tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15896191379623448312024-02-18T21:08:31.531-08:00The Random AnimalBook reviews on human/animal issues.The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-14747433703837883652012-04-16T15:00:00.000-07:002012-04-16T15:00:45.694-07:00The Erotic Sproing<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl691Q7_uWrde7hVbHv7LaNfRs7UpiG5vMIipFNhyOwTle1OsuG6pqQwetAW2HGKmzVguSO2bcTrfv79_oeKovtNvpZfkos6e01QNnqPvngPFMT5NipQxpZrHuweBuRYEZbIcB5MaHV3c/s1600/audubon+eagle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl691Q7_uWrde7hVbHv7LaNfRs7UpiG5vMIipFNhyOwTle1OsuG6pqQwetAW2HGKmzVguSO2bcTrfv79_oeKovtNvpZfkos6e01QNnqPvngPFMT5NipQxpZrHuweBuRYEZbIcB5MaHV3c/s320/audubon+eagle.jpg" width="210" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Come Fly with Me!"</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
It's spring, and animals sproing. That's according to writer/farmer Catherine Friend in <a href="http://www.catherinefriend.com/HTMLBookPages/sheepish.htm">Sheepish: Two Women, Fifty Sheep & Enough Wool to Save the Planet</a> (more on the book in a future entry). She has witnessed lambs leaping in the spring as if <i>on</i> springs. Go to this link to see <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/8423800@N02/3841307434/">a leap of joy</a> captured by Davies up North.<br />
No lambs roam the backyard of The Random Animal, but there are plenty of bunnies about to breed like rabbits. A few days ago at dusk two emerged from the dense lilac hedge they call home. One charged the other, who popped straight up and down. So the rabbit (the male?) turned and charged again. Another sproing. This was repeated several times, as if the couple were practicing for Cirque du Soleil. I tried to move closer to observe, but that drove them under the hedge. For a moment. The two emerged, sproinging, and then rested about 10 feet apart. The scientific term for this is "cavorting." One then stretched out and rolled over on its back, duff belly up. He/she rolled all the way over and back again, like a dog seeking a belly rub. Not the usual behavior of a prey animal.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjclwkN3bluXdQAr2yK0TKKdH4rHEwZwDas8nCno42mGpirCekX78RYB3GDpzbKEkCg0aDbwNRUmtMBbK82Ip6t7oJ73JsLKiVc2JErqlccdWJ0iGlsPCF3_uf6ZOO6aotiLu_F5ml2OAY/s1600/portland-press-herald_3537035.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjclwkN3bluXdQAr2yK0TKKdH4rHEwZwDas8nCno42mGpirCekX78RYB3GDpzbKEkCg0aDbwNRUmtMBbK82Ip6t7oJ73JsLKiVc2JErqlccdWJ0iGlsPCF3_uf6ZOO6aotiLu_F5ml2OAY/s1600/portland-press-herald_3537035.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Where'd she go? I wasn't done...</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Also witnessed (not a voyeur, I swear)--a raucous ring around the tree game of Pileated woodpeckers. The dramatic red, black, white Pileated with its pterodactyl profile is usually shy, but this two yakked and spiraled up and down the tree even though an oblivious dog and human were nearby. Blue jays seem open to a three-way, or must prove themselves in competition. Deep in a thicket not yet leafed out a male jay threw his heart and lust into his throat with noises I never heard from a jay before, and they're not shy about making noise. A female perched, facing him, tilting her head back and forth as if gauging the testosterone of his racket. Above them was another male figuring out if he could butt in. Apparently a "Focus Female" starts with a group of followers and is courted until she knows The One. Like "The Bachelorette" without commercials and with better judgment.<br />
Birds are less likely to sproing, but they can swoop dramatically. Every spring a few witness the mid-air coupling vividly described in Walt Whitman's poem, "The Dalliance of Eagles":<br />
<br />
Skirting the river road, (my forenoon walk, my rest,) <br />
Skyward in the air a sudden muffled sound, the dalliance of the eagles, <br />
The rushing amorous contact high in space together, <br />
The clinching interlocking claws, a living, fierce, gyrating wheel, <br />
Four beating wings, two beaks, a swirling mass tight grappling, <br />
In tumbling turning clustering loops, straight downward falling, <br />
Till o'er the river pois'd, the twain yet one, a moment's lull, <br />
A motionless still balance in the air, then parting, talons loosing, <br />
Upward again on slow-firm pinions slanting, their separate diverse flight, <br />
She hers, he his, pursuing. <br />
1880<br />
<br />
This year I was not fortunate enough, or lyrical enough, to witness and describe the mating of our national bird. Whitman places the male in the role of the pursuer, which may be accurate, but with eagles as with many raptors the female is the larger bird, probably because the female requires more mass for the energy demanding process of egg-laying. In March I saw two eagles circling each other over the Mississippi, only to fly to a more private part of the sky where my vision couldn't follow. About ten days ago in the same vicinity, an eagle flew back and forth carrying straw and twigs, probably to reinforce an already sizable nest. That nest may be one of the 36 recently counted by Minnesota wildlife researchers, as reported in <a href="http://www.startribune.com/local/146499465.html">The StarTribune</a>. Perhaps a reason for human sproinging is realizing that animals can thrive, despite all the mistakes we make that threaten to end their existence. In the 1960s, about 400 mating pairs were counted in the lower 48 states--a species dying from habitat loss, hunting, and the invasion of the pesticide DDT into their food chain. In Maine (my home state), the <a href="http://www.maine.gov/ifw/wildlife/species/endangered_species/bald_eagles/recovery.htm">Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife</a> provides dramatically dotted maps to show Eagle recovery and nesting sites. Apparently, Doing It midair works. <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixScQRD5qmz91ndC7ZnHUIKHLeDBfy-lAP_NeBEA73di_hKHM8GnF4lLX6lSCUBqoBA9zqAgsFYPwIAlwKAiDmisQnotXGxL_PQPmEleIFohEACpuxuseEkzVUpWpfv4RVIFjMVZ1g9T0/s1600/Maine+eagles+1967.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixScQRD5qmz91ndC7ZnHUIKHLeDBfy-lAP_NeBEA73di_hKHM8GnF4lLX6lSCUBqoBA9zqAgsFYPwIAlwKAiDmisQnotXGxL_PQPmEleIFohEACpuxuseEkzVUpWpfv4RVIFjMVZ1g9T0/s320/Maine+eagles+1967.jpg" width="247" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-TZaeBf4_YGUfzYiAdO_ff5pWppg-3_pTfTM3Rd64UwrOhxnUYMVRobT61E8uKyaCwvPYuhyLFcu19ipKOMym8DqtRJErEDw5iA5ZRBiyHswIW7I24P9AwdIM1_P8ENW4rt41TE9v1xs/s1600/Maine+eagles+2006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-TZaeBf4_YGUfzYiAdO_ff5pWppg-3_pTfTM3Rd64UwrOhxnUYMVRobT61E8uKyaCwvPYuhyLFcu19ipKOMym8DqtRJErEDw5iA5ZRBiyHswIW7I24P9AwdIM1_P8ENW4rt41TE9v1xs/s320/Maine+eagles+2006.jpg" width="237" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2006</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="left"><br />
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><br />
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><br />
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><br />
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right" valign="top"><br />
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><br />
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><br />
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><br />
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><br />
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><br />
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><br />
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><br />
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><br />
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><br />
</td><td align="right" valign="top"><br />
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><br />
</td><td align="right" valign="top"></td></tr>
<tr><td align="left"><br />
</td><td align="left"></td><td align="left"></td><td align="left"></td><td align="left"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-64522847632700618312012-03-22T10:13:00.000-07:002012-03-22T10:13:51.049-07:00The Canine Defense<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi51JSJqh4ekMQLnAMTFFScFcsYwK9akRnjUx2sfNlK5RPlJzbZt-Jh3Zb8qSHmjrzr0jhzB0KFw_W64KjxChbykR8WrHqyCnmmVEvXagubwIdfFtIRAnF-ekodJWXtabn2eMY5JcE5lcU/s1600/dexter+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi51JSJqh4ekMQLnAMTFFScFcsYwK9akRnjUx2sfNlK5RPlJzbZt-Jh3Zb8qSHmjrzr0jhzB0KFw_W64KjxChbykR8WrHqyCnmmVEvXagubwIdfFtIRAnF-ekodJWXtabn2eMY5JcE5lcU/s320/dexter+6.jpg" width="215" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happy Boy On Duty</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>A few years ago I walked--or was pulled by--a highly energetic lab-mix dog at a local humane society. He'd come in as an injured stray, but in recovery displayed an intense drive and energy that might be difficult to contain in an average household. He needed education, and he got it in a bomb-sniffing program. He now patrols airports, doing his patriotic duty in hopes of being rewarded with a bouncing tennis ball.<br />
"Passive-responder" dogs like Happy Boy scurry about to find bombs, drugs, weapons and then freeze at attention by a discovery. (Actually, the drug and bomb dogs are separate: you want to know if a dog has found a drug or a bomb before digging deeper.) They are considered friendly protectors, though there is debate about the ethics of putting dogs in harm's way in combat zones. It's a different matter with the canines used as "patrol animals," the sort misused at Abu Ghraib in Iraq to terrify prisoners. When used "appropriately," these dogs are a preventative measure or first line of defense against crime and terrorism. That's the topic of a recent <i>New Yorker </i>article by Burkhard Bilger, <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/02/27/120227fa_fact_bilger">"Beware of the Dogs"</a>.<br />
Bilger starts with the New York City subway system, with its "four hundred stations, eight hundred miles of track, six thousand cars, and, on any given weekday, five million passengers. It's an anti-terrorism unit's nightmare." Since 9/11, the number of patrol dogs in NYC has doubled to about 100 dogs. They are often called out for crimes in progress. As a police officer explains, "The suspects are armed. They're known to be violent. So, by the mere nature of that call, it's going to be more dangerous." In other words, you need a dog who can pull a man down quickly.<br />
The dogs trained for this duty generally come from European breeders because American breeders have focused more on show ring looks than on highly trainable behavior and the keenest scent. So German shepherds and Belgian Malinois are imported. Judging dogs' behavior solely by breed is erroneous, but these dogs have breeding and training directed toward dangerous work, so they live up to their scary reputations. A New York training cop explains to Bilger that "Malinois just really love bite work. They have a giant prey drive. Some people call them Maligators." <br />
For two sides of the Malinois, see the following links. In one, a Malinois is a gentle<a href="http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/animalbreeds/a/SaraZorro.htm"> service animal</a> for Sara, an animal trainer with a hip deformity. In the other (I could not verify the source), dogs in France are apparently being trained for dangerous policing work by men in "bite suits." What's impressive is not only the determined bite but the speed and leaping ability as these dogs go right over cars to latch onto their suspect. One dog seems to bite a handler, which leads to questions about the training.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zv0g95QVpCE?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
Past dog training of pets and police dogs was a harsh business with "no's," hits from rolled-up newspapers, and choke collars. Now the emphasis is on positive reinforcement, borrowing techniques from marine mammal training--difficult putting a choke collar on an orca. Used with skill, patience, and continual small rewards, positive training can nearly orchestrate a dog's every move. Zoo animals can be trained to be still for shots and medical exams, making restraints unnecessary. A very different video from the one above shows Michele Pouliot (director or research and development at Guide Dogs for the Blind, Oregon) in an elaborate dance with Listo, her Australian shepherd.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/gT5yAOu8HLc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>It may be that one of the best places to raise police dogs, as the article suggests, is in prisons with positive reinforcement: prisoners have a purpose and the dogs are cared for in a chaotic environment, a good exposure for the mean streets outside.<br />
In theory, American patrol dogs would only bite--and release--on command. They also urinate on command. At Police Dog Field Trials in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, Bilger saw a dog dropped from the competition when he did not immediately respond to his handler's command to back off from an attack run. I remember reading in one of Temple Grandin's books that positive reinforcement is the first choice, but training an animal to go against instinct, like stopping mid-attack, can require harsher tactics. Training a dog is an expensive proposition, costing tens of thousands of dollars, and not every dog passes. Some of them, however, are recycled into other programs. Auburn University, which trains detector dogs, has diverted a number to be <a href="http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/06/auburn_university_tries_to_tea.html">Eco-heroes</a> sniffing out tree killing fungus.<br />
<br />
In the end, what these dogs want after finding the bomb, catching the suspect, or pointing to a mold is a chance to chase a ball.The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-58104037497800743052012-03-19T12:42:00.000-07:002012-03-19T12:42:36.864-07:00The Luck and Death of Horses<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-9mQrssev-B9SwlssWVAeu4AQeQFgnBN3TuZPCEvd0z4O_u84zAkBYmT8DLssHenJH5WkPK2aSUXiZDEi6_iv6bwzId-5gqELMVQccd7ol6tK2s_W_KOBuFloIkgD1g31ML2oAAyU7Cg/s1600/Secretariat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-9mQrssev-B9SwlssWVAeu4AQeQFgnBN3TuZPCEvd0z4O_u84zAkBYmT8DLssHenJH5WkPK2aSUXiZDEi6_iv6bwzId-5gqELMVQccd7ol6tK2s_W_KOBuFloIkgD1g31ML2oAAyU7Cg/s320/Secretariat.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Secretariat, alive and well</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
A few days ago, HBO cancelled its series <i>Luck </i>about conniving humans and racing horses. I never watched the series, but saw the notice that the series was cancelled after the third horse death connected to filming. For a full account, see the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-horses-deaths-hbo-luck-20120319,0,1141676.story">Los Angeles Times</a> article. The article also notes that no horses died in the filming of <i>Secretariat</i> or the filming of what looked like a hazardous film, <a href="http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/12/27/war-horse-training-horses-joey/">War Horse.</a><br />
The Random Animal bows to an excellent blog on this topic. Hal Herzog, a social psychologist who studies human/animal interactions, writes on the bad luck of <i>Luck, </i>horse racing, and animal cruelty for <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animals-and-us/201203/horse-racing-cruelties-we-condone-and-cruelties-we-condemn">Psychology Today</a>. Herzog notes that animal sports linked with lower income groups, like dog fighting, are more apt to be scorned and regulated than high-end hunting or horse racing. Herzog refers to ethologist/animal behaviorist Marc Bekoff, who commented on the ethical issues of horse racing in an <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/horse-racing-drama-luck-proved-real-hbo-15943719#.T2eKV_XrSSo">ABC News</a> article. As the ABC article discloses, horses generally fare better in entertainment than in real horse races: in the U.S. there's a horse fatality for every 500 race "starts."<br />
So, more significant than a requiem for a TV series is a requiem for the horses.<br />
<br />
Coming soon: Militant dogs and the challenges of security in an era of terrorism.The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-71364472869111551222012-03-01T09:25:00.001-08:002012-03-01T09:49:34.557-08:00The Relative Value of Murder<div class="MsoNormal"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc3tRwcri4q2Ukr2MEI8_7gKTVhqoYGI6TIYwgWpzVMc3OjepSl_Zerh-84olcVUSrBLLUUQMSihMdwuAx7at24dokbhPgDXPcrqft5SUKbrFGwY20c120ndBRCDIodm7tZkawrq4Juq0/s1600/barbie+with+crows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc3tRwcri4q2Ukr2MEI8_7gKTVhqoYGI6TIYwgWpzVMc3OjepSl_Zerh-84olcVUSrBLLUUQMSihMdwuAx7at24dokbhPgDXPcrqft5SUKbrFGwY20c120ndBRCDIodm7tZkawrq4Juq0/s320/barbie+with+crows.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Are you sure this will make me a star?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A murder of crows. It’s one of those terms of amplitude that harken back to medieval bestiaries: a gaggle of geese, a pride of lions, a leash of greyhounds, a shrewdness of apes. But a murder of crows is literally desired by some in Rochester, Minnesota. Over $8000 has been spent to discourage Hitchcockian hordes of black birds with their multitudinous droppings from dominating the landscape. Meanwhile, in the same state, there is agony over the death of one baby dolphin. And a farmer has been fined $12,500 for destroying thousands of white pelican eggs and chicks on his land.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We may aspire to the ideal that all life is cherished, but in practice algorithms of value come into play with human and animal lives. As philosopher Mary Midgley argues in <a href="http://www.ugapress.org/index.php/books/animals_and_why_they_matter/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Animals and Why They Matter</i></a>, “nearness and kinship” account for much human attachment and responsibility—we favor family, friends, household pets, those like us in cultural ways. However, “we are subject to other claims” of compassion, justice, sustainability, and biological diversity. There is no shortage of crows. </span><i>Corvus brachyrhynchos </i>i<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">s a species much like ourselves: intelligent, adaptable, tricky, persistent, and often rude and loud. (I’ve heard it suggested that we don’t care much for species like crows and coyotes who rival human skills for dominance and survival. (For more on the capability of the crow, see the wonderful book by naturalist Candace Savage, <a href="http://www.candacesavage.ca/">Bird Brains</a>, and the Smithsonian/National Zoo article, <a href="http://nationalzoo.si.edu/scbi/migratorybirds/featured_birds/default.cfm?bird=American_Crow">Consummate Opportunist .)</a></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Rochester, as home to the Mayo Clinic, is a destination of hope for many, but the past few years metaphorical rainbows of healing have been replaced by literal black-flecked skies. For whatever reasons, the crows have found Rochester an, umm, "hospitable" place. Crows, along with pigeons and rats, thrive near human activity and detritus. Local news programs emphasize the noise and the mess and the solutions that range from killing to netting birds and moving them over a hundred miles away. <a href="http://www.13wham.com/news/local/story/City-To-Begin-Scaring-Away-Crows/rWujC1KV4U-DIEs6F_grBg.cspx">WHAM News</a> (what's in a name) reports on the attack of the crows and the attack against crows. Some crow enemies are not human.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjarPAlaj54dbIfmbaSSSjs2u8Ev7HBtNoW096LvD3PvWwyLzGHKrDNb2Wc3NweVVYCjapIbpv7Jn4Gj4qtIplXUvY8JPK8WaaK4y6KOpQHXKwxOoyF0fdWH9wtXfJANAr1FEP_4kI-ZoI/s1600/Team-Falcon-L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjarPAlaj54dbIfmbaSSSjs2u8Ev7HBtNoW096LvD3PvWwyLzGHKrDNb2Wc3NweVVYCjapIbpv7Jn4Gj4qtIplXUvY8JPK8WaaK4y6KOpQHXKwxOoyF0fdWH9wtXfJANAr1FEP_4kI-ZoI/s400/Team-Falcon-L.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Team Falcon of U.S. Bird Abatement Services (a private company)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A crow invasion does not warrant the actions of Navy Seals, but the avian equivalent of a SWAT team--raptors--are being deployed. But according to the Bird Abatement team, it may several years of policing by <a href="http://www.defenders.org/wildlife_and_habitat/wildlife/peregrine_falcon.php">Peregrine Falcons</a>, who can swoop at speeds of 200 mph, to convince crows they would be happier elsewhere.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Familiarity and large numbers can breed contempt, the case with crow, but rarity can add value. Few of us have encountered a baby dolphin, although dolphin swim programs are becoming widespread and commercialized. A zoo dolphin, <a href="http://www.startribune.com/local/south/140348643.html">Taijah</a>, died a few weeks ago, presumably from an ulcer, but how the dolphin's health became impaired remains mysterious. We like dolphins and like to think that they like us. The argument can be made, repeatedly, that dolphins are not native to the Midwest interior or to artificial tanks (there's great expense in keeping and caring for marine mammals.) Arguments for not keeping captive dolphins are based on dolphin intelligence, social need to be with a group of dolphins, and adaptation to habitats that range several hundred miles. While a deep philosophical gap exists between pro and anti-captivity advocates, zoo attendants don't want premature deaths either, for business and research reasons, but they also become attached to charismatic "megafauna"--those big endearing animals like elephants, seals, and dolphins. (Some books on dolphins and captivity issues are listed at the end of the blog.)</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr76HzHq6Vmw_0WNqnUwOfalLzxmgq595ZYop923HakgFVBs756aSJnD0dpc0pM4uFf-LEwFrujeNS8KbnugP4Be_8lu7jgyH14k3uIv62q4x_LgSVWXIRlb_eWhXJ_eJGBGT_MmEc8cA/s1600/PelicanDNR1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr76HzHq6Vmw_0WNqnUwOfalLzxmgq595ZYop923HakgFVBs756aSJnD0dpc0pM4uFf-LEwFrujeNS8KbnugP4Be_8lu7jgyH14k3uIv62q4x_LgSVWXIRlb_eWhXJ_eJGBGT_MmEc8cA/s400/PelicanDNR1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From Minnesota DNR files</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> An abstract defense of animal lives and an immediate, volatile reaction collide in the case of a farmer who destroyed the nesting grounds of <a href="http://www.startribune.com/local/140662703.html">white pelicans</a>. The species is not listed as "endangered," but for most of the 20th century the numbers were low and the population is still recovering. According to the Minnesota DNR website,"</span>In the 1980s, only five colonies were found in an area that previously supported twenty-three." Numbers of colonies and hence offspring have been on the rise, but the DNR page adds a warning note based on a 1993 study: "Destruction of breeding and foraging habitat, as well as human disturbance, are considered the most important limiting factors for American white pelican populations." There is no direct mention of what happens when the birds themselves seem destructive.<br />
As a <a href="http://www.startribune.com/local/140662703.html">StarTribune </a>explains, a farmer concluded that nesting pelicans had caused $20,000 worth of damage when they abandoned a now-submerged island in a bordering lake to move onto his property. As the article reports, "Within the space of a few hours last May, Staloch smashed thousands of American White pelican chicks and eggs -- all of the offspring in one of the state's largest colonies -- even though a state wildlife officer had told him the previous day that they were protected by federal law." Because of the extent of the damage, the man has to pay a $12K fine (which might be less than a dollar a bird) and perform 100 hours of community service for a wildlife program. Many of his neighbors were shocked by the punishment, as a warning about disobeying federal wildlife statutes as species' numbers increase: "Another [resident] said all the farmers around the lake have lost crops to pelicans and geese, and suggested that if the state would compensate them 'there would not be such negative feelings' toward wildlife agencies that enforce protection laws.'" There are limited funds available through a <a href="http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/grants/habitat/wildlife_damage.html">Wildlife Damage Management Program </a><br />
though as earlier <a href="http://www.startribune.com/local/129948168.html">coverage</a> noted, nothing compensated for this sort of situation. Reducing human/animal conflict requires innovation, long-term planning, and often funding. Animal welfare depends on the acts of individuals and the resources of a community. Meanwhile, it will soon be time for the white pelicans to fly up the Mississippi to their Northern nesting grounds. May birds and humans have better fortune this spring.<br />
<br />
Notes: The top illustration is indeed a<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Alfred-Hitchcock-Birds-Barbie-Doll/dp/B00142V9X0"> "Birds Barbie"</a> dressed like Hitchcock's Tippi Hedren.<br />
Books I've read on dolphins include<br />
Thomas I. White, <a href="http://www.indefenseofdolphins.com/">In Defense of Dolphins</a>: this draws on scientific evidence and philosophic reasoning to claim that dolphins should be designated "nonhuman persons." (Would this give them the same rights as corporations?)<br />
Rachel Smolker, <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6021443-to-touch-a-wild-dolphin">To Touch a Wild Dolphin</a>: this is an account of interactions with dolphins at Monkey Mia Bay, Australia, who are "wild" but habituated to human presence.<br />
