Opinion: Florida’s Great Snake Hunt Is a Cheap Stunt

Agreed.
No one wants to find a python in their kitchen one morning while stumbling around trying to get the coffee made.
But mass hunts like this, which are actually blood lust fueled sprees to satisfy the basest traits within humanity, are not the answer.

Opinion: Florida’s Great Snake Hunt Is a Cheap Stunt: I registered as a python hunter but I did not really intend to hunt pythons. I wanted to see my first wildlife rumble, a fight between snake haters and animal rights activists, something along the lines of those protesters who dress up as wolves or polar bears, or who splash fake blood onto Canadian politicians to protest clubbing seal babies.

Instead I discovered something resembling a scene in the film Jaws—not the one where the town hires a seasoned shark expert to go out and kill the great white, but the ridiculous scene where every idiot with a pitchfork and an inner tube is paddling out to get a piece of shark meat.

I met contestants who had never seen a Burmese python before, who had never handled a snake. I overheard one man telling some greenhorns from Maine that his technique is to swing a snake by the tail and slam its head into a tree. "It stuns 'em," he said.

I was surprised by the following:

The Nature Conservancy showed up, but they're a partner in the Python Challenge, a contrast to their own python control program, and provided the training materials.

Debate Continues: Did Your Seafood Feel Pain?

Debate Continues: Did Your Seafood Feel Pain?: The scientific debate on the subject has intensified recently, with a team of British researchers proposing this month that electroshock tests suggest crabs indeed feel pain. But the study has drawn scrutiny, while another study late last year pushed back on the idea that fish, more closely related to humans than are crabs, feel pain.

Non-Bigfoot Blood Lust

Just my personal little war on a Bigfoot blog that shall not be named nor linked to, but once again I see they have posted footage (vintage TV) of someone killing a deer with his bare hands and drinking its blood, or some such. Details don't matter. What does matter is that this has nothing to do with Bigfoot, and everything to do with animal porn, to drive visitors to their site. Not the first time they've posted this type of blood lust crap; won't be the last. Their excuse, as they once posted, was something along the lines of (paraphrasing, naturally) "Bigfoot probably eats like this in the wild so why not it's all good."Disingenuous bullshit.

Will Oregon Zoo's prized baby elephant end up in a traveling show?

Tragic, and a disgusting example of humanity's gratuitous need to use abuse animals as "entertainment." Bad enough elephants are in zoos, but the potential fate of the Portland Zoos recently born elephant is dismal: Will Oregon Zoo's prized baby elephant end up in a traveling show? "Trunks Will Travel" cute, huh? Owners may or may not take ownership.

Please do what you can to make sure this doesn't happen. Animals, especially creatures such as elephants, do not belong in circuses or to be rented for entertainment. The bond between mother and child in the elephant world is life long and strong. The good news is the zoo insists the elephant will "stay put." But there is a contract dispute:

Kari Johnson, who co-owns Have Trunk Will Travel with her husband, Gary, told the Times that they were looking forward to visiting the newborn elephant and added that details regarding her future had not yet been worked out.

Perris, California, where the Johnsons have their elephant for hire business.  That sounded familiar. So I went back into my files. Ah, here it is; I posted about lion meat hamburgers available at a Tuscon, Arizona restaurant. Source of the lion meat? Perris, California. Tuscon Restaurant Serves Lion Meat Tacos. I have no idea if there is a connection between the lion meat and the Johnsons; I'm not saying there is one, only that the town of Perris, California seems to be the area for gratuitous indulgences with animals. There's more. Seems Have Trunk Will Travel was sued for animal abuse and fraud, according to this article in Animal Defenders International:

Los Angeles, Monday June 27, 2011 -- Today, in the US District Court, Central District of California, Los Angeles, Animal Defenders International (ADI), together with members of the public, Gail Profant and Leslie Hemstreet, filed suit against Have Trunk Will Travel, as well as the owners Gary and Kari Johnson, over their claims about the training of the elephant Tai, who played Rosie in the film ‘Water for Elephants’. The suit is based on erroneous assurances that the defendants gave the public that the elephant Tai was trained with kindness for her role in Water for Elephants. Video footage released by Animal Defenders International (ADI) showed Tai and other elephants being electric shocked with a stun gun and jabbed and hit will bull hooks during her training for the same types of tricks seen in the movie, at the Perris, CA ranch of Have Trunk Will Travel.

