Animals // Current

Affectionate cat distracts policeman

A police department in Texas in the US has released footage of an over-affectionate... more

loupetho
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3 days ago
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2 comments

Orangutan and hound dog TOGETHER AGAIN

This is one of the best videos I've ever seen. Awhile back, I posted some photos of an... more

fountaingoats
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3 days ago
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0 comments

The Limited Promotes New Pet Clothing Line

The Limited is launching a new line of pet sweaters, and to help get the word out, the... more

jmsrmy
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5 days ago
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0 comments

Tiger Attack: the Full Story

A tigress attacked forest rangers in Kaziranga National Park, India, in 2004. This is... more

WildernessFilmsIndiaLtd
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5 days ago
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9 comments

Ultimate Predators - full film

They're ultimately predatorial! Scottish accent, the ultimate in narration! Ah, who... more

Jenime
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5 days ago
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0 comments

Thieves take lion on night drive

A circus lion went on a night-time odyssey in Germany when thieves stole the van... more

conservativelyliberal
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8 days ago
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0 comments

Chimpanze Attacked Her and Ripped her Face off. Very shocking! Video

For some people who make headlines, the 15 minutes of fame come and go and life... more

LadybugLady
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10 days ago
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7 comments

Look At What This Chimp Did To Her Face! Crazy!

doggeman
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10 days ago
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1 comment

Sharkbite prompts kind of gross birth

Visitors to an aquarium in New Zealand watched in surprise (and let's face it, horror... more

richjm
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10 days ago
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1 comment

Personal Injury in the Wild

Every year, thousands of people across the world are seriously injured and even killed... more

digitalfever
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10 days ago
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Best Places To Watch Massive Autum Bird Migrations

Every autumn, more than 5 billion birds migrate across North America, crossing the... more

granolajoe
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11 days ago
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0 comments

PETA passes out McCruelty meals to kids

Parents in Albany, New York are upset with the prominent animal rights group PETA... more

Manatee_man
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13 days ago
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113 comments

Lucky: O Blest are the Survivors

“Lucky” is a 2-minute animated short film by Yibi Hu, who describes his main... more

disembedded
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13 days ago
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6 comments

Pro-Animal Cruelty Activists and their Million Dollar Campaigns of Misinformation

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Due to a drop in support for heinous cruelty and slavery of our animal comrades suffering in laboratories, biomedical industry front group "The Foundation for Biomedical Research" has started a campaign to spread lies about the significance of the torture of nonhumans to humans.

Aside from the fact that these millions of dollars could be going to actual human based methods that could save lives- the campaign itself doesn't even have a shred of realism in it. Part of it involves putting up bill boards that say:

"Ever had leprosy? Thanks to animal research, you won’t."

Here's a little bit on how treatments for leprosy were developed. The first leprosy wonder-drug that worked in other animals quickly became useless in humans due to a resistance to its effectiveness. Another, clofazimine, found successes in vitro, so nonhuman animal suffering was not needed (even though they used them anyways). Rifamycin also showed promise in in vitro studies aside from it beig used in other animals. The need for nonhuman animals in the discovery of these drugs is completely fabricated.

Let's not forget that vivisection only ever came about due to the rule of the Catholic church and their insistence on making human cadaver dissection and other methods illegal. Oh so scientific!

Also keep in mind that the majority of animal testing is not done to cure diseases. It involves force feeding puppies household cleaning products or opening the heads of monkeys to record from brain cells. Animal testing is done to make money, to protect corporations from chemical and product toxicity suits, and to fulfill research interests of real life mad scientists will to learn what they wish to learn at any cost to human or nonhuman animal life.

On the bright side, the animal research medical-industrial complex is terrified. They're losing support every day and people are waking up to the reality of the cruel nature of nonhuman animal research as well as the detrimental effects it has on humans and the ecosystem. We must remain strong during this time as many of us do not have millions of dollars for bill boards. But, we do have the truth, solidarity, and compassion on our side. Keep it out there. Don't stop.

Other entries or news stories on this (see original link for links):

Please write about this as well. Feel free to add your link to the comments section and I will edit this entry to post it here.

http://arphilosophia.blogspot.com/2009/11/pro-animal-cruelty-activists-and-their.html... Due to a drop in support for heinous cruelty and slavery of our animal comrades... more

animalia_libero
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13 days ago
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44 comments

Donky Smackdown - Avon Park, FL

That's right players, get out this weekend and roll in the mud with some real... more

amaness
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15 days ago
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0 comments

Germany's bald bears: Fur disease afflicts Dolores and baffles vets

Trypnotik
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16 days ago
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21 comments

Genome 10K: A New Ark

Biologists can tell a lot about how living things evolved by rooting around in their genes, comparing snippets of DNA from supposedly related — or unrelated — species. This only works, of course, if catalogs of those DNA snippets exist. Which they largely don’t yet — but could in the not-too-distant future. At least, that is, if a consortium of researchers gets its way — and a boatload of money.

Earlier this year, a group of scientists launched the Genome 10K Project. Its aim: to collect tissues or cells from at least 10,000 vertebrate species — enough to catalog DNA sequences from about every vertebrate genus. The project has gained a lot of momentum and the support of researchers at more than 40 zoos, museums, universities and other research centers. Dozens of these scientists have now lent their names as authors to a new Journal of Heredity paper, posted early, online, today, describing what they hope to learn.

And that’s simple, says geneticist David Haussler of the University of California, Santa Cruz: “We want to see evolution in action.”

