My first elephant painting just off the easel. The current unprecedented poaching levels of these magnificent animals indicate a bleak future. Intelligent and sensitive, elephants form strong and close bonds with each other, have memory and a concept of death. They will spend a lot of time gently nuzzling the bones any that have died. A baby will grieve terribly for the loss of it's mother, so much so that it's considered very hard to successfully raise an orphaned elephant. Devoted carers are assigned to stand in for the baby's mum in it's crucial early months of life to ensure it's survival, even sleeping with them for the necessary reassurance they desperately need. What can be done to stop the trade in ivory and the senseless death of so many of these majestic and iconic African animals. It has almost reached a state of war between those determined to save elephants and those who want to exploit them. It's a sad and terrible situation that unless something is done elephants may disappear from the world in our lifetime. Personally I find the idea of Africa without elephants unimaginable. 

A cats tongue is a truly amazing thing. Anyone with a cat will know that raspy scratchy feeling when they lick your arm, all those little barbs are pretty sharp. Big cats have them too for the purpose of literally scraping meat from bone.This wonderful slow motion film shows exactly how the tongue works.

If anyone had any doubt about the intelligence of dolphins this video proves just how smart they are. Incredibly this wild animal approaches a diver for help to remove fishing line from his pectoral fin. Amazing.

For years when my cats lived an indoor outdoor life they all wore collars with their name and phone number attached. The thought of ever losing one and never knowing what happened always filled me with dread so I felt a lot more secure knowing they were identifiable. Anything can happen to a cat while you are at work so it makes sense if they get lost that at least if someone finds them you have a chance of being reunited. It happened to me when I was very young but on this occasion my dear cat had been run over on the road. I'd been called to a family crisis and when I got back she was missing. A kind lady had found her and rang to let me know which was only possible because of the collar and tag.Of course microchips are good too but a collar with a name tag is obvious and it's easy for someone to give you a call. The other advantage is that a collared cat obviously belongs to someone.

It's easy to overlook domestic farm animals raised for food and just take them for granted. This video shows that cows have feelings too, just look at their exuberance at being set free from a long confinement to graze on green grass and smell fresh air. Who could doubt that no animal is happy captive no matter how well cared for.

Is there any good reason why you wouldn't neuter your cat ? I can't think of any but I can think of a ton of reasons to do so. On top of the list is the obvious, that there are literally thousands of homeless starving and neglected cats in the world so why contribute to the problem allowing your cat to have kittens. Thousands of cats end up in shelters or worse. The populations of feral cats has grown adding to wildlife decline especially in Australia where I live so desexing your cat is the only responsible thing to do. 

When a picture speaks a thousand words. What a wonderful idea to encourage in children a better understanding and care of animals. Respect for animals should start young and what better way than this innovative idea that enriches both the animals and children's lives.

At last some hope on the horizon in the supreme fight to save endangered wildlife. At the root of all the tragedy in trafficking wildlife and plundering habitat, money is often the core but cultural and religious issues are relevant too. I like it that there are people thinking outside the square and addressing directly the millions of Muslims and their beliefs. 

'Remnants of the Rainforest' 2014 acrylic on board 70cm x  60cm

This painting was inspired by the catastrophic consequences to
wildlife that land clearing and deforestation is having. Vast
areas of pristine rainforest is slashed and burned each  year in order to make way for palm oil plantations. This large-scale
deforestation is pushing tigers and orangutans to extinction, along with many other native species of Borneo and Sumatra so that this one vegetable oil can be used in many of our everyday foods and products. 

Finished at last this incredibly challenging oil painting that I started before Xmas. There were times when I was tempted to give it away but I'm glad I forged ahead to overcome the many obstacles I encountered. Very early I discovered how hard it was to look at all those spots, then the next issue was getting the age of the cubs correct, then it was the background ! My ambitions to paint a leopard might be put on hold for awhile, I don't think I could deal with spots again for quite some time. Perhaps the next work will be a tiger, stripes instead !

This wonderful video shows so beautifully that top predators are vital to the healthy stability of a balanced environment. The incredible impact of their presence after reintroduction to Yellowstone National Park in 1995 is a true testament to why they are necessary and proves beyond doubt that the continued persecution of these intelligent animals is truly wrong.