Dolphin Taxi & Tiger Mouth To Mouth

Dolphins Aren't for Driving

There comes a point during every drunken evening when all you want is to get home. Paying $100 for a cab is bad, but trying to flag down a passing sea mammal is probably crossing the line.

Two Brits are now in court defending themselves against charges of grabbing onto a bottlenose dolphin and trying to "hitch a ride" after a night at the pub last year. Michael Jukes and Daniel Buck, both 26, have admitted that they disregarded signs near the shore, in their town of Folkestone, which warned against bothering the creature.

"He was happy to have people there. People travel thousands of miles to do that in Florida, so I took advantage while it was there," Jukes told London's Metro newspaper. "I grabbed his fin, but he didn't seem up for pulling us along. I said: 'Give him some space. Don't upset him.' The dolphin came to us. It's a powerful creature.'

"The two men were spotted by a marine biologist, and have been charged with "interfering with" the animal, which has since gone missing.

Student's mouth-to-muzzle saves tiger cub

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German medical student got some unexpected practical experience at the zoo when she gave the kiss of life to a baby tiger choking on a piece of meat, the zoo director said Friday.

The student was passing the enclosure with her toddler son on a visit several weeks ago when she noticed the 4-month-old tiger choking and offered her assistance to the helpless keeper, said Andreas Jacob, director of the zoo in the eastern German city of Halle.

"The tiger tried to eat a piece of meat that was too big and started choking and shaking and then fell over," the student, Janine Bauer, told MDR radio.

"We got the piece out but he wasn't breathing so I tried mouth-to-mouth and heart massage," she added. "After 3-5 minutes he came to, thank God."

The zoo, which held a ceremony Friday to thank Bauer, has decided to call the tiger Johann, after her one-year-old son.

These are just two more stories on how we humans and our animal bretheren coexist and interact. As I always say, "animals are the bomb, they are the best"!

Animals Rule,

Bobby Sharpe Dragon, Book of Shang www.myspace.com/akuasharpe

"Heroes" Star Panettiere Protests Dolphin Hunt

Panettiere Protests Japan Dolphin Hunt

TOKYO (AP) - Hayden Panettiere and some fellow animal rights activists drew angry shouts and some shoving from fishermen in Japan when they tried to interfere with a dolphin hunt, according to video footage shot by the protesters.

The six activists from the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd paddled out on surfboards to a cove in the town of Taiji in southwestern Japan on Tuesday to interfere with the annual hunt.

Fishermen on a boat approached the activists and ordered them to leave, shoving some of them with a long pole. An angry fisherman later shouted in the face of one of the protesters on the road above the cove. There did not appear to be any injuries.

"This baby stuck its head out and kind of looked as us, and the thought that the baby is no longer with us is very difficult," Panettiere, who stars in the NBC show "Heroes," said after coming ashore.

The local fishermen and their supporters say hunting dolphins - in this case, pilot whales - is a Japanese custom that outsiders have no business interfering with.

"Whales and dolphins are traditionally being used (as resources) in Japan," said Hideki Moronuki, chief of the whaling section at the Japanese Fisheries Agency. "In this light, we cannot accept an argument simply based on emotional causes."

About 14,000 dolphins are killed for food in Japan every year.

Coastal dolphin hunts usually involve herding groups of the animals into a cove using sonar equipment, or by banging metal rods in the water, creating a sort of acoustic barrier. The mammals are then trapped using nets and divers are sent in to kill them.

You know, I really think this sucks. Being the animal lover I am. However, in all respect to intelligent thinking, how can I come down on the Japanese when we, as Americans, do the same thing pretty much, to 4 legged and 2 legged animals. Anyway, that's my take on this disturbing story.

Animalz Rule,

Bobby Sharpe reggae8@aol.com www.myspace.com/akuasharpe