Toni Frohoff and Brenda Peterson, <a href="http://www.terramarresearch.org/about_us/about_toni_frohoff.html">Celebrating the Dolphin/Human Bond</a>: Frohoff studies wild dolphins and inspects worldwide captive dolphin facilities, at times recommending that they be closed. <br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ken Ramirez, <a href="http://kenramireztraining.com/shop/">Animal Training: Animal Management through Positive Reinforcement</a>: Ramirez works with dolphins and other mammals at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div>The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-41401585690780842182012-02-23T08:38:00.001-08:002012-02-23T12:34:21.695-08:00Species Matters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcvxCne-RJzsjxLgvPsoQ0ic2mjm72HzeDpu56NmYojd5YVX0e4yepBGHqpKchgtvCaVMJvoone8UswlTNfIxZhGFs6fAoaLpXpm-HxDQjdI5cDMaJfssCyDG4vezfMPZzYS463hyphenhyphenjDzM/s1600/speciesmatters+image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcvxCne-RJzsjxLgvPsoQ0ic2mjm72HzeDpu56NmYojd5YVX0e4yepBGHqpKchgtvCaVMJvoone8UswlTNfIxZhGFs6fAoaLpXpm-HxDQjdI5cDMaJfssCyDG4vezfMPZzYS463hyphenhyphenjDzM/s400/speciesmatters+image.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-15282-2/species-matters"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">SpeciesMatters: Humane Advocacy and Cultural Theory</span></i></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">, edited by Marianne DeKoven and Michael Lundblad (New York: Columbia University Press, 2012)</span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> You could argue that as a culture we have a crush on animals. That’s not saying, however, that we understand how to live together ethically and sustainably. Animals feature prominently in a number of movies, as noted recently, and testimonial books like John Grogan’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Marley and Me</i> continue to find readers. Animal-assisted therapy is a growth field, though measuring the effectiveness of dogs, horses, and dolphins with people in need and gauging the animals' own welfare are ongoing challenges. Meanwhile, the mass production of food from animals continues to be a key part of the U.S. diet and economy, with locavore pigs and chickens a rarity. (For a</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> send-up of the locavore obsession for a happy story behind every meal, see Episode 1 of <a href="http://www.ifc.com/shows/portlandia/episodes/season-1/farm">Portlandia</a><a href="http://www.ifc.com/shows/portlandia/episodes/season-1/farm">.)</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">"Animal studies” is a also rapidly growing field in colleges and universities. It crosses disciplines—ethics, philosophy, sociology, history, biology, psychology, literature, the arts—to defamiliarize what we think we know about animals, how we treat them, and why. Or to paraphrase recent books in the field, one by <a href="http://halherzog.com/">Hal Herzog</a> and another by<a href="http://lanternbooks.com/author.html?au=2230"> Melanie Joy</a>, why do we love dogs and cats, eat pigs and chickens, and wear sheep and cow?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Species Matters: Humane Advocacy and Cultural Theory</i>, editors <a href="http://english.rutgers.edu/faculty/facultyprofiles/266-mdekoven.html">DeKoven</a> and <a href="http://central.colostate.edu/people/lundblad/">Lundblad</a> have assembled essays that illustrate the breadth and maturation of animal studies. The collection, as indicated by “cultural” plus “theory” in the title, is not for the casual reader or fresh undergraduate; it situates itself (the Random Animal can talk academic) in intellectual explorations of the unstable meanings of “being animal” and “being human.” The contributors are scholars that are shaping the field through postmodern, even "posthuman," readings of nature and culture, linguistics, ethics, evolutionary theory, primatology, food production, and race and gender studies. They include <a href="http://www.egs.edu/faculty/donna-haraway/biography/">DonnaHaraway</a>, <a href="http://www.carywolfe.com/">Cary Wolfe</a>, <a href="http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Philosophy/Social/?view=usa&ci=9780195173659">Paola Cavalieri</a>, <a href="http://www.caroljadams.com/spom.html">Carol J. Adams</a>,<a href="http://www.psychology.emory.edu/nab/dewaal/"> Frans de Waal</a>, <a href="http://philosophy.uchicago.edu/faculty/nussbaum.html">Martha Nussbaum</a>, and <a href="http://www.grandin.com/">Temple Grandin</a>. The essays address the relationships among theory, animal advocacy in the lab and field, and “the cultural politics of animality and ‘the animal.’” One of the book's contributions is to distinguish between those terms. Michael Lundblad writes, “’If animal studies can be seen as work that explores representations of animality and related discourses with an emphasis on advocacy for nonhuman animals, animality studies becomes work that emphasizes the history of animality in relation to human cultural studies, without an explicit call for nonhuman advocacy.’” While the reader will encounter specialist terms of fine distinctions--"vanishing indigene,"" semiotic <i>grille,</i>" "ontological freight," "absent referent"--the discussions also raise broad basic questions. In terms of ethics and behavior how are animals and humans the same, different? How is "brutality" entangled in attitudes about predators and human violence? Are women and minorities harmed and even destroyed by being considered animalistic or at times less worthy of "humane" care than the animal? How is the "animal question" inseparable from the big "human" ones--what is good, what is evil, and why do we value what we value?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Given our social backdrop of beliefs that range from we can do anything with animals to we should abolish all use of animals, the agendas of such disparate groups as the NRA and PETA having impact on real animal lives and deaths, <i>Species Matters </i>demonstrates openness to viewpoints. (Well, the NRA isn't included or the Beef Association). The editors stress that "animal studies remains a broad field with no mandatory form of advocacy and no necessary correlation with animal rights activism." They also repeat Haraway's insight that there is no single universal principle which accounts for all human/animal relations and, in her words, "No easy unity is to be found on these matters, and no answers will make one feel good for long." Wolfe notes the slippage he experiences in connecting Derrida's subtle hermenuetics to his efforts with animal aid groups. Cavalieri makes her moral stance clear in statements like "</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Animal welfare aims at improving the treatment of animals, but without changing their status as inferior beings. Animal liberation pursues instead the goal of a moral and legal extension of equality to nonhuman beings." She calls attention as well to the "anti-McDonald's saga" in which activists focus on "[human] health, the environment, and worker rights" with little reference to the animals slaughtered. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> A very different view is offered by Temple Grandin, who "was hired by McDonald's to implement animal welfare audits in slaughter plants." Grandin argues that there is danger in ideological or political "abstractification," her term for "ideology and policy made by people who have no 'on the ground' experiences with the issue that they are making policy about." Grandin gives as example the law that closed U.S. horse slaughter houses but provided no alternative care for unwanted animals: "it resulted in many severe horse welfare problems. Some old horses suffered a fate worse than ending up at the worst horse slaughter plant." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> The implications of human denial or acceptance of <i>Homo sapiens</i>' own animal nature dominate several discussions. The traditional paradigm that the human must conquer the impulsive and violent internal "animal" to transcend to an ideal undergoes a number of deconstructions. Philosopher Martha Nussbaum ,who has written extensively and brilliantly on empathy and social justice, argues that human beings are capable of cruel extremes unimaginable with animals: "Human compassion . . . is profoundly uneven and unreliable, in ways that make animals look, at times, like morally superior beings." She cites acts of torture and genocide intended to wipe groups of people out of existence. (She is not the first to make these points: Jared Diamond and other interdisciplinary scientists have examined the "human" nature of mass violence in anthropological/evolutionary studies.) In illustrating the kindness of animals, however, Nussbaum's analogies are sometimes problematic. She asserts that the dog in Theodor Fontane's novel<i> Effi Briest </i>exhibits a superior response by longing for Effi when her parents, who married her off badly and then condemned her resulting behavior, have ostracized her and driven her to death. I'm not arguing against the idea that the dog is the better person in the story, but there's a false parallelism of moral contexts. Effi violated a flawed human code within the society of her husband and parents. Within the society of the dog, she apparently acted well and responded to the animal with affection; she did not violate a canine code. A better parallel would exist if she had abandoned the dog as well--then would the dog forgive as readily? (Probably yes.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Nussbaum's conclusion that "the human is the only animal that hates its own animality" points to a paradox that appears throughout the collection: when humans try to be more than human--a superior race--and try to debase different peoples as less than human, destruction ensues. Primatologist Frans de Waal sets this self-hatred in the context of outdated dualism--mind over body, superior being over animal. He argues against the dim views of failed humanity offered by Hobbes, Huxley, "Calvinist sociobiology," and Richard Dawkins, authors who can't comprehend "natural" compassion. De Waal is not saying that animals and humans have the same moral comprehension but that complex human morality is NOT a "violation of evolutionary principles." There is a non-dualistic continuum: "Thus, the child is not going against its own nature by developing a caring, moral attitude, and civil society is not like an out-of-control garden subdued by a sweating gardener. We are merely following evolved tendencies."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Challenging animals' "accepted" status and redefining the human can stir up contentious arguments that oversimplify and shut out different viewpoints. <i>Species Matters</i>, while clearly advancing the possibilities for advocacy, outlines the range of activist and intellectual responses to human/animal issues. With continuing human population growth and development, those issues will become even more crucial.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A footnote: in 2010 I published an essay on the state of animal studies, "Theory: Gone to the Dogs," which is available through the 2/21/2012 post. </span></div></div>The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-50940211500467546452012-02-21T14:08:00.000-08:002012-02-21T14:08:46.261-08:00Theory: Gone to the Dogs<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5G83yeAo1k-yXQhpoce9BH2lzYiJFTKB5-YJx6a-kMQMCcqb6Ru82dMX6v0pbjp_LYTo0wZUeuOQ2F-0nLjdVYKVFGL13HGgcH8bHikbb9rGZ1-xezVusgHUS0SdcyAkNx4BiyfYWPas/s1600/IMG_2335.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5G83yeAo1k-yXQhpoce9BH2lzYiJFTKB5-YJx6a-kMQMCcqb6Ru82dMX6v0pbjp_LYTo0wZUeuOQ2F-0nLjdVYKVFGL13HGgcH8bHikbb9rGZ1-xezVusgHUS0SdcyAkNx4BiyfYWPas/s400/IMG_2335.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More Theory, Please</td></tr>
</tbody></table><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:TargetScreenSize>800x600</o:TargetScreenSize> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267"> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" Name="header"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" Name="footer"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" Name="page number"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" Name="endnote reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" Name="endnote text"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" Name="Hyperlink"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" Name="FollowedHyperlink"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" Name="Normal (Web)"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" Name="No List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><img src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png" style="background-color: #b2b2b2; " class="BLOGGER-object-element tr_noresize tr_placeholder" id="ieooui" data-original-id="ieooui" /> <style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }
</style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
</style> <![endif]--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The Random Animal apologies for inflicting what follows (including <i>bibliography </i>and a <i>note) </i>on<i> </i>gentle and busy readers. The 27 page essay below is a prequel (like the movie made after <i>Star Wars </i>about what happened before) to a review scheduled to be published within a few days, and is placed here for reference. Like the prequel to <i>Star Wars</i>, it can be skipped with no ill effects. There are no appearances by Harrison Ford.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Author: Priscilla Paton. Published in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">jac: a quarterly journal for the interdisciplinary study of rhetoric, writing, multiple literacies, and politics </i>Vol. 30, num. 3-4, 2010: 557-582. Currently not available elsewhere online.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 1.5in; text-indent: .5in;">Theory: Gone to the Dogs</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in;">“No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as the dog does.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christopher Morley, American writer and humorist (1890-1957)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">I would like to begin this conversation with a dream:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">If my dog were smarter, if he could intuit others’ needs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If he (neutered) could see, hear, or smell beyond race, class, and gender to a proactive partnering, then I could narrate the necessary shaggy-dog-story, the life-knowingness needed in the techno-fundamentalist-corporate conflict/consumption culture to transform it to something of kin, of kindness in kinship, I would have a theory. But mostly my dog sleeps.</i> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Homo sapiens</i> is a meaning-making, meaning-debating animal, as my dream implies, and our species’ contested territory and subsequent rhetorical strategizing encompass what to think of non-human animals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though these others have occupied the imagination since humans became humans, they are often lost in theoretical gaps beneath the consideration of grand teleologies and critiques of pure reason. Now animals are the muses in discussions of human morality, while the phrase “Animal Studies” has little to do with gigging frogs in labs and much to do with the formation of cultural values and power structures. Embedded in many contemporary discussions is a salvation narrative: the animal question becomes, can animals save us from ourselves?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This may sound counter-intuitive at a time when human interventions threaten numerous species. But movies from the lyrical <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Winged Migration </i>to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Marley & Me </i>find large audiences, and popular books offer testimony about the redeeming presence and wry wisdom offered by a chimp, dog, horse, lion, or hog.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=1589619137962344831#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[i]</span></span></span></span></a> Interdisciplinary conferences explore human/animal issues and indicate that intellectual attention has taken many channels since Peter Singer’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Animal Liberation </i>of 1975 decried the suffering of resource species and since John Berger’s “Why Look at Animals” of 1977 lamented animals’ “cultural marginalisation” (Singer, Berger 1). Philosophers draw on Utilitarian, Kantian, and Contractarian premises to propose ethical foundations for treatment of animals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jeremy Bentham’s question—“can they suffer?”—is much cited and enhanced by “can they feel pleasure?” (Balcombe) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those who prefer a continental approach to animals invoke Jacques Derrida or Emmanuel Levinas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Primatologist Frans de Waal at Emory and ethologist Marc Bekoff at University of Colorado have followed Donald Griffin’s lead in making research on animal mindedness safe for scientists. Postmodern thought in particular has embraced consideration of the “animal” as another means of unsettling assumptions about human centrality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Donna Haraway, Harriet Ritvo, Cary Wolfe, Martha Nussbaum, and Barbara Herrnstein Smith, along with a growing contingent of scholars, render the animal question significant to “posthuman” critique. This critique asks how we are to conceive of human agency and responsibility in a global society infused by technology and complicated by multiplicities of difference, including the difference of other species. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The answers are sought not only in theoretical principles, but in the appeal of narrative.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">As Henry David Thoreau or Claude Lévi-Strauss might remind us, animals are cast as characters and assigned symbolic weight, often to their literal detriment. What is required of animals, in theory, that they might save us, so we in turn might save them?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">The Human Fallacy</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">If <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Homo sapiens</i> is a species of habit (sometimes maladaptive) and learned behavior (sometimes acquired in error), then renewed sensitivity to interaction with other lives is always welcome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rethinking the animal challenges longstanding conceptions of subjectivity, language and reason; the interaction of biology and culture in the construction of a living being; the species divide and ethical boundaries; and social contracts that heavily privilege empowered, “superior” human beings. Curiously, while the meaning of being human undergoes morphing in these discussions, the connotations of “humane” and “inhumane” remain stable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A subtext recurs that the best man or woman among us may be a dog, and through the cutting-edge jargon traditional ideals emerge: humanity defined by empathy and compassion, the value of hard mutual work, the power of love, and the power of stories about that love.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">The resonance of “humanity” and the problem of illustrating that and the opposing “inhumanity” occur in selections from Peter Singer and Jacques Derrida.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Utilitarian and the Deconstructionist both compare the slaughter and consumption of animals to crimes against humanity. Singer, as do many animal rights advocates, stresses parallels with the oppression of marginalized people: “Just as it was convenient for the slave traders and slave owners to believe that they were justified in treating people of African descent as property, so too it is convenient for humans to believe that they are justified in treating animals as things that can be owned, and to deny that they have interests that give rise to moral claims upon us” (“Preface” xii). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Derrida, in his essay “The Animal That Therefore I Am,” indicts “the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">unprecedented </i>proportions of this subjection of the animal” (119).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He employs another controversial analogy in associating the production and slaughter of animals with genocide and the Holocaust:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in;">One should neither abuse the figure of genocide nor consider it explained away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For it gets more complicated here: the annihilation of certain species is indeed in process, but it is occurring through the organization and exploitation of an artificial, infernal, virtually interminable survival, in conditions that previous generations would have judged monstrous [. . .].<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As if, for example, instead of throwing people into ovens or gas chambers (let’s say Nazi) doctors and geneticists had decided to organize the overproduction and overgeneration of Jews, gypsies, and homosexuals by means of artificial insemination, so that, being more numerous and better fed, they could be destined in always increasing numbers for the same hell. (120)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">Singer’s and Derrida’s statements imply that in the treatment of animals old-fashioned sins of omission and commission mate with modern technologies of habitat alteration, mass production, and mass slaughter to engender greater evil. Underlying these controversial analogies is the assumption that the human should be an ethical animal (an Aristotelian thought), and the implication that people should act <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">as if </i>morality were innate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The passages implicitly but unequivocally reject domination, destructiveness, and violence as typical human traits, or part of the human animal’s behavior. (History, however, history has shown our species’ strong predilection for such “inhumanities.”)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words, to be fully “human,” which will allow the animal to be fully animal, the human being must be trained away from destructive or predatory tendencies to become compassionate and altruistic in supporting autonomous lives across species lines.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">Postmodern theorists are practiced at unpacking the rhetoric of others, yet with the animal question they may need to take care with their own terms for credibility’s sake. Although Derrida offers the disclaimer that “the figure of genocide” should not be abused,” such comparisons of extreme human suffering with the suffering of animals excite dissension. J.M. Coetzee dramatizes the debate in his novel <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elizabeth Costello</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At academic lectures, the character Elizabeth Costello chooses to talk about cruelty to animals rather than the novels that made her famous, and she boldly employs the Holocaust analogy:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in;">‘Let me say it openly: we are surrounded by an enterprise of degradation, cruelty and killing which rivals anything that the Third Reich was capable of, indeed dwarfs it, in that ours is an enterprise without end, self-regenerating, bringing rabbits, rats, poultry, livestock ceaselessly into the world for the purpose of killing them.’ (65)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">As a result of her remarks, the university’s resident poet, Abraham Stern, declines to have dinner with her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His letter of explanation turns on his sense of the moral confusion embedded in her rhetoric:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">‘You took over for your own purposes the familiar comparison between the murdered Jews of Europe and slaughtered cattle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Jews died like cattle, therefore cattle die like Jews, you say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is a trick with words which I will not accept.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You misunderstand the nature of likenesses; I would even say you misunderstand willfully, to the point of blasphemy.’ (94)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">Coetzee leaves the issue unresolved for his readers: Costello does not reply to the letter, and her responses to questions about animal rights are vague and evasive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(The section of the novel that revolves around Costello’s talk constituted Coetzee’s own presentation, “The Lives of Animals,” for the 1997-98 Tanner Lectures on Human Values at Princeton University.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Left hanging is the charge that the Holocaust analogy consists of “a trick with words.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">Bold analogies can be a form of shouting—sometimes a necessary means of communication, but not a very precise one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The moral validity of analogies remains an enormously crucial topic for human expression and thought, one that I cannot fully address. The fictional Elizabeth Costello might argue that resistance to slavery or holocaust analogies proves that animals <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">are</i> considered lesser in some perception of ultimate value. On the other hand, groups who have been historically enslaved, debased, or massacred may believe that such comparisons dilute and even dishonor cultural memories and the profound lessons of specific experiences. In other words, the trope of kinship has been too loosely applied. Perhaps “ethnic cleansing” and the deaths of people in Bosnia, Rwanda, and Darfur recall the holocaust in a way that meat-processing factories do not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People are acculturated to care for those biologically or socially close.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As philosopher Mary Midgley explains, “it is plausible enough that our tendency to respond differentially to our own species is a natural one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All social creatures attend mostly to members of their own species, and usually ignore others” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Animals </i>105). </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">The argument could also be made that comparisons to atrocities against human beings simplify the historical circumstances of animals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A central issue is that the acceptance of animal slaughter has been a norm since humans began hunting and gathering, a “fact” of appropriate and ordinary existence. In other words, killing “livestock” has not been viewed as a sadistic pathology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This calm acceptance is exactly why opponents of animal slaughter turn to loaded analogies, but the analogies’ loaded impact can undermine their persuasiveness with the status quo.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">While controversial analogies evoke ancient concepts of evil as the hatred and ruin of another, much theoretical rhetoric has a post-Marxist, post-feminist slant, in emphasizing, to quote <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Monty Python and the Holy Grail</i>, the “violence inherent in the system.” The animal question, in its focus on the disenfranchised exploited for others’ benefit, enters into critiques of corporate, interventionist, and imperialist ideologies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It challenges hierarchical modes of thought that assume the exceptional, prosperous human is rightly dominant and justified in manipulating environments, economies, or peoples who lag behind, in manipulating whatever is “lesser.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words, revised concepts of human and animal argue against what Fredric Jameson calls the “logic of capitalism.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Capitalism, with its depersonalized, often invisible, modes of production, becomes the ultimate enemy of animals. Films like the animated<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Meatrix </i>and the documentary <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Food, Inc</i>. provide stomach-churning support for this view in depicting unsanitary, unhealthy scenes in which animals cannot pursue their natural behaviors and suffer a mechanized death.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">Yet, as theorists are well aware, the modern economy did not invent cruelty or killing of animals. Linda Kalof, in her book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Looking at Animals in Human History</i>,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>chronicles ancient patterns of over-hunting and abuse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her examples include Palaeolithic hunters who “killed randomly, slaughtering more animals than were needed for survival” and hastening the extinction of Ice Age mammals; the Romans goading animals with weapons and fire so they would fight-to-the-death in the coliseums; the medieval practices of bear-baiting and rituals using animal parts to shame people, particularly “women who transgressed patriarchal norms”; and the use of horses in war, mills, agriculture, and transportation, all of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which pushed them “inexorably towards an early death and the boiling house” (7, 93, 135). The killing and misuse of animals is much more than a by-product of capitalism.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">Current ideologies and economies, like those of the past, certainly channel the treatment of animals and the forms of protest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In twenty-first century America, habitat loss and climate change threaten wild species—the polar bear is one dire example. The chances of extermination through hunting, however, are lessened by such laws as the Endangered Species Act; and preservation efforts draw on a relatively affluent, educated populace for donations and scientific research.