tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-309289662024-02-28T12:30:42.966-05:00Intelligent Life is All Around UsHighlighting the underlying truth behind the legendary show Kimba The White Lion: That each and every living being is a thinking, feeling, loving creature.<br><a href="http://www.whitelionrestorations.com/AN10-22eq.mp3"></a><br>This blog is an essential part of the web site <a href="http://www.kimba.us">www.Kimba.US</a> / <a href="http://www.kimba.us">www.KimbaWLion.com</a>. For news relating to any of the Kimba The White Lion shows, <a href="http://www.kimbawlion.com/snoo.htm">click here</a>.Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.comBlogger272125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-86714434624995839702012-09-26T09:57:00.005-04:002012-09-26T10:03:02.992-04:00Same World, Different PerceptionsThe article I'm linking to today, <a href="http://www.cracked.com/article_19952_the-6-most-mind-blowing-animal-senses.html" target="_blank">The Six Most-Mind-Blowing Animal Senses</a>, is on a humor site (Cracked.com). That doesn't mean the facts stated aren't true; it's just written in a humorous manner.<br />
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What makes this article special is that it points out that animals practically live in a different world than we do. People are still hung up on the idea that animals don't have minds, don't have souls, without realizing how different their bodies are and how those differences naturally result in different expressions of their minds.<br />
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The topics covered in the article are:<br />
<ul>
<li>Vampire Bats Have a Map of Your Veins </li>
<li>Catfish Are Giant Swimming Tongues </li>
<li>A Narwhal's Tusk Is a Huge Sensory Organ </li>
<li>A Spookfish Can Hunt and Keep a Lookout Simultaneously, With Mirrorvision </li>
<li>The Mollusk With Eyes Made of Rock </li>
<li>Dolphins Use Holographic Imaging to See Inside You</li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />
</span>Just think how different the world seems to these animals.<br />
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Different is not inferior.
Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-14714978692262671432012-08-27T12:24:00.000-04:002012-08-27T12:24:43.298-04:00Bait is a Tool, Too...Who says birds don't use tools?<br><br>
<object width='464' height='300' id='2362658' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' classid='clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000' alt='Clever Bird Goes Fishing in http://www.break.com/'><param name='allowFullScreen' value='true' /></param><param name='flashvars' value='playerversion=12'></param><param name='movie' value='http://embed.break.com/MjM2MjY1OA==/ai/0/zi/0/ds/1/st/embed'></param><param name='allowScriptAccess' value='always'></param><embed flashvars='playerversion=12' src='http://embed.break.com/MjM2MjY1OA==/ai/0/zi/0/ds/1/st/embed' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' allowFullScreen='true' allowScriptAccess='always' width='464' height='300'></embed></object><br><font size=1><a href='http://www.break.com' target='_blank'>Clever Bird Goes Fishing</a></font><font size=1> - Watch More <a href="http://www.break.com">Funny Videos</a></font>Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-62331671622731436422012-08-03T13:09:00.000-04:002012-08-03T13:11:39.278-04:00CultureA recent article in The Washington Post, titled <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/modern-zoos-could-be-creating-a-new-kind-of-animal-wild-by-nature-shaped-by-captivity/2012/07/25/gJQAdq4IBX_story.html" target="_blank">Mild Kingdom: Wild Animals, a Life of Captivity, and the Future of Zoos</a>, has a lot of good ideas in it, enough to fuel a lot of commentary, but one thing jumped out at me: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"By managing nearly every part of an animal's life, the zoo is able to re-create enough of the <span style="font-size: small;"><b>culture</b></span> of the wilderness for a wild animal to live comfortably."</blockquote>
Using the word "culture" in reference to the way animals live their lives represents such a breakthrough in the general public's mindset, that I wonder if the author is even aware of the deep ramifications of using that word. <br />
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She goes on to describe the common failures of releasing captive-raised animals to the wild, speculating that the time spent in captivity somehow changes the animals.<br />
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But natural populations of animals do have their own cultures, with knowledge handed down from generation to generation. We learned long ago (see Born Free) that predators need to be taught how to hunt. What is changed in captive-raised animals is that they are raised without their native culture, and somewhat a part of human culture.<br />
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The cultures of animals in their native habitats are unknown and mysterious to us because animals live with different sensations than we do and this naturally results in different expressions of their culture. For one example, our remarkably insensitive noses blind us to much of the information that's out there, whereas some animals explore their world primarily by scent.<br />
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We may think a tiger lives a largely solitary existence. But with a world of scents availble to him, the tiger may feel connected to his relatives and have relationships we are unaware of. And it is only a very recent discovery that elephants communicate via sounds that we consider below the range of hearing. Communication is key to a culture, and we simply don't know all the various means that other animals use to communicate.<br />
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The article describes many ways that zookeepers are awakening to the intelligence and mental needs of the animals in their care. A lot of the process depends on a willingness to discard old human notions and begin to really, truly pay attention to the animals. If we could teach everyone that each animal in fact comes from its own culture, a rich and vital culture, with all the subtleties embedded in our understanding of the word culture, think how much better the world would be.<br />
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I'll keep on saying it: If the human world could adopt the idea that intelligent life is indeed all around us, and approach animals with that mindset (instead of the mindset that humans are the only intelligent life), ultimately life itself would be better for every species on the planet. Including humans.Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-62809784493331633502012-07-10T10:12:00.000-04:002012-07-17T13:08:52.982-04:00Cat Daddy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1585429376/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&tag=kimbwlionscor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1585429376" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil6kUtAmTR605rJVVjm81xfR9U4UTvCBLSStJbq16gJa3BNNVuSRsU_MuiOvUbyzYLi0pfqG-Dh9X6eeWWwVT6Aa2CcY8MN9-zMwAOdbvoDgPHqthDzqg9x_vDvno2mhYbCUaN3w/s200/CatDaddy.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
There is something special about Jackson Galaxy. This became clear to me watching the first season of "My Cat From Hell" (the first season shows seemed to convey more emotion than those that followed; I can't tell you exactly why). Helping people to understand their cats better is a noble and necessary task, and this man can do it. People need to listen to him.<br />
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His book takes a surprising (to me) form: it is one long confession. I wanted more about understanding cats. Yes, there is a lot of that here, but the book is about Jackson Galaxy confessing his life, a life of an addict. He tells it well, the realness is plain, and he tells it the same way he talks, very engagingly, so it's easy to keep turning the pages. But I wanted something more, something to delve deeper into the world of cats. Still, I kept reading.<br />
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And then there it was. On page 270. The ultimate confession. The confession that tells all in one sentence. A sentence that is sped past in the drama of the dying cat, not to be returned to at all in the pages that follow. The confession that, if it were the focus of the book, would be laughed at by the world because it changes the world. It changes the very roots of our beliefs, the foundations of the way everything is done. It is the confession I have been trying to make to the world for a decade or more. I've been dancing around it on this blog. I'm still afraid to come out and say it.<br />
