PAWS Fundraiser Event

       Poetry beautifully dedicated to all suffering Circus Animals and PAWS Fundraiser

Mara at PAWS

My thoughts today are with all performing animals out in the world that are held against their will, that live in unnatural conditions, are often mistreated and all of them live a sad life.  I wonder how much visitors of circuses contemplate about what kind of life it is to travel from place to place, be confined in small spaces, being made to perform unnatural acts for the enjoyment of humans, having no family which for non-solitary animals such as elephants deprives them of a fundamental part of their life in a herd.

But there are compassionate voices who speak out for the voiceless:  Pat Derby and Ed Steward are remarkable people who since years have lobbied for better conditions of captive animals.  They founded PAWS - Performing Animals Welfare Society - in 1984 in the Foothills of the Sierra.  At the PAWS Ark 2000 sanctuary, rescued animals live in peaceful and natural habitat, free from fear, chains, and harsh confinement. I have visited the PAWS Elephant Sanctuary in March 2012 and was impressed by the dedication of Pat and Ed and their staff.  They truly care for the animals and work towards promoting the best quality of life for the voiceless animals in captivity.

PAWS is holding a Fundraiser on June 16, 2012 in San Andreas.  Please see the specifics below and their announcment at the end of this post.
Please consider supporting the efforts of PAWS dedicated founders Pat Derby and Ed Steward.

Saturday, June 16  

            Wines, Tigers & Beers

ARK 2000 Sanctuary,  San Andreas, CA,  5-8 p.m.

$75 per person; or 2 for $125. ADULTS ONLY EVENT.

Pre-paid reservations required. Call (209) 745-2606.

Photo Credit:  Carlos Otero

The Circus Animal  
by Christina Sharik

I am the circus elephant

I'm all dressed up for you 

but when alone, I always wear

these chains, just out of view.

I am the circus tiger -

A rare sight to behold;

when whips are snapping near my face

it's hard to stay controlled.

I am the elegant circus horse

I prance and trot around 

I am a noble creature

I'm not a circus clown.

The saddest choice you humans make

it to keep me chained and bound ~

you make me dance, you make me prance

a circus ring around.

When I am tired or sad or sick,

you strike and prod with club or stick ~

I want to run, to play, to roam,

I miss my far, beloved home.

I have no voice you understand,

I cannot make you see

that you should listen with your heart

and simply set me free.

I hear there are some circuses

where only you perform.

I hope that someday soon, perhaps,

they will become the norm.

~ Christina Sharik ~

PAWS Fundraiser, June 16, 5-8pm in San Andreas, CA

Til next time,

Meggi

Exhibit at Saratoga Library

Meggi exhibits at Saratoga Library

    Dawn of a New Day - Print on Metal  
           [Available for sale as 20x30 metal print - pl contact me: mraeder33@gmail.com]

From May 15 until July 25, 2012, I am participating in a group exhibit with another photographer and 2 painters at the                             Saratoga Library                             13650 Saratoga Ave                      Saratoga, CA 95070                                                                            in the Group Study Room across from the Reference Librarian's Desk. My images include prints from the Portfolio "Urban Jungle", "Clouds over Landscape" and series of new panoramic images, some printed on metal.   If you find yourself in the neighborhood, please visit the library and enjoy the artwork. Opening hours:                                                                                                               Hours: Mon-Tue 1 PM - 9 PM                                                                    Wed-Sat 10 AM - 6 PM                                                                        Sun 1 PM-5PM Please check it out, and enjoy the art works. Have a great summer, and best wishes,  Meggi     Moon over the City ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Spring has come and the Hummingbirds in the Santa Cruz Mountains are out in full.  Please join Judy and me for the upcoming Hummingbirds Photo Workshop [click for more information]. Hummingbird Photo Workshops June 3, 2012 (1st level) July 22 (advanced) September 16 (1st level)   and   23 (advanced) Instructors:  Meggi Raeder and Judy Bingman

Sanctuary Reunites Elephants

Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary reunites long lost friends:

Shirley and Jenny were elephants in a circus and after 22 years, the two are reunited at a Tennessee sanctuary.  Watch the moving story below.

  
[Ref: YouTube]

This is not a new story but it is remarkable.  After 22 years of separation, The 2 circus elephants recognized each other immediately and the bond was rekindled immediately.  Now they are inseparable.

I hope they can live out their lives together in peace.

Til next time,
Meggi

Enrichment for Elephants

We all need fun in life.  This is specifically important for animals that are held in captivity often in enclosures that do not offer a lot of mental stimulation or physical exercise.



