Nana's thoughts
Thursday, October 23, 2003:
well well well it has been almost six months since i wrote on this thing. I have been a very busy little person for the last sixmonths. Currently i am working on a job at lonestar here in fargo and i hope to get another one back home at the church for summer and everything like that! I also am thinking about changing my major to psychology because i am really seeming to like the current introduction calss that i am taking. Well better get going!
Shauna // 8:51 PM
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Thursday, April 10, 2003:
I seriously think that sometimes i am so ready for school to be over that i just want to go home and never look back.
Shauna // 3:26 PM
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Thursday, January 30, 2003:
Do you ever have those days where you cant get one thing right. No matter what you do.....its like ok.....i cant be right with life, boys, family, girls,anything.
Shauna // 10:41 AM
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Sunday, December 15, 2002:
Um.......i am still going to write on this thing on a regular basis because i think it will be nice to see what i write over my freshmen year of college. To tell you the truth i still feel like I am on a very long vacation from home! It is really weird to describe But i guess it will hit me sooner or laterthat I am growing up and i am not under my parents house anymore! Well I am getting ready to study for my two finals that i have this week! On monday I have chemistry and on tuesday (bright and early) i have biology! AHHHH! But oh well then i get to go home! Which will be nice! Well gotta go study BYe!
Shauna // 11:51 AM
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Friday, December 13, 2002:
Sybil...here are the parts that i recorrected!
Their wasnt much to correct! And you said we didnt have to retype the whole thing. So I recorrected most of it. Like citing and stuff. So i just put the sentences that i corrected on here.
Shauna Adler
English 110 T&R 8:00-9:15
Paper Essay #1
Web blogs
Web blogs: What's the use?
What the hell is a web log? mean seriously! Have you ever heard of the word Weblogs? If you have, you would of beeen one step ahead of me about a month ago. When i first heard the word "web blogs" I was like "Hey is that a T.V. show, or a website or something?" Then my English 110 Composition teacher, Sybil, introduced our class to them. She introduced the basics of web logging. She said they were "fun and educational." She also told us about her own experience . She also helped us to understand that they could help the nuew public school systems alot too.
Now I bet you are still wondering what the hell a web log is huh?
Web blogs would give us a new way of espression. With them we are a loud to express our feelings and write whatever we would like.
Many people I know love to write journals and web logs are a much faster way of keeping your thoughts on hand and they are up to date.
They simply put it as "it (web blogs) are the honest ans simple truth, no bullshit."
Now I bet you are asking how do web blogs help to futher ideas. You can further you ideas with web blogs three different ways, with your fellow classmates, with other web bloggers, abd with other websites.
Shauna // 12:04 PM
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Thursday, December 12, 2002:
Well we have a problem! this disc that i saved my first essay on is not opening so i was unable to open it up and paste it here on my weblog! I got my second paper on here which is a relief. If i had put that one a disc and not saved it to my hard drive i would not be able to put it on here. Last night as i went to see of i could download my essay and my disc drive was all busted up and wouldnt let me take out my disc. So JD got it out and said It is broke!! So it sucked so then we tried to open the disc up on his computer and it didnt work! ah...................
Shauna // 5:54 AM
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Wednesday, December 11, 2002:
Shauna Adler Adler1
English 110 8:00-9:30 T&R
11-8-02
Stretch project part 2
Part 2: The Research
In the following pages I will continue to tell you what I learned from my stretch project. There were four major states that we covered North Dakota/Minnesota, Colorado, Hawaii, and Alaska. There are a significant number of endangered animals listed in each state. All these animals are on the road to recovery and the number are growing. For some the numbers can not be counted but for others they can. With the states help along with laws that have been passed these beautiful animals will be in good shape for the future.
North Dakota is a state that contains significant amounts of animals. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have acquired nine threatened\endangered plant and animal species. Of the nine JD and I were only able to find information on two, Interior Least Tern and the well known Gray Wolf (U.S Fish & Wildlife.) The Interior Least Tern is a small white bird with a grayish back and wings. They were entered on the endangered list because of “predation, human disturbance, and the construction and operation of mainstem reservoirs” (U.S. Fish & Wildlife.) Scientist are unsure of the population’s growth or increase.
