Black Shaman Blog » Nature

Crow & Kitten/Cat friendship.

Alex Webley — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:32:00 +0000

Fascinating video of a crow – cat friendship.

As it happens, here on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, we have a local crow family who are quite friendly (we like crows).

A couple of weeks ago crow crept up behind the neighbor’s cat Phoenix (who comes here for a lot of extra food) and pulled his tail while he was eating outside. The dish was very close to the door.

Phoenix, the cat, got cross and chased after crow a little way, then went back to his food. Crow crept up again at an angle for another peck pull at Phoenix’s tail. Phoenix chased him further this time, at which point crow flanked him by flying around to get the now abandoned food.

Crow seems to know that Phoenix is low grade threat and that he can trust us.

Phoenix

Crow & Kitten/Cat friendship. is a post from: Black Shaman Blog

Australian live animal export cruelty

Alex Webley — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:52:30 +0000

Some Australians profit from terrible animal cruelty resulting from live exports.

By doing so, they also implicitly condone the behavior of the people shown in the video.

And for some reason, the video reminds me of places like Auschwitz.

Watch the Video “5 Investigations. 7 Countries. 1 Conclusion.

Why you should be careful where you take stray cats & dogs.

Alex Webley — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:15:22 +0000

Note: Originally written during mid 2008 on an old blog

If I find a stray cat or dog I am very careful about where I take it.

The reason for this is that many council pounds/facilities and other similar places carry out large scale executions. (They use “nice” sounding words like euthanize, put to sleep and so on).

At times these can be carried out before an animal’s owner comes to claim it.

Frankly I am never going to take an animal to what is essentially an almost certain death.

Some of these places have nice sounding names that appear benign, or associated with animal welfare or similar. Granted, some of them do very good work on behalf of animals as well, however one of the aspects that I object to is that the whole system has the effect of tending to minimize public awareness of the scale of deaths, and of what really happens at these places.

Executioner

Neutering campaigns and associated PR are a good idea, however I suspect one of the reasons for the relatively low take up is that what goes on behind the scenes is served up in a “palatable” format for the public, who are left largely in the dark as to the full horror of it all. One additional side effect of this lack of awareness is that it increases the numbers of animals taken to the facilities, which I suppose is seen by authorities as helping to reduce the “excess animal problem”. And simply speaking, I cannot look some animal in the eye whilst taking it to meet its executioner. Can you? Check that wherever you are taking a stray animal to is not going to kill it. And bear in mind that some vets send stray animals they are given to these places too.

Addendum: 29 April 2008: an article on the destiny of some local pound dogs:

Pound dogs killed by students

Another topical article; added 01 May 2008:

Pets abandoned as rental crisis bites

Added December 21st 2008:

At last…the RSPCA is planning to tell it how it is:

RSPCA to stun animal lovers in advertising blitz

Why you should be careful where you take stray cats & dogs. is a post from: Black Shaman Blog

Birds on the wires – very creative

Alex Webley — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:34:10 +0000

Here is a very creative combination of a photograph & music, combined into a video for web deployment.

Enjoy!

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

Reading a newspaper, I saw a picture of birds on the electric wires. I cut out the photo and decided to make a song, using the exact location of the birds as notes (no Photoshop edit). I knew it wasn’t the most original idea in the universe. I was just curious to hear what melody the birds were creating.

I sent the music to the photographer, Paulo Pinto, who I Googled on the internet. He told his editor, who told a reporter and the story ended up as an interview in the very same newspaper.

Here I’ve posted a short video made with the photo, the music and the score (composed by the birds).

Music made with Logic.

Video made with After Effects.

The newspaper story about my work (O Estado de São Paulo): http://tinyurl.com/l4qdbg

PS from Alex:

If you want an easy way on inserting video into your website, check out this website builder software:

http://www.website-software-made-easy.info

Emphasis on easy.

Birds on the wires – very creative is a post from: Black Shaman Blog

Would you eat an animal which had been tortured before it died?

Alex Webley — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:20:33 +0000

For some years now I have been eating organic meat and eggs, which are farmed humanely and with kindness.

One reason organic meat and eggs taste better is that the animals involved are not full of stress related chemicals/hormones which are released into the bloodstream due to inhumane treatment.

Check out this video…

The expressions in the pigs’ eyes are so sad.

Pigs are very intelligent animals – much more so than what many people might think.

The conditions in this video are in some respects very similar to those endured by people imprisoned in concentration camps by the Nazis.

People own these factory farm places, people work in them. Fathers, mothers, brothers, sons, daughters, friends.

Others sell the products – big supermarkets, fast food chains, smaller stores and butchers.

Even more people eat this stuff, supporting the farmers and related industry with their custom.

Help End Factory-Farming at AnimalsAustralia.org

Note: There is a follow on video (automatic) which appears after the first one – it contains additional information.

Alternatives and solutions to this animal torture – for that is what it is – include:

Eat organic or other meat/egg products which are not produced in an inhumane manner.
Eat vegetarian – this is not for everyone; me included. Humans are omnivores. Eating meat is natural.
Make this kind of Nazi like treatment of animals illegal.
Set up and promote a humane industry. It does not have to be organic, but it does have to be humane.
Think about the impact of YOUR actions on animals.