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In previous centuries, rural and working class people who relied on draft and food animals for their livings were scorned as the worst abusers. Now corporate policies and food conglomerates receive the blame (though the handling of animals is still relegated to lower class employees).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In eras that lacked modern veterinary expertise, animal control looked much like animal cruelty: it depended largely on extermination or “violence by community consensus” (Grier 191). While the drowning of kittens routinely controlled the cat population, summer round-ups and slaughter kept stray dogs (choked “with wire lassos and sometimes clubbed or shot”) off the streets to purportedly stem rabies (Grier 209, 193). </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">Pets in twenty-first century households generally benefit from the high standard of living with quality food, health-care, and positive training methods. During the late 1800s, in comparison, the desire to protect animals fell under the middle-class ethos of wise paternalism softened with feminine kindness. Katherine Grier explains in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pets in America </i>that this paradigm “was widely accepted by American families who embraced Victorian culture’s ideals of gentility, liberal evangelical theology, and domesticity, and their attendant beliefs in social progress and moral uplift. Gentle treatment of animals was regarded as an important attribute of good character and a useful test for distinguishing a good neighbor and citizen from a bad one” (235).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These views, which seem familiar yet condescending and cloying at the same time, had of course their flaws. For example, bees who worked in community were good, while carnivores that preyed “on weak and helpless creatures” were bad (235-236). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Current postmodern rhetoric has significantly debunked Victorian hierarchies and energized thinking about animals, but it has also spawned difficulties. The plot of animals as the oppressed to be liberated falters on animals’ inability to become “equals” in systems of human governance. Nor does the liberation plot’s emphasis on the individual readily translate into environmental concepts of population fluctuation and predator/prey relations. Peter Singer himself warns against simplistic understandings of “speciesism,” which echoes “racism,” “sexism,” and other terms of identity politics and social justice rhetoric: “it is worth saying a little about what the rejection of speciesism does <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not </i>imply.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It does not mean that animals have all the same rights as you and I have” (“Introduction” 4-5).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Postmodern theorists struggle with their own vocabulary, seeking the cogent terms and the convincing plot of change. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">Pigeon-holes</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">Rethinking the animal entails rethinking biological, cultural, and symbolic kinship and an “ethical taxonomy”: that is, the categories that shape differential treatments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Scandalous Knowledge: Science Truth and the Human</i>, Barbara Herrnstein Smith presents the porous, shifting character of taxonomic distinctions: “Once the straightforward truth of our human distinctiveness is unsettled by the straightforward truth of our animal identity, there’s no point, or at least no more obviously <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">natural </i>point, beyond which the claims of our kinship with other creatures—or, indeed, beings of any kind—could not be extended” (154). Theorizing about animals thus involves examination of likeness and difference, but the parallels and divergences are difficult to determine and human perception of them highly influences reception of particular species.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether in animal-rights advocacy, academic theory, or wildlife management, uncertainty exists about how to respond to the Animal Kingdom’s vast range. Smith poses these not-so-rhetorical questions: “Should we, for example, have care for dogs, cats, cows and horses, but not birds, snakes or butterflies? For leopards and walruses but not lobsters or oysters? For all these, but not wasps, ticks or lice?” (154). Preferences lie with charismatic mega-fauna—a familiar label now for species like primates, elephants, dolphins, or dogs. We humans align ourselves understandably with animals that are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">like </i>us and that might also like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">us</i>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a result, concepts that foster narratives of beneficial relationships and positive change dominate examples of animal-human correspondence.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">Becoming Animal</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We believe in the existence of very special becomings-animal traversing human beings and sweeping them away […]. For if becoming animal does not consist in playing animal or imitating an animal, it is clear that the human being does not “really” become an animal anymore than the animal “really” becomes something else</i>. Deleuze and Guattari (87)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 185.25pt; text-indent: .5in;">Deleuze and Guattari’s “Becoming-animal” (which is not completely in my ken) seems about a transfiguration of human thought, not about anything that actually happens to an armadillo. And Donna Haraway deconstructs the arrogance and condescension in their assertion that “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">anyone who likes cats or dogs is a fool</i>” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">When Species Meet</i> 27-28).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nonetheless, Deleuze and Guattari’s rhapsody converges with other trends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, contemplating the animal is liberating for the human, especially for the human warped by institutions that Deleuze and Guattari label as the “State.” Also, the phrase “becoming-animal” resonates with current interest in animal cognition and social development—with how the animal develops his behaviors. Certain mammals and birds display intentionality, self-recognition, proto-ethical behavior, and awareness that another individual has a different thought process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Natalie Angier writes for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New York Times, </i>“Researchers who study highly gregarious and relatively brainy species like rhesus monkeys, baboons, dolphins, sperm whales, elephants and wolves have lately uncovered evidence that the creatures engage in extraordinarily sophisticated forms of politicking, often across large and far-flung social networks.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So when a wolf pup is interacting with a pack, scientists study how she reacts with other members to become “wolf.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or, to borrow from Descartes (who with his mechanistic view of animals is probably turning over in his grave) the wolf thinks; therefore she is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">If animals, and humans, are in some process of “becoming,” that suggests possibilities for change, for new patterns in a bildungsroman (even if in the animal’s case that means becoming predictably like preceding species members).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The language of becoming, or of the human and animal becoming something together, inspires fresh analogies for responding effectively and ethically to forms of otherness within the human species.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So with Animal Studies, love walks in, on four feet.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">Redeemed by Love</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“At the end of the day, no one loves you as unconditionally as dogs do.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This statement, which I heard from the overworked manager of an animal rescue shelter, is echoed in academic discourse on the value of crossing the species line. In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness</i>, Donna Haraway, the prescient prophet of cyborg existence and the inseparability of technology, nature, and culture, explores the possibilities of “biosociality.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She asks how an “ethics and politics committed to the flourishing of significant otherness” might be “learned from taking dog-human relationships seriously” (3). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Social, communicative animals—dogs, horses, dolphins—and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Homo sapiens</i> could cohabit and benefit each other. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">For the late philosopher-poet-animal trainer Vicki Hearne, the process of responsible training transports animal and human into the realm of shared purposes and at best crosses the threshold to art.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her essays in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Adam’s Task: Calling Animals By Name </i>elevate disciplined partnership: “It is [. . .] as though the rider thinks and the horse executes the thought, without mediation or any sort of cuing; but it is also the other way around on the back of a great horse—it is as though the horse thinks and the rider creates, or becomes, a space and direction for the execution of the horse’s thoughts” (163). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Temple Grandin, the autistic designer of slaughter houses which are less terrifying to livestock on death row, begins <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior</i> from the opposite pole, with “a bunch of emotionally disturbed teenagers living with a bunch of emotionally disturbed animals” (2).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But she reaches transcendence similar to Hearne’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After claiming that “Animals saved me,” Grandin explains how teenagers learn responsibility and the “art” of interaction with horses: “riding a horse isn’t what it looks like: it isn’t a person sitting in a saddle telling the horse what to do by yanking on the reins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Real riding is a lot like ballroom dancing or maybe figure skating in pairs. It’s a relationship” (4-5). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trained animals are thus idealized and their submission to training by a dominating species softened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, as Marjorie Garber observes in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dog Love</i>, the animal becomes “the repository of those model human properties that we have cynically ceased to find among humans” (15). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The notion of the model animal can be taken further:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>people look for a respite from human folly in the civilizing order of Cesar Millan’s<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Dog Whisperer </i>television series and family values in the film<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> March of the Penguins.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There’s more here than puppy love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Concepts like “discipline,” “self-sacrifice,” and “standards” often receive a postmodern unpacking as terms that shore up a privileged group’s status when these traits are applied to the group itself but not, say, to hip-hop artists, the unreligious, or the poor. However, some postmodern discussions of human and animals working together rehabilitate the language of discipline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The duties of the sheep trial and agility field training elide into human relationships, and the success of cross-species cooperation implies the following: it is time to set aside whining about the “other”—spouse, office mate, or enemy—and instead all should settle into the “work” of getting along, as animal and trainer do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Haraway provides an example in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Companion Species Manifesto</i>: “I believe that all ethical relating, within or between species, is knit from the silk-strong thread of ongoing alertness to otherness-in-relation” (50). Within the context of dog agility exercises, she finds authenticity in words usually presented as corrupt in postmodern critique of oppressive social systems, words like “self-actualizing motivation,” or “freedom and authority” (46-47).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">The relationships between horse and rider, dog and trainer, then provide models of purposeful well being not based on simplistic ideas of live and let live, but on mutual effort and the evolution of communication that spans difference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Love saves, not because it is unconditional, but through awareness of limitations and the need to establish understanding, control, and trust. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hearne’s tales of difficult animals, in need of the insightful trainer to bring them back into a relationship, highlights the skill required to bring species together and foreshadows the current fashion that rejects punishment in favor of positive modification.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Haraway also rejects quick and easy love: “Adopting a shelter dog takes a lot of work [. . .] and a willingness to submit to a governing apparatus sufficient to activate the allergies of any Foucauldian or garden-variety libertarian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I support that apparatus—and many other kinds of institutionalized power—to protect classes of subjects, including dogs” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Companion Species </i>94). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Keeping a dog is work, but owners may expect a dog to do his share by sustaining them emotionally. Jon Katz, in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New Work of Dogs</i>, writes of the increasing need that a technological, career-oriented society with fragmented social bonds creates for emotional attachment to some responsive being, and that being is often a pet: “if dogs’ roles are a mirror of America, and I think they are, then they faithfully reflect its hard, disaffected, and increasingly lonely underside” (209-10).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a corollary, according to Katz. If people expect complex emotional support from creatures who light up for liver treats, without educating themselves and their pets about reasonable behavior, then the dogs “will suffer” (16). </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">If the attraction to animals first appears as a spontaneous sensory response, living well with them requires the development of patience, forbearance, rules comprehensible to all involved species, and supporting social networks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The experienced animal companion, in such a model, could have foreseen that rescuing people of a very different mindset (for example, Iraqis under the governance of Saddam Hussein) would require far more than a declaration of freedom, or the liberated will bite back.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">Believe in Science, But Not Too Much</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">Not only is faith in love (and in educated socialization) redeemed in writings on the animal, so is faith in science.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The climate for science during the administration of President George W. Bush was hostile when findings ran contrary to various conservative agendas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then and now, however, attention to the animal revives an everyday interest in scientific offerings. Studies of behavior provide non-threatening insights into the minds of favorite creatures and practical tips for training.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With resource animals, such as beef and hogs, clarification of their responses results in better handling methods and a reduction of stress en route to slaughter. (The moral of this research might be that a “happy animal makes a tasty animal.”) </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">Besides informing the pragmatic handling of animals, ethology—the study of animal behavior—and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“evo-devo”—the study of embryonic development as shaped by evolution and the environment (“Evolution”)—offer means of smoothing the relationship between hard sciences and their postmodern critics, who have punctured the concepts of absolute authority and objectivity. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Barbara Herrnstein Smith, in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Scandalous Knowledge: Science, Truth and the Human, </i>defends constructivist critiques of “logical-analytic” methods and in the chapter “Animal Relatives, Difficult Relations” scrutinizes the different discourses, including scientific ones, on animals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She weighs “alternative forms of knowledge-investigation” to explain the nuances (3):</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in;">[C]onstructivist accounts of specifically <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">scientific</i> truth and knowledge see them not as the duly epistemically privileged products of intrinsically orthotropic methods of reasoning or investigation (‘logic’ or ‘scientific method’) but, rather, as the more or less stable products of an especially tight mutual shaping of perceptual, conceptual and behavioural [. . .] practices in conjunction with material/technological problems or projects that have especially wide cultural, economic and/or political importance. (4) </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">If this seems a grudging and obtuse definition of scientific advances, Haraway, who has also challenged assumptions about science, bluntly acknowledges its importance in comprehending animals:<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>“Species is about biological kind, and scientific expertise is necessary to that kind of reality” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Companion Species </i>15).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">While “species” and “taxonomies” depend on rigorous classification and revision influenced by genome research, they are also social constructions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Harriet Ritvo in researching pre-Darwinian conceptions of animals finds that “the category of ‘beasts’ has never been either homogeneous or stable” (66). Smith again notes that taxonomic “categories are not abstract, neutral, inert containers but shifting tendencies to perceive and respond in some ways rather than others” (155).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Specific, transient contexts matter: the lamb with a name is a pet; the lamb without a name is dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the other hand, species difference must be respected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Putting the word “pet” in front of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ursus arctos</i> does not make the creature safe, as Werner Herzog’s documentary film <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Grizzly Man</i> horrifically demonstrated when Timothy Treadwell was killed by the species he loved.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">In addition, biological sciences have outgrown the old nature-versus-nurture debate, source of rancorous conflict about innate or socialized differences. Craig Stanford, anthropologist and co-director of the Jane Goodall Primate Research Center, claims in <strong><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Significant Others: The Ape-Human Continuum and the Quest for Human Nature</span></i></strong> that nature versus nurture is a “false” dichotomy that “should finally be put to rest” (xvii).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Research has shifted to the interaction of genetics, organism, and environment. As Haraway says of an organism’s development in a specific time and place, “Differential, context-specific plasticities are the rule, sometimes genetically assimilated and sometimes not [. . .]. There is no time or place at which genetics ends and environment begins” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Companion Species </i>32)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>While science offers fun lessons about animals from neurotic terriers to plotting meerkats, it joins philosophy and postmodern theory in chipping away at human exceptionalism. The “animal,” as W. J. T Mitchell summarizes, is no longer “a straightforward antithesis and counterpart to ‘the’ human” (xii). A 2006 piece in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Economist, </i>“Close Cousins,” summarizes research which “concludes that humans and chimpanzees interbred after the two species first separated, before eventually going their different ways some 5.4 million years ago” (82).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ethologists no longer talk of simple auto-instinctive responses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead they find examples of tool use, intentionality, self-awareness, complex communication, and responses labeled as “proto-ethical” (Smith 157). </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Such research causes discomfort in several arenas: the fear that accepting evolution will undermine theological and ethical foundations; the scoffing concern over a blunt equality—if animals enjoy “rights” then plants, material objects, and entities with artificial intelligence must be considered; the view that people eat, dissect, drug, and inflict all kinds of pain on creatures of intelligence and awareness; and the worry shared by humanists and postmodernists that biological determinism will dominate interpretations of human behavior. That determinism and over-simplified versions of evolutionary psychology result, Barbara Herrnstein Smith fears, in “a vulgar eagerness to transfer explanations as rawly as possible from barnyard and jungle to contemporary human societies” (164). (Some might argue, however, that the barnyard and jungle are not as “raw” as humanity generally assumes.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because science and ethics can side with views of animals as biologically determined resources or with views of animals as complex sentient beings, the truces among disciplines remain fragile.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">Save the Animal, Rescue the Human</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Kinship” reappears as a central trope in recognition of biological and ethical connections that could replace such concepts about animals as “nuisance” or “property.” Despite wariness about fissures in the species divide, human beings generally accept a likeness with animals, with some individuals seeking an indefinable deeper kinship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Harriet Ritvo concludes, “A deep acknowledgment of similarity remains as firmly embedded in contemporary culture as does the scientific or theological assertion of difference” (66). Rediscovering kinship can also take the form of a narrative quest, an ongoing plot with complications. In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Companion Species Manifesto</i>, Haraway hopes even “the dog phobic” will embrace positive human/animal interaction as a trope for living beneficially with otherness, for creating a whole of disparate members that is more than its parts (3). (This attitude glosses over stereotypes in which animal lovers range from socially inept to violently misanthropic.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her model, echoed in popular books on how an animal turned a person’s life around, assumes that human behavior will improve—without a breeding program. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jan Dizard, who studied conflicts over controlling the deer population in a Massachusetts reserve, quotes an animal rights activist on the belief that caring for animals will grow into universal empathy:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in;">“I think if we have compassion for other species, we will have compassion for one another, we will have compassion for our environment [. . .]. What’s going to happen is that we will expand our consciousness from self to family to community to world community to other species [. . .] to trees and water. (127)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">Variations of this utopian concept have been around longer than current intellectual trends—that morality is revealed, according to the Biblical phrase, in caring for “the least of these” (Matthew 25:40).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">An analytical version of concern for the less powerful is offered by philosopher Martha Nussbaum in “The Moral Status of Animals” and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership</i>, as she proposes grounds for extending ethical treatment to beings who cannot participate in social and political processes:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in;">It has been obvious for a long time that the pursuit of global justice requires the inclusion of many people and groups not previously included as fully equal subjects of justice [. . .]. But a truly global justice [. . .] also requires looking around the world at the other sentient beings with whose lives our own are inextricably and complexly intertwined.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(“The Moral Status of Animals” B8)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">These remarks share the hope that respect for one form of otherness (such as the dolphin, the disabled, or the differently gendered) will extend to respect for many forms of otherness (the vampire bat, the fundamentalist, the liberal).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">Humans, however, are selective in their prejudices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Animals and Why They Matter</i>, philosopher Mary Midgley warns, “We can no more think sensibly about our duties to animals-in-general than to human-beings-in general” (26). She expands on the consistency of human inconsistency in her essay “Is a Dolphin a Person?”: “Spasms of regard, tenderness, comradeship and even veneration, alternating with unthinking callousness, seem to make up the typical human attitude to [animals]. And towards fellow-human-beings too, a rather similar alternation is often found” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Utopias </i>112). People may love their pets, hate their neighbors. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In interviews with shelter workers who attend to abandoned and abused animals, I have found those who admit that they develop a very low opinion of other people and become angry. Tolerance is preached, but it breaks down toward those who have not embraced the message.