Gray Wolves are known for their cunning and hunting abilities. However, wolves have become nearly extinct in the lower 48 states because new settlers believed wolves were the cause of livestock losses across the nation. Wolves were constantly being targeted and persecuted by “large scale predator eradication programs” sponsored by the
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federal government. These programs have made the Gray Wolf the most pursued animal in the United States (Grey Wolf Recovery.) By the time wolves were finally protected by the Endangered Species Act of 1973, they had become extinct in the lower 48 states, with the exception of a few hundred in northeastern Minnesota.
Early settler that was moving west severely depleted most of the prey for wolves. Prey such as bison, deer, elk and moose. With little do eat, wolves turned to sheep and cattle to replace their natural prey. In order to protect livestock ranchers and government agencies began a “campaign” against wolves (Grey Wolf Recovery.) Programs that began in the 19th century continued through 1965, these programs would offer $20 to $50 per wolf. Wolves were now trapped, “shot from planes and snowmobiles, dug from their dens, and hunted by dogs” (Grey Wolf Recovery.) Wolves started to feed on animal carcasses salted with strychnine.
Today about 2,200 wolves live in the wild in Minnesota. Fewer then twenty live on Lake Superior’s Isle Royale, and about 120 live in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. They can also be found in Wisconsin (120) and about 240 in the northern Rocky Mountains of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming (Grey Wolf Recovery.) Scientist are now trying to reintroduce them into Arizona and New Mexico. Occasionally a wolf sighting is reported in Washington, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Although they are endangered in the lower 48 states, in Alaska wolf population’s number between 5,900 to 7,200. Because of their large numbers in Alaska wolves are not considered to be endangered or threatened.
The Endangered Species Act has been so successful on wolf recovery that in June 1998 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it would review the species’ status
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and consider de-listing or reclassifying their species. The wolf’s comeback has been due to scientific research, conservation and management programs, and education efforts that helped to increase public understanding of wolves (Grey Wolf Recovery.) Reintroduction and management programs have “greatly accelerated” wolf recovery in the Rocky Mountains. In Minnesota, which has the largest wolf population of the lower 48 states, there is a state program that provides compensation for livestock. There is also a federal program for the trapping of individual wolves guilty of “depredation” (Grey Wolf Recovery.) In other areas “private compensation programs run by organizations that support wolf restoration, the Defenders of Wildlife,” pay for the livestock that wolves kill (Grey Wolf Recovery.) Although Minnesota is helping to speed up the wolf’s recovery, the state has many other animals it has to worry about as well.
In Minnesota there are fourteen endangered species only two, the gray wolf and the bald eagle, of which are currently getting help by laws. The gray wolf as you just read is being helped nation wide by protective laws and by the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Law, protects bald eagles from being hunted. It states that this act “makes it illegal to import, export, or take bald or golden eagles, or to sell, purchase, or barter their parts, or products from then, including their nests” (Protection Law Summaries.) The state of Minnesota also has other endangered animals. The Indian Bat, American burying Beetle, Karner blue Butterfly, Clubshell, and the Eastern Puma.
In Colorado there are over 115 endangered or threatened animals. There are four fish Bonytail, Razorback Sucker, Humpback Chub, and the Colorado Pikeminnow, also
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known as the Squawfish. These fish are endangered because predation of other fish, and Dams in the Yampa River Valley. In the last two years, the D.O.W. (Department of Wildlife) has greatly reduced its number of predators in hopes to recover those fish. There are also a number of frogs and toads that are dying from pollution and Ultra Violet Rays. Along with North Dakota, Colorado also has endangered the whooping crane, least tern, bald eagle, and the gray wolf.
