Sluggo




This is Sluggo, a baby skunk I rescued. The full story is on my website, which I've just spent the day editing, and up-dating. I've posted some pictures--animals and family history--and a few short stories.

I'm taking a couple weeks off to work on a new project, so I thought maybe you'd be willing to take a look at all the work I've done on the website.
                           www.ginnyrorby.com
(If this link doesn't work, click through via the link at the upper right hand corner.)


     I'll be back in touch toward the end of the month.


Back to Africa by Tanya Smart

Back to Africa
Once again, we spent too many hours in an airplane in order to spend too few hours watching elephants and the other wonders of the African continent. We journeyed in Southern Africa – 10 days in Botswana and four in Zimbabwe. Our Letaka Safari guide was Nkosi Sibanda who had showed us the wonders of the Okavango Delta two years ago. Enjoying our first African sunset at the Okavango River Lodge was made perfect by our first African Gin and Tonic.
Moremi Game Reserve in the Okavango Delta is the favorite part of our safari. Flying in over the delta looking for elephants and giraffe is spectacular, as is landing in the very small airplane on the small runway in the middle of the bush. The wildlife is used to vehicles so one gets up close views without feeling that you are disturbing or altering behavior. Among the first spectacular sightings during the three days was a daytime view of the endangered Wild African Cat. They look much like the average housecat and unfortunately will interbreed with domestic cats, as well as catch their diseases. The next day we watched and listened to two wild dogs that were vocalizing in an attempt to reconnect with their group. Their vocalizations were unexpected – not wolf-like howls or any sort of dog-like sound that I’d heard before but more like a high pitched keen. One dog would sound out, then both would listen intently – completely ignoring us. At a later time, Nkosi placed us perfectly to watch a successful wild dog hunt – chasing impala who attempted but failed to flee through water. We were sad for the impala that was caught and more so for another confused animal standing in the river watching the dogs and not seeing the crocodile who took advantage of the impala’s distraction. National Geographic photographers spend months in the field to film what we’d just seen in 30 minutes or less.
We watched a group of lions strategically place their sub adult males in clear view of waterbucks while the females attempted to circle around out of view. It didn’t work, thanks to some vocal francolins. It was then that we discovered that the battery on the truck was dead. Not to worry, it is easy to attract help if you tell the other guides that they and their guests will see lions.


Some of the lions we saw were little cubs the last time we were there. Mortality in lion cubs is high so there were fewer in the pride than two years ago but they looked healthy and well fed. Nkosi gave us good long times watching this pride as well as several groups of elephants. I could watch elephants for hours and never be bored.
While we were out looking for wildlife, lions and leopards visited our camp. In fact, each time that the camp staff went out for firewood, they had a spectacular sighting. We thought maybe we should go collect firewood with them. At night, with lions so close, the impala stayed closer – bedding down within sight of our campfire.
The next three days in Khwai we could venture out at night to see what might be there. Bouncing eyes meant springhares, more than we could count. Small feline predators such as Genets and Civets are out at night and their glowing eyes helped the diurnal humans find them. We possibly saw bush baby eyes. We sat (in our truck) outside an abandoned aardvark burrow at dusk, waiting until the hyenas and their cubs came out after dark. I am fascinated by hyenas so this was a true treat. As cubs nursed on what we assumed was the alpha female, another hyena paying very close attention until it was snapped at by the nursing mom. The chastised individual laid down in another spot and several cubs joined her to nurse. An adult of unknown gender (it is hard to tell with hyenas) brought out a piece of well chewed something to play “tug” with a pile of cubs. 
Nkosi found the wild dog den with a pile of puppies outside and helped us spot a female leopard and her older female cub. This momma leopard had a younger cub and it was unusual for her to tolerate her older daughter nearby. It was clear she was barely tolerating the adolescent as she vocalized warnings frequently. Sydelle’s goal of being the first to spot at least one animal was rewarded when she was the one to find the younger cub.
We had an unfortunately placed campsite in Savuti that meant long drives each morning to the spectacular Marsh. Nkosi and the camp staff made the best of it by packing our lunches each day so we could spend the maximum time out. We observed a group of elephants pass by some well-fed lions who had happened to take their siesta in the middle of an elephant trail. The elephants were almost stepping on the sleeping cats. Elephants can’t see that well, but they could clearly smell the lions. The lions weren’t rousing no matter what. A large number of elephant bones lying near roadways was the evidence of an extended heat wave that Savuti experienced in October/November of 2012. The elephants died returning from drinking, making us wonder if they had died from electrolyte imbalance caused by overdrinking after dehydration. 

