Man bites dog

or something like that….

Yesterday, I saw on the news that a whale attacked and killed a Japanese fisherman.  It’s pretty upsetting – the video is here – but it is a handy piece of irony.

Last week, a friend of mine told me about a radio program that had talkback discussing how people had caught and trapped animals in the past.  One moron rang in and told of how he had laid a glue trap in a fairy penguin colony.  My friend rang in to ask that they change the subject, that animal cruelty is not amusing, and not a suitable subject for discussion in this “lighthearted” way.  She, and another friend were repeatedly patronised and hung up on by the person taking the calls, so she rang the RSPCA, got put straight through to a media liaison person who immediately turned on the radio, and was so incensed by what she heard that she had an RSPCA inspector ring in to the show.

After the inspector said exactly what my friend had been trying to say, the callback was stopped, and an on air apology was given.  Afterwards, a statement was issued on the ABC website, and my friend and the presenter have been having an ongoing dialogue about animal cruelty, and the pervasive acceptance in our society.  A small win, and hopefully one that has opened a few eyes to the suffering of non human animals  – and that our acceptance of this suffering only serves to perpetuate it.  I earnestly hope that this jolly acceptance of animal cruelty will go the same way as our acceptance of slavery, and the oppression of people of colour, women, and homosexuals.  And witches, of course.

Another heartening moment – this morning Tony Eastley read a story about healthy Tasmanian Devils being captured and injected with dead cells from the tumour which is killing Tasmanian Devils in droves.  Scientists hope to develop a vaccine, and are using these wild devils as guinea pigs.  Though I am generally against animal testing, this seems like a goal that is related directly to the health (and survival) of the species they are testing on.  At the end of the report, Mr Eastley thanked the devils for their “co-operation”.  Classy.

In work news, I have just spent three days learning about polysomnography data analysis software.  And yes, I did want to eat my own head, thank you for asking.  Next week I tackle “Continuous Positive Airway Pressure” devices, which sounds trivial by comparison.  But I passed the “exam”, and hopefully didn’t look like a moron, and I did actually learn something.  And I was finally given a laptop today!

And the icing on the vegan cake is that I am definitely going to New Zealand.  I have to give them my passport number tomorrow so they can book flights, and hopefully I will get to see Jussi between sucking up to thoracic specialists.  I can hardly wait.

Picture is of a kookaburra telling my mother to feed him, and be quick about it.

Correction.  No pictures because our webhosts are fsckers, and haven’t realised that we need more bandwidth due to the increasing traffic on the blog – and haven’t bothered to charge our credit card DESPITE BEING ASKED THREE TIMES.

Pictures as soon as Aussiehosts get a clue.