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I am not going to spell it out because I'm still afraid of the effects of saying it. I've told you where it is in the book (page <a href="http://www.kimbawlion.com/page270.gif">270</a>, hardcover edition); you will either recognize it for what it is or you won't. But it is the ultimate game changer for the world. Jackson Galaxy knows this. I know this. Many other people know this as well. The whole world needs to know it.<br />
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Jackson Galaxy gets cats. He wants to relieve their suffering by helping other people to get them, too. People need to read this book. My personal desire is to take that sentence on page 270 and expand it into a book in a way that the world will understand even while it wants to reject it out of hand.Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-4633475562545329342012-06-22T10:37:00.002-04:002012-06-22T10:42:23.493-04:00Losing an animal, and our grief<a href="http://kimbathewhitelion.blogspot.com/2011/09/it-feels-so-good-to-be-free.html">Some time back</a>, I wrote about receiving a ... you know, our language is so poor in this area because no one ever talks about these things. I will call it a "spirit communication" from a tiger who had been put down. She and I had been friends, even though she was afraid of most people. Because of what I wrote, I've been asked to say some more on the subject of our beloved animals passing, and the grief we feel.<br />
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I am not an expert animal communicator. In fact, such incidents happen to me only when I least expect them, taking me totally by surprise. So I'm going to quote some from the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1582701776/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=kimbwlionscor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=1582701776">Animals In Spirit</a>, by professional animal communicator Penelope Smith. These excerpts have been edited by me for brevity and clarity, and I sincerely tried to not change the meaning of what was said.<br />
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This first is from animal communicator Kat Berard, after 'seeing' her horse after he died:
<br />
<blockquote>
No matter where you are, they are with you. They will let you know this in some way until you get the message. Love doesn't die. The connection isn't broken just because our beloved companions shed their physical form.</blockquote>
From a cat who had been killed by a dog:
<br />
<blockquote>
Know that I am at peace. I am in a beautiful space of oneness. In this realm, the birds sing cheerfully, the sky is blue, the sun is warm, the air is fresh and full of good smells, and everything is so peaceful. There are other spirits here, cats, and dogs, and other large and small animals, and plenty of humans. We are all transparent to each other. That is, we can see through and be with each other in any way we wish. There is no danger, pain, frustration, or misunderstanding. It is indeed heaven--what Earth would be like at its best, in pure harmony with all beings.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
I'm sorry you suffered and blamed yourself for my death, but I was meant to leave. I wish you acceptance that brings peace, instead of misunderstanding that brings suffering. I love you and appreciate the great life we had together on Earth. It all seems so perfect to me now. I see exactly how and why I lived, and the perfection of returning to my spirit home. All is well. Let it be so with you. I wish you the peace that I feel now.</blockquote>
From another cat:
<br />
<blockquote>
Remember my bright eyes, for this will help us connect. If you think a thought to me, I will hear it. Listen for my thoughts. I may come to you through images and feelings, so relax and trust them. I whisper thoughts into your ears at night and at dawn.</blockquote>
Animal communicator Jacqueline Smith says: Animals usually communicate comforting, loving messages after they pass on. From a dog who had to be put down:
<br />
<blockquote>
We are together as one energy is with another energy, and therefore we are oneness. The actions of the past do not affect us here. No forgiveness is required because there is nothing to be forgiven. You did exactly what needed to be done at that moment in time. It was perfection. Do not hold onto those moments any longer. They do not serve you. Move away from that kind of thinking. It's done. Be here now and forever in the present. Enjoy today and tomorrow. Enjoy it again, for it will be another today. The past is no matter because it is always now.</blockquote>
And from another dog who also was put down:
<br />
<blockquote>
The end of my body-life moved me into this experience which is where we all are in between our physical experiences for as long as we choose. Your helping me get here is of no consequence because I would have found my way here eventually, as all beings do. It brought me great peace to be released from a body that no longer functioned properly. I am grateful for your assistance.</blockquote>
And this is from a snake, appropriately named Wise One:
<br />
<blockquote>
Death is no more than an exhale. There is a rhythm and a cycle to all life: spirit becomes form becomes spirit. And so it goes. To grieve for the passing of the form is to miss the magnificence of the spirit. There is eternity in all of us. We have no beginning and no end. We are so much bigger and more beautiful than any of us could ever imagine. When someone who is dear to us dies, there is a particle of light that leaves our heart and a particle of light that also returns. We are part of each other. This exchange is our gift of love to each other. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
There are many aspects to death. Humans focus only on the death of the body. There is much more to death than this. Death is a passage from one realm of being to another. The transition is fluid, gentle, and easy. The shifting of form comes naturally to all life. Only humans resist it because they fear the unknown. Death comes to all of us. It's the gentle one who awaits us at the end of our journey. We release ourselves into its loving presence and awaken to the magnificence of our expansive selves.</blockquote>
Kat Berard said, In general, when you ask a departed animal 'what can I do to honor your life?', the answer is '<b>Live life fully, love yourself more, find bliss, and help others.</b>'<br />
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I recommend the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1582701776/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=kimbwlionscor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1582701776">Animals in Spirit: Our faithful companions' transition to the afterlife</a><img alt="" border="0" class=" ktslxurrfgljgcaeypuz ktslxurrfgljgcaeypuz ktslxurrfgljgcaeypuz ktslxurrfgljgcaeypuz ktslxurrfgljgcaeypuz ktslxurrfgljgcaeypuz" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=kimbwlionscor-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1582701776" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> to anyone who needs some comfort after losing a beloved animal.Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-22486812901945835322012-06-04T11:23:00.000-04:002012-06-04T11:23:39.508-04:00Q and A TimeI simply had to post this question here. It so beautifully illustrates how this one person is re-thinking the whole subtle conditioning that we are all subject to. We are all taught to create mental boxes to categorize the world--but how many boxes should there be? Are the boxes even valid? This is truly a great question. My answer is probably insufficient, but it's a start.<br />
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<b>Question: </b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Are insects, shellfish, plants, fungi and microorganisms part of the reincarnation cycle? Humans obviously are part of the cycle. so are the big animals like wolves and turtles and I think amphibians are part of the cycle, since I once read a short story of a person being reincarnated into a snake. but I'm not quite so sure...since its hard to think of being reincarnated into a snail the same way as being reincarnated into a snake. Neither is being reincarnated into an anchovy the same as being reincarnated into salmon...so I'm not sure if amphibians and fish are part of the cycle either...and i think birds are part of the cycle..not sure... </i></blockquote>
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<b>Answer: </b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
It is only human vanity that ranks one form of life as higher or lower than another.
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All life is loved by the universe. All life has its role, has its happiness, has its love.
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Do not separate yourself. Do not denigrate any form of life.
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We are all One.
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It is only human vanity that ranks one form of life as higher or lower than another.
