ANIMALS & PEOPLE

 WHY WE NEED ANIMALS

The Importance
of Predators

Some good Info
& Some sad facts
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http://earthissues.multiply.com/video/item/56

Dancing Wallrus
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How are trees protected by not killing wild animals?

Best Answer

The relationship between the big predators and trees,

It has only recently become clear how the killing of wolves
leads to the diminishing of the forests .

Lets take Yellow Stone park,
photos from 1954 ,show far more aspen then,
then there are today .whole sections of forest have gone

And all the willows on the waters edge ,
which the beaver needed to make dams,
also disappeared and so did the beaver,

The river banks were eroding ,and top soil was being lost all along the banks ,
Before the willows held the edges together

Of course anything else that was part of these tree`s worlds was also gone ,the animals ,birds and insects that live within the branches or live of the seeds or leaves.

How could entire forests disappear in the middle of a protected area????
(they Estimated that in 50 years all the Aspen would be gone)
research revealed that no new aspen had regenerated since the 1930 ties

This coincides with the last wolf being shot there.
between 1883 and 1917 more than 100,000 wolves were killed in Montana and Wyoming alone
by the 1970 ties they were listed as endangered in the USA
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The wolves ,mountain lions coyotes etc.
keep the deer on the run ,
who will other wise browse any new growth coming up,
The shoots of aspen and willows being some of there favorites.

They originally re introduced 31 gray wolves with much political opposition, and by now have 14 packs ,total 150 wolves
all named and fitted with radio collars

The wolves impact starts with their kill,which becomes a small epicenter of activity

Ravens ,magpies coyotes ,bold eagle ,grizzle and black bears are coming to scavenge followed by the insect world
In this way one kill serves hundreds

By killing elk, the willows are returning ,
After the return of the wolves great patches of new Aspen growth is seen,there are more ducks on the water ,and recently the first beaver was again seen building a dam.

Wolves through elk, through new growth ,actually determine the character of the forests and river

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This leaves us with a dilemma,

Always when getting close to the wilderness ,
man kills the dangerous animals first,
for his safety or the safety of his livestock

we used to ask
How can we live side by side with dangerous animals ??
Because they will leave their alloted boundaries ,
and some will go for domestic animals

What is more important our forest`s or our cows .?

Only with very strict monitoring ,
and removing any delinquent predator, the moment it exceeds his diet.
Can we hope to rescue both ,
unless somebody comes up with a better idea?

Removing the predator all together ,will eventually
lead to the death of the whole eco system.

Now we ask can we live without them

Because the same principle applies to all carnivores, both on land in the air and in the water .
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Killing Orcas and Sharks will also have drastic effects,on the
ocean flora with excesses of grazers, kelp forests disappear and so do the fish,or when whole eco systems of fish are gone because all the big fish are fished out, predators and grazers alike ,coral beds suffocate under blankets of algae,
and what once was teaming with life becomes a ghost reef

Farmers in South Africa now have Vulture restaurants ,where they dump any dead live stock,
As before they used to shoot the Vultures ,now they treasure them.

Killing snakes has resulted in plagues of Norwegian rats that undermine fields with a net work of tunnels causing the tractor to sink in.They are now releasing mole snakes ,to rectify this problem.
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Yet again examples of the inter relationships between all life
and how messing with it affects us directly ,or will eventually.

This question or similar is frequently asked.
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In Carioni Valley in Venezuela,where they made huge dams, a lot of islands resulted,which where the tops of the hills.

these places ended up
with 3 to 10 times more iguanas .maroons,howler monkeys ,leaf cutting ants ,parrots , etc
anything that ate the leaves,,seeds or fruits .

but NO predators.,
They were rescued by the many rescue operations going on ,being larger and easier to find and catch.

The social structure and normal behavior of the grouped animals that are left ,is drastically affected ,

They are silent ,unless they are fighting over food.
they do not groom each other any more
and many plants as well as the animals have diseases.

One would have thought that islands surrounded by water ,
Would be covered in growth,
(when before the trees only had water occasionally.)

Instead
all growth is dying and the island are becoming bare
with animals in deep trouble starvation is there fate

The place is crawling with scientists ,
because here is a window into the future .
showing us the reasons for deterioration

The solutions are something else.
that is what we have to figure out

And we are causing these same ecological imbalances,all around the planet
Byderule ,

Question

Why is it so important to mans survival to protect animals on the endangered species list???

 Answer

we humans are part of the worlds eco systems and depend on them for our survival

to endanger the eco susystems in the end ,more often before ,will affect us

just because you cannot see the connection or the importance does not make it any less
some people say they don`t like mosquitos .lets kill them all

Well they tried that on the banks of the Danube and all of the life in the wood disappeared,the mosquito's being near the bottom of the food chains of many animals

just think what all eats mosquito's and their larvae
birds ,toads ,frogs ,lizards ,fish ,other insects like dragon flies,then think what all eats those things ,foxes,other birds,weasels,snakes,etc.
and then what eats all who eats them .

