Posted by Drew458     on 05/24/2008 at 08:34 PM   
Filed Under: • Amazing Science and Discoveries • Animals •  
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   Thursday - May 22, 2008

MAJOR MOONBAT ALERT!!  Activists want chimpanzee declared a person

A British woman is leading a court challenge to have a chimpanzee declared a “person” so the animal can enjoy “human rights”.

Paula Stibbe and a group of Austrian animal rights activists want the European Court to declare that the ape, who they have given the name Matthew Hiasl Pan to make him sound “more human”, legally declared a person so she can be appointed his guardian.

Mrs Stibbe wants the declaration so she can take care of the 26-year-old chimp if the bankrupt animal sanctuary in Voesendorf, south of Vienna, where he currently lives, is forced to close.

The European Court of Human Rights case comes after Austria’s Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling against the group - known as the Association Against Animal Factories - who wanted a trustee appointed for Matthew so Mrs Stibbe could look after him using money pledged by a benefactor.

The court ruled the chimp was neither mentally impaired nor in danger, which are the legal grounds required for a guardian to be appointed.

“We appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, because everybody is entitled to a fair trial, even chimps,” said Martin Balluch, the group’s president.

He said humans and chimps had so much DNA in common, that the court should declare Matthew a person.

“This question is of paramount importance,” said Mr Balluch, who said he would use expert opinions from prominent scientists, anthropologists, lawyers and philosophers in the case.

Mr Balluch said activists wanted to ensure the ape, which was captured as an infant in Sierra Leone in 1982 and smuggled to Austria for use in pharmaceutical experiments, is cared for if the shelter was closed.

Matthew, and another chimp at the sanctuary, cost about £4,000 a month to keep and while a donor has offered to pay for the upkeep, under Austrian law, only a person can receive gifts. Matthew is expected to live until he is 60 and activists say only a “declaration of personhood” would ensure he was not sold for profit.

http://tinyurl.com/5x2rxm

OK, I understand their well meant strategy but, it’s still >>>>>

Posted by peiper     on 05/22/2008 at 09:54 AM   
Filed Under: • Animals • Humor • Miscellaneous •  
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   Wednesday - May 14, 2008

Did I miss the “Denial Of Reality” memo?

US Declares Polar Bears “Threatened”

U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced that the polar bear will receive protection as a “threatened” species under the U. S. Endangered Species Act. Conservation groups had petitioned the U.S. to give full “endangered” protection to the mammals — citing a rapid decline in Arctic sea ice, and U.S. government studies predicting a rapid decline for the bear population due to loss of habitat. The government was under federal court order to rule on the bears’ status by tomorrow.

Just in case you were wondering, here is yesterday’s picture of the sea ice, compared to the sea ice in mid January.

Lost of habitat indeed. The parts of the world where Ursus Maritimus (the old pole bar) lives are the least habitated areas on the planet. And the ice pack seems to be doing just fine. Heck, if this fellow is reporting things properly (looks that way to me) then there is actually far more ice around right this minute than is usual for this time of year, for the past 25 years!

On a global basis, world sea ice in April 2008 reached levels that were “unprecedented” for the month of April in over 25 years. Levels are the third highest (for April) since the commencement of records in 1979, exceeded only by levels in 1979 and 1982. This continues a pattern established earlier in 2008, as global sea ice in March 2008 was also the third highest March on record, while January 2008 sea ice was the second highest January on record. It was also the second highest single month in the past 20 years (second only to Sept 1996).

But, but, but, if it isn’t the ice pack, or the habitat, something must be killing of the polar bears. Right? Otherwise they wouldn’t get put on the Threatened List. Right? So maybe it’s from hunting? Just how few bears are left, and how many did there used to be? Well, according to Polar Bears International

“In the 1950s the polar bear population up north was estimated at 5,000. Today it’s 20- to 25,000, a number that has either held steady over the last 20 years or has risen slightly. In Canada, the manager of wildlife resources for the Nunavut territory of Canada has found that the population there has increased by 25 percent.”