<br /><br />
</blockquote>Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-19901532851455561592012-05-23T19:00:00.000-04:002012-05-24T16:57:16.037-04:00The First Re-Introduced Lion Cub in Kora (Kenya) in 24 years.The following is adapted from the <a href="http://www.wildlifenow.com/news.html" target="_blank">WildlifeNOW! newsletter</a>: <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijcOMCyutyzPQYN3gCYMaUECwN1JGC08pFMvADbTdKq6nJNthj5RJXj1bXqAe3TS7Ww2qNdq9zBKAE0sOpI-hR0MD3VgaxUoIAK6pSzX60G7NX4gcj6h5Coid-FPk-qxt4JTreOA/s1600/Mugi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijcOMCyutyzPQYN3gCYMaUECwN1JGC08pFMvADbTdKq6nJNthj5RJXj1bXqAe3TS7Ww2qNdq9zBKAE0sOpI-hR0MD3VgaxUoIAK6pSzX60G7NX4gcj6h5Coid-FPk-qxt4JTreOA/s320/Mugi.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mugi</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Mugi, a 5-month-old cub, joins the ranks of Elsa and Christian, iconic lions 'reintroduced' to the wild. In the 1960's and 1970's, "Born Free" and "Christian the Lion" made the George Adamson and Tony Fitzjohn's successful lion reintroduction program world famous. Battling unfriendly headwinds and rampant poaching, the program was shut down in 1989 and Tony Fitzjohn moved to Tanzania to rehabilitate Mkomazi National Park. With Tony's departure and George Adamson's subsequent murder, the famed lion reintroduction program was shut down and the Kora lion population suffered a similar fate with lions all over Africa - making them yet another endangered species struggling for survival.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeuZ8RiD4xC_SxchP2B3wYjwgIkSQE7UGG_VREob8kBX4teNI3uidsY7wObumAgyPdh2JT5lZsxdMQAGv5z4awgfngqQaQonyfkQju1d6GePFI3TAdtBNZCV6jKMG31V0lm0AzQw/s1600/Christian&TonyFitzjohn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeuZ8RiD4xC_SxchP2B3wYjwgIkSQE7UGG_VREob8kBX4teNI3uidsY7wObumAgyPdh2JT5lZsxdMQAGv5z4awgfngqQaQonyfkQju1d6GePFI3TAdtBNZCV6jKMG31V0lm0AzQw/s640/Christian&TonyFitzjohn.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tony Fitzjohn and Bugsy, ca. 1985.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Over 20 years later, very few lions reside in Kora National Park. In 2011, the Kenyan Wildlife Service asked Tony Fitzjohn and his team to come back to Kora to restore the natural habitat - additionally, he is restarting the famed lion program. Today, the Tony Fitzjohn-George Adamson African Wildlife Preservation Trust (WildlifeNOW) is back in Kora, working in partnership with the KWS to restore KORA National Park to its former glory!<br />
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Over the past 30 years, Tony Fitzjohn and his team have shown continued success in breeding and reintroducing endangered animals back into local African ecosystems. The highly successful Black Rhino Program and the African Wild Dog Program in Mkomazi National Park (Tanzania) exemplify this outstanding work. In Kora, orphaned lion cubs will be rehabilitated and introduced back to the wild. The rebirth of this program is exhilarating news for lion conservation in Kenya and for Kora in particular.<br />
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Your Donations Make Lion Rehabilitation Possible. We are thrilled to be working with lions in Kora again. But we need your help! This program cannot succeed without your financial support. <a href="http://www.wildlifenow.com/donate.html" target="_blank">Please give generously to WildlifeNOW</a> and help us make the KORA lion program a cornerstone in lion conservation and preservation in Africa.<br />
<br />
Tony Fitzjohn - Founder<br />
The Tony Fitzjohn / George Adamson African Wildlife Preservation Trust, 'WildlifeNOW'Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-39617281412641461072012-04-19T11:38:00.000-04:002012-04-19T11:38:55.210-04:00Why Whales Beach ThemselvesThe late Dick Clark wrote in his last post in his blog: "We are constantly surrounded by sound. In a modern world, we are exposed to millions and millions of sounds, both pleasant and unpleasant, on a daily basis. <b>Sometimes it seems enough to drive a person mad</b>..."<br />
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Indeed. And in comparison to other species, we are not even particularly sensitive in terms of sound. We can tolerate sounds up to 130 decibels (dB) in loudness, although lower volumes will make us deaf sooner or later. 130 dB is called the threshold of pain. The decibel scale is logarithmic, which means that adding 10dB to the loudness indicates a TEN TIMES increase in the power of the sound. 140dB indicates a power level TEN TIMES louder than 130dB.<br />
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We know that marine animals rely a great deal on their hearing. We know that whales can communicate over tremendous distances by using sound.<br />
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Now consider an innocent-sounding little blurb published recently in the Washington Post:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced a plan to allow oil and gas companies to conduct <b>seismic mapping surveys of the ocean floor along the Atlantic coast</b>, a significant step toward allowing offshore oil drilling.</blockquote>
Seismic mapping is a technique that employs such equipment as air guns, water guns, and "boomers" to create sound waves loud enough to vibrate the ocean floor. This means creating sound waves that measure <b>250 dB</b>. 250! That is 1,000,000,000,000 times greater than the "threshold of pain"! (That's ONE TRILLION times the sound power.)<br />
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<img src="http://www.epa.gov/esd/cmb/GeophysicsWebsite/pages/reference/_img/NewImages/Marine/Marine%20Seismic%20Cartoon.jpg" /><br />
Illustration of seismic mapping from the EPA web site.<br />
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A seismic survey takes about two or three weeks and can span hundreds of miles of ocean. Imagine being caught in an onslaught like that. Your entire body is vibrating beyond belief. Your eyes and ears explode. The ocean has become a hell-like environment.<br />
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Beaching yourself is the only escape from the torture.<br />
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Even at a distance from the source of the sounds, it has been observed that it is much more difficult for the animals to find food. They may even abandon their traditional habitats. <br />
<br />
The BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico should have been our wake-up call to move away from oil. Instead, we're engaging in more destruction. Why? Because it's only animal life that we're torturing.Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-42644851275141483662012-04-09T10:59:00.006-04:002012-04-09T11:22:58.859-04:00Fearless Fagan on TCM this Friday (4/13)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV0h1wwmza5b_BE0qn0LUR9OmFHlUt-5UwmfqIgPkvLuRoEKxgAZ8VByTlUafvHNzHLh6np8vk-gk1O8KxGVp-o-r74lARTaSZdOedtZdfoO4r1z7HYmr7ejRXimjObCh42JVvLQ/s1600/Humeston.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV0h1wwmza5b_BE0qn0LUR9OmFHlUt-5UwmfqIgPkvLuRoEKxgAZ8VByTlUafvHNzHLh6np8vk-gk1O8KxGVp-o-r74lARTaSZdOedtZdfoO4r1z7HYmr7ejRXimjObCh42JVvLQ/s200/Humeston.jpg" border="0" alt="The real Floyd Humeston with Fagan" title="The real Floyd Humeston with Fagan" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5729416540147711970" /></a>This Friday (April 13), Turner Classic Movies (US) is showing a forgotten little gem of a movie titled "<span style="font-weight:bold;">Fearless Fagan</span>". It's the somewhat fictionalized version of the true story of a man, Floyd C. Humeston, and his pet lion. The man and his lion are very happy together until the government intrudes by drafting Humeston. What can Humeston do with Fagan during his stretch in the Army?<br /><br />There are two things that make this movie special. Number one, that's Fagan playing himself in the movie. And his social skills are such that his scenes are much different from the typical Hollywood animal movie of the 1950s (or the 1960s, or the 1970s...).