Really? By looking at the DNA from a single male and female of each of thousands of different critters?

Many species host identical long stretches of DNA. What’s interesting is where they differ. And sometimes a huge difference in the appearance of animals — say humans and chimps — may trace to less than a 2 percent difference in their genes, Haussler says. To find out where particular traits emerged and when, geneticists can look for the time in the distant past when the gene for one or more traits mutated.

By knowing when animals diverged in the archeological record and what traits are associated with that split, Haussler says, scientists can now tie those new traits to particular genes. From that, they can essentially date when these novel features emerged, and how broadly they’ve spread among seemingly related species. “That’s witnessing evolution in action,” he explains.

Despite its 10K name, the project actually seeks to map the DNA of 16,203 species. It’s an unusual and explicit figure. It’s also the number of species for which tissues or cellular samples already exist in storage somewhere — perhaps at a zoo or in some museum freezer. Yes freezer. None of these species need be killed for the first round of genomic analyses — because “they’ve already gone to their maker,” observes geneticist Stephen O’Brien. The chief of the National Cancer Institute’s genomic-diversity laboratory, he’s able to contribute quite a few such samples from the dearly departed.

But with current DNA-sequencing costing $50,000 to $100,000 per test sample, the Genome 10K Project would break the research community’s bank. So its designers have decided to wait for sequencing costs to drop by a factor of 10 or more — probably in the next couple years — before launching their analytical program in earnest. By that point, the whole project might be accomplished for something around $50 million, Haussler suspects.

Once the Genome 10K Project begins transcribing DNA blueprints for each vertebrate genus on Earth, biologists risk becoming buried by an avalanche of data. We’re talking about petabytes — roughly a billion gigabytes — of information that must be collected, analyzed and stored, Haussler says. That too can be costly. But he looks forward to having that problem — more comparative genetic data than he knows what to do with.Biologists can tell a lot about how living things evolved by rooting around in their... more

hpseaton
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16 days ago
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0 comments

Great White Sharks Lack Extended Social Skills

The ferocious great white sharks of Northern California spend their time devouring sea... more

knews121
added this
17 days ago
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0 comments

Big Meat's Big Day

In Ohio, the humane-farming debate is about to be uncaged.

Ohio voters will hit the polls Tuesday to decide the fate of an agribusiness-backed proposal that would amend the state constitution and create a board of political appointees to act as arbiters of what constitutes proper treatment of farm animals. In the eyes of its critics, the heavily favored measure, called Issue 2, represents the meat industry's preemptive strike against a fledgling nationwide movement toward humane food production.

Big Meat means big money in Ohio, the nation's second-largest producer of eggs (Iowa is No. 1) and a major player in pork and veal. The muscle behind Issue 2 is the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, whose political action committee has raised $4 million to promote the measure. Its sleek online campaign implies that the proposed Livestock Care Standards Board will ensure that animals are reasonably content and that consumers will get safer meat. The Ohio Poultry Association, Ohio Pork Producers Council, and industrial meat and egg interests in such far-flung states as Georgia, North Carolina, and Minnesota have lined up behind the proposed amendment. "We're very encouraged by how things are going so far," says Keith Stimpert, senior VP of public policy for the Farm Bureau.

Local groups representing small farmers think Issue 2 stinks, however. So do many animal-welfare groups and conservative groups that favor small government. In July, after state lawmakers passed legislation to put it on the ballot, these odd bedfellows formed a coalition called Ohio Against Constitutional Takeover to oppose the measure. "It just goes to show how broad-based the opposition is," says Ohio ACT spokeswoman Natalie Kee. But opponents have raised only $100,000, and that from a single donor. "People are at a loss as to what to do against this very well-funded machine," explains Carol Goland, executive director of the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association. "It went through lightning-fast, and we didn't have much warning."

Paul Shapiro, who runs the factory farming campaign for the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), has helped put livestock guidelines in place in seven states—Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Michigan, and Oregon. "In red states, blue states, and swing states people agree on these common-sense reforms," he says. "All the legislation says is that caged and crated farm animals must be able to stand up, lie down, turn around, and spread their limbs."

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/10/ohio-vote-factory-farm-meat-issueIn Ohio, the humane-farming debate is about to be uncaged. Ohio voters will hit the... more

pjacobs51
added this
19 days ago
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0 comments

Seeing Through The Eyes Of An Armadillo

Oh WOW! just wait for the tarantula cam!!!

TrevTar
added this
19 days ago
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1 comment

tagged w/ Animals

Affectionate cat distracts policeman

Orangutan and hound dog TOGETHER AGAIN

The Limited Promotes New Pet Clothing Line

Tiger Attack: the Full Story

Ultimate Predators - full film

Thieves take lion on night drive

Chimpanze Attacked Her and Ripped her Face off. Very shocking! Video

Look At What This Chimp Did To Her Face! Crazy!

Sharkbite prompts kind of gross birth

Personal Injury in the Wild

Best Places To Watch Massive Autum Bird Migrations

PETA passes out McCruelty meals to kids

Lucky: O Blest are the Survivors

Pro-Animal Cruelty Activists and their Million Dollar Campaigns of Misinformation

Donky Smackdown - Avon Park, FL

Germany's bald bears: Fur disease afflicts Dolores and baffles vets

Genome 10K: A New Ark

Great White Sharks Lack Extended Social Skills

Big Meat's Big Day

Seeing Through The Eyes Of An Armadillo

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