"De-extinction"

Some scientists want to bring back long dead animals. (Scientists Want to Bring Some Animals Back from Extinction - Yahoo! Finance) (Odd this article was listed in the "finance" section.) This is called "de-extinction." Dinosaurs are not on the list of creatures these Mad Scientists would like to bring back from the dead, but not for the obvious reasons, one being: Jesus Fucking Christ, they're dinosaurs!! Did you SEE Jurassic Park?! but because the dinosaur DNA is too "degraded." However, "ethics" or really "criteria" are a part of the process for deciding what gets reconstituted:

They chose the animals using the following criteria: Are the species desirable — do they hold an important ecological function or are they beloved by humans? Are the species practical choices — do we have access to tissue that could give us good quality DNA samples or germ cells to reproduce the species? And are they able to be reintroduced to the wild — are the habitats in which they live available and do we know why they went extinct in the first place?

"Beloved by humans?" Dodos seem pretty cute to me but who can say; that seems hardly the point. And how can one possibly be sure a reactivated animal could be safely introduced into the wild? Astounding that there are conferences where mad scientists gather to seriously ponder such possibilities.

The article includes a list of potential animals on the Dr. Evil Wish List. Among them: the DoDo, the Wooly Mammoth, the saber-toothed cat, and that Fortean mascot, the Thylacine.

The Dodo and the Quagga, among others, were hunted to extinction by man. Will these animals be brought back, only to have that happen again? Will it be legal to hunt these animals? Is it moral to bring back animals just so we can use them for our enjoyment, for example, open "De-extinction canned hunt camps?"

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.

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.

Vintage snake images

I found these vintage images of snake charmers, snake farms, etc. while writing the post below about the live eating of animals for your entertainment pleasure.

Animal rights group says drone shot down

A remote-controlled aircraft owned by an animal rights group was reportedly shot down near Broxton Bridge Plantation Sunday near Ehrhardt, S.C.

Steve Hindi, president of SHARK (SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness), said his group was preparing to launch its Mikrokopter drone to video what he called a live pigeon shoot on Sunday when law enforcement officers and an attorney claiming to represent the privately-owned plantation near Ehrhardt tried to stop the aircraft from flying.

"It didn't work; what SHARK was doing was perfectly legal," Hindi said in a news release. "Once they knew nothing was going to stop us, the shooting stopped and the cars lined up to leave."

Read more: http://thetandd.com/animal-rights-group-says-drone-shot-down/article_017a720a-56ce-11e1-afc4-001871e3ce6c.html#ixzz1mmR6g5f6
Animal rights group says drone shot down

[thanks to piglipstick for link.]

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.

Mexico to cull 50,000 wild boars from US invasion - Yahoo! News

Boars, coming primarily from Texas where they were kept as "pets" the article states (and canned hunts, they fail to note)that have escaped or set loose and become feral, are invading Mexico and damaging crops: Mexico to cull 50,000 wild boars from US invasion

"We must get rid of these European wild boars because they sleep overnight on US soil during the day and cross over to the Mexican side to feed," Ignacio Legarreta, a state official, told local media.

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.

Texas Approves Aerial Hunting of Pigs and Coyotes | Care2 Causes

Wild and feral hogs are a problem in Texas, and that state has come up with a solution: legalizing aerial hunting killing of hogs -- and coyotes, as Care2Causes reports.:Texas Approves Aerial Hunting of Pigs and Coyotes | Care2 Causes

The language used (twilight language, subliminal controls, etc.) is interesting. Example: the bill, signed into law by Governor Rick Perry, is called the "pork chopper bill." Adding to the gratuitous innate blood lust factor is the annual "Get the Hogs Outta Texas”" event slaughter, in which "where the top five hog-killing counties win a total of $60,000 in grant money."


While this new law isn't exactly one that falls into the canned hunt category, it is interesting to point out that Texas has over 750 canned hunt sites, according to Advocacy for Animals.  


At least there are 20 states that either ban canned hunts outright, or have restrictions on them. Oregon, where I live, is one of those states. It bans canned hunts, but sort of. You can kill if you are "hunting" the animal in order to eat it as long as it's not an exotic animal.  Little solace, but it's something.