We saw so many antelope that I can’t list them all but the second ever sighting of a bushbuck was a highlight as were abundant sightings of the magnificent Sable and Roan antelope. Though there are never enough giraffe or zebra for me, we did see quite a few. The giraffe in particular were less skittish than past visits. It was dryer than two years ago so perhaps they were more focused on eating.
Letaka specializes in birding safaris and though ours wasn’t a birding group, we saw lots and lots of fantastic birds. Lilac breasted rollers always got an Oooh and an Aahh. No wonder for a bird whose feathers represent the rainbow and looks like liquid turquoise in flight.
Our unfortunate campsite meant that we had limited time in Chobe and were unable to enter at the Ngoma gate on our last day. Chobe may be crowded with day trippers but it is also filled with spectacular wildlife in abundance. Our disappointment was quashed by the boat excursion where we were treated to several groups of swimming elephants. There is nothing more adorable than a swimming baby elephant.
This part of the trip ended in Kasane. One of these times we need to do the reverse itinerary so that I stop disliking Kasane – it is not the town’s fault but its association with the end of the safari that makes me dislike it. From here we transferred to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Cross boarder transfers are interesting – enough said.
Our lodge in Vic Falls was beautiful without being snooty. One does notice the grime that one accumulated in the bush immediately upon entering a non-bushish establishment. We were suitable for the dining room after a long shower and change of clothes. The sound of the falls soothed us to sleep. We got up early to view this World Heritage Site before our 9am pick up for Hwange Camp.
Hwange Camp in Zimbabwe is a year old establishment that is structured to be comfortable, but not ostentatious. It was strategically placed and built to provide maximum views of the nearby large waterhole. A baby hippo had been born days earlier and was wonderful to watch. At night, one could hear the hippos and sometimes elephants munching vegetation outside the cabins. We met new friends from the UK on the way to Hwange who were our companions on safari for three days, and made more friends each evening over a scrumptious meal. 
Wildlife in Hwange National Park is not as used to vehicles or humans as that in Botswana though the wild areas are contiguous and presumably wildlife from one area can easily migrate to the other. The elephants were testier, the antelope shyer and walking safaris were possible. Coming upon a lion on its kill meant no tragedy for humans, just a scared lion (Brent was a little scared too – I didn’t see the lion). We saw lots of tracks but few animals while walking though we did see a recently killed civet in a tree – probably stashed there by the leopard whose tracks we were following. During our afternoon siesta by the truck, a group of elephants came close by which was quite wonderful. The other group had seen a lion kill a baby elephant on their way in. One guide said that elephants in Hwange often leave their calves behind when they go to drink. This was most certainly not the case in Botswana – the mother and entire herd protected and defended calves vigorously. This behavior has been described in studies where elephant herd social structure had broken down due to poaching of the older adults. We don’t know if that was what happened in Hwange but seeing different behaviors was interesting.
Our reason for visiting Zimbabwe and Hwange Camp was to see black rhino. Unfortunately, poaching in Hwange has reduced the population from around 45 animals to 4-6. The remaining animals were across the river in another part of the park and so this part of the quest was thwarted. Rhino horn is not medicine. 
Our first guide in Botswana said that you have to leave one animal to bring you back next time. This trip it was the cheetah – which we did not see. We’ll be back – though everyone knows that I come back for the elephants.



     All the pictures were taken by Tanya and / or Brent, her husband.

Blue Marble Gratitude by Katy Pye




kamidempsey.com
 


Elizabeth’s Landing and Blue Marble Gratitude


We writers sometimes characterize our lives as lonely. Huddled over paper or in front of computer screens, we spend uncounted hours in isolation. I suppose this portrait is more than half true. At the beginning and end of the day, it’s my rear in the chair, my vision, my brain, making decisions on where the plot goes, the look of the landscape, and how my characters feel and act.  I wield the power of the gods. At times curl up in despair of the forgotten.

People often ask why I chose sea turtles as the main animal characters for my novel, Elizabeth’s Landing. Survival. I’m moved by their 100 million year track record, despite what nature and people continue to throw at them. Turtles are cultural icons around the world, symbols of longevity, wisdom, and patience. They manage their own form of almost solitary living. Many times I felt like a world-wandering loggerhead or feisty Kemp’s ridley stubbornly, perhaps instinctively, pushing against or riding my story-telling currents.

But like the turtles these days, I wasn’t paddling alone. A small world of sea turtle conservationists, scientists, researchers, eco-warriors of all stripes, and, of course, family, friends, and fellow writers, each on his and her own path, gave time to support me and mine. All our effort culminated in a book launch at Gallery Bookshop. I had a blast. Joyful e-mails came from near and far. Standing room only. Lots of books sold. I read, answered questions, and shamelessly reveled in the moment. A tiny hatchling in a humongous author ocean.

In such moments, one swims in an equally large ocean of gratitude. You can’t escape it. My character Elizabeth doesn’t act alone, and I didn’t either. So, how to give back? How to carry the moment beyond myself? One of my favorite authors, Catherine Ryan Hyde, wrote Pay It Forward, which started a worldwide movement. In the sea turtle world, the pay-it-forward guy is sea turtle biologist, educator, and conservationist extraordinaire, Wallace “J.” Nichols. His “Blue Marbles Project,” aims to pass blue marbles through the hands of every person on earth. Each marble is a symbol, a “celebration of our beautiful, fragile, blue planet.” The “rules” of the blue marble game are simple. The marble must be blue (duh), it is given with an individual message of gratitude, and the story must be shared. My blue marble came encased in a lovely, handmade bar of soap from SlowCoast. I passed it into the hand of an audience member at my launch, in gratitude for the support I’ve gotten writing and publishing Elizabeth’s Landing, and hope for our planet’s future. This post is my share.

I keep a turtle vase, the one Elizabeth gets from her mom in the book, on my desk, reminding me to keep paddling forward. Go the distance, be open to learn and to change (a.k.a. revise), to act and be grateful for whatever the outcome.
photo by Katy Pye

A challenge: Join the Blue Marble Project and go beyond the gesture. Find your own way to make change in the world. It doesn’t have to be big, it just has to be yours. Then share it.

This post is in memory of 26 year-old sea turtle conservationist, Jairo Mora Sandoval. May 31, 2013 while protecting critically endangered leatherback turtles, nesting on a Costa Rican beach, he was brutally murdered by alleged egg poachers with likely links to the drug trade. World-wide, reward money was raised, over 10,000 signatures petitioned police to step up the search for the killers. August 1, Todd Steiner, director of Sea Turtle Restoration Project (and others) delivered 137,000 signatures to Costa Rica's Consul General in Los Angeles, demanding justice for Jairo. Six suspects are now in custody. Individual voices, bonded together, continue to make a difference.


http://bedifferentbynature.com/Mauruuru/BLUE_MARBLES_Blue_Marbles_Project_Wallace_J_Nichols.html
Katy's recent blog post is about how deadly balloons are to sea turtles.
http://katypye.com/2013/08/17/9-yr-old-georgian-challenges-state-save-turtles-from-deadly-balloons/















From the Center for Great Apes newsletter


Please Vote for Ripley!