<br /><br />Also special is the performance by Carleton Carpenter as Floyd Humeston. He actually interacts with Fagan and really seems to enjoy him. The first time I saw this movie, since I didn't know who Carleton Carpenter was, I thought it was Humeston himself with Fagan. Carpenter is that good, and so is Fagan.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007I1Q4E0/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&tag=kimbwlionscor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B007I1Q4E0"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&Format=_SL110_&ASIN=B007I1Q4E0&MarketPlace=US&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&tag=kimbwlionscor-20&ServiceVersion=20070822" align="right"></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=kimbwlionscor-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B007I1Q4E0" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="DVD cover" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /><br /><a href="http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/151107|0/Fearless-Fagan.html">Click this text to see the description of the movie on the TCM site</a>. It's on at 9:30 AM (ET), so I hope you have a recorder to catch it. It's worth catching. <span style="font-style:italic;">Update:</span> I just found out that Warner Brothers is making the movie available on one of their manufacture-on-demand DVDs. This DVD has no region code, so even if you're outside the US, you can see the movie if you want to. Click the picture at the right to go to Amazon.com.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvydnmobCbIa8lV1a8SNzvtceJBGwlDa2HBZR_ZKbpM3u2U8IXhflRExYI3xeFEu5zvlt9w3TcmZzYFp6lIISmfNF-PY0CUrywagRq6GgI3HTLEUOyiamM3wA6GNmjDmWbj2uniA/s1600/Carpenter.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 304px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvydnmobCbIa8lV1a8SNzvtceJBGwlDa2HBZR_ZKbpM3u2U8IXhflRExYI3xeFEu5zvlt9w3TcmZzYFp6lIISmfNF-PY0CUrywagRq6GgI3HTLEUOyiamM3wA6GNmjDmWbj2uniA/s400/Carpenter.jpg" border="0" alt="Carleton Carpenter as Floyd Humeston with Fagan" title="Carleton Carpenter as Floyd Humeston with Fagan" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5729416850065197218" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">(One thing not explained in the movie is Fagan's nickname, "Fearless". Fagan was so at ease around people that -- when his story hit the press -- he was not disturbed by the loud popping of 1950s-era flashbulbs. This led one photographer to dub him "Fearless Fagan".)</span>Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-79390978799597278802012-03-10T20:08:00.002-05:002012-03-10T20:13:14.288-05:00Easter<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgH9IeXnejq-Ttlj7m_4qEvk0GOVcTs4maNhqgb_Xh2zO88eq1RLL_P_roRvyp6j8cl4bjl9PQVyFE-X9nlsjLr3PgaRqMT6uo5HxHezDp-4pykHIZNEORPPqpTFMAwg-pU7hpAQ/s1600/ChocBun.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 154px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgH9IeXnejq-Ttlj7m_4qEvk0GOVcTs4maNhqgb_Xh2zO88eq1RLL_P_roRvyp6j8cl4bjl9PQVyFE-X9nlsjLr3PgaRqMT6uo5HxHezDp-4pykHIZNEORPPqpTFMAwg-pU7hpAQ/s320/ChocBun.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5718441346473900626" /></a><br />If you're a religious person of the Christian faith, Easter should be the happiest time of the year, representing the apex of the entire faith.<br /><br />If you're an animal lover, Easter is a very sad time indeed, because you know that many, many people buy live chicks and baby rabbits for their children as Easter presents--and just a few short weeks later some of these animals -- the ones that survive that long -- overload animal shelters all over because the kids are tired of them. <br /><br />Chicks are messy. Bunnies bite. And unscrupulous sellers sell these animals at far too young an age. "Happy Easter, little Mary, here's a live toy that's going to die on you."<br /><br />I know anyone bothering to read this already knows this. But we need to educate everyone that buying live baby animals like they're toys is a stupid, cruel thing to do.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/whitelionshop/8620832">I've made some bumper stickers available</a>. But mostly I hope everyone can be brave enough to say something face-to-face if you know or meet anyone who is about to perpetuate this cruel tradition.Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-79473644162063876662012-02-17T12:13:00.002-05:002012-02-17T12:19:12.813-05:00PetsA video story that was popular a couple of years ago, followed by some pithy commentary text that made me want to bring this up again.<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mZw-1BfHFKM" allowfullscreen="" width="420" frameborder="0" height="315"></iframe><br /><br />Big cat expert John Williamson said,<br /><blockquote>It is not all that uncommon for lions (and other species), male and female, to adopt other animals as "pets" or companions with which they interact to the benefit of both.<br /><br />Social bonding for purposes other than "natural" can be seen across a wide range of species. Witness humans and their mutually content animal companions.<br /><br />You might want to add socialization to any list of "innate" behaviors, the expression of which can take on a wide variety of forms depending on individual animals and their environmental constraints. "Wild" behavior only reflects a narrow range of expressions under certain conditions. There is very little "innate" about it.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Being alive</span> is innate, the possibilities thereafter take on an awesome, wonderful complexity within life's web...</blockquote>Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-63719572475905717032012-02-16T14:14:00.004-05:002012-02-16T14:19:31.752-05:00Every living thing...<blockquote>Each of these tiny insects is, by definition, an animated being,<br />a being with an anima, <span style="font-size:130%;">a soul</span> . . .a thing of marvelous beauty<br />expressing some aspect of the divine.</blockquote><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">-- Joanne Elizabeth Lauck,</span><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1570629595/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=kimbwlionscor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1570629595"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Voice of the Infinite in the Small</span></a><br /></div>Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-19528643398740326622012-01-31T10:08:00.003-05:002012-01-31T10:16:51.473-05:00Lawsuit Seeks Court Ruling on Whether Dogs Have Souls.Hands up everyone who knows you should never buy a dog from a puppy mill.<br /><br />Everybody? Good!<br /><br />But in the news <span style="font-size:85%;">(<a href="http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-01-03/news/30586305_1_puppy-mills-puppy-lemon-law-dog-owner">here's a link to the New York Daily News</a>)</span> is the story of someone who didn't know this, and her dog has some serious physical problems. So she is suing the puppy mill and part of the suit is compensation for the dog's suffering, which apparently depends on the court recognizing that the dog has a soul.<br /><br /><a href="http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-01-03/news/30586305_1_puppy-mills-puppy-lemon-law-dog-owner"><img src="http://www.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1000559%21/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_370/image.jpg" /></a><br /><blockquote>"Umka feels love and pain like any human being whose pain and suffering would be recognized in a court." — as stated in the filing</blockquote><br />(The dog's name is "Umka".)<br /><br />Under current law, dogs are property, and their pain and suffering do not enter into legal consideration.<br /><br />Now here is a real kettle of fish. Anyone who has their eyes open and pays attention to animals has no doubt about this matter. But will — CAN — a court recognize that a dog has a soul?