#starters are all animals that can be both feral or domesticated

[tater-th0t13]

Pokemon game where you start off the in the hardest town.

You didn’t move there, you’ve been surrounded by the regions best pokemon trainers and toughest wild pokemon your whole life. Even your mom is a super strong trainer, better yet shes the local gym leader.

And everyone is just. So. Mean. To you specifically. They don’t care that you’re 10 and you can’t catch a local pokemon, and even if you did they wouldn’t hesitate to one-hit K.O. your ass. Your mom doesn’t believe in gifting strong pokemon to weak trainers and her own child is no exception. You’re the laughing stock of the town and no one is going to be the one to throw you a bone, lest they be seen as weak themselves.

But you hear about a small, quaint village, and a pokemon professor that has previously given new trainers good starting pokemon and helpful advice. You decide that if you’re going to live up to the standards set by your hometown you can’t stay there. Everyone including your mom is excited to see you leave, half because they’re glad you’re finally starting your journey to living up to your family/town name and half because your presence is just embarrassing.

Your rival is your older sibling whom your mom demands accompany you to the small town and keep an eye on you. They’re equally if not the most embarrassed of you and your weak status and laughs at your pokemon. And unlike the regular games, they do not start off as your equal. You *will* lose to your older sibling. Not just the first encounter, but many times after. True to form, they will always be ahead of you and find all your challenges to be a breeze, followed by an ass-whooping.

The clear goal is to build the ultimate team that will show to everyone back home that they were all wrong about you. To return home with 7 badges and force your mom to award you your 8th and final badge. To at some point in your journey have a team that beats your sibling’s and leave them dumbfounded, and maybe even proud?

But your journey along the way will be filled with characters and challenges that make you question your idea of what it means to be a pokemon trainer thats been engrained into since birth. Trainers who know fuck-all about stats. Towns that have banned competitive poke-sports. The idea that the relationship between trainer and pokemon is not just using them as a tool to earn prominence and money. Everything that flies in the face of what your mom and town have told you about pokemon.

And at one point, you’ll have completed the journey you’ve set out to accomplish. You are *the* pokemon champion. Nobody at home can call you a weakling, you’ve put everyone in their place, including and especially your family.

But after everything you will still be faced with a choice: to be everything your town and family expect of you and wield power using your pokemon OR abandon everything you’ve ever known in favor of the vast and varying possibilities of the wider pokemon world?

Do you return to your roots, hardened and cold from the years of belittling comments and unfair, brutal battles? Do you wield your championship title over your mother and sibling, making them feel the inferiority that you felt? Do you actively shove the words fed to you down the throats of those who used them against you? Become the mirror and hold yourself to the town that made you this way, but worse?

Or do you walk away? Do you return to the towns that taught you the importance of friendship and hard work that has no pay off? Return to the professor who taught you the value of having varied experiences? Join your friends on their endeavors, because through your journey you all became closer than you are to your own family? Give up the title of champion and your birthright to power?

Choosing option one condemns your file to competitive play for the rest of the post-story game lol.

[degstiel]

Long post incoming!

So, can we stop the demonization of "kill shelters?"

For starters, let's stop calling them that and call them what they actually are- open intake shelters.

When it comes to public shelters, there are 2 varieties- open intake and limited intake.

Open intake shelters are required to take any animal given to them, found in their contracted area, surrendered, etc. when it happens. Because of the way they are funded, they do not have the ability to schedule surrender intakes and therefore often have to take in animals when they physically have nowhere to put them, which is what leads to euthanizing for space. Open intake shelters are frequently those labeled as "kill."

Limited intake shelters have the luxury of the ability to say "no" or "not now." Rather than being obligated to take any animal that comes their way exactly when it does, they can require scheduled drop offs for owner surrenders (while still having to take in strays and ACO seizures as they come). This allows them to not have to take in animals when they have literally nowhere to put them, and therefore enables them to not have to euthanize for space. Their ability to say "no" also allows them to turn away serious behavior cases that they think are beyond their ability to help, which is common practice among "no kill" shelters because they want to avoid jeopardizing their status as "no kill." Limited intake shelters are frequently the ones labeled as "no kill."