RipleyThe Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is sponsoring
a chimpanzee art contest, with entries from six of the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance sanctuaries across the U.S.  We have a great chance to win, so cast your vote today and every day until August 22nd .  First place winner will receive a $10,000 grant from HSUS! Please urge your family and friends to participate too – it's easy and only takes a few seconds to vote.  Just visit www.humanesociety.org/chimpart and cast your vote for our wonderful chimpanzee artist, Ripley! Don’t forget - you can vote EVERYDAY until August 22nd at 5 p.m.!
Blossoming New Friendship

Chuckie & Mari walkingFun-loving orangutan Chuckie, has made a new friend...and it's Mari!   The two redheads recently had a play-date, and boy, did they have a great time!  Our concern was how Chuckie would react to Mari who has no arms.  Even though Mari is about one-third the size of nearly 300-pound Chuckie, he was the one who was a little apprehensive when he first entered the habitat.  But after only a few minutes, they were sitting across from  each other and playing a very slow version of “tag.” Chuckie reached out 
Chuckie & Mari relaxing
and tickled Mari’s foot then sat back.  Mari waited a few minutes then stuck her foot out to touch Chuckie.  They did this for a little while, and then Chuckie decided to wander around the habitat.  Mari stood up and followed him everywhere he went.  Both orangutans eventually laid down- head to head- and played tug-of-war with a piece of pine straw!  Needless to say, it was a very gentle version of tug-of-war, but they seemed to really enjoy each other’s company. Pongo is still Mari's "main man", but one of the greatest gifts we can give our orangutan and chimpanzee residents are new and enriching friendships. 

WHY MARI HAS NO ARMS
Mari, a Sumatran orangutan, came to the Center from a research facility in Georgia where she was part of a language and cognition study. Mari is a very unusual orangutan in that she has no arms. She lost both her arms while still an infant when her mother, in a very agitated state, damaged her limbs beyond repair. In spite of the accident, Mari is a very capable orangutan. She uses her chin to hoist herself up, uses her feet as we would our hands, and she walks upright (or rolls when she wants to get somewhere quickly). Initially, we were concerned that she might have difficulty maneuvering in a new environment, but she quickly proved us wrong. She moves with such ease and grace that sometimes we forget that she is missing her arms.

When Mari first arrived at the sanctuary in 2001, she spent several months in quarantine (which is standard for new arrivals). Our first two resident male orangutans (Pongo and Christopher) could see Mari everyday from their nighthouse and were fascinated with her! They spent many hours watching Mari and often tried to get a reaction from her. The first week she arrived, young Christopher “dressed himself up” with celery stalks around his neck and on his head, and then paraded around in Mari’s view. He kept checking to see if she was looking at him. We’re not sure whether Mari was impressed, but he definitely had her attention!

Pongo and Christopher are the first male orangutans Mari had ever seen. She was gradually introduced to both boys and has lived peacefully with them in their large domed habitat, but if the boys get rowdy, Mari handles them either with a “kung-fu” kick, or a spit-in-the-face! When Pongo was an adolescent, but still much larger than Mari, he would retreat into a bucket or tub to get away from the intimidating stare Mari gave him if she wasn’t in the mood for play.

Many mornings, Mari climbs the ladder to the top of the 40-foot tall enclosure using her chin and her feet. And she likes to spend part of the day walking upright through the woods in the chute system. Usually, she follows Pongo everywhere he goes, but occasionally she likes to go out in the woods for time alone.

from the Center for Great Apes website. http://www.centerforgreatapes.org 

A Kid Who Wows Me

In June, I sent Jessica's story about her life with OCD. It had been chosen for NPR's Radio Diaries. Here it is again, but there is now more to the story. Jessica is reaching out to other kids with OCD. Please take a look at this link.
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/camp-audeamus-a-camp-for-kids-with-ocd

I get lots of wonderful emails from kids. We usually write back and forth for a few weeks, then they get bored and move on. However, a few keep in touch, and Jessica is one of them. We've been writing for a number of years now. Jessica maintains a blog where she writes truly insightful comments on books she's read. I think this one is the link to Steve Job's bio.
and another for everything else  http://adhocfornow.wordpress.com

You can imagine how proud of her I am already, and then I find out she's been chosen to be included in NPR's Radio Diaries, which are personal stories written by kids.
Jessica's is the second one from the top. Click on the picture of HOPE. It's entitled Firsts and Fives.
 

The Circus is coming to Town

PLEASE DON'T GO
This video is infuriating and heartbreaking, but if it keeps you or anyone you know from paying to see the circus when it's in San Francisco (or any circus anywhere) then it's worth sharing.

If you can't stomach the video, then imagine what these animals endured to learn these 'tricks' for our amusement.

Would you pay money to see your neighbor beat his dog?

A Mouse can Dream by Prudence Breitrose


A Mouse can Dream


What does it feel like to have a first book out? Well, great, of course. But maybe it would have felt greater if I’d done a better job at managing my hopes and expectations for Mousenet before it was published, in November, 2011.

Yes, there were times in the run-up to publication when I thought the book might sink without trace. But at other times I couldn’t help giving way to “What ifs.” Couldn’t help noticing how some books by unknown authors rocket up in the charts. Couldn’t avoid seeing that word ‘debut’ in rave reviews. At Costco I even found myself visualizing Mousenet in their book section, selling in the millions–but why stop there? I imagined it boxed in a gift set with all its sequels, just like The Hunger Games.

