Many years ago I watched old documentary footage showing a blue whale being slowly bitten to death by a pod of killer whales.  It had a lasting impact on me as ever since then I’ve always regarded them as extremely dangerous (perhaps the 70′s Jaws ripoff ‘Orca’ influenced me a tad also).

I couldn’t find the footage on youtube but did find a clip where a pod of 15 killer whales spent over 6 hours trying to kill a grey whale calf and leaving the carcass after only eating its lower jaw and tongue.

Killer whales.  Beautiful, definitely, but killers nevertheless.  People try to make them cute and cuddly by parading them at sea-parks, demand that they be be called Orca and not the dreaded ‘K’ word,  and making cheesy kid movies about them, but as we heard last week, Killer whales actually kill (funny that).

Here’s where I am confused.

- Toto the Terrier bites a kid (fictitious but true)… The dog is destroyed.

- Abu the rare White Tiger mauls keeper to death (Zion Wildlife Gardens, NZ)… The tiger is destroyed.

- Tilikum the Killer Whale bites, mauls and drowns trainer (is also responsible for 2 deaths previously making it 3 altogether)… The whale is not destroyed.

In fact, Tilikum is allowed to live as the alpha male of Sea World’s breeding program. How’s that for mixed signals? Poor guy probably thinks that killing humans equals business time with the lady Orcas.

Unlike wild killer whales, captives have attacked and even killed people such as their handlers or pool intruders, with nearly two dozen attacks since the 1970s. Tilikum, an orca, has been involved in three fatalities. (wikipedia)

Anyway. The International Film Festival is coming to town next week, and while most arty-farty films should be avoided like the plague, every once in a while one appears that actually looks intriguing enough to be worth the price of a ticket.

I’m thinking ‘The Cove’ is one of those films.

While I do think our clean, green ‘save the whales and kill those who don’t’ philosophy has gone overboard (heh – unintentional pun), I do think the slaughter of 23,000 dolphins a year, and selling their often contaminated flesh to unsuspecting citizens is something to take notice of.

At least watch the trailer…

Only a little moment was enough for the following to happen.

Being the bookworm/research nut that I am, I made sure I was prepared for Narnia’s arrival by scouring as much material on puppies as I could.

What the ‘Your First Puppy’ books didn’t tell me…

Whippet puppies are unbelievably energetic. They seem to have two speeds: Go-Fast-and-Furious, and Sleep. They will chew anything that does not chew them back, and they love to dig. Many young Whippets are “high energy” dogs for the first two or three years. Around that age, their ‘on’ switch seems to get turned ‘off’ and they become more mellow (though still up for occasional bursts of zeal). American Whippet Club

If you aren’t a bundle of energy, beware the puppies. Whippet puppies are hell on wheels. Whippets can take two to four years to mature, and one that isn’t crated can tear apart your home. It’s not that they are hyperactive, they are just in a constant state of, “Now what can I do?” dogworld.com

“Mine is now 13months old and has finally got out of the “Let’s destroy everything I touch” stage.” Whippet forum comment

Sittercity posted a survey invloving 3000 dog owners… The Whippet was crowned as the fourth most destructive dog breed (behind Mastiffs, Chihuahuas, and Great Danes)…

“These sweet-looking pups apparently cause around $900 worth of damage in their lifetimes.”

So, in conclusion… Nothing (note the capital N) can prepare a virgin dog owner for a Whippet puppy. Note that the first quote said that Whippets eventually calm down after two or three years…

How encouraging. Pray for me.