Thursday - August 06, 2009
How a bat can drive you to despair.
Hey I do have a soft spot for feathers and fur and stuff. Can’t help it. BUT ... this gets a tad outta hand. Read this and see if they aren’t a bit OTT here.
No wait. Maybe a LOT OTT. And all over a teaspoon of what?
I caught this in the property section of the weekend paper and have posted all of it here.
Have fun with this one folks. Oh yeah ...
Wardmama take note. This guy shouldda called on you.
Property: How a bat can drive you to despair
It was when a conservationist found a teaspoon of bat dung in the barn that the nightmare began.
By Christopher Hudson
The nice woman in a tweed skirt came to our back door with a teaspoon, and for the next three months it drove us to the edge of despair. We were selling our house, and early in the year, a couple had fallen in love with it and made an offer that we accepted. They were going to convert our open cart barn into an annex for a housekeeper: something for which we had planning permission, but had never got around to doing ourselves.
However, somebody on Ashford Council, leafing through documents, must have clocked the word ‘’barn’’ on our renewal form. Wheels spun. Alarm bells rang. Barns might be the habitat of protected species: this could be a conservation issue. They wanted photographs. We gave them photographs, clambering into the brick loft space and shooting pictures from all angles. No sign of bats.
But in the meantime the council had passed the matter over to Natural England, the environment watchdog charged with protecting bats and other protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. A young woman from the agency wrote back: “I have reviewed the photographs with our species specialist and it is possible that bats and owls could be using the building. The open bays may be too draughty for roosting bats, but they may use this part as access to the brick building, which appears more enclosed and which may also have potential for bats within the roof tiles, ridges, loft spaces, etc. We would therefore recommend that a bat and owl survey is carried out of the entire structure.”
Enter the woman in the tweed skirt. Philippa, as I shall call her, arrived on our doorstep and asked if she could take a look around outside – and perhaps in our attic? We settled on outside. She came back half an hour later from the barn, holding two minute objects in a tiny cup. As she wrote later, one was half a teaspoonful of disintegrated bat droppings. The other was a single butterfly wing. “Not much of anything there,” I joked. Philippa agreed with a smile. “But I’m afraid I have to make a note of it, or I wouldn’t be doing my job.”
That was at the end of January. No problem. There were months to go before we had to exchange contracts with our purchasers. But we hadn’t reckoned on Natural England. You don’t need to see bats, or owls: simply to detect the potential presence of one on or near the planning application site is enough to set the watchdog slavering. Its remit is to survey trees, unoccupied buildings and other structures where bats or owls, might roost. Failure to comply with the rules – and I am quoting Natural England – can result in fines or a custodial sentence.
A butterfly wing and a half-teaspoonful of dessicated bat dropping were enough for Natural England to object to our application for renewed planning permission “pending results of a bat and owl survey” – since it threw in the possibility of barn owls although there was no trace of them, as Natural England later admitted. With this, the long nightmare began.
By this time, late January had slid into early March. “I’m not going to move house again until I’m carried out in my coffin,” vowed my wife. Our buyers were generously willing to delay completion – there were other unresolved issues – but we could not expect them to wait indefinitely. On March 22, our Natural England bat survey arrived. It began with a primer on the 16 species of bat to be found in Britain – how they were insectivorous and nocturnal, and did not vandalise people’s homes by chewing wires or the fabric of the building. We were further informed that each bat demands a specific ambience for its home, and abhors dirt and cobwebs. Turning the page, we came to Natural England’s conclusions.
It confirmed the single butterfly wing and the half-teaspoonful of disintegrated bat droppings, from which it hypothesised that a solitary brown long-eared bat had passed this way on its way to somewhere else. It dropped the barn owl, but spotted instead two derelict swallows’ nests. These would require us to build artificial swallows’ nests in the barn which would have to be constructed outside the breeding period of April-June. As for the hypothetical bats, we agreed to build a bat loft along the top of the lodge bays which would offer “significant enhancements” for them should they deign to visit our home.
