The 1994 San Francisco "Adoption Pact" recast the roles of animal control & humane societies––but not as intended Again, in hundreds of cities and towns across the U.S., and indeed around the world, factions are polarized in furious conflict over what their local animal control agencies, … [Read More...]
Do you feel you are fighting the same battles for animals over and over?
Dear friends & readers: Do you ever feel as if you are fighting the same battles for animals over and over? Thirty years ago we celebrated a global ban on commercial whaling, a ban on international sales of elephant ivory and rhino horn, and a 10-year suspension of the Atlantic Canada seal … [Read More...]
Three more chuckwagon horses killed as Calgary Stampede 2019 ends
Six horses killed in 10 days; most since 1986 CALGARY, Alberta––The 2019 Calgary Stampede ended on the night of July 14, 2019 with reportedly the second-highest attendance in the history of the event, and three more horses killed in the climactic last heat of the Rangeland Derby, … [Read More...]
Three veg fun foods that terrify the animal-based food industry
Impossible Burgers, cell-cultured ice cream, & goldfish crackers––& goldfish crackers may scare the animal-based food industry most of all EMERYVILLE, California––Now you can order vegan Impossible Burgers to be delivered for a midnight meal, as thousands of people have already done. As of July 11, 2019, you could have real vegan ice cream for desert, cell-cultured from … [Read More...]
Deadliest dogs in South Africa? Boerboels challenge pit bulls
The most dangerous dogs of the apartheid era make a bloody comeback BLOEMFONTAIN, South Africa––Adriana Salomina van Deventer, widow of David van Deventer, on July 4, 2019 in the High Court of South Africa, Bloemfontain Division, won an eight-year battle to establish that her husband was killed by a boerboel belonging to former friend Hennie Botha, not by pre-existing medical … [Read More...]
Pit bull advocate charged with hit-&-run killing of Holocaust survivor
Alleged killer had her favorite pit cloned, & was charged with trying to break into a pound to rescue pits who mauled a couple LOS ANGELES, California––Joyce Bernann McKinney, 68, once a globally prominent pit bull advocate, was on July 3, 2019 formally charged with assault with a deadly weapon, hit-and-run driving, and vehicular manslaughter for the June 17, 2019 killing … [Read More...]
Alabama mauling: “Emily’s Law” fails to protect public from pit bulls
2018 law raised penalties for dog attacks, but also raised bars to preventing them FORT MITCHELL, Alabama––“Vicious dog attack warrants misdemeanor charge,” bannered Robbie Watson of WLTZ-38 First News on July 10, 2019, but the story focus was on the shock and frustration of victim Sandy Vogts that the attack itself actually brought no charges at all. Worse, Vogts may be left … [Read More...]
Breed survey 2019: more puppies, yet fewer homes for pit bulls
54% of U.S. pit bulls are seeking homes, up from 41% in 2018 Americans seeking to add a dog to their families had 17.2 million dogs to choose from in the first week of July 2019, a third more than in July 2018, according to the 10th annual ANIMALS 24-7 mid-summer survey of online classified ads offering dogs for sale or adoption. The ANIMALS 24-7 surveys are timed each year to reflect the … [Read More...]
Blue Buffalo, Rachael Ray, Nutro, & 13 other brands linked to rare disease
When being big-hearted is not good in a dog SILVER SPRING, Maryland––Dogs are supposed to be big-hearted, but not in the literal sense. An abnormally enlarged heart can kill a dog, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration on June 27, 2019 warned for the second time in two years, this time linking the warning to consumption of 16 specific premium dog food brands––albeit without … [Read More...]
E. coli kills yet another child who visited a petting zoo
Third known petting zoo fatality since 2011 SAN DIEGO, California––Jedidiah King Cabezuela, age 2, on June 24, 2019 died from hemolytic uremic syndrome, an apparent complication of exposure to shiga toxin-producing e. coli bacteria two weeks earlier at the San Diego County Fair. “The County of San Diego Health & Human Services Agency said the toddler came into contact with animals … [Read More...]
Finches found in hair curlers: trafficked to sing, or to fight?
Singing said to be behind smuggling busts, but the money may be in fights among caged finches NEW YORK, N.Y.––Circumstantial evidence hints that some or perhaps all of a parade of men caught in the act of allegedly bootlegging Guyanese seed finches into the U.S., purportedly to sell for use in high-stakes singing contests, might instead have been supplying finch fighters. Both finch singing … [Read More...]
Whaling harpoons Icelandic tourism & the whole nation suffers (UPDATE!)
Iceland suspends whaling after ANIMALS 24-7 exposes how killing whales wounded a whale-watching industry that brings in twice as much money REYKJAVIK, Iceland––The two remaining Icelandic whaling companies, Hvalur, killing fin whales, and IP Útgerð, killing minke whales, on the afternoon of June 27, 2019 jointly announced that they will not go whaling this year, the first year … [Read More...]
Hero of pit bull attack paid much higher price than convicted owners
Severely injured Duane Eddie Vanlanham won a medal & a lawsuit, but no payout SAGINAW, Michigan––Duane Eddie Vanlanham, a 2009 recipient of the Carnegie Medal for Civilian Valor for fighting off three pit bulls to rescue neighbor Bridgetta Hadley, at huge cost to himself, died on June 14, 2019 as quietly as he had always lived, in the neighborhood where he spent most of his … [Read More...]
What “sportsmen” say about stomping fish dumped out of a barrel
Fishers fight over sadistic display KALISPELL, Montana––Shooting fish in a barrel, long a metaphor for the most unsporting forms of hunting, has a correlative at Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s, a Bass subsidiary since 2017. To hook children on recreational killing, Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s stores from time to time offer free access to “catch and release ponds” for children … [Read More...]
Activist Mary Max, 52: maxed out as artist Peter Max, 81, peters out
Suicide by nitrogen asphixiation NEW YORK, N.Y.––Animal advocate and philanthropist Mary Max, 52, wife of pop artist Peter Max, was on June 9, 2019 found dead in their apartment on the Upper West Side of New York City from allegedly self-induced nitrogen asphyxiation, a bag-over-the-head method described by Hemlock Society founder Derek Humphrey in his 1991 book Final Exit: The … [Read More...]
Gorillas in solitary: Ndume wins parole. Now what about King?
The Gorilla Foundation reluctantly returns Ndume to the Cincinnati Zoo. King still sits alone at Monkey Jungle. CINCINNATI, Ohio––Sprung from solitary confinement after 28 years at the Gorilla Foundation in Woodside, California, Ndume the gorilla, age 38, is back among old friends and family at the Cincinnati Zoo, reportedly settling in well. King the gorilla, however, … [Read More...]