Catherine de Medici might have considered wildlife poisoning schemes medieval Let me tell you about the birds and bees, and the cats and the rats, and the possums and the pigs, and the chemical-addicted descendants of Catherine de Medici at USDA Wildlife Services, Threatened Species Strategy of … [Read More...]
An Easter bunny, cat, & mongoose story from a Japanese island
Predators wrongly blamed for losses, ancient Amami rabbits make a comeback AMAMI, Amami-Oshima, Japan––The Easter 2019 bunny story of the year, and island ecology story, too, with even an angle involving egg hunts by ornithologists, is underway on Amami-Oshima and Tokunoshima islands, … [Read More...]
Wild horses on non-BLM land: showdowns in the High Sierras
Where the Bureau of Land Management does not reign, it's the wild west ALTURAS, Calif.; VIRGINIA CITY, Nevada––Two hundred miles and strategic worlds apart, on either side of the California/Nevada border, side-by-side experiments are underway in how to most effectively prevent wild … [Read More...]
Cassowary victim had helped to spur ostrich-&-emu boom
"See the gentle cassowary On the plains of Timbuktu Eating up the missionary Hat and coat and hymn-book too.” Attributed to Theodore Hook (1788-1841) HIGH SPRINGS, Florida––Remembering the cassowary rhyme from childhood, and that “Cassowaries are found mainly in Australia and New Guinea. Never in Africa!”, International Primate Protection League founder Shirley McGreal was … [Read More...]
Beyond Meat: supermarket invasion trips vegan police alarms
"Plant-based patties" accepted as "meat"––& that scares the meat industry too OAK HARBOR, Washington––The entire future of animal agriculture and plant-based alternatives flashed before our eyes a few days ago at the Safeway supermarket. Nobody died, certainly no animals, but that was just the point. We were at Safeway buying groceries a few minutes before the shift change … [Read More...]
“Dog Fighting Awareness”: what the ASPCA ignored
Busts plummet as pit bull advocacy has all but legalized dogfighting NEW YORK CITY, N.Y.––Designated National Dog Fighting Awareness Day by the American SPCA, April 8, 2019 and the next several days appear to have passed without a single dogfighting bust or other noteworthy event pertaining to dogfighting occurring anywhere in the United States. Indeed, more than 100 days into … [Read More...]
Wolves, grey whales, & sea lions targeted to preserve meat-getting traditions
Cultural demand for killing wildlife is much stronger than economic interest SEATTLE––The good news for wolves, grey whales, and California sea lions in the Pacific Northwest is that all three once-endangered predators, now long off the U.S. endangered species list, are reclaiming small niches in habitat that for millennia they dominated, before human activity––especially … [Read More...]
Mercury Toxicity as a Cause for Stranded Marine Mammals is not a Mystery
by Bill McGraw (Ph.D. in aquaculture, Boquete, Panama; www.newaquatechpanama.com) Approximately 37% of marine mammal species are in danger of extinction, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Among the most often reported concerns regarding deaths of whales and dolphins are the phenomena of these animals beaching or “stranding” themselves en masse. Episodic … [Read More...]
“Joe Exotic” convicted, could get up to 20 years in a cage
Guilty on 17 counts, including soliciting murder of Big Cat Rescue founder Carole Baskin OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma––A federal court jury on April 2, 2019 convicted self-styled “Joe Exotic” Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, 56, formerly known as Joe Schreibvogel, on two counts of having solicited the murder of Big Cat Rescue founder Carole Baskin in 2018. “Joe Exotic” was also … [Read More...]
Who starts out every day thinking of you?
Dear friends of ANIMALS 24-7: Who starts out every day thinking of you? We hope you have someone special who does. Beth and I do. We produce ANIMALS 24-7 together. We team up on the research, I do most of the writing. Beth does the art and photography. And we begin each day thinking of you. Our first conversation, most mornings over coffee, centers on what you are reading and what you … [Read More...]
Why killing cats on remote islands will not help biodiversity
And why killing dogs, rats, pigs, goats, mice & mongooses too would be mainly make-work for exterminators SANTA CRUZ, California––Appealing for funding to kill cats, dogs, rats, pigs, goats, and mongooses on at least 107 islands belonging to 34 nations, in the name of promoting biodiversity, the previously obscure 25-year-old organization Island Conservation scored a … [Read More...]
Can scary drones save birds from massacre?
The test of what works up above may come Down Under ADELAIDE, Australia––Little corellas, the smallest of the cockatoo family, are again under the gun as purported avian pests in South Australia. Their cousins, long-billed corellas, are under attack in West Australia. Another cousin, the allegedly invasive sulphur-crested cockatoo, native to New Guinea, has long been an … [Read More...]
Vaquita, totoaba: Gunfire on the Sea of Cortez
Alleged poacher tried to recover net confiscated by Sea Shepherd Conservation Society SAN FELIPE, Baja California, Mexico––An alleged poacher and two apparently uninvolved passers-by were reportedly hit by gunfire in a March 28, 2019 confrontation with Mexican marines in San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico. The shooting incident was among the most violent yet in the … [Read More...]
More Than A Meal: The Turkey in History, Myth, Ritual, and Reality
by Karen Davis, Ph.D. Lantern Books (One Union Square West, Suite 201, New York, NY 10003), 2001. 192 pages, paperback. $14.95 c/o https://www.upc-online.org/merchandise/book.html Reviewed by Merritt Clifton Looking back nearly 30 years to 1990, the two most significant animal advocacy events of the year were––as expected––the first March for the Animals in Washington … [Read More...]
No apology from Olbermann for selling turkey sandwiches
Apologized for asking Twitter followers to make turkey hunter's life "a living hell," but made point of pitching pit bulls KILN, Mississippi––Sports announcer, broadcast journalist, and political commentator Keith Olbermann, 60, on March 27, 2019 apologized “unreservedly” for calling upon his Twitter followers two days earlier to make the rest of Hunter Waltman’s life “a living … [Read More...]
Alleged “horses for ransom” brokers busted in Louisiana
"Killer buyers," associates of killer-buyers, & partners in questionable rescues FORT POLK, Louisiana––Thompson Horse Lot owner Gary Thompson, 64, of Pitkin, Louisiana, who held a controversial contract to remove an estimated 700 to 750 wild horses from the 198,000-acre Fort Polk military installation, is facing 18 counts of cruelty to animals for alleged severe neglect of … [Read More...]