So the P-bear population is 4 or 5 times higher than it used to be. Gee, that seems really threatening. But wait, I was wrong. (which is why you should always follow the links and read things for yourself.) Mr. Dr. Expert at that web site says this is a bogus statement, and the real truth is ... um ... well ... we don’t exactly know, and we never really did know, exactly or even roughly how many bears there are or used to be. Hey, maybe because they’re hard to see? Especially in snowstorms! But let me not knock Mr. Dr. Expert On Polar Bears. He is giving us an answer, and it’s a very scientific and wordy “we don’t know”. At least that’s honest science. For once.

So maybe people should lay off hunting the bears for a few decades, just to see what happens. It worked here in NJ with our regular bears, and now they’re damn near everywhere. I’m sure that when the P-bear population rises enough so that they start competing with California coyotes for tasty little children to snack on, then it will be time to think about “managing” their numbers.

So, let’s have a tiny bit of truth in government. Ain’t nothing wrong with the polar bear habitat. And nobody can tell if their numbers are growing or shrinking. Nope, they just got the special treatment from the evinron-mentalists because they’re cute when they’re babies.

UPDATE

HA! The thing about news blogging is that everyone else is going to jump on the same story. There are no exclusives, and nobody really cares if you get there first. So Michelle Malkin has put up her version of this story, which links over to the American Enterprise Institute. Where they say, and she quotes

At present, polar bear populations are robust and, according to native people, are considerably larger than they were in previous decades. Predictions of polar bear endangerment are based on two sets of computer models: one set predicts how much Arctic sea ice will melt as a result of global warming, and the other predicts how polar bear populations will respond. But computer models of climate are known to be fraught with problems, and the ecological models used to predict polar bear response are equally limited.

Because of extreme limitations in data, it is essentially impossible to decide whether polar bears are endangered and whether their habitat is threatened by man-made global warming or other natural climate cycles. This is acknowledged by the experts themselves–the actual IUCN/SSC report is more broad in naming causes and more conservative about estimating their effects.

What we do know about polar bears is that, contrary to media portrayals, they are not fragile “canary in the coal mine” animals, but are robust creatures that have survived past periods of extensive deglaciation. Polar bear fossils have been dated to over one hundred thousand years, which means that polar bears have already survived an interglacial period when temperatures were considerably warmer than they are at present and when, quite probably, levels of summertime Arctic sea ice were correspondingly low.

In discussions of whether to drill in the Arctic, one of the arguments raised by environmentalists is that this would harm the habitats of the many creatures, including polar bears, that make their homes in Alaska. If polar bears are placed on the endangered species list, the legal hurdles to oil and gas drilling will increase.

Now, I have to say that I didn’t think of that, perhaps because the news articles I heard and read said “threatened”. But it nice to see that both AEI and Ms. Malkin notice the same Global Warming tie-in I wrote about. Even sweeter is AEI’s title for their article - “Is the Polar Bear Endangered, or Just Conveniently Charismatic?” which really says exactly the same thing I did, although maybe in a little more polished manner: the darn bears got on the list because they’re cute.

Posted by Drew458     on 05/14/2008 at 02:41 PM   
Filed Under: • Animals • Climate-Weather • Government •  
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   Friday - May 09, 2008

What, coyote blogging again?

Melissa Rowley left her children playing in the front yard for only a moment to step into her house.  When she came back a coyote was dragging her daughter away.  The coyote grabbed the 2-year-old by the head and tried to drag her towards the street in the mountain community of Lake Arrowhead on Tuesday.  When Rowley came out of the house and ran toward her daughter, the animal released the girl and ran away.  Rowley took her daughter to a hospital where the toddler was treated for several puncture wounds to the head and neck area, and a laceration on her mouth.  She was then flown to Loma Linda University Hospital for further treatment, although her injuries were not life-threatening. She was released from the hospital Wednesday afternoon and is expected to fully recover.

It was the third time in five days a coyote had posed a threat to a small child in Southern California, San Bernardino Sheriff’s spokeswoman Arden Wiltshire said.  State Fish and Game wardens and county animal control officers set traps for the coyote and were monitoring the neighborhood high in the San Bernardino Mountains about 65 miles miles northeast of Los Angeles.

