I hope you’re all having a good week. I’m having a great week myself, but I have a nagging feeling that I can’t seem to shake, and it’s about the 27,000 exotic animals that the SPCA is taking care of. Last week, I told you about the largest animal rescue in US history that took place in Arlington about six weeks ago. Since then, the SPCA of Texas has been caring for 27,000 exotic animals who were neglected and abused.
I got an urgent email from the SPCA this week, which said that the “people” (I use that word loosely) who owned the company have appealed the judge’s decision to confiscate the animals from them and award custody to the City of Arlington. Until that appeal is settled, the SPCA will continue to care for the animals, at a cost of $8,000-$10,000 per day. They are in desperate need of $150,000 ASAP!
If this situation touches your heart as it does mine, will you please consider making a donation to the SPCA? If I could do another bake sale tomorrow that would put a dent in this need, I would do it. But their need is much bigger than that. They need us all to come together for them, and contribute what we can. Thanks for considering helping these poor little critters!
BigSis added this note January 28 at 1:30 pm: I just found this great video on DallasNews.com, which shows some of the animals and gives you an idea of the lengths the SPCA is going to for these guys. Here’s the link: http://www.dallasnews.com/video/dallasnews/hp/index.html?nvid=412930
It’s short, so please check it out. I’m in love with the Ring-Tailed Lemurs and the teensy turtles.
Our “little baking team that could” has been baking up a storm the last two weekends, and we have just one more week to get everything baked, packaged and organized!
We’re trying to raise another $3000 for the SPCA of Texas here in Dallas. Last year’s sale raised $3055 and we really hope we can do better than that for the animals this year.
It seems like an overwhelming task to prepare $3000 worth of baked goodies, and then sell them all in just one day. We all agree though that this is some of the biggest fun we have all year long!
So far, I have bunches of these things wrapped up in my freezer:
Cranberry Pumpkin Bread with Walnuts
Vegan Pumpkin Bread with Walnuts
Strawberry Bread with Pecans
Texas Pecan Pie Bars from the Pastry Queen
Texas Pecan Pie Bars with Chocolate and Bourbon from the Pastry Queen
Barefoot Contessa’s Outrageous Brownies
Barefoot Contessa’s Outrageous Brownies with Mint Oreos
Barefoot Contessa’s Outrageous Brownies with Bittersweet Chocolate Chips and Walnuts
SisMama has made a whole slew of awesome pound cakes in lots of flavors, and K & P have made oodles of breads.
Next weekend, we’ll be making all of the candies and other treats that we don’t want to freeze. If you’re in the Dallas area, email me or leave a comment if you’d like to come visit us at the sale and I’ll send you the details. If you’d like to donate to the SPCA of Texas but you’re too far away to visit us, you can use the web site that’s been set up for our donations. It’s http://www.spca.org/goto/bakesale.
Meanwhile, wish us well! The SPCA of Texas – like lots of animal organizations right now – is in serious need of funds in this economy, and we’d really like to help!
Where in the fudge have I been? I hadn’t heard a peep about this award-winning documentary called “The Cove” until last week, even though it won the Sundance Film Festival and a bunch of other awards, nor did I know anything about the atrocities revealed in the movie. Since it’s not my style to stick my head in the sand, I went to see the “The Cove” last night, although I knew it would be emotional.
Now I know a bunch of things that are horrifying and haunting me…things that I wish were not true. To say that I am outraged and disgusted is an understatement.
Here is what I learned:
There is a tiny fishing village in Japan called Taiji. Every year from September to March, dolphins migrate through this area, and the “fishermen” of Taiji herd them into a cove, using the dolphins’ sensitivity to sound against them.
In this cove, the prime dolphins – usually young females – are selected to be sold for up to $150,000 each. Taiji is the world’s largest supplier of dolphins to water parks like Sea World. A live dolphin show can bring $1 million per year to the attraction, so there is continuous demand from these parks for dolphins.
The dolphins who are not chosen for sale are slaughtered by these “fishermen” who stab at them repeatedly from boats with long harpoon-like poles, until the cove is literally filled with blood. Then the dead dolphins are fished out of the water with hooks and hauled off to be cut up.
Taiji is alone responsible for the annual slaughter of 23,000 dolphins.
The *meat* from these dolphins is then sold, often being passed off as whale meat. The acceptable level of mercury for human consumption is .4 ppm (parts per million), however, because dolphins are so high up the food chain, their tissues can contain 2000 ppm. The risk of mercury poisoning is therefore very high for any one who eats dolphin.
Until “The Cove” team broke this story, the dolphin meat masquerading as whale meat was being given to schools for free, so the contamination was being delivered directly to Japan’s school children. It is still sold as whale meat to unsuspecting consumers.
One dead dolphin may bring $600, but the “fishermen” say they are slaughtering the dolphins for pest control, more than for the money, because dolphins eat so much fish that the supply of fish is diminishing at alarming rates. They apply this same ridiculous rationale to whales. Never mind the fact that humans deplete the seas of fish to the extent that some people think the oceans will be void of any fish within 40 years at the current fishing rate.
