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'I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind'
~ Antoine de St. Exupéry

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EDIT UPDATE:

I went to the pet store today and by the time I got there it was empty and closed, noone there but the men cleaning up. I spoke to them and they said it would be 2-3 weeks before they open again.

The workmen told me there were heavy losses among the snakes and reptiles: however the news reported today that "Most of the hundreds of animals that survived, including snakes, fish, turtles, bushbabies, hamsters, ferrets, frogs, even a 2-foot alligator, are being housed at a friend’s warehouse..." so apparently a good number of animals did make it. good job firefighters!!!!!

Also, there was almost no actual fire damage inside the store: All damage/injury was apparently result of smoke inhalation. So hopefully, many will be ok. thanks for your thoughts anyone.


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<sub>EDIT:

I know this is hardly earthshattering news but Im really down about it.. // I feel like a loss in the family...// y'all know i have a lot of pets and spend a lot of time in petstores.. I just heard that one of our favorite local petstores was victim of a fire, they dont know yet how it started. the firemen did a great job evacuating tanks and cages and all kinds of animals and getting them to emergency vet, but even so most of the animals didnt make it.

this was a great community place where about half of it was a public petting zoo........ we've been going there since my kid was tiny. the petting zoo part was full of personal pets, rehabilitated rescue animals, and exotic species being bred and used for education. they lived at the store for years and were very cared about. we were just there in the summer, looking at the axolotls, reptiles, and hedgehogs. the petting zoo was where most of the animals were lost.

no word yet on how many animals survived. I am going there tomorrow to see if I can help out.

if you feel like it please send good thoughts to the owners who are devastated.</sub>












Oct 4 - World Animal Day !!

_{According to Wikipedia, which was the only link I could get without my computer having a breakdown:}

"[World Animal Day] started in Florence, Italy in 1931 at a convention of ecologists. On this day, animal life in all its forms is celebrated, and special events are planned on locations all over the globe. 4 October was originally chosen for World Animal Day because it is the feast day of Francis of Assisi, a nature lover and patron saint of animals and the environment."



<sub>It's convenient this happens to be World Animal Day because it goes with a question I've been meaning to put in a poll for a very long time. For awhile now I've been getting ready to open my new business -- and I've been planning for a long time to give a percentage of my profit to animal charities.



Why? because as Human, I'm ashamed of what we are doing to our cohabitants of this planet. And, if I am making a profit, I am going to share that profit to offset the damage I do to the earth and my neighbors here, just by doing nothing more than being Human.



Yes I know there are lots of great human charities -- and I work on those too, but to put it simply, I don't care of them so much. Humans aren't getting cancer because of sea turtles. We aren't getting AIDS because of snow leopards. Ya know? I think in general, its the other way around. And its the animals that get my sympathy.




So I've put up a poll asking people to nominate their favorite charities to me. I will put these in a list and rotate them every month with a percentage each month, going to that month's charity. I am trying to develop a list of charities that people think are worthy or in need of support, so if you know of one, please suggest it in my poll.</sub>





What animals am I interested in helping:


<sub>Well I would really love to help sea turtles, sea birds, sharks and all sea life. I'd love to help get that disgusting garbage patch in the pacific ocean cleaned up, and find better ways to deal with garbage and plastic. I would love to help get cats and dogs spayed and saved from shelters and placed in good homes. I would love to help wild and domesticated horses. I would like to help animals that don't have homes or who need good homes. I would like to help reduce cruelty to any animal in the commercial meat industries. I would love to help any animal whose habitat has been or is being destroyed by the actions of humans.



I would love to help find ways to reduce poaching and the bush meat trade in Africa. I would like to support programs that provide housing for animals retired from the laboratory testing industry.



I would like to support programs that rescue dogs from shelters and train them to be service animals. I would like to see racing animals such as horses and dogs retire with dignity. I would love to (sorry fishermen) see commercial fishing regulated so the oceans have a chance to replenish themselves.</sub>



As you can see, there are many many areas in which our animal neighbors can use our help and support. So, I invite you to think for yourself about some of these issues on World Animal Day this year: how you can help our animal neighbors who were living here in balance so long before we were.. and help me out by nominating your favorite animal charity to my poll.


in conclusion,

Happy World Animal Day Everyone








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for now, just continuing the inbox feature until my computer un-chokes

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literature:



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news articles:

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<sub>ITS NEW YEARS!!!!!!

humanity made it.


like a shedding snake, like a little pink crab all freshly molted, it is time to be new! time to regrow, to regenerate, to be fresh, innocent, and have beginner's mind.</sub>






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