encourage biophilia

I had a slug in a bag of carrots the other day. It was stuck to my finger and I didn’t know what it was so I flung it into the sink. There, I identified it. It survived the fling alright. So I picked it up on a tissue and showed it to my roommate, who was saying “ew!” I told her about how they eat with a proboscis. As it was at rest on the tissue, it got curious and poked out its eyes and mouth and started looking around. I put it outside. She said she thought banana slugs are gross. Good protein for the food chain, though.

Should I make a goal of writing a newspaper column about animals and their various intersections in our lives? Or is that already being done?

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN1223820220080212?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

Because VictoriaPL doesn’t like dissent or facts (purchasing puppies is not a limiting factor in developing police dogs; not all puppies in a litter succeed, adding to the homeless problem directly or by displacement; “free” animals and the will to breed are the ultimate cause of homelessness and the absence of which is the ultimate solution), she deleted my posts and blocked me from responding here.

When it comes to animals, do we have the right to do whatever we want, without dissent or argument? Or do limits apply only to children and servants, the only others who are under our control and power?

Would you not call this kind of behavior, the rationalizations for and the rejection of anything against what she feels like doing, selfish? Strikes me that way. Maybe someone should tell her.

I should try to get his old shows on DVD or somewhere and watch them, because I never really did. But here’s an article that celebrates him:

http://www.oprah.com/spiritself/omag/ss_omag_200705_mbeck_f.jhtml

I am giving a little talk at the RedPath Freaky Friday program where scientist debunk myths and show related films. We are watching Ratatouille.

Also, recently discovered a company that does humane wildlife control here in Montreal, Kingston, Ottawa, and Cornwall too. Thankfully they do mice, raccoons, skunks, squirrels, and birds – humane removal and exclusion. Hopefully they will also do rats and bats.

Update Dec. 16: My talk went very well. I was a little long for myself, perhaps. But then we watched One Rat Short (amazing movie that the production house sent me) and Ratatouille.

It was family-friendly. And it was successful. And Melonie and Sicero, two of my girls, were very well behaved.

I have a case in point:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld2ah4WFbww

I turned the corner on the weekend and saw an Indian woman thwacking a small animal with a broomstick. I screamed “no no no no NO!” and rushed to the rescue. I got bit in the process, the poor thing was already half-paralyzed with a broken back, but it wanted to flee to safety so of course I let it. It would rather die in its own environment than out in the bright sun from bludgeoning. The woman stopped as soon as I said so and apologized. She didn’t know.

Don’t worry about me. I have been bit so many times from domestic rats – usually boys in territorius-interruptus – that I have plenty of immunity from any minor diseases that rats might carry (leptospirosis being the most common antagonistic disease, that is still pretty rare and not rat-exclusive, as hardly any are). Rabies is not a concern, either. The wound was clean and open, bled profusely, I disinfected it twice, and it’s healing nicely. I also feel fine. I know diseases are the exception and not the rule, and this remains true for wild rats. I’d be more concerned about infecting my pets.

Miss Peabody had 13 babies! ^{sadly, one of them died.} That’s a lot of babies for such a little mouse! Tiny pink beans with appendages, and little white milk bands when their tummies are full…

The land mine Hero Rat crew are on PBS:

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/tanzania605/video_index.html