<br /><br />First of all, the law and the courts deal mostly with tangible things. The most intangible things they deal with are motivations — insanity, hate crimes, and such — and those dealings are based on a lot of questioning of the people involved. "Souls" are generally the province of religions — and religious people are severely divided on the subject of animal souls. What would the court use to base a ruling on?<br /><br />Then, what would be the fallout should a court rule that animals do have souls? With the question unaddressed by the law, we have been functioning pretty well with animal welfare laws and allowing animals to be legally thought of as property. That may sound a bit callous at first, but if the law takes the position that animals have souls, would that make them legally equal to humans, and then could a person own an equal being?<br /><br />Yes, I want PEOPLE to see animals as equal beings. Yes, I KNOW that animals have souls and they are as aware, intelligent, and emotional as any human. But do we want THE LAW to take that stand? Would it mean that we could no longer have pets? Only the most radical activists want that outcome.Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-85156055265997368902012-01-28T10:47:00.003-05:002012-01-28T10:53:34.351-05:00Scientists Find a Touch of "Humanity" in RatsA University of Chicago study was recently reported in the journal <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/334/6061/1427"><span style="font-style:italic;">Science</span></a>:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKqoUx9NgS3FarjSBEgmRmWTwbW46sAPXnzejbGIIAupg1BTRXpv7o9zIUKDiKCtxRrBoi1M_YJKSPEdvFuzKZmA6EAvx03usIk4uTPioqamqFdp6PBIsiKfB2vjpxhn75Gi-BxQ/s1600/superrat.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 100px; height: 140px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKqoUx9NgS3FarjSBEgmRmWTwbW46sAPXnzejbGIIAupg1BTRXpv7o9zIUKDiKCtxRrBoi1M_YJKSPEdvFuzKZmA6EAvx03usIk4uTPioqamqFdp6PBIsiKfB2vjpxhn75Gi-BxQ/s200/superrat.jpg" border="0" alt="hero rat" title="hero rat" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5702710314640242258" /></a>Experimenters put a rat in a small cage that could only be opened from the outside. A second rat introduced into the area would see the situation and start trying to free the caged rat. When the second rat figured out how to rescue the first, the two were observed to do what the researchers called a celebration dance.<br /><br />More on this can be found at the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/science/observatory-rats-have-empathy-study-finds.html">New York Times</a>, including how the rescuer would share treats with the rescuee.<br /><br />William Mullen, in the Tribune Newspapers, adds:<br /><blockquote>Previously, scientists thought that empathy and pro-social behavior to help others were unique to humans... The experiment is being hailed as a new paradigm that will help scientists trace the development of emotions in mammals back through the evolutionary tree.</blockquote><br />Well, I'm glad that some scientists are beginning to pay attention to the way animals act. They're using the wrong assumption if they're looking for the "evolution" of emotions, however. Emotions did not evolve; they arise from the spirit, the essence of being, which is fundamentally the same in all living beings. What's different is the expression of emotions, due to physical differences in the bodies, and that is what keeps people thinking humans are so different from the rest of the animal world.Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-74415784715257219902011-12-04T13:07:00.002-05:002011-12-04T13:10:31.231-05:00Some we love, some we hate, some we eat.Here is a clear-headed article on the subject of horse slaughter for human consumption in the U.S.:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.examiner.com/pet-rescue-in-national/dispelling-the-myths-and-the-facts-about-horse-slaughter-resuming-america">http://www.examiner.com/pet-rescue-in-national/dispelling-the-myths-and-the-facts-about-horse-slaughter-resuming-america</a>Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-42947326061823900012011-10-29T09:47:00.002-04:002011-10-29T09:52:35.975-04:00SweetnessWithout going into details, I am facing a very bad situation and I am in a very bad state, emotionally. But when I got up this morning, I saw that our bundle-of-boundless-energy cat had placed two of her favorite toys, including her favorite toy of all, in front of my chair. I recognized this for what it was, a very sweet and loving gesture and she was trying to cheer me up. It helped.Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-47920857352036400242011-09-26T09:48:00.004-04:002011-09-26T10:07:53.339-04:00AngerDealing with the subject of human-animal interactions often inspires anger in me. I want to stay positive, but the examples of unspeakable callousness--such as, dogs thrown out of high-rise windows or Navy sonar experiments driving whales to suicide--seem to overwhelm the stories of a Christian or Zamba. I don't want to be an angry person, but I often feel lost in anger.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1582701776/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&tag=kimbwlionscor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=1582701776"><img align="right" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 99px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDzoUJwvngafqdLm34L4SzmhgUlzKdTJlSLhDhN91J7Z2m21zc9yGo13qTQYf9S4ZL6Fc68d-V3_8lA7M2soi65IZV_gknzjewyyCllieOQmvkhSST0dt35XF5ZzUTe_2KSdRuoQ/s200/ais.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5656668540167537986" /></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=kimbwlionscor-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1582701776&camp=217145&creative=399369" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />I found the following in the book "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1582701776/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&tag=kimbwlionscor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=1582701776">Animals in Spirit</a>" by Penelope Smith. Ms. Smith relates the experience of fellow animal communicator Teresa Wagner, who received anger management counseling from a whale she was familiar with.<br /><br />What follows is paraphrased from the book. I figure re-telling it in my own words will help me assimilate it.<br /><blockquote>Your anger is leading you down the wrong path. There is a better way, a way out of your outrage and grief, and a way to help everyone involved.<br /><br />Take a deep breath and fill yourself with love. Get back in touch with that limitless love that you know is within you. Support your own broken heart. <br /><br />Remember that you are never helpless to shower someone who is suffering with love, even when you cannot physically help. Send your love to the soul of the animal that has suffered. If he has died, ask for blessings for the journey of his soul through time and space.<br /><br />Then send the same love and comfort to the ones who loved the animal. Whatever hurt you feel, they grieve even more. Surround them with love and compassion.<br /><br />Then you must send the same love and compassion to those who caused the suffering or death. Anger at them gets you stuck in anger and does no good. Send love to those known or unknown to you who caused the suffering because it is only with love and compassion that their consciousness will expand to see the souls of animals and their hearts will understand and direct their actions. Compassion will help them to grow.<br /><br />After this, you must tend to your own grief and sorrow. Honor your feelings even if they are dark and confusing. Ask for help to understand and release these feelings. There is always enough love and support for everyone. Reach out for help. Your own heart is as important as the suffering of others. Tend to yourself with great compassion and love.<br /><br />This process is about acknowledging the overwhelming energy of your feelings and turning it into something positive for everyone, rather than allowing it to trap you.</blockquote>Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-75712496664044711162011-09-10T07:36:00.004-04:002011-09-10T07:41:55.178-04:00It feels so good to be free...This is a true story. Since the tiger I'm going to tell you about was not owned by me, I have changed her name here.