Monday, February 26, 2007

Urgent!!! Wolf Delisting Hearing Thursday March 1

Thursday, March 1st in Helena, Montana U. S. Fish, Wildlife, & Parks will be holding a public meeting on the current wolf delisting proposals. Idaho and Wyoming are basically proposing an "eradication to the maximum allowable limit" plan. It is abolutely vital that anyone that can attend go there and speak up!!! I am at this moment trying to gather friends to make the trip up there for the day. After debating about going or not, I looked at some pictures on my walls of wolves and I knew I have to go. I cannot live with myself if I do not. I will go wolf-watching in the Park some other time. I urge everyone to go to the Defenders of Wildlife site for complete information.
Thanks for getting the posts going.

The overpopulation myth

At work this weekend, I once again ran into conflict with the opposition. This one was going to shoot his new gun this weekend at a spot that is for informal target practice. I said I hope he wouldn't be shooting birds or prairie dogs and he just laughed and laughed. Then another guy joined in to back him up. Well, you can imagine what they were saying. Apparently, this type of thing is not only "fun" but it is necessary for overpopulation. These two actually think that elk will end up ruling the world if they are not hunted! Seems like a good knowledge of your basic ecology and elk (or whatever other animal) is needed here. Elk cannot live just anywhere anyway. Every animal's survival is dependent on its habitat-and unfortunately on hunting. I like elk as much as anyone, but I sure don't think they will ever be able to take over the planet-even without hunting. It goes to show that probably the majority of the public may be completely misinformed about animals because hunting is a big money-making business.

On a happy note, I will be traveling to Yellowstone this weekend to do some wolf-watching before the bears wake up. I bought a new spotting scope for this. I've only seen one wolf in the Park so far in the Park. It was last August about 11:30 am. It was crossing Hayden Valley from east to west and went up Mary Mountain. Came within 10ft. of where I was standing! I almost passed out from excitement! I was in so much shock that I had to acually ask a guy up the road from me if it was a real wolf. What a dummy, huh? It wasn't collared but it was most likely part of the Hayden Pack. I will post any animals I see this trip.

Friday, February 23, 2007

Help keep cats, dogs, racoons, etc. off of our fashions

Please visit this Humane Society page to urge your repersentatives to pass a bill that would require labeling for fur on fashion. We should have the right to know, especially since many consumers purchase faux fur fashions thinking that it is kill-free. The lengths businesses will go through to make a profit is unbelievable sometimes!

https://community.hsus.org/campaign/FED_2007_fur_labeling?rk=s71M73n1g_GkW

You may have to copy & paste it into a browser, since the link doesn't seem to want to work right now.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Why this blog was created

I am trying to set up a blog so that people who love animals (live ones) can share stories, photos, thoughts, concerns, pets,ceducational materials, good hiking trails, good vegetarian meals, environmental concerns, or whatever else. We need a place where we can talk freely without continuously having to defend our views. I have become sick of all the anti-wolf and bear nonsense. I am sick of the buffalo "hunt" around Yellowstone where they are killed as soon as they cross the invisible boundary. I am sick of prairie dog town massacres for weekend fun. I am sick of people telling tales of how fun it was to blast some animal away so they can have their head on a wall. This blog comes out of an enlightening blog conversation that all started with my friend sending me a picture of a little girl that killed a grizzly up in Alaska. Please take a look at the Outdoors Page of a Newspaper link at the uppermost right side of the page. It gives a good look into the mindset of some people.

I ask that language and pictures be kept clean. Try not to personally attack anyone, as this was not the intention for the creation of this blog. Please do not use the real names of others for privacy reasons.

I am new to blogging and I do not really know how to use it properly yet, so BEAR with me.