Now with the bees disappearing in many places there are huge problems with crops not being pollinated .

Endangered species also play their parts ,in eco systems that have been fine tuned for millions of years .

the more species become endangered ,the more endangered we will become our selves .Because we are on the top .

Apart from that what kind of world do you want the children to inherit???

Our generation and the ones before us have managed to destroy more in a hundred years that all of Humanity in the history of the planet

Somewhere along the line should be the sense of responsibility

Are we guardians of the lands we occupy during our life time and during the seconds of the lands existence ,as Native Americans believe ,(they do not think of themselves as owners )

But we do ,
so do we have the right to wipe it all out in the brief moment that we are here or is the land also meant for those who come after?????????
Byderule

QUESTION? Don't you think hunting is so wrong?

 Answer MODERN DAY HUNTING

Hunting in the wild in the old sense ,even for food is an idea of the past IN MOST PLACES TODAY

Humanity has overstepped the Natural accepted equilibrium.
And the Animal populations have shrunk too much for us to pretend to be predators and nibble at the numbers that are left

The animals we got ,are now important components of Eco systems which we cannot afford to reduce.

All the professional hunters that i Know in Africa and Canada have become involved in conservation.

If we set up parks and breed animals ,we can let people cull some of them at high fees under strict supervision and let them believe that they are still hunters.

In this sense the hunting aids conservation because part of the money returns to the management of the animals.

Although there are also unscrupulous operators under this concept ,who for example dart lions and then let the brave hunter shoot the drugged animals for fantastic fees,but these operations are detested by regular conservationists.

The only real hunting today In africa ,is done illegally by poachers who shoot Tigers,Elephants and Rhino`s for body parts that have great value on the foreign markets

Urbanization's and expanding farming operations deforestation for the production of Ethanol gives opportunities to collect the animals that now find themselves with out habitat

Many hunters will argue ,that hunting nelps the Environment ,and in a way it does because the concept plows money back into nature ,

And that it replaces the predator`s effect ,since many have been removed
But they killed the stupid slow and sick animals

Hunters because of trophy hunting or machismo tend to shoot the prime animals ,

And so we are instrumental in deteriorating the quality of the animals left behind
Byderule

       CHANGES IN WILD LIFE POPULATIONS

There are many reasons ,
Climatic changes are changing microbe populations ,many are dying out whilst others are becoming invasive.

This in turn affect the insect populations which affect those that eat them as well as changes in the flora . Vital links are disappearing affecting other species further along in the chain,or the food chain is undergoing changes.

90% of the feral (wild) bee population in the United States has died out.

Recent studies in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands have shown that bee diversity is down 80 percent in the sites researched, and that "bee species are declining or have become extinct in Britain." The studies also revealed that the numbers of wildflowers that depend on pollination have dropped by 70 percent.

If bees continue to die off so would the crops they support and with that would ensue major economic disruption and possibly famine.

Bees are not the only pollinators but if these things are happening to bees we can bet on it that other insects are also in trouble ,on top of this many people are spraying for mosquito`s ,with drastic effects .

Also change but most importantly loss of habitat
results in many species becoming extinct.

Of the earth's estimated 10 million species, 300,000 have vanished in the past 50 years. each year 3,000 to 30,000 species become extinct.

A lot of human activity is speeding that up since we tend to overpower all the other species in one way or another.

Kids with sling shots killing iguanas,and birds ,means that their food breeds with out control ,and result in plagues of caterpillars for example
Byderule

Scientists have developed a technique that pinpoints key biodiversity hotspots, which they say will lead to more effective conservation strategies.

Researchers used the system to identify vital habitats in Madagascar, which is home to a vast array of unique species.

Writing in Science, they say their methodology identifies exact areas that support a wide variety of organisms.

More than 80% of the known species on the island nation are not found anywhere else in the world.

"Madagascar is an amazing place because of its evolutionary history," explained co-author Claire, a conservation biologist from the University of California, Berkeley, US. Kremen

She said that as a result of it breaking away from the African continent 160-80 million years ago, the flora and fauna had been left in relative isolation from the rest of the world.

"It's really been like an evolutionary laboratory because almost everything you find there is unique.

"Because it is the fourth largest island in the world, it's got a lot of major ecosystems within it - it has desert areas, rainforests, high mountains, lowlands and it also has incredible marine resources as well.

"There has also been a lot of diversification within the island of the plants and animals, so it's not only a place where many species are unique, it is also a place that is very rich in biodiversity.

"The real problem is knowing what areas to protect."

Widening the web

In 2003, the president of Madagascar announced plans to triple the size of the network of protected areas in an attempt to conserve the nation's flora and fauna, many of which were under threat from human developments.

Demand for food has led to parts of Madagascar's woods being cleared

In an effort to help the government decide what areas to protect, the international team of researchers gathered existing data from Madagascan scientists on more than 2,300 species.

