Actress Tippi Hedren, who adopted Michael Jackson’s two tigers at her Los Angeles area preserve, is urging animal lovers to mourn the late King of Pop by helping captive big cats.
Hedren, best known for her roles in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds and Marnie, took in Jackson’s tigers Thriller and Sabu in 2005 as the pop icon’s life unraveled and he gave up his private zoo at Neverland.
Hedren said she broke the news of Jackson’s death to the tigers at her Shambala Preserve, which is home to 68 tigers, lions and other big cats retired from the entertainment industry or unwanted as pets.
“I went up and sat with them for a while and let them know that Michael was gone,” Hedren told AFP.
“You don’t know what mental telepathy exists from the human to the animal,” she said. “But I hope they understood.”
Hedren said Jackson had treated the tigers “beautifully” at Neverland.
But she hoped his death would lead fans to donate to her preserve and help build momentum for a bill she is seeking in Congress that would ban the breeding in the US of big cats to be pets.
By her calculation, captive big cats have killed or permanently maimed nearly 600 people in the US in the past five years.
“You’re taking an apex predator and saying, ‘Let’s make a pet out of him.’ It’s insanity,” she said.
“We’re hoping very much that people will wake up and say, of course, it’s nonsense to keep these animals as pets,” she said.
Hedren pressed for a bill approved by Congress in 2003 that bans the interstate trade of big cats as pets.
But she said efforts to ban the breeding of the big cats entirely was a bone of contention with the circus industry.
Michael Jackson’s private zoo has been dispersed to sanctuaries and individuals since his financial problems multiplied.
His beloved chimpanzee, Bubbles, is living at the Center for Great Apes, a Florida sanctuary which is also appealing for donations from Jackson fans.(AFP)
女星蒂碧.海德倫收養了麥可.傑克森的兩隻老虎,並將其安置在她位於洛杉磯的保育區內,她極力呼籲動物愛好者把對這位已故流行樂天王的懷念化為實際行動,幫助受圈養的老虎。
二OO五年,傑克森的生活瓦解後,他放棄了「夢幻莊園」裡的私人動物園,因演出希區考克電影《鳥》和《豔賊》而走紅的海德倫便領養了這位流行偶像的兩隻老虎「顫慄」和「薩布」。
海德倫說,她把傑克森逝世的這個消息告訴尚巴拉保育區的老虎們,這裡總共收留了六十八隻從娛樂產業退役或遭棄養的老虎、獅子和其他大型貓科動物。
海德倫對法新社表示:「我到牠們身邊坐了一陣子,然後才告訴牠們麥可過世了。」
她說:「你不知道人類和動物之間會有什麼樣的心電感應,但我希望牠們能理解。」
海德倫說,傑克森在夢幻莊園裡把這兩隻老虎照顧地「非常好」。
但她希望他的辭世能促使歌迷捐款給她的保育中心,進而帶動氣勢幫助她正極力爭取的一項法案在國會過關,該法案旨在禁止美國境內養育大型貓科動物作為寵物。
她估計過去五年來,被圈養的大型貓科動物已在美國境內造成近六百人喪生或終生殘廢。
她說:「你看著一種極兇暴的掠食動物說:『我們把牠當成寵物吧』,這根本就是荒唐至極。」
她說:「我們非常希望人們可以覺悟地說,把這些動物當成寵物來養根本是異想天開。」
二OO三年,海德倫催生國會通過一條禁止州際買賣大型貓科動物當作寵物的法案。
但她說,她和馬戲團產業互不相讓,極力爭取徹底禁止人工繁殖大型貓科動物。
麥可.傑克森的財務狀況吃緊後,私人動物園中的動物便被分送到動物保育區安置或由私人領養。
他心愛的黑猩猩泡泡目前住在佛羅里達州的「大猩猩中心」,這間動物保育中心也正呼籲傑克森的歌迷捐款贊助。
(法新社╱翻譯:袁星塵)
South Korea’s famous kimchi is falling victim to climate change, with scientists, farmers and manufacturers saying the quality and quantity of the napa cabbage that is pickled to make the ubiquitous dish is suffering due to rising temperatures. Napa cabbage thrives in cooler climates, and is usually planted in mountainous regions where temperatures during the key growing summer season once rarely rose above 25 degrees Celsius. Studies show that warmer weather brought about by climate change is now threatening these crops, so much so that South Korea might not be able to grow napa cabbage one day due to the intensifying heat. “We
It’s widely recognized that there are far more right-handed people than left-handed people in the world. Being right-handed simply means preferring to use one’s right hand for tasks that involve only one hand, such as writing and eating. But have you ever wondered about the possible reasons behind the global dominance of the right hand over the left? As with many complex biological questions, multiple factors appear to be at play. First, one reason seems to be genetics. __1__ Therefore, the global dominance of right-handedness is something that has been passed down through many generations of humans. Next,
A: What’s even more horrible is that the five suspects who purposely supplied ketamine to actor Matthew Perry were all his “friends.” B: Who exactly are the five suspects? A: They include Matthew’s two doctors, a broker, a drug dealer, and even his live-in assistant. B: Those scumbags should go to jail. A: Yeah, one of the doctors may be sentenced to up to 120 years in prison. A: 更可怕的是,提供男星馬修派瑞「K他命」的5人全是他的「朋友」。 B: 嫌犯是誰啊? A: 其中包括他的2位醫生、1位仲介、1位毒販、甚至他的同居助理! B: 那些人渣真該去坐牢。 A: 對啊,其中1位醫生可能面臨120年徒刑。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Continued from yesterday(延續自昨日) https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang Finally, cultural influence also plays a role in which hand people prefer. Historically, items that require physical manipulation have been designed for right-handed use. For example, tools like scissors and musical instruments are often constructed with right-handers in mind, making it difficult for left-handers to use them. __4__ While these factors offer some explanation, they remain speculative. The precise reasons for the global prevalence of right-handed people continue to be debated. Nevertheless, left-handedness will remain a phenomenon of great curiosity among scientists and researchers for many years to come. 最後,文化影響也在人們偏好哪一隻手上扮演一角。歷史上,需要用到肢體操作的物品都被設計來供右手使用。舉例來說,像是剪刀、樂器等工具常常就是考慮到右撇子而打造的,造成左撇子難以使用這些工具。因此,許多天生就是左撇子的人可能就必須透過學習使用右手來適應。 雖然這些因素都提供了一些解釋,但它們仍是推測而已。全球右撇子如此普及,確切的原因仍持續被爭論著。不過,在未來的許多年裡,左撇子依然會是科學家和研究人員相當好奇的一個現象。 What Did You Learn? (A) Specifically, different areas of