Then came the whammy. In its conclusion, Natural England ordained that, “to ensure no potentially damaging works are carried out, it is recommended that no works are carried out on the cart lodge until after the May repeat bat survey”, warning that DEFRA would need to be consulted before any conversion of the barn could begin. Meanwhile, a further four bat surveys would have to be carried out during the next six months, and a recommended annual inspection of the bat lofts and artificial birds’ nests for the next five years.
In vain did we explain to Natural England that the sale of our home could only go ahead if there were no legal constraints on the property. In vain did we protest that our whole future was at stake for the sake of a butterfly wing and a fingernail’s worth of ancient bat droppings. The agency was already looking forward to providing “a substantial increase in current nesting areas for swallows and roosting sites for bats” where currently there were no bats or swallows at all. The borough council took its cue from Natural England. By the time we had built the “bat palace”, as we named it, in the eaves, and given the swallows their artificial nests, and Natural England had withdrawn its objections, it would have been too late to sort out the planning consent before the exchange of contracts.
We were dead lucky. The couple who liked our house wanted it enough to steer through the barn’s planning permission themselves. For all I know, they are still annually hosting a surveyor crouching bat-like in the barn’s roof space to count the bats during their annual “emergence”. Good luck to them.
Posted by peiper
on 08/06/2009 at 08:20 AM
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Permalink • Thursday - June 11, 2009
Gardening Heroics
In case you missed it in one of her comments yesterday, here are the frightful details.
Hey - short break - we have a snake (biggest I’ve even seen - probably 4+ feet) entangled in the plastic bird netting that is the grape protection system. I discovered him yesterday at about 5 pm - he is still alive at 10:41 am. We are trying to figure out how to get him out - 1) without expending money, 2) without getting bitten - although he seems to be more flight than fight) and 3) preferably without cutting the heck out of the netting (which now seems impossible) however, since he was alive - I tried using the small shears we have out in the garden - no luck and the tree pruner (give me some distance please) - again no such luck. So I think I will sacrifice one of my forever knives (as they are brand new, I have two paring knives and I think that they might be sharp enough to do the cutting). Did I mention that it is pouring down rain? What fun.
I wrote her back with a couple of suggestions for capturing snakes, and some advice for putting in a couple of plants that are natural snake repellents. And I asked for pictures of course!
Drew, I had the urge to run screaming (or magically levitate as your mom did) - but I’ve been around the most egregious of animals (heck a crocodile in the bath tub) - that my run screaming mode has a kill switch. And then yesterday my ‘oh look at the poor animal trapped - how can I get him out’, mommy mode kicked in.
However, I do know that holding his tail end while hubby was cutting the netting away - my heart was racing at about 200 beats a millisecond.
So here:
The first one, shows you how far away I was taking the first pictures.
The rest are pretty much self explanatory.I am shooting off a note to Fiskars - can’t believe that the garden shears (which I’ve used to cut the metal tying ‘string’) and the pruners didn’t cut at all but the Fiskars scissors (and older ones at that, they started in my desk) did the trick.
I have never heard about the rue - will look into it. And tell people if they can identify the snake - we’d be much appreciated - would like to know exactly what is roaming around behind us.
Wardmama4
Ok, do we have any herpetologists with snake ID skills here? She didn’t mention that it had a rattle, so it’s not a rattlesnake. But that big diamond shaped head says Viper to me ... but I don’t know squat about snakes.
And I think she deserves some sort of recognition, for both eco-sympathy and braveness. Maybe we should call her Snake Wrangler from now on or something? 
Posted by Drew458
on 06/11/2009 at 11:21 AM
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Permalink • Thursday - May 07, 2009
run away, run away!
CORIMATA DA CIMA, Brazil – The dirt road that runs in front of her house is a river. Her fields of rice and manioc lie ruined underwater. And with water seeping into her mud-brick, thatched-roof home, Maria do Remedio Santos knows it’s time to join her neighbors.