. Unlike Colorado Hawaii seems to have less of the land animal and more of the exotic marine animals. But Hawaii also has a variety of different animals endangered. Starting with the Akepa, Hawaiian for “quick, nimble, active”, on the big island of Hawaii the bird is red-orange, while on Maui the male is bronze-yellow. The female Akepa has a greenish top and a yellow bell. This species has a “conical bill, a long, notched talk, and I usually four to five inches in length” (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.) The Akepa was once found on O’ahu, Maui and the Big Island, as well as Kaua’i. Now they are believed to be on the Big island, Kaua’i, and Maui. In the 1800’s the Akepa was common on both Maui and Kaua’i, but the largest population today is on the Big Island (about 14,000.) Maui has the smallest population of all with 240. O’ahu’s Akepa were rare and last sighted in 1976. Due to aggressive alien plants and animals and loss of their habitat the Akepa’s is on the endangered list on October 13, 1970. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service established the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge which helps to protect the Akepa along with many other birds.
The Kaua’I Akiaola is about seven and a half inches in length and has a very downcurved bill one third the length of its body. Adult males are bright olive-yellow
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above and yellow below. Females are green-gray above and have shorter bills. This particular bird was rare when they were first discovered in the 1700’s. According to scientist and fossil records, their number declined fiercely in the early 1900’s. “It is believed that because they frequented low elevations, they were subject to the introduced disease found in the environment” (U.S. Fish & Wildlife.) The Kaua’i Akialoa was last seen in 1965. They use to live on all the upper Hawaiian Islands but at present day scientist believe that they only lived Kaua’i. Sadly scientist also says that they are afraid that the bird has become extinct over the past few years. In order to try to preserve these animals and many others in the early part of 20th century, The Forest Reserve Act of 1903 was established. Also in 1907, the Hawaiian Territorial Legislature passed a law to protect native perching birds. In 1964, two scientists, F. Richardson and J.Bowles, published A Survey of the Birds of Kaua’I and introduced the world to these beautiful birds and their fragile existence.
Probably the most precious bird in all of Hawaii is the Nene, Hawaii’s native goose. These are magnificent birds with yellow buff cheeks and partially webbed feet. Fossil records show that the Nene used to live on all the main Hawaiian Islands. However before captain James Cook arrived at the Big Island, it was believed that there were about 25,000 Nenes living on it. Today, the Big island is the only place where they can be found naturally living in the wild (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.) Scientist believe that Maui’s population became extinct before 1980. Between 1850 and 1900 the bird’s population decreased due to aggressive hunting and collecting of their eggs. Their numbers also declined due to the introduction of alien plants and animals. According to
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researchers the Nene is “extremely vulnerable to predation by introduced animals like rats, dogs, cats, mongooses, and pigs” (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.) In more recent studies, research shows that the Nene population in the wild is due to low productivity, which is caused by poor nutrition. With the most recent number decreasing, there are only 500 Nene’s left in the wild today/
The Hawaiian Monk Seal first appeared in 1825 at the Hawaiian archipelago northern most islands, called Kure Stoll. Scientist guesses that there are 1,300-1,400 monk seals living in the Hawaiian waters. Since 1989 their population has decreased 11% and is the most endangered marine mammal (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.)
The Hawaiian Monk Seal is on the endangered species list due to a number or problems with their recovery. Such as disturbance by human, activity with fisheries, mobbing of females by males, and sharks. Even at very low contact humans can cause monk seals, mostly moms and pups, to abandon certain areas such as haul out areas. In mid 1800’s men at sea or shipwrecked crews would kill them and eat them in order to survive. In the 1900’s the monks seals habitats began to get destroyed by commercial and military facilities. Mobbing attacks on adult and immature females “are limiting the recovery if the Laysan and Lisianski populations” (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.) Monk seals have also been found dead due to shark attacks or shark inflicted wounds.
The Hawaiian Monk Seal recovery is directed mainly by the National Marine Fisheries Service and other government agencies that help to protect their habitat. Many private organization and universities are helping the Monk Seal recovery as well. All if these organizations monitor monk seal reproduction, survival techniques, and behavior.
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On the main Hawaiian Islands, many volunteer groups help to remove marine debris. Also in some areas the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy lend a helping hand. The Monk Seal was added to the endangered list in 1976 under the Federal Endangered Species Act. Hawaiian marine animals are also protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. This act established “a moratorium on the taking and importation of marine mammals, including body parts and products, and defines Federal responsibility for conservation of marine mammals, with management authority vested in the department of the interior” (Protection Laws Summaries.)
