Chimpanzee Helps Raise Baby Tiger Cubs.

Animals are often seen as dumb and beneath human beings in many societies and religions. The Judeo-Christian-Islamic religions believe that animals are here for man's benefit--man's greed in my opinion. There are many cases of animals saving human beings from a burning house, get help when lost and even cases of them being able to dial the phone for help such as if the owner has a seizure of heart attack!! There are many who think they are incapable of emotions such as love, compassion and concern but there have been numerous cases of the opposite. These animals may not know that they are experiencing emotions but their actions show that they clearly are motivated by some level of emotional motivation. Well animals are also capable and willing to help other animals too. Take the case of the chimpanzee Anjana who has adopted two white tiger cubs as her own when their mother rejected them. She is an expert it seems at these things as she has previously helped raise leopards and lions.“She gives them a bottle and lies with them — she is a great assistant.” The cubs have become almost inseparable from their new motherly figures. She has a close contact and bond and gives them a nurturing.'

James: I wouldn't be surprised if Anjana is reborn as a human being in her next life with her kind, caring, compassionate, loving and nurturing essence. She is already practicing the Dharma. I'm sure that she will be a wonderful human being if she gets that chance. May she be a good example for us humans to keep practicing the Dharma to make the most of this human life.

~Peace to all beings~

Sarah Palin: No Friend to Animals.

"For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love." ---- Pythagoras (c.582 - 507 BC)

James: I don't get too political on this blog (I have another one for that) but animal welfare is something that I feel strongly about. If the wolves are too high in numbers than repopulate some of them to different areas of wilderness. There are plenty of wild place still left in Alaska, Canada and other parts of the other American states that could take them. Or at least give them to animals refuges and/or zoos. Although zoos don't always treat the animals with the best care but it is better than killing them.

However, Alaska governor and now vice-president selection of Republican Senator and presidential hopeful Senator John McCain doesn't seem to mind engaging in barbaric practices of what can't be called another other than a massacre of a beautiful and important animal to the eco-system. They keep the moose population in check but the governor and her supporters want to upset that balance because the citizens of Alaska like to eat moose up there and need high numbers of them. All this killing so that humans who don't have to eat meat can consume flesh:

No friend to wild animals, Palin has offered incentives for people who kill wolves in an effort to boost Alaska's predator control program which so far has failed to meet expected numbers. The incentives include offering 180 volunteer pilots and aerial gunners $150 in cash for turning in gruesome legs of freshly killed wolves. Outraged by Palin’s predator control program, environmentalists have argued that bounties have no place in modern wildlife management.

Alaska Governor and GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is a strong promoter of the aerial hunting of wolves and bears, a practice that has been condemned by conservationists, scientists and many hunters alike. It involves shooting wolves and bears from the air or chasing them to exhaustion and then landing and shooting them point blank. The animals, shot with a shotgun, usually die a painful death. The hunters involved in the program keep and sell the animals' pelts.

In a region west of Anchorage, she authorized the killing of up to 70% of all bears (1400 bears) including mothers and cubs.

She supports drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), an extremely sensitive region where millions of animals could be harmed or killed. Senator McCain has long opposed this drilling as do most energy experts who see it as useless.

• The Board of Game, which she appoints, has approved the killing of black bear sows with cubs as part of the program and expanded the aerial control programs.

• The media is currently looking into reports that state officials implementing one of the aerial wolf killing programs illegally killed five-week old wolf pups just outside their dens.

James: She also advocates taking the polar bear off the endangered species list was believe it or not done by Bush to protect the animal. We all know that the polar bears rely heavily upon the ice shelves to hunt and raise their young but thanks to global warming there territory and thus numbers are disappearing.

She also opposes the listing of certain whales on the endangered species list of animals to protect. Not sentient being's life should be put put ahead of our lust for cheap energy:

Alaska's Cook Inlet beluga whales are a unique group of white whales whose numbers have dramatically declined in the past two decades due to pressures ranging from pollution to increased ship traffic. Governor Palin opposes the listing of the Cook Inlet beluga whales, citing the listing as a threat to oil and gas development, despite their genetic uniqueness and the fact that their numbers have decreased from 1,300 in the 1980s to about 350 today.

James: If you are an American, a vegetarian and/or a lover of animals and want to protect them in the wild than this is information that you should know before voting in November. I for one will not be voting for the McCain/Palin ticket for this and many reasons. Animals are voiceless and can't defend against whole sale slaughter and so it is up to those of us who love all sentient beings to stand up for them and fight against their abuse and murder.

~peace to all beings~