ROAR #3 ~ environmental damage

Today, October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to focus attention on one single issue: our damaged environment. Bloggers everywhere will post about the environment in their own way and, for me, that means another ROAR. The idea is to get all of us talking about a better future. If you want to know more about what others are doing, click on THIS LINK.

Let me share a couple of quotes from Daniel Quinn's book The Tales of Adam:

(1)
When the gods set out to make the universe, they said to themselves, "Let us make of it a manifestation of our unending abundance and a sign to be read by those who shall have eyes to read. Let us lavish care without stint on every thing: no less upon the most fragile blade of grass than upon the mightiest of stars, no less upon the gnat that sings for an hour than upon the mountain that stands for a millennium, no less upon a flake of mica than upon a river of gold. Let us make no two leaves the same from one branch to the next, no two branches the same from one tree to the next, no two trees the same from one land to the next, no two lands the same from one world to the next, no two worlds the same from one star to the next. In this way, the Law of Life will be plain to all who shall have eyes to read: the rabbit that creeps out to feed, the fox that lies in wait, the eagle that circles above, and the man who bends his bow to the sky."
And this was how it was done from first to last, no two things alike in all the mighty universe, no single thing made with less care than any other thing throughout generations of species more numerous than the stars. And those who had eyes to see read the sign and followed the Law of Life.

(2)
God is life in abundance wherever life is found, but not for all in every season. When the locusts thrive, the birds feast and the bison and the deer go hungry; still that place is as full of life as it was before and as full of life as it can be. No place where there is life is a desert, except to man.

I hope you humans wake up soon because you are ruining everything for us animals as well as yourselves. (I hope, I really hope, I'm not just roaring to myself here.)

ROAR #2 ~ torture

TORTURING ANY LIVING THING IS WRONG !!! It's WRONG. Wrong, wrong, wrong, and wrong-headed!!! ROARRRRRrrrrrrrrRRRRRRR!!

I don't know why it's so hard for humans to understand that torture is just plain WRONG. You torture animals, you torture other humans ... what is wrong with you that you would do such a thing?

Although I have been in the United States only a few months, I have been an informed citizen of the world for a very long time. I am distressed about the way humans treat each other. Oh, I know what you're thinking, that lions kill all the time. It's true that we kill to eat, but we don't torture each other. Okay, you over there, I heard you whisper something about cats toying with small animals they catch. Don't try to change the subject! ROAR-R-R-R-R-R-R-RRrrrrrrRRRRRR !!!!!

And Jimmy Carter, former president of the United States, says the U.S. tortures prisoners. That's according to the Associated Press on Wednesday evening. Here's the article I read:

WASHINGTON - The U.S. tortures prisoners in violation of international law, former President Jimmy Carter said Wednesday, adding that President Bush makes up his own definition of torture.

"Our country for the first time in my life time has abandoned the basic principle of human rights," Carter said on CNN. "We've said that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to those people in Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo, and we've said we can torture prisoners and deprive them of an accusation of a crime."

Bush, responding to an Oct. 4 report by The New York Times on secret Justice Department memorandums supporting the use of "harsh interrogation techniques," defended the techniques Friday by proclaiming: "This government does not torture people."

Carter said the interrogation methods cited by the Times, including "head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures," constitute torture "if you use the international norms of torture as has always been honored -- certainly in the last 60 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was promulgated.

"But you can make your own definition of human rights and say we don't violate them, and you can make your own definition of torture and say we don't violate them," Carter said.

In an interview that aired Wednesday on BBC, Carter ripped Vice President Dick Cheney as "a militant who avoided any service of his own in the military."

Carter went on to say Cheney has been "a disaster for our country. I think he's been overly persuasive on President George Bush."

Cheney spokeswoman Megan Mitchell declined to speak to Carter's allegations.

"We're not going to engage in this kind of rhetoric," she said.

In the CNN interview, the Democratic former president disparaged the field of Republican presidential candidates.

"They all seem to be outdoing each other in who wants to go to war first with Iran, who wants to keep Guantanamo open longer and expand its capacity -- things of that kind," Carter said.

He said he also disagreed with positions taken by Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, who have declined to promise to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq over the following four years if elected president next year.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

If only some of you humans would get as enraged as I am about this issue, maybe you could stop some of the torture. Do you know about the pain an animal goes through testing whether a cosmetic will be painful to you? Probably not, but we feel pain too, you know. Why do you wear that stuff anyway? We lions, we ANIMALS, think we look just fine as we are. So why do you think you aren't good enough the way you are? Is it because you lost all your fur? You DO look a little naked when you aren't wearing pieces of cloth to cover yourselves, but I don't understand why you paint and cover the little bits of yourself that show, like your faces. Oh, well, that's not my point. If you MUST wear cosmetics, try the stuff out on yourselves and leave the rabbits alone! Quit torturing them!

And quit torturing each other. If you don't understand what torture is, let me put it in simple words: QUIT HURTING EACH OTHER. It's that simple. It's what you teach your children, but you don't listen to yourself. Don't hurt anyone. Don't hurt any living thing. ROARRRrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRR!!

