Belief helps create the F.A.C.T

Where an already endangered species is on the brink of functional extinction...

Oh, and 500 million animals unique to this country have already lost their lives, upon homes that have been destoryed and lives lost of people as well...

I mean... we're only living in a literal inferno...

415 fires. Fuck are we dying...

Oh yeah and people are just fleeing to the damn ocean, you know?

Do you want to know what Hell on Earth looks like..?

Because there it is in all it's unfiltered, firey rage...

There it is... my home from space...

This is only the beginning. Our country has not only entered a new decade, it seems a new dawning era as well, because this flaming apocalypse doesn't show any sign of stopping any time soon.

And you know what saddens me? I've never seen Australian tragedies trending here on this website. I mean it's been going on for months and only now does it seem to really be getting recognized, even if it is only at #9.

And I'm going to be honest with you here - the internet, and media in general is so American centric, this website being no exception. You'd think that an entire continent being on fire for several months with devastating consequences would have more recognition, but no, it really doesn't. The most notes I've ever seen on a post about the Australian fires is at least a few thousand, and that's about it.

4,000 people forced to shelter on the beach during midday daylight hours as the fires surround them in Victoria. The fire has since passed the beach but many homes were lost and they are still stuck on that beach.

Some families took boats to the water for safety:

The near entirety of east gippsland was evacuated on Monday and many areas remain inaccessible. That’s 30,000+ locals and assorted tourists

Similar evacuations play out in Nowra, NSW with the local population evacuating to the beaches as the skies turn black (it’s 4pm!).

and again at Bateman’s Bay…and again and again across the country.

The extent of the fires is creating dry thunderstorms - all the risks of lightning and none of the benefits of rain.

Sixty fires started today, adding to the two hundred that started on Monday. This is a map of all NEW fires in the past 24 hours

The Mogo zoo had to evacuate - thankfully the animals survived the immediate fire. People fleeing Mogo were cut off by the fires from the evacuation centres

Even those not directly in the path of the fires are experiencing the effects of the smoke as it drifts across town and effects health.

All these photos and snippets are from 31 December 2019, one day on Australia. There are more, but I’m getting depressed looking at them, trying to decide what tumblr would find interesting to share and raise awareness versus what won’t. Not a judgement call I like making.

It’s currently 6:30pm, so there’s still 5.5 hours left of this day for more to come. These fires are still going and the people in these photos are still not safe.

You can see before/after photos here.

Australia is only four weeks into summer (”fire season”) but the bushfires began 16 weeks ago - in the second week of spring.

https://teamtrees.org/

I have a new drawing technique. I don’t draw for profit and I don’t draw enough to improve.

I just want stuff that makes me happy. So that’s what I’m doing now.

Stanley Coren - the dude who wrote the article that is pissing everyone off about this - really does know what he’s talking about. He wrote one o my favorite books, called how to speak dog, which has some absolutely beautiful diagrams of dog behavior and body language along the gamut of extreme situations.

The way humans hug dogs is often really uncomfortable for them. We lean over them and trap them (think how many dogs we already know are spooky when you loom over them, but are fine if you get down to their level), and then we restrict their ability to move and shove our faces close to theirs. That’s not fun. Keep in mind that most dogs have personal space bubbles that are larger than we tend to think, and now you’re not only invading it, you’re making it so they can’t move or defend themselves if something happens.

Look at this photo from a couple years ago. Avalanche is probably the most tolerant dog I know of things that press his physical boundaries - he lets little kids do things to him that make me cringe and doesn’t even seem to notice half the time. This was right before I had to head back to college and I knew I wouldn’t see him for another 6 months, so I hugged him because sappy human emotions. I have an amazing relationship with this dog, and look at his body language. He’s kinda stiff, his face is a little tense, and the corners of his mouth are pulled back a little. All in all, he’s supremely un-enthused but he’s letting me do it. After about five seconds, he huffed out the sigh he uses to let me know when he’s done with the hug, and then pulled back and shook off.

Most dogs learn to tolerate hugs because we do it to them so often. It’s pretty much a kind of learned helplessness, plus, they like us and so they put up with our stupid human behavior. When you hug most dogs, you’ll notice they get kinda stiff, they look away or at other humans for help, you’ll see side-eyes or look-aways (not whale eye). Often they’ll distract you by doing something else like pawing at you, or licking your face as an appeasement signal. They’re all signs of discomfort that we already routinely ignore when we deal with our dogs, so it makes sense that people think their dogs are fine with it - they’re just still not listening.

Doongara Powerade

Regal Power x Doongara Model

Australian Stock Horse, Stallion

15.1hh