There is a time and place for both. Without open intake shelters, countless more animals would be loose on the streets in areas with larger feral/stray problems than up here, which poses a health and safety hazard. More animals would get dumped rather than responsibly surrendered because not everyone has the luxury of waiting several days or weeks to place their pet elsewhere.

There are far worse things than a peaceful death. It is sad when euthanasia for space has to happen, but it is not cruel. It does not cause the animal to suffer.

You know what does cause them to suffer?

Living on the streets at the mercy of the elements.

Being dumped because their people felt they had no other choice.

Staying in a home that can't care for them properly because that home has nowhere else to send them.

The list goes on.

On top of this, let's address the baggage of the term "kill" versus "no kill." Many people think that "no kill" means no euthanasias happen at all, but that simply isn't the case. A "no kill" shelter or rescue has a euthanasia rate of 10% or less. This accounts for both physical health euthanasias and behavioural euthanasias. Both are an important part of rescue work that many people outside of the field aren't prepared to face. It is a harsh reality, but one that absolutely must be accepted.

It is kinder to euthanize a serious behavior case than it is to warehouse them.

It is kinder to euthanize a serious behavior case than to adopt them out only for their adopter to have to make the call anyway.

It is kinder to euthanize a serious medical case than it is to keep them around, just for the sake of saying you didn't kill them.

And yes, it is kinder to euthanize than to let overpopulation of strays cause suffering to the animals roughing it on their own, potentially damaging the native ecosystem and posing a threat to humans and other domestic animals living in the area.

Everyone in this field is in it because they love animals and they want to help them- staff and volunteers at both open intake and limited intake shelters are there because they want to help as many as they can and see them move on to thrive and succeed in their new homes.

Please stop demonizing open intake shelters. Stop cries to ban them. Stop being nasty to and about their staff and volunteers. Everyone is doing their best. In some areas there are simply too many animals, so when they can't get them out fast enough- either to adoptive homes or other rescues and shelters with more space- the only choice that remains is to euthanize. It is sad, but it is not cruel.

Give these shelters some grace. They're doing their best. ❤️

[dragontamer22]

Eeveelutions (on-going thread)

Eevee (#133)  Mutabellus variabilis

One of the most domesticated Pokemon in existence. Eevees are extremely adaptable Pokemon with the most varied evolutionary possibilities known to science. To date, there are eight known “Eeveelutions.” The existence of others is highly likely.

Habitat: Eevees are found worldwide including Antarctica, but some of this globality is human caused. In nature, Eevees were historically found across Eurasia, Africa, North America, and South America (they crossed over on the Bering Strait), and introduced to isolated islands and land masses by humans. Yes, Vaporeons were able to immigrate to some islands on their own, however Vaporeons are freshwater organisms and so have a low tolerance for extended stays in the ocean.

Wild and feral Eevee populations often live in urban centers, forests, and honestly anyplace that they can settle in and get enough food. They are the ultimate generalist, making them a force to be reckoned with when they invade an ecosystem, and many humans aren’t inclined to get rid of them because of their cuteness.

Life Cycles: They are fairly standard mammals. They mate once a year, have litters of 2-4 kits in spring, dual parental care, kits are left to fend for themselves by mid/late summer.

Behavior: Eevee are largely colonial creatures, so like domestic cats they often form loose social groups but are largely independent. Their social structure is highly varied (just like Eevees are), ranging from solitary hunters to sibling groups to unrelated outcasts banding together— but in general, it’s safest to describe them as “colonial” as they neither are concretely solitary Pokemon nor hypersocial like humans or dogs, but instead as a species are socially adaptable. Truly, the epitome of adaptability in any Pokemon.

Diet: Eevees are omnivores and can eat a variety of foods, but consume mostly nuts, berries, bugs, and the occasional rodent. They can be fed vegetarian diets if done correctly, however they require a high ratio of fats and proteins relative to herbivores, and if not planned for this can ill-prepare the Eevee for evolution both in terms of physicality and mentally, since many Eeveelutions are carnivores. Be sure that if you raise your Eevee on a vegetarian diet, to talk with a veterinarian/Nurse Joy at your local Pokemon Center for viable options and what evolutionary paths to avoid.

