#defender of wildlife

[local-hellhound-steals-spaghetti]

So even though this couple, who are illegally keeping a protected native species as a pet, were specifically told they can't make money off Molly the magpie anymore, here they are proudly announcing their animated series:

Yay! Let's keep monotising the bird we failed to rehabilitate and who inspires people to kidnap baby magpies and try to replicate the formula! Leading to dead or severely injured birds! Yay!

Lets see more about what this "magical" series is based on, shall we?

A poorly socialised Australia magpie that was stolen from his parents and now cannot leave because he gets attacked by other magpies. Australian magpies are intensely territorial and Molly has no flock - he was taken from a park away from where their home is. Of course, after this attack on him, there's no mention of taking him to the vet or anything?

But it's all about the ~relationship~ between Molly and the family dogs, right? Never mind these are backyard bred staffies that absolutely could kill this bird with one bite. No matter how "sweet" they may be.

These dogs consistently avoid Molly and do not want to engage in play with him. Which is fair enough since he regularly pecks them in the face and around the eyes and mouth. And tries to feed them bugs.

Yeah that looks like a safe and fun interaction, doesn't it? Tense body posture, whale eye, wrinkly whisker bed, teeth bared. And no, it's not play. There is no loose, wiggly play behaviour from these dogs. It's almost always stillness, avoidance and then defensive "bugger off" behaviour that looks like this.

It's not Molly's fault no one wants to play with him - it's his carers and the public and media that fell for their marketing of these interactions.

The general public doesn't know what stressed dog body language looks like so we get posts of very uncomfortable interactions with dumb boomer inspiration post language like "love exisits in the most unlikely places"

I don't think love looks like hard stares, ears pinned back, tense posturing and avoidance

They've also introduced their backyard bred puppy into the mix, which stress yawns multiple times while Molly plays with her feet...

And then Molly sticks his beak into her mouth...

Molly is desperately trying to seek out play and social interaction as an intensely social bird who should be living his best life in a bachelor flock rolling around in the grass with his buddies and roughhousing.

Instead he lives in confusing social limbo that is being marketed as "love transcending boundaries". These dogs want nothing to do with this bird and this bird is desperate for social interaction with someone who speaks his language.

Clearly his adoring "fans" didn't get the "love and peace" messaging very well because they're still sending death and rape threats to wildlife carers expressing very real and valid concerns for this bird's welfare.

Peggy and Molly fans are a bunch of idiot hypocrites who can't stand to lose their daily dopamine fix and have fallen for the story that they were fed while this couple profits off a protected species. A bird who they ripped away from any chance of a normal life and who continue to fight to keep their cash cow from the hands of expert wildlife rehabiliators.

This is not a fairytale story and the media has a lot to answer for in portraying this as such. This is a nightmare and the sooner this bird removed and given to qualified and experienced carers the better.

[primitivebeastszine]

Don't forget to pre-order your copy of the Primitive Beasts Fanzine! There's only around a week left until pre-orders close! Don't miss out! All profits will be donated to the Defenders Of Wildlife charity!

Click HERE to pre-order!

[astralportalmultidimensional]

Common pipistrelle

Scientific name: Pipistrellus pipistrellus

The common pipistrelle is so small, it can fit into a matchbox! Despite its size, it can easily eat 3,000 insects a night: look for it flitting around the garden or a lit lamp post as it chases its prey.

Source: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/mammals/common-pipistrelle

[pterodaustro]

that post is a bit overly harsh & does ignore all the shit that colonists did to try to murder everything that moved but the screenshotted tags are nuts & so are 90% of the british people defending it in the replies

[absurdchaoticworld]

[jarnt8]

"Oh no! This resonance cascade has introduced hostile alien wildlife into the Black Mesa facility! How ever am I going to defend myself???" The humble crowbar:

[comradecowplant]

It's so fascinating to see the overlap of "vegetarianism/veganism/caring too much about the welfare of non-human animals is bourgeoisie colonialist anti-humanist shit" and "it's fascist to imply that the biggest enjoyment one can receive out of art as both artist & audience is relating to the human experience behind said art". Pick a lane, should we only care about humans, or is caring about the humanity in art elitist/puritanical or whatever? You can't have both, you've got to pick one!

[antlereed]

my crusade against bottom of the barrel horror vids on youtube continues. what do you mean you made a 20 minute "5 most disturbing things to happen in the woods" video and its just dudes out in the woods camping at night

[randomactsofpigeon]

I once saw an earthling engineer challenge another to fight a male goose defending its (ill-placed) nest and subsequently get chased around the parking lot like his ass was on fire.