It is unlawful to hunt, kill, or attempt to hunt or kill, exotic mammals (as defined in OAR 635, Division 56) or game mammals (as defined in OAR 635, Division 45) held or obtained by private parties; however:
(1) Any person may slaughter such an animal for meat, leather, or fur production;
(2) Any person may euthanize such an animal for scientific, health, safety or other valid husbandry concerns; and
(3) The department's Wildlife Division Director may authorize any person to hunt or kill such an animal if the Division Director determines it would be in the best interest of sound wildlife management. The Division Director may impose conditions on such authorizations.
Stat. Auth.: ORS 496.012 & ORS 496.138
Stats. Implemented: ORS 496.012 & ORS 496.138
Hist.: DFW 26-1999, f. & cert. ef. 4-26-99
OAR 635-064-0010, OR ADC 635-064-0010

My new article on Monster Tracker: Monsters Creating Monsters

I have a new piece at Monster Tracker: Monsters Creating Monsters.

 I love the History channel's Ancient Aliens; this article isn't a criticism against the program, but I found two segments in the recent episode: Aliens and Monsters, aired August 4th, disturbing.  I understand the episode's context: they included two segments concerning "Dr. Evils" as part of that program's speculations concerning alien manipulation of humans and animals, resulting in hybrids monsters and entities that we call myth today. Nonetheless, those two segments were extremely disturbing.  I couldn't look at those images of animals abused in this way and I'm not including images of these experiments in this article. (You can easily find related information and images by Googling.) 

I'm referring to experiments done, not by extraterrestrials,  but by humans. 

The Loch Ness Monster of Alaska?

Started to watch this, and was sorry right from the beginning, because I didn't like the two guys much -- too gung ho yee haw for my tastes. But when they started loading up on giant hooks and nets and guns, I turned off the TV. What, they're going to kill themselves a "monster?"

No idea what happened, but let me guess. They didn't catch one.
The Loch Ness Monster of Alaska? | The Upshot - Yahoo! News

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

Australia's War On Camels... What?? | TDG - Science, Magick, Myth and History

red pill junkie, at The Daily Grail, has an item about Australia's plan to kill its camels. This in an effort to ease effects of global warming weirdness. I like rpj's comments about this. While you're over at TDG, if you aren't already familiar with this great site, be sure you become so.
Australia's War On Camels... What?? | TDG - Science, Magick, Myth and History

Naked in the Artic: Exploiting Belugas

This is an incredible story, almost seems like a tabloid item or Onion piece. Beautiful photographs, and amazing story in so many ways. But it's very sad as well, for the Beluga whales are being "tamed" and kept in holding pens in the ocean until such time they're considered acclimated enough to be sent to aquairiums or "dolphinariums" around the world. A horrible thing; something that should be illegal. Such beauty and witness to how we can control our bodies to communicate with other creatures, and all for greedy and self-gratifying reasons that exploit others. Article, with photos, here:Naked female scientist tries to tame beluga whales in the arctic | Mail Online

The Two Chupies

Leaving aside for the moment the idea that the 1990s Chupacabra lore began with one woman's viewing of the movie Species, we are left with many aspects of that mystery, including the "new chupie."

It seems the chupacabras mystery died down for awhile, the one we were familiar with at first: spines on the back, short creature, sometimes large red glowing eyes or wrap around alien-gray type eyes, etc. Then the chupacabra moniker reappeared, but this time what was called the chupacabra looked to be a mange ridden canine. Throughout the United States, hairless dog like creatures were being called "Chupacabra" and shot on sight.

I'm not sure why this shift took place, and I haven't come across any thoughts as to the whys of this change. I think some of it has to do with shows like Monster Quest, which in itself took a turn in its presentation. At first, the series seemed like a good old fashioned unexplained monster kind of show, then it shifted to bozos with guns who loved nothing better than picking up some still alive squirming fish or other animal while laughing at how gross it was before killing the thing or tossing it back into its habitat without a thought. Gratuitous jollies seemed to be the point, and some shows really offended me in their caveliar and exploitative attitude towards known creatures: bears, feral dogs, wild hogs, etc. Somewhere in this MQ started calling these disease ridden canines "chupacabras" or, maybe it was the residents themselves. Not understanding what they were seeing, and why, they named these new "intruders" with something they were familiar with, a label that connotes mystery and danger.

