My favorite movie of 2012: Beasts of the Southern Wild

This movie was AMAZING, largely thanks to the miniature force of nature named Hushpuppy! http://www.beastsofthesouthernwild.com/

New York Times Review: "Hushpuppy, the 6-year-old heroine, has a smile to charm fish out of the water and a scowl so fierce it can stop monsters in their tracks. The movie, a passionate and unruly explosion of Americana, directed by Benh Zeitlin, winks at skepticism, laughs at sober analysis and stares down criticism. Made on a shoestring by a resourceful New Orleans-based collective, it is animated by the same spirit of freedom it sets out to celebrate. If, as the Fourth of July approaches, you find yourself craving an antidote to anger and cynicism, a bracing reminder of the meaning of independence, and a helping of homegrown art to go with your hamburgers and watermelon, then this may be just what you need."

Candlelit vigils for Indian rape victim

This story is too awful for words.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2012/12/2012122973834570942.html

Song of the Lonely Mountain/Song of the Misty Mountains

Here are two beautiful pieces of music from The Hobbit movie:

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Had the good fortune to see "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" this week. My only complaint was that I felt it was a bit too long at 170 minutes. Two hours (120 minutes) would have been a good length without losing any of the impact....a definite case of LESS WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE. Title character Bilbo Baggins is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakenshield. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers.  Ian McKellen towers above the rest of the cast as Gandalf the Grey. Richard Armitage stands out as Thorin Oakenshield - he's an actor I will look out for in the future.

And, on this subject, news of a real life Mrs. Bilbo Baggins. An Oxford graduate who quit mainstream society, built a hobbit-style mud hut in the hills, banned technology; who fetches water from a stream, generates her own power, grows her own food, keeps goats, chickens and horses...and is happy and at peace with herself.  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254397/Oxford-graduate-quit-mainstream-society-live-hobbit-style-existence-mud-hut-Welsh-hills.html

"Emma Orbach, 58, has spent 13 years living with no electricity in her self-built roundhouse in West Wales, generating her own power and growing her own food. Her daily chores involve tending to her vegetable plot, looking after her three goats, seven chickens and two horses and chopping firewood. Her evenings are spent in the glow of her stove, playing her Celtic harp." [Daily Mail] Is it just me or does this lifestyle sound rather appealing....

Tea plantation owner killed by his own workers

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/9767629/Indian-tea-workers-burn-boss-and-his-wife-to-death-in-Assam.html

GAUHATI, India — Hundreds of tea estate workers surrounded the plantation owner's home in India's northeastern state of Assam and set it on fire over a labor dispute, killing him and his wife, police said Thursday. Police recovered the charred bodies of the couple, Mridul Kumar Bhattacharyya and his wife, Rita.  Most of the tea plantation workers are women and children.

Read more here: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2012/12/27/2339173/tea-estate-owner-wife-killed-by.html#storylink=cpy

Can you spot the invisible wolf?

Photographer Art Wolfe has travelled to every continent to capture wildlife at its most invisible...

http://blog.artwolfe.com/tag/camouflage/

The Dakota 38

Dakota Indians and their supporters commemorated the largest mass execution in United States history in Minnesota yesterday:http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/12/27/dakota-38-photos/

The Mayan Magic of Mexico

Enjoyable travelblog in today's Daily Mail: http://travelblog.dailymail.co.uk/2012/12/the-end-of-the-world-maya-magic-in-mexico.html

The war against too much of everything

Photo of Kalle Lasn by Grant Harder

I wish I'd read this New York Times article BEFORE I did all my Christmas shopping this year. I've spent the past month agonizing over what to buy - or not buy - for friends and family and so this article struck a chord! http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/business/adbusters-war-against-too-much-of-everything.html?_r=0&hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1356200187-nBgjASbsjqsEm4tDhvxbfQ

So says Kalle Lasn, 70, maestro of the proudly radical magazine Adbusters, published in Vancouver, British Columbia. Mr. Lasn takes gleeful pleasure in lobbing provocations at global corporations — and his latest salvo is “Buy Nothing Christmas.” “As our planet gets warmer, as animals go extinct, as the humans get sicker, as our economies bail and our politicians grow ever more twisted, Americans just go shopping", Adbusters says on its Web site. Overconsumption is destroying us, yet shopping is “our solace, our sedative: consumerism is the opiate of the masses.We’ve got to break the habit,” Mr. Lasn said in a telephone interview. “It will be a shock, but we’ve got to shift to a new paradigm. Otherwise, I’m afraid we will be facing a new Dark Age.”