I'm just saying, the challenge doesn't even need to be engineering-adjacent.

“Do not in under circumstances challenge an Earthling engineer to do something. Not even for a dare.”

[threebraincellsinatrenchcoat]

Eastern wood pewee (contopus virens)

It may be in the family tyrannidae, but it's very cute.

[jadeseadragon]

"This is a Blue Button or Porpita porpita.

Although it is superficially similar to a jellyfish, each apparent individual is actually a colony of hydrozoan polyps  They each performing specialised roles – stinging and preying, defending the colony from predators, and producing more of their kind. Porpita porpita are also hermaphrodites, that is, they have both male and female reproductive apparatus.Do you think it is beautiful?"

Beautiful find by @snorkeldownunder

Information from Wildlife Conservation Trust

⠀

[rebeccathenaturalist]

So--long story short, a FedEx driver killed a rattlesnake that happened to be on someone's porch, not causing any immediate problems. This is an all too common practice here in the United States, where a significant portion of the population has the backwards idea that "the only good snake is a dead snake" and that the only way to deal with a venomous snake in the proximity of a house, or people in general, is to kill it. Never mind that snakes tend to move on if left alone, and that there are numerous entities that can be contacted to move the snake safely to another place if so desired, and that most bites occur when someone is harassing, handling, or trying to kill the snake.

Dr. Emily Taylor of California Polytechnic State University (@snakeymama on Twitter) has requested that people contact FedEx about their recent commercial glorifying the killing of the snake, which you can view here. I've included both her and my letters to the appropriate folks at FedEx. There are options for both email and snail mail correspondence, and the more people FedEx hears from about this appalling matter, the better.

It's 2024, almost 2025. We have tons of information on rattlesnake behavior and best practices in coexisting with them (to include training your dogs in snake avoidance). We know plenty about the importance they have in local ecosystems, and the devastation that has been done through people slaughtering them, sometimes in the thousands (I wrote about the ongoing problem of rattlesnake roundups and their inherent cruelty here.) There are multiple rattlesnake species that are endangered or otherwise threatened with extinction.

The vast majority of encounters with venomous snakes are benign, and the vast majority of bites come from someone (person, dog, etc.) confronting the snake that was just trying to defend itself. We've spent a lot of time in this country defaulting to killing anything that inconveniences us, but there are better ways to live safely in proximity to wildlife that don't involve violence. It just takes a little more effort and awareness, and most importantly a significant attitude change that no longer vilifies native wildlife simply trying to live their lives.

As Dr. Taylor mentioned, if you want to contact FedEx, here are your options:

"You can help by reposting this or by emailing to express your concern about the commercial: mediarelations@fedex.com and to the CEO at FWSmith@fedex.com. Or send letters to: Fred Smith, CEO Brie Carere, Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer Ryan Kelly, Vice President of Marketing FedEx Corporation 942 South Shady Grove Road Memphis, TN 38120 USA"

[a-very-tired-jew]

I have mentioned and written a few things like this in the past, and I’m in full agreement with you. This is blatant pseudoscience, revisionism, and lying through omission.

This is, unfortunately, the “I love science” activist tactic by people who are not actually scientists. If they were, especially if they were an ecologist or anything similar, they’d have an understanding or the wherewithal to look up the ecological and environmental history. Said history and the scientific progress Israel has made in ecological and environmental matters is quite impressive.

Now some of you might be saying "But Kai Heron is a political ecologist, he knows what he's talking about". No he doesn't. Political ecology is not ecology, it's a variation of political science. The people in this field are not scientists, they're policymakers and advisers who view science through their own personal political biases and views. They're not trained scientists who actively try and leave their biases at the door. It's the difference between a polisci individual being a science advisor versus an actual scientist being one.

For a real world example, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln actually has several courses that teach their natural resource science students how to advise and interact with politicians and the public; draft policies, SOPs, and other important documents; and generally work in political positions relating to science and politics.

Political ecology programs do not do this. As an extension of political science, they're taking polisci concepts and applying them to ecology. A few courses are taken to cover some basic and advanced topics, but they have nowhere near the training of actual scientists. And again, their biases and beliefs influence how they interpret the science.

In this case, the bias is very, very apparent. Heron is a self confessed and identifying eco-Marxist and Leninist according to his own about pages on the various academic institutes and organizations he belongs to.

In short; he's a tankie.

He's a tankie using the language of academia and political science to disguise his bias.

