'We should probably have talked this through' Says Louis Theroux as an american zookeeper brings out a massive siberian tiger on a leash.

Last night I watched Louis Theroux: Americas Most Dangerous Pets and I'm not suprised to say some of the things I saw were truly horrifc. Cute bear cubs frantically pacing in a tiny cage, dangerous chimps playing with people on garden swings and huge tigers parading around on a chain.


Louis explored a so called 'exotic animal sanctuary' where tiger cubs were removed from their parents and bottle fed for the owners own amusement. In another enclosure a bear and tiger unnaturally cuddle together. The young animals are sent off to a roadside zoo where they spend all day exposed to paying customers, prodding and poking them, posing for photos.

So what excuse do these people have for keeping animals in this way.... conservation and education. How can a bear and tiger cub housed together provide education? Its unnatural and those animals will never behave normally. How is breeding a liger in any way normal? It defies normal evolution and just pushes the boundaries as what we as humans can do. The keeper explained that breeding these animals was a way of maintaining captive stock for future release....yet how would a tame tiger be able to hunt for itself?

This is truly disgusting and makes me ashamed to call myself human. The power we have we completely abuse. This is not conservation. These inbred animals will never be able to have a real life. Its all for our own cruel pleasure.

So just remember if you see a cute bear cub or tiger cub before you fork out to have your photo taken with it, think about the horrific life it leads to enteratain you. Would you want your baby stuffed into a cage all day?

If you missed the program make sure you check it out online:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b016yklh

Who doesn't love baby animals? You would be crazy not to! My mum owns and breeds Bernese Mountain Dogs, so when she told me she had a new litter I had to come home to see them. 5 little blobs of fur, still with their eyes shut. 1 boy and 4 girlies. Mum Marley unfortunately had to have a cesarean as she did not start contractions, but all pups and mum were good and healthy.


Now they are 5 weeks old and I have popped home to see them before they disappear to their new homes in a few weeks. They are little bundles of fluff each with their own cheeky character. I made the mistake of wearing my new fluffy boots and the little monsters had a field day on them! Everything is a toy to them, from the bedding in their box to the daisy in the garden. They are just too adorable!

The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust is a UK based conservation charity dedicated to saving our wetlands. They have various visitor centres across the UK that are definitely worth visiting. Rich in diversity they are home to small mammals such as the water vole and to incredible bird life such as kingfishers.

I decided to become a member, at only £3 a month, you gain unlimited entry to all 9 centres in the UK, regular updates and a quaterly Waterlife magazine. I also got a free Collins Bird book because I signed up by direct debit... helping conservation has never felt so good!

To make the most of my new membership I decided to visit one of their visitor centres, Arundel, just 15 minutes away from where my mum lives. It was absolutely stunning! You can purchase seed and feed most of the birds on site. The mallards quickly waddle up to you and happily feed from the palm of your hand. One of the beautiful swans was also brave enough to feed from my hand.



We also went on the boat tour around the reed beds. The Arundel reed beds are home to the endangered water vole. The Water Vole has seriously suffered due to the threat of predation by the introduced American mink, now these reed beds are a haven for them. I was eagerly scanning around hoping to catch even the tiniest glimpse of this little critter. Then the distinctive sound of its chewing gave it away. Just on the waters edge in the reeds was the adorable water vole. Much larger than I expected, about the size of a guinea pig it was eagerly nibbling away oblivious to our precsence. It was incredible. Just to gain a sighting of these little mammal it was worth my entire years memmbership.

If you have a love for water birds and animals the WWT is definitely worth a visit.

You can read more here.

Art and photography has always been an interest of mine, however I have not picked up a sketch book in a good few years. I decided it was finally time to start it up again. While browsing the web looking for unique styles I stumbled across a gem of a website, Wildlife Art 4 Charity. Sarah Menzies, the artist and photographer, bases her work around african wildlife, from stunning lino print cheetahs, to ferocious charcoal lions, but thats not all, a portion of her sales go towards various animal charities.

Cheetah Lino Print by Sarah Menzies

What a fantastic idea, using your skills as an artist to raise money for those important animal charities. Now my art skills are not incredible, but we all have to start somewhere! I hope to start an art course so I can explore different medias, I would particularly like to learn acrylics, oil pastel, lino printing and sculpture. A lot to take in but it will be worth it! For now I will stick to my handy sketchbook, so make sure you watch this space and hopefully soon I will have my art raising funds for those all important animal charities! My sketch book is back out from the cupboard, my pencils have been sharpened and I'm ready to roll!

So 4th of October was world animal day, people celebrated their love for animals and raised money for animals in need. From dog shows, to education events, and even conferences, people made sure they gave the animals a voice.

I showed my support by proudly wearing the t-shirt I designed for a competion from Place In The Sun. Each year, Place In The Sun release specially designed t-shirts to unite vegetarians and vegans. On 4th of October, World Animal Day, these t-shirts are worn to proudly represent what we stand for. Ths year they ran a competion to design one of the t-shirts for their collection and I was thrilled to win. To know people are wearing my design and standing up for what they believe in was just amazing.



You can find out more about Place In The Sun here.

You can find out more about World Animal Day here.

One of the most stunning representations of a lioness is the gorgeous Kimya. With long black eyelashes that frame her golden brown eyes she is breathtakingly beautiful! You can see her with the rest of the pride at Longleat.