Scarface: In the end, the end was a bullet

Kathleen Stachowski  Other Nations A bullet stopped Scarface. The famously recognizable grizzly bear with a fan base in Yellowstone was a 25-year-old elder in declining health. Given that fewer than five percent of male bears born in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem survive to age 25, he’d already beaten monumental odds. That is, until he met up with a hunter’s bullet last […]

Wolverines: Quest to protect magnificent mustelids continues

Kathleen Stachowski   Other Nations News flash: Climate change imperils wolverines and Feds must act! That’s the recent headline from ABC news, reporting on court proceedings in Missoula, Montana. On Monday, April 4th, “U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen ordered wildlife officials to act as quickly as possible to protect the species as it becomes vulnerable […]

Greater Yellowstone grizzly bear delisting: Have your say

Kathleen Stachowski    Other Nations As I write, over 400 comments have been recorded by the US Fish & Wildlife Service on its proposal to delist the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bears from Endangered Species Act protection. That’s 400+ comments in the first 10 or so days since the comment period opened (it closes May 10, […]

Yellowstone bison: The road to slaughter starts at home

Kathleen Stachowski   Other Nations (Please see 3/10/16 update in comments section.) The specter of death hovers over the world’s first national park. Approximately 150 wild bison have been rounded up within the boundaries of their ostensible refuge, Yellowstone National Park, and are being held in a capture facility–also located within park boundaries. They number among those […]

A survey of animal law; are animals ‘things’?

Kathleen Stachowski   Other Nations “In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes, or pronounces judicial decisions.” ~Abraham Lincoln Two items of possible interest to readers of this blog: “Are animals ‘things’? […]

Channel your inner wolverine!

Kathleen Stachowski Other Nations Happy Wolverine Birthday! According to the Wolverine Foundation, February 14th is the day designated to symbolically mark the birth of wolverine kits. They come into the world under five inches long, weighing 3.5-5.11 ounces, and covered in white fur. They sometimes hang with one or the other parent for up to […]

Bear 399: Delisting the grizzly you know

Kathleen Stachowski     Other Nations We humans don’t relate well to nonhuman animals at the population level–so goes the theory. But give us the particulars about a specific individual–tell us his or her story–and we get it: this is someone who has an interest in living. Someone with places to go…kids to raise…food to procure. […]

Save a hog, eat a teacher: Challenging animal agriculture

Kathleen Stachowski    Other Nations What happens when you criticize animal agriculture? I’ll tell you. You’re called a “complete moron.” A “libtard.” An “idiot” and an “a**hole.” You’re told to “shut the f up.” Oh, and look, here’s Yoda in an Internet meme: “The retard is strong with this one.” The local newspaper is labeled […]

Cecil and Obie: Owning animals, dead or alive

Kathleen Stachowski     Other Nations Cecil the lion is dead, long live Cecil. Obie the tiger lives–and dies–in successive purgatories for 45 years running. Cecil, a unique individual and beloved personality, was slain by a small and hollow man for no reason other than ego. This one “special” lion’s death triggered a tipping point […]

A human-bear tragedy in Yellowstone

Kathleen Stachowski   Other Nations A 63-year-old male hiker is dead, killed and partially consumed by a grizzly bear while hiking in Yellowstone National Park.  A 259-pound mother grizzly, who was at least 15 years old, is also dead, killed by the caretakers of her home in Yellowstone National Park. Her two female cubs-of-the-year, likely seven or […]

Swimming against the current on National Go Fishing Day

Kathleen Stachowski Other Nations Today is National Go Fishing Day, a day (like any other) to pretend that fish aren’t sentient beings who feel pain, possess innate intelligence, express social behavior, have memories…and who, like us, just want to live their lives. Instead, our species is encouraged by a multi-billion dollar recreational fishing industry to trick them with […]

Win a few, lose a few: Animal fighting, commercial breeding get another pass

Kathleen Stachowski   Other Nations Seventy percent of U.S. adults have a favorable opinion of the animal protection movement–so says recent research–which leads me to think that the other 30% serve in the Montana legislature. Animals lost what should have been a couple of slam-dunks during the 2015 biennial session, but that’s not unusual in a state where […]

Shrine Circus 2015: ‘Turn and stand’ for animals

Kathleen Stachowski   Other Nations “F—ing dopers!” This invective was snarled in our direction as we stood outside the Adams Center on the University of Montana campus in Missoula one recent April weekend. Inside the Adams Center, the Shrine Circus (produced by the Jordan World Circus) was putting enslaved animals through their miserable paces at the business ends of whips […]

Coexistence with Coyotes

Jennifer Molidor Coyotes roam the Northern California landscape as naturally as the curving arms of oak trees and shimmering light of golden grasses. Animals are the environment, the land is our home, and no matter where I rest my head, I dream of this homeland. Its skin, scattered with abandoned Quonset huts, fading into fields […]