Conservation: While wild Eevee populations certainly exist, they are classified as Least Concern by most governing agencies. Some countries/continents actually consider Eevee an invasive species, such as Australia and Antarctica!

Classification: They're in the order Carnivora like bears and cats, but have no earthen equivalents and are instead their own unique members of the ecosystem.

Relationship with Humans: Eevees have been beloved companions of humans for as long as humans have cooperated with Pokemon. They are very thoroughly domesticated, to the point where it’s unclear what ancestral Eevees looked like. However, don’t let domestication fool you into thinking that all Eevees are friends, because they most certainly are not. Like feral or wild cats, wild Eevees are still wild animals that will bite you if you aggravate it.

Eevees are also very popular as merchandise, mascots, favorite Pokemon, research subjects, starter Pokemon, and more. In fact, the most popular Pokemon to breed is Eevee, with hundreds of breeds all around the world from truly exotic show varieties to local landraces. While many countries make earnest efforts to regulate Pokemon breeding, including Eevees, there are a lot of shady practices in existence, too. Black market breeders exist in abundance, and many irresponsible and unlicensed breeders release unwanted stock into the wild if not disposed of in other means. As would be implied by the existence of Boltund-racing (see Bestiary entry #836) and other questionable practices that reflect our own world, other far worse illegal fighting activities often utilize overbred Eevees as bait for things, since they are not difficult to acquire and in places where they are invasive, local governance sometimes don’t do nearly enough to stop these practices as they should.

In addition, there are places around the world that eat Eevees or hunt/raise them for their fur, which is quite soft. This is no different than the varying cultural practices around the raising and usage of dogs or other domesticated or wild animals.

[cephalopodvictorious]

Hi I’m sorry I saw that post you reblogged about outdoor cats and I’m a little confused. I’ve never seen anything that mentioned that letting cats outdoors is bad for them. Is this something in the city or all around? I’m actually a little worried now because my cats have always been both indoor and outdoor cats (although I have a somewhat large yard, and I live on one of the more rural islands in Hawaii)

Hey! Yeah its actually really bad for them for a lot of reasons. For starters, cats are domesticated animals, and while they’re better prepared to survive in the wild than, say, cows, they’re still not wild animals. They’re also not native to most of the places they live in, and while they can destroy ecosystems, they can also be hunted by opportunistic predators. Birds of prey, wild dogs, dogs in yards, other cats, snakes, and other animals can all kill or seriously maim outdoor cats. You also raise the possibility that a strange human might hurt them, and while that seems like a remote possibility, there are serial cat poisoners all the time. They can also be hit by cars.

Speaking of poison, cats are dumb and used to just eating whatever, and they don’t always realize they’re eating something that might hurt them. Cats drink antifreeze spilled from cars because its sweet and then they die. They eat plants in your neighborhood that are poisonous. They eat trash and choke on plastic and bone and tinfoil and other things they don’t realize are in there. They eat mice and rats that are already full of poison, because we try to poison rats and mice all the time, and cats WILL attack the sick and the slow ones. They get into crop fields and lick pesticide off their fur. 

In the cold, they’re known to crawl into car engines that are still warm. Then the car owner, not knowing they’re in there, will turn on the car and. The cats die. 

Outdoor cats are at risk for fleas and ticks and other parasites that can kill them in gruesome ways, and which you can get too, like heart worm. Ditto diseases. Not everything can be prevented by a vaccination. Your cat could be attacked by a feral cat and get AIDS, or feline leukemia. 

I know that this is a lot, and that you love your cats and you want to do your best for them, and I’m not saying this to make you feel bad, but to let you know that there are dangers no matter where you are. Keeping your cat indoors, or outside but in a screened in, controlled environment drastically reduces their risk for accidental death or injury. If they feel really bonkers, then play with them to tucker them out! Here’s an article about how to transition your cats to the idea of living purely indoors, and check out that link to “catios”. I hope this helps!