A new relationship with animals, nature and each other.

Archive for ‘January, 2013’

  • Introducing the Whale Sanctuary Project

    This blog is taking a break for the next few months so that I can devote my energies to the Whale Sanctuary Project. Here's why.

  • Is the Sloth Sanctuary a Zoo?

    The Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica was the first of its kind for these wonderfully engaging animals, and it was a model for others that followed. But questions have arisen. And…

  • Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary

    Tafi Atome looks like a typical forest in Ghana. The monkeys have been revered in this village for two centuries. But being “sacred” is no guarantee of survival.

  • The Great Irony of Animal “Rights”

    The great irony of the animal rights movement is there is still only one species that has any rights at all: humans. But the Nonhuman Rights Project is setting out to change that.

  • Why Mass Extinction Is Part of Human Nature

    Why would a supposedly “intelligent” species behave in a way that’s bringing about a mass extinction – one that will likely take us down along with so many other animals?

    A Day at Yosemite

    One day, 30 videographers, nine kinds of cameras, 14 minutes of video. Produced by Steve Bumgardner, a former park ranger who, he says, spends his time…

    Cloning Cats, Cows and Neanderthals

    When Prof. Church and others offer, as a reason for cloning Neanderthals, that this may help save the human race from extinction, they simply betray their deeper anxieties about their own mortality.

    Manatees in Space?

    Manatees – those peaceful herbivores who roam the inlets of Florida – are an endangered species. Maybe that’s why they appear to have taken off into…

    What’s Next for the Government’s Chimpanzees?

    The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has taken another big step toward bringing an end to the use of chimpanzees in research. But there’s still a long way to go – and it’s still quite uncertain where the retired chimpanzees can go and who’s going to pay for them.

    The Other Beyoncé Question

    I could care less whether Beyonce was singing with a real voice or not at the Presidential Inauguration. I care a lot more about whether or not she was wearing real fur. Apparently, yes, she was wearing not only a real fur coat, but real mink eyelashes.

    ‘Blackfish’ Orca Movie Is Talk of Sundance

    Is the new movie “Blackfish” – a powerful damning indictment of SeaWorld, screened at the Sundance Film Festival last weekend – this year’s answer to the 2009 Oscar-winning “The Cove”?

    The critics are giving it rave reviews, calling it “a damning indictment of SeaWorld” and even suggesting that “it stands a good chance of putting the “$2-billion theme park out of business.”

    Hunting Twinkle

    I was scrambling up the side of one of the dips after standing in the shade of some pine trees. Twinkle had reached the top ahead of me, peered back down and then ran off to play with one of the other dogs. Then a single shot rang out and I heard a single yelp.

    It took me a moment to realize what had happened.