Ceallaigh's Blog
Two weeks ago, I rescued my first baby squirrel of the season. His mother had apparently built a nest in the frame of a parked car, which had driven off with the baby inside. It's entirely possible that his brothers and sisters fell out while it was in transit, but this fortunate fellow landed in a parking lot near a municipal enforcement officer, who called Hope for Wildlife, which called me.
I'll doubtless be seeing this sort of thing more often in the weeks to come, and I know that by late May, the mammal and bird nurseries at the Hope for Wildlife farm will be filled with young animals. So I thought this might be a good time to discuss the rescue of injured and orphaned wildlife babies and offer a few pointers.
Your Initial Investigation
When you encounter wildlife babies on their own, it's important to answer the following questions first before intervening on their behalf.
I'm an intermediate Gàidhlig (Scottish Gaelic) speaker with a background in Gaeilge (Irish Gaelic) and Cymraeg (Welsh), both medieval and modern. I've interviewed professors of linguistics and researchers in bioacoustics for the sake of the constructed languages in the Petals of the Twenty Thousand Blossom series, and I've done a fair bit of reading in linguistics on my own. I love language, I love creating languages for fiction and I love it when authors bring linguistic diversity to their work. So I've decided to participate in that process by consolidating some of what I've learned, some of what I've enjoyed and some of what I've created into a series of blog entries about constructed languages with writers in mind.
I own a copy of Antiquitas Lost: The Last of the Shamalans, which I bought at Hal-Con 2011, where it was signed by comic artist Geof Isherwood and author Robert Louis Smith. I'm ready to pass this book along to a new reader, and I thought about giving it away outright, but then I remembered something an acquaintance in Britain did when I ordered a custom sacred rattle from her a few years ago. She asked that I make a donation to a charity that protected endangered, African wolves as payment for her work. I thought it was a brilliant idea; I got to help protect wolves, and I got a sacred rattle in the bargain.
I wrote in 2011 about the Atlantic Canadian seal slaughter here and here, so I won't repeat myself in this entry. However, I do want to point you to the new Humane Society International infographic on the topic, which encapsulates a tremendous amount of information in just a few words and pictures. I've linked that infographic to the left. I also want to provide you with some information I've just received from Nick Wright, the Humane Society International Canada's seals campaigner, which I found very helpful in understanding the mechanics of the seal slaughter.
What It Is
There are ostensibly three seal slaughters in Eastern Canada every year. The first is the slaughter of gray seals, most notably on Hay Island nature reserve, which takes place in late February/early March. This is the smallest of the three; the 2011 Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for Hay Island was 1900, of which roughly 1000 were killed. The Hay Island TAC for 2012 was set at the same number, but this year only 8 animals were killed. The second is the slaughter of harp seals in in mid-March in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where the TAC was set at 105,000 last year. However, because of dwindling sea ice in the region, only 1200 animals were killed. This year the TAC was again set at 105,000, but early reports indicate only a few thousand were killed. The third is the slaughter of harp seals in early April at The Front off the coast of Newfoundland, and this is the largest of the three with a TAC last year of 250,000, of which only 37,000 were killed. It also might be helpful to point out that when you read about TAC numbers for gray seals and harp seals, you're reading the TAC numbers for the whole season in every region where the species is slaughtered (i.e. 60,000 for gray seals on Hay Island, Eastern Nova Scotia and the Gulf of St. Lawrence combined, and 400,000 harp seals in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, The Front and Labrador).
I am delighted to report that as of the writing of this entry, 175 people have donated $5013 to the Scheherazade's Facade Kickstarter project, taking it over its $5000 goal and funding it fully in ten days. Mòran, mòran taing to everyone who had enough faith in our stories to pay us in advance for them, who believed that our orphaned project deserved publication. I am humbled and gratified by your generosity, and while I haven't yet read the very fine stories my fellow authors have written, I can tell you that I'm proud of mine. I hope you like it.
And now a word from Kermit the Frog:
It's far too warm as I write this update, but the forecast for the weekend promises cooler temperatures and snow on Monday! Very strange, but I can't say I haven't enjoyed the sun.
I've already posted most of what follows in social networking feeds, but I thought I'd consolidate it here for the sake of a proper update. On the writing front, the big news is the Scheherazade's Facade Kickstarter campaign, which is three-quarters of the way funded after its first week. Mòran taing to all who have promoted and donated to bring this anthology to print. Your support has meant a lot to me.
This edition of Activism Updates focuses primarily on permaculture and sustainable gardening, especially with organic/heirloom seed. It's also more locally-focused, because I believe local action is the very best kind. Also on offer is an abbreviated list of the organizations that send me alerts by way of e-mail and social networking, so that you can use them in the formulation of your own action strategies, if you like. Most of them advocate animal rights and environmental issues, but I'm also a big fan of the transition movement, and I've included a local link or two, as well.
Permaculture for Transition Workshop - April 14-15
What It Is
From the Web Site: We're going to spend lots of time introducing some of the most accessible and effective solutions out there in permaculture, applied as design. Here's a few we will highlight:
A long time ago, there was a fine, upstanding editor who wanted to publish a non-heteronormative anthology about people who weren't what they appeared. So he put out a call for submissions, pored over tales by candlelight in the wee hours of the night and after painstaking examination of all the stories he was offered, selected twelve for publication. Then, as fate would have it, the publisher of the anthology fell upon hard times and was forced to push back the publication date not once, but twice before finally letting it go altogether. Such is the way of things in the publishing world, as we all surely know.
I'm moving into the 'STFU and finish it' phase of my edits, which likely means less activity on social networking, however that might manifest this time. But this morning I've found myself staring out the window at the storm-gray bay and thinking not so much on the beauty of this place I live but on its transformative power.
I've stood on the rocks at Peggy's Cove the day before a hurricane while the sun baked the water into salt on my face. I've gone raspberry picking in the Annapolis Valley and stuffed my face with huge, sweet berries on a hot, summer day. I've driven infant squirrels from Bridgewater to Seaforth because every life matters. I've taken suffering raccoons to a gentle death. I've released rehabilitated owls to the wild. I've encountered cougars on the road.