Jerry Beck at the Cartoon Brew has posted this gallery of sixteen World War II-related funny animal comic book covers.

This goes nicely with my retrospective, “Talking Animals in World War II Propaganda”, published here last January 5th.

You are probably thinking of the USA's World War II propaganda animated cartoons. There were certainly lots of them!

Long articles could be (and have been) written on the adventures of Donald and Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Gandy Goose and Homer Pigeon. In the last decade, most American propaganda cartoons have been re-released on DVD, so we can see them for ourselves; they are also on YouTube.

Volumes could also be written of the wartime funny-animal comic book and newspaper comic strip characters who fought the Axis, usually on the Home Front against saboteurs and hoarders. World War II's talking-animal propaganda novels are less well-known. In fact, they are forgotten today except in movie-adaptation credits. That’s too bad, as the books are still enjoyable reading.

Easter may just be over, but Dutch furs are looking ahead to the New Year for Furs on Fire.

This year's three-day party will again be based at "De Patrijs" (video). Space is limited to 50 furs – prior years saw 28 and 39 attend.

Beds, fireworks and food (three meals a day) are provided in the €65 fee. However, sheets, pillows and blankets must be brought or rented. [dutchfurs]

Bears killed and devoured a monkey in front of horrified visitors at a Dutch zoo, officials and witnesses said.

Visitors reported that the grisly scene began as several bears chased the monkey, a macaque, onto a wooden structure at Beekse Bergen Safari Park.

They said a bear tried unsuccessfully to shake the monkey loose, ignoring attempts by keepers to distract it. The bear then climbed up and grabbed the monkey, mauling it to death and bringing it to its concrete den, where three bears ate it.

(Full article can be found on CNN)

The Ananova web site reports that newspaper and TV photographers in the Netherlands, in their eagerness to get a photo of a rare snowy owl (popularized by the recent release of the Harry Potter movie), may have hounded it to death. Complete article is at http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_493596.html