Free Republic

 Image from spiegel.com The number of animals that die from lead poisoning because of lead projectiles or lead sinkers on fishing tackle, is highly disputed. The high end estimates are about 10-20 million a year in the United States. Let us put that into perspective. Cats kill birds and small animals. Lead poisoning kills some birds and animals. Animals are killed in collisions with vehicles on our roads.  All animals die. How significant are these numbers?  In Internet wanderings I came across some numbers that show that estimates of the deaths by these various means are pretty wild. The...

Even so, our Creator is still there to remind us—most graphically at dawn and at dusk— that no matter what the news of the day, God is in His heaven. No ‘News’ on the Internet can possibly compete with the largely overlooked ‘Real News’ that begins and ends each and every day. Whether or not we’re up early enough, or too busy to notice, the birdsong of ‘God’s Orchestra’ announces each breaking dawn. Sometimes it begins with the chirp of just one or two little birds, calling out to other feathered friends before the full chorus joins in. It’s almost...

Those who bet on the favorite can rejoice – Always Dreaming won Saturday afternoon’s Kentucky Derby. Those who bet Dubai-based Thunder Snow at 16-1 odds, on the other hand, didn’t have their hopes up for long. The horse bucked wildly in the mud right out of the starting gate and did not finish the race. Early reports say Thunder Snow appears healthy.

DALLAS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / April 30, 2017 / Understanding the importance of pets in today's marketplace and anticipating market demand, real estate developer and philanthropist Marcus Hiles emerged as an early adopter of pampering amenities for domestic animals, building them into upscale communities designed and created by his Dallas-based firm, Western Rim Property Services. Hiles sees the trend continuing well into the future. Solid numbers reinforce the growing demand for acceptance of canines and felines, illustrated by a March 15, 2012 Adweek article posting 2010 census numbers, counting 43 million households with four-footed roommates, but only 38 million households...

Guess who's not getting into Paradise Wild boars mauled three Islamic State fighters to death near Kirkuk, Iraq, according to (mildly hilarious) media reports. “The jihadists’ bodies were found badly mangled by refugees fleeing through farmland as they tried to get away from ISIL territory in al-Rashad, southwest of the city,” the Telegraph (UK) reports. “ISIL fighters responded to the deaths by going on a killing spree of wild boars in the area, said Brigadier Azad Jelal, the deputy head of the Kurdish intelligence service in Kirkuk.” (Islamic State is also known as ISIL, ISIS, and Daesh.)

Th-th-th-th-th-th-that's all folks! I can’t decide if I should drop some serious spiritual commentary on you - about my longstanding theory that animals are more attuned than humans to the presence of spiritual evil - or make some wise-# remark. There’s really no wrong way to give you news like this, because it’s simply too good: Three ISIS militants were mauled to death by a herd of wild boar moments after committing a massacre. Five other terrorists were injured in the rampage by the beasts who attacked them in southern Kirkuk.

A recent string of robberies on BART trains took a frightening turn when dozens of juveniles swarmed an Oakland station over the weekend and commandeered a train car, forcing passengers to hand over bags and cell phones and leaving at least two with head injuries, witnesses told the transit agency. The incident — the first of its kind in recent memory — occurred around 9:30 p.m. Saturday at Coliseum Station. According to a police summary, witnesses said 50 to 60 juveniles flooded the station, jumped the fare gates and rushed to the second-story train platform. Some of the robbers apparently...

According to an aerial count in 2014 there are around 44,000 elephants at Hwange Elephant numbers across Africa have been declining rapidly under the onslaught of ivory poachers. However, one national park faces an entirely different problem. Hwange’s elephant population just keeps growing. But what, on the face of it, might appear to be good news has become an equally serious problem, one that is more a threat to the elephants long-term survival than ivory poaching. Quite simply, Hwange has too many elephants reports Martin Dunn. Zimbabwe’s Hwange National park is a six thousand square mile area founded in the...

Patricia Brennan, a visiting lecturer at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, who spent nearly $400,000 of taxpayer dollars studying duck penises has become a spokesperson in opposition to Trump’s proposed cuts to funding studies like hers. One of the research topics likely to be cut off from tax-funding is her current project to study whale penises. She is eager to examine a recently acquired an orca penis. “It’s enormous!” she exclaimed. “It takes up an entire lab sink. The very idea that Congress might not fund a thorough investigation of this extraordinary specimen is criminal. In order for us to...

DANVILLE, Ark. (AP) - A Chinese company that makes food for pets has announced plans to open in Arkansas and bring 70 jobs to the state. The Arkansas Economic Development Commission announced Monday that Pet Won Pet Products will locate in Danville in a plant formerly occupied by Petit Jean Poultry....

CLARKSVILLE, Indiana Detective Hall was attacked by a goose on his way to work at the Clarksville Police Department in Indiana. Hall defended himself with a bag and eventually made it to his office in fairly good shape.

SIERRA VISTA —The big top will be going up in Tombstone and Huachuca City on Wednesday and Thursday when a circus rolls into both communities. The Culpepper & Merriweather Circus promises to thrill audiences with big cats, contortionists, trapeze artists and breath-taking acrobatic acts, delivering entertaining, fun performances. Featuring two back-toback shows, the circus will be in Tombstone on Wednesday and Huachuca City on Thursday. In Tombstone, the big top will be set up in the lower parking lot along Sixth Street, while the Huachuca City location will be Keeline Park in upper Huachuca City. The 90-minute performances are at...

The chimp at the John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids, Michigan threw feces into a crowd of visitors. The nasty pile hit the woman right in the face and was left hanging from her nose.

A discussion scheduled for later this month at California State University San Marcos appears slated to delve into the wild world of animal-based sex fetishes. The event, “Furries Vs. Pet Play,” is one among many slated as the campus marks “gAyPRIL,” billed on the school’s website as a monthlong campuswide celebration of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and ally community. . . . “Pet play,” on the other hand, is described online as a subculture within the BDSM world in which a person likes to pretend to be an animal and engages in submissive and other animal-like behaviors in...

Many in the White House press corps have a raging case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. It flared up again when the White House released images of the commemorative eggs that will be available for purchase to celebrate the annual White House Easter Egg roll. Pastel versions of the official egg are $8.50. A gold version is $14.95. The eggs will feature the signature of President Trump and First lady Melania Trump. The seemingly innocuous announcement triggered public hackles from mainstream media reporters. New York Times reporter Julie Davis: “Forget those silly pastel/rainbow colors of White House East Egg Rolls past;...

Bear. According to the number of scent receptors, the bear has the best sense of smell of all terrestrial mammals. Black bears have been observed to travel 18 miles in a straight line to a food source, while grizzlies can find an elk carcass when it's underwater and polar bears can smell a seal through 3 feet of ice.  SourceBannon. An intelligent animal who draws its prey into their own self-made traps before devouring them. Bannons are cunning at preparing bait (controversial tweets and seemingly outrageous comments) to attract partisan journalist prey.  The delicious nature of the bait causes a feeding frenzy among editors and reporters hungry for...

At the Ranch in Arizona, I keep water trickling for a water hole. It is the only reliable water for about three miles in any direction.  I have a game camera there, and sometimes obtain interesting photographs, like the bobcat and coyote interaction above from a couple of months ago.  The water hole is about 15 yards from the backstop of the pistol range.  Some of the water pipe was exposed over the last few years. My bother and I were at the range, shooting 170 grain cast lead .40 caliber projectiles at a half silhouette steel target.   After...

My good buddy Ranger suffered a severe stroke sometime late Monday early Tuesday of this week. I've been working with the vet trying a few different meds to try and remediate the effects, but nothing has worked and there has been no improvement to his condition, and he's paralyzed on the right side from the neck down. He is comfortable and can drink his water when I hold his head up over the bowl. We have an appointment for 8:30 in the morning, at which time we'll do what's necessary and Ranger will slip this mortal coil. Please keep...

The world’s spiders eat 400-800m tonnes of insects every year – as much meat and fish as humans consume over the same period, a study said Tuesday. In the first analysis of its kind, researchers used data from 65 previous studies to estimate that a total of 25m metric tonnes of spiders exist on Earth. Taking into account how much food spiders need to survive, the team then calculated the eight-legged creatures’ annual haul of insects and other invertebrates. “Our estimates ... suggest that the annual prey kill of the global spider community is in the range of 400-800m metric...

ROTFLMAO