[Ref: YouTube and Smithsonian NZP]


I hope you enjoyed this clip.

Til next time,
Meggi


Check it out:
Wildlife Babies-Montana
Reno Balloon Festival and Cheetah Run!

Hummingbird Photo Workshops

Full "Super" Moon over San Francisco

“According to U.S. clocks, May 5, 2012 features the closest and largest full moon of this year. Astronomers call this sort of close full moon a perigee full moon. The word perigee describes the moon’s closest point to Earth for a given month. But last year, when the closest and largest full moon occurred on March 19, 2011, many used a term astromers had never heard: supermoon. We’ve heard this term again at this 2012 close full moon. What does it mean exactly? And how special is the May 5, 2012 supermoon?

At perigee, the moon lies only 356,955 kilometers (221,802 miles) away. Later this month, on May 19, the moon will swing out to apogee – its farthest point for the month – at 406,448 kilometers (252,555 miles) distant. So you can see tonight’s moon really is at its closest.

The supermoon of March 19, 2011 (right), compared to an average moon of December 20, 2010 (left). Will you be able to notice with your eye alone that tonight's full moon is bigger or brighter than usual? Astronomers say no, but it'll be fun to stand outside under tonight's full moon and know the moon is closer than it has been since March 19, 2011. Image Credit: Marco Langbroek, the Netherlands, via Wikimedia Commons.

How often is the moon in perigee?  The time period between the perigee moon is equal to about 1 year, 1 month, and 18 days. The full moon and perigee will realign again on June 23, 2013, because the 14th full moon after today’s full moon will fall on that date. Closest full moons recur in cycles of 14 lunar (synodic) months:

Moon closest to Earth

Year	Date	Distance
2011	March 19	356,575 km
2012	May 6	356,955 km
2013	June 23	356,991 km
2014	August 10	356,896 km
2015	September 28	356,877 km

Will the tides be higher than usual? Yes, all full moons bring higher-than-usual tides, and perigee full moons bring the highest (and lowest) tides of all. Each month, on the day of the full moon, the moon, Earth and sun are aligned, with Earth in between. This line up creates wide-ranging tides, known as spring tides. High spring tides climb up especially high, and on the same day low tides plunge especially low.”

[Ref: www.Earthsky.org]

So much for the background of the ‘supermoon’.

Well, together with many photographers, I decided to go up to San Francisco in search of a good viewing point to experience the closest moon.  Thanks for Steven Christenson of Star Circle Academy [www.starcircleacademy.com], I had a couple of places where I could view the moon rising over the Bay Bridge and choose the closest on Pier 7 at the City Waterfront.  

I explored Coit Tower as well since the elevation might offer a better vintage point but the vegetation around Telegraph Hill is too dense to have a clear view of the bridge.  Back on Pier 7 as the time of moon rise approached, photographers geared with tripods and cameras gathered at Pier 7 to watch the show.  At 8pm very shortly before the moon rise, the San Francisco Bell – a Hornblower dinner cruise – left its mooring on Pier 5 and we were all concerned whether the big slow-moving shuffle boat would block the view just when we were expecting the moon to rise.  

Coit Tower from Pier 7 later that evening.

Well, it did not happen and the Belle was out of view before the moon appeared over the horizon.  The next 1 hour  you could hear the clicking of camera shutters continuously and it was truly a bright sight to see.  It always amazes me how fast the moon rises over the horizon and I observed it traversing behind the Baybridge and almost filling the space between the span and the cables.  

Sailing the Bay under a full moon

Hornblower cruise ship under the Bay Bridge

Coit Tower from Pier 7

Later, the lights on the city waterfront started to illuminate the water with beautiful reflections and I couldn’t resist creating the night panoramas below.  

Night Panorama at the Waterfront

I hope you had a chance to go out and look up to the full moon.  It was a beautiful, unusual warm and balmy night and the City presented itself at its best.

Til next Time,

Meggi

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Spring has come and the Hummingbirds in the Santa Cruz Mountains are out in full.  Please join Judy and me for the upcoming Hummingbirds Photo Workshop [click for more information].