Like 218,000 others across a swath of northern Brazil three times the size of Alaska, the neighbors have fled the worst rainfall and flooding in decades, braving newly formed rivers teeming with anacondas, alligators and legless reptiles known as “worm lizards” whose bite is excruciating.
Downriver from Santos’ home in the town of Sao Miguel de Rosario, adults waded through waist-deep, muddy water covering the main road — though they kept children in boats to protect them from rattlesnakes and anacondas swimming nearby.
Also driven from their burrows and swimming through the water were rodent-eating reptiles known as a “worm lizards” that look like giant white earthworms.
“So far no one has been bitten here. The main thing you tell the kids is to stay out of the water,” Palmeiro da Costa said from a canoe. [ de Costa is no fool! ]
Alligators swam through the city of Santarem, civil defense official Walkiria Coelho said. Scorpions congregated on the same high ground as people escaping the rising water. No injuries were reported.
Yikes!!
For all you nascent herpetologists out there, and I know there are some, the white worm lizard of Brazil is an odd critter. It’s a snake. It’s a lizard. Without legs. It’s a lizard. It’s a worm. It’s nearly 2 feet (720mm) long. It’s big enough to eat mice but gets buy mainly on termites and beetles, it only has 3 teeth, and it looks like some kind of satanic sex toy. No, really:
The white worm lizard - and c’mon, that’s a naughty name right there - further lives up to it’s viviphallus association, because when caught out in the open, it becomes erect on both ends at the same time to confuse predators. Seriously:
The locals call the thing “cobra de duas cabeças”, which sounds really cool but means Snake With Two Heads. And if that wasn’t kinky enough, the worm lizard is scientifically classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Reptilia, order Squamata, family Amphisbaenidae. You can’t argue with Science, who has lumped this particular squamata in with the regular snakes, even though I’ve read that the little pervert is actually hot blooded. At least warm blooded, but this is Brazil after all. And you know what “amphisbaenian” means, right? Me neither, so I looked it up. It means “goes both ways”. Crivens! It’s the doubled ended dildo snake. If I lived in this part of Brazil I’d be up the tallest tree so damn fast you wouldn’t even see me move. You’d just feel the woosh! as I zoomed right by you.
Hey Steamy - I think I’ve found the natural prey for those [ahem] intergalactic aliens [ahem] you’re always going on about. I bet they hunt this little horror in pairs!
Posted by Drew458
on 05/07/2009 at 05:58 PM
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Permalink • Thursday - April 23, 2009
A 400-year-old mummified cat has been found in the walls of a house.
They do have some very olde houses here. This musta been somewhat creepy to uncover. Looks like the poor thing was alive when it went in.
A 400-year-old mummified cat has been found in the walls of a house that was being renovated.
By Richard Savill
Last Updated: 2:28PM BST 22 Apr 2009The cat, which is in recognisable shape and still has its claws and teeth, may have been placed in the walls of the house in Devon, to ward off evil spirits.
Richard Parson, a funeral director, who owns the house in Ugborough, near Plymouth, said: “The builders were stripping one of the bathrooms upstairs and this little fellow came to light.
“It is quite scary looking and is a lot bigger than a normal domestic cat. “I cannot throw it away so we plan to put it back on completion of the building work. But my wife is not all that keen on it, as she says she will have bad dreams.”
He added: “Apparently 400 years ago people put cats behind walls to ward off witches. It clearly works as, since we have lived in the village, we have not seen sight or sound of any witches.”Mr Parson said neighbours have told him the cat was previously found behind the wall 20 years ago, but was put back by another resident.
He added: “There has been a local myth, a legend, that there was a cat buried in the house but of course we had no idea where that was.
“We were also told about a child’s boot left in the house because it was once used as a cobblers’, and was supposed to bring luck.“I am not a superstitious man but the cat is a little bit of village history and adds charm to the property.”