Lobsters, Giant and Strangely Colored

Lobster items in the news. Another giant lobster spared story, this one from New England, about a 21 lb. lobster that was caught in the waters of Cape Cod:21-pound lobster released to New England Aquarium (UPDATE) | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News A woman won a lobster raffle who said she had planned to spare the lobster's life all along:

My plan was always to donate the lobster to the Aquarium was to generate awareness and allow people to see the creature, and of course, to keep the lobster from being trapped again and, this time, ending up on someone's dinner table," she told Yahoo! News. "The only thing I requested from the Aquarium was a chance to see the lobster when I visit Boston on August 6th and they were kind enough to grant my request."

Another lobster item in the news today. A shipment of lobster's received by a Massachusetts restaurant contained several orange lobsters. This AP item appeared in the "Lighter Side" section of our local paper. Among others, The Huffington Post published the item. This designation frustrates me. The following is not a cutesy feel good item about a child's lost puppy now found safe, but an increase in unusual colorations in lobsters. The reason for these coloration are potentially disturbing reasons: global warming/climate changes, signals of things going wrong in our oceans due to pollution, etc. But the item in the local paper, concluded with comments from Michael Thusty, who is the director of research at the New England Aquarium at Boston: "Right now you can make a lot of explanations, but the actual data to find them out out just isn't there." One possible explanation for this increase in colorful lobsters was the "active Twitter sphere" and "people get [getting] excited about colorful lobsters." Another possible reason: increase in lobster harvests; more lobster hauling, more lobsters, chances increase for oddly colored lobsters. (Blue, orange, bi-colored, yellow...)

Spider Goats, Bullet-proof Skin, Meat from a Petri Dish and Transhumanism – Oh My! | Farm Wars

Spider Goats, Bullet-proof Skin, Meat from a Petri Dish and Transhumanism – Oh My! | Farm Wars:

In what appears to be a case of the rich experimenting on their version of life for a transhumanist agenda, the UK Telegraph reports that by sometime in the fall of 2012, we will be happily munching on burgers made from meat grown in a lab. Yes, that’s right.

Pro. Post said his team has successfully replicated the process with cow cells and calf serum, bringing the first artificial burger a step closer. He said: “In October we are going to provide a proof of concept showing out of stem cells we can make a product that looks, feels and hopefully tastes like meat.”

Why should we be concerned with this? After all, benefits would include slaughtering fewer animals. What could possibly be wrong with that?

Well there's a hell of a lot wrong with that, and for more, read here.

OH NO….The Idaho Live Bait Kill Wolves Bill…Voted Out of Committee..Goes To Senate For Vote!!!! � Howling For Justice

From Howling For Justice blog, this news about a horrifying bill. Let's hope it doesn't succeed. Live bait? Jesus fucking Christ what's wrong with people? The irony of killing wolves because they're killing the animals we kill to eat by using live animals to lure the wolves that we're killing... OH NO….The Idaho Live Bait Kill Wolves Bill…Voted Out of Committee..Goes To Senate For Vote!!!! � Howling For Justice

Eating the dog; "She'd Have Done It, Too"

Some people are fucking idiots:Three lost in woods considered eating dog | The mushroom pickers who were found after six nights in the forest stayed in what they described as a “bear’s nest”

GOLD BEACH — Three mushroom pickers lost six nights in the rugged forest of Southwest Oregon with no food considered eating their dog, and they used their dead cell phone and a sheath knife to flash a signal at the helicopter pilot who found them.

Dan Conne said Sunday from his hospital bed in Gold Beach that he and his wife and son spent the nights huddled in a hollow log with nothing to eat, and considered sacrificing their pit bull, Jesse, for food.

“She’s that good a dog, she’d have done it, too,” Conne said.

A Dead Whale In Tokyo Bay

A Dead Whale In Tokyo Bay

As for the dead blue whale in Tokyo Bay (see below), it probably was while still healthy...feeding somewhere between the Bering Strait and the Sea of Okhotsk, unknowingly ingesting radioactive and chemically-contaminated krill at depths of 100 meters or more. These krill are spawned over the Japan Trench were the warm Kuroshio meets the cold Liman currents.

Upon feeling strange symptoms in its gut and having difficulty in holding in air, the huge cetacean rose to the surface for easier breathing and slowly swam southward in the Liman/Oyashio Current in search of warmer waters. Once past Choshi Point, it headed toward the brackish water flowing out of Tokyo Bay in hopes of reaching the estuary of the Edo River, where it could rest in the shallow bed of running fresh water. It senses filth in the water, however, and decides to push further south in search of a cleaner river.

Giant shrimp raises big concern as it invades the Gulf - Houston Chronicle

The Gulf will never be the same; and the invasion of giant shrimp adds to the problems in the area: Giant shrimp raises big concern as it invades the Gulf - Houston Chronicle

Though no one is sure what the ecological impact will be, scientists fear a tiger prawn takeover could knock nature's balance out of whack and turn a healthy, diverse marine habitat into one dominated by a single invasive species.
"It has the potential to be real ugly," said Leslie Hartman, Matagorda Bay ecoystem leader for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. "But we just do not know."

Ted Nugent : Sleaze bag

Nugent is a disgusting person, but we've known that for some time. The reason I'm posting this here is because, among his many sleaze-laden ideas and acts, listed in this article by Stephen D. Foster: Ted Nugent Calls For Punishing The Poor, Claims They Make Poor Decisions To End Up In Poverty is the simply tragic fact that Nugent runs a "canned hunt" operation:

Nugent owns a ranch in Michigan that offers canned hunts. A canned hunt is a hunt in which the animals cannot escape because they are trapped by high fences. I live in Missouri, and I enjoy a being out in the woods myself, and I hunt on occasion as well. What Nugent does is NOT hunting. He might as well cage the animal and shoot it point blank, because that’s pretty much what a canned hunt boils down to. A true has more respect for animals then that. It’s not fair if you gun down an animal that can’t actually get away. It’s unsportsmanlike.

Just makes me so fucking damn sad.

Cryptomundo:"New Species Being Raided For Private Pet Trade"

Not quite food porn, since it's not for gratuitously satisfying our gastronomical needs that's the issue here, but "pet" porn. Shameless exploitation in the pet trade. I'm glad Loren Coleman finds this pretty disgusting; he has a post about the raiding of habitat for the newly discovered horned viper in Tanzania:

Cryptomundo New Species Being Raided For Private Pet Trade: There is breaking news on December 15th of a new species of a uniquely-colored horned viper measuring over two feet long (643 millimeters) being discovered. But where exactly it lives in Tanzania is not being discussed.

But the shocking revelation that has been paired with this announcement is that past news of this kind has resulted in large scale raiding operations in the locations described. New species apparently have been targeted by pet collectors to supply a large-scale underground in exciting new animals for private collections. For example, due to this fact, the new viper’s location is “a closely-guarded secret,” say the discoverers.

I didn't know that the illegal pet trade was so lucrative. According to the Wildlife Conversation Society, which Coleman quotes, it's only "...second in the world" with illegal drug trafficking being number one.

And a bit of food porn: "World’s largest insect discovered in New Zealand"

World’s largest insect discovered in New Zealand | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News

I'm not a fan of bugs. Don't much like them, and even while, sometimes, appreciating their beauty and diversity I still don't like them. Even so, I try my best to take insects out of the house and release them outdoors, when possible. I suppose we all have our boundaries; I'll kill wasps, for example, if they're in my house. But overall, I certainly don't go out of my way to kill a bug. I don't understand those - and in fact, find it creepy and telling about a person's character -- who stomp on bugs outdoors as they're casually walking along, talking with you about mundane matters, and WHAM! BUG STOMP! in mid sentence. Whatever is that poor bug doing to you on the pebbled path that you have to take the energy to step on it for no apparent reason other than it's there?

I digress, a bit. This article is both wonderfully interesting and unnerving, about the Giant Weta, a really big bug in New Zealand. What really got my attention however was this comment:

And yes, the man in the video actually eats one of the bugs (and no, bug preservationists need not be alarmed--the smaller Weta is not endangered):

With video clip, which I didn't watch, because I didn't want to add energy to a completely gratuitous act of "food porn." Because it's there, one has the right to kill it, seems to be the message. Underscoring that sentiment is the justification that it's okay, because the bug "... is not endangered."

