Armed Guards Protecting Last Male Alive

Last week while wrangling with a dicey alternator in an older model pickup truck, I encountered a couple of folks from Cosby who went far beyond being helpful. These folks went out of their way to provide aid and assistance to strangers - so much so that we had to marvel at such vivid proof of how good people can be.

It was one of those small events that makes one feel so upbeat about humanity.

And today I read of a male white rhino - one of only five alive and the last male - that's being guarded around the clock in Kenya in an effort to keep a 50 million year old species alive.

How good, on the one hand, an effort is being made to keep the critter alive. 

How sad it has come down to such action. It sounds like a short story, a rarest of the rare animals being guarded by gun-toting watchmen.The rhino horn is basically hair - wiping out a species for a hunk of hair likewise seems a made-up story, but it is not. So much for feeling hopeful about my fellow humans.

Police: Sir, Do Not Wear Your Bunny Suit Outside

Police in Idaho Falls report:

"According to a report, officers responded to the 400 block of Third Street after a resident reported that her son had been frightened by Falkingham wearing a black bunny suit and hiding behind a tree and pointing his finger like a gun at him.

The officer also spoke to other neighbors who expressed that they were greatly disturbed by Falkingham and his bunny suit. Neighbors also reported that Falkingham also occasionally wears a tutu with the bunny suit."

Okay then.

Walking In The Wild Woods By My Wild Lone

Given the sweltering jungle heat, my own current status in creating ancient and imaginary jungles, and my life-long fascination with the animals around my own world as well as the world's wildest animals, it's no wonder I'm getting emails with pictures such as this:



More dogs hanging out car windows here.

" 'Ah!' said the Cat, listening. 'That is a very foolish Dog.' And he went back through the Wet Wild Woods waving his wild tail, and walking by his wild lone. "

That's a line from "Just So Stories", which is entering dress rehearsals and tech challenges this week as opening night is on Friday July 29 at Rose Center. (Yes, I am shamelessly promoting a show I am directing, leave me alone.)

Digging into these tales by Rudyard Kipling (which offer highly dubious origins of animals wild and tame, O Best Beloved) has been stirring up my odd memories and experiences with Wild Things in the Wild Woods.

(That, and as I said, the jungle heatwave in this summer of 2011.)

So I watched a Nature documentary on PBS about "orphaned cheetahs". Sadly, the most modern iconic American reference to cheetahs is a corporate logo selling Cheetos. It's as if modern life has so caged or ignored wild animals that odd logos of corporate products are all that remain - but that is not the truth at all. We just live at a very, very far removed place from the Wild and the Past. (yeah, probably the Present too.)

Creatures with names like the Giant Hoopoe were gone long, long before I arrived on the planet, and others, like the Javan Tiger died out while I was in my teen years. Now they all occupy virtual catalog space.

And seeking out rare or previously unknown creatures holds little appeal to most of us.

The Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey is either ignored or imperiled by people. (I'd say they prefer the ignoring rather than the imperiling.)

And Kipling's book mentions such exotic locations as Socotra, which has forests of frankincense trees ....


.... but today this island off the coast of Yemen is a refueling base for pirates ...

I'm guessing most folks just don't think about how large or small (or ignored) our world might be.

So I think about it. I'm a little strange.

Please Meet Safe Sophie, And The Editor Speaks

Let me introduce The Editor to you here, who is the true owner of Sophie (I was adopted by Sophie as her friend and caretaker, as I mostly work from here at the house whenever possible, and caretaker is a rank I hold with some honor, thank you very much.) Along the post here are pictures of the safe-at-home Sophie, just click on them to see larger images and I'd like to add that I hope The Editor could find the time to blog more often, but she is a most busy woman: (NOTE: the story of Sophie's misadventures begins here and continues here. Now, The Editor)

To everyone:

Thank you so much for the outpouring of support while Sophie was missing. It meant so much to all of us here at Casa de Fleaflicker.