Winter Solstice Art

Above:Picasso's etching of a blind minotaur led by a little girl in the night. Photograph: British Museum/PA.  From Caravaggio to Picasso, artists have always been drawn to the darkness of deep midwinter: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2012/dec/21/winter-solstice-art-dark-night

Mayan apocalypse looms

I haven't had access to this blog for weeks due to being overseas. This Friday - December 21 - marks the conclusion of the "Long Count" Mayan calendar. Panic buying of candles and essentials has been reported in China and Russia, along with an explosion in sales of survival shelters in America. In France believers were preparing to converge on a mountain where they believe aliens will rescue them. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/dec/16/mayan-apocalypse-looms-week-ahead

Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Lincoln

I love it when I see a movie and come out thinking "wow, I really did learn something from that". Couldn't face the Mongolian hordes at the shops on "Black Friday" and so we saw the new Steven Spielberg movie "Lincoln", with the formidable Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role.  As a naturalized American citizen, I enjoyed the useful lesson in American history, particularly the tumultuous period between January 1865 and the conclusion of the Civil War on April 9 and Lincoln's assassination five days later, on Good Friday. The movie documents the fight between the anti-abolitionist Democrats, Lincoln's moderates and the more zealous anti-slavery radicals of the young Republican Party. Good supporting cast including Sally Field as Mrs. Mary Todd Lincoln, James Spader as a rascally/roguish 19th-century lobbyist, and Tommy Lee Jones as a Republican abolitionist.

Stem cell research reverses paralysis in a dachshund

http://www.theworld.org/2012/11/jasper-the-dog-whos-walking-again-after-cell-therapy/

As the owner of two dachshunds, this story made my day! A ten-year-old dachshund has helped scientists achieve a medical breakthrough that could help treat paralysis in humans too. Injecting cells from the dog’s nose into the injured part of his spine helped repair the damage. After the treatment, Jasper the dachshund was able to move his previously paralysed hind legs and coordinate movement with his front limbs. The dog is now ‘whizzing around’ unassisted and can also swim. Early trials involving humans have taken place, and Professor Robin Franklin, co-author of the study from the Wellcome Trust-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, said: ‘Our findings are extremely exciting because they show for the first time that transplanting these types of cell into a severely damaged spinal cord can bring about significant improvement'. [Daily Mail].

Red panda-monium

This cute critter was enjoying a meal with its pals in Japan when a zookeeper stepped into the enclosure, terrifying the furry bundle....

Jaguars and monkeys to be cloned in Brazil

"Experts in Brazil at Brasilia Zoo, who have already successfully cloned cows and horses, are hoping to start creating their first copy of a wild animal next month. The eight at-risk species chosen are the jaguar, the maned wolf, the black lion tamarin monkey, the bush dog, the collared anteater, the gray brocket deer, the Brazilian aardvark and the bison."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/9680968/Jaguars-and-monkeys-to-be-cloned-in-Brazil.html

Generals Gone Wild

There is something tragic about the General Petraeus scandal...a 4 star general and director of the CIA brought down by two "ferociously opportunistic women" as someone described them. I usually try to adhere to that old biblical saying: "Judge Not, That You Be Not Judged" (Matthew 7:1), but this story just keeps getting stranger and stranger...with shirtless FBI agents, threatening e-mails, possible love triangles... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/14/what-paula-broadwell-tell_n_2130513.html

  
"So-called honey traps are typically used by foreign spy agencies to ensnare top men, such as General Allen and former General Petraeus, in order to try to extract information out of them,” Wall Street Journal reporter Maria Abi-Habib said yesterday in an audio dispatch from Afghanistan posted on WSJ.com. There is no evidence the generals’ female friends are spies, but Abi-Habib says the affair has raised concerns “of a so-called honey trap, which was a very famous spy tactic used by the KGB.”
Wow. Just when you thought the plot couldn’t get any thicker...

Ralph Peters is a blunt-speaking retired Army officer and author. “When a man becomes more reputation than substance, his reputation had better be invulnerable,” he said of Petraeus’ plight. “Every successful man has encountered at least one Paula Broadwell. The smart ones don’t take her calls.”
Read more: http://nation.time.com/2012/11/14/the-rise-and-fall-of-general-peaches/#ixzz2CFyajyEt

Mysterious death of migrating birds

In today's Daily Mail, an article about the mysterious deaths of disorientated migrating birds:

A fisherman grins as a lost song thrush sits on his shoulder

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2232285/RSPB-investigates-mysterious-deaths-thousands-migrating-birds-lost-sea.html

A murmuration of starlings

Migrating starlings visit Gretna in Scotland twice a year, in February and November...Starlings congregate for added security and to share warmth and their numbers are boosted by migrant birds from Europe, the RSPB reports. This group appeared just before dusk on Saturday in Gretna.