Hummingbird Photo Workshops

June 3, 2012 (1^st level)

July 22 (advanced)

September 16 (1^st level)   and   23 (advanced)

Instructors:  Meggi Raeder and Judy Bingman

Speak-out for Elephants

In 2010, I volunteered at a wildlife Sanctuary Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand  (WFFT) and worked as an elephant keeper helping to take care of 7 rescued elephants.  While there, I learned a lot about the plight of the elephants in Thailand who in the past have been working elephant but are now displaced by modern equipment and technology.   Today, elephants are mainly used in the tourist industry.  While previously an elephant was owned for life by his keeper who traditionally took good care of the animal, now they are trained and sold over and over again.  The are kept by people who do not necessarily understand how to keep these magnificent animals and as a result the elephant's life is often full of pain and mishandling.  Sadly, tourist dollars effectively support this kind of industry.

WFFT founder and director Edwin Wiek is speaking out against wild animal trade in Thailand and the poaching of elephants from the few wildlife areas left for elephants to roam freely, and as a result the Thai government has raided WFFT and taken away rescued animals only to be taken into government facilities that often offer the minimal of care for these animals.

While in Thailand at WFFT, I saw for myself the state of a "new" elephant that was just brought to WFFT:  an elderly 75-year old female who emaciated and had open wounds deep in her skin that would never heal but with the caring daily treatments at least stopped festering and hopefully hurting.  After settling in and being fed properly, she enjoyed fruit treats and would come up to me checking out my pockets for acacia seed pods, a favorite snack.

So if you are touched by this, please continue reading the below, and please speak out for the elephants and for all other wildlife in Thailand :

News from In Defense of Animals:

Speak Up For Elephants And Other Wildlife In Thailand

Please use the form at the bottom of this page to send your comments to 
Thailand's Ambassador to the U.S.

The world-renowned Elephant Nature Park in Thailand, which rescues old, sick and disabled elephants from the trekking and logging industries, is under fire from government authorities who are threatening to confiscate elephants. Why? Because the group spoke out against the illegal poaching of elephants in Thai national parks. In January, six elephants were killed in two parks, drawing attention to the trade in baby elephants that has been carried out with the alleged complicity of government officials.

Authorities are acting under the pretense that the Elephant Nature Park may illegally be in possession of wild elephants. Elephant Nature Park founder Lek Chailert states that the elephants are microchipped and that she has the paperwork to show legal "ownership" for all of them.

The Elephant Nature Park is not the only legitimate rescue organization to be affected. The government confiscated 103 animals, including endangered species, from Wildlife Friends of Thailand (WFFT), during a four-day raid in which many animals were injured and traumatized. An Australian newspaperreported that Thailand’s National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation department demanded documentation of legal ownership but did not give the foundation the opportunity to produce the paperwork.

Click here to watch the raid on WFFT. (Warning - very disturbing video.) Click here to watch Lek Chailert of Elephant Nature Park talk about the raids.

The raid followed claims made by WFFT founder and director Edwin Wiek that more than half the elephants in tourist camps in Thailand were illegally smuggled from the wild and sold to middlemen who torture and train them, and then sell them to tourism operators. The Thai tourism industry relies heavily on elephant trekking and entertainment. Wiek stated that tourists who visit such places “are effectively supporting the killing and torture of wild-born elephants.”

Tell the Royal Thai Embassy in Washington, DC to stop the raids on legitimate rescue organizations, and to direct government resources to better protecting elephants and ending the smuggling of calves for the tourist trade.

Personalize and submit the form below to send your message to:

·                            Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of theKingdom of Thailand to the United States of America, H.E. Mr. Kittiphong NaRanong, Royal Thai Embassy, Washington, DC

Note: the term "Decision Maker" in the salutation of the letter below will automatically be replaced with the Ambassador's title and name.

If the link doesn't work properly, please go to IDA's Home  and click through from there.

Thank you for your kindness.

Til next time,

Meggi

Equinet Award

The Equine Photographers Network Announces 
Results for Equine Ideal: 2012 Online Photo Contest  


My image:  "Friends" was awarded Third Place in the Amateur 'Wild Horse' Category.

This was a juried competition and here is what the Judge, Toni Stromberg, said about the image:

"I love the affection you captured in this shot.  Really nicely  composed, 

good exposure, and I like that the background is soft...  

really brings the focus to the horses.  Nice!"

I also want to thank all of you who voted for my image in the People's Choice Award open voting.  Thank you!

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Another of my images "Dawn of a New Day" received the People's Choice Award at the PhotoCentral, Hayward, Springshow 2012 and is currently exhibited there until May 17, 2012.

This pano printed on metal is has a wonderful glow reflecting the dawn light over the Bay during a January early winter morning.  The Bay Bridge is a much photographed subject, and I was very happy to see that the image offered something special for the viewer.


The images of the Springshow can also be viewed here.

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Til next time,

Meggi