Unless Miley Cyrus Returns to Twitter, Fuzzy Will Die

Every celebrity has lunatic fans, but pole-dancing tween queen Miley Cyrus seems to have inspired a particularly fervent devotion among the completely unchained. First there was her extremely creepy stalker, and now she’s got someone threatening to kill their beloved cat if she doesn’t come back to Twitter.

Why did Miley leave Twitter? Who the hell cares? Oh, wait. This dude (or chick?) clearly does. And if Miley doesn’t come back by November 16th, Fuzzy is going to get it.

The other day I asked myself: ‘What can I do to bring Miley back to Twitter?’ Fan video? Petitions? Letters? That never works. Heck, Miley even made her own video about never wanting to use Twitter again. Then I looked at my cat, Fuzzy and I realized, maybe Fuzzy can help. Fuzzy can make the ultimate sacrifice for this cause. It was very difficult for me, you see, as I sincerely love Fuzzy. But my mind is made up. I could always get another cat, but nothing can replace Miley’s tweets for me!

The idea is very simple. I’ve set a deadline of November 16, 2009, when Fuzzy will part with his life and become a meal. I intend to make a cat dish according to our ethnic cuisine. Check out the Recipes section for more information. Also, you can view some pictures of Fuzzy here.

I do not consider myself a cruel person and I do love my cat. Fuzzy will receive quick and swift death and I’ll try to minimize his suffering.

Wondering what, exactly, this unnamed psycho fan is going to do with Fuzzy? Well, you need look no further than MileySaveFuzzy.com, where he/she has posted a recipe for ‘Braised Cat’. This fan swears that it isn’t a hoax or a joke (though, you know how that goes).

Hey, eating cats is as normal as eating chickens in some parts of the world – and there’s not necessarily anything wrong with that. In fact, it’s kind of messed up that we place such sentimental significance on certain species and are totally blasé about the treatment of the ones we eat.

But eating your pet for Miley freaking Cyrus’ TWITTER ACCOUNT? Maybe you should marinate yourself and let Fuzzy put you out of your misery.

Link [MileySaveFuzzy.com]

Bad Bunnies Burned as Biofuel in Sweden

When you look at adorable, fuzzy bunnies, do you think, “Gee, these suckers would make the perfect biofuel to keep me warm this winter!”? If so, you might want to go in for a psychiatric evaluation – or move to Sweden, where they’re actually doing just that.

Apparently, bunnies are such a huge nuisance in Stockholm parks, officials not only kill them by the thousands every year, but ship their bodies off to a biofuel facility so they can keep Swedes warm and cozy all winter long.

From Scientific American:

Converting the rabbits to fuel is the company Konvex, a subsidiary of the Danish company Daka Biodiesel, which makes automotive and heating fuels from vegetable and animal oils and fats. The Swedes have a variety of similar efforts, including turning slaughterhouse trimmings into biogas, a methane fuel that runs taxicabs in Linkoping in southern Sweden.

Bunnies, despite a felicity for breeding, are not quite abundant enough to be a reliable fuel so Stockholm also ships dead cats, cows, deer and horses to the plant for processing, Tuvunger told Der Spiegel. No word on whether the remains of man’s best friend are also keeping Swedes warm this winter.

Hey, don’t get us wrong. Using a waste material for fuel = WIN. However, there’s something messed up about killing cute, innocent little creatures by the thousands and then burning their bodies for warmth. It’s not like these are the killer rabbits of Monty Python.

And, perhaps these bunnies should not be a waste material in the first place – because there are better ways of dealing with an overpopulation problem than mass murder.

Link [Scientific American]

‘Ronald McDonald’ Opens Up About Cruel Slaughtering Practices

“Who cares about those PETA pricks, and who cares about the chickens? They’re just animals!” That’s what ‘Ronald McDonald’ (Andy Dick) had to say about McDonalds’ slaughtering practices to famed celebrity interviewer Jiminy Glick (Martin Short) in a new video from FunnyorDie.com.