"They included many different groups of species: lemurs, geckos, frogs, ants, butterflies and many plant species," Professor Kremen said.

"Once we had accumulated all this data, we put it all into something we called an optimisation analysis. It looks for the best solution to try to protect all of these different species.

"When you have more than 2,300 species you really need a computer to figure it out; what we were looking for was 10% of the country that could include all of those species."

But the analysis went a step further, Professor Kremen added: "It is one thing to include a species in a protected area, it is another thing to think about whether that species would have enough habitat included and a large enough population to survive in the future.

Lemurs are one group of animals that are unique to the island nation

"Our computer software allows us to find a solution that not only includes all of these species, but includes as much as possible of the habitats that they need."

She added that the program was also able to identify what species were at a greater risk of extinction.

"Some species do very well in human-dominated environments, and we do not need to worry too much about them.

"But others may already be severely threatened because they have lost a lot of their habitat, or they may be threatened by future habitat loss because they only exist in a very restricted area.

"In our analysis, we weighted those two types of species much more highly."

'Lost species'

In the past, there have been a number of ways to select conservation areas, such as identifying a single "flagship species".

The loss of woodlands could be disastrous for tree-frogs

"If you protect enough resources for this important species that demands a lot of territory, you hope that this species will act as an umbrella under which many others will also be protected," explained Professor Kremen.

"It is not that this is a bad methodology, it is just that it may not get all the biodiversity that you want; some species will tend to get lost and will be left out of the protected areas."

Another way is to look at the different habitats or taxonomic groups, and ensure that these are contained within a region's network of protected areas.

"Our results have shown that basing conservation on the needs of single species groups like butterflies just isn't enough," said team member David Lees, a butterfly researcher at London's Natural History Museum.

"It is now feasible to map the complex web of life in the world's richest wildlife areas to help guide tough conservation choices, and increase chances of survival."

The findings surprised the researchers by highlighting habitats that had been overlooked in the past, such as coastal forests and central mountain ranges with small pockets of trees.

The team has given the results to the Madagascan government in order to help it draw up its conservation strategy.

The scientists also said that their approach could be easily transferred to other high-priority regions in the world.


Some reasons why animals are being wiped out ,in the forests are:

The hunting of exotic species for the consumer market
only about 10% of the animals caught survive.

The market in first world countries like the USA entices the poor from these Natural territories to hunt exotic animals for pets or for the hides.

 

In China Tigers are killed for their body parts for aphrodisiacs.

They also kill Rhinos in Africa for the same reason to the same market,just taking the horn and leaving the body to rot

In Mexico Turtles eggs are sold for the same misguided reason

(photos ,turtle breeding in Mexico to counter act this)


The only way to stop this is to stop deforestation and improve local economic conditions which will not even happen with the skies full of flying pigs.

The hunting of animals for food by settlers

Forest fires ,that have started because of slash and burning of forest ,to clear the land for farming, had gotten out of control

The loss of Habitat because the conditions have changed ,e.g less humidity because of the surrounding farmlands ,or over pumping of rivers for human use(farming and utility)

Because of contamination of the waters ,

Expanding farming ,that has to keep pace with the expanding populations are very strong forces that encroach upon the rain forest's,
clearing them for farming and settlement areas .

So here are big changes already and included in those changes are predators ,

If we see many snakes maybe it is because the eagles or other birds of prey are missing.

Wild pigs in Florida were introduced by man and have few natural predators so they will increase easily.

If there are too many bats their predators must also be missing

Rat infestations are common on a global scale because human trash and expanding settlement, which include drainage systems has thousand fold increased their breeding opportunities.

In Africa are plagues of Norwegian rats because the people killed all the snakes ,these are now protected and we have reintroduced mole snakes to combat this problem.

So changes in Wild life and Nature in General is because of climatic reasons and because of the invasive effects of the ever increasing humanity,and their actions .
Byderule


              ANIMAL PROJECTS

Green Iguana: conservation and consumption

Large lizards, which were hunted for food by our prehistoric ancestors, continue to be of importance in parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Monitor lizards are particularly popular in Asia but are carnivorous and therefore difficult to feed and raise economically. However, the green and black iguanas of Latin America are herbivorous, and, as a project in Costa Rica has shown,

The green iguana (Iguana iguana), indigenous to Central America, has become extinct in some countries and is endangered in others as excessive hunting and destruction of their tropical forest habitat has depleted their numbers. The green iguana depends on trees - they feed primarily on leaves, flowers and fruits from the upper storey of the forest - but as species from the forest-edge, they can also do well on farms or ranches with forested areas.

In Costa Rica the FPIV (Fundación Pro Iguana Verde) continues to implement a conservation programme for green iguanas which began over fifteen years ago in Panama. The research, which has been generated from the raising of iguanas for releasing back into the wild, has also laid the practical foundations for iguana farming for local farmers. The ultimate goal of FPIV is to establish 'optimal conditions for sustainable production and marketing of the green iguana to benefit the small farmer' whilst also allowing natural populations to recover.

