Tolkien, artist

Studio Day, Busy Day

I'm always happy to have my studio day, a day when I can work on my own projects. Today, however, will be an extremely busy one. I have a list of errands that will take me all over town, the repair I started last week still has hours of work remaining on it, and I want to get my Solstice cards designed. Come to think of it...I've wanted to do that for the past two weeks so it has to move a bit higher on the list, I'm running out of time.




I probably won't get back home to start the home portion of my work until noon, often I'm home by 9:30am or 10:00am, so I will most certainly be "out and about". I hope I remember to grab some gas for the car, I have to be careful about that now. I leave in the dark of the morning and return as it's getting darker now. The light over my gas gauge in the car is burned out, so unless I check my gas during the day or use a flashlight, I can't tell how much/little gas I have left. Gas is life during our winters, so I need to keep a tight eye out.



A person in Ohio (a central US state for those readers of mine away from the US) apparently kept exotic animals. He was arrested on Federal firearms issues, but released to care for his animals until his trial date. Instead, he released all of them and then was found dead (I assume he was a suicide, but didn't hear the circumstances). So now the Ohio police are trying to find black bears, grizzly bears, cheetas, and other wild animals roaming the Ohio countryside. I feel sorry for everyone in this situation. The animals are lose in an area they don't know and must be frightened and hungry, and the people involved I'm quite sure are also frightened because they are more used to going against wild humans, not wild animals. What a crazy world I live in.
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    engarian
    I adore animals. By taking these out of their natural environment and putting them onto his own property, he took responsibility for them. Treating them in this fashion was the worst of all possible solutions he could have thought of.

    - Erulisse (one L)
    samtyr
    Sadly, I have heard that the sheriff gave orders to "shoot to kill", and most of the poor things are dead now.
    engarian
    Unfortunately I don't think they really had a choice. A frightened domestic animal is hard enough to control. A wild animal, that's something else entirely. To protect children and other small beings, they had to shoot to kill. It is such a tragedy.

    - Erulisse (one L)
    keiliss
    I love cheetahs, they're wonderful animals. This is so sad - I've never understood the need some people have to keep wild or exotic animals captive.

    engarian
    It is truly sad in all directions, Oshun. There is nothing good about any of it.

    - Erulisse (one L)
    engarian
    I totally agree, people have no reason to keep wild animals entrapped in cages. The only possible exception is zoos, and that's only because as things are going, they will be the only repositories for the genetic materials for many wild animals that are going extinct in their own natural habitats. Humans do not make good neighbors for wildlife, unfortunately.

    - Erulisse (one L)
    indy1776
    I heard about that on the news this morning, in the vein of "school is cancelled in the surrounding five counties". All I knew was that he was found dead and the cage doors open. So, being cyncical, I thougt it was eco-terrorists. I'm not sure which is better… Same result, in the end.
    engarian
    Eco-terrorists tend to focus more on lab animals, although they have targeted those who keep wild animals in the past. Unfortunately, their release of animals back into the wild also usually results in death for the animals because they are being released into an environment that they are strangers in. Truly sad.

    - Erulisse (one L)
    chaotic_binky
    Poor animals - perhaps it would have been better for the animal welfare people to take them.
    engarian
    I'm sure it would have been better, unfortunately the owner simply either didn't think about it or didn't care.

    - Erulisse (one L)
    clodia_metelli
    What a selfish man. I hope no one gets hurt, humans or animals, trying to track the poor things down.
    engarian
    So far it seems that most of the animals have been caught and killed. As one of my other commentators noted, school was cancelled in five counties so that the children would stay in-doors and away from any possible escapees. I only hope they know how many of each type of animal they need to find and that nobody gets hurt. It is a terrible situation for the people and the animals both.

    - Erulisse (one L)
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