Just like Hawaii, Alaska has endangered marine animals that were affected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. One of the animals protected by this law is the Blue Whale. The blue whale is the largest living animal on the earth. It is estimated that 4,900-6,000 blue whales inhabited the northern Pacific Ocean. But due to whaling there were approximately 8,200 killed in the North Pacific. This reduced their population severely. The North Pacific population is now estimated to be around 1,200-1,700. According to scientist they do not know whether the number of blue whales is increasing or decreasing (Wildlife Conservation.) Whale sighting have increased over the past years, which scientist say that shows the numbers might be increasing (Wildlife Conservation.)
The Northern Right Whale is in the exact same situation. Their numbers are unknown mainly because they are so rarely sighted. But the National Marine Fisheries Service collects photographs or videotapes with right whale sightings. The current population is thought to be somewhere between 100-500. The Right whales were hunted
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to near extinction because of their thick blubber, long baleen, slow swimming speed, and presence in coastal waters.
There is another (my favorite animal) whale in Alaska that is endangered in 21 of the 51 states. The Humpback whales are known for their playful leaps out of the water and huge white fins. There use to be 15,000 humpback whales in the North Pacific, but because of “mechanized commercial whaling” there numbers have declined (Wildlife Conservation.) Whaling is the only factor known to have declined their numbers at present day scientist estimate that there are 1,000 to 1,200 left. Researchers are now following the humpback whale population over years and gather information on reproduction and behavioral patterns. This will hopefully tell scientist whether or not the population is increasing or decreasing. Scientist do not know whether the population is increasing or decreasing. Humpback, Right, and Blue whales endangerment was caused by whaling, which was forbidden by the Antartic Conservation Act. This act along with other federal agencies are working together to try to increase the number of each of these whales.
Whether it is birds, reptiles, mammals, the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service is trying it best to help all the endangered animals back to recovery. In North Dakota research and recovery teams are trying to prevent the extinction of the Grey Wolf as well as many other animals. In Colorado people and government agencies are helping predation become less effective on the local fish of Yampa Valley. Between North Dakota, Minnesota, and Colorado and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, we have managed to help the bald eagle population grow back from recent years. In Hawaii, local
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volunteers and the U.S. Coast guard are helping to maintain Monk Seals by preserving their habitats. In Alaska scientist and researchers are working together to trying and find out if whale population is increasing or deceasing by the number of whale sighting reported. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 was what put the mark on all these animals recovery. This law has helped save, preserve and recover some animals, in fact if not some, all animals. Recovery efforts represent an opportunity for us to address our past and enhance our understanding of all creatures. But most of all it is to help us learn more about them and how we as people can help them. We are the cause of their endangerment, and all we need to do now is try and go back and fix it.
Shauna // 7:05 PM
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Shauna Adler Adler1
English 110 T&R 8:00-9:30
11-5-02
Paper #2
Stretch Project
I have what I like to call “Animal Obsessive- Compulsive behavior.” There are several symptoms to this behavior, one of which is being obsessed with animals. Symptom #2 is the ordering of magazines, flashcards, books, nonstop library trips to get information on animals. Last but not least the desire to write essays and go to the zoo or ocean. These are just three of the symptoms, there are many others. This is what I believe I had when I was younger. I developed my “animal obsessive-compulsive behavior at the age of nine. Do you want to hear the story?
As long as I can remember I have always had the dream to work with animals. It first started during a third grade research project in Ms. Fossen’s class, we got to do it on any animal we wanted to. I of course chose a marine animal due to my love of water and marine life. I chose the bottlenose dolphin! I was so fascinated with their energy and their sonar capability, and their cute little faces that always seem to be smiling. It was actually the first book I picked up that triggered my interest and my first symptoms of my disease., “The World of Dolphins,” is what it was called, the first page contained a picture of three dolphins under water. Underneath the picture was a little paragraph talking about how Dolphins breathe under water, and how they differ from land animals. After my project my research continued, I found myself becoming more and more hooked to animals and research on them. I began to order Zoo books and get little flashcards with information on every possible animal I could find. From here sprung encyclopedias and non stop library trips, I became obsessed with animals. I bet we made two trips a week to the Library to exchange books so I could find more information. Soon I wanted to go to the Zoo everyday and watch the animals, or go to the ocean and sit on the beach. As one symptom developed after the other, I became a full-bread animal lover. Over the past years I have been able to contain my particular behavior and satisfy it with interacting with animals. For example, in Colorado, I live on a farm that is surrounded by over five hundred animals. My favorite satisfaction is the family trips to Hawaii; it is only here that I get full satisfaction. It was in Hawaii that I realized that when I got older I wanted to work with animals for my job. This would offer me a chance to rid myself of my animal obsessive-compulsive behavior, by interacting with animal’s everyday.
