Archive for the &;animals-in-the-news&; Category

Jail forWhales

February 25, 2010

Twitter has its &;Fail Whale&;. Seaworld has its jail whale. Yesterday, Tilikum the orca killed his trainer at Seaworld in Florida.  It&;s the third person he&;s killed in 20 years of captivity. In most states he&;d be a locked-down lifer, like Thomas Silverstein.  Both have killed three humans, and this American Museum of Natural History expert called this a premeditated attack. But convicts are judged and convicted by other humans.  Tilikum has been a locked-down lifer for 20 years.  Who makes the decision to enslave whales for our entertainment? Imagine a conversation between Tillikum and his captors.  (One of my former PR colleagues had the Seaworld account; part of her job was to take journalists out on the &;capture boat&; to show them how humane the Shamu-capture was.) &;We&;re going to take you out of the ocean and put you in a tank.&; &;What?&; &;No more freezing in the northern seas.  You&;ll be in Florida.&; &;Where?&; &;You won&;t lead the pod and the females anymore.  You&;ll occasionally have sex to provide new whales for Seaworld.&; &;What?&; &;Best of all, you&;ll be trained as an entertainer.  We&;ll feed you salmon as a treat and you&;ll get to play with a ball in front of crowds!&; &;What?&; &;But you can&;t kill anyone.&; &;Really?&;

Tags:animal-rights, Seaworld, Shamu, Tillikum, Tillikum-killer-orca Posted in animals-in-the-news, public-relations-disaster | Leave a Comment &;

Diary of Reggie, Alligator at Large, Entry

May 21, 2009

Oh my droogies, it has been a while between posting, but my WiFi access in this stinking zoo pond is, shall we say, intermittent. While I&;m online, I must warn you about an insidious threat to alligators everywhere: chicken.  Superman has kryptonite, we have chicken.  They play upon our weakness to capture us.  Just as I was lured, brother Texas gator was thrown in the pit of iniquity, brought down by the scent of a chicken, that he was not even allowed to eat!  Now he lingers in a wildlife facility, held for &;rehabilitation&;.  For what? The crime of alligatorhood? And in our Florida homeland, a young brother was broomed by a beast for smelling her cooking.  No chicken for him&;but at least he got a nice big bite of redneck.

Tags:alligators-and-chicken, kryptonite-for-alligators, Reggie-the-alligator Posted in alligators, animals-in-the-news, Reggie-the-alligator | Leave a Comment &;

Protecting Movie IndustryDogs

June 13, 2007

Even the movie industry&;s dogs need protection from pirates.  No, counterfeiters aren&;t keeping their DVD burners going day and night for dogs like Gigli, The Island, Zodiac or Basic Instinct 2.  It&;s the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) adorable black Labradors, Flo and Lucky, that need protecting.  Flo and Lucky have the amazing (some might say unbelievable) ability to sniff out the polycarbonate chemicals used in making pirated DVDs (as well as all other kinds of DVD copies.)  So the always-creditable New Straits Times reports that Malaysian pirates are protecting their lairs and wares from the noble chocolate Labs with aggressive bulldogs.   

Undeterred, the pair of public relations dogs have allegedly helped bust over one million pirated DVDs. 

Posted in animals-in-the-news, heroic-dogs, Hollywood-dogs, Hollywood-turkeys, MondayMorningMediaQuarterback, Pets, piracy, Public Relations | Leave a Comment &;

Animal Acts and the SillySeason

May 1, 2007

Reggie, the lovable alligator dumped in a Long Beach lake by his loser owners when he got too big, is back!    This week also brought us a grizzly bear attack and aftermath. It follows the death threat against little Knut the Polar Bear and the pet food panic.  Last spring, a coyote in Manhattan was a huge story, even as Californians used to real Wileys said WTF.  There&;s West&;s incredible cover piece on Cheeta, 75-year old survivor of Hollywood&;s golden era.  Lucky and Flo. And panda porn. Alligators, bears, monkeys and coyotes don&;t buy papers.  But people who care about them apparently do.  Is reading about animals a respite from the depressing doings of humans?  Do animal stories pull  like Hollywood fish-out-of-water tales?  Do they bring the call of the wild to sedentary urban people?  Or are animals part of the reader&;s idealized family, as in this 1939 (!) shot of Cheeta with Johnny Weismuller as Tarzan and Maureen O&;Hara as Jane.   Or has what was once the summer silly season  become a year-round media game of trivial pursuit?

Posted in alligators, animals-in-the-news, bears, Cheeta, Hollywood Follies, Journalism, panda-porn, Pets, Publishing, silly-season, Tarzan, Television, Wiley-coyote | Leave a Comment &;