War poetry for Remembrance/Veterans' Day

Sean Bean

War poetry for Remembrance Day today, November 11th, by Sean Bean and other actors:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/video/2012/nov/11/sean-bean-first-world-war-poetry-video

The Soldier - Rupert Brooke

If I should die, think only this of me: That there's some corner of a foreign field That is for ever England. There shall be In that rich earth a richer dust concealed; A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam, A body of England's, breathing English air, Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home. And think, this heart, all evil shed away, A pulse in the eternal mind, no less Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given; Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day; And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness, In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

Attenborough's Ark

Sir David Attenborough highlights the plight of 10 weird and wonderful endangered species, including the Sumatran Rhino. http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/20219857

Arctic Fox in Illinois

Just came across this stunning photo of an Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus) on the shore of Evergreen Lake near Hudson, Illinois: 

Photograph: Lenore Sobota/AP

The arctic fox is infinitely adaptable, living its life in one of the world’s most extreme climates. People who have the Arctic Fox as their totem tend to be sly, graceful, and have a near magic ability to make something out of nothing, utilizing even the most limited of resources. Arctic fox as a totem can teach us the ability to go with the flow of life, changing ourselves to suit our ever-evolving environments.

Caribbean sardine collapse linked to climate change

Getty Images

Climate change, overfishing and plankton decline may have contributed to collapse of fisheries, risking dire consequences for Caribbean:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/nov/07/caribbean-sardine-collapse-climate-change

Top 10 fire festivals around the world

"Remember, remember, the fifth of November,

Gunpowder, treason and plot.

We see no reason why the Gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot!"

Today is November 5th - Guy Fawkes Night/Bonfire Night in the United Kingdom. This is a celebration to commemorate the failed gunpowder plot by Guy Fawkes to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night

Here is an old article about the danger to Hedgehogs on Bonfire Night:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/nov/05/hedgehog-bonfire-night

Photo: Graham Turner @ www.guardian.co.uk

And here's a new article about the top ten fire festivals around the world, including Diwali in India and Sadeh in Iran:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/02/uk-travel-picks-firefestivals-idUSLNE8A101N20121102

The Roaring Dragon

http://www.accidentaltravelwriter.net/accidental-travel-writer/

Some fascinating facts on the Chinese economic miracle and accompanying rising energy consumption and environmental costs at this recent BBC link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-20069627

Mahler Symphony # 3

Went to the CSO last night for the Mahler Symphony Number 3. Semyon Bychkov (conductor) and Bernarda Fink (mezzo soprano) were amazing! It can be seen again tomorrow night, November 3rd.
http://cso.org/TicketsAndEvents/EventDetails.aspx?eid=4902

"A symphony must be like the world," said Mahler, "it must contain everything." No work better exemplifies this than his epic Third Symphony, scored for massive orchestra including off-stage post horn and snare drums, women's and children's choirs and various bells. Our guide to Mahler's universal piece is Semyon Bychkov, acclaimed for his ability to grasp both the largest architectural sweep and the smallest detail." Mahler composed this symphony at his composing hut on a lake in upper Austria... the Komponierhäuschen (composition hut) in Steinbach am Attersee (photo below).

Photo: Wikipedia

All Soul's Day

All Soul's Day in Sweden

Today is November 2nd which is All Soul's Day...a solemn feast day in the Roman Catholic Church commemorating all those who have died and are now in Purgatory, being cleansed of their sins and punished for the mortal sins that they had confessed to, and atoning before entering into heaven...or being granted the vision of God in Heaven (called Beatific vision).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Souls'_Day

Apparently the reasoning behind this stems from the notion that when a soul leaves the body, it is not entirely cleansed from venial (minor) sins. Through the power of prayer and self-denial, the faithful left on earth may be able to help these souls gain the Beatific vision they seek, bringing the soul eternal sublime happiness.