<br /><br />I met Kefira at a big cat sanctuary far from where I live. She was a wonderful, huge, perfectly gorgeous Siberian* tiger. I was told to walk slowly and quietly past her cage because she was "a real bitch" and would snarl, roar, and lunge and anyone who came close. But the way things were arranged, a person had to walk past her cage to get to other animals. There was a sign on her cage warning of her dangerous personality. When I saw that sign on her cage I just felt so very sorry for her, like everyone had given up hope for her.<br /><br />But I watched this tiger as she performed as advertised and I was sure that her actions arose from fear, not meanness. For reasons unknown to me, she had a tremendous fear of people. Whenever anyone got near her cage, she got very actively defensive. And when a full-grown tiger gets defensive, she can be very scary. Poor thing, trapped in a world of fear...afraid of the people who were scared of her. And I decided I wanted to relieve her fear.<br /><br />Later, when my escorted tour was over and I could visit whomever I chose, I went back to see Kefira. I approached slowly, determined not to upset her. I found the edge of her personal safe space, which was some 20 feet away from her. I stayed there, close enough that her attention was fixed on me, but she didn’t get defensive. Then I did something that may sound strange: I envisioned a 'bridge' extending from my mind to hers, to carry one thought--"I love you". In my visualization, the bridge slowly grew, from my mind to hers. At the exact moment I envisioned the bridge reaching her mind, she jumped back, like she had been physically hit in the head. I then chuffed at her, and she stood up and chuffed back at me. Having exchanged proper greetings, I knew that I could now approach her, and I did. She started to rub against the near wall of the cage. She paced around, looking intently at me and rubbing against the wall as we repeatedly exchanged greetings. I moved over to the door, where we would be separated by two layers of wire fencing--no contact was permitted with her--and she reared up, with her paws on the wire, and rubbed her face against it. I tried to put my hands opposite hers, but she wanted to sniff them. I moved close and she tried to rub her face against mine. More than just contact, I had made a friend. I never saw her scared and defensive side directed toward me at any time after that.<br /><br />The next day, as soon as Kefira saw me [and the intensity of her look really sticks in my mind] she jumped up and started chuffing to me. Again she rubbed affectionately against the wall and came to the door to be close to me. I wished she could keep that attitude all the time, but she still snarled and hissed at others (there were many other people at the sanctuary that day).<br /><br />Kefira pointed out to me that her water bowl was empty (tigers [and lions too] use a great deal of body language, including eye motions), and the sanctuary workers were glad to allow me to fill it, with a hose, from outside the cage--she was considered a very dangerous tiger. But she and I enjoyed each other's company on that day, and on the third day of my trip as well. At the end of my visit I made sure to go back to her to say goodbye, and she came up to the door for a face-to-face, close as possible sendoff.<br /><br />My next visit was a year later, and I went straight to see Kefira. As I got near, she went into her defensive position, ready to try to frighten me away. I stopped, and said, "Kefira, it’s me." Right away she stood up and chuffed at me. I went to the door of her cage, and she stood up with her front paws on the wire, to look me in the face just like before. But this time, the extra layer of wire had been taken down, and we got to touch noses! She was such a sweetie! I called dibs on her at feeding time, and the workers were glad to let me take the "chore" of feeding her... and so was I.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHiKOhn4Qy59YNwVjO6PuDPhbCbGhIFSFlGhf_EMrXBv8mY8jeLdH10xVwWvD5_7no5iwVRwjSYhdKjxKsR_CDWShc2Y-aGJjKjCbd2Skiv87lyXauIFP41eFAi-BlnbI9aQ1mHA/s1600/happytiger.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 192px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHiKOhn4Qy59YNwVjO6PuDPhbCbGhIFSFlGhf_EMrXBv8mY8jeLdH10xVwWvD5_7no5iwVRwjSYhdKjxKsR_CDWShc2Y-aGJjKjCbd2Skiv87lyXauIFP41eFAi-BlnbI9aQ1mHA/s400/happytiger.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5650693791407745730" border="0" /></a>As I said, this sanctuary is far from where I live, but I kept in email contact. Two years after I last saw her, Kefira developed severe medical problems; her back half became paralyzed, and no one knew why.<br /><br />They did everything that could possibly be done for her, but from my distant position I felt I needed to do something, but there was nothing for me to do. All I could do was send my loving thoughts to her, putting as much energy as I could into healing rays.<br /><br />Notes from the sanctuary were frustratingly brief, but seemed encouraging. Kefira’s spirits were up; now she could move her tail; now they had hopes for her recovery.<br /><br />One night, as I was again concentrating on her, I saw her in my mind's eye. She was there with me. This had never happened before. And she was smiling. She was so very happy, practically bursting with energy and joy, and I was happy to see her. She told me how much my love meant to her, and how good it felt to be free from the sickness in her body. I should have known what that meant, but I wanted to interpret it as meaning she had made a sudden recovery.<br /><br />In the morning, when I got my email, I read that Kefira had died during the night, put down by a vet after everyone had given up hope for her recovery.<br /><br />I had been so focused on her recovering that I had not thought that's what she had told me about. But I will never forget that final meeting with her, a meeting of our minds.<br /><br />This experience taught me the reality of what others have said: that our spirits live on, that death is a natural process, that we leave behind our pain and suffering but not our love. And should someone say that animals have no souls, I can try to correct them with the utmost confidence.<br /><br />I have just started reading a book titled <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1582701776/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=kimbwlionscor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=1582701776">Animals in Spirit: Our faithful companions' transition to the afterlife</a><img class=" waqtkxhlbhxaooqsahty waqtkxhlbhxaooqsahty waqtkxhlbhxaooqsahty waqtkxhlbhxaooqsahty waqtkxhlbhxaooqsahty waqtkxhlbhxaooqsahty" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=&l=as2&o=1&a=1582701776&camp=217145&creative=399369" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" width="1" border="0" height="1" /> written by animal communicator Penelope Smith, and already I have read several accounts of animals who had died or been put down and they all include the sentiment of how good it feels to be free of their illness. A lot of people don't believe in telepathic communication with animals, and so may not accept the idea of joy after passing, but I experienced the same sentiment from my tiger friend, spontaneously, without pre-conceived expectations, and I am convinced that it's true.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">*Yes, I am aware of the term Amur tiger for this subspecies. Call me old-fashioned, but the name Siberian is more attractive to me. Just so long as you know that Siberian tigers are not white tigers...</span></span>Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-56763962040750706962011-08-17T15:20:00.003-04:002011-08-17T15:26:05.144-04:00A Tragic True StoryMaking the limited-engagement rounds of select theaters is a movie called "Project Nim", a documentary that is also a tragedy, an indictment of academia, and a loud cry for people in general to wake up and think about how they treat other living beings.