It did nothing to dampen my hopes when a half-page article about me appeared in the San Jose Mercury News. It helped even less when the Merc reporter e-mailed to say that a Hollywood studio had been in touch with him, trying to find me.

And I had an extra reason for thinking my book might perhaps cause more of a stir than most. My mice, who have evolved and become computer-literate, slow down the rate of climate change. Shouldn’t that have got the book banned in a few southern school districts or libraries? And launched me into, say, an interview on NPR, or denunciation by right-wing commentators?

Fame, I was ready for my close-up. As one of my characters says, ‘A mouse can dream.’

It didn’t happen. No NPR. No attacks by Rush Limbaugh. No reviews in the mainline press. No movies (Hollywood decided it was too like Ratatouille.)

True, I had an excellent fifteen minutes of fame locally, finding at my launch party that I loved talking to a roomful of people. I wanted more–but more was hard to come by. For one thing (after saying, ‘we think this will be a big book for us’) Hyperion-Disney did nothing that I could detect in the way of promotion or publicity. Local children’s bookstores weren’t interested in hosting an event for an unknown. And schools? It took more than a year to arrange for a couple to invite me.

Mousenet sold quite well in its first Christmas season, then settled down to ‘chug along,’ as my editor put it, heading into a steady decline over the next year.

True, that year did bring experiences that were priceless. I was invited to make a few appearances–mostly in front of other writers–which helped me realize how very lucky I was to have a book out at all. Then there were the comments from kids themselves, who don’t hold back. Nineteen exclamation points. Seventy six. The best book ever. The second best book ever. If you haven’t read Mousenet you haven’t lived. Kids telling me that they were in pain, aching for a sequel.

This enthusiasm renewed my desire to push my book out there, to get it under the noses of more readers. If it had been my real child, instead of a virtual one, this was the point at which I would have paid for tutoring. For a book, that translated into trying to create a buzz on the Internet.

Not that easy, as I found out. I did try my hand at tweeting, and collected a few followers (two of whom tweet in Norwegian). I also found my way onto some climate-change sites, which gave the book nice reviews. But after a nice little spike in sales when the paperback came out, Mousenet resumed its steady decline.

Until–KABOOM!

I was on vacation in the Middle East when–without any help from me–Mousenet went off to Florida, made friends with people of influence, and got itself nominated for the Sunshine State Young Readers Award of 2014. And this, as Ginny knows, is a big deal (she won the YA award this year with her great Lost in the River of Grass). Weekly sales of Mousenet immediately shot up to more than twice what they’d been at the launch.

So let’s hope thousands of Floridian third- through fifth-graders read Mousenet, and send me emails or Facebook posts covered in exclamation points, and realize that they don’t have to wait for the sequel because Mousemobile will be out in October, and they’ll buy that book too, and maybe write to their uncle in Hollywood about how there could be a great movie and. . .

Stop it!

I shall school myself not to expect too much of Mousemobile (or Mouse Mission or Mouse Menace, which I hope will follow) so that whatever happens will be wonderful.

 
Prudence's last blog post for me was her rescue of a rat named Fido.
http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6120674036008744145#editor/target=post;postID=1394922866105147416;onPublishedMenu=template;onClosedMenu=template;postNum=1;src=postname

On this Blog's two year anniversary... a poem to Lily by Suzanne Byerley


Suzanne Byerley



Lily, I missed you this morning
          but here's what I saw......

Dozens of big and little white daisies
Bazillions of buttercups beaming
Lotsy of flopsy-winged creamy butterflies clapping
Just two teensy yellow ones fleeing
One dark green oak tree (you know the one)
Fat purple clover blossoms
Lavender wild geraniums jiggling
Two kissy-red wild roses
Milkweed coming along
Calf high corn
A solo orange tiger lily singing (just for you) and four billion buds
Packets of weensy gold pocketbook posies
(Somebody filled up the big groundhog hole in the road!)
And from its skinny little stem, one bedazzled blue chicory blossom
hollering "Lily, Lily."

Come home soon!

Suzanne wrote this poem to her granddaughter, Lily, while Lily was visiting her father. They were in the habit of taking 'nature' walks. What a gift Suz was to all of us.


Lily

Friends


flickriver.com

I've been out of town for a week, and the rest of this week will be taken up with our 24th annual Mendocino Coast Writers conference. www.mcwc.org  

P.S. For writers suffering in the heat, the fog is in on the coast.

In the meantime, enjoy this little film.

http://bbemaildelivery.com/bbext/?p=video_land&id=698ef524-730d-4afa-9e78-aea9d16ecf9f


A reminder to Suzanne's friends, her
 memorial will be Friday the 26th, 4 p.m. at
the College.

Amelia Island Osprey by Sandra Baker-Hinton


travel-usnews.com

An artist friend in Florida, Sandra Baker-Hinton, sent this to me after I sent her the link to the Maine Osprey nest Live Cam. Sandra is also involved with sea turtle nest monitoring. This is her blog