When the phone rang this morning and Joe held the phone up to the bowl where Sophie was gulping down water... well I can't tell you how much happiness and relief I felt. It was better than 1,000 Christmases. When I got to the vet and saw my poor beat up baby, I cried tears of happiness as well as worry. Although she is "OK" in the sense that she has neither internal damage or broken bones, she is pretty tattered after her "adventure." think it almost compares to what she looked like when I adopted her--but not quite. The $200 vet bill wasn't much of a surprise (of course, Kelvis topped me on big vet bills when she told me about her cat, Dynamite's, little string incident--this may force her to comment on or write about it herself), but I was more than happy to pay it if it meant by baby was home.

Right now Sophie is sleeping likes she deserves it (and dammit, she does), and I suspect she'll be doing quite a bit of sleeping to make up for lost couch time (and then some). She'll be going back to the vet in 2 weeks to see how she's doing (she takes thyroid medication and was off it for 3 days, so we have to get her back up to snuff on that) and to get her nails clipped (I wasn't about to bring that "injustice" upon her today--it can wait). (Joe adds, no I had her nails clipped today, as the vet recommended.)

Any way, while I have you all here huddled around what is normally Joe's soap box, I wanted to say a few words about pit bulls.

A long while back on my oft-ignored blog, I ran a post on pit bulls after Sophie tagged me in a friendly wrestling match. Link

Over the course of the last 21 years, I've owned or co-owned or co-habitated with a number of pitties, and let me tell you: they are my number one choice of dog. Not as a watch dog, because most all of the ones I've known have been piss poor watch dogs. Sophie is the case in point: she didn't scare intruders out of our house. An intruder had to manhandle her out onto the deck where I imagine her general freaked-outedness at the prospect of thunder and rain finally frustrated the bastard (for the sake of you humble readers, I am not using nearly as strong of an expletive as I'd like in describing this perp) to the point where he (she? nah... HE) gave up.



Pits are the most misunderstood, maligned, misrepresented, and mistreated dog breeds out there today. Shelters all over have no adopt policies on them (mo matter how socially well-rounded the dog). Denver and a number of other cities have banned them (and any dog that even "looks" like a pit). Drug dealers and other criminal elements buy them up, breed them with bull mastiffs and other large dogs and then call them pits, which leads politicos gunning for some half-assed public safety vote to call any dog that is bred with a pit bull a "pit bull" (so if I breed a chihuahua and a Great Dane, then it's still a chihuahua, right?).

American Pit Bull Terriers (real pit bulls, not these 130 lb testosteroid mixes) aren't BIG dogs. They should weigh about 55 - 70 lbs max (Sophie is 70 lbs, but she's also a chubber wubber). They shouldn't stand to your waist; they should be about knee height, and they SHOULD LOVE PEOPLE. They are a terrier breed, so their original purpose was to go after other animals--on the pit bull's case, to take down 2000+ lb bulls for farmers or to aid hunter downing wild boars. But the breed was also meant to be the family dog. Bad people have exploited a pittie's strengths. Stupid people have disregarded a pittie's positive attributes. One of my great worries while Sophie was out and about was that some chucklehead would see a "crazed pit bull," pull out his shot gun, and shoot her. I'm already fairly sure that whomever broke into Casa de Fleaflicker came exclusively for the dog--probably to use as a breeder (until they maybe discovered she was fixed) or as a bait dog.

I'm going to put some links on this site for you to check out if you have a few minutes. I will fight for the healthy continuation of this breed. PeTA won't, and for that reason won't ever get my support. How is calling for the euthanasia of an entire breed "ethical treatment?" Pit bulls continue to rank as amongst the highest scoring dogs in canine temperament.

For the Love of Pit Bulls is a great site if you want the real score on what these good ol dawgs go through.

Pit Bull Rescue Central will help hook you up with a pit.

This site gives an excellent overview of The APBT.

There are LOTS of good sites out there.
But here are some videos I want you to see. (Warning: the second video is HARD to watch if you aren't ready... get a box of tissues if you are prone to tearing up.)

Otherwise, be kind to your animals, and they will be kind to you. Love your animal, and they will be kind to you.