WHAT? Support a Missionary? ME?

Welcome to "The Gods Are Bored," now scoring a trifecta! Three posts in less than 24 hours! That's a flea market deal, you'd better scoop it up.

This amazingly beautiful creature is the Cape Griffon Vulture. It lives in Namibia. There are only 11 individuals left.

Yes. (Anne wipes copious tears.) A vulture on the brink of extinction. One thinks immediately of the way statues of Zeus and Venus were desecrated by early Christians.

Okay, so it's not a glam animal like the polar bear or the Arctic wolf. It's a buzzard. Can't Namibia get along without this particular species of buzzard?

We at "The Gods Are Bored" say that the Cape Griffon Vulture must be saved.

Fortunately, we have recently become acquainted with a vibrant young missionary, Lyndsey Stafford, who plans to spend at least a year in Namibia on a project designed to help the remaining Cape Griffon Vultures survive while raising public awareness of the dangers facing this magnificent creature.

There are no primates we've dissed more on this site than missionaries. But this young lady is a missionary we want to support. She believes this species of vulture can be saved.

Ah, belief in salvation! Finally we can endorse it!

Alas and alack, Lyndsey, we at "The Gods Are Bored" have only a handful of readers. We suspect that many of them are struggling as we are just to keep the roof patched and the "sheriff's sale" sign off the lawn.

However, we pledge to you what support we can. We at "The Gods Are Bored" will chart your progress as you fight for a Sacred Thunderbird. And we'll encourage our three readers with disposable income to make a donation to save the Cape Griffon Vulture!!!!

Hard as it is for us to believe here at TGAB, we actually have a highly intelligent and recommended reader in South Africa who might be able to mobilize some support there.

If you're in love with polar bears and wolves, can't you find it in your heart to love Cape Griffon Vultures as well? If so, dig into that trust fund (or change purse, it really doesn't matter) and send some moo-la-la to an extremely worthy cause.

The cause is REST AFRICA. Stands for Rare and Endangered Species Trust.

Now close your eyes and imagine that there really is only one God, and it is the Sacred Thunderbird. How are you disposed toward this deity? Are you going to wind up on that Big Savannah in the Sky, only to be judged by the Sacred Thunderbird and found wanting? Run scared, you who are indifferent to vultures! Here's your only chance for salvation! Are you really going to turn your back on the saving grace of the Sacred Thunderbird?

We want everyone on their knees. We want everyone to pray: "Oh, Sacred Thunderbird, we have fallen short! We want to do better! Sacred Thunderbird, we pledge our hearts, minds, and pocketbooks to your salvation! Awk Awk!"

(We at "The Gods Are Bored" know how to make the hard sale.)

Beannachd leat from

THE MERLIN OF BERKELEY SPRINGS