Photo: Al Jazeera

A mannequin's head, bottles and and other debris lie in the Madrid Arena venue car park on Thursday November 1st.  A Halloween stampede killed three women and critically injured some other people. Someone set off a firework or flare in the arena where thousands of people were attending a Halloween dance party, causing a stampede:   

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2012/11/2012111213553749.html

Day of the Dead

Today is the Mexican "Day of the Dead" holiday or "Dia de los Muertos" which revolves around reunions of family and friends gathering around to pray, visit the graves of loved ones with offerings of flowers, food and candy skulls. The National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago has a special Day of the Dead exhibit until December 16th. 
http://www.nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org/exhibits/featured/d%C3%AD-de-los-muertos-2012

Sandy: Mystery, Fate, Bad Timing

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mkm45gedem/

Article about the lethal power of Hurricane Sandy in today's New York Times: "They stepped in the wrong puddle. They walked the dog at the wrong moment. Or they did exactly what all the emergency experts instructed them to do — they huddled inside and waited for its anger to go away. The storm found them all..."  More @ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/31/nyregion/hurricane-sandys-lethal-power-in-many-ways.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Hurricane Sandy

Breezy Point, Queens. Photo by Frank Franklin Ii/Associated Press

Amazing photo from Queens, NY....in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.  It could almost be a photo taken after the firebombing of Dresden in World War II. 

It's the environment, stupid.

Hurricane Sandy

I wonder if Hurricane Sandy will make people think a bit more seriously about the environment and climate change? My optimistic side says "maybe" but my pessimistic side says "probably not".....

"Under the bonnet, there's something big going on: we're damaging the planet and draining its resources, and it's starting to cost us big time.  With growing confidence scientists are linking climate change to the increasingly freakish weather around the globe which is causing food prices to rise. Earlier this month the National Farmers' Union predicted more price rises when it revealed that wet weather had cut UK wheat yields by 15%."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2012/oct/29/economy-environment

Smoke stack emissions

Mystery of dead whales in Bay of Bengal

Photo: Getty Images

New York Times: Dozens of whales beached themselves and died on North Andaman Island in the Bay of Bengal this week, the first time that such a large number of whales have died in the area. Scientists are still trying to figure out why. Individual whales have occasionally beached themselves in the Andamans, but never in these numbers...
More @ http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/26/unexplained-death-of-dozens-of-whales-on-indian-island/?src=rechp

Danse Macabre

It's a Full Moon tomorrow and Halloween on Wednesday, followed by the Mexican Day of the Dead or Día de los Muertos on Thursday...all of which make me think of the Danse Macabre which, according to Wikipedia, "consists of the dead summoning representatives from all walks of life to dance along to the grave, typically with a pope, emperor, king, child and laborer. They were produced to remind people of the fragility of their lives and how vain were the glories of earthly life. Its origins are postulated from illustrated sermon texts; the earliest recorded visual scheme was a now lost mural in the Saints Innocents Cemetery in Paris dating from 1424-25."

The Dance of Death (1493) by Michael Wolgemut,
from the Liber chronicarum byHartmann Schedel.

Interesting article in the Guardian on Art's fascination with death and how the terror of mortality has always mingled with joie de vivre.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/oct/26/sex-death-dancing-wellcome-collection 

More info. on Danse Macabre:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danse_Macabre

Climate change dangers worse than we thought

The broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough says scientists and environmentalists have been cautious of overstating the dangers of global warming, but recent evidence of melting polar caps shows the situation is worse than had been thought. He also discusses population growth and disappearing habitats.....see following Guardian link:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2012/oct/25/david-attenborough-climate-change-video

Beaver damage at Wooded Isle

Jane, Poppy and I came across more beaver damage at the Wooded Isle in Jackson Park this morning. It was unseasonably warm, around 79 degrees F, but considerably chillier tomorrow!

Photo of Jane and Poppy by Marge Ishmael

Three baby otters (Jess, Mo, Sophie)

Photo: BNPS.co.uk

Enchanted staff at Bournemouth Oceanarium in the UK named these cute creatures Jess, Mo, Sophie after three of Britain's Olympic gold medal winners; heptathlete Jess Ennis, distance runner Mo Farah, and rower Sophie Hosking.  The oriental or Asian small-clawed otter is the smallest otter species in the world, and is distinctive for its forepaws, which give the creatures a high degree of manual dexterity allowing them to feed on molluscs and crabs.  Otters are members of the carnivorous mustelidae family which includes weasels, stoats, minks, martens, wolverines, badgers and polecats (not skunks).  They are found on all continents except Australia and Antarctica. They have webbed feet and are aquatic, living in coastal areas, rivers, streams and lakes.

Last minute reprieve for Britain's badgers

Just read that the controversial UK badger cull has been delayed until next summer. Farmers were expected to start shooting badgers in Somerset and Gloucestershire this week to stop the spread of bovine tuberculosis. In a statement to the House of Commons, Owen Paterson said the cull will have to be delayed because farmers are not ready. He explained that the cull had been delayed by the Olympics and Paralympics because not enough police were available to manage protests until after the events had finished. The rainy weather has also made it difficult for farmers to find the time to bait setts and carry out surveys.http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/23/badger-cull-postponed-2013

Fewer horses and bayonets!

