As I type right now, the media are all agog about the coming-up Kentucky Derby race –
part of the so-called “sport” of horseracing.
More accurately: “horse-killing.”
Last year’s “Triple Crown” races (the Derby,
the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes) were the worst of the worst for
horses (beautiful sentient beings who are involuntarily trained and forced to
run in circles). In 2023, seven horses
died during Derby week, then in the days after, five more were fatally injured.
The overriding question behind an investigation by the NYTimes:
Why were “so many horses, supposedly in peak physical condition, breaking down
so frequently?”
In answer, “The Times found that reckless breeding and doping
practices, compromised veterinarians and trainers, and decades-long resistance
to changes that could save horses’ lives have placed a multibillion-dollar
ecosystem in peril and put the social acceptability of one of America’s oldest
sports at risk.”
Especially horrible for the horses involved, of course, this
ugly (and criminal!) situation goes far back in racing history. Despite all the platitudes offered by the countless
uncontrite people involved, thoroughbreds continue to be treated like
commodities rather than athletes.
Some “sport”! https://tinyurl.com/4wdmzvbf
Day after the 2024 Derby: https://tinyurl.com/yd47pmhw
New animal
abuse
It thrilled scientists, medical practitioners
and patients when a recent “landmark transplant” operation appeared to work. A kidney from a genetically modified pig was implanted
in a woman who declared she was “at the end of her rope” without it. (Of course, the “donor pig” had utterly run
out of rope in making that possible.)
This
is a hard situation to understand, and even harder to accept. After two seemingly successful attempts at
animal-to-human transplantation, the future for pigs looks very grim. No doubt they will be in even more demand than
they are (and historically have been) already. Poor pigs: bound to be tapped for another human
purpose, this one, besides being slaughtered and eaten in myriad ways.
Time
for a reminder: Dominionism is the
worldview or belief held by one species that it has a divine right to use
animals and everything else in the living world for its own benefit.
Sort
of siblings
 |
| Dove or pigeon? |
My
last post mentioned a pigeon who liked landing on people’s heads. Did you too think the pigeon looked like a
dove, and wonder how to tell the difference?
It’s
easy: While there’s no real scientific difference between them, doves are
generally smaller than pigeons – and nowadays, they get “better press”
than pigeons. (Think only of the image
of a white dove with an olive branch in its mouth – a symbol of peace.)
Cat
& Pat
I
think my cat Jersey has secretly been listening to Cox & Box, a one-act
comic opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan (later of Gilbert & Sullivan
fame). Two men both rent the same lodgings,
unbeknownst to each other.
 |
| Jersey |
Returning
from work, one sleeps at night, then gets up and goes to work. Soon after, the second man returns from his
night job and goes to bed. And so on. This works for both of them — until they find
out what’s going on.
In
cold weather after I get out of bed, I’ve noticed that Jersey has curled up in my flannely
warm spot, where he sleeps for hours. So
now I wish him a good morning and a good rest — and make the bed later.
Protest
to save geese
The
words alone are awful: gas chamber. In
any era, with any kind of living being, those words conjure up horror. Or they should, even when Canada geese are the
innocent victims of this dreadful practice, which reportedly is widely used
here.
Of
course there are humane alternatives; it’s just that people either don’t know,
or want to know, them. Which is why the
Animal Protection League of NJ (aplnj.org), which offers a proven humane alternative,
will sponsor another protest at a place with that “ignorance is bliss” outlook.
Please
click this link, then mark your calendar. https://conta.cc/3WfMYSV
#