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<br />Project Nim was supposed to be about raising a chimpanzee in a human-oriented environment to see if he could acquire skills in using human language; American Sign Language to be precise, since chimpanzees are physically incapable of speaking English words.
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<br />It is important to note that it is the learning of <span style="font-weight:bold;">human</span> language at the center of the project, since no one involved seemed to consider that animals can have languages of their own.
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<br />A chimpanzee was chosen as the subject since chimps are so much like Us. But the insanity of the researchers' unexamined preconceived notions about non-human animals is revealed right at the start: The days-old baby chimp is ripped away from his mother, after she had been paralyzed (but still conscious) with a tranquilizer dart.
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<br />So, are chimps like us, or are they not? Why is it so convenient to shut out any thought of chimps having an emotional life while contending that they are intellectually similar to humans? This isn't just insanity, it's wanton insanity.
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<br />As the high-profile experiment proceeds, it becomes clear that those in charge had no idea of how to proceed, and seemingly no desire to come up with an idea. The chimp is raised without structure or discipline, which does nothing to promote learning. At the end, the head of the project proclaims that the chimp did not really have language skills; all the chimp ever communicated was immediate wants. But the same thing would happen with a human child raised in the same way--a completely free-form upbringing induces a detachment from all others, and no desire to communicate anything except immediate wants. I've seen it happen.
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<br />What happened to the chimp after the conclusion of the project is horrifying at best. It's a real shame that there is a high-profile fictional movie about chimps in theaters at the same time. "Project Nim" needs to be seen, discussed, and taken to heart because it is true, and so revealing about our society and its detachment from all other forms of life.
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<br />Also this week is an <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/chimpanzee-research-an-endangered-species-as-experts-debate-usefulness-ethics/2011/08/12/gIQAGt0xDJ_story.html">article in the Washington Post</a> about a possible end to medical research on chimpanzees. The United States is one of only two countries in the entire world that still allow such things (the other is Gabon). This change is, of course, a good thing, if too slow in coming about. The end of this legal torture is presumably the result of a growing recognition among some that chimps are like Us. It's also due to the fact that genetically-altered mice and rats are taking over from chimps in medical research projects.
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<br />We've got a long way to go before people start thinking that mice and rats might have enough of an intellectual and emotional life that they should be spared torture, too.
<br /><blockquote>“We wouldn’t be having this meeting if ethics wasn’t an issue,” Frans de Waal told the Institute of Medicine committee. The Emory University researcher, whose pioneering studies with captive chimpanzees have revealed their human-like empathy, continued, “We don’t have this kind of meeting about rats.”</blockquote>Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-49295376102385962972011-07-24T07:27:00.003-04:002011-07-24T07:35:30.658-04:00Reality... What a ConceptHave I gone in the wrong direction with my posts to this blog? I have tried to present socially-acceptable arguments to persuade people that all living things are intelligent, and it is our perception--or lack thereof--that causes us to imagine that they are not.<br /><br />But is such constrained logic good enough? This is a highly emotional issue, after all. We have seemingly insurmountable cultural indoctrination to overcome if we are to expand our collective perceptions to embrace reality.<br /><br />One of those problems is religion. Religion controls such a huge part of our society and shapes so much of the way we think--and that applies even to those who consider themselves outside of any religion. Now, I have to speak in generalities to keep this topic manageable, but religion doesn't make any allowance for considering animals to be different yet equal beings. The Christian Bible even contains a story of Jesus unnecessarily killing an entire herd of animals.<br /><br />The scientific side of our society is another problem. In the name of learning and exploration, valid ideas are suppressed and valid observations denied in order to protect established dogma. Yes, I do believe it is correct to use the term, dogma. The concept of animals being "biological machines" lives on and is actively taught despite the fact that any reasonable attention paid to actual observations absolutely destroys the concept.<br /><br />I have avoided writing about much of what I know to be true, because my experiences and my methods are not acceptable to either religion or science. But both of those are rigidly constructed to protect themselves from change, so maybe I've been too concerned about how my own experiences will be viewed by those with religious and scientific points of view.<br /><br />After all, I knew in my heart that the Christian the Lion "Reunion Video" had the power to demonstrate the loving side of an animal to people. Some prefer it with the added emotional tug of the Whitney Houston song, others prefer it the way I first posted it back in 2002: silent, so that all attention can be focused on the very demonstrative body language, from the moment of first recognition that Christian's friends had returned after a year's absence, to the explosive joy of being in contact again. This is real, this actually happened. <br /><br />And still some people argue that a lion can't feel love.<br /><br />I can't be concerned anymore about those who refuse to see what's real.<br /><br />Expect more personal, and maybe outrageous, articles here in the future.<br /><br />Discussion, both pro and con, gratefully received via the comments box that accompanies each article.Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-62587810818377954652011-07-21T11:46:00.002-04:002011-07-21T11:51:05.264-04:00They All Look the Same... To Us<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i.livescience.com/images/i/5203/i02/top10_pests_pigeon_02.jpg?1296084118"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://i.livescience.com/images/i/5203/i02/top10_pests_pigeon_02.jpg?1296084118" border="0" alt="" /></a>An article at the <a href="http://www.livescience.com/14895-pigeons-recognize-human-faces.html">Live Science site</a> tells us that French researchers have come to the conclusion that feral, untrained pigeons can recognize human faces.<br /><br />This is based on an experiment in which two similar people behaved differently toward pigeons, after which the pigeons avoided the person who had been antagonistic, even when the people exchanged clothing, thus changing most of their physical appearance.<br /><br />While I don't wish to denigrate the pigeons' intelligence, the description in the article leaves the findings open to other interpretations, such as perhaps the pigeons may recognize people by their smell rather than their looks. I'm just saying it's a possibility.<br /><br />Which reminds me of another, oft-repeated experiment, in which scientists try to prove whether an animal is self-aware, by using the mirror test: can an animal use a mirror to detect an unusual mark that has been added to its face? Many animals "fail" this test, leading scientists to conclude that they don't have self-awareness. But many animals are more scent-oriented than vision-oriented, and a mirror has its own scent that is clearly not the animal's own. So it's not a matter of not being self aware, it's a matter of the mirror not providing the proper cues.