Walking with cheetahs… the big cats of the Kalahari who are man’s best friend

A Nomadic tribesman of the San people strides across the hot ­Kalahari Desert — in the company of a cheetah he has helped to tame. Though they’re killers in the wild, these big cats are ­surprisingly easy to domesticate.

The animals in these striking pictures, taken in the Naankuse Wildlife Sanctuary in Namibia, were hand-reared from cubs after their mother was shot by poachers five years ago.

As a result, the three cheetahs — a male and two females — are happy to trot next to their handlers, men from the San tribe, on their daily three-hour walk across the desert.

Taking a stroll: A Nomadic tribesman walks side by side in the company of a cheetah that he has helped to tame

Fast learner: A cheetah picks up tips from a Bushman on how to hunt in the grasses that fringe the desert

After stretching their legs, the cats — who can run 100 metres in 4.5 seconds — even play ‘fetch’ when the tribesmen throw bits of rope for them to chase.

The cheetahs are so tame you can tickle them under the chin, and they drink water from the sinks at the home of 35-year-old Marlice Van Vuuren, who set up the sanctuary in 2007.

Walkies: A tribesman and an orphaned cheetah take an evening stroll together

She now lives there full-time with a team of helpers and employs around 20 tribesmen to help care for a range of rescued and orphaned animals, including lions, leopards, wild dogs and baboons.

As babies, the cheetahs snuggled up in homemade sleeping bags and played with toy mice. Now they’re adults, they still come into Marlice’s house to watch daytime TV — before going off to hunt at night.

Extraordinary harmony: The cheetahs are so tame that you can tickle them under the chin, and they even play ‘fetch’

Endangered species: Both the cheetah and the San tribespeople of Namibia are dwindling in numbers, but perhaps they can help each to survive in a hostile environment

Tragically, the cats are an endangered species with only 12,000 to 15,000 left in the wild. The San tribe — once known as Kalahari Bushmen — who care for these orphans, are endangered too, with fewer than 35,000 left in Namibia.

No one knows how long the cheetahs or the San people can exist in this wild landscape. But for now, they live in extraordinary harmony.
source

The Very Hungry Mouse

and a very Amazing little Mouse he is….

The extraordinary scene was captured by photography

student Casey Gutteridge at the Santago Rare Leopard

Project in Hertfordshire.

The 19-year-old, from Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, who was

photographing the leopard for a course project, was

astounded by the mouse’s behavior.

He said: ‘I have no idea where the mouse came from – he just

appeared in the enclosure after the keeper had dropped in the

meat for the leopard.

‘He didn’t take any notice of the leopard, just went straight

over to the meat and started feeding himself.

‘But the leopard was pretty surprised – she bent down and

sniffed the mouse and flinched a bit like she was scared.

‘In the meantime the mouse just carried on eating like nothing

had happened…

but even a gentle shove does not deter the little creature

from getting his fill.

‘It was amazing, even the keeper who had thrown the meat

into the enclosure was shocked – he said he’d never seen

anything like it before.’

Project owner Jackie James added: ‘It was so funny to see –

Sheena batted the mouse a couple of times to try to get it away

from her food.

‘But the determined little thing took no notice and just carried on.’

Sheena was brought in to the Santago Rare Leopard Project

from a UK zoo when she was just four months old.

She is one of 14 big cats in the private collection started by

Jackie ‘s late husband Peter in 1989.

The African Leopard can be found in the continent’s forests,

grasslands, savannas, and rainforests.

…so the mouse continued to eat the leopard’s lunch and

show the leopard who was the boss.

Just proves no one can push you around without your permission.

FAMILY RAISED GRIZZLY BEAR

If you are seeing this a second time please watch it again?

Birds Have Feelings

This is truly amazing & very touching…………

Here his wife is injured and the condition is fatal.
She was hit by a car as she swooped low across the road.

Here he brought her food and attended to her with love and compassion.

He brought her food again but was shocked to find her dead.
He tried to move her….a rarely-seen effort for swallows!

Aware that his sweetheart is dead and will never come back to him again,
he cries with adoring love.

He stood beside her, saddened of her death.

Finally aware that she would never return to him, he
stood beside her body with sadness and sorrow.

