Sune Borkfelt

What about the caged half-crazed
orang-utan who vomits because
he has nothing else to do?

Miroslav Holub, From "Collision" #InternationalOrangutanDay #Zoos #Animals #Poetry

The collared lizards cry at night
because El Paso is too hot
for their detachable blue tails.
The desert turtle stops and
waits as a cartel truck drives by
and dark houses illuminate
what is hidden there.

Ray Gonzales, From "El Paso" (2023) #WorldLizardDay

What makes a dog run away, then?
The desire to live.
You’ve never seen a dog trembling?
A dog trembles when he doesn’t know what to do.
Like us!
No, you tremble when you know what to do as much as when you don’t.
Fart off, dog.

John Berger, King: A Street Story (1999) #dogs #literature

"I refuse to bend the knee to those environmental alarmist Thoreau-lovers—and not just because I’m missing a leg."

All of which is to say: This whole thing shows at least as much about how f*cked up people's relations to companion animals is as it does about zoos.

It's been interesting to follow on Danish social media. Most comments are either something like "Great idea" or "Horrible. Sick. Not for my cat/dog/horse/rabbit".

Surprisingly few (but some) ask the perhaps most relevant question: Why would you kill a healthy pet?

Ah, the simple beauty and truth of an Allingham couplet. #animals #literaryanimalstudies #poetry

"Det er faktisk først på mandag". Ligner jeg måske en matematiker eller anden naturvid-person?!?!?

Tid er alligevel en kulturel konstruktion, hvilket grundlæggende invaliderer alle påstande om fødselsdage.

The way to all modern assembly lines started here, with disassembly lines.

Sinclair's novel has its issues, but remains an absolute classic and the first modern #slaughterhouse fiction. #animals #pigs

Godt forsøgt, men dette opslag er tydeligvis dit forsøg på at få (resten af) kultureliten til at kommentere og ønske dig tillykke med fødselsdagen.

Uheldigvis for dig er de fleste af os sådan nogle akademiker-typer, der i stedet giver os til at overanalysere og dekonstruere konceptet "fødselsdag".

Dét kunne man vel egentlig hurtigt afprøve på en eftermiddag, og sammenligne forskellige, især hvis man har adgang til de fulde versioner. Skriver det lige på min "for sjov"-to-do-liste :-)

Vi har i øvrigt også nogle resultater vedr. køn i de data om navngivning af dyr, som vi sidder og analyserer i øjeblikket. Glæder mig helt vildt til vi kan publicere det, men der går nok et stykke tid.

Dét synes anekdotisk at være en vis tendens med hunde og katte i DK, ja (måske lidt på linje med de tyske grammatiske køn? Da dansk/nordisk havde grammatiske køn, var de vistnok samme køn, så vidt jeg kan se).

The results they refer to in relation to Spanish (in the Act II part) would seem to suggest that grammatical gender does indeed influence this. Would be interesting to see for German, too, though, since the grammatical genders there are more rigid than in the Latin languages.

Fascinating results here. I wonder what it would look like with a more complex study that holds gendering up against the degree of anthropomorphization. #animalstudies #literature

Still one of the best animal novels ever written, even though one could argue #animals never take center stage.

A lovely little bronze #Roman mouse figurine, shown holding a morsel of food in his little front paws (a nut or seed maybe?), perhaps about to take a little nibble from it. It is about 1900-2000 years old 🐭

(📷 Christie's) 🏺 AncientBlueSky #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology

‘Good morning,’ the pig replied. ‘I wasn’t sure if you could see me.’
‘It’s a new ability.’
‘Ah,’ said the pig.
‘Tell me, pig, how did you die?’ I asked.
‘That’s a personal question,’ the pig said.

Ceridwen Dovey, ‘Hundstage’ (Only the Animals) (2014) #animals #pigs #literature #BookSky

Short story: Cats at the Fire Front, by Laura Jean McKay The first of four consecutive weekly short stories about cats

The swirl of fur and dust and the smell of cat shit both acrid and sweet—the smell of life, for us. The felines appeal through the bars as I waddle through the caged aisles.

@laurajeanmckay.bsky.social, ‘Cats at the Fire Front’ (newsroom.co.nz/2023/02/24/s... )

Du er for sent ude. Jeg har spist dem.

There we no physical barriers to his freedom, but the lions of the plains do not accept into their respected fraternity an individual bearing in his coat the smell of men.

Beryl Markham, ‘He Was A Good Lion’ (1942)

She could tell him to fetch his toys from the upstairs landing and he would. But he walked on all fours, always grunted before he ate, and idly put his finger in his anus and smelled his finger, sometimes licked it.

Colin McAdam, A Beautiful Truth #WorldChimpanzeeDay

‘Do you ever see horses walking up and down the sides of rooms in reality – in fact? Do you?’

Charles Dickens, Hard Times (1854)

Animal Architecture: In Conversation An animal studies scholar talks with an architect and an architecture writer about designing for, and with, nonhuman species.

“We have a responsibility to think about a future where we’re not centered; there’s an optimism in that. Human beings are irresponsible. If I think about us controlling everything in the future, that feels sad.” —Joyce Hwang

IN CONVERSATION w/ @slaydok.bsky.social & @pauldobraszczyk.bsky.social:

I can assure you that if mankind thinks of you, it thinks you are the missing link. You ought to be shut up and exhibited here in the Zoo … with the gorilla on one side and the chimpanzee on the other.

David Garnett, A Man in the Zoo (1924)

”Det er respektløst”, og ”det er jo ikke en sofa”: Mette Frederiksens æsel-gave får hård kritik Her samler Kristeligt Dagblad nogle af dagens vigtigste historier om tro, etik, eksistens og de værdikampe, der foregår i ind- og udland

1) Man skal generelt holde sig fra at give dyr som gave. Af en række grunde.

2) Man kan nok diskutere, hvad en "dyreven" er, og om en forening, hvis formål er at fremme avl, kvalificerer sig til den titel.

3) Videoer med æsler er ofte fantastiske.

www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/danmark/det-...

A good poem, albeit a quite violent one. I've used it in teaching a few times and, if I remember correctly, Aaron Moe uses it as an example in the introduction to his seminal book on zoopoetics.

Also, even if #animals is not your thing, Gonzalez is worth reading. #AnimalStudies #poetry

Sylvia would have liked him vastly better without his gun; she could not understand why he killed the very birds he seemed to like so much.

Sarah Orne Jewett, ‘A White Heron’ (1886)

Weird. It's almost as if they never cared about #dogs and #cats at all, even though they argued for this by saying immigrants were eating them.

Much thanks to everyone who replied! Here's the updated list:

OTHER MINDS: A curated list of fiction featuring animal narrators, protagonists, and perspectives