A Number of Hobbies

Yet rules the house without a frown.

Grace in every step they take,

“Bible Verse:

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” — Isaiah 26:3

Lord, guide me today and fill my heart with peace.

There are days when we wake up with many thoughts, many responsibilities, and many things pulling on our hearts. But before we carry the weight of the day, we can bring everything before God. His presence is the safest place to begin.

Peace does not always mean that life is perfect. Sometimes peace comes while we are still waiting, still praying, and still walking through uncertain places. The peace of God reminds us that we are not alone, and that His hand is still guiding every step.

When we ask the Lord to guide us, we are choosing to trust His wisdom over our own understanding. We are saying, “Father, lead me where You want me to go. Help me make the right decisions. Keep my heart close to You.”

Today, may your mind be quieted by His promises. May your heart be strengthened by His love. May every fear lose its power as you remember that God is with you.

Let this day be covered in prayer, guided by grace, and filled with the peace that only Jesus can give.

In Jesus name, amen.”

From: “Daily Bread” (FB)

If you are in the United States and not employed by a zoo or sanctuary or a veterinarian working with a facility, if anyone for any reason offers to allow you to touch a big cat, please do not do it.

No matter how much you want to, no matter how much it is a dream, understand that it is a violation of federal law that could get the facility the cat lives at in very serious trouble. It does not matter if it is through the fence, or in the context of a trained behavior, or if the cat is on a leash. Even if it feels “safe” or they swear the facility condones it.

It’s starting to appear that lots of zookeepers have not been informed appropriately about the scope of the law - or in cases where they do know it’s inappropriate, they are sometimes being overridden by their management and forced to allow encounters. (Even at accredited facilities!)

We do not know exactly what the penalties could be for that happening within an accredited zoo (yay badly implemented laws) but it typically comes down to being risk to a) the cat’s welfare b) the facility’s ability to have any big cats at all and c) someone, either the facility owner or the person offering, could go to jail or pay serious fines. There are two instances of this happening at AZA zoos that were leaked recently and we may now find out how bad it’s going to get for them.

Lots of facilities will have big cat pelts as educational biofacts that they will allow you to touch. You do not ever need to take the risk associated with touching a live big cat - generally anywhere, and especially in the US.

I literally got to touch three different big cat pelts today in one zoo visit (didn’t take a photo of the lion one). You! Don’t! Need! To! Touch! Live! Cats!

Most of the animals people want to touch something from (elephants, rhinos, cats) are protected under at least one and sometimes multiple federal laws. Those laws extend to cover their bodies after they pass. States may also have additional laws regarding what can be done with the remains of endangered species or marine mammals. IIRC I’ve been told by keepers that some zoos can’t even keep chunks of elephant tusks broken off of live animals (this happens, sometimes) because of ivory laws. Even if they’re just burying them on site, they have to keep detailed records to prove they’re not illegally selling the remains of protected species. So it’s a lot more complicated than just being able to keep and do whatever with the remains, even for businesses with all the right paperwork and compliance to own the live animals.

Next, you’ve got to process the remains to turn them into a biofact that can be used. I don’t know of any zoo that does this themselves. That means they’ve got to find a credible business that can clean skeletons or process pelts, make sure they can receive the remains (laws often prohibit movement of protected species across state lines, even if not alive), and then pay for the process.

Sometimes other institutions have a claim on the remains that could preclude other options, too. I know of a number of facilities with agreements with major museums or academic research groups who will take remains to study them or prepare them for display. I don’t know if the zoo can overrule them and say they’d like to keep a specific animal’s remains for other uses - probably very contract specific.

Then, right, you run into the same issues if you want to move finished biofacts between zoos. There’s a lot of laws that govern what can move where and if money can be involved, and it can require a lot of paperwork.

You also have to think about the fact that there are extreme cultural differences across the US regarding if it’s “okay” for zoos to use their animals that way. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest where the mentality is more… anti-exploitation focused? Even about good zoos. Let animals be animals, don’t commercialize them, etc. When I walked into a big Midwestern zoo a bunch of years ago and found a docent on the front plaza with an entire tiger pelt for people to pet - from a recently deceased animal that guests remembered - I was honestly kind of horrified? But after talking to a lot of people over the years I’ve really come to understand it’s a regional difference that seems to parallel how prevalent agriculture and hands-on experience with farming or game animals is culturally. There are still some things that blow my mind, though, like the time I found an elephant education cart with an entire taxidermied ear being used for outreach, or the lemur leg a docent had that was preserved bone and fur and all to show off the grooming claw.

All of the complications - logistical, legal, cultural, emotional - mean it’s much easier to get confiscated items loaned from US Fish and Wildlife to use for education. And this actually serves a second purpose! There is a massive warehouse in Colorado that holds a fraction of the illegal animal parts that USFWS has confiscated over the years. I’ve been and it’s… incredible and horrifying and really, really full. They don’t want to destroy the items if they don’t have to, but space is finite. So loaning out items as biofacts is a really good solution. It makes space and it provides a clearly legal avenue for educational facilities to access preserved pieces of protected animals. I also feel like using confiscated biofacts honors the animals, in a way, giving a second meaningful purpose to an item produced through senseless commercialized death.

Andrew Liptak at Transfer Orbit interviewed me about my upcoming art book!

Your first book was Worlds Beyond Time: what will this new book do that you couldn't do with that one?

There’s a great Leo Steinberg quote: “All art is infested by other art.” My first book took a really close look at one slice of science fiction illustration (mostly book covers, mostly 1960s-’80s), so this new one is pulling back to look at the web of influences that went into that era and emerged from it.

I’m covering such a broad area that it’s going to be impossible to include everything, so I’m approaching it more like an art smorgasbord that jumps around between centuries and mediums.