris washing up on the Oregon and Washington coasts from the Japanese tsunami.
"They didn't want to turn it loose," said Seaside Aquarium curator Keith Chandler. "And they didn't want to let it die."

So Chandler and the aquarium staff rescued the critter they have dubbed the "tsunami fish."

Monday, May 13, 2013

BBC News - UN urges people to eat insects to fight world hunger

Just can't get past my deep deep deep disgust and fear about eating bugs for dinner. I get all the cultural global bigger picture ideals. But as long as I don't have to, I'm not going to.
BBC News - UN urges people to eat insects to fight world hunger: "Insects are regularly eaten by many of the world's population, but the thought may seem shocking to many Westerners.

The report suggests that the food industry could help in "raising the status of insects" by including them in new recipes and adding them to restaurant menus.

It goes on to note that in some places, certain insects are considered delicacies."

Cryptomundo : Coelacanth DNA Does Some Weird Stuff!

At Cryptomundo, this item about the DNA of the Coelacanth:
Cryptomundo  Coelacanth DNA Does Some Weird Stuff!: "The genome of a primitive fish that was once thought to have died when the dinosaurs did has now been sequenced by scientists — and when put into mice, some of the fish DNA caused mice to sprout limbs."

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Fla. Mexican Restaurant, Employees Face Threats Over Lion Meat Tacos - Yahoo!

Lion meat tacos, at $34.00 per taco. Just to satisfy the curious-gluttony gene. The owner's disingenuous rationalization is bull. It's like jokes: if you have to explain why this is wrong, there's no hope.Fla. Mexican Restaurant, Employees Face Threats Over Lion Meat Tacos - Yahoo!

Monday, May 6, 2013

Woman eaten by vultures - UPI.com

France has a law that requires farmers to burn the dead bodies of animals, which has left the vulture population without its natural food resource:
Woman eaten by vultures - UPI.com: he body of a tourist was devoured by vultures in a matter of minutes after she fell over a cliff in the Pyrenees in France.

The 52-year-old woman tumbled down a 300-meter drop while taking a shortcut while hiking with friends on Pic de la Pista, in southern France, gendarmerie Major Didier Pericou told The Times of London.

"There were only bones, clothes and shoes left," after the vultures got to her, Pericou said. "They took 45 to 50 minutes to eat the body."

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Trickster's Realm: Anomalous in Art

binnallofamerica.com: Recent Fortean tinged artistic events have been in the anomalous news lately: fairy doors, mermaid tales, and eerie radio sounds among them.

Probably by now you've read more than one article about the fairy door in San Fransico's Golden Gate park. This idea of creating fairy doors as wee public art installations isn't new; here's a link to an article on the fairy doors (courtesy of The Anomalist) from 2009. A recent article on the current Golden Gate Park fairy door -- the Parks department put an end to the citizens and their whimsy. But not quite, thankfully.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Inexplicata-The Journal of Hispanic Ufology: Puerto Rico: A New Spree of Chupacabras Attacks in Guayama

New sightings of Chupacabras, from Inexplicata:
Inexplicata-The Journal of Hispanic Ufology: Puerto Rico: A New Spree of Chupacabras Attacks in Guayama: They stopped the pickup truck and looking over a small mound of earth, the saw a dark figure resembling a short-statured man who appeared to be crouching. Chaka reached for his flashlight, got out of the vehicle and pointed it at the figure. He was only able to make out the glow of a single eye; we are uncertain if this was due to tis position. It had a yellowish or bright orange color that gradually diminished in brightness. He also noticed the figure had something strange on its head and back, resembling quills.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Accurate Citation: Christ O'Brien's Stalking the Trickster


Chris O'Brien, in his Stalking the Tricksters: Shapeshifters, Skinwalkers, Dark Adepts and 2012 writes:
Another recent incident of a so-called "man-bat" sighting was e-reported to Tim Binnell (sic) by a witness in Oregon.
This is the so-called "e-report" O'Brien writes that Tim received:
The "thing" was about 15 ft. from the witness at about 1:15 A.M. behind his house. He accidentally locked himself out of his house while working in his garage late last night. He went around to the back of his house to climb in through a window. He heard something and used the light from his cell phone, pointing it in the direction of the sound. The thing had a human form only quite large over seven feet with red reflecting eyes and very large wings. It jumped into the air flying off with the sound of massive air displacement with each wing stroke.

Actually, that passage was from my article Sacrificial Lambs Unto the Demon: Batsquatch in Oregon, May 5, 2009 that I wrote for my Trickster's Realm column, which appears on Tim Binnall's site.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Virginia Proposes Expanding List Of Animals Banned As Pets

Excellent; one day, hopefully, we'll see a national ban on all exotic animals as "pets." But, um, who keeps a rhino in Virginia -- or anywhere else in the U.S. -- as a pet?
Virginia Proposes Expanding List Of Animals Banned As Pets: HENRICO, Va. -- Time could be running out for you to get that special gorilla or rhino for your home.