We have a little drama going on with our (Osprey) nest here on Amelia Island. I snapped these photos this morning as I left the park after turtle patrol. (The nest) was mounted high on a pole just beside the original nest after the old nest kept falling piecemeal onto the power lines below. Nice to have them care enough to do that for the birds rather than just tear their nest apart. The ospreys took to the nest right away and built yearly right on schedule, except for the year the owls beat them to it, but the minute the owls left with their youngsters, the Ospreys moved right back in.  We have a rather informal group which communicates by email and tries to monitor and report to each other any news from "the pole".  We call ourselves the "pole watchers", and have taken the names for the Ospreys from another fellow who works down the street and watches them also. He calls them, Alpha (the male) and Little Girl (the female of course). Last year we were very sad when the storm, Beryl, drowned the new chicks in the nest.  Alpha and Little Girl went through the motions of rebuilding their nest but when the nesting hormones subsided they finally abandoned their efforts and did not get to raise any in the 2012 nest.  This year things were off to a good start, with no damage from any of the early storms, and two hatchlings in the nest it was determined by "the pole watchers."  Then we began to suspect something had happened when we could only spot one of the parents feeding and caring for the young. Usually the male hunts while the female stays at or nearby watching the nest. Now there was never anyone there except at feeding time. Then a report came to one of us that an Osprey had been found very nearby in the middle of the road with a badly broken wing. Our worst fears were confirmed, tempered by the glimmer of hope that the other osprey was at least alive. The bird was taken to B.E.A.K.S, a wild bird sanctuary, where we found out it did indeed have a very badly broken wing, and although it will live, the bird will never fly again in the wild. The next chore is to identify which bird was hurt, as none of our photos of the remaining parent have been good enough to see if it has the distinguishing "necklace" of the female but we feel pretty sure that Little Girl is the one now feeding and nurturing the chick. We will know for sure when I go to B.E.A.K.S. to get some photos of the Osprey, there and do a story about them.  We have one chick remaining in the nest and are hoping the other one just fledged early and did not get eaten by an owl or eagle. The photos today are of the remaining osprey chick which is almost ready to leave the nest.  Poor Little Girl is such a trooper to work so hard as a single mom to hunt, feed and raise the chicks alone.  

thefreshwaterfly.com

This is the live cam on the Maine Osprey nest. The babies are growing like weeds.
Learn more about ospreys
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/osprey/


Responsible or irresponsible?

During a recent classroom interview, the teacher asked me to tell her students what I'd like them to remember. They'd read Hurt Go Happy. You would think, after 30 years of writing, I'd know what I wanted my take-home message to be, but I had to stop and think. What was my sound bite? What could I say that they would remember?

When I was growing up my mother took me to the Sanford (Florida) Zoo. I was only 6 or 7, but I remember feeling sorry for the animals. Sixty years ago, it was a horrible place. All the animals were is small cages, and people would throw peanuts or popcorn or the butt end of a hot dog bun at them, trying to get a reaction--some display of emotion. I've never been to another zoo, or a circus, or to a Sea World-like aquarium except to do research. Decades have passed and we still keep animals in cages, and whales and dolphins in concrete tanks, then starve them so they will do tricks for food. We lock monkeys and chimpanzees, dogs and cats in cages and test chemicals on them.

So what do I want from you? I hope, if you go to a zoo, a circus, or an aquarium, or see a commercial or a movie with an animal in it, that you will ask yourself where did that animal come from, and what was done to it to make it do what it is doing to amuse me? Then I want the life it's living to break your heart.



Justin Bieber's monkey
http://gawker.com/5993391/postcards-from-prison-8-adorable-images-of-justin-biebers-monkey-under-german-quarantine




farmingshow.com
and then there's
 The Gentle Barn
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-upbeat/rescued-animals-difference-lives-kids-150628186.html?vp=1

Once in 26 years was enough by Ronnie James



Long-tailed weasel
500px.com


Pop Goes the Weasel

At Point Cabrillo Light Station a few years ago, I, and a steady stream of tourists, watched one Long-tailed weasel consume an entire family of gophers. Gopher holes are connected underground and our lighthouse weasel spent over an hour--undisturbed by the audience--popping out of first one hole then another. I can also personally attest that nothing scares a weasel. I had one in my yard some years back, and watched him/her keep five cats at bay, circling, snapping, and charging them until they threw up their paws and withdrew.

As an aside, here on the Mendocino Coast gophers are the ban of every gardener, but we might well be speaking Russian if it weren't for them. They made farming so miserable for early Russian settlers that they gave up and left, but not before they wiped out the sea otters as far south as Big Sur. Sea otter recovery, from the small population discovered there a few decades ago, has been slow and to date only reaches as far north as the Farallons.

brdpics.blogspot.com
LTW in their northern range turn white
in the winter.



Weasel Rescue by Ronnie James

Someone found a small ball of fur curled into a tight ball sleeping on the sand in the middle of a vast beach south of Mendocino. It slept peacefully when they picked it up, so they took it to a State Park ranger who called us. This was Woodlands Wildlife's first long tailed weasel in 26 years, so I spoke with a friend at a large facility that was experienced with weasels. Interestingly I learned that most weasels that come into rehab are found this way--curled in a ball asleep in an exposed place. Some can be handled and don't wake up. If they do, they just look around and go back to sleep. However, within a few minutes, of being fed and watered, they turn into killing machines. In spite of their diminutive size they possess large strong jaws and rows of shark-like teeth which they use to bite and viciously attack anything in range.

I gave it some water and food, then watched in amazement as the docile creature lunged at and tried to attack anything near its cage--my hand and the forceps I use to push the food into it's cage, and it grabbed and tore apart the paper cup I tipped through the bars to pour water into its dish. It even spread the fairly heavy wire bars on it's cage, but fortunately not enough to get out. Then it chewed a clothespin to smithereens and went back to sleep.


I am finally understanding the story in my book about the woman who raised one as a pet and when it was a few months old, it was sleeping in her lap and suddenly leaped up and tore a big gash in her hand requiring a trip to the emergency room and stitches. It probably went through puberty while it was asleep on her lap and woke up a normal adult weasel. I was able to keep weasel in the cage for 2 days during which time this 8-inch-body-plus-5-inch-tail ate 4 adult mice (already purchased dead and frozen from a wildlife food provider) each day. He also used a litter pan (pie plate) and the room began to smell a lot like dead skunk. Weasels are members of the skunk family. I wasn't going to get into the cage to clean him, and he certainly had enough energy to be out killing his own food, so I released him near a meadow and stream with lots of mice and gophers to hunt. There's one animal I won't mind not seeing for another 26 years. --Ronnie James



Ronnie James
Woodlands Wildlife
Woodlandswildlife@mcn.org
www.TouchingWings.org

To learn more about our local Long-tailed Weasel and for great pictures of them, follow this link.