The cost of raising iguanas to usable size entirely in captivity is too high to be profitable so only adults required for reproduction are kept enclosed. Iguanas reproduce prolifically and mature females can produce up to 30 eggs per year for up to 10 years. The eggs, are laid in artificial nests (a sand-filled chamber) safe from predators to increase the number of hatch-lings. These are then raised to 6-10 months old and then released into forests or farmland with scattered trees where the iguanas can grow to harvest-able size within another two years. Supplementary feeding of 'iguana chow' (broken rice, meat, bone, fish meal and a variety of fruit, leaves and flowers) allows greater numbers to be supported in a given area e.g. around 50 adults/ha compared to 5-8/ha in the wild. From 200-300 kg/ha of meat can be harvested each year. With consumers willing to pay more for the meat than fish, poultry, pork or beef, iguana farming can provide an economic incentive to 'grow' lizards and not to fell forests to create more space for growing crops or cattle. Local farmers, who once hunted the iguana, are now learning how to raise them for food and for income generation in the production of leather handicrafts. Fat and eggs are also used for medicinal purposes.

“Iguana Park”, has also been established by FPIV near Oratina in Costa Rica as an eco-tourism facility and as an area to demonstrate and undertake further research on the sustainable use of forests. Dr Dagmar Werner, the founder and driving force behind the project, hopes that iguana farming can become part of Central American farming systems whilst also providing an incentive for reforestation. This in turn will help to counteract erosion, conserve water resources and enhance soil fertility. Although Costa Rica, Panama and Guatemala are the current target areas of the project, the potential for iguana farming could spread from tropical forested areas in Mexico down to northern areas of Brazil and Peru, and to a number of Caribbean islands.

Iguana Farming - A Source of Food and a Method of Tropical Forest Preservation  IN COSTA  RICA

PROJECTS

Backyard Ducks

Although the right breed of ducks can be a wonderful resource for your garden and farm, their uses can range far beyond utility use.  With a quick waddle-step and a permanently silly grin fixed on their faces, these birds can toddle right into your heart, providing hours of antics and fun. Easily imprinted on humans when raised as ducklings, they can become loyal as dogs and will happily absorb as much attention as they can possibly garner while following everywhere you go. 

Of course, a duck's usefulness will ensure that these birds will be a welcomed addition to your life.  Gardeners will be happy to learn that ducks are enthusiastic bug eaters.  Some of a duck's favorite foods are slugs, snails, grubs, grasshoppers, and pillbugs and will be gobbled down like candy.  Ducks are also very handy for disposing kitchen and garden scraps.  Favorite leafy greens include spinach, cabbage, lettuce, grass, and practically anything salad vegetables.   Besides the regular garden-variety insects, ducks enjoy catching flies and mosquitoes, and eating mosquito larvae in ponds or standing water.

Before purchasing a duck, remember that as with all animals, ducks require your commitment to their health and well-being. Do extensive research to learn about ducks before making your decision.  Ducklings require a lot more maintenance and monitoring than a fully grown duck but will bond to you quickly and thoroughly. Although they cannot be housetrained, ducks can be trained almost as well as any dog in performing simple feats.

Duck breeds can range from the beautiful Mandarin Ducks, to the common Mallard Ducks of the wild and to the domesticated-bred Pekins, Indian Runners and Khaki Campbells.  While Mandarins, Mallards and Silver Appleyards are considered some of the most beautiful, the domesticated breeds are the most popular for pets and farm-uses since they are the best layers of eggs.  Indian Runners are popular egg-layers but the Khaki Campbell holds the record for the most eggs laid in a year -- 365!

A Khaki Campbell's impressive egg laying capabilities is one of its most recognizable characteristic.  Widely considered the most productive laying duck, hens have been consistently recorded to lay an average of 350 eggs per year.  Their eggs are large, have smooth white shells and a very pleasant and mild flavor.

The breed was developed in England during 1901 by a Mrs. Adele Campbell of Uley, Gloucestershire who crossed an Indian Runner duck with a Rouen, effectively combining egg-laying capability and medium sized bird.  While they do not require swimming water, Khaki Campbells definitely enjoy it and will blissfully play in a kiddie pool full of fresh water for hours.

The traits of a Khaki Campbells is desirable among home flocks, making them one of the most popular waterfowl in the world. With rich seal brown plumage penciled with soft white, these birds are very beautiful to behold whether they are a part of your farm landscape or a family portrait of pets. 

 A lot of love and care is mostly all that is needed to raise these birds and your effort will be rewarded by the loyal affection of these fun animals.

Our new baby Khaki Campbell ducklings

 

More pictures of our new ducks can be viewed here

 

Is Eco-Tourism a good thing or bad thing?

To preserve Nature ,one has to be there to do that ,if we left it alone ,others would destroy it in no time .