“Rabbit, rabbit” or “Night of the Lepus”–it’s your choice

Kathleen Stachowski    Other Nations Soon it will be April 1st, and for those of you with superstitious or folklorish proclivities, remember to say “rabbit, rabbit!” (or “rabbit, rabbit, rabbit!”) first thing upon waking–before speaking any other words. You might even go so far as to perambulate through the house saying it in each room. This ritual is to be repeated as every new month […]

Two animal rescues: 33 happy homecomings & one heartbreaker

Kathleen Stachowski   Other Nations Anyone who works in the animal rights arena knows that a single day–nay, a single minute–can feature the most jubilant high and the utmost despairing low. One emotion follows on the heels of the other as news randomly enters your world: humans at their most compassionate and generous best–vigorously turning the wheels of […]

Happy Year of the Sheep! (Domestic or wild, it’s no party)

Kathleen Stachowski   Other Nations The Chinese lunar new year arrived recently, and regardless of whether you’re in the sheep or the goat camp, for the purpose of this post I wish you a Happy Year of the Sheep! Of course, there’s nothing happy about live export, perhaps only the worst fate to befall any given sheep on […]

Eating Earth: an ethics-based guide for enviros & animal activists

Kathleen Stachowski     Other Nations They’re eating me out of house and home! Idioms, as you know, are shorthand codes for more complex ideas. As I read Lisa Kemmerer’s latest offering, “Eating Earth: Environmental Ethics & Dietary Choice,” I kept returning to that idiomatic gluttonous guest or the self-centered roommate who mindlessly consumes such a vast […]

Yellowstone wildlife sent to slaughter; calling all buffalo warriors

Kathleen Stachowski    Other Nations Dear Americans: You’re busy, I know. You’re busy working and playing and doing a million crazy, diverse things that Americans do in our big, crazy, diverse country. That’s just who we are, and that’s what makes us awesome. But right now, I’m going to cherry-pick a few things we share. […]

Pony rides: Service…or servitude?

Kathleen Stachowski   Other Nations ex-ploi-ta-tion (noun): the action or fact of treating someone unfairly in order to benefit from their work. Animal exploitation comes in many shapes and sizes and often involves soul-crushing cruelty–think factory farming, circus slavery, vivisection. But is exploitation always cruel? What constitutes cruelty, anyhow? And who defines it? If you’re the animal, these questions are […]

Love it…list it…stuff it? African lion listing open for public comment

Kathleen Stachowski   Other Nations From the Have Your Cake & Eat It Too Department: The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) has announced that it intends to list the African lion as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) … while continuing to allow the importation of lion trophies by American trophy hunters under a permit system. Who’s […]

Cosmetics testing on animals: Do you know as much as an 8th grader?

Kathleen Stachowski   Other Nations “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”  ~The Lorax The students were looking forward to my visit, the teacher revealed before their arrival in the classroom. They’d been studying the use of animals in cosmetics testing and education when she […]

No country for old bears

Kathleen Stachowski   Other Nations “Grizzly bear euthanized due to history of conflicts.” “Montana wildlife officials euthanize problem grizzly bear.” “Old grizzly euthanized, tried to get into building.” “Intrusive grizzly euthanized.” “28-year-old grizzly euthanized.” Those Montana headlines greeted us a few days ago. This must have been one dangerous bear. Intrusive. A “problem bear.” An […]

Predator derby document issued; comments due soon!

Kathleen Stachowski   Other Nations Remember that predator derby I wrote about back in August–the one sponsored by predator hate group Idaho for Wildlife? They applied for a Special Recreation Permit from the Bureau of Land Management, which triggered a scoping period to gather information for the development of an Environmental Assessment (EA) document. The EA […]

Wilderness is an animal rights issue

Kathleen Stachowski Other Nations “I wish to speak a word for Nature, for absolute freedom and wildness…I wish to make an extreme statement, if so I may make an emphatic one, for there are enough champions of civilization… what I have been preparing to say is, that in Wildness is the preservation of the World.” ~Henry […]

Stop a depraved ‘predator derby’ on your public land

Kathleen Stachowski   Other Nations The Environmental Assessment has been issued; comment deadline is Oct. 16, 2014. Details at end of post. Q: What do coyotes, skunks, weasels, jackrabbits, raccoons, starlings, and grey wolves in Idaho have in common? A: An arsenal of bullets heading their way. Why? All are designated as predators by Idaho Fish and […]

Fur farms: Whom would Jesus skin?