Marion Gibson, a witchcraft and folklore expert, from Exeter University, said: “Cats were often put into walls as some kind of good luck charm. It seems to have been quite a widespread practice across the European continent.“They seem to have been designed to keep away witches, the evil eye, bad luck, vermin, or anything that can be seen as a threat to the house.”
Posted by peiper
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Permalink • Thursday - April 16, 2009
Donkeys forced to fight for the enjoyment of the kiddies and adults.
Well, he was ‘ass-king’ for it: Boy who forced donkeys to fight goes bottoms up
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 5:14 PM on 16th April 2009Rearing up on their hind legs, these donkeys have been cruelly forced to fight one another for entertainment.
But, as these images show, the young Afghan boy who pitted them against one another soon received his just punishment.
Losing his grip on his donkey’s back, the boy falls hard to the ground.
In fact he does not appear to have fallen all that hard. Too bad he didn’t land on his head. Now that would have pleased me.
These are poor dumb animals and pretty helpless ones at that. This article says a lot about that culture. Look at the faces of these kids.
They are absolutely enjoying the grief these dumb beasts are being put through. So ok. I just happen to like animals. No, don’t want a donk for a pet or anything. And don’t much care for them but I surely wouldn’t go out of my way to hurt one. Come to think about it, I wish the Dems would drop the donkey symbol as it does those poor things a disservice. The Donkeys, not the Democrats.
The unnamed boy forced the animals into a fight outside the German armed forces Bundeswehr camp in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, today.
Donkey-fighting is not particularly common in Afghanistan - a country far better known for dog-fighting.
However in a country that loves to fight, anything goes - and fights featuring cocks, camels and goats are also all common sights.
The Taliban outlawed dog-fighting, believing it was un-Islamic.
But since the U.S. invasion and the Taliban’s fall, the grim sport has been making a comeback - especially in the capital of Kabul.
Now competitions are held twice a week there, drawing thousands of male spectators. Winning purses have been known to reach up to $50,000.
The link above has more photos.
Posted by peiper
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Permalink • Tuesday - April 14, 2009
All world’s Bengal tiger types reared at wildlife centre. Pussy Cats..
I really go ape over this sort of stuff but most especially when it cats. Big cats. Hmm, like small ones too but this is special you have to agree.
A wildlife centre has raised a collection of the rarest tigers on the planet, including the only known complete group of all four varieties of Bengal tiger.
Last Updated: 4:09PM BST 14 Apr 2009
Loka, a 2-year-old female, Royal White Bengal Tiger, and Sundari, a 2-year-old female, Snow White Bengal Tiger Photo: BARCROFT MEDIA
The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (T.I.G.E.R.S.), in South Carolina, has animals of the Royal Standard Bengal (which is orange and black), the Royal White Bengal (white with black stripes), the Snow White Bengal (all white or with ghost stripes), and the Golden Tabby Bengal (red to pale orange cream stripes and saddle).
The wildlife education organisation, which hand-rears its tigers, has 67 at its base in Myrtle Beach, which it claims is the largest group of ‘working’ tigers in the world.
Matsu, a 2-year-old female Standard Royal Bengal Tiger, and Karupa, a 2-year-old female Golden Tabby Bengal Tiger Photo: BARCROFT MEDIADr Bhagavan Antle said: “Standard Bengal tigers are found throughout India, Loas, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia, where there have been an enormous drop in populations and there only a few thousand remaining.
“It is thought thousands of years ago tigers originally came from Siberia, where they were orange and black. But during the last Ice Age tigers were forced to migrate south as far the island of Bali and west to the Caspian Sea.“During this great migration, tigers went through many adaptations in order to fit into very specific environments.
“Over time they became smaller in size and unique colour changes helped them adapt to specific ecological niches.”There are now only around 300 to 400 Royal White tigers left in the world, which all live in captivity; only 30 Golden Tabby tigers; around 10,000 Royal Standard Bengal tigers left in captivity with two to four thousand in the wild; and around just a dozen Snow White tigers, four of which are at the centre.