Bright Blue Lobster saved from dinner table

A beautiful "electric blue" lobster saved from the boiling pot and given to an aquarium.
Bright Blue Lobster saved from dinner table

Man catches 881-pound tuna, seized by feds | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News

Man catches 881-pound tuna, seized by feds | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News

Rafael and his crew were using nets to catch bottom-dwellers when they inadvertently snagged the giant tuna. However, federal fishery enforcement agents took control of the behemoth when the boat returned to port. The reason for the seizure was procedural: While Rafael had the appropriate permits, fishermen are only allowed to catch tuna with a rod and reel.

NOAA and the government take over. Proceeds go, well, somewhere, but not to the fisherman:

And while Rafael is denied the mother of all fish stories, the federal impoundment of his catch also means he's probably losing out on a giant payday. A 754-pound tuna recently sold for nearly $396,000. NOAA regulators do not share any of the proceeds from the fish's eventual sale with a fisherman found in violation of federal rules.

"They said it had to be caught with rod and reel," a frustrated Rafael said. "We didn't try to hide anything. We did everything by the book. Nobody ever told me we couldn't catch it with a net."

Rafael says he has meticulously prepared for a giant catch like this, purchasing 15 tuna permits over the past four years for his groundfish boats. He even immediately called a "bluefin tuna hot line" (yes, such things exist) to report his catch. "I wanted to sell the fish while it was fresh instead of letting it age on the boat," he said. "It was a beautiful fish."

(cross-posted at Octopus Confessional.)

Food Porn: "Gastronauts feast on lamb eyeball, beaver tail "

Another food porn item, this one from New York, where the self-indulgent and gratuitous can have their fill of animal parts:Gastronauts feast on lamb eyeball, beaver tail | Reuters Exclusive you have to be a member, though it's open to anyone.

Cooked lamb eyeball, boiled fertilized duck egg and beaver tail are just a few of the more unusual dishes sampled by a club of adventurous eaters called the Gastronauts.

Started in March of 2006 by two friends who wanted to try some of the more exotic foods that could be found in New York, the first meeting of the club attracted only six people.

But it has now grown to more than 1,000 members in New York and Los Angeles and there are plans to expand to other U.S. cities.

Here's why it's called food porn:

At the October Gastronauts dinner at a Yemeni restaurant Bab Al Yemen in New York, Nicole Murray, an assistant editor at an education company, extracted a piece of eyeball from a cooked lamb skull and brought it toward her mouth as those seated around her cheered.

Another Reason Why We're Fucking Doomed: Geese Kills Feed Homeless

I just heard about this; but it's been going on for at least a year. Mass killings of geese, in New York -- ostensibly to stop the damage caused when geese fly into jet engines -- and the meat is shipped off to homeless shelters, including my own now home state of Oregon. Before the seemingly altruistic gesture of giving the goose meat to feed the homeless, the geese carcasses were dumped in a landfill. Only after much protesting from area residents did Prospect Park and the Department of Environmental Protection change their method of getting rid of the bodies.

In a truth is stranger than fiction Fortean moment, there was a story that many believed to be true about the homeless in Los Angeles eating pigeons.  back in January of this year. Even though those columns were fictional, and an attempt at humor,I found the articles disturbing, and the fact that many were linking to this as a real news item interesting. This is what I wrote in January about that article:

I found the link on Rense.com, where it was presented as serious. "371 Dead Birds Fall from Sky on Sunset Blvd." The article very quickly turns ugly in a not- funny- but- we- think- we're -being -funny way. Kind of nasty all the way around, with the smarmy comments about the homeless. But what I strikes me the most is the marginalization of a very serious global phenomena. Whether it's intentional, as in government Dr. Evil plant and cover-up doing its disinfo thing, or, just some smart ass being not as clever as he thinks he is, that constant, low level hum that sends the signal it's not that bad, these events aren't connected, nothing to see here, is being maintained. 

The Humane Society has plenty to say about this, naturally...

As I mentioned, the goose killing has been in the works for a year; as reported by  Diana Duel in July of 2010:

New York has declared war against Canadian geese, and has authorized the destruction of nearly two-thirds of the current population (or about 170,000 birds). That means two-thirds of the current population could be exterminated. Plans are to target Canadian geese found in "open areas and more than 40 public parks in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx within five miles of regional airports."