To fence people out and also to fence animals in ,for there own protection ,
to stop them wandering  in to places where there are people .this fencing and protection costs money

In Chiapas is a jungle called Lacandona ,full of exotic animals and plants ,Lemurs ,crocodiles,all kinds of monkeys,parrots ,toucans,anacondas .you name it .

It is Government protected ,there are right now and last year as well campaigns on the TV,radio news papers ,to help and save the jungle ,

There are police and soldiers patrolling the perimeters,there are Environmentalist working all over the place ,

And all of this has not made the slightest difference ,the jungle loses thousands of hectares each year ,to slash and burn farmers ,trophy and exotic pets hunters ,and logging companies .

Eco tourism with public presence ,who incidentally only move around in boats or on controlled guided walks ,brings in the money to pay for the protection and could generate enough political pressure to combat the invasion.

We must solve the local peoples economic situations to stop them from harming the jungle
To make them see it as an asset instead ,to further their own financial situation,if it remains intact.

So more involvement is needed from the local people to work with in the conservation concept ,and this is Eco tourism ,to be guides ,part of a service ,work in the hotels or restaurants etc instead of being destructive farmers or hunters fighting for survival.

This has also become the policy in Africa ,One cannot make a game reserve
police the people who live near it ,stop them from doing what they have always done ,

So one must come up with attractive alternatives which will make the people want Nature intact because it will supplement their income more.

The cost to the Environment is far far greater if NOTHING is done ,because it will cease to exist eventually
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  Jungle ,a forest ,animals are like supermarkets with out walls ,poor and rich alike and civilization in its normal expanding mode ,will move in to take it .if it is not heavily protected ,both morally,financially ,physically and politically.

The only Places in Africa today that have animals which are protected to a certain extent ,are the Nature reserves both private and National.

The tourists pay for the up keep ,which means fencing, helping animals in trouble.
My Brother who has Game Lodges in Africa tells me that,

 it cost about R5 million (rands) to get the concession for Tinga (the game reserve) and that money went straight back to the National Parks Board.They then pay 10% of all profits to the National Parks Board. So it is a good income stream for them. On top of that they run training programs for locals in all sorts of things, including game rangering, tracking etc.

They are also very strict in environmental damage etc, No trees are allowed to be cut, not even dead wood removed for fires etc,no off road driving except for leopard or lion tracking, and then they have to repair any damage done So the whole concept is very environmentally friendly.

And Nature and the local inhabitant benefit a greatly from their presence.

To just close Nature from interference has proved to be impossible ,one cannot fence and guard everything.

Although Nature is not always defenseless to unarmed intruders ,on the border of Kruger Park,many migrants are eaten by lions as they try to cross into South Africa.

But some intruders come heavily armed with sophisticated modern weapons,They in turn are hunted by soldiers Paid by Eco tourism.

Eco tourism is just about the only chance Nature has got.
Bring people close to nature to ooh and ahh at and they will leave their money behind to further its existence.

You have to understand that in these places the visitors have very limited access to the reserve,

The tourists stay mostly in the lodges drinking cocktails and watching the elephants walk by from a safe distance,since the lodges are build in strategic places such as near watering holes,or they go on safari rides

A fraction of the parks is actually breeched.Such as Serengetti,Kruger,Wankie game reserve and many others.

And yes there will always exist situations of bad management and/or abuse ,this applies to all situations in our civilized societies as well

And in some places people are allowed to get away with abusing the place by littering ,but that has to be under the managements control.

The places i know come down extremely heavy on offenders ,The people who go on hikes in my friends places in South Africa carry their trash out with them ,and if they don`t they can be send back to get it .

This is avoided by not allowing people to go of alone and at all times must be accompanied by guides and they must pay for them.

There are unscrupulous reserve owners who let
rich stupid pseudo hunters kill drugged lions for incredible fees and call it trophy hunting .
But these are hated by every one else and there are not many of them.

Most professional hunters have changed their guns for cameras and are now working on behalf of the Animals they used to hunt .

The world today is a different world ,than 50 years ago

Having said all that there exist situations where nature is protected with out tourism if owned by the government , the very rich ,or a group of people who have clubbed together,where there is no tourism,but that does not mean that people do not go there .
science has access,an undoubtedly so do the rich the owners and maybe poachers.

A cousin in Florida with about 10 other residents watch over 560 hectares of mangrove swamp,(they do not allow tourists), owned by the county,but their environmental protection permit expires in 2008 so for how long is this place safe???


Human progress is a very strong invasive force
Byderule

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Animals as helpers

La Habra, California: Minnie is a capuchin monkey, a species especially well suited to be monkey helpers. They are natural tool users and are endlessly curious. Today there are only 104 monkey helpers nationwide—at a training cost of $30,000 each—available for the 11 million disabled Americans who need assistance with daily living. Minnie is the first monkey helper to be placed in California.

