And ita, I am sorry to hear about your cousin.

San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park has a polar bear conservation program too. You can also help out the animals at their facilities but, frankly, I support their outside efforts more. There are some very generous donations that help out with the animals there already.

I am doing the elephants for my dad. He can track the ones with GPS locator chipies online. I think he'll dig that. And Heifer Intl for a few people too.

Waitaminute, Heifer doesn't give actual goats. I mean, I don't know why I am so invested in it, but I want the actual goats going somewhere... Well, the bees. Because I like the idea that people are getting bees.

I've got to get my apartment shipshape for when my sister shows up. Coincidentally I've done a lot of updates to the sites over the past few days, but the apartment is looking better.

Looking at the site now, Cass, it does seem like you give a literal animal or share thereof, but for some reason the materials that my sister was sent when I donated in her name a few years ago made us both think they were being symbolic. We might have been wrong, or it might have changed.

I got a catalog from Heifer International this year, and it seemed like they give literal animals. Maybe I mis-read. But they talk about what the people can do with, for instance, a bunch of chickens -- they get eggs for themselves, and sell what they can't eat, which gives them a financial leg up.

I wouldn't think that would be possible with symbolic animals. (Or am I misunderstanding you guys?)

Octopus carries around coconut shells as "armor": [link]

Cephalopods are AWESOME.

I've been a bad donor recently, so I couldn't tell you if there was a shift, or just an initial misapprehension. Maybe my gift was just as kewl as my sisters!

I really just assumed that, if they weren't strictly literal critters, they still provided animals and such for people. If 30 people bought goats and no one bought chickens, they'd give families what was useful but still full critter value.

So logically I would support either option. But part of me wants a goat out there with "from: Cass" tattooed on its ass. Um, maybe not actually tattooed.

I vote that your gift was kewl.

This is possibly because I got a goat last year (and chickens the year before) and I want that goat to exist. Until ritually sacrificed or curried.