mouseypop - Tumblr blog

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here is my tiny little bean chi named Chickpea, she's a foster pup I bottle raised from 5 days old, she is 11wks old now and not even 2 lbs yet

I would like to draw some chihuahuas show me your chihuahuas

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poor budgie

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got so high I got scared and had to get out of the car to calm down and a coyote immediately sprinted out of the underbrush and stalked towards me

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This is such a bizarre way of saying she went and bought new foxes from a fur farm.

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A bunch of folk are commenting on the post about a sanctuary feeding a bear Twizzlers with something along the lines of “well if the sanctuary is preferred by PETA it’s immediately sus.” There’s a lot more to that relationship worth knowing about.

What a lot of people aren’t in a position to be aware of is that while PETA’s public facing advocacy is really inflammatory and offensive, it’s almost a smokescreen for how much they’re investing in widespread and effective lobbying and litigation. They’re heavily involved in very serious work to advance more restrictive animal-based legislation across federal and state governments, and are taken very seriously because they have very, very good lawyers who know animal regulation and oversight and everything related inside and out. Litigators associated with them are pretty much cornerstones of every animal law school I know of in the US.

The reason this matters is that when PETA sues over animal care - like under the Endangered Species Act - as part of the relief granted by the court if they win, they generally get to say where the animals go. And the animal welfare matters, but those animals also represent millions of dollars in fundraising and advocacy narratives for both PETA and the receiving sanctuary. The lawsuits that took animals from Tim Stark and Jeff Lowe from Tiger King and put them at the iffy Colorado sanctuary? PETA. The lawsuit against Dade City’s Wild Things that put their tigers (and some of Joe Exotic’s) at the same place? PETA. They’re using those court ruling to change the law via bench precedent one case at a time, all towards making it easier to remove animals from (even good) zoos or shut them down.

Similarly, having lobbying powerhouses in places allows them to use the narratives of those animals and the beautiful photos from the sanctuaries to convince legislators to pass new / more restrictive laws, and to listen to PETA even more (because look what good we did the last time we collaborated on a bill!) . The Big Cat Public Safety Act was a big thing PETA lobbied for in collaboration with Carole Baskin and the Big Cat Sanctuary Alliance (which has two current/previous influential PETA lawyers on the advisory board). If you’ve got a representative voting on bills that restrict animal use or care, they’ve probably got a pretty favorable view of PETA, because they’re being approached by really professional powerhouse litigators who are totally removed from all that vile stuff the PR side spews.

And you know what PETA is doing with that lobbying? Pushing for more ways to be able to confiscate animals or go after captive animal facilities in court. They’ve been talking for years about adding a provision to the Animal Welfare Act that would allow them to sue facilities for any potentially harmful violation, just like they’re doing with the Endangered Species Act. The zoological industry and probably many other related animal industries could not survive the financial cost of all the lawsuits that would open the door for, regardless of merit. I first heard a PETA litigator raise the topic years ago at a meeting - a bill introducing that amendment is currently active in Congress. (They’re also exploring avenues for using consumer fraud laws to allow “true” sanctuaries to sue other sanctuaries whose practices they don’t agree with philosophically and say are scamming the public.)

To sum up: in animal industry world, PETA isn’t this offensive obnoxious entity you can eye-roll and ignore. They’re a seriously scary, heavily funded, incredibly influential lobbying group with some of the most intimidating lawyers I’ve ever met. They invest money in things they know they can win, and by the time they’ve started a visible campaign, their target is so underwater - whether there’s a real issue or no - it’s rare to come back from it. So when I say “this sanctuary is PETA’s favorite for placing animals”, what that means is “this facility has been chosen to be a philosophical partner for PETA’s legal and legislative goals and is receiving animals worth millions of dollars in fundraising revenue in return.”

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Unmute !

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Truly a shame there's not more yak appreciation on tumblr.

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In the club humbled by the totality of my ignorance

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"what does a TARDIS malfunction sound like?"

"idk just dump the entire goofy sound effects library in the span of 10 seconds. That should do it"

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wachifield stickers

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😳

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tell me about the real historical figure Marco polo

Marco Polo is famous for finding his way around the world by shouting out his own name and following when distant people from unfamiliar lands called it back to him. He did so even from across land masses as he rode on horseback, hitting a ball with a hammer, and over bodies of water like oceans and pools, hence his nickname, "Water Polo." He also invented a new type shirt that could establish at a quick glance that its wearer was a rich pretentious jerk.

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I need to have an it/its weekend

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