A year before that, according to Duel, New York killed 2,000 geese; again, the reason given was to protect planes.

I'm not naive; large numbers of geese are a problem. We have large numbers of geese where I live; they're everywhere along the river, for example. Nothing like navigating your way through slippery icky goose poo on your way to the water. Or warding off aggressive geese who hope you have food to give them. I've seem geese chase after little kids; the geese are sometimes taller than the kids! But as the Humane Society and others point out, there are other ways to combat the goose problem. And going deeper, is the issue of how we treat our poor and homeless in this country. There's something horrifying about doing a 180 on sloppy, unethical and careless behavior (throwing goose carcases onto landfills) and deciding "Oh, we'll just give the meat to the homeless." It's an afterthought. It's simply giving away trash to what many consider also trash -- the poor, the homeless -- it's appeasement without taking responsibility.

Previous related post: Bird Falls Go Hollywood
See also: Why We Can't Eat Slaughtered Geese - NYTimes.com

Update on Tiny the Lobster

The auction for Tiny has been extended; it ends June 24th.
TINY the Lobster Proceedes going towards Charlotte County Cancer - Saint John Buy & Sell Goods - Kijiji Saint John Canada.

Related post: Sacrifice and Blue Lobster, Tiny Lobster Update

Tiny the Lobster Update

Tiny the lobster, so named by the fisherman who caught him, is being auctioned off for charity. Tiny is over forty pounds, which is huge, of course, for a lobster. Tiny was caught a week ago in New Brunswick, at that time Troy Mitchell, fisherman of lobsters, said:

Mitchell has put the lobster up for sale online in hopes someone might want to save Tiny, either to donate to the Huntsman Marine Science Centre in St. Andrews, N.B. to display or to set him free. He says his preference is to donate the proceeds to the local Cancer Society charity, instead of selling the lobster to the market within the next few days. Mitchell says it's most likely a lobster of this size would end up being canned.

"I'd just hate to see it go to a cannery," he said.

He'd hate to see Tiny end up in a can, but not so much as to ensure that doesn't happen. Further hedging on Tiny's fate in this update:
The public attention generated by Tiny - multiple television appearances and international news coverage - is what convinced the Mitchells that Tiny can do a lot more good for mankind than by simply becoming the main ingredient in a few dozen lobster rolls. So instead of having Tiny shipped to a cannery, they've put the lobster up for auction, with all money raised going to the Charlotte County Cancer Society and hopefully ending with Tiny living another 40 or so years in the comfort of a tank at the Huntsman Marine Science Centre in southwestern New Brunswick.

Related post:
Sacrifices and Blue Lobsters

Sacrifices and Blue Lobsters

 I found the juxtapositions on the Delish site interesting: a story about blue lobsters being saved from the cooking pot, amongst recipes for lobster.

Usually, when rare colored lobsters are found, like blue ones (yellow and multi-colored lobsters have also been found caught) the lobsters are given to aquariums and escape being dinner. I'm glad of this fact of course (I don't eat shellfish) but it is interesting that we humans do this. I think donating unusually colored lobsters is a type of rite that serves to acknowledge the sacrifices made. The sacrifice of the lobster, surely, for the lobster has no say. Living its life in its own habitat one moment, caught, trapped in a murky green tank with claws taped shut the next, until it ends up on someone's dinner plate. Sacrifice for some humans, since lobster trapping is hard work, and when things go bad, the livelihoods of fisherman are affected. Allowing a caught lobster, kidnapped from its home, to live in an aquarium is symbolic of giving gratitude. It'd be better -- certainly for the lobster -- if the blue or other wise colored lobster were released back into the ocean. (One of the lobsters mentioned in the Delish article will be returned to its home.) Instead, almost always, the lobster is given to an aquarium park of some kind. In captivity, the rare colored lobster is a symbol for others, reminding us of many things: our self- gratifications, the ways we earn our livings, gratitude, and simply wonder at things as beautiful as a blue lobster.

Of course, most of us aren't thinking of these things on a conscious level, and probably not kids who go to the aquarium to enjoy looking at cool stuff. But there is a gestalt in these offerings of blue lobsters that nonetheless operates around us while we go about our everyday lives.