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Dizard discovered in the Massachusetts case, “The proponents of animal rights and the hunters are unintelligible to one another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hunters cannot fathom how people who profess love for animals can sit idly by knowing that deer are going to be starving to death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Animal rights advocates cannot, for their part, comprehend how hunters can claim to love the animals they so eagerly seek to kill” (125). While deer inspire conflict, creatures like feral hogs receive less compassionate press.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In theory and in practice, some animals are more equal than others. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">The Semantics of Human Difference </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So thinking about the animal revives utopian intentions: the power of bonding through affectionate education, faith in science connected with compassion, hope for broadening understanding of others and restoring their agency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many sticking points remain, of course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The difficulty of including animals in our moral sphere—the crisis of the plot—comes back to difference, to the exception that is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Homo sapiens</i>, the species capable of concocting philosophies of utilitarianism, inherent dignity, contractarianism, unstable language, or sustainability in biotic communities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As scientists and philosophers blur the lines between species, they trip over the paradox of exceptionalism: human beings must be humble and “humane” as they take the high road of justice with those who cannot reciprocate or effectively retaliate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Formulations that echo “humanistic” principles, as Cary Wolfe asserts in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Animal Rites: American Culture, the Discourse of Species, and Posthumanist Theory</i>, widen the philosophic chasm between human and animal by reinstating “the very humanism” they appear “to unsettle” (9). Consequently, the significant subject remains “always already human” (1).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Decentering one’s self is no easy task, and so far it seems that no other species (with the possible exception of dogs) attempts this. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">The concept of “the animal” is also embedded in assumptions about beings and behaviors that “the human” should control or eliminate. In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Powers of Horror</i>, Julia Kristeva associates the abject with unfamiliarity, a lack of kinship, and "the threatening world of animals or animalism [. . .] representatives of sex and murder" (12-13).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>W. J. T. Mitchell comments on the “abject” animal in his preface to Cary Wolfe’s book: the animal as abject or as “merely below or beside” the normative “’human’” is a “prejudice that is so deep and ‘natural’ that we can scarcely imagine human life without it” (xiv).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wolfe develops ideas from continental philosophers to conclude that “Western subjectivity and sociality” depend “on the tacit agreement that the full transcendence of the ‘human’ requires the sacrifice of the ‘animal’ and the animalistic, which in turn makes possible a symbolic economy in which we can engage in what Derrida will call a ‘noncriminal putting to death’ of other <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">humans</i> as well by marking <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">them</i> as animal” (6). </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">Perhaps there are at least two ways around the dilemma of the marginalized, conceptually unapproachable, abject, sacrificed animal. Accept that humans will act within the circumference of constructed “humane” behavior to define within biological, environmental, and social contexts the responsibilities that come with the big brain. Such an endeavor must be constantly reexamined, as animal studies encourages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If this view circles back too readily to the dominating stance that harms animals and muddles thinking, perhaps further deconstruction should be applied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though “reason” is no longer offered as the absolute line separating human from animal, and certain species are allowed mindedness and a sort of culture, the implications remain that human impulsiveness, bodily urges, selfishness, and destructiveness are the “animalistic” that must be sacrificed. These implications should be challenged.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">Dramatic film scenes of predators ripping apart prey demonstrate why we read “violent” as animal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, anthropologists and scientists for a time debated whether certain forms of violence, such as genocide, are a specifically human behavior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The answer offered by Jared Diamond is that parallels exist between primate and human “xenophobia,” but human brainpower enhances the “strategic planning” of murders (290-94).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps humans should “own” violence, not in the Nietzschean sense of destiny, not as the inheritance from “beasts,” but as a behavior derived from hominid ancestors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So-called primitive responses should not be read simply as vestiges of some animal phase.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Craig Stanford explains, “Both lay readers and scientists misread evolution’s signature easily and often.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chimpanzees are not evolutionarily challenged people, and people did not evolve from gorillas. . . [though] we share a common ancestor in the nearly invisible past” (xv). To give another example, as modern wolves evolved from wolf-like forbears to have the capacity to kill and to create kinship structures, so humans evolved from human-like forebears to have the capacity to kill and create kinship structures.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">The current debate about human violence as literally and metaphorically animal-like has not emphasized enough that such violence, like love, results from genetics interacting continuously with environment and learned behaviors: another “nature-<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i>-nurture” issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Violence and abuse of others are not just impulsive acts, but also highly socialized behaviors, which is why animal activists can hope for change. Humans can be educated, though it takes longer than training a dog. What should be stressed, to return to the topic that concerned Singer and Derrida, is that “humane” behavior is not what separates us from the “animal.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather, the “humane” separates us from the other “human,” the one that harbors—often in sophisticated, culturally encoded ways—arrogance, dominance, and cruelty. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 93.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">Intuition and Imagination</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>To extend empathy and justice across the divides of otherness and species difference, scholars and popular writers invoke intuition and imagination. The call for empathy, while echoing ancient dictums, counters the limits of understanding set by Ludwig Wittgenstein’s pronouncement, “if a lion could talk, we could not understand him" (Wood 134) and Thomas Nagel’s contention that the subjective sense of being a bat is “inaccessible” (7). Contemporary defenders of animals in the disciplines of philosophy, biology, and natural history recognize the pitfalls of delusional anthropomorphism and sentimentality. Nonetheless, as Martha Nussbaum insists, “imagining and storytelling remind us in no uncertain terms that animal lives are many and diverse, with multiple activities and ends both within each species and across species” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Frontiers </i>355). </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What Nussbaum and others have in mind is not accepting one’s dog as one’s baby or an orangutan as a social equal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather, stark facts without context or interpretation, as enlightenment thinkers and postmodernists agree, cannot provide substance and guidance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, realms of experience and knowledge are beyond human grasp or resist logical-positivist explanation—what does a lion or bat “really” feel and why are they part of the universe in the first place? Nonetheless, what eludes analysis should not be dropped from consideration: humans interact with the incomprehensible daily. Thomas Nagel concludes in “What is it Like to be a Bat?” that “to deny the reality or logical significance of what we can never describe or understand is the crudest form of cognitive dissonance” (6). Consequently, a single school of thought is insufficient for improving human interaction with animals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mary Midgley acknowledges the importance of theories without deifying them:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“No theory has the absolute dominion which Utilitarianism [for example] so mistakenly claimed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None can make the whole moral scene intelligible” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Utopias </i>131). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Intuition and imagination are certainly not infallible, but they fill in the gaps between concepts to approach a holistic response to ethical, environmental, and emotional quandaries involving animals.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">This sense of intuition informs Nussbaum’s theoretical contribution in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Frontiers of Justice</i>, the “capabilities” approach, which outlines “core social entitlements” based on a being’s physical, intellectual, social, and emotional capacities (75-79). This approach includes those who fall outside the dominant “contract” principles of government and business, to land under the headings of “impairment and disability,” “nationality,” and “species membership.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In seeking to “suitably [enlarge] conceptions of reciprocity and dignity,” Nussbaum avoids terms like “absolute,” “inherent,” and “foundational,” but speaks of core concepts like “the dignity of the human being” as a “basic intuitive idea” (25).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This method has what pragmatist William James would call “cash value.” That is, Nussbaum seeks a “practical philosophy” that is both “critical and constructive” so that abstract concepts of justice can be applied to changing real-world situations (4-5). To move beyond epistemological conundrums, Nussbaum justifies reliance on intuited concepts: “We can agree that the capabilities approach does indeed rely on intuition—although not on uncriticized preferences [. . .].<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is, some deep moral intuitions and considered judgments about human dignity do play a fundamental role in the theory, although they are never immune from criticism in the light of other elements of the theory” (83). </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">With animals, human imagination can distort their lives, as philosophers like Peter Singer have stressed and as any Disney cartoon can prove. However, Nussbaum acknowledges, “All of our ethical life involves, in this sense, an element of projection, a going beyond the facts as they are given” (354). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The imagination, in Mary Midgley’s words, “is a central part of our mental equipment for any serious study” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Utopias </i>142). If “imagination” and “intuition” sound too romantic for postmodern use, they converge with the flexibility and negative capability of mind that can comprehend “historical specificity and contingent mutability” (Haraway, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Companion Species</i> 12) or engage in “necessarily ambivalent, contingent assessment” to respond compassionately to unresolved “conceptual and ethical problems” (Smith 166). </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">The imagination of ethicists then parallels the “critical anthropomorphism” of ethologists and other scientists. Frans de Waal distinguishes between fantasy and false projection and the “use of anthropomorphism as a means to get at the truth, rather than an end by itself” (“Foreword” xiii-xvii). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Marc Bekoff explains how empirical data can be enhanced by “perceptions, intuitions, feelings, careful behavioral descriptions, identifying with the animal” to approach comprehending what a lion means and what a bat senses (Bekoff). In defending this open-mindedness, Gordon Burghardt argues that he developed the “concept of ‘critical anthropomorphism’ to recognize the multiplicity of information needed for an effective science of comparative psychology” (137). This “multiplicity of information,” of observational and intuited knowledge about animals, is often conveyed through stories—another overlap in the approaches of scientists, theorists, and ordinary people.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">The Power of Stories</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If imagination and intuition are required, not surprisingly narratives of the inseparability of human and animal lives are also deemed necessary. “Stories are much bigger than ideologies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that is our hope”:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in this assertion, Haraway directs theorizing about animals to remain open to experiential possibilities (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Companion Species </i>17). Barbara Herrnstein Smith does not offer anecdotes, but concludes with the postmodern view that the “old story” of “our own animality” is always being retold, whether as a fable or as a physiological study (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Scandalous Knowledge </i>166).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Martha Nussbaum believes abstractions remain necessary to policies of justice, but illustrates the need for principles with a story about elephants being granted a “dignified existence” in India (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Frontiers </i>325-26).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mary Midgley opens an essay on the legal definition of personhood with the story of young men on trial for releasing dolphins (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Utopias </i>107-08).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Derrida writes of being caught “stark naked before a cat”; the cat seems quite reasonable throughout the episode, while the philosopher seems wordily self-absorbed (113-128). Emmanuel Levinas tells the Holocaust tale of how a dog named “Bobby,” unlike the Nazi guards, recognized the humanity of Jewish prisoners (48-49). The examples go on.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: .5in 369.75pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But which stories to tell?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And which stories are heard?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many current narratives, whether embedded in field observation, scientific trial, philosophical analogy, or personal experience, emphasize a human/animal continuum and the potential of animals to elicit the best of human nature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While stories can transgress the boundaries of ideologies, ideologies (as postmodernists are fond of pointing out) influence what is observed and told.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: .5in 369.75pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So again, what stories do we exalt and how do we interpret them?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tales of Hurricane Katrina illuminate human folly and interspecies companionship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The apparatus was inadequate to save humans and even more so animals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only were racist social structures laid bare, but the old ethical test—who is thrown from an overcrowded lifeboat—was jettisoned as flood victims insisted on staying put unless their pets were also rescued. Alternative stories might follow the path of a chicken from a Chinese village, or a pig from Mexico, to the beginnings of a pandemic—illustrating the health dangers of lower life forms or of globalization. In already common cases of annoyances becoming threats, some tales focus on how deer, populating cities and suburbs, cause more car collisions—illustrating the need to manage wildlife or the consequences of lost habitat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some stories arise from paradigms very different from those of benign kinship, like this defense by J. Bruce Overmier of animal-based research: “The Dark Ages were so designated because in Europe there were substantial religious and social prohibitions against activities that might yield new information or new perspectives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These prohibitions applied to the use of animals for dissection as part of anatomical study, and medicine stagnated for nearly a millennium” (15). </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Animal Studies, however, prefers stories that cast animals as benevolent innocents. In a time of war, terrorism, global warming, and economic melt-down, it may be salutary to focus on the correspondence between people and animals, to believe that life means more than human conflict.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The animal is studied not so much to recover the human as the humane. The danger is that animals, as the messengers and saviors in fables and theory, may be beaten and crucified when their behaviors, even if understood, do not alter human nature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever the semantic disagreements, the theoretical consensus, and the tales of beneficent species, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Homo sapiens</i> will be the deciders of animals’ destinies.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">Works Cited</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; mso-outline-level: 1; text-indent: -.5in;">Angier, Natalie. “Political Animals (Yes, Animals).” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New York Times </i>22 January 2008: D1 +.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Balcombe, Jonathan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Bekoff, Marc. “Cognitive Ethology and the Explanation of Nonhuman Animal Behavior.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Comparative Approaches to Cognitive Science</i>. Eds. J. A. Meyer and H.L. Roitblat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cambridge: MIT P, 1995.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cogprints</i> 30 September 1997. Web. 7 July 2005. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><<a href="http://cogprints.org/157/00/199709002.html">http://cogprints.org/157/00/199709002.html</a>>.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Berger, John. “Why Look at Animals.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">About Looking.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New York: Pantheon, 1980. 1-26.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Bourke, Anthony and John Rendall. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Lion Called Christian: The True Story of the Remarkable Bond between Two Friends and a Lion</i>. New York:<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>Broadway, 2009.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Burghardt, Gordon M. “Critical Anthropomorphism, Uncritical Anthropocentrism, and Naïve Nominalism.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews </i>2 (2007): 136-138.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">“Christopher Morley.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Literature Network </i>2000-2009. Web. 11 January 2010. <<a href="http://www.online-literature.com/morley/">http://www.online-literature.com/morley/</a>>.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">“Close Cousins: Humans Could Have Interbred with Chimpanzees.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Economist</i> 20-26 May 2006: 82.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Coetzee, J. M.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elizabeth Costello</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New York: Penguin, 2003.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Deleuze, Gilles and Félix Guattari.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Becoming-Animal.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Animal Philosophy: Essential Readings in Continental Thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Eds. Atterton, Peter and Matthew Calarco. New York: Continuum, 2006. 87-100.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Derrida, Jacques. “The Animal That Therefore I Am.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Animal Philosophy: Essential Readings in Continental Thought. </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eds.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>Atterton, Peter and Matthew Calarco. New York: Continuum, 2006. 113-128. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Diamond, Jared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New York: HarperPerennial, 1993.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Dizard, Jan E.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Going Wild: Hunting, Animal Rights, and the Contested Meaning of Nature</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amherst: U of Massachusetts P, 1999.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">“Evolution.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New York Times</i> 26 June 2007.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>D1.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Food, Inc. </i>Hungry for Change. 2009. 6 July 2009. <a href="http://www.foodincmovie.com/">http://www.foodincmovie.com/</a>.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Garber, Marjorie. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dog Love</i>. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Grandin, Temple and Catherine Johnson. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior</i>. New York: Scribner, 2005.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Grier, Katherine C. Grier. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pets in America: A History</i>. Orlando: Harcourt, 2006.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Griffin, Donald R. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Question of Animal Awareness: Evolutionary Continuity of Mental Experience. </i>New York: Rockefeller UP, 1976.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Grogan, John. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog</i>. New York: HarperCollins, 2005.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Haraway, Donna.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press, 2003.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">_____.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">When Species Meet.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Hearne, Vicki.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Adam’s Task: Calling Animals by Name.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pleasantville, NY: Akadine Press, 2000.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Kalof, Linda.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Looking at Animals in Human History</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>London: Reaktion Books, 2007.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Kristeva, Julia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection.</i> Trans. Leon S. Roudiez.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New York: Columbia UP, 1982.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Levinas, Emmanuel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The Name of A Dog, Or Natural Rights.”<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Animal Philosophy: Essential Readings in Continental Thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Atterton, Peter and Matthew Calarco, eds. New York: Continuum, 2006.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>47-50.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Meatrix.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Sustainable Table and Free Range Studios. 2006. Web. 6 July 2009. <<a href="http://www.themeatrix.com/">http://www.themeatrix.com/</a>>.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Midgley, Mary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Animals and Why They Matter</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Athens: U of Georgia P, 1983.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">_____.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Utopias, Dolphins and Computers: Problems of Philosophical Plumbing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>London: Routledge, 2000.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Mitchell, W. J. T.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Foreword.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Animal Rites: American Culture, the Discourse of Species, and Posthumanist Theory</i>. Ed. Cary Wolfe Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2003. ix-xiv.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Montgomery, Sy. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Good Good Pig: The Life and Times of Christopher Hogwood</i>.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>New York: Ballantine Books, 2006).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Nagel, Thomas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“What Is It Like To Be A Bat.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">The Philosophical Review </span></i><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">83.4</span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"> (October 1974): 435-450. Jstor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>23 May 2006.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0031-8108%28197410%2983%3A4%3C435%3AWIILTB%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Y>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Nussbaum, Martha C.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2006.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">_____.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The Moral Status of Animals.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Chronicle of Higher Education </i>3 February 2006: B6+.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Overmier, J. Bruce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“On the Nature of Animal Models of Human Behavioral Dysfunction.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Animal Models of Human Emotion and Cognition.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eds. Marc Haug and Richard E. Whalen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 1999. 15-24.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Richards, Susan. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chosen</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> by a Horse</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New York: Harvest Book, 2007.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Ritvo, Harriet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Our Animal Cousins.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies</i> 15:1 (2004): 48-68.