Unikissa's blog

I want them. Now.

The hills of Hollywood

I started crying once, watching a documentary from Madagascar. It wasn’t sad, it was just so beautiful I couldn’t take it. But honestly, what I really couldn’t take was the fact that I wasn’t there myself, right at that moment. Or couldn’t believe I’d ever get there, anyway.

Right now, I also dream of living in Dublin or Cardiff for a year or so. Work with guys I see on Animal Planet, stalking lions the savanna, learning about them, sleeping in tents, taking photos, oh, taking a million photos. Spending two months in a jungle just waiting and waiting and waiting to see a glimpse of a wildcat. Seeing the Yellowstone bears go fishing in the spring.

I also miss California so much it hurts. Yes, I only spent 10 days over there and half of it in an air-conditioned luxury car, but I still miss it, genuinely. I think it was the weather and nature I loved the most, but also the sea and everything about the cities I’ve seen on tv and in the movies. The feeling of actually being there. The stuff you’ve watched on tv for most of your life.

But the nature. Big Sur, the small cities along Highway 1 – and I just realized I haven’t even shared the photos from our trip. Oh well, it’s only been two years…

Anyway, getting sidetracked here. The reason I started writing this whole thing was the self-loathing I’m feeling right now. Why? Because I can’t get anything done. Like saving money, actually making an effort to get to these places, to do things I really really want to do. I spend time on things I shouldn’t be spending it on, when I could be using it to do something that would help me gain things in the future. I’m WASTING my time, and I’m slowly running out of it. Maybe I’m having this good ol’ not-a-teenager-anymore crisis, I don’t know. I’m just panicking.

(Like Thom Yorke would put it: “I’m not living, I’m just killing time” or “I wish it was the sixties, I wish I could be happy
I wish, I wish, I wish that something would happen”..)

And secondly, what I’m most ashamed of, is this endless discontent. I hate people who complaint about things they don’t have. I’ve just recently realized I’m one of them! I am so sorry, friends. I’ll try to pay attention to these things more in the future. I have so much I should be thankful of, I have so much more than most of the people in the world.

Why isn’t it enough? Well, it just isn’t. I can’t stop myself from wanting more, so I’ll just keep dreaming, no matter how much it hurts.

But what I really need to do is shut up about it already. And DO SOMETHING.

How can this be possible? Her face and name make me think of a redneck wild animal killing enthusiast who doesn’t have any respect for the nature or wildlife, the opposite of everything I love about Discovery / Animal planet.

Discovery Communications usually celebrates nature and wildlife, but by signing a deal with former governor Sarah Palin to host a reality show about Alaska, it will now pay millions to one of wildlife’s greatest enemies.

As governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin fought against protecting the Cook Inlet beluga whales and the dwindling population of polar bears. Plus, she escalated the bloody aerial wolf-killing campaign, and even planned to offer a $150 bounty for the severed forelimb of each killed wolf.

The same company that owns Animal Planet and is known for their stunning wildlife-focused shows has no business hiring someone as anti-wildlife as Sarah Palin. Tell Discovery Communications that Sarah Palin doesn’t deserve to host a show about “the powerful beauty of Alaska.”

SIGN THE PETITION HERE.

..got ~1000 photos of the bands we went to see. And still missed a couple of happenings taking place on stage.

What an awesome trip, once again. I love my girls. I love my boys. I love sitting in the car, singing out loud; sleeping in Omppu, spending a hangover day at a spa, dodging drunken people who are about to push me over with my camera. I love life on weekends like this.

Tomorrow, Tavastia. And while waiting for the live photos of Phoenix Effect and Poets of the Fall, I give you a hooded crow. What an awesome character.

Added a few tags. This needed them all!

I circle around my own bellybutton (as we say in Finland) and will now present you my photo of the day, quite randomly selected.

The story behind this photo: I had to visit the zoo three times to see the leopard babies (endangered species, by the way) coming out with their mama. One night, 10 minutes before the closing… time, I FINALLY spotted them. I’m sure the mom waits for the zoo to quiet down, and even knows the time of the day when that will happen. I’ve witnessed at least horses and swans to learn the daily feeding times of the day, almost by the minute.

I also had to go through pretty violent feelings, spotted a couple of idiots banging on the glass wall & growling & yelling at the mama leopard. She got really upset and aggressive, and tried to get to them trough the glass (wish she did).

They were Russians, who apparently didn’t understand English at all.. I hope they at least got the “YOU IDIOT” part.

There. Rant rant rant & again with the love for the animals :)

..I’ll give you THESE GUYS!

Fun greetings from China! Just a few things I’ve been reading lately about that mighty lovely country, suitable for hosting the Olympics, for example!