Dick makes for quite a frightening, deranged-looking Ronald McDonald as they discuss boiling chickens alive. “What I say to the chickens is, ‘You deserve a break today. In your legs.”

Check it out:

The video is hilarious, but they’re actually calling attention to a real problem. As Ecorazzi reports,

“McDonald’s U.S. and Canadian chicken suppliers abuse birds using a cruel and outdated method of slaughter. Birds often have their bones broken and their throats cut while they are still conscious, and many birds are immersed in tanks of scalding-hot water while they are still alive and able to feel pain.”

And, yes, you can learn more about it at PETA.org.

Link [Ecorazzi]

Oprah Pimps KFC After Running Special on ‘Dark Side’ of Chicken Factory Farming

Barely six months after running a special about the ‘dark side of chicken factory farming’, Oprah has teamed with KFC to give a free two-piece grilled chicken meal to every family in America. Lucky us. The free meal coupons were offered at Oprah.com yesterday.

The October 2008 show focused on contrasting the practices at conventional factory farms with those at organic, free-range farms – and earned her PETA’s 2008 ‘Person of the Year’.

From Ecorazzi:

Obviously, this is going to come as a shock to PETA — who is in the middle of a renewed campaign urging KFC to change the way its suppliers treat their chickens. Famous folks like Pamela Anderson, Sir Paul McCartney, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, The Rev. Al Sharpton, and countless others have signed on to boycott KFC.

Some will argue that this is a free meal — and in a time of economic hell, any food is good food. It just bothers me that with everything Oprah has done to bring attention to the plight of chickens and animals in factory farms, that she would approach a chain like KFC to give people a free meal. Why not give something relatively healthy like a free salad instead?

So, how does Oprah reconcile using her enormous powers of influence over the American people to educate them about the realities of dirty, inhumane practices at factory farming, and then turning around and supporting those same practices?

As we’ve said many times here, whether you love PETA or hate them, they’ve got some good points, and KFC’s disgusting treatment of chickens is definitely among them. Oprah, who has focused shows so many times on health and wellness, shouldn’t be using her celebrity to endorse such a company.

Unsurprisingly, the offer prompted hordes of crazy Oprah fans to descend upon KFCs all over the country demanding their free meal, causing what Gawker half-jokingly referred to as ‘racial violence’. Says a Gawker tipster,

I went over to our nearest KFC a few minutes ago (this was around 42nd and Park) and chaos ensued. Despite the very visible grilled chicken behind the register, the manager told everyone with coupons to leave and that the promotion was over for the day. The people there are currently holding a sit-in and refusing to leave until they get their free chicken…or the cops are called. Racial epithets were being spewed, people who actually wanted to pay for chicken were facing a potential beatdown, and the manager ran from the screaming horde. Oprah, what have ye wrought?

The power of Oprah is truly a frightening thing.

Link [Ecorazzi]

Kangaroos Too Cute to Kill, Some Australians Say

Kangaroos are a novelty to us non-Aussies, but for residents of Australia, they’re a common sight. Maybe even a little too common, according to some; there are so many kangaroos in some parts of the capital city of Canberra, officials want to start shooting them. But not all Australians have hardened their hearts to these fuzzy, hopping mammals – some are protesting the proposed cull, saying the animals are just too cute to kill.

From Sky News:

More than 80% of those polled in a government survey thought the wild kangaroos should stay. Authorities have tried giving them vasectomies and oral contraceptives, but to no avail. They say trucking them off to new and distant pastures will cost too much.

The debate comes as it was revealed 17% of drivers in the district had admitted colliding with a kangaroo at least once.

Recent stories of an unwelcome pouched visitor bounding through a closed bedroom window onto a family in bed has raised calls for a urban cull.

Barry Stuart, who runs a kangaroo abattoir 220 miles north of Canberra, shoots more than 25 on most nights with a licence from the government.

“They’re a beautiful bloody animal,” said Stuart, 60.

“You don’t like to destroy them, but when the time comes, you’ve got to do it.”

Australians have even been urged to start eating kangaroos, a national icon, on an industrial scale as an alternative to livestock since there are so many of them. This would cut back on the number of factory farms in the country, which would curb greenhouse gases. And, if Australians can’t bear to eat an animal they feel sentimental about, the rest of the world will do it for them – Russians reportedly eat more kangaroo than Australians and it’s a popular dish throughout Europe.

Whatever your opinions about eating kangaroo meat, it could be a better option than just shooting them. But these majestic animals, while sometimes a nuiscance, certainly don’t pose a threat to humans aside from the possiblity of crashing into one with your car.

Australian citizens have until May 11th to voice their comments about this issue, so if you’re an Aussie, make sure you get your say.

Link [Sky News]
Photo credit: Daily Mail

Another Day, Another Weird PETA Story

You’ve gotta hand it to them, PETA are masters at getting attention. All attention whores across the world should pay close attention to PETA’s tactics. They work. The animal rights organization is in the news once again after making a bizarre request of a UK pop group and getting rejected. They wanted the Pet Shop Boys to change their name to the “Rescue Shelter Boys”.

From BBC News, via Ecorazzi:

“Peta Europe has written to Pet Shop Boys with a request they are unable to agree to,” reads a post on the band’s official website. But the band admits the request “raises an issue worth thinking about”. Peta’s letter requests the name change due to the cruelty which they allege takes place in the pet trade. If the band were to agree to the name change, it continues, it would “encourage your millions of fans to consider giving a home to an abandoned or unwanted animal from an animal shelter”.

Even with the rejection, PETA has highlighted the issue of the mistreatment of animals sold at pet shops versus animals that can be adopted from rescue shelters. Bravo. Hey, at least this time they’re not requesting for dead human bodies to be turned into BBQ.

Link [BBC News] via [Ecorazzi]

Russia Bans Baby Seal Massacre, Canada Continues Killing Spree

Baby seals are safe from being massacred in Russia, as the country announced Wednesday that it had banned hunting the animals. The announcement came weeks after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called it a “bloody industry”.  Anti-seal hunting protesters had gathered in 20 cities and towns across Russia this week to urge a halt to the practice.

From Reuters:

“The bloody sight of the hunting of seals, the slaughter of these defenseless animals which you cannot even call a real hunt, is banned in our country, just as well as in most developed countries, and is a serious step to protect the biodiversity of the Russian Federation,” the minister for natural resources, Yuri Trutnev, said in a statement.

Seals inhabit Russia’s White Sea region in the Arctic. As in Canada and Norway, hunters target the fluffy baby seals — also known as “whitecoats” for their highly valued snow-white fur — in early spring and club thousands to death.

Meanwhile, the annual Canadian baby seal killing extravaganza is set to begin later this month. Green Daily gives us some gruesome details:

I mean, how can sealers still be allowed to:

* “hunt” a couple hundred thousand baby seals
* use a club like a caveman (i.e. hit them with a big blunt stick)
* only half kill them
* strip the skins off their painfully still-breathing bodies, and
* sell each pelt for a rocking $30 — Canadian dollars, to add insult to injury!

Btw, did I mention that hunters kill the baby seals? In front of the mother seals? Often the seal pups are just a few weeks old, and some haven’t even been in the water. Apparently that soft baby fur is what rich old ladies and vain men like best.

So, what can you do to help? Sign this online PETA petition and then join celebrity chef Cat Cora in boycotting Canadian seafood to send Canada the message that we won’t tolerate the continuation of this cruel practice. Sign a pledge at the Humane Society of the United States and then get as many of your friends and family to sign as you can. The person who gathers the most signatures will win a visit to New York City to hang with Cat and have your photo taken by photographer Nigel Barker of America’s Next Top Model.

Learn more about the killing of these innocent, fluffy, ridiculously cute animals at the Humane Society’s ‘Protect Seals 2009’ website.

Link [Reuters] + [Green Daily] + [HSUS]
Photo credit: HSUS, MyPointIs.net

Protected Gray Wolves Being Illegally Killed

Hunters in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Wisconsin and the Rockies are still shooting down gray wolves despite the animal’s protected status. More than three dozen have been illegally killed in the U.P. within the past five years, and officials in other north central and Rocky Mountain states report many more wolf shootings. About 10 percent of Rockies wolves are killed illegally every year. The gray wolf was given legal protection after being nearly driven to extinction in many areas.

From MSNBC:

Some residents of the sprawling, rural Upper Peninsula deeply resent the wolf’s presence. Among them are hunters who believe the wily predators are decimating the whitetail deer herd and farmers who have lost livestock to wolf raids.

“They’re born killers,” said Al Clemens, a hunter from Ironwood who has lobbied state legislators to establish wolf hunting and trapping seasons. “… People are just fed up.”

Yes, wolves eat deer, but not enough to put a serious dent in the total, Roell said.

“Wolves are an easy scapegoat,” he added.

The wolf isn’t universally despised in the region. The DNR says a 2005 survey indicated most residents were willing to peacefully coexist. In fact, tips from citizens have been instrumental in nabbing poachers.

Still, most cases go unsolved, and many illegal kills undoubtedly never come to official attention. “Yoopers,” as Upper Peninsula residents call themselves, even have a catch phrase for dispatching a wolf and hiding the evidence: “Shoot, shovel and shut up.”

Gray wolves had disappeared from Michigan’s Lower Peninsula by the early 20th century and were nearly gone from the Upper Peninsula by 1960, when a state bounty program was repealed. But numbers have grown again and the U.P. population is now estimated at about 520. Wisconsin has about 540, while Minnesota (where the wolves are listed as ‘threatened’, not endangered) has approximately 3,000. In the Rockies, the population is about 1,500.

Due to this rebound in numbers, the government removed the animals from the endangered species list, but outraged conservationists believed the wolves were still vulnerable and a federal judge restored the wolves to the list in September.

Hunters and farmers who break the law and are caught by investigators often use the excuse that they “thought it was a coyote”. But wolves are twice as large as coyotes and make entirely different sounds.

It’s one thing to humanely kill wolves that are habitually stealing and killing livestock and pets, but it’s another entirely to decimate the population. People don’t seem to understand the fact that wolves exist in this region for a reason – they’re an essential part of the ecosystem. In fact, gray wolves are the only natural predators of coyotes in most of these areas and without them, coyote populations will swell. That’s nature, folks.
Link [MSNBC]
Photo credit: PETA

Canada Chooses to Kill Over 500 Narwhals Rather than Save Them

Once a year, Canada uses powerful icebreakers so hunters can gleefully kill thousands of baby seals and sell their downy white pelts. And yet, somehow those same icebreakers weren’t available when over 500 narwhals – whales with tusks resembling the horn of the fabled unicorn – became trapped under the ice. Instead of rescuing the whales, local hunters began killing them by shooting into the ‘blow holes’ where the animals surface to breathe.

From CBC News via Treehugger:

Elders and wildlife officials have agreed that the whales would otherwise die from starvation and a lack of oxygen as the sea ice closes in around them.

Hunters in Pond Inlet, a mainly Inuit hamlet of about 1,300, say they’ve been turning down requests from media outlets to fly into the community and cover the hunt.

Jayko Allooloo, chairman of the hunters and trappers organization in Pond Inlet, told CBC News that his group does not want cameras capturing images of whale carcasses laying about, in case some viewers think the hunters are wasting meat and blubber, also known as muktaaq.