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Shoen, Allen M. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kindred Spirits: How the Remarkable Bond Between Humans and Animals Can Change the Way We Live</i>. New York: Broadway Books, 2001.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Singer, Peter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Animal Liberation</i>. New York: Avon Books, 1977, c1975.</div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">_____. “Introduction.” <i>In D</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">efense of Animals: The Second Wave</i>. Ed. Peter Singer. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2006. 1-10. <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">_____.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Preface.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Animal Philosophy: Essential Readings in Continental Thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Eds. Atterton, Peter and Matthew Calarco. New York: Continuum, 2006. xi-xiii.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><strong><span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Smith, Barbara Herrnstein.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Scandalous knowledge: science, truth and the human</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Durham, N.C.: Duke UP, 2006.</span></strong></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><strong><span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Stanford, Craig.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Significant Others: The Ape-Human Continuum and the Quest for Human Nature.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New York: Basic Books, 2001.</span></strong></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;"><strong><span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Tarte, Bob. </span></strong><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Enslaved by Ducks</i>. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin, 2004.<strong><span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span></strong></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Waal, Frans B. M. de. “Foreword.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Anthropomorphism, Anecdotes, and Animals</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Robert W. Mitchell, Nicholas S. Thompson, and H. Lyn Miles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Albany: State U of New York P, 1997.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>xiii-xvii.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">_____. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Our Inner Ape. </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New York: Riverhead Books, 2005.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Walker, Matt. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fish That Fake Orgasms: And Other Zoological Curiosities</i>. New York: St. Martin’s, 2007.<strong><span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span></strong></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Wolfe, Cary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Animal Rites: American Culture, the Discourse of Species, and Posthumanist Theory</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2003.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">Wood, David. “Thinking with Cats.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Animal Philosophy: Essential Readings in Continental Thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Atterton, Peter and Matthew Calarco, eds. New York: Continuum, 2006. 129-144.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div><div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><br clear="all" /> <hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /> <div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;"> <h1><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=1589619137962344831#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">[i]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> For examples, see</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Frans De Waal, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Our Inner Ape</i>; Bob Tarte, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Enslaved by Ducks</i>;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Allen M. Shoen, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kindred Spirits: How the Remarkable Bond Between Humans and Animals Can Change the Way We Live</i>; Sy Montgomery, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Good Good Pig: The Life and Times of Christopher Hogwood</i>; Susan Richards, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chosen by a Horse</i>;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John Grogan, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog</i>; Matt Walker, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fish That Fake Orgasms: And Other Zoological Curiosities</i>; and Anthony Bourke and John Rendall, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Lion Called Christian: The True Story of the Remarkable Bond between Two Friends and a Lion</i>.</span></h1><div class="Heading112" style="background: white; line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><br />
</div></div></div>The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-38025193650523245182012-02-02T14:56:00.000-08:002012-02-03T08:54:51.575-08:00The Animal Surrogate in Karin Fossum's Bad Intentions<div class="MsoNormal"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid1lPIqDqU3cvwH6lVnJmzxMQgR3XPS6AFWgU1992dQdrq5Shyphenhyphen_Q4JTdeg2CILm1_lMLtYWRwOf-HPMrq135T6XE0seFo3uc719vN40gsc6vlalv2AVa5Chrv2E0VCsw6PC7y-PoniErY/s1600/Spy+cat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid1lPIqDqU3cvwH6lVnJmzxMQgR3XPS6AFWgU1992dQdrq5Shyphenhyphen_Q4JTdeg2CILm1_lMLtYWRwOf-HPMrq135T6XE0seFo3uc719vN40gsc6vlalv2AVa5Chrv2E0VCsw6PC7y-PoniErY/s200/Spy+cat.jpg" width="190" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I know who did it.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I picked up <i>Bad Intentions </i>(2010) out of curiosity about the widely read Norwegian mystery writer, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Karin-Fossum/e/B001I9VY66/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0">Karin Fossum</a>. (Her personal website is in her native language for those who want the full Scandinavian experience; the book's English translator is Charlotte Barslund.)This slim novel fulfills a number of murder mystery conventions. Bodies are found in a remote lake with the ominous name of Dead Water. There is, not surprisingly, speculation that the deaths, which occurred months apart, are linked. The friends of one victim lie to the police, though their motives are unclear since they (and the reader) witnessed their friend’s suicide.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And there is a crime solver, the aging, astute, reflective Inspector Sejer who seeks to answer the following. W</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">hy did an young emotionally fragile man die in the company of schoolboy companions? What does that have to do with a drunk student of Vietnamese origin who disappeared at a party? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">However, Fossum twists certain conventions, not to make a clever postmodern puzzle, but to turn the riddle of the murder into a lyrical exploration of guilt. Several chapters are journal entries that Jon, the suicide, wrote while recovering from a mental break down in a psychiatric care center. While a dominant plot thread of mysteries moves back in time to the source of a murderous intent, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bad Intentions</i> as an illusive forward movement with the rising hope in the journals—which gives the book's conclusion a surprising poignancy. Also, animals and their symbolic potential contribute to the portrayal of the characters and the resolution of the mystery.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Inspector Sejer, a minimal presence in this nearly allegorical book, tries to draw out a reticent waif, a "girlfriend" of Jon's, also under care for mental health concerns. With Jon dead, she regresses into seclusion, retreating from contact with Jon's intimidating friends, and only finding comfort with her small dog. Sejer, stalled in the interview, tells her he finds clarity in judging people by comparing them to animals. He compares her, with her heavily lined eyes, to a raccoon, smart and wily. She then volunteers that one of Jon's friends who had driven off with him for a weekend "break," successful Axel, is a "rat," while drug-dazed Reilly is a lizard--an animal that could be a lazy pet or something more vicious, insights that feed Sejer's suspicions. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A tiny kitten also becomes the catalyst for change by stirring one character's compassion and need to choose help over harm. Like creatures in fables, the dependent kitten is a surrogate, even a scapegoat, in scenes that dramatize the moral conflicts "in miniature."It is not quite right to argue that the kitten is a stand-in for John, but the animal becomes an</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> example of how human character and motivations shape and misshape surrounding life. A debatable feature of animal surrogates is that they speak to the impact of violence in a lower register. Is the beheading of the horse in <i>The Godfather </i>abhorrent in its own right, or is it viewed primarily as a lurid build-up of what might happen to humans? Are animals in such plots reduced to examples, or do their fates matter as well?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfgCCWaYT7XiS1oAHhr8Gpq40NCWr3UqkXqhReq0YNiCUK7e6rdg1WwiT__DW0AGgvbH945GBC91t4mFnkCCnB2TcV1cgEm6OBzLzxNxd0K9imLOooncEeF4J0n7xhEGs_brDUm2YSFFY/s1600/staring+kitten.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfgCCWaYT7XiS1oAHhr8Gpq40NCWr3UqkXqhReq0YNiCUK7e6rdg1WwiT__DW0AGgvbH945GBC91t4mFnkCCnB2TcV1cgEm6OBzLzxNxd0K9imLOooncEeF4J0n7xhEGs_brDUm2YSFFY/s320/staring+kitten.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We're not just symbols!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> The semiotic and signifying value of animals (I'd throw in metonymic and synecdochic if I thought I could make it work) is ancient and powerful, and it's enormously reassuring to see that our imagination can still be seized by life forms and not just by technological conceits (like blogging your way through a digitalized muddle). Symbolic animals are ancient. They can also suggest ancient prejudices. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Is Wolf evil and Lamb pure? </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Is a rat always bad? Lab rats, for better or worse, are crucial players in vast numbers of medical advances. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Meanwhile, a new film strands Liam Neeson and cohorts in a frozen North. The native flora and fauna are less than welcoming. The trailer, all I've seen thus far, implies that Neeson's character much prefers the company of his wife (who seems way too young for him and too healthy for the illness that keeps her in bed) to underfed and fed-up wolves. What are people doing in their backyard? We can hope that the film is perceived as fictional horror and not a statement about wolves. The trick with analogies and metaphors, the poet Robert Frost might say, is knowing how far to take them and recognizing when they break down.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Meanwhile, "real" not movie wolves will be hunted in Minnesota. For different accounts of the impact, see <a href="http://www.startribune.com/local/138078963.html">the Department of Natural Resources (DNR)</a> decision, which sounds dire for the wolf to anti-hunters, and the concern that not enough wolves are killed from <a href="http://www.startribune.com/sports/outdoors/138263784.html">ranchers</a>, There's also thinking that wolves can quickly learn how not to be shot by sportshunters (not in airplanes). Which wolves will be wiliest--the film actors or the ones truly under the gun?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div>The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-45492700090886923252012-01-31T19:19:00.000-08:002012-02-10T08:11:12.687-08:00The Return of the Animal Star<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5eMBg47N9DoxCqAmfVxtFDyM6xOxRnHUxDM9JJRIx-8iAFXELQx23Z3QQrScGR-MsgAmOpoBTtcHvKuWe5L9EejWWTXVEUjdE18QlJZ15wTwjbWYiEGBqo5Mt7pibcXejnxA37UZi7qw/s1600/Yellow+crowned+night+heron.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5eMBg47N9DoxCqAmfVxtFDyM6xOxRnHUxDM9JJRIx-8iAFXELQx23Z3QQrScGR-MsgAmOpoBTtcHvKuWe5L9EejWWTXVEUjdE18QlJZ15wTwjbWYiEGBqo5Mt7pibcXejnxA37UZi7qw/s320/Yellow+crowned+night+heron.jpg" width="170" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I have nothing to do with what follows</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Random Animal recently saw the film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1655442/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Artist</i>,</a> despite the admonition in the ticket window: THE ARTIST IS A SILENT FILM IN BLACK & WHITE. The ticket agent actually <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">telling </i>you that fact would probably violate a silent film code. (There was also a sign about the next film on my list, The WAR HORSE: scenes go in and out of focus, rather like when you’re falling from a horse.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>The Artist</i> is indeed a throwback, with the occasional dialogue box and orchestral music that chirped and lilted and swelled. Most of all, it revealed why people first went to films--to see charming and beautiful people (a little puffed-up) displaying wonderful and worthless talents, a darkening melodrama, a tease of romance, and a funny bit with a dog.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A Jack Russell terrier shared nearly every scene with the handsome male star (French—need we say more.) It's <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4398171/bio">Uggie</a> who came from humble beginnings as a rescued dog to be a screen pro after his role in <i>Water For Elephants. </i> Like movie dogs of yore, Uggie seemed precociously human, danced, and channeled RinTinTin to race across town and save lives. He received more affection than the star’s onscreen wife, who channeled the unhappy grape-fruited spouse in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Citizen Kane</i>. How refreshing in a retro novelty to see a talented dog receive his due. No wonder Uggie received the Palm Dog award in Cannes.</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYwWKK3TyY2VoVHynIBpd6VJ93OEIMYf8J1W4y4oUci1iz7x0MZyzSOdOHXxG9H220wNLX5d6pMyMv-sOe9eenZdAgiFGWjNINgXB9ZcUT9GnJB-O-hvC8kOZIJi2Nb08l103AApEG8qQ/s1600/Uggie+prize.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYwWKK3TyY2VoVHynIBpd6VJ93OEIMYf8J1W4y4oUci1iz7x0MZyzSOdOHXxG9H220wNLX5d6pMyMv-sOe9eenZdAgiFGWjNINgXB9ZcUT9GnJB-O-hvC8kOZIJi2Nb08l103AApEG8qQ/s320/Uggie+prize.jpg" width="223" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'd like to thank my litter mates...</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">On the whole, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Artist </i> manages artifice with finesse. The premise of a silent b&w film in 2012 is that it’s a pastiche, an anachronism, la recherche du temps perdu when “it” girls bobbed their hair and tap-danced their way to happiness. But even within their cartoonish dimensions, the actors, human and canine, played out the conventions sincerely, with feeling, and a sense of consequence. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Dogs were featured on a recent episode of the TV mystery series, <i>Castle, </i>"An Embarrassment of Bitches." (The title says much about the tone of the show.)<i>. </i>A retriever rolls his eyes and soulfully stares, even though it is evident by his steady gaze in some scenes that an off-screen companion directs his actions. A few television shows have regularly included animals as part of the fictional family--<i>Frasier </i>and <i>Mad About You </i>come to mind, but they are still underrepresented for the stable presence, comfort, and sheer entertainment they provide.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Winter in the <i>Dolphin Tale</i>, Uggie in <i>The Artist, </i>the elephant of <i>Water for Elephants, </i>the horse(s) of <i>Secretariat, </i>soon--the many horses who display how we idealize the horse and how deploy it in violence in <i>The War Horse. </i>The animal star returns.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div>The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-76884794901297730122012-01-17T09:37:00.000-08:002012-01-17T09:37:15.613-08:00Cat-on-a-walk<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_uqyFtqk8D42mT9E__HyIaGvaoz-9guZj9CnF3yu-tt8_4ghtTeRXDq83lCgzlm48H1iCQFHSZOvaKkswdJshoLxriHHzQkh8X-BDSwl3eDcB2vxtTw6pByHgyoahN8s6ofgxJT_MgOQ/s1600/White+Cat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_uqyFtqk8D42mT9E__HyIaGvaoz-9guZj9CnF3yu-tt8_4ghtTeRXDq83lCgzlm48H1iCQFHSZOvaKkswdJshoLxriHHzQkh8X-BDSwl3eDcB2vxtTw6pByHgyoahN8s6ofgxJT_MgOQ/s320/White+Cat.jpg" width="282" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Pretty please, can I go outside?"</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
In folklore and fairytales, cats<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> between the realms of the domestic and the wild, the pet or the predator, the fashionable (Hello Kitty!) and the feral (yowling breeders), the natural (shedding fur) and the supernatural (the witch's companion). The Admirer of the Cat appreciates the independence of the beast and its ability to slide between household baby and outdoor terror.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Neil Gaiman’s supernatural fantasy <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Coraline</i> (and the film of that name) finds power and a clue to salvation in a feral cat's knack for sliding between the "real" and what's emotionally threatening and uncanny. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> What is fascinating in a story can be problematic in the backyard.</span> <br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> If you're a bird watcher, like Jonathan Franzen, the author of <i>Freedom</i>, or a wildlife biologist, you're worried about how feral colonies and free-ranging pets can ravage threatened birds and the voles and micro-rodents that make up the ecosystem. If you're a vet or a shelter worker, you recommend that the pet cat stay inside to be kept free from disease, accident, or a lawsuit involving neighbors. Safe, but oh so boring!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Now cat companions (do you ever really own a cat?) can be responsible AND fun! Some of the options are relatively small-scale, like putting in a large bay window near bird feeders, so the indoor pet can enjoy daylong cat-theater. Others invest in screened areas or cat gazebos, so Fluffy can enjoy fresh air but not fresh robin. And, while this is not a brand new idea, some dare to borrow from the canines and not bell, but leash the cat.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Cat-on-a-leash is not a new Wii experience, but a growing trend as reported by the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/29/garden/training-a-cat-to-walk-on-a-leash.html?pagewanted=all">New York Times. </a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I guess you can't simply put a cat on a long string and watch it run around, though Tom Sawyer might try that, with a bit of nip thrown in. If you read the NYT, or write for it, you do thinks the proper way, the effective way. Supposedly. For cat-in-training, or more accurately owner-in-training, see the video included in the NYT article, which like a cat itself refuses to go where I want it to and has run away from YouTube.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The Inspirational Cat particularly touched a 16th century Italian poet, Torquato Tasso, so that he wrote in the unspayed feline's not-quite honor a not-quite sonnet:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> These cats have multiplied, and so much so</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> That they are double the celestial Bears:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Cats that disport themselves in all-white furs,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Cats that are black and even calico,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> And cats with tails and cats quite disentailed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> What I would gladly see (now wouldn't you?)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> Is one cat with a hump or curlicue</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> Like some vain harridan discreetly veiled.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> Let laboring mountains cease from all their toil,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> For if a mouse were born, poor little brat,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> It could not hope to flee so many a cat.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> Good housewife, I admonish you to peel</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> Your eyes and watch the pot about to boil:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> Run, look, a cat is carrying off the veal!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> Here I must add my bob and wheel.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> My sonnet will not have what praise entails</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> Unless it's like those cats that come with tails.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">(trans. Lowry Nelson, Jr., in <i>Sonnets: From Dante to the Present, </i>ed. John Hollander (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div>The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-79864946754107048642012-01-10T14:17:00.000-08:002012-01-10T14:20:13.503-08:00Bad Bunnies and Good<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoKUxD7az1JxpyFeYMxtYvDXnydk-zCPePrNrfWFTxmDkTnmw_seISpWefTL7usI3vx0xREazg5J2qlkx-RZzKDhaXE-u-90rcTr2YIEesd1Qc7QBQMuMiq_8MoC_kBVi4bPvT05Qno_s/s1600/16hoppy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoKUxD7az1JxpyFeYMxtYvDXnydk-zCPePrNrfWFTxmDkTnmw_seISpWefTL7usI3vx0xREazg5J2qlkx-RZzKDhaXE-u-90rcTr2YIEesd1Qc7QBQMuMiq_8MoC_kBVi4bPvT05Qno_s/s320/16hoppy.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Do I have to? " </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Renee Jones Scheider</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
The Random Animal, as the Year of the Rabbit approaches its end, has been a very bad bunny. Books and Reviews have been neglected for (tempting to say making little bunnies) eating chocolate and watching Republican Presidential candidates turn on themselves like Angry Birds with bad aim. (Does that make Democrats little piggies threatening nest eggs?) Soon the Year of the Dragon ensues, with a blaze of new resolutions and new reviews. So says Bad Bunny.<br />
Good bunnies did thrive in 2011 and continue to abound in 2012. Rabbits with a keen focus and a competitive edge (maybe) participate in agility trials, as reported in a December <a href="http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/136016133.html">StarTribune</a> article on the Minnesota Companion Rabbit Society. Rabbits can be trained to hop, skip, and jump through a course, contingent on their will and owners' patience. As one lapine coach explained, "getting them to listen to directions takes a long time. Some want to, and some say, 'I don't want to, thank you.' It's like a 2-year-old child. 'I know exactly what you're telling me, but I'm not necessarily going to do it.'" Most human/animal relationships depend on trust, and food, or the trust that there will be food--also true of many human/human situations. Rabbits are prey near the bottom of the mammalian food chain, though the ones that enjoy plants in my backyard don't seem to realize they should Be afraid, be Very Afraid. They've seen the dog, which did not come down to facing death, and have become quite fat in their sense of entitlement.<br />
Back to the athletes, rabbit racing is very popular in Europe, according to the StarTribune article, and you can watch Danish champions in action above (including some heart-to-fur conferences). Warning: it's intense (for someone).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/ptyKSiRyQ4Y?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
For more serious warnings with rabbit images, and you can turn to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/29/fashion/expanding-efforts-to-keep-cosmetics-testing-from-animals.html">The New York Times</a> on "Leaving Animals out of the Cosmetics Picture." Yes, there's a history of testing potentially noxious substances on the delicate membranes of living rabbits, rats, and the iconic guinea pig. What I hadn't realized is that you can buy a product with a label claiming it was not tested on animals. But that claim does not cover testing of the individual ingredients of the product. (Also, it seems you can hire an outsider, a "hit lab," to do the dirty work.) Animal protectionists are promoting the "Leaping Bunny Logo." Leaping Bunny is "a program run by the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics, licenses a rabbit logo to companies the organization has certified as cruelty-free. It also provides consumers with a list of these companies."<br />
So remember the leaping bunny when you want to buy ethical lipstick or when you raise your sights to international sports competition.<br />