(Misha Erwitt/AMERICA AT HOME/www.myamericaathome.com)

source: Yahoo News

I know the practice is to meditate and grind the ink. Clear our minds and get ready for the day's work. But what if someone else could do the menial tasks? What if...

Then I find out that the ancient Chinese scholars kept miniature monkeys to grind their ink and turn their pages. The monkeys slept in their desk drawers.
Little things.

They were thought to be extinct by now, but one was found in southeastern China. Just recently, too. I wonder if it could be taught to line paper...

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PEOPLE & DOMESTIC ANIMALS

We all know something ,of the atrocities that go on with abandoned pets their breeding ,and the animals from where we get our food,

But the slaughterhouses and killing stations are far removed from the pet shops and the super markets with the nice packaging and friendly music in the back ground.

So that if we don't look too hard ,we can remain blissfully unaware of the dark side of domestic animals,enough so as not to spoil our appetites .

Somehow it reminds me of the well to do Germans ,during the 2ND WORLD WAR,who claimed they did not know what was really going on beneath the black smoke on the edge of town.

And they probably did not know ,but then they did not investigate too much  either,  it was easier to look the other way.

This movie about animals must be the most depressing movie I have ever seen apart from movies of the holocaust and I really did not want to see it after seeing a few bits of it.

So it remained in my computer for a week. But we cannot look away forever,and even people who do not overly love animals will be affected.

The truth is the truth, however ugly it may be ,and it should be faced sometimes .

I am a meat eater and now this bloody movie has placed me in a moral dilemma.,

Do I continue knowing I am immoral, well that is really nothing new for me .so i probably will after the effects of the movie has worn of.

But I can never deny anymore that i did not know what was going on.

So if you really want to get depressed see EARTHLINGS,and find out that humans are not the only Earthlings ,only by far the worst behaved.

Send it to your enemies and spoil their day,

I am sending it to my friends first ,

here in Multiply,

i want them to feel as bad as i do.

Byderule

EARTHLINGS  -  THE ANIMAL HOLOCAUST For a better world, respect Animals and Nature

EARTHLINGS is a feature length documentary about humanity's absolute dependence on animals (for pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and scientific research) but also illustrates our complete disrespect for these so-called "non-human providers." (Read below for more information about the movie). With an in-depth study into pet stores, puppy mills and animals shelters, as well as factory farms, the leather and fur trades, sports and entertainment industries, and finally the medical and scientific profession, EARTHLINGS uses hidden cameras and never before seen footage to chronicle the day-to-day practices of some of the largest industries in the world, all of which rely entirely on animals for profit. Powerful, informative and thought-provoking, EARTHLINGS is by far the most comprehensive documentary ever produced on the correlation between nature, animals, and human economic interests.

There are many worthy animal rights films available, but this one transcends the setting. EARTHLINGS cries to be seen. Highly recommended! The film is narrated by Academy Award nominee Joaquin Phoenix (GLADIATOR) and features music by the critically acclaimed platinum artist Moby.

EARTHLINGS has taken five years to produce. What began as a series of Public Service Announcements on spaying and neutering pets, evolved into a feature-length film on every major animal-related issue. Writer/Director Shaun Monson began the process by shooting footage at animal shelters in South Central L.A., Long Beach and North Hollywood. The PSAs were soon completed as his interest moved to other problem areas, like food and scientific research. In time, he accumulated a small library of material from several animal welfare organizations, and started editing. The process was a slow one. As footage gradually came in, Joaquin's narration was recorded (in stages), and a soundtrack was added. Along with all of Moby's music, some original pieces were also written for the film. In 2005, EARTHLINGS premiered at the Artivist Film Festival, (where it won Best Documentary Feature), followed by the Boston International Film Festival, (where it won the Best Content Award), and most recently at the San Diego Film Festival, (where it won Best Documentary Film, as well as the Humanitarian Award to Joaquin Phoenix for his work on the film). EARTHLINGS will be available on DVD on November 4, 2005.

: Humans - The Cruelest and Most Destructive Specie on Earth ::

Who's the Cruelest Species of Them All?
We are, of course, but a new book on animal cruelty will make your jaw drop about how vicious humans can be to other animals.

MUST WATCH - DOCUMENTARY EARTHLINGS:
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Shamu's mother was harpooned.

She was killed in the wild by the crew that captured the first in a series of young orcas that have since been trained to do tricks at San Diego's Sea World marine park, known sequentially as America's most famous performing sea mammals. And maybe that's all you need to know to realize just how far humans will go. Maybe that's all you need to know -- were you beside me on those bleachers, years ago, cheering Shamu? -- to see blood, even faded and vestigial, on your hands.

Erin E. Williams and Margo DeMello's Why Animals Matter: The Case for Animal Protection (Prometheus, 2007) is a book so jam-packed with literal crimes against nature that it's hard to read more than a few pages in one go. Williams works for the Humane Society of the United States. DeMello is an administrative director of the House Rabbit Society.