Meanwhile, the organization that manages wildlife in Nunavut is defending the Pond Inlet hunters’ decision to kill all the trapped narwhals in what DFO has called a “humane hunt.”

“Those groups or individuals who are making these accusations, or trying to come up with ways to prevent this kind of incident [from happening], have to be aware this is a northern climate. It’s a harsh country,” said Harry Flaherty, acting chairman of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board.

Narwhals are not officially listed as endangered, but they should be – experts say they’ll be greatly impacted by climate change, even more so than polar bears. Experts have said that narwhal hunting is not sustainable. Hunters in Pond Inlet are only supposed to kill up to 130 narwhals a year.

Treehugger notes that the DFO claims the noise from the icebreakers would have been too stressful for the narwhals. Yeah, because loud noise is really less stressful than seeing your family members killed right before you get shot yourself. That makes a lot of sense. How incredibly sad and sickening.

Link [CBC] via [Treehugger]
Photo credit: National Geographic

Greenies Win Some, Lose Some in Historic Election

There was much at stake in Tuesday’s election, and environmentalists were keeping a close eye on certain senate and house races as well as an important ballot measure in California. As they say, you win some and you lose some, and although not every candidate endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters was victorious, quite a few were.

The biggest victory of the night – aside from that of President-elect Obama, of course – was claimed by animals across the country.  California’s Proposition 2 sought to require that egg-laying hens, calves raised for veal, and pregnant pigs be given enough room to lie down, stand up, fully extend their limbs and turn around freely.

Market Watch has a statement from Farm Sanctuary on the victory:

“The passage of Prop 2 in the country’s largest agricultural state marks a monumental victory for farm animals. This campaign did an amazing job of raising public awareness about the cruel treatment farm animals endure at the hands of an industry that has consistently fought meaningful change for animals. Farm Sanctuary supporters and campaign volunteers have seen California voters respond with reason and compassion agreeing that all animals deserve humane treatment. Today marks a significant change in the way we view and treat farm animals and falls closer in line with public sentiments and values of compassion. We look forward to seeing these confinement systems phased out nationwide.”

Grist has a rundown of the outcomes of environmentally notable races and ballot measures.  Prop 2 was far from the only green measure to pass – others include CA Prop 1A, which will partially fund a high-speed train linking SoCal and the Bay Area, and MO Prop C, which will require 15 percent of the state’s electricity to come from clean energy sources by 2021.

Among the Senate winners were Sierra Club- and LCV-endorsed Mark Udall of Colorado, Jean Shaheen of New Hampshire and Kay Hagan of North Carolina.

Check out the whole list over at Grist!

Link [Market Watch] + [Grist]
Photo credit: Flickr user gemsling

California’s Proposition 2: Money vs. Animal Rights

Proposition 8 isn’t the only battle raging in California this election season, with the lives of millions hanging in the balance. Farm animals raised for food will either get a big break next Tuesday, seeing better treatment than they’ve ever received in America, or they’ll continue to be treated cruelly, confined to tiny cages so they can’t even stand up or turn around.

From Grist, via The Huffington Post:

It’s not just another one of those far-out Left Coast things. The Prop. 2 campaign is playing on a mainstream, national stage. Oprah Winfrey devoted a show to the issue of food-animal care and Prop. 2 last week, and the New York Times editorial page voiced support for the proposition.

The changes called for in Prop. 2 are small but significant. The ballot wording says simply that Prop. 2 “requires that calves raised for veal, egg-laying hens, and pregnant pigs be confined only in ways that allow these animals to lie down, stand up, fully extend their limbs and turn around freely.” It would take effect Jan. 1, 2015.

There’s a lot at stake here, not just for the animals who live such heartbreakingly sad, painful lives before ending up on our plates or producing the eggs we eat, but for the quality of our food in the future. The nation’s big factory farmers will be watching the results of Prop 2 carefully, because if it passes, it’ll be sending them a strong message from voters: that we do care where our food comes from and how it’s raised.