On Friday, a nanny pulled another 2-year-old girl from the jaws of a coyote at Alterra Park in Chino Hills, a San Bernardino County community about 30 miles east of Los Angeles. The girl suffered puncture wounds to her buttocks and was treated at a hospital.

A coyote came after another toddler in the same park Sunday. The child’s father kicked and chased the coyote. Alterra Park is near Chino Hills State Park, a natural open space of thousands of acres spanning nearly 31 miles.

The park was temporarily closed by Fish and Game officials so trappers could locate the animal. Trappers caught and killed three animals in Chino Hills Tuesday night, one of which they believe is the coyote who bit the child, said Fish and Game spokesman Harry Morse.  Morse said biologists can’t explain the rash of coyote incidents.

Looks like the coyote problem is getting a little out of hand in California. And, while I am proud of the adults who fought back against these critters to save their kids, there is a better way to deal with the problem. A long sturdy hardwood hiking staff or a baseball bat if there’s nothing else at hand, sure. But what you really want is a gun. Just about any centerfire pistol will take out a medium coyote at across-the-sandbox ranges, but the better way is to actually hunt them before they try to eat your chidren. Really. Proactive measures are called for.

Oh, and for you non gun nuts, the .22-250 shoots the exact same diameter and weight range of bullets that the Army uses in the M-16 rifle. But it shoots them a good 25% faster than the 5.56x45 NATO cartridge that the Army uses. So this coyote shooter is quite a bit more powerful than the “high powered assault rifle” crapola you always hear on the news. And just so you really know, a .22-250 is still a pretty wimpy round. Many states do not allow it to be used for deer hunting, although some do. Most deer hunters use guns that shoot far bigger bullets than this one does.

Posted by Drew458     on 05/09/2008 at 11:57 AM   
Filed Under: • Animals •  
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   Saturday - May 03, 2008

Coyote Blogging

CHINO HILLS, Calif. — A nanny pulled a 2-year-old girl from the jaws of a coyote when the animal attacked the toddler and tried to carry her away in its mouth, officials said.

The girl was playing Friday in a sandbox at Alterra Park in Chino Hills in San Bernardino County. Around 10:30 a.m., the caretaker heard screaming and saw a coyote trying to carry the child off in its mouth, officials said.

The babysitter grabbed the child and pulled her from the coyote’s grasp, the sheriff’s department said in a statement.  The coyote then ran off into nearby brush.

The child suffered wounds to her buttocks and was taken to Chino Valley Medical Center and was later released, director of nursing Anne Marie Robertson said. She was later transported to Loma Linda University Medical Center to receive the rabies vaccine.

San Bernardino County Animal Control and the State Department of Fish and Game were searching for the animal, Wiltshire said.

Miller said there was another attack in the area in October when a coyote bit a 3-year-old girl playing in a cul-de-sac. The girl needed treatment for puncture wounds to the head and thigh, Miller said.

“When Animals Attack!” “A dingo ate my baby!”. No, I’m not trying to go down the sensationalist path. But I’m not buying into the “displaced from their natural habitat by encroaching suburbia” argument either. Animals adapt, given time. Even predators. This example doesn’t surprise me at all; it’s only a matter of time until a child is killed and eaten. Controlling the predators is one reason we have hunting. Looks like this part of California could do with some more of it. Sooner or later the folks in charge will have to decide that people are more important ... but right now even bullets are illegal in some parts of California, a move Ahnold signed into law 15 months ago to save the condors.

Chino Hills is a very well-to-do little area in the eastern part of the greater Los Angeles area. Partway up a mountain, it’s an oasis of “country” (with only 915 people per square mile!) surrounded by mega-suburbia. And it’s not like this incident is anything really new. The city webpage has a whole FAQ about coyotes:

Chino Hills officials urge residents to learn the steps they should take to live safely near open space areas and wildlife. Residents need to take steps to protect their children and small
pets at all times, even in their own back yards, their front yards, and at local parks. Children and small pets should be supervised at all times and should not be left outside alone. Pets should be fed inside if possible. Outdoor food and water dishes should be removed when pets finish their meals. Residents should never leave water or food out for wildlife.

Chino Hills was ranked as the 25th safest city in America in 2005 ... I wonder if that will change now?

Posted by Drew458     on 05/03/2008 at 09:55 AM   
Filed Under: • Animals •  
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   Tuesday - April 15, 2008

MUSLIM THREATS CONTINUE AT TRIAL: update

Airline suspect’s ‘volcanoes of revenge’ threat

By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent
Last Updated: 9:16pm BST 14/04/2008

One of the leaders of the alleged airline suicide plot threatened “volcanoes of anger and revenge” on the British public for caring more about foxhunting than the war in Iraq, a court has heard.

Ahmed Abdulla Ali, 27, filmed a “martyrdom video” in which he said that large demonstrations had forced the Government to change its policy on bloodsports and accused his targets of showing “more care and concern for animals” than for Muslims.

Well DUH!  Of course we care more for animals.  They smell better usually, even when they don’t they still smell better.  They don’t usually have lice and don’t wear silly unkept beards.  Animals are more civilized, better looking, smarter as a rule, not sneaky and underhanded, don’t become terrorists, are nicer to be around then muslims AND .... they don’t smell as bad. Animals are nice, mostly.  Muzzies ain’t.  Cept rats. None of what I wrote about animals applies to rats. Rats are the muslims of the animal world.

He said he would teach the West a “lesson they will never forget” in the video played to the jury.

Ali and seven other men are accused of planning to blow up transatlantic airliners in a suicide bombing operation planned in August 2006. As the trial moved into its second week, jurors at Woolwich Crown Court were shown the full “suicide” videos filmed by members of the gang accused of plotting to blow up transatlantic jets in mid-air over America and Canada.

Referring to the foxhunting debate he said: “When foxes are being killed you do massive demonstrations and forced the Government to change policies, so what when the people are being killed?

“You don’t care about the Muslims that are being killed.”

Of course not.  Foxes a problem sure but ... they’re better looking then any muslim can ever hope to be.  Even they’re more civilized. Foxes that is.

Story and jury video here: >> http://tinyurl.com/6nmael

Posted by peiper     on 04/15/2008 at 10:23 AM   
Filed Under: • Animals • Muslims • Terrorists •  
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   Saturday - April 05, 2008

Police withdraw anti-gambling posters depicting Bill Clinton

It’s very late here and I just couldn’t resist posting this.
Cheers.

Met Police withdraw anti-gambling posters depicting Bill Clinton
By Richard Edwards, Crime Correspondent
Last Updated: 6:40pm BST 04/04/2008

The Metropolitan police have embarrassingly removed posters which used a cartoon of a “shifty” looking Bill Clinton to warn of the dangers of gambling.

Bill Clinton depicted in the Metropolitan Police’s poster
It emerged yesterday that community police officers in east London had produced the posters proclaiming: “Street Gamblers: Don’t Give Them Your Money!” with an image of the former American president looming over a gambling table, with his large hands planted next to a three-card trick.

The image was drawn by the Australian Pulitzer prizewinning cartoonist and can be viewed at the Library of Congress on Capitol Hill.

Scotland Yard became aware of the posters yesterday and in a statement said that they have “since been removed”.

They also apologised for “any inconvenience caused by the posters” - presumably to the cartoonist and Mr Clinton. The statement said: “We are aware of the Safer Neighbourhoods poster produced by officers from the Green Street Ward in Newham.

“The poster was intended to tackle the issue of illegal street gamblers in the Green Street area and had been printed as a result of concerns raised by local residents and business owners.

“Only five posters were produced over three months ago and have since been removed.

Officers of Green Street ward will continue to liaise with the local community to tackle concerns they may have about anti-social behaviour and apologise for any inconvenience caused by the posters.”

http://tinyurl.com/6fdg59

Posted by peiper     on 04/05/2008 at 04:41 PM   
Filed Under: • Animals • Humor • Love-Marriage •  
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   Friday - January 25, 2008

A SHORT CROCK STORY

Nothin’ to do with Moonbats I know but an interesting piece (and a short one).
See photo: 

http://tinyurl.com/3apzl6

Man shot while being rescued from crocodile
By Mark Chipperfield in Sydney
Last Updated: 2:48am GMT 24/01/2008

An Australian man shot his friend in the arm while trying to rescue him from a crocodile.