Dr Antle said: “Historically all of these tigers started disappearing at the turn of the century. So there have been only sporadic reports from explorers and locals who saw these animals in the wild.“These types of tigers were always in very small numbers and found throughout south east Asia in specialised niches.
“But in previous centuries, these types of Bengals were seen in India, North Korea, throughout south east Asia and even up to Iraq and Iran.”Dr Antle added: “Like human photographs, you can see the difference in their age as some of them look a little more grizzled and haggard than others.
“Tigers do have a tendency to stay pristine generally for the first seven or eight years of their lines.
“After this point they start to get more character as gravity takes effect.”
Posted by peiper
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Permalink • Saturday - April 04, 2009
A DEMAND MADE FOR SHEEPDOGS TO BE “MORE CONSIDERATE” TOWARDS SHEEP. NO KIDDING.
Oh how the world become more and more a stranger to me. And sillier and sillier.
I could never post this one on April first.
There is a HUGE super market here called TESCO. I suppose the American equivalent would be Ralphs or Kroger. Whoever is the biggest back home, Tesco is bigger. And Tesco while often a shade too PC and maybe silly too, as tho PC isn’t, well. Don’t know what to say.
Management has decided based on someone’s word from the field, that sheepdogs cause stress to sheep. They need to be trained to be “more considerate to the sheep.”
Damn good idea except I don’t believe anyone has yet managed to open much less think of writing a course in Sheep Sensitivity that Rin-Tin-Tin and Lassie and Rover and Spot might attend.
Tesco tells farm to stop using sheepdogs because they ‘stress’ the flock
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:45 PM on 04th April 2009Sheepdogs herding a flock may be a familiar farmyard scene, but it could soon be confined to the past if bosses at Tesco have their way.
The supermarket chain has told its major supplier of lamb to stop using dogs, which it claims cause stress to the animals.
It means shepherds at the farm may need to use methods such as beating the ground with sticks and waving their arms to control the flock.
Outraged staff at Silver Fern Farms in Fairton, New Zealand may now have to get rid of up to 60 dogs to comply with the orders, meaning several of the animals will be destroyed.
Shepherd Mick Pethram told the Telegraph newspaper: ‘New Zealand sheep are used to dogs, they know dogs.
‘There’s more stress in a human herding and manhandling them, waving their arms and beating sticks. Dogs are part of a sheep’s life. This is absolute baloney.’
He continued: ‘We’ll be desperately trying to sell them, but most of us will end up putting down three or four each.
‘These are good dogs. Taking away our dogs is like taking a hammer away from a builder; we can’t do our job without them.’
In New Zealand, abattoirs are attached to farms and dogs are usually used to herd the sheep before slaughter.
Buyers for Tesco visited Silver Ferns Farm, which is one of the chain’s biggest suppliers of lamb, earlier this year and were said to be upset at the dogs ‘running riot’.
A spokesperson for the store said: ‘ We don’t have a problem with sheepdogs, but we need to make sure they treat the sheep in a considerate manner, so they don’t stress the sheep out.’
Scientists have found evidence that causing stress to animals before slaughter can cause the meat to become pale and watery.
However a spokesperson for the National Farmers Union said there was no evidence that sheepdogs caused animals to feel stressed.
Posted by peiper
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Permalink • Wednesday - April 01, 2009
COULD THIS BE THE PARIS HILTON OF THE CAT WORLD?
Hey, in that sort of mood while the nutters and crazies are screwing up London with protests at the G-20 thing. Bags of hot air.
The politicians and the protesters. A pox on all and so I happen to find this while surfing.
Top this one V. ha.
Made a really big discovery today. Well I didn’t. The wife did.
She has been working the last few weeks a bit at a time, cleaning out her late mom’s things, papers and photos etc. The old lady was a pack rat and so there is a lot. In fact, we were tossing things out as far back as three years ago. And all of it has an odor. Musty. Not very nice. Lots of books.
Gee whiz, I didn’t know the old dear could read. lol
Well .... a few minutes ago the wife came into the room with a small stack of post cards and also ship and aircraft ID cards, all from 1939.