If you’re a California resident, please vote yes on Proposition 2. Learn more about it at the California Voter Guide.

Link [Grist] + [Huffington Post] + [Voter Guide]
Photo credit: LA Times

Under Pressure from Conservationists, eBay Set to Ban Sale of Ivory

Unscrupulous traders have found online auction site eBay to be a lucrative avenue of sales for ivory from endangered elephants. But finally, just before a set of reports by a conservation organization is set to be unveiled, eBay officials have agreed to ban the sale of all ivory on the site, including heirlooms.  The report details trading in items derived from endangered species on auction sites like eBay, including rare birds and reptiles, ivory-handled walking sticks and figurines carved from elephant tusks.

From The New York Times:

The report, to be released here on Tuesday by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, analyzes data gathered in a six-week survey that tracked more than 7,000 listings of wildlife or their feathers, teeth or pelts offered for sale on more than 185 Web sites in 11 countries. Nearly three-quarters of the items were elephant products, the report said.

The vast majority of the online trade in endangered animals, the report says, is done on eBay. Law enforcement officials and specialists in illegal wildlife trade said it was impossible to determine how much of the estimated $10 billion spent each year in the illicit trade happens online.

Nichola Sharpe, a spokeswoman for eBay, said Monday that the company had been talking about a ban with the federal Fish and Wildlife Service’s enforcement division and conservation groups like the World Wildlife Fund. Because of the complications of abiding by multiple and overlapping state, federal and international conservation laws, Ms. Sharpe said, eBay officials decided on the ban, effective Jan. 1.

eBay claims that despite the ban, illegal ivory trading will likely continue because sellers need only avoid calling their wares “ivory” or using the word “elephant” to avoid automatic filtering.  The Fish and Wildlife Service are investigating illicit sales, but budget decreases have decreased their staff of inspectors.

Who knew that it was so easy to get away with trading in illegal items on eBay? These people have been doing it right out in the open, and it’s markets like these that push many species into extinction.

Link [The New York Times]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Current Regulations Allow Cattle to be Transported for 52 Hours Without Food or Water

In today’s world of modern conveniences, it’s easy for many people to overlook the journey that the goods they consume must take before arriving at their homes, restaurants or retail stores.  In fact, most people don’t want to know or don’t care about whether the people who made their clothing were paid a fair wage, or whether the wood furniture they purchase originated from a rainforest.  This is especially true with food.  So many people have adopted an ‘ignorance is bliss’ attitude.

There are so many good reasons to eat local, grass-fed, humanely raised meat (if you’re not a vegetarian, that is).  Now, you can add this one to the list: current regulations allow cattle to be transported for up to 52 hours without food and water.  As if it wasn’t bad enough already that they’re so often kept in cramped stalls, fed pesticide-laden grain, pumped with antibiotics, deprived of the little things that make life worth living for any creature and worst of all, treated as if they aren’t even live beings.

I know that most meat eaters don’t want to know what goes on at slaughterhouses or on livestock farms, for the sake of their own peace of mind.  I’ve heard it a million times – “It just tastes too damn good”. But, can you really be okay with the idea that your food was tortured before you consumed it? At least buy the good stuff from responsible farmers and/or cut back on the amount of meat you eat.  Just think of the poor, sad cow that suffered through a four-day journey without food and water in order for you to enjoy that juicy, delicious hamburger.  Mmmm, tortured flesh.

Link [Treehugger]

Vegetarian Matthew Scully Wrote Sarah Palin’s Convention Speech

There are a lot of reasons to fear Sarah Palin.  As Ecorazzi so accurately put it, “she’s like a buffet of really bad ideas”.  Aside from the fact that she’s a global warming denier, anti-environment, homophobic, pro-abstinence education, creationist, and a master at the craft of abusing power, she’s also the antithesis of an animal rights activist.  She shoots wolves from planes, for god’s sake.  Her house reportedly has a giant pile of caribou antlers outside it, her favorite meal is moose stew and her office is decorated with a dead bear.  And ironically, her speech at the Republican National Convention was written by none other than a passionate, dedicated vegetarian.