Next: from rabbits on hurdles to cats on leashes...The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-58175798763577679672011-12-11T17:59:00.000-08:002011-12-11T17:59:29.708-08:00The Animals of Christmas<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqUAUHOHRPiGRoFA-uPfBu-lAzTT3RgeaUPNLOXP9PqluU44Hf4pD7-OlBFT5LVfKsOH9_YUfX-ER75mDIirhIx3XF8G-C6986AIP983J0EgaWEw43uqqCT7nJ-mf4dkKSvIpjidoi5G4/s400/walrushead3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="268" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"You're such beasts!"</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRS0vXAroqciHo3T-cocRxkgSgLBfaNtXMPuE42ZjMHsU_gscXrQX_KG2e2LFjRkOQdutsw5I9cni7im1Ri7fIe6kVzGNUHsPKi71vPOx18lVcUey1dPuhCxQ0oFQiAwujkXyg34il60Y/s1600/Rockefeller+tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Random Animal was fortunate enough to be in New York City for a few days of the Holiday Season. Festive displays abounded in Midtown and Uptown, remote in distance and sentiment from the site of Occupy Wall Street encampment. Now it's occupy Skate Rink encampment. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> Tourists, many fleeing Europe's debt crisis to enter into debt of their own, had cellphones out taking pictures of every window and New York emblem. As always, there was an inexplicable line of foreigners lined up to enter Abercrombie & Fitch, which merchandises its clothes by showing buff young people not wearing any. People gathered around the high-end stores near Central Park to see where the 1% might spend their allegedly undertaxed income. I'd heard that Bergdorf Goodman had particularly elaborate displays and moved with the crowd in that general direction.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I started out near the more plebian Herald Square Macy's, which claims to be the largest store in the world. It certainly was one of the most crowded. I made the mistake of seeing the window display out of order. I was enveloped not only by humanity but by sweeping symphonic music, the sort that would give sound to the culture of Hogwarts. White, bejeweled marionettes pretended to hit drums in the window. Maybe it was the vivid blue eyeshadow and red lipstick on white or the giraffe neck in Victorian collar of one anorexic figurine that creeped me out a bit--or that marionettes never change expression or blink. Someone called the figures angels, but they looked like Tim Burton's elongated versions of Toulouse Lautrec dancers in a Snow Queen setting. Then I saw in the first window that a rocket-riding marionette--super model as Willy Wonka--was a deliverer of ornaments to a sort of space-station earth and that the display's creation involved large donations to a children's charity. O.K., it's Christmasy then.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> Up 5th Avenue, Lord & Taylor had the most conventional scenes of a 1950s type family enjoying holiday baking, decorating, and sledding. Windows also featured many holiday-inspired drawings by children (real, not marionettes), and again a charity received benefits.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> The closer one got to the Trump Tower and elite hotels, the more elaborate and elegant the displays. I guess I was expecting sort of a Dickens scene (after Tiny Tim is fed and cured), but Bergdorf Goodman presented a "Carnival of Animals" theme. The animals all paid homage to a mannequin dolled up in the glamour of the 1920s or 30s. Sometimes the glamour girl was accompanied by a male figure with an animal head, so it's "Meet my date, Sir Walrus." If the animal/men misbehave, the enchantress will turn them into an adorable white capelet. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOZobXGQlOZkJ2ZxuRWUNpKyzc60SufN6I2twUxwDmtin7lgRXSP42yHeTDfJ79f9n7JXxu-V94LnHhrBrzZ6SHVXOAlhyphenhyphenFojkgUQz7gFKKi7S3JKFQtmy-MdAFhzMK-JaGv_fhjGQbB0/s1600/snowqueen+crop_edited-1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOZobXGQlOZkJ2ZxuRWUNpKyzc60SufN6I2twUxwDmtin7lgRXSP42yHeTDfJ79f9n7JXxu-V94LnHhrBrzZ6SHVXOAlhyphenhyphenFojkgUQz7gFKKi7S3JKFQtmy-MdAFhzMK-JaGv_fhjGQbB0/s320/snowqueen+crop_edited-1.jpg" width="198" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I think she's wearing our cousin."<br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I took pictures, and achieved an ethereal effect of dissolving animal/person against the reflection of a nature that appeared real but is the heavily manicured growth of Central Park. (Actually, like everyone else I was deploying my phone camera sans polarizing filter.) You could also argue that the display proved the 1% aren't really human like the rest of us. They are the bulls and bears of Wall Street (which, along with wolves, provided the heads for mannequin in the menswear windows). Or he's a Bottom to a Titania blinded by her own hat.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBoFS9ez3yMIofoXpvEuDofI0mtOxib4YZexG5ozx8ciRhKzY_ldB82ymLc5nz5iOyHqacwNksATKoI_N3tPvuPTFpL-N02M1rmuge3CRH0nlxIUFMWgX1HKb2JgKmygSzBg1lvToC3Ic/s1600/Horsehead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBoFS9ez3yMIofoXpvEuDofI0mtOxib4YZexG5ozx8ciRhKzY_ldB82ymLc5nz5iOyHqacwNksATKoI_N3tPvuPTFpL-N02M1rmuge3CRH0nlxIUFMWgX1HKb2JgKmygSzBg1lvToC3Ic/s320/Horsehead.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"My pony won a prize!"</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">None of these figures moved, so this was not an opportunity to see human/animal interaction in play or to follow the erotics of Ovid's metamorphosis. Maybe these displays fused a childhood memory with something mythic, Freudian, and exclusively expensive. Another day, and other animals of Christmas will appear in The Random Animal--the extraordinary ordinary ones, the Nativity with pets that poet Elizabeth Bishop imagines in one of her works.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The New York Street scenes were all a highly textured fantasy, and whether at Bergdorf or Walmart, yule festivities bring out the desire for 3-dimensional (or 4, 5, 6, adding music, time, and light) textures with all their color, coziness, brilliance, comfort, and allure. With a decorated butter cookie, a twinkling balsam fir, a wrapped present with bow, it's the hope that the materiality of the season (much of it inexpensive or homemade) will warm to spirituality.</div>The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-15629861884242029022011-12-01T18:02:00.000-08:002011-12-01T18:02:59.827-08:00The Mysteries of the Seal<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI2XwJ1lW98qViXBKlm-1xMnUSNfiEnbg9imbMzNLhgJ5sbJlJ1U9aJGhbdE1ioB1V1dk_9W2X4nv-UVvqGQE23DVA16o0j7V5quBVQLrKR-6Vra9bGQvtDKcT8zK7b2ew7LXFvYMyaGA/s1600/Harbor+seal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI2XwJ1lW98qViXBKlm-1xMnUSNfiEnbg9imbMzNLhgJ5sbJlJ1U9aJGhbdE1ioB1V1dk_9W2X4nv-UVvqGQE23DVA16o0j7V5quBVQLrKR-6Vra9bGQvtDKcT8zK7b2ew7LXFvYMyaGA/s320/Harbor+seal.jpg" width="230" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chief Inspector Seal</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">The Random Animal’s long absence has a simple explanation: alien abduction. Usually such abductions occur in compressed inter-galactic time, so that the abductee returns in seconds without any sense of time lost and with only a vague sense of having been used in various sexually-curious experiments. This the abduction felt more like staying in a dark November room with a cold and trying to meet several unexpected work deadlines. </div><div class="MsoNormal">But several mystery novels that featured animals were consumed: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">False Mermaid</i> by Erin Hart and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bad Intentions </i>by Norwegian writer Karin Fossum. Neither one is specifically focused on animals, so read them for their suspense and ambiance rather than for sustained attention to animal issues. Nonetheless, they both reveal how humans imaginatively and literally use animals to help them negotiate human dilemmas.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Erin Hart’s mysteries feature the anthropological anthropologist, Nora Gavin, who travels back and forth between her Minnesota home and the bogs of Ireland, where she solves the ancient crimes behind bodies unearthed from peat. In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">False Mermaid</i>, however, the mystery is much closer: that of her beautiful actress sister, Triona, five years earlier. Nora believes she knows the perpetrator, Triona’s slickly handsome husband, but can find no proof. It also seems there was something slippery and constantly changing about her sister’s character and behavior. Like the mermaids who fascinated her, was Triona lovely one moment and dangerous another, tempting others toward destruction? </div><div class="MsoNormal">This murder is set against Nora’s Irish experiences and her interest in songs about mermaids and seals that come ashore to become human wives but then slip away again—“selkies.” In one song the mythical creature who “abandons the love of life,” disappearing to human company, is named as a very specific woman, Mary Heaney, who left behind children, Patrick and Mary. As Nora contemplates the strange history, maybe even crime, behind the ballad, her eleven-year-old niece Elizabeth lives in Seattle with her murder-suspect father, and consoles herself over her mother’s loss with a stolen book called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Selkie’s Child </i>and by going to the bay to commune with a real seal who seems taken with her.</div><div class="MsoNormal">The novel gathers suspense with two love interests for Nora (one American, one Irish), oversexed and jealous lovers, obsessions about past violence, the use of illicit drugs, a child caught between warring relatives, and transnational chases. Seals appear and disappear as a hint that something in the universe, perhaps something benevolent, is watching. While there are intimations of supernatural presences, the problems of human passion remain the focus. The animal is more important as an emblem and possibility. There are no interjections about what happens when seals are exposed to pollution or when people turn against them because they despoil a beach. The woman/seal interchange is beguiling, but a more plausible magic is to believe that seals and Labrador retrievers are the shape changers (not always much difference in their shapes.) Think about it. When I’ve kayaked among seals (not myself turning into one), their big round heads and eyes and curious looks, not to mention the bark, recall Labs who jump in the water and hold up their heads, waiting for some stick action. The Lab-seal. </div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRWlTyQY6xh9Okzw1-uVmLF-RUvBtRYOooR2r7obhpBiVtJGPZKzt9Qd6MqABdoQ-RTNotvyadvk0VgBqWVGvBfdWnH_UJwx626DjKp2GcMkX5E4-f2CTbqpihaofo6zWZ7vREtMMW2Xo/s1600/MACEY+FACE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRWlTyQY6xh9Okzw1-uVmLF-RUvBtRYOooR2r7obhpBiVtJGPZKzt9Qd6MqABdoQ-RTNotvyadvk0VgBqWVGvBfdWnH_UJwx626DjKp2GcMkX5E4-f2CTbqpihaofo6zWZ7vREtMMW2Xo/s320/MACEY+FACE.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I forget, was I a mermaid or a Pinniped?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So the seals in the novel seem soulful and tender—answering the characters’ desires to find empathy and acceptance. The myths of mermaids and selkies belong to the human fascination with metamorphosis, with the wish to take on an animal’s mysterious powers. In the tales Hart includes, the metamorphosis involves loss. The seal who becomes human must leave her old life, perhaps forever, and submit to being a wife. The woman who becomes seal returns to freedom but must abandon what was loved. To be fully human is a compromise. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The False Mermaid </i>has a driving plot with the allure of myth and romance. If you like forensic detail blended with Celtic romance and Irishmen who play fiddles and flutes, enjoy. </div><div class="MsoNormal">Soon—Fossum and the redemptive cat.</div>The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-40616721957671005002011-10-24T10:20:00.000-07:002011-10-24T10:20:23.467-07:00Tiger Woes and Dolphin Joys<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgefHI4b9JPEe8Jupwh42Y37v6jvSZ7jD-LtGXHG48p5TbclQIIEixzDCCbuHPGwAl4P8OhwKvo2GwDayv6Elyu1njxC3VHxx5jY4AGhEzORRe7SAwHmvCNj3mSvqVhs-x3Ecct9geD44o/s1600/Bengal+tiger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgefHI4b9JPEe8Jupwh42Y37v6jvSZ7jD-LtGXHG48p5TbclQIIEixzDCCbuHPGwAl4P8OhwKvo2GwDayv6Elyu1njxC3VHxx5jY4AGhEzORRe7SAwHmvCNj3mSvqVhs-x3Ecct9geD44o/s1600/Bengal+tiger.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pondering Extinction</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
The Random Animal is back on grid and through the media has been exposed recently to two real-life animals stories that follow a familiar plot line.<br />
The first is the now infamous shootings near Zanesville, Ohio. It started with a 911 call, according to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/us/police-kill-dozens-of-animals-freed-from-ohio-preserve.html">The New York Times</a>, in which a woman claimed a bear and lion were right behind her. Terry Thompson, the owner of a private menagerie, had released 56 animals including large predators and then shot himself. The plot of what came next was unfortunately predictable. Animals considered dangerous are mishandled by human caretaker, and though a human may be at fault for the predicament, the animals are almost inevitably killed. Nearly all the animals that Thompson freed for whatever reason were killed in the name of safety. That includes 17 lions and 18 Bengal tigers. The number of Bengals in the wild is just over 2,000, and their habitat is shrinking. Whether the Ohio killing was the right or wrong call will be much debated, but attention has turned to the keeping of exotic animals, legally and not, by private owners. Danny Groner collected surveys and opinions for <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/danny-groner/ohio-animal-escape_b_1027093.html">The Huffington Post</a>. Not surprising, a number of editorials and individuals call for an outright ban on from owning wild animals; such a ban exists in 21 states. He also cites a defense of keeping exotic pets <i>USA Today</i>: <br />
<br />
"'What Thompson did was selfish and insane; we cannot regulate insanity," <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/story/2011-10-20/own-exotic-animals-Ohio/50846342/1" target="_hplink">says Zuzana Kukol at</a> <i>USA Today</i>. . .'If we have the freedom to choose what car to buy, where to live, or what domestic animal to have, why shouldn't we have the same freedom to choose what species of wild or exotic animal to own and to love?' Cutting down on exotic animals because of 'a few deranged individuals' would be like trying to 'ban kids' in hopes of curbing child abuse."<br />
<br />
Maybe this comment is meant to wake people up in hopes of seeing a fight. The analogy between outlawing tigers and outlawing children or pet dogs doesn't quite work. First, there's the whole issue of captivity of undomesticated animals. Second, children and pet dogs are part of the normal fabric of "domesticated" American society, if one--kid or dog--is let out of the house, people on the street generally know how to cope. A pat on the head for either often suffices. A Bengal male can be well over 500 lbs of hungry predator. That's a difference. <br />
The emerging consensus is that the animals shouldn't have been in a big electoral college state to begin with. Now to another state with a large role to play in presidential elections and a particular connection to wildlife, Florida.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE664GvK7uWRY4v8yeIFY8Lv5whmPWQFMQzeXGFhX0K5v8McLG_mieeVU9Jj0etdGCVicSWA_ZBmOAbGk2W8sFpM21Op-1PjHz3Hmn2cM-SotI7NU4GM8x0dQdi9uxoGmazW3sAWoMAA4/s1600/Navy+dolphin.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE664GvK7uWRY4v8yeIFY8Lv5whmPWQFMQzeXGFhX0K5v8McLG_mieeVU9Jj0etdGCVicSWA_ZBmOAbGk2W8sFpM21Op-1PjHz3Hmn2cM-SotI7NU4GM8x0dQdi9uxoGmazW3sAWoMAA4/s1600/Navy+dolphin.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm in the Navy now.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Swim with Dolphin and Dolphin-Assisted Therapy programs dot the Florida coastline. That coastline at Clearwater is the setting for a true story, which has "inspired" a new 3-D motion picture, <i>Dolphin Tale. </i>The star is the nonfictional Winter, a tail-less dolphin who swims with a prosthetic attached to her peduncle (yes, that's what I said). You can watch Winter in real time through the Clearwater Marine Aquarium <a href="http://seewinter.com/winter/media/webcam-3">webcam</a>.<br />
The "inspired" part of the film, which I just saw, is probably the added story of a lonely boy who connects with life and the world by rescuing Winter. That plot line is typical of child-animal romances: boy/girl rescues dog/orca/seal/dolphin, and in turn the animal "rescues" the child from a miserable ostracism while the surrounding community expands its perspective and sympathies to finally welcome child and redeeming animal. By the way, this plot rarely includes big predators: the exceptions might be the Kevin Costner character and the implausibly friendly wolf in <i>Dances with Wolves </i>and also from several years back the film <a href="http://www.twobrothersmovie.net/"><i>Two Brothers</i></a> which features an English boy in India who deserves far better parents and tiger cubs who grow up to be enormous. Plot spoiler: the grown tigers are not kept as pets. <br />
<i>Dolphin Tale </i>follows this formula in a pleasing enough way, though it segues into a tale about disability, not just an animal's but that of children and adults. This film's statement about disability may be more sentimental than profound, but it does make the point that coping with disability involves financial, scientific, social, and emotional resources in a community setting. Toward the end of the film, humans with physical disabilities make a pilgrimage to see Winter, the little dolphin who could.<br />
That brings up another topic: the rise of Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) and its variant Dolphin Assisted Therapy (DAT). I've yet to hear of Tiger therapy, but you could recommend it to your enemies. U.S. sites for DAT stress that dolphins are not mystical healers, but they provide joy and motivation. (The scientific evidence for DAT is not conclusive at this point.) O.K., there's the enormous issue of keeping any healthy dolphin in captivity. Dolphin researcher Lori Marino (one of the scientists who demonstrated that dolphins have mirror recognition and therefore self-awareness) and philosopher Thomas White are among those who believe that dolphins are too smart and social, and in need of too big an ocean home, to be held captive.<br />
Meanwhile, more and more seek dolphin therapy, which I once observed, and the demand for it grows. For accounts and images of therapy, see <a href="http://www.islanddolphincare.org/photo-gallery/">Island Dolphin Care</a>.<br />
Back to the movie, Winter may be the rare animal suited for captivity: she could not survive in the wild and apparently has the social skills to thrive in an extended "family" of humans and dolphins. For me, the most touching parts of the movie came at the end, after the fictionalized child/animal plot, with documentary footage of Winter's rescue in 2006. The real rescue showed a dolphin bloody and traumatized by a crab trap and fishing ropes strangling her tail (there's another story here about habitat). It's reassuring to know that at least one animal was saved from human folly.The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-92188270608434787802011-10-07T08:39:00.001-07:002011-10-07T08:39:07.915-07:00Out to LunchThe Random Animal has been preoccupied lately, but will return in a few days with new posts.The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-701729281116300622011-09-23T16:06:00.000-07:002011-09-23T16:06:13.662-07:00Holy Carp, Wolfman!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsYq8bUtAKT4yzZ3-g2Xy4vQDijSQEd_3c9soTX6-3fGLYBIchh8QyUMDRUXY0o-S-NBbInm7LxijGNde1K_AG2AyNsZtMiKjBOVU3OB-xbCST_8FMXkiSWWmbKnP8A5NIiLD2LkYz6TY/s1600/asian-carp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsYq8bUtAKT4yzZ3-g2Xy4vQDijSQEd_3c9soTX6-3fGLYBIchh8QyUMDRUXY0o-S-NBbInm7LxijGNde1K_AG2AyNsZtMiKjBOVU3OB-xbCST_8FMXkiSWWmbKnP8A5NIiLD2LkYz6TY/s320/asian-carp.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I'm shocked!"</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Asian Carp keep showing up in the news because they keep showing up in more rivers and lakes. They are not wanted. They eat, grow into giants, and displace other species. They could disrupt a 7 million dollar plus fishery business in the upper Midwest. But how to keep them out? In Minnesota, a plan to put electric barriers between the Mississippi River and the "wild and scenic" St. Croix has stalled, partly because of territorial issues. Does the other river bank--Wisconsin--have to be involved? What agency oversees a plan, and will the plan be effective?<br />
A <a href="http://www.startribune.com/local/130031543.html"><i>Star Tribune </i></a>story of September 18th narrates how a $5 million dollar initiative to erect "an underwater sound barrier" got washed away. It seems the state's Department of Natural Resources thought the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would take over at some point, because that's what the Corps tends to do. "We were surprised to hear they couldn't work with us on the project," Steve Hirsch, the DNR's director of ecological and water resources, told the <i>Star Tribune</i>. Hirsch added that the Corps claimed "they weren't authorized or funded to work on it."In short, there are turf wars and a lack of communication among politicians who voted for the funding, the DNR, the two states, and the Army Corps. As the carp says, "I'm shocked!"<br />
Complicating the issues is a debate about the effectiveness of barriers against hungry carp. But here the Army Corps recently offered "new evidence that a series of barriers in the Chicago River waterway system have been 'very effective,'" and increased voltage might improve that further.<br />
For some, there's way too much government entanglement with Big-Mouth Carp, and they want private industry (with grant help from somewhere, and often that somewhere is a gov't) to sell the Carp back to Asia as food. Eat the crappy carp!<br />
"We're in uncharted waters here," according to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources spokesman Chris McCloud in Thursday's <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-illinois-launches-eat-asian-carp-campaign-20110922,0,4550212.story">Chicago Tribune</a>. "Why remove them and put them into a landfill when you can take them and use them for good? If we can get past the name 'carp' and the perception ... we can prove this is going to be a highly nutritious, cheap meal." It tastes, according to promoters, like a cross between scallops and crabmeat, if you can get past the barrier of numerous bones. Carp are low in mercury and high in Omega 3 fatty acids, so let's call carp "silverfin" (Patagonian toothfish was re-imaged as pricey Chilean sea bass) and get it on the menu. A Chicago chef already has a recipe for "Carp-accio."<br />
Well, let them eat carp! <br />
There are those who take offense at the terms of the discussion with "invasive" species pitted against "native." One problem is that such terms don't account for "natural" or adaptive biological changes over the eons and for changes caused by climate and geographical events. Other reasons for concern include a problematic analogy with human migration issues. For example, are illegal immigrants (or any immigrants) from other countries a threat to U.S. "natives"? It has also been pointed out that summarily applying "illegal" to children and infants just doesn't sound right. This is an area where human/animal comparisons fall apart: humans have the advanced cultural skills (we hope) to deal with global interchanges. Also, what does "native" mean when applied to U.S. residents? They're actually Asiatic but crossed an Alaskan land bridge in Prehistory? They were already here when the Mayflower landed? They came on the Mayflower? They fled a potato famine? They fled the Nazis and arrived with advanced degrees in physics? Complicate that with the travels of European or American "natives" in the era of colonialism and currently with globalization.? Is Coca-Cola a dangerous invasive species?<br />
The Random Animal will leave these questions for presidential debates. There's also the point that being a species native to the North American Continent insures acceptance and protection. Take the case of the wolf, again. As noted in the blog of August 24th, Montana and Idaho will have hunting seasons for the re-introduced wolf. Apparently, withdrawing the wolf from the endangered species list was part of a federal budget deal--the wheeling and dealing that happens to pass legislation or tuck in a special interest item. All this is explained on a recent <a href="http://video.pbs.org/video/2136072431">PBS Newshour </a>report. Many ranchers still hate wolves, though wolves were in the area first. Since their reintroduction in 1995 to Yellowstone National Park, wolves have spread outside those boundaries and have killed about 4500 cattle and sheep. (It is difficult to find out if specific herds are particularly beset or how many livestock roamed the areas.) One rancher interviewed couldn't see the point of anyone wanting such a successful predator around. Another ranch family addresses the risk of wolf attach by keeping cattle grouped within movable fencing, mimicking the protective circle buffalo create. It takes more time and money, but they have not had wolf problems. And problem wolves have been shot regularly, under gov't oversight, and they are not part of the hunt count. The scientist involved with the wolves' return is not against hunting them. It's the numbers that are upsetting. As the Newshour reports, Montana has about 600 wolves and will permit the taking of 220. The Idaho plan is to reduce the state's 1000 wolves to 150. That's pretty close to the definition of "decimation." The argument for wolves? They are a "cash cow" for the Park, drawing in observers, photographers, amateur naturalists. They have reduced elk herds in the region, so plant growth has revived, preserving more plant species, keeping the rivers healthier, and supporting more small wildlife including songbirds.<br />
Maybe "native" and "alien" are misleading terms for carp and wolves. It's a matter of viable bio-diversity. Add too many carp, and that's damaged. Take away too many wolves, and that's damaged.<br />
If only the wolf's main food source was carp.The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-31325154182976148772011-09-16T09:24:00.000-07:002011-09-16T09:24:58.169-07:00Melville's Moby Dick and Jon Stewart's Daily Show<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8K8aB7oiZMH_dSDSNUF1jf2Wt2sUuGDJ-YHtbukJ0UzbuwVPsAj_OUkqjGapvm0NJR364v5RWhmE6XD_nSti4812cOnL17s4aoZmOhbBUkGQ9ZtlVd1IUzii4y-HnoAW6i_2ErNcmSFc/s1600/2009-08-26-whale.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8K8aB7oiZMH_dSDSNUF1jf2Wt2sUuGDJ-YHtbukJ0UzbuwVPsAj_OUkqjGapvm0NJR364v5RWhmE6XD_nSti4812cOnL17s4aoZmOhbBUkGQ9ZtlVd1IUzii4y-HnoAW6i_2ErNcmSFc/s400/2009-08-26-whale.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">credit to LukeSurl.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
No, this is not a set-up for a bad joke. I've been slowly re-reading <i>Moby</i>-<i>Dick</i> (don't remember the first reading) and should be finished in time for the 2016 elections. It takes a long time to reach actual discussion of The Whale; and the blubber-thick book of wind-driven ships, Quakers, and harpooners seems wildly distant from current crises of international debt defaults, climate change, and twittering politicians. The novel resides in that unreachable ocean, The Past.<br />
Then again, in the opening chapter, narrator Ishmael imagines the front page of a newspaper announcing his whaling voyage sandwiched between these headlines: "Grand Contested Election for the Presidency of the United States" and "Bloody Battle in Afghanistan." Herman Melville and a writer of the next generation, Mark Twain, might have been shocked and dismayed by Bernie Madoff Ponzi schemes, but they would not have been surprised. Confidence men--the Con--have prominent places in their fictions and apparently in the American fabric. Both writers recognized the ability of people to con others and that most frequent trick, to con themselves. A nation of self-conners.<br />
And while those with a recollection of American Lit. think of Moby-Dick's tale (sorry) as tragic, involving Death and Ahab, Ishmael offers a wry running commentary on the strangeness of human beings and their business. There's snark. He could be Jon Stewart or John Oliver, an extremely well-read and less crude version, bemused by pretension and folly in all he sees. A landlady, concerned about the doings or the having done of a boarder locked in his room, exclaims "He's killed himself ... It's unfort'nate Stiggs done over again--there goes another counterpane." To save bed covering counterpanes she dispatches a servant: "Go to Snarles the Painter, and tell him to paint me a sign, with--'no suicides permitted here, and no smoking in the parlor.'"<br />
O.K., Ishmael's (or rather Melville's) sentences are extremely layered, and as with Hawthorne and Thoreau a plethora of deep meanings are implied but not necessarily revealed and validated. There's an undeniable quest for meanings that, in the end, remain inscrutable or absent. After reflecting on how there's "all the difference in the world between paying and being paid," a point brought home by the current recession, Ishmael speculates on an "invisible police officer of the Fates, who has the constant surveillance of me, and secretly dogs me, and influences me in some unaccountable way." (This 160 years before phone tapping and Rupert Murdoch--an Ahab after a story). Phrases, allusions, vocab, and foreshadowing throughout the book (Fate, Providence, Monster, superior natural force, ponderous heart, reality or a dream) send undergrads scrambling for the Code Book offered by internet versions of Cliff Notes.<br />
Despite the aggregation of footnotes--blubber valuable or not--attending the text, the book is deemed by certain sources as appropriate for grades 5 (a precocious grade 5) and up. There are no sex scenes or bad words (depending about how you consider "sperm" as in "sperm whale), while the violence, mostly against animals, is quite acceptable. Certainly in the last decades of the 20th century, Ishmael's lack of obscenity and sexual encounters, along with his apparent acquiescence to authority, seem very innocent. That's until you get to the Gay Marriage part. Or the bonding with non-Christians.<br />