In the first presidential debate, Romney's attack on Sesame Street's "Big Bird" sent the social media world into a frenzy. In the second debate, Romney's "binders full of women" comment kept people laughing for days, while last night's "horses and bayonets" Obama zinger caused another stir in the social media universe:

"You mention the Navy, for example, and the fact that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916.  Well Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets," said the president. "We have these things called aircraft carriers and planes land on them. We have ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines... It's not a game of Battleship where we're counting ships, it's What are our priorities?"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-news-blog/2012/oct/23/horses-and-bayonets-presidential-debate

Princess in the Chicago Fall

Jane's dog, Princess, against a stunning background of Chicago Fall color:

Photo: Jane Masterson

Faust in Chicago on Wednesday

This event at 8 p.m. on Wednesday October 24 @ Rockefeller Chapel, 5850 S. Woodlawn Ave., Chicago, IL 60637, looks interesting:

A screening of F.W. Murnau’s epic 1926 silent film Faust, with Dennis James live on the E.M. Skinner organ, and Mark Goldstein, Theremin and Lightning. This version of the film is Luciano Berriatua’s restored and reconstructed version for Filmoteca Espanola: a great treat for Halloween. The musical texture underscores the fundamental struggle between the forces of good and evil by pairing the organ with electronic synthesis: the 1920 Soviet-era Theremin, and the Lightning (Don Buchla’s wireless synthesis controller developed in 1990). Murnau’s masterpiece runs for two hours (timed without intermission), in two parts. The first, based on the folk legend, shows Faust initially agreeing to the pact with Mephisto in order to banish the plague from the town, but subordinating himself to the devil in order to find eternal youth. The second part, closely based on Goethe’s drama, focuses more on the Gretchen tragedy. Tickets $10 general admission at the door, free to students with UChicago ID.

Pope Names First Native American Saint

The Pope named seven new saints today, including the first ever Native American saint. Known as the 'Lily of the Mohawks' Kateri Tekakwitha was born in 1656 to a pagan Iroquois father and an Algonquin Christian mother. Her parents and only brother died when she was 4 during a smallpox epidemic that left her badly scarred and with impaired eyesight. 

Photo: Christian Science Monitor

More information on Kateri Tekakwitha at Wikipedia link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kateri_Tekakwitha

One of the new saints was Pedro Calungsod, a Filipino teenager who helped Jesuit priests convert natives in Guam in the 17th century but was killed by spear-wielding villagers opposed to the missionaries' efforts to baptize their children. The other new saints are: Marianne Cope, a 19th-century Franciscan nun who cared for leprosy patients in Hawaii; Jacques Berthieu, a 19th-century French Jesuit who was killed by rebels in Madagascar, where he had worked as a missionary; Giovanni Battista Piamarta, an Italian who founded a religious order in 1900 and established a Catholic printing and publishing house in his native Brescia; Carmen Salles y Barangueras, a Spanish nun who founded a religious order to educate children in 1892; and Anna Schaeffer, a 19th century German laywoman who became a model for the sick and suffering after she fell into a boiler and badly burned her legs. The wounds never healed, causing her constant pain.

Unusual zebra is shunned by the herd

Photo: Daily Mail

In the movie, Madagascar, Marty the Zebra wonders whether he is black with white stripes or white with black stripes. The zebra above is neither - and was spotted in Kenya by wildlife photographer Paul Goldstein who says he has never seen a zebra with such an unusual coat in all his 25 years in Africa. He says, unlike most zebra, it has never travelled with a herd and has a nasty temper if ever anyone gets close...

Madagascar 3 (official trailer) featuring Marty the Zebra (voice of Chris Rock), Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer), Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller) and Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith):

Chicago Fall (photos)

Took some photos of local Fall Color earlier today as I walked around Hyde Park:

 Fall, leaves, fall by Emily Jane Brontë

Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;

Lengthen night and shorten day;

Every leaf speaks bliss to me

Fluttering from the autumn tree.

I shall smile when wreaths of snow

Blossom where the rose should grow;

I shall sing when night’s decay

Ushers in a drearier day.

Vivienne Westwood renounces animal fur

Vivienne Westwood Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Designer Vivienne Westwood renounces fur after learning from Peta that fur-bearing animals are often caught in bone-crushing steel-jaw traps. Some animals, especially mothers desperate to return to their young, chew off their own limbs to escape. After having a change of heart, Westwood donated the remaining fur items in her line to Peta, who gave them to a wildlife charity to provide orphaned animals with bedding. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/16/fur-natural-animal-abusive-farming