Kathleen Stachowski     Other Nations “It’s farming. It is just a different type of farming.” So said Larry Schultz in a bid to move his bobcat fur farm from North Dakota–away from the hustle and bustle of booming Bakken shale oil production–to Fergus County, Montana. The term “fur farm” makes stomachs churn with apprehension—if […]

Sheep dressing, pig wrestling, chicken scrambling: Bullies are made, not born

Kathleen Stachowski    Other Nations For weeks now, our local newspaper has been running a full-page ad for the PIGGEST. RAFFLE. EVER. It exhorts me to kick-off my summer “the right way, by winning the ultimate BBQ package.” A pink pig, arms akimbo, grins sardonically. If he’d just glance down the page some nine inches, […]

Reproductive rights, civil rights…and animal rights.

Kathleen Stachowski    Other Nations Supreme Court decisions and national anniversaries can put one in an expansive mood, though applying social justice issues to nonhuman animals is always the logical next step for some of us. After all, slavery, commodification, discrimination–the evils we’ve visited upon our own and have attempted to banish–are still just business as usual […]

“Extreme Huntress” and hunting’s flimsy facade

Kathleen Stachowski   Other Nations How extreme does one have to be to earn the title of “Extreme Huntress”? Don’t let the diminutive -ess suffix trick you into thinking this title is a shoddy substitute for the real (male) deal. These women will get up off their childbirth bed to score a trophy–and tote two-week-old Junior along for the thrill […]

Launching Legal Action to Help Angel and Other Dolphins

Sarah Lucas I was in Taiji, Japan – the dolphin hunting capital of the world – when I read Kathleen Stachowski’s wonderful Animal Blawg on the ubiquity of speciesism. Kathleen observes: “speciesism is everywhere and so thoroughly normalized that it’s invisible in plain sight”. I nodded my head when I read this, as I’ve thought it many times […]

How now, cannulated cow?

  Kathleen Stachowski   Other Nations Think back to when you first read or heard about debeaking. Remember how shocked, horrified, and disgusted you were? You had to adjust your schema–the cognitive framework that helps you make intellectual sense of the human animal/nonhuman animal relationship–to accommodate this new and terrible information. “Now,” you might have thought, “I […]

Speciesism: If you aren’t angry, you aren’t paying attention

Kathleen Stachowski   Other Nations If you aren’t angry, it’s possible that you aren’t concerned about speciesism. If you are concerned about speciesism but you’re not angry, you probably aren’t paying attention. Because lordy, speciesism is everywhere and so thoroughly normalized that it’s invisible in plain sight. Once you’ve seen it, though, you can’t un-see it, and then you’re screwed. […]

A (trophy animal) picture is worth a thousand (angry, violent) words

  Kathleen Stachowski    Other Nations One woman (sporting a Safari Club International cap), one gun, one dead giraffe. One pump-my-ego photo posted and then shared hundreds of times on animal rights Facebook pages, generating thousands of sad or angry comments. Many–distressingly many–of the responses to these vile, celebratory trophy photos are vile and violent themselves. When […]

Someone else’s trash: Rez dogs saved; rez dogs lost

Kathleen Stachowski   Other Nations From tragic to jubilant in eight short words: “Puppies left to die in garbage bin reunited.” The headline pulls you into the story–you already know it ends well–but still, you have to confront the fact that someone callously trashed a box of 10 newborns during a frigid Montana winter. Instead of freezing […]

A tar sands skirmish for human & animal rights

Kathleen Stachowski    Other Nations Well I won’t back down, no I won’t back down. You can stand me up at the gates of hell But I won’t back down. ~Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Nothing says gates of hell like Alberta, Canada’s tar sands, often referred to as the most environmentally-destructive industrial project on […]

Of bison and betrayal

Kathleen Stachowski   Other Nations Anyone who’s ever carried a wild bison’s heart into a governor’s office belongs to a small and select club. James St. Goddard, a Blackfeet spiritual leader from Montana, is the latest inductee, and–for all I know–the only member. Mr. St. Goddard appeared at the state capitol earlier this month to protest the latest […]

My own private Idaho: Pursuing ag-gag secrecy

Kathleen Stachowski  Other Nations “My Own Private Idaho.” You might know it as a ’90s era movie, but its new identity is being forged in the Idaho legislature right now. “My Own Private Idaho” could soon be how factory farm owners refer to their holdings–places where anything goes and no one knows–if ag-gag legislation is signed […]

King-size coyote fur comforter: Price vs. cost

Kathleen Stachowski  Other Nations From Killing Coyotes 101: “Don’t be squeamish about killing juvenile coyotes,” advises the text beneath a photo of a grown man grinning over a dead pup. “They will be practicing their hunting skills on your turkey poults, deer fawns, pigglets [sic] and livestock if you let them. so [sic] kill them when you […]

White tigers: Tragic–not magic

Kathleen Stachowski   Other Nations Kenny died in 2008. If you didn’t mark his passing (you probably didn’t even know about it), don’t feel bad. Kenny, you see, was not the beautiful white tiger on posters for glitzy magic acts. He wasn’t the star attraction drawing crowds of admirers to the zoo. As the product […]