Together they have painstakingly assembled statistics, news reports, anecdotes, and observations exposing the sufferings of so many creatures in so many industries -- food, fashion, entertainment, medicine -- as well as hobbies ranging from hunting to ostensibly positive pet-ownership that you recoil from revelation after revelation about Chinese cat-fur coats, say, or "spent" racehorses that are slaughtered for dogfood. On information overload, you blink: Wait … my species does that?

Indeed it does.

It hunts over 22 million mourning doves in the US every year.

It rounded up tens of thousands of pet dogs in China in 2006 and slaughtered them in an alleged health campaign.

It gorges on salmon factory-farmed in such overcrowded tanks that their skeletons become malformed and their skullbones burst through their skin in a condition called "death crown."

Imitating rap stars and other fashion icons, it has enthusiastically revived a moribund fur and exotic-animal-skin industry.

It wears the hides of alligators that were either slashed and bled to death or flayed alive.

It indulges in cosmetics tested by the weeks-long application of toxins to the eyes of rabbits locked in stocks.

It bets on battles between fowl drugged with steroids, strychnine and amphetamine and bred specially to tear out each other's eyes, rip each other's flesh and break each other's bones in fight after big-money fight.

It shoots zebras and yaks in Texas.

We tell ourselves that we already know enough about this: at least the basics, all we need to know. Yet just as car accidents don't let you look away, this book's breadth and specificity compels you to linger and learn more, then more again: collecting grisly tidbits to marvel at. To sling later at idiots. To arrange side by side along those moral lines that will shimmer in some future sand as you wonder which shampoo to use, which clothing brands to buy or what to eat.

This is the rest of the tour that Eric Schlosser began in Fast Food Nation -- paced not quite at a bovine plod but still deliberately, somberly slow -- of that bustling, bloody world-within-a-world in which terrible things happen to animals. The evidence is everywhere: in the bedroom closet, the medicine cabinet, the fridge, the restaurant, the cupboard full of cleansers under the sink. It's at the pet shop, circus, zoo, aquarium, boutique. Even if you're a pleather-clad vegan sitting perfectly still in an open field, you are implicated -- used -- as an ostensible statistic, who by virtue of belonging to Homo sapiens can still be considered a potential eventual customer for countless cosmetics, comestibles, clothes, drugs and other future products whose marketing schemes are already under way. The macular degeneration, diabetes or fondness for fur-trimmed jackets that you might or might not someday develop is reason enough for wealthy powerful companies to justify inflicting untold things on untold creatures: "Even with all of our laws," Williams and DeMello muse, "and even with a nation of caring people, we still tolerate -- and many of us unwittingly participate in -- an unprecedented degree of animal cruelty. How can this be so?

"Perhaps the biggest reason why society tolerates routine abuse of animals is that for the most part, these abuses are hidden."

It's as if a huge mill is in perpetual motion, grinding away behind the scenes, a constant stream of creatures being fed nonstop into its maw.

Rather than "engage in complicated philosophical arguments," the authors stake a claim instead on our "common sense and common decency":

"While we can purchase cheaper meat from animals who never experienced sun or air," they venture (and by using the pronoun "who" in reference to nonhumans they make a deliberate political choice), "while we can buy virtually any animal we want as a pet, while scientists can create mice with human genes and even with human tissue, and while rich hunters can pay thousands of dollars to shoot an endangered, tranquilized animal, most of us, if we knew the realities behind those choices, would take a step back and reconsider … just because we can do all these things, should we?"

Dispensing with analysis, they're all about disgorging details: shock after shock, yuck after yuck, scare after scare in what amounts to a collective elegy for a century-plus' worth of sick, injured and dead animals. Which among the thousands of details in these pages will stick in your mind, as opposed to my mind or that guy's over there, depends Rorschach-like on your personal history, sensitivities and quirks. Because I happen to be a hypochondriac -- don't cough anywhere near me on the bus -- it's the ailments, human and animal, that I imagine oozing and throbbing long after shutting this book. Fur-farmed minks, for example, are susceptible to gastric lesions, tumors, botulism, diarrhea, cysts and eye disease. Egg-farmed hens get osteoporosis, liver hemorrhagic syndrome, and uterine prolapse, in which the womb distends outside the body. From constant contact with feces, dairy-factory cows get a painful and potentially lethal udder infection called mastitis. Marine mammals confined in concrete tanks tend toward pneumonia, bacterial infections, and abscesses. For pet-industry rabbits, it's reproductive cancers.

When animals "defecate or vomit on the workers" in factory farms, "they can spread diseases such as E. coli, campylobacter, and listeria." In case you're curious, campylobacter causes bleeding gums, oral bone-loss and dysentery. "Factory farm workers are also exposed to infectious diseases such as anthrax, psittacosis, brucellosis, leptospirocis, swine influenza A, and avian influenza A," the authors write.

