Photoblogging: Kurdish Turkey II: Village Life

Hounds, houses, house partridge, sheep, field pigeons…  Partridge, called “Keklik” are kept as pets and for calling their wild relatives, which they catch with fine nooses… demonstrated below  These “swift” pigeons are bred for show in the west but fly free here. The one on the ground had just evaded a wild Peregrine and was …

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The New York Carriage Horses

Jon Katz is doing such a serious, informed, and fundamental service in documenting what may turn out to be the landmark Animal Rights case of our time* that anyone who breeds, trains, or otherwise is involved with all our ancient ways and “memes” of human- animal interaction should subscribe to Bedlam Farm Journal and get …

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New York Carriage horses and their enemies

Like Joel Katz of Bedlam Farm Journal, I think that the case of these horses, well- kept but attracting the attention and money of —  I can’t soften it,  deranged animal “Rights” activists,  possibly backed by the money of cynical real estate interests– is emblematic of our “rather stupid time” (Ortega), and a preview of …

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“Carrier” Pigeons and Pigeon Paraphernalia

So- called Carrier, ie messenger pigeons (sophisticated bird folks know they are Racing Homers, not the heavily wattled show bird of that name) have been in the news a lot lately. Reid sent this article about a lost WW II messenger from the legendary Code and cryptography center Bletchley Park discovered in an English chimney; …

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What “Exotics”…

… did Dr. John Burchard keep? He writes: “The ‘exotics’ I myself have kept at one time or another include a wolf, coatis, corvids large and small, raptors from sparrowhawk and merlin up to and including Gyrfalcon, Goshawk and Golden Eagle (the latter quite capable of killing someone, especially a child), boa constrictors up to …

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