“Councillor Maurice Brenner hasn’t the faintest idea of how this came about, as he wasn’t there, yet he blindly assumes that animal sacrifice wasn’t the motive because ‘religious groups that slaughter animals for food do not waste a body, and would not leave it lying on a beach’. I think we can safely rule out ‘food’ as a motive in this case… As sounds of drumming have been reported in the area, and as Santeria is described as an ‘Afro-American religion of Caribbean origin’, I perceive a distinct possibility that we could be in for a rough ride in the near future on the matter of animal rights. We definitely have a say in where these activities can be carried out, but we might not be able to prevent them.”
Archive for the ‘Nature / Environment / Critters’ Category
Animal Sacrifices and Political Concerns…
Thursday, August 10th, 2017“Nature / Environment / Critters” June 1st, 2017
Thursday, June 1st, 2017Six items in total…
Canada: Residents win prolonged legal battle over wind turbines
World-wide: Fear of water shortages threatens wars and violence in the future
Zimbabwe: Big game hunter killed when an elephant shot by another hunter falls on him
“Nature / Environment / Critters” March 13th, 2017
Monday, March 13th, 2017Five items in total…
Canada: Alberta’s Wood Buffalo National Park threatened by energy development, hydro dams and poor management
Japan: Hundreds of radio-active wild boars now a threat following the Fukushima meltdown
Canada: Road to be closed for salamanders crossing during the mating season
Thailand: Sea turtle has operation to remove 915 coins thrown into fountain (excellent video)
Canada: Clam digging threatened as oil spill cannot be completely cleaned up
“Trouble in Don River paradise”
Monday, January 16th, 2017This column was written by Bill Dunphy, and appeared in the Toronto Sun on July 12th, 1989.
Jeff Goodall slaps at a mosquito that’s buzzing his neck and points proudly out across the little lagoon.
“I always stop by here. There’s ducks and ducklings, and sometimes a heron or two,” he says. His eyes scan the tangled brush by the shore, searching for one of them “fancy” herons.
Jeff is taking me along for part of one of his regular rambles through the Don Valley, exploring up from Pottery Road up to the Leaside Bridge.
We’ve already searched for painted turtles in a sandy little backwater, and now we’re after herons. (more…)
“Nature / Environment / Critters” Jan. 15th, 2017
Sunday, January 15th, 2017Seven items in total…
Canada: Monarch butterfly “birthplaces” identified in effort to save the species
Arctic: Pollution posing a threat to polar bear health
China: Says all commerce in ivory will be banned by the end of 2017 – let’s hope they deliver on this…
“Nature / Environment / Critters” Dec. 9th, 2016
Friday, December 9th, 2016Five items in total…
U.S.A: “Several thousand” migrating snow geese die after landing in the toxic waters of an old open pit mine
Canada: Humpback whale dies after becoming tangled in equipment at empty fish farm
China: Need to increase coal supply takes precedence over pollution concerns
Africa: Shrinking giraffe population now on “endangered species” list
China: Senior environmental officials detained on suspicion of tampering with monitoring station to falsify air quality reports
“Nature / Environment / Critters” Nov. 7th, 2016
Monday, November 7th, 2016Eight items in total…
Canada: “Toxic brew” of pollution in some of Toronto’s ravines – Conservation Authority expresses concern
Russia: Drive on to greatly reduce reindeer herds in order to assist oil and gas companies taking over increasingly large parts of the North – Nenets reindeer herders expected to revolt, as in 1941
China: Significant efforts being made to combat environmental damage caused by industrialization – detailed analysis
“Nature / Environment / Critters” September 30th, 2016
Friday, September 30th, 2016Seven items in total…
U.S.A: Vandals destroy popular “Duckbill” rock formation in Oregon
Agroforestry: “Farming with forests” necessary to maintain agricultural stability
Norway: 323 wild reinder killed by lightning strikes, including 70 calves
(more…)
“Nature / Environment / Critters” August 26th, 2016
Friday, August 26th, 2016Nine bears killed simply because people are “baiting local bears with easy-access garbage and plentiful fruit trees”
Area targeted for deep-sea mining supports “an abundant and diverse ecosystem” – more than half of the species collected there are new to science
“Pinky” the flamingo at Busch Gardens euthanized after a man grabbed her from an animal viewing area and threw her to the ground – “the bird suffered injuries so ‘traumatic’ that she could not be saved”
Early turtle fossil indicates protective shell was developed to facilitate burrowing underground
World-wide: Preventing the extinction of gorillas, rhinoceroses, elephants, lions, tigers, wolves, bears and the world’s other largest mammals “will require bold political action and financial commitment”
“Nature / Environment / Critters” July 26th, 2016
Tuesday, July 26th, 2016Eight items in total…
World-wide: Illegal logging, land clearance and habitat destruction all contribute towards a net global loss of around 6.6 billion trees each year – unmanned aerial vehicle mapping initiative could help with replanting
Indonesia: Forest fires released 11.3 million tonnes of carbon per day in 2015
Colorado: Experiment with controlled pulse of water to the Colorado River Delta shows that large dry water-courses release greenhouse gasses when flooded