Good to know. And we can only guess at the pathogenic legacy of industrial accidents such as the 1995 spill that sent 25 million gallons of hog waste into a North Carolina river. For you it might not be the diseases that resonate but rather the photographs, say, or the pain: Fur-farmed foxes are killed, for instance, by having metal rods jammed into their anuses and being induced to bite electrodes. Or it might be the pathos: Hunters collecting live specimens for early zoos, for example, "boasted in excruciating detail of … the baby animals who mourned at the sides of their dead mothers until they were snatched away, put into cages or tied or chained up, and transported to Europe. Because most social animals like gorillas, chimpanzees, elephants and hippos guard their young, collectors had to kill the adults (sometimes the females, but often the entire herd) when capturing their babies." This is no longer standard practice, although it's too late for Shamu's mother and the rest.

Or it might be the sheer numbers that get you: over 3.8 million kangaroos killed for their skins every year in Australia. Some 265,000 rabbits and 65,000 dogs used in US laboratories in 2004 alone for toxicity tests, medical-school surgery instruction, dental and heart experiments and more. Sixty billion pounds of sea animals killed and discarded annually by industrial fishing operations worldwide as "bycatch" after being caught in deepwater trawls and purse seines set out for other species. Tens of thousands of dolphins at a time corralled into coves and slaughtered en masse for their meat during Japanese "dolphin drives." Tens of thousands of pet dogs seized from their owners and clubbed, hanged and shot during that 2006 anti-rabies campaign staged by the Chinese government. Thirty-five thousand miles of US rivers in 22 states and groundwater in seventeen states contaminated by factory-farm runoff, according to the EPA.

At the end of each chapter, the authors offer helpful, practical pointers. Report poachers, they suggest. Buy a vegetarian cookbook. Watch animal-friendly TV shows such as Animal Cops and Emergency Vets. Spay or neuter your pet. Buy cruelty-free products. Vote. These tips are peaceful little polyps in what is otherwise an unflinching indictment of human appetites, of our ridiculous desires. It's an indictment of our behaviors and ourselves. They are not named in this book, but it is flesh-and-blood individuals -- mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, friends, husbands and wives -- who flay those live 'gators. And who insist, via groups such as the National Alternative Pet Association, that they are entitled to own skunks, wallabies, hedgehogs, and exotic cats, even to buy tiger cubs online for a few thousand bucks each.

It is mothers and fathers, husbands and wives who Internet-hunt, paying to really shoot real animals in real time via a gun and webcam connected via remote control to their computer mice. And somebody loves them.

What happened to Humanity,where and how did we become so alienated from the Environment.

As man progressed and became more (supposedly knowledgeable)  feelings of superiority must have crept into  his mind,

People already looked down on   tribes of the same species that were perhaps more savage or primitive than they were..

So it stands to reason that racism ,mistrust and fear also existed, even more so,  with the animals,

But not all of this was a natural development, a lot of these attitudes were  carefully manufactured with religious teachings.

Many religions have systematically alienated Man from Nature .

And war has been waged against Nature on all levels ,by so called civilized man,almost from the beginning that we know of.


 Unnatural sex which in reality is natural if Nature is anything to go by, has always been declared TABOO

(Pagan and primitive civilizations is another story ,concerning this)

Natural instincts ,such as killing (even for defense )was declared against  the commandments,even though nobody ever followed that particular rule
especially organized religion.

People were told over and over that they were created apart  from the Animals and that they were superior beings.

whilst Animals and heaven forbid plants
are with out emotions or soul or can even feel pain.

The Wilderness was Gods gift , to be tamed and exploited with out charge.

In Mexico farmers have burned forests because they said that witches lived there.

Many Animals are associated with evil. Snakes,Woves,Goats,Dragons ,Toads,Vultures,etc.

Nature`s Chief god  Pan was ridiculed and renamed Satan,and  ending up as Mans biggest enemy.(quite a demotion)

All over the world Civilizations religions have systematically wiped out indigenous populations ,under the excuse that they were Pagan and enemies of their faith.

But more likely it was because their lands were wanted and they fell outside of the brainwashing and propaganda that existed with modern man,

They were allowed to live if they converted. 

 Natural cultures and their gods have been destroyed the New Order often rising up in the same sacred locations ,to make the transitions easier.

To top it all of the people are persuaded that the most beautiful place they can ever hope to see is not even on this planet .but in the Sky somewhere.
and get this
You have to die first to qualify to go there.

 I know it does sound a bit over the top.

Simple primitive peoples ,Pagans, Me and a lot of people I know have always thought that Earth could be a paradise,with a bit of our help and consideration and that includes Animals as valuable sometimes even respected participants or assets.

Ancient Cultures asked their Gods for permission  or left sacrifices of  gratitude for what Nature provided.

Some Native Americans even asked permission of the animals spirit they were about to kill.


As the specie apparently in charge and supposedly more clever,The least we can do is to treat them right
.Byderule

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