Millions of people cried after watching this picture in
America and Europe and even in Asia . It is said that the
photographer sold these pictures for a nominal fee to the
most famous newspaper in France .  All copies of that
newspaper were sold out on the day these pictures were published.
And many people think animals don’t have a brain or feelings?????

source: http://vision02.com/birds-have-feelings/

If Animals Spoke our Language

Poem by: Vegan Poet

Animals speak to us in their own way,
but if they spoke with words, what would they say?
One thing I declare, without ANY doubt:
All creatures in cages would say ‘Let me out!’

‘Watch my eyes follow your every motion’
A dog would say, ‘my life speaks of devotion’.
A horse would say, ‘A fire burns deep within me
that yearns to run through the countryside, free!’

‘You can be soft and cuddly, like I am’
illustrates an adorable little lamb.
‘Soar with your thoughts like I soar through the sky,’
advises a wood pigeon gliding by.

Help, my mother’s been shot’ a fawn would cry,
who woefully witnessed her mother die.
She’d flee in fear to her cousins and brother,
‘The scariest beast of all killed my mother.’

‘Your blindness to bovines is an oddity,
for you see us as a mere commodity.
It’s so sad; all the exploitation we’ve seen,
We are conscious beings treated like a machine.’

‘Some scientists are really quite confused
seeking answers by primates being abused.
I, with eyes that greatly resemble yours,
see madness in some things that man explores.’

‘I can’t breathe or move; I’m living in hell!’
cries a chicken from her crowded prison cell.
‘Humans inflict such excruciating pain’,
With a hook in his mouth, a fish would explain.

One way we can improve the human race
is to respect those of a different face.
We need to listen in a whole new way
to what animals are trying to say.

Taking the Deer Wars into the Courtroom…..

“A two minute conversation with an all-too-common empathy-deficient dullard reveals how morally perverse it is that the prevailing paradigm enables (and even encourages) those who derive pleasure from torturing and murdering defenseless beings.”

Jason Miller and Bite Club of KC vs Michael Meadors and the Johnson County Parks and Recreation District

12/16/09

Journal Entry by Jason Miller

On 12/14/09, my activist allies and I took the deer war in Shawnee Mission Park (aka Death Park) into the courtroom. We filed a Temporary Restraining Order to stop Michael Meadors and the Johnson County Parks and Recreation Division from slaughtering an additional 80 deer with bows and arrows. As is the case with most grass roots animal rights activists and groups, we operate on a severely limited budget, so I filed this action pro se. Acting in that capacity, I could only represent the entity of Bite Club of KC and myself. However, I spoke for billions of wildlife lovers, animal rights activists and nonhuman animals as I sat in that courtroom.

Understand that just as we did throughout this crusade for the deer, when my allies and I entered the courthouse for the hearing on 12/14 we had monumental obstacles to overcome in order to stop the slaughter.

Six months of intense on-the-street activism (during which time I engaged thousands of people in an effort to persuade them that we needed to manage the deer herd via nonlethal means) gave me numerous daily reminders of the ugly reality that many people wear blinders to shield them from the abject cruelty of the war our species is waging on other animals (most of them expressed support for our cause once educated), some simply give an apathetic shrug of the shoulders, and, disturbingly, there are those who take sadistic delight in inflicting misery upon our animal brethren.

Speciesism is a perverse worldview that is so tightly stitched into our social fabric that it will take years of intensive efforts to extricate it from our midst. A two minute conversation with an all-too-common empathy-deficient dullard reveals how morally perverse it is that the prevailing paradigm enables (and even encourages) those who derive pleasure from torturing and murdering defenseless beings. Our anthropocentric, speciesist legal system enshrines and protects the “rights” of these sociopathic humans to molest and annihilate innocent sentients. In the eyes of the law, nonhuman animals are objects, commodities, resources, or at best, pets (who are afforded a bit more protection than other animals but who are still classified as property).

Just as they had been throughout our campaign, the odds in the courtroom were stacked against us in a significant way. Numerous groups have sought legal intervention to stop wildlife culls, and despite having the advantage of legal representation, few (if any) have been able to persuade judges to issue an injunction. Since nonhuman animals have no legal rights, they have no standing in a civil action. Acting as their proxy is a challenging proposition because to get the courts to intervene, the people filing the TRO or injunction have to prove that the cull would harm them in some way or that officials had acted in an arbitrary or capricious manner.

