Animals, Feel Good, Feel Bad

Beaver Seen in NYC; First in Centuries

NEW YORK (AP) - Beavers grace New York City's official seal. But the industrious rodents haven't been spotted here for as many as 200 years - until this week.

Biologists videotaped a beaver swimming up the Bronx River on Wednesday. Its twig-and-mud lodge had been spotted earlier on the river bank, but the tape confirmed the presence of the animal.

"It had to happen because beaver populations are expanding, and their habitats are shrinking," said Dietland Muller-Schwarze, a beaver expert at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse. "We're probably going to see more of them."

Beavers gnawed out a prominent place in the city's early days as a European settlement, attracting fur traders to a nascent Manhattan. The animal appears in the city seal to symbolize a Dutch trading company that factored in the city's colonial beginnings, according to the city's Web site.

But amid heavy trapping, beavers disappeared from the city in the early 1800s, according to the city Department of Parks & Recreation.

The beaver that has made its way to the Bronx appears to be a male, several feet long and 2 or 3 years old, said Patrick Thomas, the mammals curator at the nearby Bronx Zoo.

Biologists have nicknamed the animal Jose, as a tribute to Rep. Jose Serrano's work to revive the river. The Bronx Democrat lined up federal money for a cleanup.

"But I don't know to what extent I imagined things living in it again," he said.

GRAY WOLVES IN GRAVE DANGER



Idaho ’s governor said he would support public hunts to kill a majority of the state’s gray wolves after the U.S. government strips them of protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter said he wanted hunters to kill about 550 gray wolves. “I'm prepared to bid for that first ticket to shoot a wolf myself,” the rancher-turned-politician said during a recent rally of several hundred hunters.

While the gray wolf may be an endangered species, it’s clear that people like “Butch” are an endangering species.

Story one is a great inspirational story about the resilience of the animal spirit and will. The return to NYC of the beaver after almost 200 years is quite remarkable and a great testimony to how well our animal spirits can adapt. It is also a tribute to the human spirit and how we can make a difference.

Story two is almost a complete opposite to the first story. It shows mankinds ignorance, stupidity, arrogance and lack of compassion for our fellow souls occupying this planet. In the great scheme of things, it points out what my knowledgeable and compassionate friend Tara said, "to many of the souls masquerading around this earth as humans are pale yellows or yellows", which means, "they are naive, inexperienced, unknowledgeable and have not fully awaken yet"! So, our animal friends and fellow spirits suffer because of (I promised my teachers I would have a more "positive" outlook, however, sometime you just have to call a spade a spade)assholes like Idaho's governor Butch!

People of Idaho, I know you are better than this idiot running your state. Take a stand and protect your fellow animal spirits. Namely, the gray wolf.

For more animal stories etc. check outALL FOR ANIMALS - Home Page

Animals Rule

Bobby Sharpewww.myspace.com/akuasharpe BobbySharpe.blogspot.com