But did, or do, these canines pose a threat? I don't know. I'm not familiar enough with the situation. However, I am fascinated by the shift in language and how that labeling affects both humans and animals (an uneasy, suspicious one, it seems, at this point) in this case.

Tucson Restaurant Serves Lion Meat Tacos

This is a hard one; I didn't want to follow this link because stories like this make me sick, sad and angry.

This story is another example of our never ending need to satisfy our gratuitous gastronomical whims: Tucson restaurant to serve up African lion tacos for $8.75 | Mail Online.

The article doesn't say where the lion meat comes from; but it doesn't much matter. Another article (linked below) reports that the lion meat comes from "...a farm in Perris, California, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles." (A "farm?" It's not a "farm," if you raise animals for meat. . .) Since lions aren't classified as endangered, it's legal to kill them and eat them, which is all the justification restaurant owner Bryan Mazon and his customer's need. Hey, they're not breaking any laws.

Adding to this hedonistic food offerng, is restaurant owner Bryan Mazon's reasoning for serving up lion meat tacos:

“I'm doing the African lion to get my name out,” he said. “I've never tried it myself, but this one really caught my eye.”

Comments left on the above articles, and on the restaurant Facebook's page, make the point that animals are killed all over the world for food. True. Many of us eat meat in the U.S. But it's not a matter of meat eating and therefore, it's all an equal playing field. Hence the word "gratuitous," and the concept of context. In the U.S. we don't need to eat lion meat. How far do we go to indulge ourselves, just because we can? If the lions were going to be killed anyway, well, what's the harm, some ask. To that I say, why are the lions going to be killed, and really, I can't see any reason to eat lion meat in that case. They're killed because they're: old, in which case, who wants to eat gamy old meat? Sick, well, ew. Culling? Shouldn't  be having lions in the first place. Canned hunts? You can guess my feelings on that.


Related articles by yours truly:
Conspiracies and Cannibalism: Animals and Advertising
Lemon Pepper Cougar and Feral Hawaiian Cats

Gov. Admits Killing Birds in South Dakota

The Huffington Post reports that the Yankton, South Dakota bird die-off of Monday, Jan. 17th was caused by the government:Hundreds Of Dead Birds In South Dakota Were Killed By U.S. Government (VIDEO) The starlings were contaminating the feed; officials felt that poisoning the birds was the best way to go.

A bait laced with the poison DRC-1339 was used, though officials were surprised the birds made it so far before dying. They assure that the poisoned dead birds do not pose a risk to nearby animals or humans.

And we get the usual refrain that the massive die offs of bird, fish and cattle are "not related"

Officials don't believe any of the incidents are related, and suspect a wide range of causes to be responsible, from cold weather and fireworks to semi-truck collisions and overeating, though they admit in many instances a clear cause may never be identified.  According to The AP, mass animal deaths are not a rare occurrence.

Sacrificial Lambs Unto the Demon: Batsquatch in Oregon

From my Trickster's Realm column on Tim Binnall's Binnall of America site. This was posted on BoA May 11, 2009.

I've received several e-mails the past couple of days from someone here in Lane County, Oregon about a supposed "batsquatch" sighting. The sighting occurred around 1:00 a.m. in a rural area; about ten miles from my home.

According to the person who contacted me, he told me he was e-mailing me on behalf of the 19 year old witness.

You can read more about the e-mail exchanges on my blogs Frame 352 and Mothman Flutterings. Basically, the man was startled by a noise, found he had locked himself out of the house, started to look around for a way to get back in, when he caught sight of the creature:

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.

For some reason, the whole thing seemed fishy to me. I wondered at the fact someone was working in his garage at 1:15 a.m., and presumably during heavy rain (until a day or so ago the weather has been very stormy) and managed to lock himself out of his house on top of it. (Why did he lock his door in a rural area?) It sort of screamed crank freak to me. But that's my bias, and of course, who knows.

