GOOD NEWS BEARS

The New Jersey bear hunt that was set to begin on Monday has been canceled by the state's Supreme Court, which said no hunt could take place until the state adopts a comprehensive bear management policy. This means looking seriously at using contraceptives, a big no-no for both "red-staters" and hunters, who desperately need to maintain the illusion that killing is the only viable alternative. We'll see where this goes, though.

LOBSTER KILLING NO JESTING MATTER

Karen Dawn of DawnWatch.com sent this out as an e-mail back in August, which I just got today, so I'm putting it up here for anyone else who didn't know about it: "Infinite Jest" author/prodigy David Foster Wallace was asked to cover the Maine Lobster Festival for Gourmet Magazine, and turned in a piece that winds up slamming lobster-eating, and meat-eating in general, by examining and exposing the public's lame rationalizations about animal suffering. The issue of Gourmet isn't online, but Karen Dawn has scanned pages available here. Well worth a read.

DOES "SAFE HUNTING" EXIST?

I'm not gonna have time right now to round up all the accidental and "accidental" shootings and killings of people by hunters. Here's just one from a couple days back, a New York man shot apparently by members of his own party, to stand in as exemplar. But there is an interesting nugget buried in an article called "Shotguns do not ensure safe hunting:" After citing the study that supports the headline, it continues to say that incidents of hunters shooting people are on the rise: "The total number of deer-season shooting incidents in 2003 that injured people rose to 25; three were fatal. That's up from 15 in 2002 and 14 in 2001. The highest previous total was in 1998 when 32 deer hunters were shot, five fatally."

SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE LIFESAVING

Two of the "hero" dolphins in New Zealand that saved four people from a great white shark have been thanked for their efforts by being butchered by poachers. "Shocked lifeguards found them floating in a river with their tails hacked off. It is thought they drowned after becoming trapped in illegal fishing nets and were then cut loose." Come on, the poachers probably didn't know these particular dolphins were special, give 'em a break!

EATING TURKEY HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH

At least it is if you eat it alongside your troubled cousin. In the article "Dispute over turkey blamed for stabbings," we find that Frank Palacios of Massachusetts was picking at the turkey with his fingers instead of slicing off pieces with a knife, and was reprimanded for doing so by his cousin and uncle. After being asked to leave and refusing to do so, Palacios "allegedly responded by stabbing them with a carving knife." It's true that family tensions at Thanksgiving dinner don't usually get this heated, and yes, this is an extreme occurrence. But just as with the hunter killing the six other hunters last week, the notable thing is that the violence arose from a dispute over, and was done with, the very implement intended for doing (ritual) violence to an animal. It's hard to imagine a vegan potluck ending this way.