ProblematicSalarian

[picturesofvexen]

[morganlegaye]

Have you ever read a fic where the premise is fucking amazing, yet the writing is absolute shit? And it just pains you, because you know someone else could do it justice, but they’ll never get the chance to because stealing other people’s ideas isn’t condoned? And so you just stare at it, hoping that it’ll get better, yet in the back of your mind you know it never really will, and all its amounted to now is wasted potential.

That’s what Once Upon a Time is like.

[keirametzofcarreras-archive-dea]

Shepard please, need to do this.

[zebkar]

Organization XIII

[taerellavellan]

RETURN OF THE KITTY BOOP. Sequel to this.

Jaal is livin’ the dream! I am sorry for butchering Liam, I don’t know how to draw this man T_T

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

My friend and I went to a zoo (that I don't wish to disclose) that we didn't know was not AZA accredited until after we went. The animals seemed generally okay, and there weren't any outward signs of problems, but there weren't many info plaques and they seemed to have a LOT of cheetahs, and there were those coin operated pellet feeders, which made us suspicious. When we got home we looked up stuff about it and we found some articles about sketchy incidents that occurred there. (1/2)

It was the first time I’d ever been to a non-AZA-accredated facility and I feel incredibly guilty over paying entrance fee and supporting them because enough of the stuff I eventually found about them made me not want to. The website for the zoo was professional and sleek, and so was the actual zoo’s outward appearance. The animals did not display behaviours that worried me, but now I know to look for the AZA seal, I’m still worried I’ll be fooled again. How can I make sure I’m not? 

Well, that depends on why you feel fooled. Is it because they’re not AZA, or because you feel like their public front was covering up something bad, or because you just didn’t know what you paid to support?

Here’s the thing. AZA accredits the ‘best’ facilities, in the sense that they’re accrediting the more monetarily stable urban zoos who can afford to sink a ton of money into all the myriad requirements you need to get that accreditation. Yes, with that you get a pretty decent guarantee that a facility is following all the best practices and guidelines for animal care and welfare and education and conservation involvement (except, y’know, everywhere can have issues and I know of places that do). However, as much as AZA would like you believe that there are only two categories - “AZA” and “burning dumpster fires” - that straight up is not the reality of the field at this point. A facility not being AZA tells you some things about it, but it doesn’t tell you everything; they could not have the money to partake in conservation efforts to the level that AZA requires, they could be in the middle of the multi-year process of improving with the goal of being accreditation, or they could even have been previously accredited and chosen to split from the organization over politics or policy differences. I know examples of all of these in real life. So what becomes more important is really what other accreditations they might have and why they’d choose what they did… and as a member of the public, honestly, that’s really hard to parse and you’re not likely to be able to find access to that information. 

So. What to do from there? If you want to go, go. Google it first next time - but even with that, you have to figure out what lens anything you find has been filtered through. Look at how old events are, look for patterns of events, try to find alternate sources with a different spin and see how things are presented before deciding to believe anything. See if it looks like anything you don’t like is recent, see if older things appear to have changed, that sort of thing. It’s important to remember that the zoo field has grown massively in the past couple of decades and that ethos of animal management is still evolving so things that were issues in the past are not guaranteed to be practices still in place today. 

If you decide to go to a zoo you’re not sure about, do exactly what you did. Look around critically and ask questions about what you see. Talk to the staff and see how you feel about their responses. Ask them about accreditation status and why they made the choices they do. You can’t learn everything online so, honestly, I think visiting in person is the best way to decide if you want to support a facility in the future. 

I don’t know if you got duped, without knowing the facility. If you saw a nicely upkept public side, animals that didn’t appear to be displaying behavioral problems, and the only things that were uncomfortable were history? Probably a pretty good chance you ended up at a decent facility. 

(Cheetahs are one of the big endangered species conservation projects that is managed outside of AZA control, and their population is booming in captive settings recently, so I’m not surprised you saw a bunch). 

[wibs26]

[lesbihonest-here]

Omg you guys I just found her like this

[i-m-not-o-fucking-kay]

there is like 99% chance that Legion is (are?) the best (x)

[hellwoof]

Globally, dogs have caused about 10 extinctions and continue to threaten another 150 species. In the United States alone, some 78,000 dogs roam habitats close to urban and suburban development. From marine shores and grasslands to woodlands and coniferous forests, dogs chase and attack wild birds and deer and terrorize native predators such as gray foxes and even pumas. Even the scent of a dog is enough to compel wildlife to flee and hide. The presence of dogs accelerates heartbeats in bighorn sheep and causes marmots to be more hesitant to reemerge from their burrows. Some animals will abandon living in an area altogether if dogs visit frequently, forcing them to give up precious opportunities to feed and travel. Elsewhere, dogs serve as reservoirs for a host of diseases — such as rabies, canine parvovirus and leishmaniasis (also known as black or dumdum fever). Studies from Brazil reveal that wildlife and livestock in proximity to dogs are particularly at risk of leishmaniasis, which infects roughly 1.6 million people a year. In China’s Wolong Reserve, free-roaming dogs share at least four microparasites with the reserve’s giant pandas, threatening Wolong’s precious pandas with several pathogens. In poor countries such as Nepal, dog populations — originally used to ward off snow leopards — have exploded. Unwanted dogs are left roaming villages, living on food scraps or hunting wildlife in forest habitats. Inevitably, conflicts mount. In the Annapurna Conservation Area, villagers routinely poison dogs with strychnine, a readily available poison that induces a long, painful death. It’s not uncommon to find dog carcasses in rivers and landfills. Sadly, when vultures and other scavengers eat the carrion, they are poisoned, too.

Dogs are man’s best friend — but one of wildlife’s worst foes

, Debby Ng and Joel Berger, The Washington Post. 24 March 2017.

(via

hellwoof

)

The damage done by feral cats is becoming widespread and over stated, but I feel like people are willing to give dogs a free pass because dogs are friendlier. Don’t be fooled: it ain’t cool to let dogs free roam or set up feral populations either.

(via moreanimalia)

[pkpaulshow]

[daikiraichu]

jaal just astral projected the fuck out

[wanderingbeauty-deactivated2019]

[thekingdomheartsdepths]

[Kingdom Hearts Scenery - Deep Jungle]

[fischotterchen-deactivated20240]

for self-insert weekend day 2, two ace nerds on a platonic teahouse date (decaf for Mordin). i like to think we’d be the sort of friends who are super close to the point where everyone assumes we’re dating so we just roll with it.  

“Recently engaged actually. Wedding in spring. Thinking of eggshell and mauve for color scheme.”

“What? No, babe, I thought we agreed on ivory and emerald…”

[novoicetocry]

            his mind twisted by spite and bent on R E V E N G E.                                           the U S U R P E R came to bring darkness down upon our world. 

[josephskeery]

#mood

[biananas]

Haunted House Reactions with Organization XIII (+ some BBS characters)

I had so much fun doing it !!

~ original idea by Kellberry : Part1 and Part 2