What deeply disturbed me was the plan to trap this thing by using a lamb as live bait:

Can it be baited with a lamb? I'm thinking of putting shark hooks with 3/32" braided steel leader in the lamb's fur along the back. I want to tether the lamb near the edge of a field near the woods. I am concerned about coyotes getting the lamb first.

I e-mailed this person, discouraging him from doing such a gratuitous thing. He responded by saying this creature was a "demon," and both he and the witness are Christians. The sad irony of the symbolism of the lamb offered as a sacrifice seems to have escaped him, even after I pointed it out to him. He e-mailed me:

Demons feed off of fear. When faced with them, don't be intimidated and yes, I am a believer in Jesus as the Christ, Son of God. Demons are actually cowardly when they are confronted with faith in God. I am concerned for the safety of the young man that told me the story. His faith may not be strong enough to sustain him.

He assured me he plans to go ahead with the plan this weekend (May 10th, which is Mother's Day. Hmmm...) and will take pictures. His justification for using a live animal as bait is that predators in the area eat lamb:

here are coyotes, black bears, one lynx, and a couple of cougars in the area so the lamb may end up eaten one way or the other.

My last reply (at the time of this writing) follows:

So, very sad to say, it seems you intend to go ahead with this and sacrifice a lamb to gratify an ego-driven need to "prove" to the world such a "demonic" creature exists. The fact that bear, cougar, coyote, etc. kill livestock does not make this okay. One is the natural predation of creatures upon another; yours is an ego driven choice made out of a religious conviction, not a need to eat for survival.

By the way, if you really believe any of this, the fact (in your view) this thing is a "demon" -- well, does it even need food? Why not try a sort of exorcism, without the lamb? Prayer, light, intent, focus, etc. -- that might go a long way.

Also, if it's a demon, do you really think such a creature would hold still within the confines of being held prisoner in a lab somewhere, especially a government lab? For no doubt the authorities would get involved a fantastic find.

Do you really trust the Big Science Infrastructure (talk about demons) and government that much -- that they wouldn't kill this thing, cut it up, and hide it away after they've done what they've wanted? And how much credit or vindication do you think such authorities would grant you in regards to the proof of this creature? You're really back at square one.

I haven't heard back from this person after my last response, and I hope I don't -- I doubt that I will. I'm afraid however, that, if any of this is true and these two people believe there actually is a "demon" creature out there, they will indeed be gung ho and happily hook up a live lamb, lie in wait, and cause a big mess, without capturing anything anomalous.

Cryptozoology has its share of people like this; who think nothing of using live bait in attempts to capture, dead or alive, a "monster." These two men are not researchers in any way, but it's a sad example of the kinds of people that one encounters sometimes.


Maybe I don't have the stomach of it, well, I don't -- it's an interesting story, and I'm content to leave it at that. This little encounter has raised some questions for me though; do I go by intuition in dealing with people, do I ignore it, do I acknowledge yet continue on? I think being a woman has something to do with this; it'd be pretty damn stupid of me to go off alone to a stranger's rural property -- one who thinks nothing of tying up live animals to trap a "demon" -- and that's one of the reasons it's helpful to have support in field research in terms of teams and organizations. However, I'm not a field researcher and in this case, glad I'm not.

UPDATE as of June 3, 2010: never did hear back from this person, or come across any info on this kind of sighting in my area, or Oregon in general.

Notes:
Image: Zurbar, Agnus Dei (The Lamb of God), 1635-1640

African Lion Loose in Texas?

The Texas Cryptid Hunter has an item about the news report of a lion reported roaming around in Marshall, Texas. First thing I thought: did the reports include mention of a mane? Texas Cryptid Hunter asks the same thing. Is it a cougar, bobcat or something else -- like, a lion? And if a lion, is it male or female, and how did it get there? One possibility is an escapee from a "canned hunt" (bastards!) place, though I don't know if there are any in Marshall. According to the Animal Liberation Front, there are over 500 canned hunt sites in Texas.