Some dogs are lucky.

While standing here looking at my dog sleeping nice and warm under her blankets, dreaming her doggy dreams; oblivious of the cold, icy and rainy conditions outside.
She is a lucky dog with her basket by a window overlooking the front entrance to the house.
From her vantage point she can tune in on any activity going on in our house.
She is special because she is our only dog and shares her animal superiority with one other -- Amber the cat.

My mind wonders back to all those backyard dogs out there having to find shelter from the rain and cold. The lucky ones will have a shed or dog box where they can stay dry.

There are many other tied up dogs that are obtained for one purpose only and that is to bark at intruders. Some of them spend their lives tied to a pole and gets fed when someone remembers to do so. Many people go on holiday without considering the welfare of their dogs.

Like people, dogs shiver when cold, they feel the cold, and they have emotions and feel pain. Dogs, like people need love and care to thrive.

A dog will cry when he is unhappy. Sometimes a forgotten dog will cry for days, until one day they realize that crying only spends energy then they just suffer in silence, devoted till death.
A faithful skeleton till the end.

My dog was found by Blaauwberg Animal Trust. She was born at a squatter camp and on New Years Eve 2006, someone from the camp put her into a plastic shopping bag and tried to exchange her for booze money. He wanted R120 for her.

When the police was called they said that there was no law against selling dogs at street corners; since dogs did not fall under the category of livestock. It is illegal to sell livestock on street corners, but not dogs.

Penguin chicks die from cold

It is time we change the focus of conserving local species; to try and save the species of the world in places where they can survive.

We may need to move animals around and that is going to be very difficult.   We still know so little about ecosystems and even the function and interrelationships of the smaller life forms in the wild.

A

Article from Cape Times 17-06-010

Killing rhinos for Chinese medicine.

This is when I find it difficult to be proudly African.

Global warming hits my Cape Town garden

It is official.  Global warming is here.   If there is any doubts, put it aside and do what the scientists of the day advise us to do to reduce greenhouse gasses; because we do not know how warm it will get before things change back to normal.

The shortest day is on 21 June.  I remember that date because it is my mother's birthday.     My mother has her birthday in the middle of the winter.

Today, 5 June, not yet mid winter, my birds are doing the spring thing.
They are breaking last year's nests down, building new ones and are in mating plume.

It is time conservationists put their old conservation thoughts on the subject into archives and start to work our how to preserve species during the global warming phase of the earth.

It is stupid to keep local species local if conditions are not suitable for the survival of the specie.

This is a challenge for humanity, but we have the intelligence to counteract these earth changes with drastic measures.

Nations must stop fighting against each other because now it is a time for co-operation; in the wake of the expected global natural catastrophes awaiting earth dwellers.

Almost all ZIMBABWE'S wildlife was slaughtered since 2001

ELEANOR MOMBERG from The Weekend Argus, 15 Argus 2007, reported that


Almost all ZIMBABWE'S wildlife was slaughtered since 2001

ZIMBABWE'S wildlife, once a major tourist attraction, has been almost totally decimated since the start of the government-sanctioned land invasions seven years ago.

In its latest game count, the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force has found that more than 90% of animals on private game ranches and between 35% and 100% of wildlife in conservancies have been killed since 2001.

Every year, game farms compare wildlife populations prior to, and during the land invasions, list the latest known populations, the number of snares recovered and 'the length of fencing stolen, mostly to make snares.

It has become more and more difficult to collate statistics because many farmers have left the country Of the 62 farms studied, 59 reported wildlife losses totalling 42 236

This included 75 black rhino, 9 562 impala, 4 969 kudu, 39 leopard, 31 lion, 567 Sable antelope, 18 cheetah, nine elephant, 466 giraffe, 6 762 warthog, 1959 wildebeest and more than 7 600 other unspecified species.

Why do we murder animals

Animals, today, seldom live until their bodies expire from old age.

We kill animals for food.
We kill animals for sport.
We kill animals for their skins and teeth (leather, fur and ivory)
We kill animals for experimentation
We kill animals for medication.
We kill animals out of neglect.
We kill our pets because they no longer fit into our lifestyles.
Elderly people are forced to have their animals killed because they enter retirement homes.
We kill animals because there are no facilities for them when we go on holiday.
We kill animals because we cannot afford their medical bills.
We kill animals because we do not care.
We kill animals because they become a nuisance when they grow old.


While humans have no respect for fellow humans animals will suffer.

While there is poverty in the world animals will suffer.

While money is seen as the most important element in the world, all living beings will suffer.