Everybody Poops, #2

Tucker Killer Whale What's that, Tucker? You smell shit?

The southern resident population of Orcas is down to only 83 and is critically endangered. Researchers at the University of Washington are committed to getting to the bottom of the missing and presumed dead Orcas of Puget Sound and they have a secret weapon--a black lab named Tucker. Tucker knows shit. He is trained to smell Orca shit unimpeded by seawater and distance. Tucker has led researchers to several promising samples of shit. Hormone levels in the shit indicate that the Killer Whales are not getting enough to eat.

"I'm pretty confident that what we are seeing is nutritional deficit," said Katherine Ayres, a UW graduate student working on the study. "It is interesting and sad. We have a link to what scientists have been saying for a long time."

[seattletimes]

Killer Whales are starving, and why? There are less Salmon and less Herring. What can we do about it? Salmon and Herring fishing in the Pacific Northwest is already regulated to the hilt. The only additional thing researches recommend is to impose more restrictions on boat traffic. The noise of boat traffic interferes with Whale sonar and hurts their chances of finding food. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that Orcas travel, so in order to save this pod these restrictions would have to be implemented from Canada all the way to Northern California. It may be that Puget Sound will no longer be unable to sustain Killer Whales. There is very little to be optimistic about here. There is almost no way to expect that economic interests will accept these restrictions to their trade in order to save this species. Anyone in the market for a Dog that knows how to sniff out shit?

Actually, we are pretty good at sniffing out shit too. November 20! The Atlantis Dubai is throwing their $20,000,000 dollar grand opening debauch, Kylie Minogue will be shaking her old fat ass and lip-syncing songs that don't really matter anymore, and Sammy the Whale Shark will still be languishing in his jail cell to the delight of rich assholes. Amadeo Zarzosa is the general manager of Atlantis Dubai and is one of the "minds" behind the whole operation. When pressed about Sammy recently he had no comment...he is lower than Whale shit.