As you can imagine as college came around I already had my plan figured out. This is where I am now, at college planning to major in Zoology and do something with animals. As much research as I use to do I find myself not really wanting to do it anymore. But mind you I still have my obsessive behavior. My English class is now trying to help me establish that behavior once again to an uncontrollable desire.
As far as information goes, I don’t know everything about animals and I probably have forgotten most of the information I once knew. Our English 110 teacher gave us the chance to do a “stretch project” which is where we learn something we didn’t know very much about. In other words she gave me the chance to establish my behavior once again. Anyway since I am zoology major and don’t really know anything about them, I am doing mine on endangered species. Along with my partner, James Holman, I have been able to find a ton of information on all kinds of endangered species and laws passed to help protect them. We also found information on what caused some extinctions/endangerment and how they are progressing back into ecosystems.
With our project we decided to try to do all the endangered species in North, Central, and South America. We came across a number of animals to long to list. So we decided to cut the information down to four states. When we chose these states we wanted variety on a number of levels. We wanted variety on the levels such as, climate, location, endangered animals (both aquatic and land), and geographical conditions. We ended up choosing four states as stated on my blog site, which stated
“[10/29/2002 6:35:06 AM | Shauna Adler]
Instead of doing it on North, South, and Central America, we are going to do it on four states. We chose Hawaii, Alaska, North Dakota/Minnesota, and Colorado. We have also tried to get into a couple of state wildlife agencies and they won’t let us on. We still have found a lot more information, such as we found a site where you can go and get all the states and what all their endangered species are. As far as the four states we tried to put a variety of stuff when we chose the states. We mainly looked at the climate area and the variety of endangered species in each. We picked Hawaii because it is tropical, island, ocean and filled with marine life and the one and only native Nene, which is the native goose of Hawaii. We have not been able to find very much stuff on this state ..........we are working on it though. Next we have North Dakota\MN. Here we kind of have cold weather.........not quite artic but in between. Plus we have humid summers......which always add a plus. JD is actually working on this state. He has found a couple of sites where he can visit but he has not gotten the information we need so far. When I was talking about the trying to get into the state wildlife agencies. We can't get into this one .....Because it is on something like federal ....something. I don’t know. So we are trying to move around that and visit other sites. With Colorado (where we are from) we have a little bit of information......JD is again ding this state. The reason for Colorado is because we live there for one.........home..........it is mid temperature........cold and hot! It is mountainous and spacious. So it brings with it a lot of endangered species. One of which is the Bald Eagle. I remember seeing that there were 115 listings of endangered species in the state of Colorado. Last we are doing Alaska. This is what I have found the most information on. JD and I have found that there are five endangered species. Each of which we have individual information.”
As stated in the above contexts, JD and I encountered some problems during this process of trying to find information on each particular state. The first problem we encountered was the overload of information. There was too much information at the beginning, so we had to cut it down to a minimum. Our second and most important problem was our lack of resources. We tried to get on to State Wildlife Agencies to get information and on some states we couldn’t get in without playing a $30 entrance fee.
The bad part was sometimes you could get on and sometimes you couldn’t. We found this to be a major problem with North Dakota/Minnesota, and Colorado. We only encountered it once with Colorado though. From the information we got off the websites followed the problem as to which website to chose. We encountered various numbers of websites with information, but it was the state wildlife agencies that made the information seem “real and truthful.” This was a minor set back and took a little time but it all worked out. The last problem we encountered was the surplus number of animals. In each state there were over one hundred animals, we rearranged this project so we would only do the top five most significant animals in each of the four states. Although we had some problems, they did not affect our day to day process.