Half of the dolphins in captivity only live 2 years. They suffer from depression, which is understandable since in the ocean they swim 40 miles a day. They also suffer from ulcers, to the extent that the water parks stock Tagamet and Maalox to treat them.
Dolphins can commit suicide. They choose to deliberately breathe when they are out of the water, unlike humans who breathe automatically without ever giving it a thought. So they can choose NOT to breathe.
Now that I know about all this, I can’t forget that I know it and I want you to know it too. Here’s the trailer for “The Cove“.
What you first need to know is that Ric O’Barry trained the dolphins for “Flipper” in the 60s. He had an epiphany after one of the dolphin stars of the show – Cathy – died in his arms. He says that she was so depressed that she chose to stop breathing and die, rather than continue her so-called life in captivity.
Since then, Ric has spent 35 years trying to end dolphin abuses and captivity. In the documentary, at great risk to his personal safety, he sets out to reveal the atrocities that are being committed in Taiji. He and an incredible team plan to film what happens in the cove, since it is highly protected, for reasons you will see. They succeed, and we see the actual footage of the slaughter.
So now that we have seen this footage with our own eyes, and it has been brought out of the dark veil of secrecy into the light, what are we going to do about it? It has to stop. WE have to stop it. Here’s what you can do:
Go see “The Cove” and encourage others to see it. Check thecovemovie.com for viewing locations in your area.
Stop patronizing parks that feature live dolphin shows. They aren’t having fun, and they aren’t smiling!
Contact our leaders and help get the word out in Japan. This link will allow you to sign a petition letter online and share the opportunity with other people who care. It couldn’t be easier.
Tell everyone you know about the cove and what happens there. There are people just like me who had no clue about this, and who need to know.
I’ll leave you with one personal experience. When LilSis and her family and I went to Maui in 2000, the highlight of the trip for me was the snorkeling day trip we took to Kauai. As our boat cut through the water, we had several different varieties of dolphins swimming along the front of our boat, escorting us. We had pods of bottlenose dolphins, spotted dolphins and spinner dolphins, and maybe others. It was thrilling to watch them, and the emotion they exuded was just joy joy joy. They seemed to be having the time of their lives, swimming and spinning, swimming and spinning.
To think that anyone could slaughter these incredible creatures for any reason is incomprehensible to me. I’m not going to stop talking about it until the hell in Taji is stopped.
Humpback whale and baby (photo credit: Animal Planet)
I don’t usually sit around on my fan-fan-fanny watching TV. But this week started crazy and ended that way, and by the time Friday rolled around, I was brain-fried. Don’t ask! The details are gory. But the most strenuous thing I could manage by Friday night was to catch up on my Google Reader a little, and to press the TV remote control channel button until I landed on Animal Planet.
I happened upon the premier episode of season two of a show called “Whale Wars”. Have you heard of this show? I hadn’t, but 5 minutes into one episode and I’m hooked. I found myself watching with my breath held, and my hand covering my mouth. It’s emotional, dramatic, suspenseful, action-packed, and real. There is wicked weather, life-threatening storms, treacherous icebergs and ice fields, in addition to the threat against the whales. And since I’ve been a vegetarian for 15 years solely because of my love for animals, the fact that the show’s focus is on saving whales makes it mesmerizing to me. After seeing humpback whales in Hawaii, I can’t imagine that anyone could harpoon them for their “meat”. They seem to be the most joyous, innocent, peaceful animals that you could imagine.
I didn’t know it, but in 1986, commercial whaling was outlawed internationally. The co-founder of Greenpeace, Paul Watson, knew it. In 1977 he founded a group called the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. In “Whale Wars”, he is the captain of an aging ship called the Steve Irwin, and Paul’s passion is enforcing the whaling ban, regardless of the cost. In “Whale Wars”, he hits the international seas with 36 volunteers and a mission.
I saw 2 episodes, both featuring the Sea Shepherds’ hunt in Antarctica for Japanese fishermen who were illegally killing whales. The Japanese claimed to be killing the whales legally for research. You know where I stand in that debate; on the side of the whales. Watch this show. Make up your own mind.
Once you see everything there is to see on BigSisLilSIs today, you have to look at what CuteOverload.com posted on October 27th. It’s a pet costume extravaganza! There are only 3 kitty-pie costumes and none of them are that full of cuteness, so come back on Friday for our Cats in Hats post. To tide you over til then, check my favorites from CuteOverload:
Ewok Puppy
No explanation necessary!
We're not in Kansas any more, Toto!
The donut man kills me
There are lots more of these hilarious photos. Let me just give you a little hint of what you’ll find. A boxer with completely inappropriate cleavage, perhaps?
Imagine two forty- something sisters; separated by 3.4 years in age and 1,300 miles in distance. Give them completely different lives, backgrounds, and experiences. What could they possibly talk about? Plenty! More about us...
~BigSis
comments (4)