<br /><br />I contend that any animal that stealthily stalks its prey, or that hides from a predator, demonstrates self-awareness. But somehow that bit of logic escapes the researchers.<br /><br />Back to the pigeons. I won't say that they can't recognize human faces. A bird's life requires well-developed abilities to see and process visual cues. But it hasn't been proved that they don't use some other means to recognize people. Smell is only one possibility. It's even possible they use some other cues that we don't know about. We are limited by our own senses and our own views of the world. I am reminded that it is only recently that people became aware that elephants use infrasound to communicate (sounds pitched so low that we can't hear them).Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-29118313880220346002011-07-18T08:54:00.004-04:002011-07-18T09:02:14.444-04:00Thought ProvokingOne article that gets a lot of attention here is <a href="http://kimbathewhitelion.blogspot.com/2009/06/are-insects-conscious.html">Are Insects Conscious?</a>, so I thought I would highlight it again; click the link to go to the article.<br /><br />And since I have a silly sense of humor, I thought I would add a little something you can hum for the rest of the day: <a href="http://www.whitelionrestorations.com/HymnToCockroaches.mp3">Hymn to Cockroaches</a>. There should be a little "Play" button there for you to play the song.Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-61136656991833753512011-06-28T10:42:00.002-04:002011-06-28T10:48:38.856-04:00Is it real?This short video has been getting a lot of attention. Taken at face value, it's pretty funny--a cat is barking like a dog until he realizes that he's being watched, then he reverts to meowing like a "normal" cat.<br /><br /><iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aP3gzee1cps?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />One of the most frequent comments people make is to question whether the sound has been altered--whether the cat could really make such barking sounds. In my opinion, the pitch of the barks sounds correct, and the transition from barking to meowing is convincing, but I don't know for sure.<br /><br />There are other YouTube videos of "barking cats", but they merely show cats making the short staccato noises cats make when they see birds (that's a subject for another time). This cat appears to be truly imitating a dog.<br /><br />What do you think?Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-74040729358410389182011-06-10T10:43:00.004-04:002011-06-10T10:47:18.412-04:00A Tale of Two KittiesI just read a new (it's to be released this coming Tuesday) book in which some Ph.D. goes to great lengths to explain how human brains are the most superior of all and no animal can possibly think or react with the same sophistication that humans can.<br /><br />Rather than bore you with that nonsense, I'm going to tell you one of my favorite stories about my cat, Spike.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2_2ouma-rGeR5-8oCM5uRgzsz43mDkahmtuTUtmZncc-Q4LGwx_ZEK09tjLVC1HEbrGM-YPWSx4rfvyBaEF5QPApSAkujDcILcEbUbJDj8hSNd4x1h_Z2nNLEtqxzDfXmY8NXag/s1600/BeesSpike-400.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 236px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2_2ouma-rGeR5-8oCM5uRgzsz43mDkahmtuTUtmZncc-Q4LGwx_ZEK09tjLVC1HEbrGM-YPWSx4rfvyBaEF5QPApSAkujDcILcEbUbJDj8hSNd4x1h_Z2nNLEtqxzDfXmY8NXag/s320/BeesSpike-400.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5616602142298069698" /></a>This incident involves a laser pointer. The fascination most cats have with the little red dot of light is well known. Spike was no exception, at first. He was a big cat, and seeing his eyes get big, his whiskers point forward and his ears go erect was a joy, as he chased the dot around. Then, one time, and I'm not sure what diverted his attention (maybe it was my laugh), he looked over and saw me holding the laser, saw the red light at the end, and realized that I was controlling the dot. The look on his face changed to one of hurt and dismay, as if he felt tricked and betrayed by me. He stopped chasing the dot immediately, and went into the next room and laid down. From that time on, he never chased the dot of light again. In fact, he would leave the room when I started playing with the other cats with the laser pointer. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9N2k_5DfL0ya3JDEXXHVo0gQ9kji8YpOjp2rAR1ZMF8UKYEEWTXJr2kG5S_Ed2nQpCB0pNNOkpVXsG04I5gJWC-Y2ekx6jD61t6HA8KjSLSGvNkv82paKYBiV2aEZqfYMAqKnFQ/s1600/arnie0054.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 230px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9N2k_5DfL0ya3JDEXXHVo0gQ9kji8YpOjp2rAR1ZMF8UKYEEWTXJr2kG5S_Ed2nQpCB0pNNOkpVXsG04I5gJWC-Y2ekx6jD61t6HA8KjSLSGvNkv82paKYBiV2aEZqfYMAqKnFQ/s320/arnie0054.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5616602307537087410" /></a>Another cat, Arnie, has also made the connection between me holding the laser device and the fascinating dot of light. In fact, since the pointer is attached to a key ring that makes a distinctive sound when moved, no matter how quietly I try to pick it up, Arnie hears the sound and comes running, ready to play. He knows I am in control, but he doesn't mind that, he enjoys the fun of the chase.<br /><br />As I said, I don't know what triggered Spike's reaction--I probably laughed particularly loud, and Spike never liked being laughed at--but he was obviously hurt by what he perceived as deviousness on my part and he never got over it; he never went back to playing that game. Arnie, whom I know keeps a mental catalog of past wrongs (that's a story for another time), knows the facts of the game and loves it anyway.<br /><br />Conclusion? They're all individuals with their own personalities.Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30928966.post-72425283976912738402011-05-22T13:13:00.005-04:002011-05-22T14:51:11.084-04:00Cats aren't really from hell, and he'll show you why.The Animal Planet channel has hit a grand-slam home run with a series that has the unlikely title "<a href="http://animal.discovery.com/tv/my-cat-from-hell/" target="_new">My Cat From Hell</a>", featuring an unlikely-looking guy with the unlikely name of Jackson Galaxy.<br /><br />Jackson is called upon by various people who have serious problems with their cats. And this guy is really good at understanding cats and teaching people how to understand their cats. He stresses paying attention to cats' body language, and even teaches the <a href="http://kimbathewhitelion.blogspot.com/2009/01/paying-attention.html">slow blink</a>, so essential to gaining a cat's trust and so very seldom mentioned by people talking about cats.<br /><br />I've embedded a couple of short instructional videos by Jackson below. You can see his case studies on the Animal Planet channel now; they're currently running new episodes as well as repeating past episodes. You can also see some case study videos on their web site, <a href="http://animal.discovery.com/tv/my-cat-from-hell/" target="_new">http://animal.discovery.com/tv/my-cat-from-hell/</a><br /><br /><iframe id="dit-video-embed" width="640" height="360" src="http://static.discoverymedia.com/videos/components/apl/2c183c55d2bb6b23e145f50d38793703b1900978/snag-it-player.html?auto=no" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe id="dit-video-embed" width="640" height="360" src="http://static.discoverymedia.com/videos/components/apl/f60a5645a9722c1b7e5b28a183f1b34f51e8004b/snag-it-player.html?auto=no" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe id="dit-video-embed" width="640" height="360" src="http://static.discoverymedia.com/videos/components/apl/8544e7e936d3879ff64530d77442da26361e5a89/snag-it-player.html?auto=no" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true"></iframe>Craig A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14830290282849594120noreply@blogger.com0