The End of the African Elephant

Dogpaddling Through Life

In 20 years, most of us will still be alive.

Which means most of us will be alive to witness the extinction of the African elephant. 

photo from worldwildlife.org

Killing of elephants for their tusks has reached unsustainable levels. Humans now kill more elephants than are born each year.

George Wittemyera, Joseph M. Northrup, Julian Blanc, Iain Douglas-Hamilton, Patrick Omond, and Kenneth P. Burnham conducted a study and presented their findings to the National Academy of Sciences of the United States. They extrapolated that in 2011 alone, 40,000 elephants were murdered for their tusks.

They cite an increased demand for ivory in places, including China. A pair of tusks can fetch up to $10,000 American. That’s enticing money for some folks.

But before you Americans start pointing fingers, there’s plenty of ivory trade here in the US as well. There are loopholes in the law preventing the import of ivory. Call…

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Ontario Racing Commission Calls For Working Group To Address Standardbred Shortage After Devastation of Industry

Canadian Horse Defence Coalition's Blog

From the Ontario Racing Commission website, we noticed that the “Horse Improvement Program” is seeking volunteers to “address the declining horse supply for the 2017 Standardbred Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) Program.“

There appears to be a decline in the Standardbred horse supply due largely to the cancellation of the controversial 2012 slots revenue-sharing program at Ontario racetracks under the former Liberal government.

Many industry related jobs were at risk propelling hundreds of Standardbreds into the slaughter pipeline and preventing breeding operations from either scaling back or shutting down completely.   So it’s no surprise that there is now a shortage of Standardbred horses,  since thousands were slaughtered as a result of the poorly-conceived Liberal program.

Those horses,  many valuable broodmares and even foals,  met a terrible demise and are gone forever.  Now, it appears that the Ontario Racing Commission will conclude that a massive breeding program is…

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Happy Gotcha Day, Rumpy!

Dogpaddling Through Life

Today is Rumpy’s 9th Gotcha Day.

It was 9 years ago today I was driving down the street in Winchester, Tennessee, and found a pup hanging dangerously close to the road. He had no cares, no tags, and no microchip. The vet estimated he was between 6 and 9 months old.

It’s the birthday boy! Or as close to a birthday as we can get for him.

I looked for his home, but no one claimed him. So he stayed with me, Sage, and Luckydog.

Many days I regretted that decision, like when I twisted my ankle after having stepped in one of the hundreds of holes he dug in the yard. Or after coming home to find another pair of shoes chewed to oblivion. Or while burying yet another bird… or mouse… or feral cat…. he’d killed.

From the days when Rumpy shared me with Sage and DeDe. There’s…

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Wyoming, A Public Mourns

Wild Horse Education

photo BLM Colin Brayly

1263 Wild horses were removed from the “checkerboard” area in Wyoming. The areas included horses in the Great Divide Basin, Adobe Town, and Salt Wells Creek. These horses lived and thrived in an area of public and private property that had significant interests in livestock and in energy use. The reason they were removed is that wild horses can’t read when they are crossing boundary lines.

Litigation and IBLA Appeals were filed. Litigation did not result in a restraining order. The IBLA Appeal was put “on hold” pending resolution of litigation (WHE assisted with one of the stages of the Appeal).

From BLM website: “This checkerboard wild horse removal is not a population management action related to appropriate management levels. Instead, the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act, Section 4 requires that the BLM remove wild horses from private land if requested by the land owner. This removal also…

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Pictures of Tony – 9.22.2014

Free Tony The Tiger

Recent pictures of Tony and Tiger Truck Stop. If you visit Tony please document your visit and share your pictures and video with us. Email roar4tony@yahoo.com

Thanks again for your continued support to Tony!

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Will My Dog Go to Heaven?

Dogpaddling Through Life

When I was growing up, the consensus of all the religious scholars was that animals have no soul, and therefore, there’s no place for them in heaven.

Indeed, that was the philosophy of Descartes, who wrote in Meditations that animals are automatons with no souls, mind, or reason.

Happy dog with a new toy? And what is that cat doing, anyway?

But as I have grown older, I have watched more people develop close relationships with animals, as close as any other family member. Many of us even refer to our companion animals as “children.”

As scientists show us that animals have feelings, and share community, the religious scholars began to debate that premise. Surely animals have a greater worth than just to be here for our pleasure.

Now we have priests and pastors crawling out of the woodwork to bless animals as a part of the Feast of St Francis of…

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Cat rescued from animal testing lab is given first taste of freedom

Our Compass

SourceMirror

Held in captivity his entire life, this is the moment Xander the cat is rescued from an animal testing laboratory

Imagine spending your life in the same windowless room?

That was the life of Xander the animal testing cat before he was rescued from a scientific research lab in New York six months ago.

The tear jerking video shows Xander (previously known as Jax) and a fellow former animal testing cat on the day they were first released from the windowless lab where they had been living in tiny cages.

The kitties were rescued by the Feline Freedom Project, part of charity called Beagle Freedom Project which is dedicated to legally rescuing dogs and cats from animal testing. The charity have previously posted adorable videos of rescued Beagles stepping onto grass for the first time.

According to the RSPCA, in 2010 152 cats were used in research…

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Adventures in Dog Exploitation- First World Edition

Dogpaddling Through Life

Thanks to social media, we now can watch lots of videos of cute dogs and cats doing incredibly funny things.

But some of those videos make me cringe.

Spider dog, Warsaw (photo found everywhere on the internet)

Let’s review the latest craze- the videos of a dog in a spider costume scaring people. I am hoping those are staged, because I keep thinking it will only be a matter of time before somebody grabs a weapon (or pulls out a firearm) and causes irreparable harm to that dog.

I mean, really? Did NOBODY else think of that?

The guy that filmed this hails from Warsaw, and he told BBC News about, “his mission to change Polish culture, his obsession with taunting the Polish police and just how far he will go for an adrenaline rush.”

NOW do you see why I might be worried?

This phenomenon of cute animal social media videos has helped…

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Not a Creature Was Stirring……

Dogpaddling Through Life

.

,

.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight—

“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

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Horsemeat included in Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the EU

Canadian Horse Defence Coalition's Blog

Canada’s livestock and meat processing industries are cheering last week’s agreement-in-principle on a Canada-European Union trade agreement, but significant work remains before the sectors can cash in.


The industries saluted it as a chance to access a $1 billion market.

“Compared to an average value of only $54 million of meat exports to the EU during the past three years, the results of the (free trade) negotiations will offer export opportunities with a potential annual sales value of up to $1 billion for Canadian beef, pork, horsemeat, bison and prepared meats,” said the Canadian Meat Council (CMC), which represents packers.

Read more here.

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