A state panel on Wednesday proposed expanding the list of animals Virginia doesn't allow as pets.

The list, maintained by the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, already includes animals such as big cats and bears.

The panel, which is studying whether to tighten rules on keeping dangerous animals, proposed adding to the list creatures such as chimps, rhinos, orangutans, hippos, baboons, powerful Cape buffaloes and giant lizards called Komodo dragons.

Man tries to take photo of beaver; it kills him | The News Journal | delawareonline.com

Man tries to take photo of beaver; it kills him | The News Journal | delawareonline.com

Millions of wasps discovered in gigantic 21-foot nest | Watch the video - Yahoo! News

Millions of wasps discovered in gigantic 21-foot nest | Watch the video - Yahoo! News

Monday, April 8, 2013

6 states that might criminalize taping animal cruelty - Salon.com

6 states that might criminalize taping animal cruelty - Salon.com: Tennessee is one of six states currently debating legislation that would ban this form of whistle blowing. So-called “ag-gag” bills vary in provisions, but all aim to make it more difficult, or in some cases, criminal, to shoot undercover factory farm footage. Last year, the statehouses of Missouri, Utah and Iowa passed ag-gag bills, bringing the total number of states with such laws to five. As Think Progress’ Katie Valentine notes, many of these laws received backing from the American Legislative Exchange Council.

They’re (almost) here! The cicadas are coming

Every seventeen years, in the east. And now it's time:
They’re (almost) here! The cicadas are coming | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News: "Most people say it is like a science-fiction movie UFO sound,” cicada researcher Dan Mozgai wrote to Yahoo News in an email.

The East Coast, he added, should expect piles of the dead insects around their homes: "They can pile up like dead leaves."

Man buys toy poodles, discovers they’re actually ferrets on steroids | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News

This is both funny, kind of, and sad. Sad for the animals involved:
Man buys toy poodles, discovers they’re actually ferrets on steroids | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News: An Argentine man who thought he bought a pair of poodles at an outdoor market in Buenos Aires brought them home to the vet only to be told they were actually ferrets on steroids, reports the Daily M

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Professional Mermaid Linden Wolbert | I am a mermaid

Professional Mermaid Linden Wolbert | I am a mermaid:" A delicate, ladylike blog for mermaids and the humans who love them"

This is very cool!



Friday, March 29, 2013

Starving sea lion pups fill Calif. rescue centers - Yahoo! News

Very sad. Very scary as well, for what it means for humans, and the planet:
Starving sea lion pups fill Calif. rescue centers - Yahoo! News: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hundreds of starving sea lion pups are washing up on beaches from San Diego to Santa Barbara, overwhelming rescue centers and leaving scientists scrambling to figure out w

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Man Buys Stolen Python & Immediately Regrets It | Watch the video - Yahoo! Screen

Van full of snakes, a party, a morning surprise, bad intentions (the humans, not the snake) what could go wrong?Man Buys Stolen Python & Immediately Regrets It | Watch the video - Yahoo! Screen

Interview: Project Seeks To Bring Extinct Species Back

John Dankosky interviews  Dr. Michael Archer on bringing back extinct animals, known as "de-extinction"  (Archer's project is called The Lazarus Project.) He's all for it. 
Project Seeks To Bring Extinct Species Back: "But it's not a Velociraptor we're trying to bring back, although remember, of course, dinosaurs are not extinct. We don't have to bring them back. We live with them. There are birds.

Some people have budgie-saurs(ph) as pets, and others go out and gobble up a Kentucky Fried Chicken for lunch. We have dinosaurs all around us. So it's really a different kind of an animal and it's not - we're not reaching that far back. Most of these projects that the Revive and Restore group and National Geographic had been focused on in this event are species that have been recently extinct, and many of these are species that we drove extinct."

Kind of missing the point there. . .

Professor Archer sees himself "rescuing" these extinct animals, and the effect of these reintroduced animals into the ecosystem has been considered:
"Yeah, that  [the ecosystem] is such an important question, and every one of us involved in projects of this kind around the world have that question right up in our mind. In fact, it often influences your choice about which animal you're going to try to see if you can rescue."
"...it often" ? Shouldn't that be "always." "Paramount?" 


Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Animal welfare bill would restrict tethering | Statesman Journal | statesmanjournal.com

Animal welfare bill would restrict tethering | Statesman Journal | statesmanjournal.com:

It’s finding pit bulls like Angel stuck in inches of feces and urine that get animal welfare groups and investigators riled up about dog tethering.

House Bill 2783 would create an offense for unlawful tethering, which could be punishable by a $1,000 maximum fine.


If tethering results in serious injury or death to the animal, the owner would face first degree animal neglect charges.