WOW! So far there are 11. Have no idea if there will be any more.
Gonna scan these if I can and post.
Meanwhile I leave you with this.
http://icanhascheezburger.com/
Posted by peiper
on 04/01/2009 at 11:03 AM
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Permalink • Saturday - March 21, 2009
One up, two down, down under
No, they’re not giving birth to a sister island for little Tasmania. And this doesn’t mean that OctoMom has gone on vacation. They’re holding elections, and it looks like the Labor party is still keeping the Liberal party at bay. And they will have a lady in charge; first time ever.
The Queensland Labor Government appears headed for a historic fifth term in office with a modest swing to the Liberal National Party.
“I’m calling a Labor victory in this election,” retiring Education Minister Rod Welford told ABC radio at 7.43pm (AEST) . Earlier, federal Small Business Minister Craig Emerson and Labor senator Mark Arbib also said the Bligh Government had been returned.
With 55 per cent of the vote counted, Labor appears to hold 54 seats in the 89-seat parliament, a loss of four seats. The Liberal National Party appears to have 32 seats, with three independents holding their seats.
ABC election analyst Anthony Green also called the election for Labor. “I think we can say Labor is back,” he said.
A Labor victory will hand Anna Bligh the honour of becoming Australia’s first elected female premier.
“I will do everything in my power to make sure I do not let you down.”
Ms Bligh acknowledged the swing against Labor and promised her party would deliver this term.
“I want to say to those Queenslanders, I have heard your message loud and clear,” she said.
“I know that you want us to do better in government. And you and every other Queenslander deserve the best.
“The assurance I give you tonight and the assurance I give every other Queenslander is that I will work every single day of the next term of government to deliver better government.”
Ms Bligh said if Labor failed again, it would not take long before “people will start marking us very harshly”.
The Premier said Cyclone Hamish and the Pacific Adventurer oil spill [ a recent 1300 barrel event ] had made it difficult to get Labor’s message across to voters.
Notice that the Queenslanders did not A) need Jimmy Carter to oversee the election process, and B) kill each other in the streets. Typical white people, them and their damned orderly transition of political power. When will they ever learn how to do things properly?
Elsewhere down there, because I don’t write about Oz all that often and I have to get off this damn computer and get things done,
- Launceston Tasmania thinks that the accidentally imported freshwater Chinese jellyfish could do wonders fighting the local mosquito population.
THERE could be fewer mozzies in Launceston thanks to a freshwater jellyfish brought on the feet of birds from China.
Scientists believe the tiny jellyfish found in Launceston’s Lake Trevallyn were brought from China as tiny larvae on birds’ feet.The jellyfish, which is the size of a 10-cent coin, was first officially recorded in the state last week.
Rather than being an unwanted or disastrous import like the cane toad, scientists believe the species could be beneficial.
Launceston’s Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery natural science curator Lisa-ann Gershwin said the discovery was important.
“Craspedacusta sowerbyi has a voracious appetite for mosquito larvae,” Dr Gerschwin said.
Yeah, right. Camels, rabbits, cane toads, and now jellyfish. Don’t these people ever learn? Sure, for now the jellies are all cute and cuddly, and eating up all the nasty skeeters. But soon they’ll discover lager and crisps, go on binges, get on the dole, and start going after the schoolchildren. It’s always the same.
- Kangaroo Terror In Bedroom!
[now, that’s really kinky. Bet that sheila never says “Oooh, jump me baby!” ever again]
A KANGAROO crashed through the bedroom window of a Canberra home before terrorising the occupants. The family, from the suburb of Garran in Canberra’s south, was woken early Sunday when their pet dog began barking from the garden. Moments later, a kangaroo burst through a 3m-high window of the house’s master bedroom and on to the bed where Beat Ettlin, his partner Verity Beman and their nine-year-old daughter Beatrix lay.