Jason Grant was collecting eggs at a crocodile farm at Marrakai Station, 75 miles east of Darwin, Northern Territory, when a saltwater crocodile snatched him by the arm. His colleague, Zac Fitzgerald, immediately grabbed a pistol and fired two shots.

Bite to eat: crocodile farm worker Zac Fitzgerald, who accidentally shot his friend in the arm in rescuing him from one of the beasts
A police spokesman said: “The male colleague shot at the crocodile causing it to let go of the victim’s arm, but a further shot hit the victim in the upper right arm.”

The injured man was flown to the Royal Darwin Hospital where he underwent surgery for a broken arm, crocodile bites and a bullet wound.

A spokesman said that Mr Fitzgerald saved his colleague’s life, but could not confirm whether Mr Grant would regain the full use of his arm. Mr Grant, apparently, is not holding a grudge against his mate.

Posted by peiper     on 01/25/2008 at 09:13 AM   
Filed Under: • Animals • Miscellaneous •  
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   Tuesday - October 30, 2007

Terrorists in Massachusetts

From Tamera, we see that the sheeple in MA are beyond hope.

Turkeys Terrorize Massachusetts

The Boston Globe tells us that the wild turkey population is up in Massachusetts and that residents of Brookline don’t much like it. Assertive turkeys are harrassing people on sidewalks.

“The problem, according to some Brookline residents, is that the turkeys can be aggressive at times. Dr. Ruth Smith, an internist from New York City, was staying with a cousin in Brookline a couple of weeks ago when she was stalked by what she describes as a 3-foot-tall turkey.

“He came at me and, at first, I tried to shoo him away,” Smith recalled. “I figured I’d just go ‘Shoo!’ and he’d go. But he was very aggressive.”

Smith said she escaped by ducking into the Dunkin’ Donuts on Beacon Street.”

Good grief.  I think anyone over 10 years old in my whole county knows what to do with an aggressive turkey.  They have the means & motive, but not this opportunity.  Heavens.  What I wouldn’t give to have this bird come strutting into my sights.

Posted by Mr. Christian     on 10/30/2007 at 12:49 PM   
Filed Under: • Animals • Stoopid-People •  
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   Friday - July 06, 2007

Fat People Are Killing The Polar Bears

Indeed.

Two recent gems from New Scientist magazine…

First up, Climate Change Sceptics Criticise Polar Bear Science, a story about some bad scientists, funded by bad money, who have apparently published some bad science in what is presumably a bad science journal, for bad reasons.

As the poster child for the climate change generation polar bears have come to symbolise the need to tackle climate change. But their popularity has attracted the attention of global warming sceptics funded by the oil industry, who have started to attack polar bear science.

Willie Soon’s paper, which appears in the journal Ecological Complexity, questions ‘whether polar bear populations really are declining and if sea ice, on which the animals hunt, will actually disappear as quickly as climate models predict.’ But that’s all New Scientist has to say about the science.

No need to really put science in a science journal when there are so many good feelings and opinions out there, is there?

Even more absurd is Say No to Global Guzzling - How the Obesity Epidemic is Aggravating Global Warming by Ian Roberts of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who appears to be offering an epidemiological perspective on global warming.

We tend to think of obesity only as a public-health problem, but many of its causes overlap with those of global warming. Car dependence and labour-saving devices have cut the energy people expend as they go about their lives, at the same time increasing the amount of fossil fuel they burn. It’s no coincidence that obesity is most prevalent in the US, where per capita carbon emissions exceed those of any other major nation, and it is becoming clear that obese people are having a direct impact on the climate.

Roberts speciously reasons that obese people, who (allegedly) consume 40% more calories than non obese people, (allegedly) use their cars more because they are too fat to move properly, and (allegedly) eat the kind of things which are more CO2 intensive, contribute disproportionately to global warming than their thin counterparts.

The one quote in the commnets is precious:

Posted by Mr. Christian     on 07/06/2007 at 03:24 PM   
Filed Under: • Animals • Climate-Weather •  
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