From Ecorazzi:

In an ironic course of action, Palin’s speech was penned by none other than former Bush speechwriter Matthew Scully. Scully is well known for his vegetarian lifestyle and rather strict views on animal rights. Besides his dietary choice, Scully is also the author of Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy — an acclaimed book written on the subject of animal welfare. Obviously Matthew is quite critical of the hunting community and has even spoken out against some of the more brutal forms of the practice, including aerial hunting — an activity Palin considers “fun.”

So we have to wonder – what happened, Michael Scully? How could you stomach writing such a speech, to be delivered by such a person? What’s it like to have to totally sidestep your own convictions – not to mention truth and reality – when crafting the fountain of lies and bullshit that came out of this woman’s mouth in St. Paul?

Link [Ecorazzi]
Image via Apartment Therapy

Buckingham Palace Guardsmen May Get Designer Fur-Free Hats

Earlier this week, beloved British comedian Ricky Gervais (of the original Office and Extras, in case you live under a rock or are severely comedically deprived) made headlines when he wrote to Prime Minister Gordon Brown asking him to find an alternative to using fur in the Buckingham Palace Guardesmen’s bearskin hats.  After the news got out, some people started joking about having famed PETA ally and vegetarian designer Stella McCartney to design new, cruelty-free hats.  It seems that those jokes might have something to them after all.

From Ecorazzi:

This week, Baroness Taylor, the Minister for Defence procurement (and in charge of acquiring all military equipment), will meet with PETA to discuss synthetic materials or other replacements for the bear fur. PETA has tapped British designer Vivienne Westwood to come up with something “innovative”, while Stella McCartney and the US designer Marc Bouwer have both agreed to produce caps if commissioned by the MoD.

It currently takes one black bear for every hat worn by the Buckingham guard. 50-100 new hats are needed every year. Over the past five years the MoD has spent more than $600,000 on bear skins. If this meeting proves successful — and it looks like there’s a serious chance — then a major step forward in saving the black bear of North America will have been taken.

There are so many humane alternatives out there, and while some may argue that the hats are an important and sentimental link to the past, we’re finally entering an age of consciousness and responsibility.  We can’t wait to see what the designers come up with.  Thanks, Ricky!

Link [Ecorazzi]
Photo credit: Metro.co.uk

Brought in for Sport, Gibraltar’s ‘Nuisance’ Barbary Apes now Set to be Killed

“Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty apes!” Oh, for the love of Charlton Heston.

Barbary macaques, thought to have been introduced to Gibraltar in the 18th century by British soldiers for use as target practice, are now finding themselves in danger once again after becoming ‘nuisances’.

From the Telegraph:

Ernest Britto, Gibraltar’s tourist minister, defended the plans for the cull, saying: “Children are frightened. People cannot leave their windows open for fear of the monkeys stealing. “Apes can bite, and contact with them runs the risk of salmonella or hepatitis.”

Vets are to track down the tearaways and put them down by lethal injection. Two have already been killed.

When will we ever learn? Humans eff with nature and get burned. It happens again and again, and yet each time we’re surprised. I find it sort of funny but ultimately sad that these people are indignant about apes acting like, well, apes. As if it wouldn’t be more shocking if they started donning trousers and politely tipping their hats at people saying, ‘Good day, m’lady’. Cause, I think the heretofore mentioned legendary actor illustrated brilliantly what would come about if that were the case in the classic ‘Planet of the Apes’.

Link [Telegraph]

Photo: Fox Home Entertainment

Because You Can Train Bears to Do Just About Anything: The Hockey Edition

Great FSM! This video of a bear playing hockey disturbs me on a deep level. That thing would be a monster in a hockey fight.

Bears belong in forests.