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Because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.” - Anne Frank |
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Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.” - Edmunde Burke |
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Great Mystery Publishing PO BOX 41 ALDERLEY QLD 4051 AUSTRALIA
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To contact |
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“Even a small star shines in the darkness.” - Finnish Proverb |
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“If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.” - Betty Reese |
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Do animals have emotions? Most people with pets will have no doubt regarding the answer to this question. Science now concurs - animals DO have emotions. To read a fascinating article by scientist Marc Bekoff discussing this topic |
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Fur—Fashion Statement or Cruel Vanity |
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Reduce the amount of toxic chemicals in your home environment. |
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True stories and amazing images to make you smile. |
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For information on Orangutans and how your shopping habits may be contributing to their extinction, and Dogs and Cats being slaughtered cruelly for meat - click here. |
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Great Mystery Publishing |
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Many Hands Network |
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BEAR FUN & FACTS - Cute photos, Important Information and Ways you can help protect and save these amazing animals.
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With all beings and all things we shall be as relatives.” - Sioux Indian Proverb |
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The top section of this page is dedicated to Bear Fun. Scroll further down for Bear Facts and Photos on important Bear topics such as the wild-life trade, sun bears, polar bears and global warming, the bile trade and other activities threatening bear survival and ways you can help to protect and save these amazing animals.
Be warned, graphic images of bear exploitation are shown at the very bottom of this page. |
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Recently I had seen yet another documentary on the terrible situation facing polar bears due to global warming—one story showing a twenty year old bear that had been driven from the town of Churchill on numerous occasions and had been found having starved to death—he was skin and bone. However the following polar photos and story is totally uplifting and lovely— Nobert Rosing’s striking images of a wild bear playing with sled dogs in the wilds of Canada’s Hudson Bay |
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The photographer was sure he was going to see the end of his huskies when the polar bear materialized out of the blue...but instead…the polar bear returned every day for a week to play with the dogs!!! |
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This type of story surely does the heart good (don’t call me Shirley!) |
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The following photos and story behind the images, is just wonderful too.
Some people build swimming pools in their back yards. But outdoor pools in Alaska just won't work. Since this particular family lives on the outskirts of Anchorage, they decided to build a sturdy, colourful playground for their 3 and 4 year old sons, with smooth-stone gravel all around it to avoid knee scrapes and other injuries.
They finished building it on Saturday evening, and the following morning, as the mom was about to wake up the boys and have them go out to play in their new play centre, this is what she saw from the upstairs window! |
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It seems like all children, and children-at-heart, know how to play! Whether it be human animals, or non-human animals! |
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BEAR (Wild-life) FACTS & WAYS TO HELP |
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Globally, bears have lost more than half their natural habitat (considered a very conservative estimate). 75% of Thailand’s forest have been destroyed since 1945.
The trade in illegal wild-life is valued at US $8 BILLION a year!!! Authorities in Thailand have arrested hundreds of animal traders—NONE have gone to prison.
Most people crossing the borders of Thailand and Burma do not have their baggage checked and small boats pass frequently between these two countries, often carrying wild-life to be sold in the markets for *pets, or shipped north to China—the biggest consumer of wild-life in the world (for food and animal parts for “herbal” medicines).
* Wild animals hunted for the pet trade are taken from their mothers in the first few weeks of life, and whole family groups, not just the mother are shot or clubbed to death to attain the baby animal. Once the animal hits adolescence, they become unmanageable and the pet owners usually tie them to a stake or keep them in tiny wire cages for the rest of their miserable lives. Well-meaning, but ill-advised, foreigners sometimes buy the animals to save the wild-life babies. However, they are helping to maintain this cruel trade because as soon as the animal trader receives money for his stock, he will go out to replenish his stock, thereby killing another family group and repeating the cycle of destruction and cruelty. |
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Join The Virtual March Against Global Warming!
On global warming, world renowned ecologist David Suzuki warned “Australia is especially vulnerable. Your whole country is bordered by the ocean, sea levels are rising, half your country is desert, that desertification is going to continue.”
To help motivate governments and the private sector meet the responsibility of reducing greenhouse emissions , click on here to join the virtual march.
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Dancing Bears An estimated 2,000 dancing bears were found being used on the streets of India; 100 bear cubs were being caught from the wild annually to fuel this trade.
In preparation for life as a dancing bear, the sloth bear cubs have their teeth pulled out, are pierced through their muzzle, and have a rope threaded through the hole. The bears are tethered and controlled for the rest of their lives in this cruel practice that is centuries old. Pulling on the rope causes severe pain, and allows the Kalandar (a traditional dancing bear owner) to make the bear stand up and dance. Many dancing bears are still used on the tourist route today, including around the Taj Mahal in Agra. Information courtesy of WSPA —click here to find out what you can do to help stop this disgusting cruel situation. |
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The bear in the photo above was the victim of the “sport” of bear baiting. A terrified and traumatised bear is dragged into a ring by a rope that has been crudely forced through her highly sensitive muzzle with a needle. Filled with fear, she knows what is about to happen to her but, tied to a post in the ground, all she can do is struggle and cry out in pain. She was saved by WSPA and now lives in a sanctuary. |
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A “dancing “ bear and its owner (torturer) “entertaining” the tourists for money. |
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On the right, a dancing bear in its tiny dark cage—living a life that knows nothing other than pain and restriction. |
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To help stop these cruel practices, ANIMALS AUSTRALIA, WSPA and FREE THE BEARS FUND work tirelessly to make this world a safer, less torturous place for bears. Click on the above links to find out what you can do to help. These organisations cannot function or achieve these worthy goals without you. |
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The cruelty of bile farming. This picture shows a recently raided bile farm in China. To read the whole story by Paul Eccleston, click on this link to the Telegraph Newspaper. More information about bile farming below. |
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The Sun Bear population is being decimated by the wild-life pet trade. |
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Although synthetic alternatives to the bile are now widely available the illicit trade continues to flourish condemning bears caught in traps in the wild to unimaginable horrors. Often the animals caught in steel traps lose paws and then injure themselves further because of the appalling and cramped conditions in tiny cages.
Asiatic black bears, known as Moon Bears because of the golden crescents on their chests, can end up spending up to 25 years in coffin-sized cages where they are 'milked' daily for their bile, often through crude and filthy catheters causing the animals intense pain. The bears are also milked through permanently open holes in their abdomens in what is claimed to be a more humane free-dripping technique. It is the only permitted method of bile extraction in China, but still causes constant pain and the slow death of the bears. |
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For a news report regarding polar bears and the threat of their extinction due to global warming check out our archives here. |
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