Witchy Woman

"POLICE believe a bizarre outbreak of horse mane weaving may be the work of a secretive cult of pagan worshippers practising a form of white magic."

*Sighs and breaks out the soapbox.* Paganism does not automatically equal cult! Note how they also do not explain white magic.

"Although the braiding does no harm to the affected horses, owners are becoming increasingly bemused and concerned."

Honestly, having had a horse, it helps keep their mane from snarling. If it had happened to mine, I just would have laughed.

"Mrs Parsons urged horse owners to send pictures of the plaits to local police and to remain vigilant. She added: "Until we know anything different this is worth taking very seriously. They seem to be targeting some individuals more than others, but why?""

Ok, they were afraid that this was a way of marking the horses for thieves, but say now that is obviously not the case. In short, it's another case of "We have no explanation for this so we're going to blame it on Pagans." But why not Satanism like they usually do? Because no harm is being done. The public can easily imagine a Satanist killing cats and the like, but running around and braiding horses' manes? That's so silly, it sounds like something a Pagan would do! They run around the woods naked, right? Yup, must be them.
Sounds more like a bunch of horse-crazed twelve year old girls if you ask me.

The cutest crab has been recently discovered off of Taiwan. (I refuse to say "new" because it isn't. We just haven't seen one before. It's like referring to Christopher Columbus "discovering" the Americas. No, he didn't. The Native Americans did). Unfortunately, the crabs died soon afterward "possibly because the water in the area was polluted by a cargo ship that ran aground." So, we find a species that we have never encountered before and then manage to go and kill it. Brilliant, just brilliant.
Also being killed off by humans, false killer whales are being considered for the endangered species list. Not to mention another rare white rhino was killed by poachers in Kenya, where hunting has been strictly outlawed since the 1970's. Luckily, they caught most of the killers and the buyers. They are primarily hunted for their horns, which they can actually live without and even grow back because it's the same material as fingernails and hair.
Then the largest freshwater fish in North America, the white sturgeon, has been dwindling because Libby Dam prevents sufficient water flow to allow the prehistoric fish to swim upriver to spawn. Unfortunately, they are only one symptom of the many problems caused by the dam.
Even the North American honeybee has been declining, which puts not only the environment at risk but our agriculture. Although one theory is, is that they are suffering from Colony Collapse Disorder because of climate change.
Not just animals are rapidly disappearing, quiver trees in Namibia are dying out due to drought. But, as we all know, there is no such thing as human-caused climate change.

And this is why I believe that an IQ test should be required for gun ownership. It's a little thing called a safety. I do understand that this was an accident, and am glad that no one was seriously injured. But if I were out hunting with a dog that's likely to clamber around in the boat, I would sure as hell make sure the safety was on at all times that the shotgun was not in my hands.

"GHG is the scientific shorthand for Greenhouse Gases, the gases whose build up in the upper
atmosphere is the cause of anthropogenic climate change. GHG Photos is a coalition of science,
environmental, nature, and documentary photographers who have spent the last several years
focused on the emissions and effects of those Greenhouse Gas emissions, as well as attempts to
mitigate their release and adapt to the changing climate."

Go check it out.

"The unwanted horses seemed destined for death. The wheels had been set in motion to put down about 2,000 healthy mustangs, those in a federally maintained herd of wild horses and burros that no one wanted to adopt.
The Bureau of Land Management knew that euthanasia was a legal alternative, but officials were proceeding slowly, afraid of an intense public outcry. The wild horses had become too expensive to maintain, and cattlemen argued that turning them loose would be a drain on the already scarce grazing lands of the West.
Then yesterday, at a public hearing in Reno, Nev., to discuss the issue, a solution arrived on a white horse, so to speak.
Madeleine Pickens, wife of billionaire T. Boone Pickens, made known her intentions to adopt not just the doomed wild horses but most or all of the 30,000 horses and burros kept in federal holding pens. Lifelong animal lovers, the Pickenses just a few years ago led the fight to close the last horse slaughterhouse in the United States.
Madeleine Pickens is looking for land in the West that would be an appropriate home for the horses."

Hope for Horses.

*Doing a happy dance.*

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