As I’ve said before, if any of the greening projects were done by any other country they’d be celebrated. However, because the one Jewish country that everyone despises has done them they instead loathe and/or lie about it incessantly.

In this case, you have to keep in mind that the "It's not antisemitism, it's anti-Zionism" rhetoric that tankies like Heron and others profess originates from the Soviets. It was used to add a veneer of "credibility" to violent and oppressive antisemitic actions because Zionism was deemed a "threat to the state". Heron and other tankies are just continuing this tradition by couching their antisemitism in the same rhetoric and defense. This rhetoric is used to harm and diminish Jews in every way, and since Israel decided it was not going to ally with the USSR back during the Cold War it has since been weaponized. This is just an example of it being weaponized by an academic and a clear example of them trying to use their credentials to legitimize it.

And if you really, really want to know why Dr. Heron is not credible; he's not even talking about the actual non-native tree that Israel planted to drain the various swamplands - Eucalyptus. In fact, I've not seen one person who uses some form of the above talking points mention eucalyptus trees at all. It's always mentioning pine trees, and both the aleppo and cyprus trees that were planted are native to the region. It further goes to show that Dr. Heron is not an expert in ecology or the ecological history of the region, or he is blatantly lying through omission and purposeful obfuscation to push an agenda. In either case his opinion is moot and should be ignored like the non-expert he is.

This is pseudoscience where it isn’t actively anti-science.

The pines planted in Israel are Aleppo pines, which are indigenous and have been recorded by observers for literally millennia.  Far from “devastating” native oaks and carobs and whatever, Israel planted tons of those varieties too.  And there can be no discussion of the well-being of Israeli forests without noting that Palestinian militants are highly proficient at arson and have practically made mountainous tire-fires their trademark.

As for the idea that the Zionists were “trying to create European-style forests” - the implication that the local environment was “normal” before they “changed” it is entirely a social construct reeking of unexamined privilege.  The Roman Empire massively deforested Israel along with the rest of the Mediterranean.  Our popular concept of the Middle East as a land of desert and scrubland is  artificial, but comes naturally to people who think the world began in like 1700.  

The Palestinian mountain gazelle is indeed endangered in Israel, and some of their populations are jeopardized by habitat and genetic fragmentation caused by the West Bank barriers.  However, the largest and most stable population of the species is found in the Golan Heights, where they roam freely without such barriers and have enjoyed a significant rebound in numbers now that they are no longer subject to hunting from Syria.  More importantly, the Palestinian mountain gazelle has already been wiped out in Egypt, and also in Syria and Jordan - perhaps some invisible Mossad agents went on safari?  The species was on the brink of extinction in Turkey, until it was quite accidentally saved when the Turkish military set up a no-man’s-land on the border with Syria in response to its civil war.    

It’s also worth noting that the first post in that Twitter thread (not screencapped onto the Tumblr post, hmm...) was Heron calling for BDS.  When Israel really is the only country in that region where forest cover is growing and where the mountain gazelles have any chance at survival, uh, why should we overthrow the government, again?  That would help the environment how, precisely?  The Kai Herons of the world would call that “greenwashing,” because they don’t actually give a shit about the environment, they just misappropriate journal-jargon to mask how ridiculous and unprincipled their accusations are.   

Last and least, the concept that “Palestinian liberation is a climate issue” is just a perfect crystallization, French waiter palm-kiss, of how lefty activists try to run in every direction at once and get nowhere.  Climate protection has failed because it requires the entire world to unfuck foundational problems in our economic, technological, and political lives - but Palestinian liberation is still a matter of a signature and a handshake, two parties looking at made-up lines on a very small map.  For white European activists to insist that Palestinians may only make progress if we first make progress on climate change just shows how they only see Palestinians as tools and symbols and not as people.  

CODA:

This is a case of me being ABSOLUTELY fucking petty enough to reconstruct and restart a post after someone blocked me and prevented reblogs of the original.

For more on the pseudoscience and anti-environmentalism of Palestine activists see lots of links here. For more on the actual environmental history and diversity of the region, see the tags.

[corvidaemnit]

In order to show my support for palestine, I thought I would make a post— in typical bird nerd fashion— highlighting some information about one of the many symbols of freedom for the palestinian people: the palestine sunbird.

you’ve seen this bird everywhere lately I’m sure,

so, you may be wondering.. why is this bird so important?