Did you know that the Shamanic way of doing things includes being grateful to/for an animal that died to give us food and respecting the animal? Shamanism is our original spirituality and way of life. We should learn from it.

Today our society claims to be ‘civilized’ and ‘Christian’.

What we as a society are doing to the animals proves that we are not ‘civilized’, nor kind. We certainly don’t live up to the ‘ideals of Christianity’, upon which our society is supposed to be based. (Must be Pharisees then – Jesus didn’t like em).

If, after becoming aware of this barbarity to animals, you continue to eat meat and eggs produced in inhumane ways you are indeed a scumbag.

Yes, you heard right. SCUMBAG!

Someone who eats an animal which has been tortured before it died.

Would you eat an animal which had been tortured before it died? is a post from: Black Shaman Blog

Cat catches bat in mid air.

Alex Webley — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 03:01:02 +0000

Cats are one of my favorite animals. Both big cats and small cats.

Here is a video of a cat catching a bat mid air.

The expression on the cat’s face afterwards is memorable.

Cat catches bat in mid air. is a post from: Black Shaman Blog

Will the world end in 2012?

Alex Webley — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:43:24 +0000

2012 – will it be the year the world ends?

Personally I have never worried about it, for lots of reasons.

Today I came across a very interesting resource:

Ask an Astrobiologist:

Nibiru and Doomsday 2012: Questions and Answers

Will the world end in 2012? is a post from: Black Shaman Blog

Pet-Abuse.Com – Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

Alex Webley — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:31:35 +0000

Pet-Abuse.com is in my view a very important website.

Animal abuse today is becoming an increasingly serious problem, both in terms of frequency and depth of cruelty. Pet-Abuse.com is doing some very worthwhile work in this area. I quote from their goals:

1. To increase public awareness of the animal cruelty/human violence connection
2. To encourage everyone to take animal cruelty seriously
3. To provide a database enabling animal adoption agencies to research potential adopters for possible prior abuse history within and across state and national lines (AARDAS)
4. To monitor and review reports of animal cruelty from across the country.
5. To assist legislators and activists in communities throughout the United States as they seek to enact and strengthen anti-cruelty laws.
6. To promote the standardization of animal-cruelty reporting and tracking.
7. To educate and train people regarding the connection between animal cruelty and violence in society.
8. To provide real-time information for use in research for the general public
9. To provide the technical tools and networking to allow animal agencies across the globe to be able to share information and enter their cases in one unified global database, and to pro-actively encourage and support those agencies to use the tools available to them.
10. To collect data through user-feedback which can be used to determine the public’s views on local laws and sentencing for animal abusers
11. To provide the Humane Society, the ASPCA, and other organizations with real-time data to do sophisticated comparisons and reporting such as: determining areas of the country that need more preventative measures such as education, determining age groups that are the highest risk
12. To provide helpful materials and resources for shelters so that they can create their own community education programs
13. To promote a loving and responsible relationship between humans and animals

You can read about how PetAbuse.com started here, and what happened to poor Bert, a female cat.

Animal abuse is often a precursor to human abuse. People who think that animal abuse is no big deal would do well to bear that in mind. One day, the animal abuser could be coming for you. And yes, he or she may well be a relative of yours.

Animal abusers are in need of various forms of intervention and the levels of animal abuse we see today are indicative that society as a whole is in very bad shape. Yet, we pat ourselves on the back so often. How civilized we are as a society we tell ourselves.

There is no need for animal abuse. A bad childhood, or other traumatic experience is not an excuse for example. These abusers need to get themselves fixed. And that is very possible. I know, because I had a bad start in life myself and took responsibility for fixing myself of all kinds of issues. I do not go around cooking cats or dogs alive etc. Frankly, I am fed up with hearing people bleating about “how bad it was” and using it as an excuse for animal abuse, all the while being ‘supported’ by the goody two shoes do-gooder brigade who love to pander to the evil bastards and minimize their terrible crimes.

Pet-Abuse.Com – Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. is a post from: Black Shaman Blog

Earthjustice – Environmental Law: Because the Earth Needs a Good Lawyer

Alex Webley — Sat, 23 May 2009 02:05:49 +0000

Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment. Earthjustice brings about far-reaching change by enforcing and strengthening environmental laws on behalf of hundreds of organizations, coalitions and communities.

Earthjustice – Environmental Law: Because the Earth Needs a Good Lawyer is a post from: Black Shaman Blog

She describes leaving the animal overnight lying on its side before returning to check it was actually dead the next day.

Alex Webley — Fri, 08 May 2009 03:19:28 +0000

She describes leaving the animal overnight lying on its side before returning to check it was actually dead the next day.

What a cruel bitch!

Dictionary: cru·el (krū’əl)

adj., -el·er or -el·ler, -el·est or -el·lest.

Disposed to inflict pain or suffering.
Causing suffering; painful.