“My initial thought was, it’s a lunatic ninja coming through the window,” Mr Ettlin said yesterday. “It seemed about as likely as a kangaroo.”
A chef, originally from the Swiss city of Stans, Mr Ettlin, 42—dressed only in Bonds undies—dragged the thrashing and bleeding 2m-tall marsupial out the front door.
Kangaroos and Ninjas. In the dark, they’re all the same. Thank God they don’t have any monkeys down there! And I must add, this is what I call excellent reporting. When animals attack, our reporter got all the details, right down to the brand of underwear the guy had on. Well done!
Posted by Drew458
on 03/21/2009 at 12:31 PM
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Permalink • Saturday - March 14, 2009
HE SAYS IT BEATS PLAYING WITH A RUBBER DUCK. YEAH WELL, I’LL TAKE HIS WORD FOR IT.
Kevin Richardson is a S.African zoologist.
He apparently loves animals and claims he even sleeps and swims with them.
Trusting soul is Kevin.
Now then, if the term Eye Candy can be strictly translated as anything that is very pleasing to the eye, then this qualifies.
All 400 plus pounds of her.
What a beautiful animal.
I love looking at photos like this but will happily pass on taking a swim with them.
Kevin says Meg here follows him around like a dog. That’s cute. Really.
Hope she doesn’t stalk him as food.
Guy is brave or crazy. Both?
I LOVE cats but .....
The top picture was taken from The Telegraph, Bottom shots and text are from The Daily Mail.
Sorry ... no links.
Posted by peiper
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Permalink • Thursday - January 29, 2009
History on the hoof
Heavy horses could be extinct in Britain within a generation, conservationists warned yesterday. Some traditional breeds are under such threat that they are said to be rarer than giant pandas. The Suffolk Punch is listed as ‘ critical’ with only 100 pairs left in the UK. Others including the Clydesdale are listed as ‘vulnerable’ with just a few hundred breeding pairs remaining. Shires - Britain’s best-known working breed - are said to be ‘at risk’. Experts say the huge creatures are dying out before they can be replaced because of a reduction in the number of UK breeders.
Heavy horses have traditionally been used for farm work, pulling wagons and even in warfare where they hauled artillery around the battlefield. But after the Second World War the increasing use of machinery spelled the end of their widespread use on farms and numbers began to drop.
The warning about their decline was issued yesterday by animal charities and by Harry Gotts, 80, one of Britain’s last heavy-horse breeders.
Mr Gotts, of Redruth, Cornwall, says unless drastic action is taken to increase their numbers they could soon become extinct. ‘It is very sad,’ he said. ‘More Suffolk Punch horses die now than are born. They are rarer than giant pandas. If we are not very careful, they will die out.’
At the the Shire Horse Farm and Carriage Museum in Redruth, Mr Gotts has ten Suffolk Punches, seven Clydesdales and six Shires. Dawn Teverson, Head of Conservation at the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, said: ‘A lot of the mares are used as show animals which means they aren’t breeding, and you also can’t guarantee that a mare will produce a foal every year.’
Poetry by Ian Anderson. You really didn’t me to tell you that did you?
Posted by Drew458
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Permalink • Saturday - January 24, 2009
We Buy Oil From These People
Police arrest goat accused of armed robbery
Police in Nigeria are holding a goat on suspicion of attempted armed robbery. Vigilantes seized the black and white goat, saying it was an armed robber who had used black magic to transform himself into an animal to escape after trying to steal a Mazda 323. ‘The group of vigilante men came to report that while they were on patrol they saw some hoodlums attempting to rob a car. They pursued them.
‘However one of them escaped while the other turned into a goat,’ Kwara state police spokesman Tunde Mohammed said. ‘We cannot confirm the story, but the goat is in our custody.
‘We cannot base our information on something mystical. It is something that has to be proved scientifically, that a human being turned into a goat,’ he said.Belief in witchcraft is widespread in parts of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation. Residents came to the police station to see the goat, photographed in one national newspaper on its knees next to a pile of straw.
