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Fábio Magalhães, Trouxa III (Allusive to Artur Barrio), 2013 Oil on canvas

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i'll tell you what converted me to being all-in on keeping cats indoors only:

living for a year and a half in a rural area with a sudden feral cat colony explosion on the property.

i moved in with my folks for a bit and at that time, one (1) stray cat mama had taken up residence on the property, but was too feral to let my mother anywhere near her. but especially after she brought three kittens around, mom fed her and the kittens in hopes they'd grow trusting enough she could catch for spay and neuter at the minimum. momcat stayed mean and hella wary, but the kittens would hang around a little nearer and play with my mom via long stick, but still wouldn't come close enough to touch or catch.

unfortunately, two of the three kittens were girls and started having kittens of their own before further progress was made, shortly after i moved in. and that was pretty much instant doom.

there were so many kittens. SO MANY. multiple litters. every time we turned around, more kittens.

we fed them. we hunted for and located the kittens every time anywhere on the property and would move them to a repurposed doghouse anytime a mama cat had them somewhere else, so that they could grow up human-socialized and we could spay/neuter them when they were old enough. (also it was a handy tactic to push the issue of the mamas getting more used to/trusting of us themselves. only really worked with one of them, though.)

and we watched them die.

we watched litter after litter of kittens never make it to the age they could be spayed or neutered. the moms stayed, for the longest time, too skittish to more than briefly touch, much less catch and crate for a vet visit.

it sounds like a silly joke to say i have kitten-related ptsd, but i absolutely do.

too many goddamn times i'd walk out of the garage and find the carport and gravel drive strewn with tiny bodies. others simply went missing, never to be found.

one in particular, i wish i hadn't found, and the visual literally haunts me still, almost a decade later.

i saw so many kittens die of snake bite, spider bite, wild dogs, birds of prey, hit by cars, respiratory illness, covered in fleas and eyes crusted with infection.

and we loved them all. scrimped for antibiotics if the vet could be convinced to give it to us despite our being unable to bring them in. bought flea collars and ointments. we cared for them and fed them and petted them and played with them, brushed their fur and cleaned up their little faces, put ice in their water in hot summer, rigged a heating lamp in their house in the winter.

and they died. horribly. that property is pocked with unmarked graves of kittens and cats.

all the best intentions, not enough resources, and it didn't matter anyways because the population went from three to almost twenty (at times, over thirty) in the blink of an eye.

they died and died and died. our hearts broke over and over again. the stress and anxiety wore us down like sandpaper. i think, by the end of it all, we managed to find less than 10 of them all homes, including batman the disabled kitten i found a home across the country through tumblr.

it was carnage and tragedy, frankly. and we were helpless.

it only ended because they started dying faster than they could be born, and because we finally caught the two remaining mom cats in traps and got them spayed.

the points about outdoor cats being invasive predators devastating to local wildlife populations is true and valid and important.

but i know cat people, and cat people who don't know better than to let cats outdoors. what matters to you is the cat itself, generally. the cat being happy and taken care of.

keeping cats outdoors, letting them outdoors, is not taking care of the cats. it's not protecting them. it's not giving them any happiness or invigoration that couldn't be provided to them as indoor-only pets with just a little research and effort.

they die. they get ill. they get hurt. they're at risk of predators, and cars, and disease, and carelessly cruel children and deliberately cruel adults. they're at risk of disappearing on you because someone else saw a cat outdoors and intervened to give it a better, safer life not in conflict with the local environment.

and if that offends and angers you that someone would just take a cat they saw roaming outdoors, even collared, and that it sounds like i'm endorsing that, i am, but not if you intervene and be that person yourself for your own cat.

if what matters to you is doing right by your cat because it's family and a living creature whose happiness and health and safety is important to you,

keep them indoors. not part time. always. exclusively.

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Thats the bitch whos violating the migratory bird treaty act kill her

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Hey, I'm after a jaguar mink pelt, anyone know of good sources or have one for sale? Must be complete, mountable preferred. I'm aware of Northern Fox and Fur, but they only have one, and I'm pretty picky on markings. Tanned preferred, but I can cope with raw.