“When the fur is finally peeled off over the animals’ heads, their naked, bloody bodies are thrown onto a pile of those who have gone before them. Some are still alive, breathing in ragged gasps and blinking slowly. Some of the animals’ hearts are still beating five to 10 minutes after they are skinned. One investigator recorded a skinned raccoon dog on the heap of carcasses who had enough strength to lift his bloodied head and stare into the camera.”

“Bear farms prevent any of the natural behaviour seen in wild bears. Bears are caged for many hours per day in tiny cages, and many have been witnessed to suffer permanent confinement in cages. The size of these cages vary by country but many bears suffer confinement in cages equivalent to the size of a telephone booth turned on its side. The bears can not stand or turn around in these conditions.

Farmed bears show extremely high levels of stereotypic (repetitive) behaviour such as bar biting, tongue flicking, weaving, rocking, rearing, rubbing and route tracing. They have also been witnessed to have sores, injuries, diseases and other health problems related to confinement. ”

” As I arrived two dogs were fighting in the ring. Let loose by their trainers, they would bite and scratch until eventually pulled away from each other. Their barks resonated around the amphitheater.”

“Then a single goat was pushed into the ring, bleating with fear. To get it moving around the cage its mate was led around on the outside of the cage. The goat inside the enclosure was so desperate to get out of the cage it jumped up at the 10 foot high wire fence.
The atmosphere was electric when the door to the lion’s cage was opened, but the lion had to be prodded with sticks to come out.”

“The dog had been hung up, while alive i might add, by a hook through it’s chin. Legs tied together. In one swift motion a man stabbed the dog in the neck and proceeded to slice the dog open all the way down. An ocean of blood is the only way I could describe it. I had to turn away, and tried to leave as fast as i could, but the sounds the dog was making, the screaming, not a wail or a whimper, but screams, almost human, definately unnatural, were audible down the street, even as i tried to escape the sight, i was haunted by the sound. It was truly one of the most inhumane things I’ve ever seen, and one of the most traumatic.”

“China has become the world’s largest exporter of fur, largely due to the country’s ABSENCE OF ANIMAL WELFARE PROTECTION and surplus of cheap labor.”

“The South China tiger is one of the smaller and it is the most critically endangered of any of the living tiger subspecies. Experts maintain that there are fewer than 20 of these tigers left in the world, and warn that it might become extinct within the next decade. Becoming widely persecuted, their wild population of the South China tiger fell from more than 4,000 to less than 200 by 1982.”

” The crowd look on as another dog is beaten to death ”

“Whilst I was researching some additional information, for my Helium zone, I came across some worrying details relating to the animal Olympics that China had held in 2006. (…)
To get the horses to fight those involved will present a mare that is in season so that the stallions are aroused. The mare will then be removed. Added to this the horses are whipped until they are in a frenzy, so that they will put on a good show. Usually the horses do not fight to the death but there are always casualties. Often these injuries will result in a horse having to be destroyed.
The Animal Olympics in China obviously are cruel to the animals. Many of these animals are muzzled, frightened, taunted and more, in order to make them “perform”.”

“China has an appalling record regarding human and animal rights. Among the cruelty to animals in China there is:-
- The slaughter of cats, dogs and other animals by skinning them alive.
- The use and export of this fur to countries such as ours.
- Dogs beaten to death on the streets of China on a regular basis.
- A population that still seems to enjoy the cruel spectacle of animal suffering.”

PICTURES you can’t unsee.

China. Die.

Helsinki maksaa freteille 10 euron tuntipalkkaa

Freteistä eli kesyhillereistä on tullut Helsingin kaupungin työntekijöitä. Kaupunki ottaa frettejä citykanijahtiin ja maksaakin työstä. Suomen Frettiliitto pohtii paraikaa, millaisia työehtosopimuksia näätäeläimille pitäisi tehdä. Kaniongelman levitessä lemmikeille riittää kohta työtä eri puolilla Suomea.

Koko uutinen Taloussanomien sivuilla.

Guess this will only open up to my Finnish readers…

Basicly, we’ve been having this “city rabbit” problem in Helsinki. These small-ish rabbits, originated from pet rabbits (escaped or worse, freed on purpose) have been taken over the city, breeding quickly). The city of Helsinki is now considering using ferrets to sort out the problem. These tame, trained hunting ferrets would chase the rabbits out of their holes and they could then be catched and sold on to the local zoo for carnivores. The ferrets (their owners) would be paid for their work 10 euros per hour.

In this drawing the ferret is queueing to pay for new harness he’s been wanting for a long time. Hmm, explaining the joke kinda takes the fun out of it, huh?