It's not <i>really</i> same-sex marriage, but early on Ishmael shares a bed with the purply heathen Queequeg, who sounds like a cross between a giant Aborigine and a Smurf.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJG_Dznx13LXq5VXdsi0x_oqhVbRV61tU-8VyUYS327ON1cpG4pIToT8QmxqIwEr-7Ouu2er6mbrTJhqWMVpEEYZ9JxECpjiRKJJd1Tl-IwwmIrGOGRK_RGnjDWvj3c-hOKYvNoJ6aB8Y/s1600/queequeg+rockwell+kent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJG_Dznx13LXq5VXdsi0x_oqhVbRV61tU-8VyUYS327ON1cpG4pIToT8QmxqIwEr-7Ouu2er6mbrTJhqWMVpEEYZ9JxECpjiRKJJd1Tl-IwwmIrGOGRK_RGnjDWvj3c-hOKYvNoJ6aB8Y/s320/queequeg+rockwell+kent.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thanks to Rockwell Kent and Pop Culture</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfLGD4Q59C6uiLUD-kmGIzJao79DihY5OZIBLyJ3sJ4eW0-4jJTTh3fzE5uTe_zUFASM52esd8_RzerEqCEayjhDYeg-GuW5xalBVUDi-CKTNh-0lNAsLnFJqyJ4CfUeO1iJ_uqbHgD48/s1600/Smurf1.gif" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfLGD4Q59C6uiLUD-kmGIzJao79DihY5OZIBLyJ3sJ4eW0-4jJTTh3fzE5uTe_zUFASM52esd8_RzerEqCEayjhDYeg-GuW5xalBVUDi-CKTNh-0lNAsLnFJqyJ4CfUeO1iJ_uqbHgD48/s1600/Smurf1.gif" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfLGD4Q59C6uiLUD-kmGIzJao79DihY5OZIBLyJ3sJ4eW0-4jJTTh3fzE5uTe_zUFASM52esd8_RzerEqCEayjhDYeg-GuW5xalBVUDi-CKTNh-0lNAsLnFJqyJ4CfUeO1iJ_uqbHgD48/s1600/Smurf1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><br />
<br />
It was not uncommon for boarders in an inn, particularly the poor ones, to share beds, and the landlord thinks it quite amusing to pair the vulnerable young Ishmael with a tattooed "cannibal" who's been out trying to sell a shrunken head. After some initial awkwardness involving a tomahawk, the two settle down to sleep, and Ishmael awakens the next morning with "Queequeg's arm thrown over me in the most loving and affectionate manner. You had almost thought I had been his wife." There's certainly no talk of sexual attraction, and during following days the men focus on getting an assignment on a whaling ship. But their camaraderie deepens. In the chapter "A Bosom Friend," Ishmael concludes, "there is no place like a bed for confidential disclosures between friends. Man and wife, they say, there open the very bottom of their souls to each other; and some old couples often lie and chat over old times till near morning. Thus, then, in our hearts' honeymoon, lay I and Queequeg--a cosy, loving pair."<br />
How this passage would fare on FOX network discussions I don't want to know. The 5th grade teacher who dares to impose such dense prose on young students could well focus on the emotional intimacy, which lacks eroticism. Melville himself was married in a traditional way, and in a traditional way it went badly. Let's guess that Melville was difficult and moody. Then his sea-tale popularity, dragging his income along, started to make a frightening dive, rather like that of an incumbent president's during a recession. That might drive any wife to nagging or retreat.<br />
Back to the bonding of Ishmael and Queequeg--probably shocking in 1851 was the intimacy between a very white Christian and a dark tattooed Pacific islander who worships a black wooden totem. Many of the early encounters between the two and other whalers revolve around Ishmael defending Queequeg's character--"see how elastic our stiff prejudices become when love comes to bend them." (And we are being set up for end events, which are far from cozy liaisons.) The plot moves forward when Ishmael convinces the managers of the Pequod, self-righteous and cheap Captain Bildad and blustery Captain Peleg, to sign up himself and Queequeg. "Queequeg here is a born member of the First Congregational Church," Ishmael protests, and when the pious Bildad pushes for explanation, Ishmael expounds that "every mother's son and soul of us belong" to the "great and everlasting First Congregation of this whole worshipping world." Bildad hesitates at that ecumenical inclusion, but Peleg accepts Queequeg's faith upon seeing his "wild sort of" accuracy with a harpoon: "Quick, I say, you Bildad, and get the ship's papers. We must have Hedgehog there, I mean Quohog, in one of our boats. Look ye, Quohog, we'll give you the ninetieth lay [a portion of profits far larger than Ishmael's], and that's more than ever was given a harpooneer yet out of Nantucket."<br />
And that brings us to the Corporate Business of Whaling in the 19th and the 21st century--more on that to come.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggNL3RhTQXaVcF3-1_iH1TXk9CCnETbISW3TO89kN17gyVeohujuDtW0nDfiC1tWjLaF5z3ctu9U8Mk-BC3gXystHlIkLADhRnvEubx_HlO-H5-x2CjIwRzmLix87QIz6X5Bg5edM8tgA/s1600/363px-Queequeg.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div>The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-1389285356991912962011-09-08T18:45:00.000-07:002011-09-08T18:45:34.286-07:00Last Heron of SummerThe nights are cool, the afternoons hot. The monarchs are moving south, but some migratory species still find time to bask in ultra-marine skies. This great blue heron found his pedestal,<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSwnchffwT8TAtVSfdJ642KLsWN_f6me2IkuLlfpQsoa4xu_w9dNHcpNE-uk8wKKaNQ-73Dy16DWOnldszYPjhrX9kWoqTaacZWzjIRVPKjoQICHGDO_ShSzCH18KYQVDo1cSVWws1Ma4/s1600/crane2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSwnchffwT8TAtVSfdJ642KLsWN_f6me2IkuLlfpQsoa4xu_w9dNHcpNE-uk8wKKaNQ-73Dy16DWOnldszYPjhrX9kWoqTaacZWzjIRVPKjoQICHGDO_ShSzCH18KYQVDo1cSVWws1Ma4/s320/crane2.jpg" width="187" /></a></div><br />
Then he spoke,<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPLU06T0_hHIdsADTszrySr98XxJrz0TYgXVSbtxEAbSurqXDW3AXvxs81GyXVkFVgHw6O6AY5aOsCM0lHQcYRJ3D0svbyNaKU7spwPuVeEuEpPecyjjuseWyaaFCWWN0Kug39G4WIdkI/s1600/heron+tongue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPLU06T0_hHIdsADTszrySr98XxJrz0TYgXVSbtxEAbSurqXDW3AXvxs81GyXVkFVgHw6O6AY5aOsCM0lHQcYRJ3D0svbyNaKU7spwPuVeEuEpPecyjjuseWyaaFCWWN0Kug39G4WIdkI/s320/heron+tongue.jpg" width="269" /></a></div>And then fanned his wings to the sun.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiguZx4lD3CB08UiGdjrGD-ArkEzWDAU2Tp4a1Oj6e4kzwSbQ9JmNeoVZmQ7DtK4byn0u7cZzqOAgLpMxX75qryjedtllsk-zJJquWwjyceffQszTptEwx02yQ9aAt2Q1JaBkgBS7p_V7Q/s1600/Heron+display.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiguZx4lD3CB08UiGdjrGD-ArkEzWDAU2Tp4a1Oj6e4kzwSbQ9JmNeoVZmQ7DtK4byn0u7cZzqOAgLpMxX75qryjedtllsk-zJJquWwjyceffQszTptEwx02yQ9aAt2Q1JaBkgBS7p_V7Q/s320/Heron+display.jpg" width="237" /></a></div><br />
The Random Animal will be traveling for a few days and will return with some book reviews.The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-2447711418353217782011-09-06T09:14:00.000-07:002011-09-06T09:14:03.558-07:00Wanted: Beavers, not Horses<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_AiCY-D7rQKtbH4DeVEslqRyfEgHRksbxEdgA572bP-MQIJ2KxCBcp_LspZPHKSdFcxBjNR_WMPTYoqWWVNKjfTPUJf1Z6ymcqnX1wo20pZBZTmnTXqmtq25cvdipxyx_PgQESbCZaV0/s1600/horse+drought.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_AiCY-D7rQKtbH4DeVEslqRyfEgHRksbxEdgA572bP-MQIJ2KxCBcp_LspZPHKSdFcxBjNR_WMPTYoqWWVNKjfTPUJf1Z6ymcqnX1wo20pZBZTmnTXqmtq25cvdipxyx_PgQESbCZaV0/s320/horse+drought.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Mary Beth Atwood from krqe.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
Texas is on fire. About 120,000 acres are burned or burning, about 700 homes have been lost thus far. According to the <a href="http://tfsweb.tamu.edu/main/article.aspx?id=12888">Texas Forest Service </a>website, fire fighters spent the labor day holiday responding to 22 <i>new </i>fires.<br />
Like the "megafires" described in a recent <a href="http://audubonmagazine.org/features1107/globalwarming.html">Audubon Magazine</a> article (and discussed in an earlier blog here), these conflagrations degrade ecosystems and cause human suffering. When people suffer, animals suffer. That includes species often privileged or idealized, like horses. The two-year drought in Texas has turned grass and hay into kindling. Animals do not have enough to eat; farmers and ranchers have nothing to harvest and store. Hay is imported from states like Iowa, but that's not the same as having adequate grass growing where the animals live. More and more bone-thin horses are left with rescue groups, as reported by <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/video/coronado-suicide-victim-painted-note-door-14438354?tab=9482931&section=4765066">ABC</a> news earlier this summer. The same circumstances that lead to horse abandonment or surrender also inhibit adoption or horses restored to health. Some rescue groups, like <a href="http://www.ksat.com/news/28980765/detail.html">Brighter Days</a> near San Antonio, fear that they cannot take in any more animals.<br />
While Texas and the nation struggle with immediate responses to fire and drought, other long-term solutions are up for consideration.<br />
Some ranchers in rain-starved regions would like to see beaver return. This may seem like an odd longing, especially since beaver are often seen as pests whose constructions block trout streams, boating channels, or drainage lines.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlvk4DdDQaKnL5ymsc0kd0DMEp3X2bInSehjZiVCAII9EL5Gv9hAs2mUfxpXQjzqn85mo4akivpBSglv7mwjjXP7qUh6YSdax2slBRN7bpRN0zmYmXZmDYx_0sRovL_6W0c7HWPF5IXvk/s1600/220px-American_Beaver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlvk4DdDQaKnL5ymsc0kd0DMEp3X2bInSehjZiVCAII9EL5Gv9hAs2mUfxpXQjzqn85mo4akivpBSglv7mwjjXP7qUh6YSdax2slBRN7bpRN0zmYmXZmDYx_0sRovL_6W0c7HWPF5IXvk/s1600/220px-American_Beaver.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I know you want me."</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
As reported by a recent <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904253204576512391087253596.html">Wall Street Journal</a> article, "in many states, it's legal to shoot a beaver on private land." However, the same article explains that beavers are excellent restorers of wetlands. As one conservancy director explains, "We can spend $200,000 putting wood into a stream, cabling down logs. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Put in a colony of beavers and it always works." So ranchers in places like Wyoming and Washington want to bring beavers back to places where they had been banished. What beaver dams retain can mitigate the impact of a dry season and provide drinking water for cattle and wildlife, and the subsurface water table fluctuates less. So now beavers are live-trapped elsewhere to be transferred to ranch lands that have some water source. Other species, from cougar and moose in the North and songbirds about anywhere, seem to rebound where beavers have created wetlands.<br />
Texas is not currently in a situation where beavers can save the day. But the re-evaluation of beavers suggests that holistic approaches to ecosystems are not just for the dreams of abstract nature-lovers but for those who make a living from the land.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEU7-44eLJCaYAzj-yJxDVxD-cX2Wx8JHVbLBlb5PdXtUOatU09R_uwFRCkJbS0J5pADtA2STTXiandl9UomU2T_eSexfUcXX_fxDDZDBc4BgcZKwWCmfXMtRUxFv_LhOF8vQrtQ2uH6U/s1600/220px-Broken_Beaver_Dam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEU7-44eLJCaYAzj-yJxDVxD-cX2Wx8JHVbLBlb5PdXtUOatU09R_uwFRCkJbS0J5pADtA2STTXiandl9UomU2T_eSexfUcXX_fxDDZDBc4BgcZKwWCmfXMtRUxFv_LhOF8vQrtQ2uH6U/s1600/220px-Broken_Beaver_Dam.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dam, it's gone!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-13584795785693713812011-08-31T09:12:00.000-07:002011-08-31T09:12:38.907-07:00Of Monarchs and Men<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjkdS1guawEb0i-odVIqqsBd2XFGksgbb-Osg8zn8kBdm6OXp0YTyX6nNseCe9LAwqcB5q8ifaJTlAlsELMK_XYZcXeiLAA4odvcepsAK2VmHU2Jw3mtf91tXmGVZF0uGY3i-RkiTtB8o/s1600/Monarch+of+the+glen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjkdS1guawEb0i-odVIqqsBd2XFGksgbb-Osg8zn8kBdm6OXp0YTyX6nNseCe9LAwqcB5q8ifaJTlAlsELMK_XYZcXeiLAA4odvcepsAK2VmHU2Jw3mtf91tXmGVZF0uGY3i-RkiTtB8o/s400/Monarch+of+the+glen.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bound for Mexico?</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Two to three, then three to four, then twenty or so flitted above the trees and across the path to the prairie. Over the acres of prairie, there were more, settling onto rough blazing star, a favorite, or goldenrods, sunflowers, lobelia. Monarchs are hard to count (and harder to photograph I found) because they are more skittish than birds, they disappear into an infinity of grass, and they collapse into a barely visible line when they turn and close their wings.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcSZGYVdeCthiTyjwbnXpbi1aHaCPPWbAboW1NnG7l1tmcNizyI1IS-kGkchb-PY2KhE1zuCbNFe84TDhtLtqauc__1lb1PFQw6jXOGDeDA_X5kSoHKtxOWFGDft3Rvp5RVtGzNqcLY5c/s1600/monarch+blazing+star+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcSZGYVdeCthiTyjwbnXpbi1aHaCPPWbAboW1NnG7l1tmcNizyI1IS-kGkchb-PY2KhE1zuCbNFe84TDhtLtqauc__1lb1PFQw6jXOGDeDA_X5kSoHKtxOWFGDft3Rvp5RVtGzNqcLY5c/s320/monarch+blazing+star+small.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
While summer heat can still top 80 degrees, some maple trees have decided to break the news that fall is coming with branches tinged red. The monarchs I saw in the prairie reserve may have been hatched there--milkweed, the pablum of the caterpillar, is abundant. Or maybe they had already traveled from Canada. Unlike the butterflies who saw birth, metamorphosis and death in the spring, in early summer, in midsummer, these may have a life span not of two weeks, but like their great-grandparents, of long winter months. And they won't just flutter from milkweed to blossom--they will travel over 2,000 miles to the high altitude fir forests of Mexico, a pilgrimage to the oyamel--the <i>Abies religiosa </i> or Sacred Fir.<br />
Yes, Monarchs are migrants. While their border crossings may appear apolitical, their shifting states of residence become entangled with economic and diplomatic issues. Monarchs draw tourists to Mexico to see the tens of millions turning a tree from a thing of needles to a thick drapery of wings. But habitat all along the way is threatened. Milk"weed" is more welcome than it once was, because it's become more widely known that it is the sole nursery for monarch eggs. As with just about everything, global warming plays a role, altering what plants thrive or die where and when. As always, there's human development.<br />
The <a href="http://policy.audubon.org/monarch-butterflies-and-mexico">Audubon Society</a> warns that deforestation linked to population growth eats away at Monarchs' winter retreat: "Aerial photographs of the region 30 years ago show a forest of nearly 2,000 square miles. Today, only a tenth of it remains. The largest tract today is 20 square miles, five times smaller than the largest tract 15 years ago." Population growth, according to this analysis, has contributed to use and destruction of forests, though there have been advances in this area. "The good news is that because of an aggressive family planning program, the fertility rate of Mexico has dropped from 6.1 in 1970 to 2.7 today and Mexico's population is 32 million lower than predicted 30 years ago." Then the other shoe drops: "The bad news is that demographic momentum is still expected to carry Mexico past the 135 million mark over the course of the next 30 years."<br />
Meanwhile, human and animal lives are recovering from the devastation caused by Hurricane Irene's unusual course. It's hard to imagine a time in the past when "Hurricane" and "Vermont" appeared in the same sentence. The Midwest sunflowers, however, rise oblivious to trees and plants and people fallen and swept away elsewhere. They wisely turn their faces to light and warmth. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWHvFBwrV5SBcMHcCybX9kAO_Rbe4Foe7padxcWjdY9VMpfxWP4_Rcian9kP0el8pKkwFXB24cTEWg9WHiVghtjs6UZ7ntamRcEt3Bnxpu_fr_1EeEJ4W4Jqiq2UItFEKLQZN_cidwNR8/s1600/sunflowers2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWHvFBwrV5SBcMHcCybX9kAO_Rbe4Foe7padxcWjdY9VMpfxWP4_Rcian9kP0el8pKkwFXB24cTEWg9WHiVghtjs6UZ7ntamRcEt3Bnxpu_fr_1EeEJ4W4Jqiq2UItFEKLQZN_cidwNR8/s320/sunflowers2.jpg" width="306" /></a></div><br />
Maybe our human responses to change seem more complicated, though it's hard to comprehend how after 3 intermediary generations, a monarch can trace her ancestor's route from a prairie by a silty stream to mountains far south. A poet well aware of such complications is Amy Clampitt. The following is an excerpt from her tribute to her dead brother, "Urn-Burial and the Butterfly Migration":<br />
<br />
<br />
<pre style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">an urn of breathing jade, its
gilt-embossed exterior the
intact foreboding of a future
intricately contained, jet-
veined, spangle-margined,
birth-wet russet of the air-
traveling monarch emerging
from a torpid chrysalis. Oh,
we know nothing
of the universe we move through!</pre>The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-86629435179010608922011-08-24T10:09:00.000-07:002011-08-24T10:09:09.301-07:00Death, Taxes, and Wolves<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4iVs20g1Z2LMD0cOchzzvybUDLjZrPiDv6NPNU0ZnFLghItjBYepZX6g6-DMTi0z6GEUhvp_EwS-iRBl73asOrcSKRzqHF9i7PcIbmRZ7weYnEVuEVAl4Hm9cCkEkVo2_vVTx0Pq1ruA/s1600/wolf+cartoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4iVs20g1Z2LMD0cOchzzvybUDLjZrPiDv6NPNU0ZnFLghItjBYepZX6g6-DMTi0z6GEUhvp_EwS-iRBl73asOrcSKRzqHF9i7PcIbmRZ7weYnEVuEVAl4Hm9cCkEkVo2_vVTx0Pq1ruA/s200/wolf+cartoon.jpg" width="195" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Where are the piggies?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQwV6pZ1DqvX23wFTNq3sjuXKHtaiuG4eJBcQ7u4ISULYYsiyhNkK8Gex3-XVxNiVpMggg3KstutoDSJhxGYLNQXt0jklfSF5FsgTC788NUsWQFNXUShwiEMKf3R2-67a0f2y1QOv-ddo/s1600/taxcartoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQwV6pZ1DqvX23wFTNq3sjuXKHtaiuG4eJBcQ7u4ISULYYsiyhNkK8Gex3-XVxNiVpMggg3KstutoDSJhxGYLNQXt0jklfSF5FsgTC788NUsWQFNXUShwiEMKf3R2-67a0f2y1QOv-ddo/s320/taxcartoon.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's one and . . .</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo7zGRG5eS4kZIk8h8bWnLJY3O4tHXmOcQA5U7Xye5Idc4Xqv7UIUq9hTmjNsiMEowA55YT54sGpUQv8rgvNRpXkWnq-bfUshHqE5D2d5ICE-1xLBQUgx2txrS5HxRv0c9xundEDRqmvs/s1600/social-spending-cuts-cartoon.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo7zGRG5eS4kZIk8h8bWnLJY3O4tHXmOcQA5U7Xye5Idc4Xqv7UIUq9hTmjNsiMEowA55YT54sGpUQv8rgvNRpXkWnq-bfUshHqE5D2d5ICE-1xLBQUgx2txrS5HxRv0c9xundEDRqmvs/s320/social-spending-cuts-cartoon.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's more, thanks to cartoonist Kahlil Bendib</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
Taxes and wolves have much in common. Both are demonized as scourges of humankind. Both can play beneficial roles in sustaining a community--providing social services and protecting landscapes from destruction by ungulates. Republicans (and a number of Democrats) in certain states rail against both.<br />
We'll return to taxes later--they never disappear for long. Current wolf controversy in the greater Midwest centers around the possible "delisting" of wolves as an "Endangered Species" deserving special protections under U.S. federal law. In Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin, where wolves roam northern forests, the population is about 4,000. In Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, the number is about 1700, and many of those descended from wolves reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in the 1990s. One ecologist who studies the Yellowstone wolves and hails from another wolf state--Dan MacNulty at the University of Minnesota, believes that the millions of federal dollars (a big number but a drop in the gov't budget) could be better directed toward species in more dire circumstances. (See "Wolf Pact" in <a href="http://www.audubonmagazine.org/fieldnotes/fieldnotes1103.html">Audubon Magazine</a>.)<br />
So why not <i>follow </i>the law and delist the wolves? Because there's resistance by conversation and wildlife groups to state management proposals, and the state proposals sound anything but wolf-friendly. In the Rocky Mountain/Yellowstone region, according to <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21525929">The Economist</a>, the wolves "are a snaggletoothed symbol of big government gone mad." But it's the locals who are mad enough to shoot. As <i>The Economist </i>reports, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission authorized a lupine hunting season. A contingent of animal defenders are against all hunting, but many wildlife biologists have long thought that hunting--of deer, Canada geese, even predators--can deter animals from feeling too cozy in human presence and work in favor of ecological balance. However, wildlife principles lose out to varmit-killing in these debates. The Idaho proposal would allow the killing of 85% of the state's population of 1,000. A cousin to that proposal in Montana would permit a take of nearly half that state's wolves. With these sorts of proposals, you get a debt-ceiling type stalemate where certain organizations say no taxes, oops, "no wolves," and others say don't touch the wolves' entitlements.<br />
Oh, there are complications. Wolves do kill livestock--cows, sheep, horses--and good luck finding accurate numbers there. (Conservationists claim ranchers overestimate depredation; however, it is hard to prove wolf damage when one comes across a carcass on the open range.) Yes, wolves receive the benefit of tax dollars. So do Western ranchers, through the public lands grazing programs.<br />
The Federal Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, a department you generally don't hear about unless they're accused of screwing up, manages the grazing permits and fees. Are the fees reasonable or do they amount to a federal subsidy for ranchers? Another hot debate. Speaking of hot, through the BLM website, you can sign up to fight wildfires, and the wildfires have been hot, hot, hot lately.<br />
According to Daniel Glick, in <a href="http://audubonmagazine.org/features1107/globalwarming.html">Audubon Magazine</a> again, climate warming in the Western states has fostered the conditions for "megafires": "The western fire season is now 205 days, 78 days longer than in 1986. What's more, there have been four times as many fires that wiped out more than 1,000 acres than there were in the 1970-1986 period, and six times as much acreage burned." In part, protecting ourselves against fires has, well, backfired. Natural fuels of grasses, shrubs, and forest debris build up. For this reason, some areas have prescribed burns to keep the fire danger lower and to reset a biological cycle. Where fires occur that are NOT superhot like the mega ones that sterilize soils, kill of wildlife in a large area, and damage water sources, Glick explains, the ash adds soil nutrients and diverse plant growth begins, while species from woodpeckers to morel mushrooms return. Like wolves and taxes, fires are part of a system that sets up a cycle of renewal that keeps a community moving forward rather than collapsing under the weight of a too-dominant presence, from elk herds to dead wood to social stagnation.<br />
Regenerative fire, like roaming wolves and tax increases, sounds great if it occurs far away from where <i>you </i>are. It's easy to be sanguine about fire and wolf attack when you're in a low-fire danger, wolf-free, middle-class neighborhood. A fire historian at Arizona State University, Steven Pyne, tells Glick that the Australians are much better at protecting property from fire hazards. That's important knowledge, because more people are moving into Western fire zones in the U.S. (and into cougar territory, by the way). Taxes and fees can play a role in managing the kinds of development, much of it resort or second home residences, that moves into wild scenery. Glick takes aim at the sacred mortgage interest tax deduction: "Changing laws to eliminate a mortgage tax deduction for second homes or charging developers the full cost of public services (like putting out rural fires) would go a long way." If this reform were to occur, those who insist on having a second home despite the loss of a tax break could then debate where those federal dollars should go--to a mediation program between wolves and ranchers?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-48526660201902387932011-08-21T15:18:00.000-07:002011-08-23T13:02:05.073-07:00Moose Vs. Deer<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxU1mbaJz3Q0DxVF17jbtVmxGmpVNx-9Uv3kDC5NE5NX1ZO5avrt6iAwJK07qUiRQ01FQA3duqXk_F0gGAZ5Jgc15Pwcd211oMwhiqIr-SYS_sjEbczcjbO9qEjwpZ-4eYfVrVfO-ag44/s1600/rocky_squirrel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxU1mbaJz3Q0DxVF17jbtVmxGmpVNx-9Uv3kDC5NE5NX1ZO5avrt6iAwJK07qUiRQ01FQA3duqXk_F0gGAZ5Jgc15Pwcd211oMwhiqIr-SYS_sjEbczcjbO9qEjwpZ-4eYfVrVfO-ag44/s1600/rocky_squirrel.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWt1ebz8S9uFrTJ_c5Hy8HXwAl-wPtalf4zn2CthEgClSOBMViek1MqbO1IEnoQn7MF9izMhJQCY1DRW3-5zPGPEfNQ-vWtGzjS_J5PcZS1e0BcGljsnNBYXnaZ8iHCY3j7zSMHmowRzI/s1600/Sinister+Moose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWt1ebz8S9uFrTJ_c5Hy8HXwAl-wPtalf4zn2CthEgClSOBMViek1MqbO1IEnoQn7MF9izMhJQCY1DRW3-5zPGPEfNQ-vWtGzjS_J5PcZS1e0BcGljsnNBYXnaZ8iHCY3j7zSMHmowRzI/s320/Sinister+Moose.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How's my brain, Rocky?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
You would think moose would win. They're bigger, they can take cold weather, they can team up with flying squirrels. But in Minnesota, Moose seem to be losing to deer.<br />
In the forests of northern Minnesota, moose are dying off. A recent <a href="http://www.startribune.com/sports/outdoors/127912353.html">report</a> from the state's Department of Natural Resources notes that in the northwest corner (the aspen/uplands biome), the population has dropped from several thousand to about a hundred. Thousands of moose still seem to be present in the northeast corner of boreal forests. There is also widespread feeding of deer across the North, to build up deer populations for viewing and for hunting. That may be part of the problem, because deer carry parasites that are more dangerous to moose, particularly brainworm.<br />
Yes, brainworm does live in the brain (where it lays eggs), some of the time. For much of its life cycle the worm, actually a <a href="http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10370_12150_12220-26502--,00.html">nematode</a> if that means something to you, lives in various parts of the deer, moving about through stomach, throat, brain in ways that you'll find fascinating if you're scientifically inclined or attracted to all things gross. At some point, the parasite is deposited by way of fecal matter (that's a euphemism), to be consumed by snails or other gastropods (gastronomers in search of a delicacy?), and then the infected snails are ingested along with plants by white-tail deer, who generally don't seem much affected by the whole process. Moose, elk, or caribou do not show the same tolerance, and neurological disorders begin: the diseased animals circle, they stumble, they tilt their head, they seem to loose vision, and their hindquarters no longer support them. If the condition itself is not always fatal, the afflicted moose is certainly vulnerable to other problems. Since deer are the dominant carriers, it seems that reducing deer numbers might be beneficial to their suffering cousins.<br />
The state wildlife or natural resources departments that seek to protect the moose get much of their income year after year from hunting licenses. So if they cut back on deer numbers, they may be shooting themselves in the foot, so to speak. The big game manager for Minnesota, Lou Cornicelli, feels the pinch (mixing metaphors now). He claims that "If we don't do anything, the end point [for moose] is fairly certain," then says of the desire to feed deer versus ending the practice, "If you want to pick a controversial topic, that's going to be it."<br />