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this little northern cardinal was discovered in massachusetts with two heads and three beaks.

source: (x)

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Edit: this boy has sold!

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Hi Devin! My name is Isaac, and I'm a Youtuber who goes by Ize. I've been trying to contact you for a few months now so I'm hoping this reaches you! I believe you are the owner of the ''Ize'' Minecraft account and was wondering if there is any way I could purchase it from you? I have the @ize handle on twitter and instagram, with Minecraft being the last thing I'm looking to obtain. If you're interested in talking or giving me a price, please email me here: privatefearless@gmail Thanks! :)

I genuinely don’t know how to reply to this, so I’m publishing it because it’s the WEIRDEST ask I’ve ever gotten.

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I'm selling my mountable wolf pelt. She's about 42" ntb. Ventral cut, some skinning holes and minor repairable damage to one paw, but a fresh tan that rehydrates well, plenty of lip/eye skin, and the ears are turned well. I have many images from when I rehydrated her, for anyone interested. Had a price in mind, but honestly open to the best offer, since I know this time of year is a little iffy for sales.

US only, no sales to NY/CA, sorry.

SOLD

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Big Paw.

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That's very cheap for a femur.

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Vulture culture ethics PSA

It’s important to note that ethics are very complex, fluid and highly personal.

You can choose to follow the regulations set in place by a larger organisation, for example universities will have ethics committees to make sure that research done by the university falls in line with the ideals of the institution, it’s board, and what it aims to uphold and stand for.

Or, as is more common, you can set your own code of ethics based on your personal experience and knowledge. Your ethical stance will be influenced by your culture, religion, upbringing and education.

Whatever your beliefs, you need to recognise that your ethics are yours, and personal. You do not have to engage with or financially support people whose ethics don’t fall in line with yours. You don’t have to buy animal remains from hunters, trappers or fur farmers. You can actively seek out sources that fall in line with your ethics.

But if it is important to you, you need to explain what the criteria are. Rather than just saying ‘this is ethically sourced’ or ‘I want a thing that has been ethically sourced’ say what you really mean.

Whether it be roadkill, found dead of unknown but assumed natural causes, not killed specifically for its hide/head/whatever, killed as an invasive pest species, hunted legally, farmed according to the regulations for animal welfare as designated by x resource, etc etc

I guarantee that my ethics are different from many of yours. I know that a 'natural’ death can be much slower and more traumatic than a bullet, I know that almost any animal that can legally be hunted in my country is an invasive pest species, I know that fur/meat/dairy/etc farmers have to keep their animals well looked after to ensure the highest quality product and that the laws and regulations in my country encourage these practices. My ethics make me comfortable sourcing animals from those types of locations, and further researching any I may be doubtful about.

That may not be good enough for many of you. And that is fine, but the point is that you need to be clear and if in doubt ask about a potential purchases history and the ethics of the source rather than assuming that the word 'ethical’ means the same thing for everyone.

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first bird done! i didnt have the right tools but i managed to get what i wanted out of it. legs and skull are being cleaned

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Cat that came to a shelter with an extra nipple growing on her face. Photo by Emily Grace.

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Wallabies I retanned! They're not perfect, but much, much better than they were (alum and salt ""wet tan......"")

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The vulture culture community is even larger on Instagram and Facebook than Tumblr, to be honest. Things just flutter between communities less over there.

facebook users: buy this makeup that i sell

instagram users: try this flat tummy tea

tumblr users: 

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I'm sorry about that! I know it's not too accessible, the color scheme was a result of project requirements, and since it was an older project, I don't have the text anymore. I'm fully aware it's not the best, I'd definitely have improved on that if posting it wasn't an afterthought. As for your comment on Canada, I'm aware, this information is US only (but I understand that my saying that was in the infographic, and not too accessible). I'm not entirely sure what you mean by your comment of brown on brown, because the infographic is blue and yellow, but if I ever make another I definitely plan to consider accessibility, as long as I don't have a forced color scheme from a professor!!

(Click to make it legible, hopefully)

I found this MBTA infographic I made for an environmental biology class ages ago, so I figured I may as well share it, before I forgot about it again.

Even unknowing violations can net you up to a $15,000 fine. Put the damn bird bits back.