Animals 24-7

News & perspective for the humane community

Fatal truck crash spotlights lack of attention to safety in dog transport

Pit bull rescue was hauling 48 dogs to Canada             SHELLEY, Idaho;  PHOENIX, Arizona––Dog rescue-and-rehomers elsewhere around the U.S. on May 20,  2020 celebrated “National Rescue Dog Day.” Many from Phoenix,  Arizona,  and southern Idaho,  however,  searched the hills and woods around U.S. Interstate 15 milepost 105,  just south of Shelley,  Idaho,  for nine dogs––mostly pit … [Read More...]

Deaths in Tahiti: pit bull mayhem hits “tropical paradise”

Victim survived nuclear bomb tests, but not four Staffordshires and a bull terrier PAPEETE,  Tahiti––Maria Liu Sing ép. Layoussaint,  87,  was on May 12,  2020 torn apart by four American Staffordshire pit bulls and a bull terrier pit bull variant. She had survived World War II,  the 1946 annexation of Polynesia by France,  and 193 nuclear bomb tests conducted by the French government between … [Read More...]

Puppies & kittens everywhere, but none in shelters to adopt

Suspension of spay/neuter & intake services due to COVID-19 cuts adoptions by a third from 2019             NEW YORK CITY––Celebrating rehoming every dog and cat in custody soon after COVID-19 shutdowns began,  animal shelters from coast to coast are suddenly––and predictably––weeping,  wailing,  and tearing hair about having no adoptable animals to offer in response to strong demand from … [Read More...]

Got a pit bull, a Rottweiler, or tosa? Insure it or else, says South Korea

Dangerous breeds banned from daycare centers,  kindergartens,  & elementary schools             SEOUL, South Korea––Cracking down on possession of dangerous dogs for the third time in three years,  the South Korean Ministry of Agriculture, Food,  & Rural Affairs has since April 21,  2020 paired public education about social distancing due to COVID-1 with warnings that a new national … [Read More...]

Pandas follow the Calgary Stampede out of town––and back to China

COVID-19 red ink left the Calgary Zoo with a black-and-white choice  CALGARY,  Alberta,  Canada––Giving up hope that a rare giant panda exhibit will continue to pay for itself––and of managing to keep the pandas fed through the COVID-19 pandemic––the Calgary Zoological Society on May 12,  2020 disclosed to media that it has asked the Canadian and Chinese governments for permits to fly the pandas … [Read More...]

“That touch of mink” & COVID-19: Dutch outbreak hints mink may be host

Fur farming to end in The Netherlands by 2024 WAGENINGEN, The Netherlands––The discovery that ranched mink can become infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus may lend momentum to the Dutch national plan to phase out mink farming entirely by 2024. Concern that mink themselves might become a COVID-19 reservoir may also dampen Chinese enthusiasm for rebuilding a mink ranching industry that for … [Read More...]

Animals for ransom: zoos & the COVID-19 cash flow crunch

Is COVID-19 really Armaggedon for zoos,  or just another funding pitch?              HONG KONG,  LONDON––Seven thousand animals at Ocean Park in Hong Kong and as many as 20,000 animals at the London Zoo and subsidiary Whipsnade Zoo are only the most politically conspicuous of thousands of menageries now at risk––and perhaps being held for ransom from the public till––as result of forced closures … [Read More...]

COVID-19 kills Roy Horn, 75, of Siegfried & Roy, role model for “Joe Exotic”

Manicured image as "positive reinforcement" trainer & conservationist was,  like the Siegfried & Roy show,  largely illusory             LAS VEGAS––Entertainer Roy Horn,  75,  whose illusion acts with longtime partner Siegfried Fischbacher famously featured white tigers,  pythons,  and elephants,  died on May 8,  2020 in Las Vegas,  his home for nearly 50 years,  from complications of … [Read More...]

“Asian murder hornet”: surrogate for COVID-19 terror

Or,  how two "great sparrow bees" incited a national hunt for alleged Chinese alien invaders             BLAINE, Washington––How did the Asian giant hornet,  known for centuries in Japan as the “great sparrow bee,”  generally regarded as beneficial to farmers for killing insect pests,  suddenly become feared in the U.S. as the so-called “murder hornet”? After only two,  count ‘em two,  “great … [Read More...]

Gabriel Wortman & Tara Reade: what would animals testify?

Animals might have had quite a bit to say about both rampage killer & alleged character assassin––if they could talk PORTAPIQUE, Nova Scotia;  FRANKFORT, Kentucky;  SANTA CRUZ, California––Denturist and hunter Gabriel Wortman,  51,  of Portapique,  Nova Scotia,  on April 18 and 19,  2020 shot 13 people to death with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle,  including a former hunting buddy,  and killed … [Read More...]

Death of mail carrier Angela Summers, 45:  Chihuahua “pulled the trigger”

Victim was also threatened with pit bull. Alleged killer is charged with murder.              INDIANAPOLIS,  Indiana––Fatally shot on April 27,  2020 by Tony Cushingberry-Mays,  21,  who admitted doing the shooting,  U.S. Postal Service mail carrier Angela Summers,  45,  also died in part because of increasingly militant “blame the victim” attitudes on the part of dog owners––and reluctance of … [Read More...]

COVID-19: Trump order reopening slaughterhouses was not about food

But preserving profits, "red state" votes,  and keeping workers on the job despite risk were of paramount concern             SIOUX CITY, Iowa––Risk of a U.S. food shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic had nothing to do with the April 28,  2020 decision of U.S. President Donald Trump to invoke the Defense Production Act to keep slaughterhouses running. Emailed longtime animal advocate Esther … [Read More...]

$5 for a cat head: True stories of animal welfare,  with hands-on tips for helping animals

by Linda Chitwood Director,  The Homeless Animals Relief Project 200 pages,  $29.00,  c/o HARP, POB 371, Senatobia, MS  38668;  https://homelessanimalsreliefproject.org/index.html. Reviewed by Merritt Clifton Describing herself as “eighty percent of the way to dead,”  longtime Memphis nurse anesthetist Linda Chitwood relocated forty miles south to Senatobia,  Mississippi in 1996,  apparently … [Read More...]