So are there way too many deer and not enough moose?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Unless you move to another state--location, location, location. In Maine, a smaller state but with more wet woodland habitat than Minnesota, the moose <a href="http://www.visitmaine.com/attractions/outdoor_recreation_sports_adventure/hunting/">population</a> is about 29,000. There is a moose hunt, with prospective hunters buying lottery tickets in hopes of being among the few thousand who get to hunt the big weed-eater. As for white-tails, their population in Maine has been stressed by hard winters, coyotes, and loss of habitat according to some <a href="http://www.mpbn.net/Home/tabid/36/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3478/ItemId/15647/Default.aspx">reports</a>. I've found that a Google search on the Maine deer issue does not quickly yield clear data on deer numbers and, highly debatable, what "optimal" numbers might be--optimal for the deer, for the moose, for the coyotes, for the conifers, for the populated coast, for hunters? Many in that state, like the deer feeders in northern Minnesota, want to see deer numbers go up. Deer still outnumber moose in Maine, about 9 times more, and the hunting numbers reflect that. About 2,000 moose are "harvested" in a season, while in 2010 over <a href="http://www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/index.php?topic=Portal+News&id=205828&v=article-2008">20,000 deer</a> were taken, an increase of 11% over the previous year. Yet 2011 Maine news stories about deer focus on the desire to increase the population, probably because deer hunting brings about $200 million into the economy annually.<br />
If you want to find a place where deer are thick and people want them gone, go to the suburbs of the Twin Cities, Chicago, Boston, Pittsburgh. Maybe people there aren't worrying about brainworm nematodes, but there is landscaping to protect, lyme disease to avoid, and car accidents waiting to happen.<br />
For a more thoughtful read on Moose and the problems of hunting than anything provided above, I recommend Franklin Burroughs' essay which is reprinted in several nature writing anthologies: <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=OUORutv2_r8C&pg=PA819&lpg=PA819&dq=franklin+burroughs+of+moose+and+a+moose+hunter&source=bl&ots=VJj0L_cUOC&sig=gXQlqgyJU_tu2b--_oQ9LSmeOb8&hl=en&ei=KoJRTvynGuOrsQKrsIm8CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CE4Q6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=franklin%20burroughs%20of%20moose%20and%20a%20moose%20hunter&f=false">"Of Moose and a Moose Hunter"</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-45937232340893044932011-08-14T10:17:00.000-07:002011-08-14T10:17:48.438-07:00What a Dog Means<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtTzNrkTkAzTgcL_3wfdcj5wEC8iczJHOttWgduWzwqVHlIWTSZjWySIihGsD0gl2Yx4pEnUOz2LQcxFLvBAoeMVil_31v56j5gQw5WsSHwCBACwgUMgdlW-Y6QIwC3hLlimPb156lFcQ/s1600/Prettywolf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267"> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style> <![endif]--> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9hpKxYrPAK23TR51YRuIIBrQUw-Oe82AGsYmecEP2svend4rB3v6FPgSHnC2CaI0kBHlXQNMNdWGTVlgvNS46OjpU2snt94ke8LQDqK720wboqFp1hryvPSmPbecydULY136fJaACQYA/s1600/Thurber+dog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9hpKxYrPAK23TR51YRuIIBrQUw-Oe82AGsYmecEP2svend4rB3v6FPgSHnC2CaI0kBHlXQNMNdWGTVlgvNS46OjpU2snt94ke8LQDqK720wboqFp1hryvPSmPbecydULY136fJaACQYA/s1600/Thurber+dog.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes, even <i>The New Yorker </i>has dogs, particularly in the days when James Thurber contributed his distinctive vision of canine attributes. A recent essay<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>by commentator-at-large Adam Gopnik is part conversion story, part book review, and all dog. In the opening, Gopnik admits to being ignorant about dogs, to the point that he agrees with a friend who asserts that “Dogs are failed humans.” (Really, it’s because of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">humans </i>who are “failed humans” that people turn to non-speaking hairy quadrupeds.) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He then narrates his daughter’s quest to get a dog, a well-researched quest that ends with a Havanese (formerly the little white dog of Havana) puppy named Butterscotch as resident of their New York apartment. Gopnik was expecting the trials of having a newborn baby in the house, but was happily surprised: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">All the creature wanted was to please. Unlike a child, who pleases in spite of herself, Butterscotch wanted to know what she could do to make you happy, if only you kept her fed and let her play. She had none of the imperiousness of a human infant. [. . .] What makes kids so lovable is the tension between their helplessness and their drive to deny it. Butterscotch, though, was a born courtesan. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But besides “compelling sweetness,” Butterscotch occasionally indulged in a petite rampage, leading Gopnik to the question of how, when, why, wolves and dogs split somewhere on the evolutionary branch.</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhMkroxwFib8aSPEp0sJ4V9Cs_HVDik-rJUyxTzy1AdbRrd2XzMnGhPIfKhxqMO3PzhN6YrgXE-oyCSJ-y-IRH9XS37MEHEnrtOj8qP_LQXI9DM4qP0fj_-xA3aQksLDIgUa2TPYGO05E/s1600/havanese.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhMkroxwFib8aSPEp0sJ4V9Cs_HVDik-rJUyxTzy1AdbRrd2XzMnGhPIfKhxqMO3PzhN6YrgXE-oyCSJ-y-IRH9XS37MEHEnrtOj8qP_LQXI9DM4qP0fj_-xA3aQksLDIgUa2TPYGO05E/s1600/havanese.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtTzNrkTkAzTgcL_3wfdcj5wEC8iczJHOttWgduWzwqVHlIWTSZjWySIihGsD0gl2Yx4pEnUOz2LQcxFLvBAoeMVil_31v56j5gQw5WsSHwCBACwgUMgdlW-Y6QIwC3hLlimPb156lFcQ/s1600/Prettywolf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtTzNrkTkAzTgcL_3wfdcj5wEC8iczJHOttWgduWzwqVHlIWTSZjWySIihGsD0gl2Yx4pEnUOz2LQcxFLvBAoeMVil_31v56j5gQw5WsSHwCBACwgUMgdlW-Y6QIwC3hLlimPb156lFcQ/s200/Prettywolf.jpg" width="160" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and my cousin?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For answers, many tentative and speculative, Gopnik turns to a number of recent and soon-to-be-released books. These include Edmund Russell, “Evolutionary History,” which supposes people captured wolf pups and then demurs that, given wolves’ intransigence to human commands, it is difficult to believe early peoples persisted with wild youngsters. Raymond and Lorna Coppinger in “Dogs” (2001) propose that dogs domesticated themselves, choosing to see what was offered by the circle of human warmth, cooking, and garbage. Mark Derr, in his forthcoming book “How the Dog Became the Dog,” focuses more on the evolving temperament and role of dogs. For Derr, breeding and training have created a regrettable shift from dog as partner and ally to dog as sycophant and totally needy dependent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John Bradshaw in “Dog Sense” points to a different fate for many contemporary dogs: they are the wanderers and scavengers of mean streets. As Gopnik summarizes, “the usual condition of a dog is to be a pigeon.” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The different theories about how dogs came to be dogs hint that “the line between artificial and natural selection seems far less solid, and the role of man at the center far less fixed. Indeed Russell suggests that even our distinct breeds may be more drifts than decisions.” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Gopnik, from his stance as “the full authority of fourteen months of dog,” says these evolutionary and anthropological accounts neglect the simple concept that “people love pets.” Even “primitive” societies took in animals that served no useful purpose other than to just be there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And dogs have a powerful role in our mythology: “The range of evolutionary just-so stories and speculations is itself proof of the way dogs have burrowed into our imaginations. Half the pleasure of having a dog, I could see, was storytelling <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">about </i>the dog.” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For another scientific approach to canines, he turns to Alexandra Horowitz’s “Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell and Know.” Besides detailing the significance of scents to a dog, Horowitz debunks the Cesar-Millan type emphasis on “pack” behavior: “Dogs, she explains, are domesticated animals, and to treat them as though they were still in a pack rather than long adapted to a subservient role in a human family is absurd as treating a child as though it were ‘really’ still a primate living in a tree” (50). Gopnik finds Horowitz’s arguments compelling, and acknowledges that she had previously worked at <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New Yorker</i>, while he is dismissive of Kathy Rudy’s “Toward a New Animal Advocacy.” He writes of the author’s academic premise: “Rudy believes that dogs have been as oppressed and colonized as Third World peoples have, and that what they need is not empathy but liberation. She has a confused notion of something that she calls ‘capitalism,’ which is somehow held uniquely responsible for the oppression of animals, including dogs.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Gopnik’s critique is valid in that animals had been used and abused long before “usury” or “Marxism” entered the vocabulary, but in this attachment-centric article, he does not touch on factory farming, puppy mills, or the internet sales of animals. However, he has earlier admitted that he didn’t want to take time to search out a breeder with his daughter, so she “quietly decided she could live with a Manhattan petstore ‘puppy mill’ dog if she could check its eyes for signs of illness and its temperament for symptoms of sweetness.” Butterscotch seems fine, but Gopnik's decision suggests that when people deal with dogs, convenience wins over caution on a dog’s behalf. Nor does he discuss how apartment life, like modern affluent life in general, excludes much of what could be part of a dog's, and a human's, experience, so that almost the entire focus is on a protected and specific affective relationship.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There is no doubt that Gopnik has come to love his dog (he debates behavioral reductionism of both canine and human responses), to the point of becoming one of those dog people he used to mock. This essay is a pleasant introduction to several books and theories, and as a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New Yorker </i>piece Gopnik can skip the detailed logic and documentation of scholarly work to offer sweeping interpretations of the human and the dog: “Dogs have little imagination about us and our inner lives but limitless intuition about them; we have false intuitions about their inner lives but limitless imagination about them. Our relationship meets in the middle.” You can judge if indeed less than two years of dog ownership and lots of book reading have given Gopnik insights, not just into dogs but into human desires.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div>The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-41063789732581084432011-08-09T15:21:00.000-07:002011-08-09T15:23:09.044-07:00Beyond Bad News?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXpDGVNl4bIV8i30FUywG-O56VzaprZNYWwu2RbBqyjfofSSGsIw7ZsupE9EQLU7lNtQU1CtsmnmtWgy0eeIXbhlRsaNfYXVDibEMMoJnoaG1nHXlIv5M2ANn311RWEdOxa91pIgL64fI/s1600/whooping-crane_757_600x450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXpDGVNl4bIV8i30FUywG-O56VzaprZNYWwu2RbBqyjfofSSGsIw7ZsupE9EQLU7lNtQU1CtsmnmtWgy0eeIXbhlRsaNfYXVDibEMMoJnoaG1nHXlIv5M2ANn311RWEdOxa91pIgL64fI/s320/whooping-crane_757_600x450.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Thing with Feathers</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
The Random Animal has spent the last week in a news-induced coma. It seems that politicians and speculators have decided that in order to save the economy, they must destroy it. Maybe, maybe, out of all the upheaval, corporations and financial institutions that are sitting on money will start creating new jobs in areas like Green Energy?<br />
Yes, Hope is a thing with feathers, provided Hope doesn't get downgraded to Double A wishful thinking. Things with feathers are facing threats right now from energy production plans. Ideal resolutions are somewhere in the distant heavens, and the significant immediate concern is determining what projects or compromises are most sustainable.<br />
A local <a href="http://www.startribune.com/local/126095778.html">headline</a> announced about a week ago that a Wind Turbine Farm in a Mississippi River town could harm nesting eagles. According to the article about a proposal for a 12,000 acre project (that's big), "the developer could face civil or even criminal action under federal laws if a bald eagle or an even more rare golden eagle is felled by one of the massive blades." A spokesman for the energy company claimed that the placement of 50 turbines is being planned so "they will cause the least harm to flying wildlife, from long-eared bats to loggerhead shrikes to eagles." He added that all projects had risks and said "I don't know that a wind farm has ever been built that didn't result in some bird or bat mortality."<br />
The townspeople object--are they too adamant in their support of eagles?<br />
It seems the anti-wind turbine group formed because residents didn't like the idea of turbines so close to their property. They didn't mention eagles until the birds' presence came out in the energy company's impact report. Then the protesters flocked (sorry) to the birds' defense. The protesters claim there are about 8 nests in the vicinity, the company says 2, and wildlife agencies count 4 to 6. It's hard to get unbiased evidence. IF the project moved several miles away, would eagles still be in the way? Would the protest group, once the project left their backyard, care?<br />
Wind Turbines can hurt wildlife. I live in a town with two--two is not a big number, and birds are not found at the base. There are several possible explanations; the turbines aren't on migratory paths or right next to a large nesting site. But they're close enough to small wildlife habitats that owls, hawks, the odd coyote, a stray cat, and more, come by to see if there's an easy breakfast and if there is a songbird corpse, it disappears. That is NOT an endorsement of all wind turbine projects, and many environmental groups see greater threats in other sources of energy.<br />
Like the Keystone XL pipeline. It would run from Tar Sands in Northwest Canada to Texas. The company already has other pipelines in place. Another company with oil lines in place (heard of Exxon?) did not advance its smeary reputation with a July 1 spill along the <a href="http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/4210B24DCE24CFC6852578CB006BD040">Yellowstone River </a>in Montana. According to an<a href="http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2011/08/09/EPA-says-oil-degrading-from-Mont-spill/UPI-79551312890833/"> EPA report</a> issued today, August 9, the oil from that Silvertip line break that wasn't captured in clean-up from the river banks is "degrading naturally in the environment." Let's hope that's true.The Silvertip line is done.<br />
But that still leaves TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline in the works. The project requires permission from the U.S. Department of state to cross the international border. Ted Williams, writing in <i>Audubon Magazine, </i> fears for the birds--and human residents along the proposed trail. As he explains in <a href="http://audubonmagazine.org/incite/incite1107.html">"Tarred and Feathered"</a>, the extraction of the oil means that at the Canadian end "the entire native ecosystem has to be bulldozed away, the tar sands below strip-mined." It gets better (or worse). The XL line "will be buried inside the largest underground reservoir on the planet--the Ogallala Aquifer, which charges rivers, lakes, and marshes and supplies drinking and irrigation water to eight states." And what runs through the pipe from Alberta to Houston? Diluted Bitumen, with "high concentrations of chloride salts, sulfur, abrasive minerals, and acids." Oh, and lots of carbon dioxide--perhaps 27 million metric tons--will be released annually in the entire process. What else is along the path? According to Williams, "habitat for 30 percent of the continent's land birds--at least 215 species." Included in that group are the sandhill crane and the still-rare whooping crane. <br />
Worst case scenarios can be imagined, and it seems that internationally politicians, economists, and media people have been <i>excellent </i>at presenting worst-case scenarios on debt and investment. There are real concerns, but elements of the crisis seem to exist in computer simulations and spreadsheets and political campaigning. Time to get outdoors, look at a non-virtual landscape, before slipping back into a coma. . . <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMPOIOVaM86iUsuV5no6i_DLIbiUD6lK-gTC1y9Zw8iZvZpMprrPiN7mVZ1sQdL3Cuq9xHC6CqIVKnGW8uo-Z6W_xKSgD1ABKta8ACWQUnYY3BfayHLr4hRO5l-jDEQU02Wv6IDZtIy2o/s1600/orioles+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMPOIOVaM86iUsuV5no6i_DLIbiUD6lK-gTC1y9Zw8iZvZpMprrPiN7mVZ1sQdL3Cuq9xHC6CqIVKnGW8uo-Z6W_xKSgD1ABKta8ACWQUnYY3BfayHLr4hRO5l-jDEQU02Wv6IDZtIy2o/s320/orioles+3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More Things with Feathers</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3WawrsAeuHy-eD4_BwvcCUGzScKRCsV3RZ9CvC7OiSu66g9DaGcIWe8FJu26hfyvEz9w2gBeH4GJ4SbXK9JsnKezuXIweeHCjjq4IOhWCbX3WttRqsMGAfkIiKhC4tzhO0HmMd0pOGAU/s1600/sandpipers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3WawrsAeuHy-eD4_BwvcCUGzScKRCsV3RZ9CvC7OiSu66g9DaGcIWe8FJu26hfyvEz9w2gBeH4GJ4SbXK9JsnKezuXIweeHCjjq4IOhWCbX3WttRqsMGAfkIiKhC4tzhO0HmMd0pOGAU/s320/sandpipers.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Find the solution yet?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-91989380704360500712011-07-31T18:35:00.000-07:002011-07-31T18:35:36.934-07:00Prostitution, TV, the Saving Animal, and, Surprise Surprise, Good News From D.C.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPYSK_nBNTET-jtDEYESL5YcLKby4rDLf6I5tDew9IT2OLqAmL5RLb_hXhxM3o4jvYv_sodjiUrK9atwvssFU-m7S-RbgXDb1PNwiUVbFdmR6bjmM_M9gqhlBLpgGXV4UNZIymOp0J6vc/s1600/200px-Alex_the_Parrot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPYSK_nBNTET-jtDEYESL5YcLKby4rDLf6I5tDew9IT2OLqAmL5RLb_hXhxM3o4jvYv_sodjiUrK9atwvssFU-m7S-RbgXDb1PNwiUVbFdmR6bjmM_M9gqhlBLpgGXV4UNZIymOp0J6vc/s1600/200px-Alex_the_Parrot.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alex, the Gray Parrot trained by Irene Pepperberg, choosing an activity other than TV watching.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
"Prostitutes to Parrots" is the title of a new program that features Heidi Fleiss. Back in the old days of the 1990s, she became infamous for running a Hollywood Brothel and for landing in prison for tax evasion. Her reform over the interim has been supported by what the <i><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/arts/television/heidi-fleiss-prostitutes-to-parrots-on-animal-planet.html">New York Times</a> </i>calls "the greasy runoff of reality television." The next phases of her career begins Sunday night on Animal Planet. The cameras will follow her life with 20 brilliantly colored macaws. In a <a href="http://animal.discovery.com/search/results.html?focus=site&query=heidi+fleiss&search=+">preview</a>, Heidi explains how she used to have millions, but then the Federal Government got to her. (The fed. gov. isn't getting any good publicity lately--having once gotten Heidi's ill-gotten gains is not enough cushion against default.) Now Heidi is looking for ways to support the macaws. Animals have given her a new lease on life, and now she needs ways to keep that lease solvent.<br />
Another "celebrity" whose life is taking a new turn is Rosanne Barr, famous for being Rosanne Barr. Her eponymous show equated working class and honest with crude and blunt and funny. She's still uninhibited, busy in Hawaii growing macadamias in the company of goats--goats she claims are judgmental. Apparently there's a running battle with wild pigs. All profiled on the Lifetime channel as "Rosanne's Nuts." The <i>New York Times </i>again sums up the impact of macaws, goats, nuts, and pigs: "Animals bring out a glimmer of humanity in even the most synthetic narcissists.<br />
<br />
It's wonderful to have some distraction during the debt-ceiling crisis which is actually a faux crisis according to some sources like <i>The Economist</i>--in that you only have to say/vote--let's have a higher limit! But organizations like Audubon Society are tracking legislation and while dream programs may not be possible in an economy that still trying to find a fresh way out of old and new dilemmas, there is actually "Good News from Washington, DC." A bipartisan effort kept the Endangered Species act from being gutted. Mike Daulton of Audubon explains:<br />
"This historic vote demonstrates the strong support that exists for protecting our nation’s most imperiled wildlife. We applaud the 224 members of Congress who supported the amendment sponsored by Representatives Norm Dicks (D-WA), Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Mike Thompson (D-CA), and Colleen Hanabusa (D-HI) striking language from the Interior and Environment bill that would have dismantled endangered species protections. Without the amendment, this bill would have crippled the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and driven imperiled plants and animals to extinction. Passage of the amendment brings hope that both parties ultimately will reject extremist assaults on America’s great natural heritage.”For more, see the <a href="http://www.audubon.org/newsroom/press-releases/2011/audubon-welcomes-good-news-washington-dc">Audubon website</a>.<br />
On a side note, some unendangered species appeared in my neighborhood this hot weekend: wide-winged eagles over the boat-busy river and the long-limbed sandhill cranes slow-marching through new-mown fields.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH2VLD37APx9YkOdMt7IVPq1FAAdcJEhTztePk9YliX2j1c5T6eburCAB9Emj0j0sGMG8hb7JSDhw1SjZkKjmox2ksc8azFyNN9CjIei5D5WVsn88T7hr93Q_65fsjpcrRJWkzSrIjZIM/s1600/sandhill+crane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH2VLD37APx9YkOdMt7IVPq1FAAdcJEhTztePk9YliX2j1c5T6eburCAB9Emj0j0sGMG8hb7JSDhw1SjZkKjmox2ksc8azFyNN9CjIei5D5WVsn88T7hr93Q_65fsjpcrRJWkzSrIjZIM/s1600/sandhill+crane.jpg" /></a></div>The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1589619137962344831.post-78354124664036762642011-07-25T19:09:00.000-07:002011-07-25T19:09:21.329-07:00The Ecstatic Animal<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiywcU4cnEGVmwIFZT8kG9tKPLdo6A-tEgKK3ML4gg4bQdsuaKSWJSIC2YDJsVhrMv02WxtZ8Alyh76UpVAensnWd1dD5xWO0sP93E5lXKu_M7LBPxnvosmptl5YGWwvitYiR0WC50dkt4/s1600/Tamworth-pig-and-piglet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiywcU4cnEGVmwIFZT8kG9tKPLdo6A-tEgKK3ML4gg4bQdsuaKSWJSIC2YDJsVhrMv02WxtZ8Alyh76UpVAensnWd1dD5xWO0sP93E5lXKu_M7LBPxnvosmptl5YGWwvitYiR0WC50dkt4/s320/Tamworth-pig-and-piglet.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo from theveganvoice.org, credit Amanda</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Can a pig smile? Is the dog really happy you walked through the door? Is the cat smug that she swallowed the canary? (The canary is, at this point, not happy.)<br />
Talking of animal emotion sounds like the stuff of fairy tales and myths, with their addiction to anthropomorphism and creatures that talk. In an over-correction to humanized animals, modern science avoided attributing emotion to animals and focused on behavior responses and adaptations. Defenders of animals often focused on mistreatment and observable physical harm, though they certainly entertained the idea that animals could be miserable. On this topic, Eighteenth-century philosopher Jeremy Bentham is often quoted on animal feeling: "the question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer? Why should the law refuse its protection to any sensitive being?" (Bentham's ideas are often overshadowed by the bizarre example of his mummified body in London. For this treat, watch a mini-lecture on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_PHRLg4FAs">"Bentham's Corpse and Corpus"</a>.)<br />
If animals can suffer, can't they also experience its opposite? Dr. Jonathan Balcombe, who has been researching animal awareness for some time, documents the possibilities with a new book that presents photographs from many sources that appear to document tangible animal emotions. The book, <i>The Exultant Ark: A Pictorial Tour of Animal Pleasure, </i>was recently reviewed by Katherine Bouton for <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/science/19scibooks.html">The New York Times</a>. In evolutionary terms, pain serves some useful purposes, discouraging a being from pursuing destructive activities, and the same could be said of pleasure--it encourages life-sustaining activities, like eating, sex, let's see, sex, and other stuff too.<br />
Sometimes with animals (including the human one) the pleasure principle can get out of hand. You've experienced this if you've ever played fetch with a retriever that won't stop or had a cat be very insistent about curling up in your lap whenever your lap appears. Balcombe shares this interesting lab rat tale: "Rats will enter a deadly cold room and navigate a maze to retrieve highly palatable food (e.g., shortbread, pate or Coca-Cola.)" If the goodies have been replaced with high-fiber, low-sugar chow, "they quickly return to their cozy nests, where they stay for the remainder of the experiment."<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>The Exultant Ark </i>is a picture book to an extent, and explanations are probably more detailed in Balcombe's earlier book, <a href="http://www.jonathanbalcombe.com/pops/pk.html">Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFiGUuVpM_Ae_QD1qFhnjXWDEZ4Ar4kutJvLwxTzY4-H0z204WpgNoHP4hXnuUPqsPNQwuLvs8_9dficAJEAehn4NIZqKSH6xdvS3GzPLFSuoZpAsEW4i3bc5UExyx1ZXS0H_TS3mfKL4/s1600/pk-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFiGUuVpM_Ae_QD1qFhnjXWDEZ4Ar4kutJvLwxTzY4-H0z204WpgNoHP4hXnuUPqsPNQwuLvs8_9dficAJEAehn4NIZqKSH6xdvS3GzPLFSuoZpAsEW4i3bc5UExyx1ZXS0H_TS3mfKL4/s1600/pk-cover.jpg" /></a></div>Bolcombe's cover photo in the above book and an image in the NY Times review feature pigs, animals that in many farm situations do not have opportunities for play or contact that might be construed as affectionate. Current hog production for the food market is often faulted for its use of "farrowing crates." The theory: the sow is confined to a crate with bars that keep her from standing or rolling, to prevent her from crushing her piglets or eating them. (From what I gather, the eating is not common and tends to happen with a piglet that is sickly or already dead.) What I don't know at this point is how much of her year a sow spends in such a crate--one week or many months? For pro-crate views on hogs and hog babies, see <a href="http://www.thepigsite.com/pighealth/article/227/farrowing-house-design">ThePigSite: Pig Health</a>. The same web source also mentions alternatives, with an emphasis on the outside pressures on pork producers to provide better animal welfare. See <a href="http://www.thepigsite.com/articles/5/housing-and-environmental-control/1633/alternative-farrowing-accommodation-in-the-pork-industry">Alternative Farrowing Accomodation</a>. Jonathan Balcombe, a self-described animal activist on his <a href="http://www.jonathanbalcombe.com/">website</a>, is not focused on high pork output but on the implications that an understanding of animal feeling will have on ethics. Animal life in his view is not or should not be mere grim survival. He intends to "debunk the popular perception that life for most is a continuous, grim struggle for survival and the avoidance of pain. Instead he suggests that creatures from birds to baboons feel good thanks to play, sex, touch, food, anticipation, comfort, aesthetics, and more."<br />
<br />
Two parting thoughts:<br />
Are animals happy because they don't have politicians?<br />
Rats will endure a freezing maze for Coke, but would they do the same for Diet Pepsi?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><i></i></span>The Random Animalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03896970745310654733noreply@blogger.com0