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 … [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 … [Read More...]
Drowning in pit bulls, HOPE Humane Society goes under
No-kill failure leaves city without an animal shelter FORT SMITH, Arkansas––As of July 17, 2019, just over a month from now and maybe sooner, the second-biggest city in Arkansas is likely to be without a functional animal shelter and humane society for the first time in 81 … [Read More...]
Man-eaters of Kenya: The Ghost & The Darkness
Maneless lions legendary for more than a century The Ghosts of Tsavo by Philip Caputo Adventure Press (c/o National Geographic Society, 1145 17th St. NW, Washington, DC 20036), 2002. 275 pages, hardcover. $27.00. The Lions of Tsavo: Exploring the Legacy of Africa's Notorious Man-eaters by Bruce D. Patterson McGraw-Hill Co. (Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121), 2004. 231 … [Read More...]
Fair Oaks Farms stepped in the same crap as the rest of the herd
Cell phone videocams open factory farms to public view Ignoring 30 years of warnings by leading U.S. agribusiness educators and pundits has at last visibly begun to cost the livestock industry consumer confidence, as evidenced by the explosive growth in sales of plant-based protein foods and steeply declining dairy, meat, and poultry consumption among younger Americans. Fair Oaks Farms, of … [Read More...]
Exposé of “Dairy Disneyland” horrors gives agribiz the runs
Fair Oaks Farms' Dairy Adventure was recently profiled as "One Farm’s Quest to Save Industrial Agriculture" FAIR OAKS, Indiana––Undercover video from Fair Oaks Farm in Fair Oaks, Indiana, has exposed extensive abuse of young calves at a facility widely billed as exemplifying a new, humane approach to factory farming. Animal Recovery Mission, of Miami Beach, Florida, on June … [Read More...]
Why is the ASPCA stonewalling about the deaths of 20 dogs in transport?
Three-week silence howls for answers NEW YORK CITY––Twenty dogs died on May 15, 2019 aboard an American SPCA vehicle that was hauling them from one or more Mississippi shelters to Wisconsin to be offered for adoption. That could be called just a really bad accident, except that three weeks after Emily Jacobs and Ben Feuerherd of the New York Post disclosed the dog deaths, on May … [Read More...]
Top GMO mouse lab closing; sponsor turns toward non-animal research
13-year-old, $38 million facility was British leader HINXTON, U.K. —The Sanger Institute, a global leader since 2006 in producing genetically modified mice for biomedical research use, on May 16, 2019 announced to staff that it will close by 2022, if not sooner. The impending closure is among the first hints that the biomedical research industry is at last responding to more … [Read More...]
Mouse studies often don’t work, NIH admits after landmark 10-year study
National Institutes of Health finding in 2013 presaged Wellcome Foundation decision to close the Sanger Institute genetically modified mouse lab by 2022 WASHINGTON D.C. (March 2013)–– Bluntly stated the headline in the February 11, 2013 edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, “Genomic responses in mouse models poorly mimic human inflammatory diseases.” Echoing an article … [Read More...]
Akita mauling: “Tux wants to know if you have a kid he can play with?”
"Or, are you a big kid?" LOS ANGELES––“Tux wants to know if you have a kid he can play with? Or, are you a big kid? Meet him at #AkitaRanch, 28930 Ellis Ave, Romoland, CA,” Passion for Paws Akita Rescue posted to Facebook on May 25, 2019. Responding to the posting, the most recent of many that have solicited a home for Tux since Valentine’s Day 2019, a seven-year-old girl … [Read More...]
Will lawsuits slow use of dogs as “ambassadors” for dangerous breeds?
Attacks by "service dog" and "reading dogs" illustrate risky practices ATLANTA, Georgia; BAKERSFIELD, California––Pending lawsuits on behalf of the victims of dog attacks aboard a Delta Airlines flight and in an elementary school classroom could potentially slow down the deployment of dangerous dog breeds as “canine ambassadors” in public places––or not, depending on the outcomes … [Read More...]
Wild Kingdom star Jim Fowler, 89: the truth behind the legend
Florida roadside zoo showman starred on TV for 50 years NORWALK, Connecticut––Few viewers of the NBC nature documentary television series Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom during the original run of the program, 1963-1971, might have expected that host Jim Fowler would die quietly at home at age 89––but he did, on May 8, 2019, in Norwalk, Connecticut. An old-style showman, Fowler handled … [Read More...]
Botswana, please rethink resuming hunting! by Sebastian Mwanza
Ian Khama, former president of Botswana, resigns from ruling party when successor undoes ban on trophy hunting Editor’s note: Outraged and disappointed that his handpicked successor Mokgweetsi Masisi had ended a five-year-old ban on trophy hunting, Ian Khama, president of Botswana from 2008 to 2018, on May 25, 2019 resigned from the Botswana Democratic Party and pledged to seek the defeat … [Read More...]
Cockfighters “win” from delay of hurricane aid to Puerto Rico
Frustration at lack of help fuels defense of cockfighting against U.S. federal "meddling" SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico––Puerto Rican cockfighters and politicians who boast of standing beside them may have been the only winners when U.S. Representative Chip Roy on May 24, 2019 blocked more than $900 million in disaster relief funding for victims of Hurricane Maria. Roy, a Republican … [Read More...]
Why Nathan Winograd disciple Doug Rae won’t be Canonized
Humane Society of Fremont County director Rae was would-be savior of Pueblo no-kill experiment while his own shelter allegedly went to hell CANON CITY, Colorado––Five weeks after Humane Society of Fremont County executive director Doug Rae told Pueblo Chieftan reporter Tracy Harmon that he knew how to “turn around” the Pueblo Animal Services shelter, following three months of … [Read More...]
How to tell a “bait dog” from “click bait”
"Bait dogs" are docile victims to some pit bull advocates, but "urban legend" to others What is a "bait dog"? First of all, learn to distinguish a bona fide "bait dog" from a "click bait" dog, known to rescue insiders as a "donor bait" dog. Fill in the blanks This is the generic description of a "click bait" or "donor bait" dog, as typically introduced to the public by a local television … [Read More...]