Litter and Wildlife

Looks like this didn't post last week.

Sadly, the fox cub hasn't been seen since last Sunday, and despite having a cage trap in my garden for days, I have to assume I won't be rescuing him. He must have died.

Anyway, below is the story you would have read a week ago, when I still hoped for a positive outcome:

People are so unthinking when they drop litter. Anyone with half a brain knows that, apart from looking terrible, it harms the environment and can endanger wildlife.

Last night I had a very sad experience of this. There was a fox cub in my garden with its head wedged in a plastic container. I couldn't get near.

I called the Fox Project and someone was with me in about 45 minutes. But even he couldn't get close enough to catch the little critter. The plastic wasn't completely opaque, and at least the cub can breathe. what it can't do is eat or feed, so unless it manages to dislodge the impediment, or someone manages to get close enough to help it, the little life will be lost in appalling circumstances.

I've leafleted the immediate area and hope others' eyes may be enough to get help to our precious charge.

Pravda

Not a favourite episode. Bishop was her usual unexciting self. Everybody needed a good slap.

Animal News

After being poorly for some time with an infection that caused terrible loss of appetite to his elderly frame, my poor gorgeous Dandy made a short recovery before developing what appeared to be a toe infection. It didn't get better, so on Monday, the poor little boy had to have two toes amputated. Mr Spock, eat your heart out.



He's doing better than expected. Once the fur grows back on to his beautiful, mutilated paw, we might not even notice the deformity :(

Meanwhile, try on a tamandua (or tree anteater) for size.



Or would you prefer a new baby white-naped mangabey?

The Posthumous Collection

There's the gorgeous face:



And the loooong body:

Happy Birthday Vincent D'Onofrio

Happy birthday to Vincent, 55 today.

Here's to the next 55...

Poison

Nasty narcissistic woman. I wanted to slap her.

Please Note

Seems to me the problems with private schools are at least as bad in the US as they are in the UK. Except we don't have the lovely Det. Goren to come and fix them.

Playing Dead

I really disliked the slimey perp and the stupid mother in this one. And Bobby's hair looks like it's been gnawed into shape by rats.

Good, Bad and Disgraceful

I have some very mixed feelings about what has been going on at London Zoo over the past few weeks. Let's start with something amusing. There is a new female tamandua (tree anteater), but the old girl, Tammy, is still taking her walk around the dark end of the indoor rainforest where she once found some insects and thinks she will get lucky again. Who knows what she thinks she would do with a piranha. (Yes, she has climbed up on to a handrail to take a closer look.)



There are a couple of cheetahs in temporary residence in the old tiger enclosure. It is in the old tiger enclosure, which will soon become part of the new, enlarged lion terrace. It is too small for cheetahs to be in long term.





The sloth recently had a baby. This is the first time I've been able to get a picture of it.






Sadly, however, the higher ups at the zoo have taken charge of tiger mum Melati's movements by locking her outside with her cubs. This is for the convenience of visitors. Not something a conservation organisation should be considering. One of those upset with their conduct was a woman visiting from Perth who has known Melati since her birth, and brought ZSL some photographs of the little lady in her younger days. I am martialling my strength for another attack. The keepers are not happy with wha they have been ordered to do, so the only problem with be with people like the wondrous (according to him) David Field whom I took to task over earlier tragedies he has presided over.



Melati is getting her own back, however, by taking the cubs to the most inaccessible part of her enclosure, where the existence of mesh interferes with anyone's attempts to get decent pictures. Go girl!

The Pilgrim

I know we all love this one. Bobby in army fatigues. Bobby in shirtsleeves taking off his tie...

Phantom

Strange that the actor playing the mad baddie in this ends up playing a goodie in the TV show Person of Interest - in my alphabetical list the episode P of I is the one before Phantom!

Person of Interest

Here come Nicole's claws. Bobby's fallen for the story she's constructed.

Cub Heaven

On Thursday I went to the zoo in the hope of seeing the cubs. Apparently they had not ben out for 4 days. I was not hopeful. Then, at 4.30, they appeared - and stayed out for an hour! We die-hards who had stuck with it had an amazing experience.

First, Melati came out and had a prowl.





When she went in we thought that was it. But one by one the cubs appeared. First the bold boys, who followed mum up on to a high wall. She then went in and brought out her daughter, who joined the boys on their high playground.







The girl got down relatively easily. One boy had a think about it and managed to descend, leaving his brother stranded. Mum went inside too, and the remaining cub cried pitifully.

She came out several more times, and the other boy cub rejoined his brother a couple of times, once descending without using all the stages (thump!) and once trying to get up a rather more sheer surface (thud!) but his brother didn't take notice of his clues.  Eventually, though, they were all safely inside and the keepers closed the gate. And for once Melati wanted to come out again on her own and see JaeJae, so she and we all thought it was rather unfair.

I won't bore you with the details of how I found a camera online that would help me get better zoom on future photos, then couldn't buy it at two stores that were meant to have it in stock. I won't mention the store employee who had to be dragged out ranting by two of his colleagues because a mere old woman dared to challenge his patronising attitude and male "superiority". But expect better pictures next time. Once I can figure out the instructions. And what one dial does that is identified in the diagram, but has no place in the text...

Pas de Deux

I think everyone loves this one. Bobby dancing, how could we resist?

The Pardoner's Tale

Not overly fond of this one. Carver was a pig and upset Bobby and Alex.

Bobby was stupendously hot, though...

On Fire

Season 5 wasn't his best look, but he was still irresistible.

One

Oh, little did we know when first we viewed this episode how much of our lives we would spend thinking about the man in it.

Animal Magic

On Tuesday I visited my friend, who recently adopted two retired breeding Bengal cats, Juniper, a shy petite queen who resisted being photographed, and Bear, a huge stud. When he was a tiny kitten Bear's mother had caught his eye with a claw, so he has lived his life happily with just one.




I made another trip to the zoo last Wednesday, and though the tiger cubs did not appear, a new baby llama made its entry into the world. This is the sweetie at just 2-and-a-half hours old:




One reason why the cubs may not have appeared is they had their first vet encounter, where they were vaccinated, microchipped and sexed - two boys and a girl.

No Exit

This one tragic episode, misery from start to finish. Bobby's only smile was when he was suggesting the girl who committed suicide was probably drunk and wearing a lampshade at the Christmas party.

Cutely Cubtastic

I returned to London Zoo twice this week, on Tuesday and on Friday. The cubs didn't put in an appearance on Friday, but on Tuesday I was able to show them off to Helen, my boss.

Mum brought them out to see the world, and for the world to see:



Mum had enough of one of the cubs and slapped him down. Please excuse the loud noise - there is a giant brass tiger paw that kids can operate to understand how the claws retract. Some parents think it's OK for everyone else to have to suffer their kids' intrusive behaviour.