Despite knowing the odds, my tenacious nature spurred me to make the attempt. And despite Judge Kevin Moriarty denying the Temporary Restraining Order (a decision with which I never stated I agreed—I merely stated that I appreciated his thoughtful consideration of the case) there were a number of gains made on behalf of nonhuman animals and the cause of animal rights:

1. While I anticipated the possibility of a quick ruling against us, Judge Moriarty considered assertions from both sides for 45 minutes before rendering a decision. I disagree with his decision not to issue the TRO, yet I applaud his sincere consideration of our case, his recognition that nonlethal wildlife management would be superior to culling or hunting in Shawnee Mission Park, and the respect that he afforded me and our position.

2. Judge Moriarty noted that people generally don’t like the idea of killing wildlife and asked Meadors what they intended to do to prevent this problem from arising in the future. Meadors stated that JCPRD intended to use nonlethal means to manage the deer population in Shawnee Mission Park next year.

3. I got an opportunity to expound upon the assertions I had made in the Affidavit that I filed with the TRO– quoting from emails, citing documentation, and elaborating upon my analyses and conclusions. While Judge Moriarty ruled that, in his opinion, they weren’t enough to demonstrate that Meadors and JCPRD had acted in arbitrary or capricious ways, my arguments and assertions are now a matter of public record and a number of them led Judge Moriarty to vigorously question the opposition, and in some cases, express disdain toward them.

4. There were times throughout the hearing when I seriously thought Judge Moriarty was going to grant the Temporary Restraining Order, and when he finally concluded that, in his opinion, he could not issue the TRO within the framework of the law, he was quite sympathetic to our position and cautioned Meadors and JCPRD that he didn’t want to see us in this position again next year. Because, as he stated, “that would mean that we hadn’t learned from our mistakes.”

5. While the bow hunt (disguised as a thinning of an already decimated deer herd) may run its course this year, my allies and I exerted tremendous pressure upon Johnson County officials in myriad ways from many angles throughout our campaign. My attorney friend commented that the Motion to Dismiss that JCPRD filed in response to our TRO entailed about $5,000.00 worth of legal work. There were at least seven members of JCPRD upper management present at the hearing. We may not have prevented them from killing more deer, but as we did throughout our relentless campaign, we gave the ‘powers that be’ serious hell, educated the public, inspired animal rights groups around the world by showing that local grass roots groups can go head to head with those with the power and money, and created some serious obstacles to future slaughters in Shawnee Mission Park.

6. It is now a matter of public record that Meadors and JCPRD plan on implementing nonlethal methods to manage the deer population in Shawnee Mission Park going forward. Meadors also made a similar pledge in a phone conversation that he had with wildlife defender and Global Anti-Hunting Coalition founder Anthony Marr on 12/9/09.

We are going to hold JCPRD’s feet to the fire on their promise to use nonlethal means going forward. And if Lloyd Fox, Ken Payne, and their merry band of murderers think they’ve opened the door to an annual bow hunt in Shawnee Mission Park, they’re in for one hell of a fight. Bite Club of KC and now the Global Anti-Hunting Coalition aren’t going away, and next year the pro-kill faction won’t have a severe deer over-population problem as a means of duping the public into thinking a slaughter is necessary so that they can engage in their serial killing in an urban park.

And who’s to say what else may happen before this year is out…..

Here are some links to local media coverage of our legal battle:

http://www.kmbc.com/video/21968728/index.html

http://www.kctv5.com/video/21967347/index.html

http://blogs.pitch.com/plog/2009/12/jason_miller_takes_his_deer_crusade_to_court.php

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/lifestyle/stories.nsf/pets/story/88707DF81E99FEFB8625768D0014E775?OpenDocument

http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/1631231.html

Watch the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIjanhKqVC4 and go vegan. Do it for your health, for nonhuman animals and for the Earth!

To support or undertake animal rights and liberation activism in the Kansas City area, visit Bite Club of KC athttp://biteclubkc.wordpress.com/ and email us atwillpowerful@hotmail.com.

source: http://biteclubkc.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/taking-the-deer-wars-into-the-courtroom/