Wiener Dawg Race

A three-legged dachshund named Longfellow runs to the finish line to win a race at the Annual Savannah Wiener Dawg Races Saturday, Oct. 6, 2007, in Savannah, GA. Longfellow missed last year's races after being hit by a car and losing one of his hind legs. After recovering for the year, Longfellow joined more than 175 dachshunds from around the South to compete for prizes during races at the Oktoberfest Festival on the Historic River Street Waterfront. (AP Photo/Photo Stephen Morton)

Bonobo baby

In this photo released by the Zoological Society of San Diego, a 1-month old, endangered bonobo is fed by her caretakers at the San Diego Zoo, Oct. 9, 2007. Mali, which translates to 'something valuable' in Swahili, was born on Sept. 4. Her mother experienced a very difficult birth and Zoo veterinarians and keepers had to quickly intervene to ensure the baby's survival. Although she was in critical condition the first couple weeks, keepers report she is progressing nicely. (AP Photo/Zoological Society of San Diego, Ken Bohn)

How baboons think (yes, think)

Royal is a cantankerous old male baboon whose troop of some 80 members lives in the Moremi Game Reserve in Botswana. A perplexing event is about to disturb his day.

From the bushes to his right, he hears a staccato whoop, the distinctive call that female baboons always make after mating. He recognizes the voice as that of Jackalberry, the current consort of Cassius, a male who outranks Royal in the strict hierarchy of male baboons. No hope of sex today.

But then, surprisingly, he hears Cassius’s signature greeting grunt to his left. His puzzlement is plain on the video made of his reaction. You can almost see the wheels turn slowly in his head:

“Jackalberry here, but Cassius over there. Hmm, Jackalberry must be hooking up with some one else. But that means Cassius has left her unguarded. Say what — this is my big chance!”

The video shows him loping off in the direction of Jackalberry’s whoop. But all that he will find is the loudspeaker from which researchers have played Jackalberry’s recorded call.

The purpose of the experiment is not to ruin Royal’s day but to understand what goes on in a baboon’s mind, in this case how carefully the animals keep track of transient relationships.

Read the rest of the New York Times story by Nicholas Wade — dated October 9, 2007 — here.

I'm back

Sorry, sorry, sorry, people! I've been having so much fun with the cubs as they grow bigger and stronger day by day that I just disappeared from the blog. Sorry about that, but not about the fun I've been having. I noticed Bonnie's been doing lots of reading and writing lately, even without my help. If cooler weather ever gets here, we'll work together again. In the meantime, I think I'll share some of the animal stories I've been reading. Actually, I never finished ROARING about animal rights, and I will return to that subject. For now, however, I think I'll just post what I've found. Like that hospice cat I left you with, back in July. You'll be seeing more of me in the future.

Oscar, the hospice cat

Oscar the cat predicts patients' deaths
By RAY HENRY, Associated Press Writer
Friday, Jul 27, 2007

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up next to them during their final hours. His accuracy, observed in 25 cases, has led the staff to call family members once he has chosen someone. It usually means they have less than four hours to live.

"He doesn't make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die," said Dr. David Dosa in an interview. He describes the phenomenon in a poignant essay in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

"Many family members take some solace from it. They appreciate the companionship that the cat provides for their dying loved one," said Dosa, a geriatrician and assistant professor of medicine at Brown University.

The 2-year-old feline was adopted as a kitten and grew up in a third-floor dementia unit at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. The facility treats people with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, and other illnesses.

After about six months, the staff noticed Oscar would make his own rounds, just like the doctors and nurses. He'd sniff and observe patients, then sit beside people who would wind up dying in a few hours.

Dosa said Oscar seems to take his work seriously and is generally aloof. "This is not a cat that's friendly to people," he said.

Oscar is better at predicting death than the people who work there, said Dr. Joan Teno of Brown University, who treats patients at the nursing home and is an expert on care for the terminally ill. She was convinced of Oscar's talent when he made his 13th correct call. While observing one patient, Teno said she noticed the woman wasn't eating, was breathing with difficulty and that her legs had a bluish tinge, signs that often mean death is near. Oscar wouldn't stay inside the room though, so Teno thought his streak was broken. Instead, it turned out the doctor's prediction was roughly 10 hours too early. Sure enough, during the patient's final two hours, nurses told Teno that Oscar joined the woman at her bedside.

Doctors say most of the people who get a visit from the sweet-faced, gray-and-white cat are so ill they probably don't know he's there, so patients aren't aware he's a harbinger of death. Most families are grateful for the advanced warning, although one wanted Oscar out of the room while a family member died. When Oscar is put outside, he paces and meows his displeasure.

No one's certain if Oscar's behavior is scientifically significant or points to a cause. Teno wonders if the cat notices telltale scents or reads something into the behavior of the nurses who raised him.

Nicholas Dodman, who directs an animal behavioral clinic at the Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine and has read Dosa's article, said the only way to know is to carefully document how Oscar divides his time between the living and dying. If Oscar really is a furry grim reaper, it's also possible his behavior could be driven by self-centered pleasures like a heated blanket placed on a dying person, Dodman said.

Nursing home staffers aren't concerned with explaining Oscar, so long as he gives families a better chance at saying goodbye to the dying. Oscar recently received a wall plaque publicly commending his "compassionate hospice care."
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Science writer Alicia Chang in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
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New England Journal of Medicine: http://content.nejm.org/