Why it's never a dull day (for the animals)...

Forget Planet of the Apes, we should be watching the Orcas!

From the AP wire service comes this TODAY story (8 Feb, "Five Seaworld Orcas sue US Government")...

For the first time in US history, a Federal judge heard arguments Monday (6 Feb) in a case that could decide if animals enjoy the same protection against slavery as human beings.

A district judge called the hearing in San Diego after Sea World asked the court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) that names five Orcas as plaintiffs in the case.

PETA claims that the captured killer whales are treated like slaves, forced to live in tanks and perform daily [without wages (fish treats don't count!), I should add,] at its San Diego and Orlando parks.

Sea World's lawyer said if the court were to grant the orcas constitutional rights, such a ruling could impact everything from the way the US government uses dogs to sniff out bombs and drugs to how zoos and aquariums operate.

[Hmm, I better start being extra accommodating to my dogs' demands... see last item below.]

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Meanwhile, the monkeys (hic, hic!) in Kazakhstan...

Also in TODAY is this Daily Telegraph story: A zoologist -- the chief animal specialist at Karaganda zoo in central Kazakhstan -- says "red wine is good", ie if it's good for her monkeys, it's good for humans too. She doles out a daily ration of red wine to her monkeys to help them cope with the winter temperatures.

Karaganda is one of the coldest places on earth in winter [-30 deg C is pretty common there]. The monkeys, though, live inside where the temperature is closer to 27 deg C. Oh, pregnant and baby monkeys don't get to imbibe. [Hello, what's PETA's hotline in Kazakhstan?]

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Forget 'Occupy Wall Street'! It's "Occupy Sofa' here in my house...

The two dogs, Brady the beagle (aka "Senior Dog") and Killer the mini schnauzer (aka "Dog Without Portfolio") have decided to Occupy Sofa. I'm still trying to locate the hotline number for People for the Ethical Treatment of Fuming Folks (PETOFF)!

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I'm making an overseas trip and will be back by Tuesday. Will resume blogging by mid-week.