Victory for Chimpanzees!

  
This week, the National Institutes of Health made their final determination regarding the future of using chimpanzees in research.  After going through the 13,000 individual comments that were submitted during the public comment period this spring, the NIH has decided to significantly reduce the number of chimpanzees in research.  A little over 300 NIH-owned chimpanzees will be released and up for retirement in the coming years.  The Center for Great Apes applauds this decision that is definitely a step in the right direction.  We look forward to continue to work with the sanctuary community to get ALL chimpanzees out of research.  
However, the NIH plans to keep 50 chimpanzees behind for future research needs.  They are not allowed to breed these individuals, and must meet the newly accepted recommendations set out by the Council of Councils Working Group such as space requirements, “ethologically appropriate” enclosures (i.e. those that would occur in natural surroundings), etc.  You can read more about the NIH’s decision here: http://www.nih.gov/news/health/jun2013/od-26.htm
Pant hoots to the beginning of the end of chimpanzees in research!

Toddy with her Wubba toy
Address postal inquiries to:
Center for Great Apes
PO Box 488
Wauchula, FL 33873-0488
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Hopeful News, Bad News

By
Published: June 11, 2013
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service proposed Tuesday to bring captive chimpanzees under the protection of the Endangered Species Act, a move that would create one more major barrier to conducting invasive medical research on the animals for human diseases.

 

If the proposal is enacted, permits will be required for any experiment that harms chimps, and both public and privately financed researchers will have to show that the experiment contributes to the survival of chimps that remain in the wild. The recommendation is now open to public comment for 60 days.


The demand for chimps in medical research has dwindled, and the National Institutes of Health is expected to respond to recommendations from its own committee to retire most of the about 450 chimps it owns or supports. The committee recommended keeping a colony of chimps for possible future research on human disease if needed, but that need is not one of the criteria that the Fish and Wildlife Service would consider.

Daniel M. Ashe, the director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, said the proposal would end the so-called split list, with wild chimps declared endangered since 1990 and captive chimps unprotected under the law.

The move was a long time in the works, a response to a petition filed in 2010 by the Humane Society of the United States, the Jane Goodall Institute and other groups with concerns about biomedical research on chimpanzees and the use of the animals in advertisements and entertainment.

TO READ THE ENTIRE STORY 

The article goes on to say that if this passes, it might not protect chimps in the entertainment industry. We have to do that by withdrawing support for any film or commercial that uses a chimp or orangutan.

While the argument for medical research has been that there is a compelling human need, he said there was no such argument for using young chimps in television advertisements, for example, which he described as “entirely frivolous.”

But under the Endangered Species Act, only uses that are considered harmful or harassing require permits. And use in entertainment has not traditionally been considered to be in the same class as taking blood or other invasive procedures.

In separate interviews, Mr. Pacelle and Dr. Goodall said chimps who are trained for entertainment are taken away from their social group when they are young, which is very harmful to them. And, Mr. Pacelle said, once the animals reach the age of about 7, they become too strong or unruly, and the owners “typically dump them into the animal welfare movement for us to care for for the next 50 years,” at a cost of about $1 million over the lifetime of each animal kept in a sanctuary.

What should be, could be.


Last summer I wrote about the cats our local humane society  released into the woods surrounding their facility. Supposedly, they have changed their policy. Mike and Mary Beth Arago sent this story to me--a fine example of what can be done with the right mindset. 

  

 

 

Don't miss the music video at the end of this series of pictures. http://www.sfgate.com/hawaii/alohafriday/article/Lanai-s-kitty-Shangri-La-delights-visitors-4240362.php#item-14733

Lanai’s 'kitty Shangri-La' delights visitors

Jeanne Cooper, Special to SFGate
Updated 4:11 pm, Thursday, January 31, 2013
Never underestimate the power of a cute furry face — or several hundred of them.
That's one reason to explain the Lāna‘i Animal Rescue Center's status as the No. 1 attraction on the former Pineapple Island, per Tripadvisor.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that only 11 attractions are listed, but those who've been lucky enough to enter the "kitty Shangri-la," as one Tripadvisor reviewer calls it, are also struck by the creativity, commitment and compassion of the largely volunteer staff.

With just deer netting, a few discarded pallets and corrugated sheeting, co-founder Kathy Carroll and crew created an open-air sanctuary on 3.5 acres of land donated by then-owner David Murdock (now Larry Ellison) in fall 2009. Dozens of feral and abandoned cats — the largest number of homeless animals on the island — had already found a comfy, no-kill shelter there when I visited a month after it opened.

Returning last week, I found some 370 felines — a number of whom have been "adopted in place" — now make their home there, with plenty of places to lounge, socialize, play or hide, including an attractive bunkhouse with ladder, loft, benches and Adirondack chairs. "An Alabama woman came out after it had been a little rainy and told me, 'Ah'm gonna have mah architect build you a cathouse,' " Carroll said, with a delighted laugh.

The landscaping of a few trees and scrubby brush in red dirt now looks lush and lightly manicured. "We want it to look like a garden," explained Carroll, who has a part-time staff of three to help with animal care and shelter maintenance (and no, it does not smell like cats — fresh breezes help, too.) Since the center opened, a veterinarian who comes twice a week has spayed or neutered about 1,200 cats, Carroll said. The island's animal control officer also now brings them cats, instead of trapping and killing them to reduce the population.