In 2013, Israel campaigned to remove ‘palestine’ from the bird’s name. this failed, however, when the palestine wildlife society (PWS) petitioned to instead adopt it as palestine’s national bird as a direct defiance of the campaign.

in 2015, the palestine sunbird was officially declared the national bird of palestine.

the palestinian artist khaled jarrar designed a border control stamp featuring the sunbird with which he stamped passports as a cry for freedom.

more recently, khaled jarrar has also created these postal stamps for the same message— in defiance of israel’s efforts to erase palestine.

here you can find an incredible, short documentary detailing his work across the years to use his art as a protest against the plight of the palestinian people.

another palestinian artist, rasha eleyan, uses the sunbird in her work as a motif for the strength and boldness of palestinian women:

(source)

the palestinian poet tamim al-barghouti has tied the palestine sunbird’s beauty to resilience, in saying: “whenever you face injustice or roughness, remember to defend yourself by finding beauty… document, prove, and defend it because all beauty is resistance.”

the palestine sunbird is a symbol of hope and strength. It’s a symbol of fighting back against the odds and refusal to go quietly into the night— refusal to be erased.

continue to support palestinian artists.

continue to support palestine.

raise the voices of those who now, more than ever, need to be heard.

from the river to the sea, palestine will be free.

[obsessivevoidkitten]

Breeding Habits of the Common Mothman

Kinktober Day 4: Oviposition

Mothman Yandere x Gender Neutral Reader

CW: Noncon, oviposition, stalking, kidnapping, non-human genitals, general yandere behavior, sweet delusional yandere

Word Count: 526

(This wasn't beta read and I kinda rushed, sorry for any mistakes and hope you enjoy it!)

On your back with your legs resting on his fuzzy shoulders. Large red eyes staring hungrily into your fearful ones. Pleasure started to overtake the initial panic as his cock plowed you with lewd squelching noises for the whole forest to hear.

How did you find yourself in this situation? 

You were a park ranger. Your duties centered around keeping the forest safe. Mostly, this meant picking up litter, monitoring wildlife, preventing poaching, and a lot of keeping drunk fools from hurting themselves or lighting the forest ablaze.

It also meant being spied on by the mothmen. One in particular became fascinated with you, their leader.

He found himself spending most of his days watching you care for the forest, tending to it so diligently, defending it, and the creatures it housed. Fascination turned into obsession. You felt like something was watching you but dismissed it. There were plenty of animals in the woods. 

The mothman began fantasizing more and more about you having a belly fully of his eggs. He could no longer control himself. His dreams had to be a reality!

He was positive you would respond positively to him. Who would not want to have a nice big mate to protect them? He could help you protect the forest so you would have time to rest and breed lots and lots!

And that's how you ended up whisked away, taken into the pocket dimension of the mothmen. 

You kicked and screamed, but he didn't let go. He trilled and cooed to calm you as best he could. His poor mate was scared. 

He sat you down in his hovel, a hut made of silk, moss, mud, and branches. You were still scared, so he showed you his huge cock. He was very proud of it. Surely, seeing his wonderfully large mating tool would show that he was not a threat and merely intended to breed with you! What mate wouldn't be excited to have such a nice cock inside of them?

It seemed to just frighten you more, though. Did you not know what it was for? He supposed it looked different from a human's. Much larger, slimy, tapered, and normally sheathed. Or maybe you had never mated before and were nervous.

Either way, it was okay. He would show his darling human what it was for. You tried resisting him, your hands pressing against the soft, thick fur covering his hard abs. 

The mothman definitely showed you what it was for.

He cooed and trilled and hummed, praising you for taking his cock so well. Your toes curled, and eyes rolled back into your head as he slowly bred you over and over and over. Each of his orgasms deposited more and more of his eggs deeply into you.

You were such a perfect incubator! A nice, warm place for his eggs to hatch. With your caring and protective nature regarding nature, he was sure you would make an amazing parent. 

You seemed to enjoy his cock so much he let you fall asleep while warming it for him. He nuzzled, cuddled, and willed you to have sweet dreams as you rested. 

[yourlocalmurder]

The way people will make tiktoks centered around mistreating smaller wildlife that are considered unattractive/unimportant by society,such as frogs, bugs, small lizards etc. Stressing them out by roughly grabbing them from above (not unlike how a bird might) and handling them unnecessarily for extended periods of time, shouting loudly at the frogs/lizards and causing them to panic and run away, it really grosses me out actually. And people will defend this shit because " oh but they're WiLd AnImAlS so they're used to this kind of stress on a daily basis" okay. they do experience stress. But you see how another animal trying to eat them and a human being purposefully harmful and abusive towards them for tiktok views is different. Right.

There is a reason why "look don't touch" is a thing.