Our day to day process looked something like this
Research Log
Day 1: Today we looked over how much work we had to do and tried to find some information on the internet. JD started by looking at all kind of websites and printing out stuff for each state. I learned that Colorado (my home state) had 115 listings of endangered species. Printed off all the endangered species from the state of Oregon! This is going to be a lot of work. May be we will have to carry it into next semester.
Day 2: Today was one of the harder days because JD and I found that we are way in over our heads. There are way too many animals in North, Central, and South America. Half of the endangered species that are listed in the United States are endangered everywhere on these two continents…for example the Gary Wolf. It is endangered in 48 of the United States but not in Canada (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: http://species.fws.gov/bio_gwol.html) We are going to try and find more information on this animal because it is one of the most widely spread endangered animals in America.
Day 5: Today I found information on my favorite state Hawaii. I know a lot of this already because my family and I have been there for vacation a lot. I learned about the Nene…the native goose of Hawaii. There are a number of marine and coral that are endangered in the Hawaiian Islands.
Day 8: Alaska was my trip for today. I found that there are five distinct animals that are endangered in Alaska. There are three marine animals and two birds. The Eskimo Curlew causes of decline were form overwhelming market hunting. They say that no population counts have ever been made on this species and a current population estimate is not possible. The last documented sighting of this animal was in Texas 1962. Next is the
Short tailed Albatross, which cause of endangerment, was due to hunting also. These birds could also have been found in Japan but due to a violent volcanic eruption in the 1930’s all the nesting grounds were covered. The bird numbers have managed to increase from 50 in the 1930’s to over 600 in 1993. The first marine animal is the Blue Whale, the largest living animal on earth. The whaling industry of the Pacific Ocean has managed to decline their numbers. Between 1910 and 1966, approximately 8,200 were killed in the North Pacific. The North Pacific population is now estimating at 1,200 to 1,700 animals. Scientist don’t know whether the number of blue whales is increasing or decreasing, but they are saying that the whale sightings have increased since the end of whaling. The Northern Right Whale were hunted because of their thick blubber, long baleen, slow swimming speed, and presence in coastal areas. Once again scientist do not know if any of their numbers have changed. There were an estimated 15,000 humpback whales in the Northern Pacific prior to whaling. Scientist today estimate there are now 1,000 to 2,000 left. Scientist do not know whether or not the population is increasing or not;
Day 12: Finally after all the information we have already gather in the past two weeks we narrowed our search down to four states….Hawaii, Alaska, North Dakota/Minnesota, and Colorado! We chose these states because of their geographical significant, climate, and variety in animals. If you go on our website there is a detailed reason as to why we went into each state. We already have information on Hawaii and Alaska. We seem to be having problems getting into state wildlife agencies for North Dakota and Minnesota. But we will keep trying. JD tried to get on it and it said that you could get into the federal filed for thirty bucks. Yeah right!
Day 15: Today we looked up laws to help the endangered animals. We found this information at this website http://www.endangeredspecie.com/protect.htm. Some of the laws we found to be useful were the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Antarctic Conservation act
As you can see I learned a lot about endangered animals in a short period of time.
There was lot information we needed to get and acquire. I personally learned the most about the Grey Wolf and the Monk Seal, which you will read about in Part two of this essay!
At the beginning of this project it seemed almost impossible to locate all the information we needed. It did present some problems and it was interesting at times. But I expanded my horizons, as some people say, and learned about these most innocent creatures and how their everyday lives were torn apart. My love for animals still burns like a fire on a cold black night. I have gone back to my old habits once again, trying to gather all the information possible. Maybe this diseases is not a bad thing, may be it is not a disease at all. After doing this project I truly think that I am just suffering from Animal Obsessive Compulsive disorder because there is no other ambition I have more then to pursue animals into my life. I am now back where I started thanks to this project and instead of being troubled by it, I think I am going to take it and actually do something with it. Maybe a website on this information I found something, can be done. My love, or disease, whatever you want to call it, is always going to be there. It took this project to help me realize that.
Shauna // 7:04 PM
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