Rescue dogs, such as the 90-pound black lab and a Jack Russell terrier currently with LARC, are placed in foster homes. In the coming months, the center will host its first dog obedience classes for island residents and an "animal camp" for children, who particularly enjoy visiting the site.

Local elementary school students recently recorded a music video at the shelter, "A Kitty Community," to help raise awareness, while the weekly Sunday "pet 'n' purr" open house which attracts five to 25 people weekly. "Kids can come down and play with the cats, who love it," Carroll said. "We just tell the children, 'Use inside voices and no pulling tails!'"

The two Four Seasons resorts on the island also encourage visitors to volunteer at the center, which coordinates group efforts as well as simple tasks for individuals. While some guests decided to leave with a new feline companion, others "virtually adopt" by donating a minimum of $20 a month toward the animal's care and feeding.

Pointing to a black and white cat, Carroll said, "Cupid came here two years ago, shot with an arrow. Now she's my inspiration. Some folks from Vancouver adopted her in place, and when they went back to get married, they made her the 'mews' of their wedding shower. In lieu of gifts, they asked everyone to make a donation in Cupid's name."

The wedding shower raised $1,500 for the center, which has now set up a fund for animals requiring urgent care called the Cupid Fund. Fund-raising T-shirts with designs by Mike Carroll, Kathy's husband and the island's premier landscape artist, and other gift items benefiting the center can be found at the Mike Carroll Gallery in Lāna‘i City.

For crying out loud, Lighten up

ataxophile.blogspot.com
I'll try.
So what do you know about Aye Ayes?

  
Years ago, actually decades ago, my ornithology professor (and dear, dear friend), Dr. Oscar "Bud" Owre, recommended a book by Gerald Durrell. As I recall the title was My Family and Other Animals, but since I read everything he wrote, I'm not sure it was the first.

Durrell started one of the first captive breeding programs for endangered animals nearly a half century before the rest of the world caught on to the idea--or even the need. His sanctuary is on the Isle of Jersey. His books were about capturing the animals he was trying to save from extinction. The animals are anthropomorphized in his books, but he had a Dave Barry kind of eye for the details of their behavior, and his own. I've never laughed so hard in my life. One of his book, The Aye Aye and I, was about capturing the endangered Aye Aye.

I also loved A Zoo in my Luggage and Two in the Bush, if you can still find them. Since I was still flying for Pan Am back then, I bought many of his books in England and New Zealand--ones I couldn't find here.

THIS IS AN ASIDE.
I get lots of wonderful emails from kids who've read my books. We usually write back and forth for a few weeks, then they get bored and move on. However, a few keep in touch, and Jessica is one of them. We've been writing for a number of years now. Jessica maintains a blog about books she's read, where she writes truly insightful comments on books. I think this one is the link to Steve Job's bio.
and another for everything else  http://adhocfornow.wordpress.com

You can imagine how proud of her I am already, and then I find out she's been chosen to be included in NPR's Radio Diaries, which are personal stories written by kids.
Jessica's is the second one from the top. Click on the picture of HOPE. It's entitled Firsts and Fives.
 

Guest Blog by Debra Rosenman


The photo's of Etaito and Gari are courtesy of John Debenham. The photo's were taken at a half way house in Goma, DRC. All the babies were taken away from their mothers, and five of them were at this halfway house for a few months.


I met Debra at a symposium on Chimpanzees in Wichita, KS, some years ago. She told me about the book she was working on. Hurt Go Happy had been out a couple years by then, so we had interests in common. Her dedication to revealing the crimes humans have committed against our nearest relatives in the animal world deserves to be seen. Perhaps you will join me in supporting her effort. GR



I have been working on a book called The Chimpanzee Chronicles: Spellbinding Stories from Behind the Bars, since 2007 and it is ready to be birthed into the world! 

The Chimpanzee Chronicles takes you behind the bars for a glimpse into the hidden worlds and real lives of captive chimpanzees. This unique anthology of twenty-six stories from around the globe exposes the veiled worlds of biomedical lab research, the entertainment industry, and exotic pet trade. While the narratives bear witness to the injustice, exploitation and heartless treatment of captive chimpanzees, the book isn’t only about suffering; it’s also about strength, hope, and compassion. All is revealed through the eyes, ears, and hearts of the chimpanzees and their human caregivers.

Some stories will shock you, some will amuse you, but all will open your heart to reconsider our relationship with these highly intelligent and sensitive beings.
  
We are beginning to recognize the exploitation of chimpanzees in our country, and the suffering they have endured. It’s time for us, as individuals and a nation, to stand together and say, “No more. What can we do for them?”

I have put my heart and soul into this book, and I am proud to be one of many voices speaking out for captive chimpanzees! The stories in The Chimpanzee Chronicles are about chimpanzees, but monkeys and orangutans are part of some of the narratives as well.

Here's a sneak peak-a few paragraphs from three different stories!

From Jen Feuerstein/ Sanctuary Director at Save the Chimps
Hand in Hand: Remembering Rhett


Another practice at Yerkes that really bothered me was the baby monkeys taken away from their  moms on the day they were born, for research. They would stick them in a light-tight black box because they were going to the Main Center where all the  hard-core biomedical research was happening. The babies would then be fitted with prism, contact lenses or goggles, to manipulate their sight and the input of light into their eyes, in order to see how that affected eye development.

The lead investigator for this study did a presentation on the project and they said part of the reason this work was so important was because there was a high incidence of nearsightedness in children in Thailand. The logic of this escaped me. I am nearsighted and I have treatment for it. It seemed to me that perhaps the money they were spending on doing this to baby monkeys would be better spent on providing eyeglasses for children in Thailand.

