When it comes to habitat, the animal rights community grows silent

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animal rights, corridor ecology, endangered species, habitat preservation, habitat restoration, habitat: space and place, wildlife conservation, wildlife habitat

Individual of endangered leatherback sea turtle

In 2007, Minnesota’s Habitat Conservation Partnership announced it reserved “100,000 acres and counting” of wildlife habitat.  What makes this project innovative is that these 100,000 acres are connected land, not isolated, checkered patches that often do more harm to wildlife than good.  Organizations allied in this partnership line the website’s sidebar and share their excitement for this “milestone” event.  These organizations include hunter advocacy groups like National Wild Turkey Federation, Pheasants Forever, and MN Deer Hunters Association.  I had to wonder, where are the animal rights groups in all of this?  Why weren’t they involved? 

Everyday conversations between species: a budding science into animal-human communication

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anthrozoology, automatic detection algorithm, bioacoustics, dog barks, human-dog evolution, interspecies communcation

“There are a million examples of animals speaking to us,” Marc Bekoff said to me in an interview for this blog.  “If people open their hearts and minds to animals then they’ll see them every day.”  For those who share their lives with dogs, breathe, eat, and love with dogs, understanding the dogs they live with is a given.  What is less understood is the possibility that those barks and whines are communicated with you specifically in mind.

The next mass extinction, unless…

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animal exploitation, biodiversity, climate change, CO2, coral reefs, dead zones, habitat destruction, habitat loss, habitat: space and place, marine ecosystems, mass extinction, oceans, overfishing, pollution, social change, whaling

From Think Global Green: An example of coral death by bleaching. As reefs fail, so do other marine ecosystems, leading to the mass extinctions occuring around the world in a single human generation.

It pains me to be the purveyor of bad news, but if we don’t stop the destructive cycle we’re on, we’re going to make Earth history by being the shortest lived species before facing extinction, killing many many other species as we go.  Two days ago, Reuters published an article on yahoo sharing the findings of a study by the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO).  In a nutshell: “Unless action is taken now, the consequences of our activities are at a high risk of causing, through the combined effects of climate change, over-exploitation, pollution and habitat loss, the next globally significant extinction event in the ocean.”   We’ve heard this warning before.  In fact, we’ve been hearing it from researchers, scientists, and activists all over the world for the last decade.  And now it seems that grim future prophesied is upon us.

Dear Readers

Dear readers:

To all of those who have taken the time to peruse my blog, I sincerely give thanks.  It has been a while since I have posted anything.  The reason is simple:  I lost my vision.  Ironic that in my quest for finding vision regarding animals in society that I would lose my vision for this blog completely.  How this happened was correlated to losing sight of what I wanted for life in general.  You could say I had a crisis and went AWOL from cyberspace.

After three months of inactivity in the blogosphere, I have returned with not so much a vision as an idea for how Animal Visions can sustain.  For one, I’m writing what I need to write and not what I should write.  I say this because in the months before, I posted in an effort to act like a journalist and before that I tried to be a scholar.  Neither persona worked, and so I am relinquishing all expectation henceforth and am doing what I should have done in the first place, which is write from where I am.

Additionally, I fell into a funk of bitter commentary on animal news that was either incredibly offensive or incredibly depressing.  I could only take so much of that before I just didn’t want to write anymore.  No more of that, either.

Finally, I didn’t know who I was writing for, even after maintaining the blog for over a year.  So I’ve decided to make matters simple and write what I need to say.  If you knew me personally, you’d know that this conclusion is a milestone for me.  What I need to say will not always follow the form of the way I have posted in the past.  Some of it may be fiction (because, after all, I am a fiction writer!).  Hopefully, current readers will appreciate that and join the conversation.

I appreciate all the comments and views the blog has received so far.  To whoever is reading, I give my warmest gratitude and look forward to seeing more of you in the future.

Sincerely,

Anastasia

A Dog’s Tale

Tags

A Dog's Tale, Mark Twain, vivisection

I am reading the story “A Dog’s Tale” by Mark Twain, and as I reach the end, I am ready to fall to the floor and sob into the carpet.  Never mind that I am in the middle of a bookstore.  The dog’s tale is so depressing, especially since her tale may not be much improved two hundred years later, depending on where she resides.  Her status remains the same.  In many cases, her likeness to an African house-slave is eerily similar.  And vivisection is just as strong as it was two hundred years ago, though the burning excitement behind it to cut and explore may have fizzed by comparison.

Grizzly Update: Young Bears Presented to Be Fine

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grizzly bear, orphaned bears, Yellowstone

Matthew Brown/AP Photo

Remember the story of the Grizzly Mother who was executed for assaulting three campers in Yellowstone National Park?  Remember also in that story her cubs were sent to “a zoo as soon as possible”?  News update: the young bears are now in the Montana Zoo and are reported to be “making their debut.”

Calling on the love for animals in the black community

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African Americans, animal abuse, animal activism, animal advocacy, animal cruelty, black violence, human-animal bond, human-animal relationships

I just received this through twitter: Memphis woman charged with aggravated animal cruelty.  Memphis is my home town, and the animal cruelty immediately caught my eye.  This is nothing new for Memphis.  In fact, some months ago, I wrote a post on a series of animal cruelty charges, majority in Memphis, all involving black men.  This time it’s a black woman. 

Another Side of Animal Laboratory Research: It Ain’t Just Medical

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animal research, laboratory research

Bjorn Alander, Nordic, Aurora Photos

Marc Bekoff sent three links to me this morning. From the Chronicle of Higher Education, all three op-ed articles talked about “animal research.”  By animal research, the authors meant laboratory experimental research.  By laboratory experimental research, they spoke entirely about research with medical implications.

An Open Letter to a Raccoon Mother

Dear Raccoon,

I call you Raccoon Mother because you were a mother once and I don’t know how else to identify you. You suckled babies at your breasts and maybe witnessed them grow up to maturity. But when I met you, you were alone. Alone and helpless. Helpless and crippled. You bled. You lay still. You could not stand. Your fur was saturated from the rain. And ticks held tight to your skin like barnacles on a rock.

Unruly Ecologies: Biodiversity and Art

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academia, aesthetics, art, biodiversity, conference, conservation, ecology

CALL FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTWORKS

 

Later on this month, from November 26-28, University of Western Australia’s Center of Excellence in Biological Arts, otherwise known as SymbioticA, is hosting a symposium to explore the diversity of life “through critical investigations in art, ecology, and action.” More about the symposium includes: