Thoughts

Sometimes profound, often random rambling.

[katiedbug09]

So I have decided that I want to have a Betta tank, and not just any Betta tank, I want to have multiple Bettas male and possibly females in the same tank. Its frustrating trying to find the information I need because there are so many conflicting opinions out there. So I am going to make my own blog about my trials and errors and document it here so that if someone comes along behind me, maybe they can find this blog and it will help them through my mistakes and triumphs. 

[katiedbug09]

Rabbit Rehabilitation

     So my Dad rescued a rabbit from his cat today. He had ripped its skin in a few places but the rabbit was still alive and Gandolf (the cat) was just toying with him. So anyway of course I get called and now I have ended up with it. So I have decided to write a blog about its recovery (or death) process. I will be posting pictures daily starting tomorrow. 

[katiedbug09]

Seaworld/Blackfish/Free the Orcas

I think it's finally time I talk about my opinions about Blackfish and Seaworld. Now this is coming from a person that before watching Blackfish loved SeaWorld without any doubts. I am an animal lover to the core. All animals but I'm partial to Aquatic Oceanic Animlas. They are just so graceful and powerful and otherworldly. It's unreal the creatures that we have in our oceans. And it's that love that drove my love for SeaWorld. SeaWorld gives you a unique oportunity to see some of these creatures in better captive environments than you could see them elsewhere, and all in one place. The splendor of the range of animals they have on display is incredible. I have been 3 times in my life. I also am an avid lover of Orcas. I have loved them since Free Willy hit the screen in 1993. I remember watching that movie and the 3 that followed it as a child and just loving those creatures. I remember getting the VHS and the necklace that came with it when it first came out. They are just awesome creatures. I even kept track of the whale Keiko, and his journey to freedom after the movies were concluded. I have his biographical story "Freeing Keiko". And how the public pushed for him to be freed, only to be devastated when he was reported dead when I was in the 7th grade. It was December 12th 2003, the news broke across the television in our glass room and my best friend and I just huddled together and cried. I have also watched the documentary Blackfish. And this is where I'm on the fence. Some of the views that were addressed in the movie I agree with. I don't like the negative reinforcement. I believe that it was that type of training with the first trainer in Victoria that started Tillicum's mental problems. That and the facilities the whales were kept in. That was not healthy for the whales and they probably did develope mental problems there. I also don't believe that SeaWorld should have bought the whale for breeding purposes after knowing what happened in Victoria. Not because I believe the whale could pass down a genetic problem for psychosis (because the problems that arose in Tillicum all stem from his prolonged abusive interaction with humans and how he was housed early in his captivity), but because even that was going to put him in close contact with the trainers at SeaWorld. Let alone making the decision to put him in shows. While also not telling any of their staff the potential this whale has for harming humans. None of those things should have been done. As one of the trainers mentioned in the video he should have been put in an Oceanic pen to live out his days. It was not fair to him to be puf through more mental stimulation and confusion with the other abusive whales and the food stimulation and demand to perform, when he was already unstable mentally. I also believe that the captive born whales should never be removed from their mothers. Keeping the offspring with their mothers is key to making those family groups that they need to be healthy mentally and emotionally. Yes it may cause training issues but just take some extra time. Train them harder and only with positive reinforcement. Hell stop making shows that center around them. Make an interactive one of a kind orca experience instead if they don't perform well. Make the tanks larger much much larger 5 to 10 times larger, make them more natural with rubbing rocks on the bottom, and some shallower places, and then to make it so humans will want to pay to see what they do, put a large long winding tunnel through it like the shark tank, so that people can go and see Orcas in their natural state, or as natural as captivity can make it. Hell make the enclosure huge and put an underwater hotel in it so people can have open walls to the water catch glimpses of the whales as they play, hunt, and rub themselves on the bottom rocks. There are plenty of ways SeaWorld can make those whales happier, safer and healthier and still make money. I don't think that any should be set free to the wild. One because of what happened with Keiko. They aren't used to the wild. The movie states that each pod speaks a different language than any other, they wouldn't be able to find a family, they would be alone. And they would all die alone. They don't know how to hunt, and no other orca would teach them, plus they would all be hazardous to any humans that happened upon them. Setting them free is just not an option. But if SeaWorld can't get back on track with doing what is best for their animals, then at most they should all be put in Oceanic pens to live out their days, so they can experience at least a fraction of the lives they should have had. But if SeaWorld can turn this whole train around and make their marine mammal habitats better, bigger more realistic then I would still pay to go see these animals there. If they can make it seem like you are seeing wild Orcas before you in this tank with a tunnel running through it, that would just take my breath away. Yes you could go whale spotting and see them in the actual wild, but to be able to get that close to them with an underwater view.... there just wouldn't be words, and in a perfect world, that would happen, but this world is far from perfect. The best we can ask for are just some improvement, not just for the animals we train to perform for us, but all animals that we have impacted, and for humanity too, we are just destructive and a danger to ourselves as the animals plants and other organisms on this magnificent planet that we are bent on destroying. I agree SeaWorld has gotten too big headed and blinded by profits made from Tillicum and the other whales. It should always be safety first, just having those whales is going to make them money. But they should treat them like they deserve, not like performing slaves. And I don't beleive that the trainers abuse them purposefully, and that since the latest incident that they may have even made changes to that and train them with better methods now, but that doesn't mean that these whales aren't mentally unstable and they shouldn't be forced into monotony. We shouldn't make them do what we wouldn't do to oursleves. ** If didn't express myself clearly or said something totally of kilter please feel free to comment so we can discuss. **

[deadsensescompany]

In Spirit

“In Spirit”

I faded away into a dream, Of you and I and our favorite place, And I waited there until it seemed, There were no more stars to trace.

I patiently stayed where you always told me, Was your favorite place to play as kids. Where we let our fears float down stream. Where I could always find you if you hid.

Beneath the tree of solace by the brooks, I would wait and you’d always show, No matter how long it ever took. Even if it became twenty below.

The one place we could count on, If one of our lives went awry. Where we would talk until dawn. Where we would laugh and cry. And everyday we would meet here, Under branches that sway. As kids we would appear, To sing and rant and play.

So I sat there and waited for hours. I could almost smell your scent. A freshly, decorated power, That I would never reinvent.

We promised to stay together, As we carved our names in the bark. Friends now and until forever. I can see our names even in the dark.

And I could almost hear the tone, In your voice when you were mad. The way you’d moan and groan. The way you’d looked so sad.

Like a puppy waiting for its master, I wandered around the tree. If only I could make time faster. Soon you’d be here with me. I traced the outline of your smile, On other people’s faces, But none of them matched for miles, The joy that yours embraces. But suddenly I felt a chill. The most horrible feeling strumming. After some time it persisted still. What if tonight you were not coming?

And so I walked down that lonesome road, Trying not to feel much sorrow, Because even though tonight I was alone, We could always try again tomorrow. In my home from boredom cleaned, Some accident was reported on the news. I glared at the television screen, And saw that it was you.

And I realized just now, That back there at our tree, Someway and somehow, In spirit you were with me, And years later I will still weep, Everyday by that broken bark, But I have promises to keep, As I see our names even in the dark.

[katiedbug09]

Reblogging

[katiedbug09]

Hurtful Bride

I just want to rant about something. My best friend and I were supposed to be in some of our good friends wedding today, but last night after the rehearsal, the bride cuts my friend and her only remaining bridesmaid and decides to just keep her maid of honor. I’m on the grooms side so I got to stay but he cut two of his groomsman as well. The bride decided it was too “crowded”. I’m sincerely enraged by this. I’ve been a bride I know how stressful it can be, but that doesn’t give anyone an excuse to treat people like they are simply decoration for your big day. That is really messed up.