From Gloria Grow/ Founder/Director of Fauna Foundation in Canada
Knowing Jeannie

In 1981, Merck, Sharpe & Dohme pharmaceuticals sent Ch-562—Jeannie—to the Buckshire Corporation research facility. She was six years old. Seven years later, Buckshire sent her to the Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates (LEMSIP).There, Jean was subjected to years of research including being inoculated with HIV, continual vaginal washes, and cervical biopsies. She was often treated for self-inflicted wounds—a sign of severe stress. Following a 1995 experiment, Jean had what everyone described as a “nervous breakdown.” She was no longer of use to research. For the next two years she was left alone, heavily medicated, in her slightly less than 5’x5’x7’ cage. The drugs did little to prevent her from screaming continually, ripping her fingernails off, thrashing out of control or huddling against the floor in the back of her cage. That is where I met her, sitting in that dark corner, looking more terrified than anyone I had ever seen, lost in another world. Jean looked up at me with beautiful almond shaped eyes that seemed to be pleading, “Will you help?”

From Adriana Martin/ primatologist/lawyer/activist
Friends or Captors? My Memories of Moja and Other Chimpanzee Friends
Moja was a beautiful chimp by all accounts. Her face was very black, she had hazel eyes and her lips were naturally pursed. This gave her a pouty look that made her a crowd favorite at the “Chimpsiums,” the weekend open house for community members who paid a fee to spend an hour learning about chimps and chimp behavior. Red was Moja’s favorite color. When it was time to pass out blankets, she would pick the red one from a pile of multicolored blankets. She signed, “RED THAT.” If there were no red blankets at sleep time, she would sign, “RED.” I would answer, “NO RED, RED DIRTY” meaning that the red blanket was in the washer. She would point to the enrichment closet and sign, “RED THERE.” This was to remind me where I could get a red blanket. During the day, she asked for red clothes to either wear or to make nests. She looked good in red and I think she knew it. Moja would stare at herself in the mirror and comb her arm hair with a brush. Her legs were very straight as was her back. Slender and graceful, she looked a lot like a young Washoe, who was also a strikingly beautiful chimp. I remember Moja's eyes well. Primatologists know that chimpanzees do not like to stare at each other because it is a sign of dominance or aggression, but Moja could look into my eyes, and I could look into hers and neither felt threatened by the other.

Please consider making a small donation, or pre-ordering the book on my Indiegogo campaign site: http://igg.me/at/the-chimpanzee-chronicles/x/1317610

 
With love,
Debra Rosenman
www.chimpanzeechronicles.com

Suzanne


Suzanne and Andy


I spent most of last week at Green Gulch, a Zen Center, north of San Francisco. I was with 12 women friends--most of whom are writers. Four of us share a 20-year history that traces its roots back to the writing group Suzanne Byerley and I started.

Suz was the 2nd person I met when I moved to the Mendocino Coast 21 years ago. We were both writers, and once a week would go down to Noyo Harbor's Old Dock Cafe (long gone) to write and talk about writing. In 1996, when it looked as if the Mendocino Coast Writers conference was going to cease to exist after the departure of its founder, she and I took it over. For the next 8 years we worked as co-directors. In 2004, she and her husband, Andy, made the decision to move to Ohio to be closer to her daughters and grandchildren. We took over the conference together and we departed together, though I've remained a board member.

On Tuesday, while at Green Gulch, we got word that Suzanne had been killed in a traffic accident. I wouldn't normally use this blog to share a personal loss, especially since it goes to so many kids, but Suzanne was one of the kindest, most gentle women I've ever known. On her Facebook page is a tribute written by a young woman who was a teenager when Suzanne took her under her wing after Ona's mother died. It's a beautiful reflection of the kind of woman Suz was. All our lives have lost luster because she's gone. I've chosen to share this because she lost her life in a split second. If she had arrived at that stop sign in Pierpont, Ohio, a moment earlier, or a moment later, she would be with us still.

I want this to be about living your life to the fullest, as Suz did, reaching out to the people who love you, and to those who need you, to care deeply about this planet and to live a giving life.

Suz loved shards--pieces she would fine of past lives: a beautiful feather, a butterfly wing, a stone with a unique shape. On Monday, before we lost her, I found a robin's egg. It was in the yard outside where we were staying. It was stone cold, so I took it in to show the others. On Wednesday, we had our own memorial service for Suz, lead by a Zen priest. We hung messages to her in a Tibetan cherry tree, and I left her my egg.

Before Suz and Andy moved to Ohio, she took me out on her deck and showed me the web a spider had built. It was huge and in a place where they had to use another door to enter and exit their house. Last night, on my upstairs deck, there was a spider building a web that stretched from the roof to the railing. I put a chair under it so I will remember it's there, and to duck.

This is a poem that Suz sent to Susan, one of the 4 of us with the long, long history. How perfect this final message is to us all.
Lineage

Last afternoon
up Waverly Lane
The room ricocheted
with my dna
seven humans
with threads of me

What is this about
cells
all buzzing and crackling
made manifest
in lunatic laughter
pounding out
Heart and Soul on the piano
Singing and pounding
out the pain of my mistakes
now their mistakes
their fortunes
and misfortunes
their hearts
their souls
all threaded and shredded
through mine

written at Chagrin Inn in July 2012

Pinkie


 Video of Pinkie


 
Retired lab chimps see daylight
for first time in 30 years
http://www.hlntv.com/article/2013/03/06/chimp-haven-lab-animals-go-free

digitalewe.com




Tadpole follow-up

Apparently, I'm not the only one with an aquarium full of rescued tadpoles. Here's a helpful website for the care and feeding of tadpoles
Range of the Pacific Chorus Frog
commonly called a green tree frog
They can change from green to brown