I think Nigerian beer must be some rather amazing stuff.
Posted by Drew458
on 01/24/2009 at 11:45 AM
Filed Under: • Africa • Animals • Fun-Stuff • Stoopid-People •
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Permalink • Tuesday - December 30, 2008
A FISHY STORY WITH PHOTO.
Hard to believe this fellow isn’t a pro. What a shot. Still, I’ve heard from professional photographers who claim that pure luck is like 90 percent of a shot.
But I never believed it myself. For example, Vilmar says he isn’t a professional. OK, perhaps because he didn’t want to sell stuff. Fact is though, he takes some smashing photos and his composition is spot on. None of his stuff looks like ‘luck’ to me. It looks like professional quality.
So this picture really has me impressed. But is also almost looks computer generated.
The photo in the hard copy edition is a bit better. I thought all the black (on my screen) above the shark’s head looked like molten lava.
I don’t ever wanna be close enough to one of these to take any kind of photo.
Lemon shark ‘grins’ into camera in award-winning photo
A remarkable photograph of a lemon shark which appears to be grinning for the camera has won an international competition.
Last Updated: 2:47PM GMT 29 Dec 2008
Bruce Yates’ smiling shark picture that has just won an award at the prestigious 2008 NATURE’S BEST PHOTOGRAPHY - WINDLAND SMITH RICE INTERNATIONAL AWARDS.
Bruce yates used a ‘fisheye’ lense to take the picture. Photo: Bruce Yates / Barcroft MediaThe close-up of the shark’s face was selected from more than 20,000 photos as winner of the Oceans division of the Nature’s Best Photography 2008 Windland Smith Rice Awards.
American amateur photographer Bruce Yates 54, from Medina, Seattle, snapped the creature on a 15mm ‘fisheye’ lens in July last year in the Bahamas.
He said: “My wife and I were on a “liveaboard” boat trip to see and dive with sharks in the northwest part of the Bahamas, in an expansive area many miles from land with relatively shallow water (5-20 metres deep).
“The shark was roughly 8 feet long and only a few inches from my camera.
“Although this particular photo makes it look like the shark is smiling, it is really just closing its mouth after trying to grab a bit of fish.”
He said: “The camera happened to catch a moment in which its mouth - not quite closed - resembles a grin.
“It is an expression that I have never seen on a shark before, and I doubt I could get that shot again if I tried for the rest of my life!”
The lemon shark - Latin name Negaprion brevirostris - inhabits coastal inshore waters from New Jersey to Southern Brazil, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean and along Senegal and the Ivory Coast of Africa in the eastern Atlantic.
Despite their large teeth, they represent a small threat to humans with only 10 unprovoked attacks recorded and no fatalities.
A large print of the image will be on show at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC until May 2009.
“As an amateur photographer, you can imagine how shocked I was when one of my photos was not only recognised, but actually won! It is still hard for me to believe.
“And it just goes to show that you don’t have to be an ‘expert’ or professional photographer to take good photos.”
Posted by peiper
on 12/30/2008 at 05:33 AM
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Permalink • Monday - December 29, 2008
Video: Great white shark circles kayakers and fishermen in Sydney .
Amazing footage of the moment a group of kayakers and fishermen found themselves being circled by a great white shark has been released.
By Jon Swaine
Last Updated: 1:27PM GMT 29 Dec 2008
One of the group was even knocked into the water by the shark, and was forced to tread water while the man-eating creature circled him for a minute.
The incident took place in Sydney, Australia, on the same day that Brian Guest, of Perth, was killed by a shark on the other side of the country.
Steve Kulcsar, the 29-year-old kayaker who was knocked overboard, told the Australian Daily Telegraph: “A fisherman yelled out, ‘There’s a 5m shark coming your way.’ We all thought he was just trying to stir us up for a laugh, but a few moments later, a big fin appeared.”
Posted by peiper
on 12/29/2008 at 11:05 AM
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:
It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.
- Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
- Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
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- Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere
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Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
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