Bureau of Land Management backs away from proposed trial of equine colpotomy PORTLAND, Oregon––Asked a lifelong horse advocate and high donor to wild horse, cat, and dog sterilization projects, by email to ANIMALS 24-7, “Do you have any ideas as to a competent equine vet with … [Read More...]
The Thanksgiving Turkey as Ritual Scapegoat
in the Carnivalesque Tradition by Karen Davis, PhD, President of United Poultry Concerns Human radical abuse of “food” animals cannot be explained by economic efficiency alone. It is also an outgrowth of attitudes humans have had toward nonhuman animals through the ages, rooted in our … [Read More...]
Could beavers have saved Paradise?
"Managing" wildlife to prevent nuisance prevents benefits, as well SACRAMENTO, California––Though many individual California Department of Fish & Wildlife personnel have distinguished themselves on the frontlines of the wildfires razing Paradise, ravaging Malibu, and menacing … [Read More...]
Animal rescue amid wildfires at either end of California
Record 2018 fire season isn't over yet PARADISE, MALIBU, California––Some good news for animals, habitat, and ultimately humans may yet emerge from the firestorms simultaneously razing the Sierra Nevada foothills city of Paradise and parts of the far distant coastal city of Malibu––if the already record-setting 2018 California wildfire season gives an anticipated boost to beaver … [Read More...]
Marking territory: photographers vs. Alley Cat Allies
Pissing match hits the Chronicle of Philanthropy ARLINGTON, Virginia––Founded almost literally in a Washington D.C. alley to advocate on behalf for one of the most contentious of species, Alley Cat Allies has for 28 years been embroiled in controversy on a daily basis, but without––until mid-November 2018––itself becoming controversial over management issues. That was no … [Read More...]
Aussie prof’s video challenges “invasion biologists” on their own turf
Feminist Ferals by Arian D. Wallach Produced by Tommy Lin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpx-ZHHWN5s&t=2s This video explores how conservation remains tethered to chauvinistic ideologies. It explores how archaic beliefs about animals, wildlife, and nature, has erased one of the Earth's most significant rewilding events in recent history. Feminism would radically reshape … [Read More...]
More Election 2018 results––& where the pit bulls lurked
Michigan attorney general Nessel & California governor Newsom kept their pit bull history behind closed doors LANSING, SACRAMENTO––Pit bull attacks, as ANIMALS 24-7 pointed out on November 6, 2018, were the “divisive” issue that was omitted from the Election Day 2018 political discussion, but not because pit bull advocates had not hoped to reinforce opposition to … [Read More...]
Pro-animal ballot initiatives win big; mixed results for candidates
Anti-animal protection candidates Steve King & Marsha Blackburn return to Congress WASHINGTON D.C.––The November 6, 2018 election of a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives improves chances of successful defenses of the Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, and Animal Welfare Act against Republican attempts to dilute or at least weaken enforcement … [Read More...]
Hen caging & greyhound racing go before voters in 2018 election
Animal advocates & agribusiness split over California Proposition 12; Republicans split over Florida Proposition 13 SACRAMENTO, California; ORLANDO, Florida––The axiom that animal politics cut diagonally across partisan divides could scarcely be better illustrated than by the alignments for and against the two major ballot initiatives on animal issues going before voters on … [Read More...]
Iranian cheetah defenders face the death penalty
Accused of "sowing corruption on earth" TEHRAN, Iran––Because fair trials in Iran are historically scarcer than the highly endangered Asiatic cheetah, who survives only in remote habitat in the eastern part of the country, the global conservation, scientific, and human rights communities are anxious as a cat on a hot tin roof about “espionage” indictments brought against four … [Read More...]
Over-counting jaguars, over-estimating poaching
1964-1966 flood rescue data suggests there were never as many jaguars in Suriname as World Animal Protection claims have been poached PARAMARIBO, Suriname––Claims recently amplified on social media about the alleged extent of jaguar poaching in Suriname appear to have inflated at most a handful of rare, scattered incidents occurring over many years into a purported "crisis" for which there is … [Read More...]
HSUS election picks are too few to stop the Trump juggernaut
Humane Society Legislative Fund fails to endorse enough Democratic challengers to slow anti-animal Republican momentum in the U.S. House & Senate WASHINGTON D.C.––If voters who care about animals follow the recommendations of the Humane Society Legislative Fund arm of the Humane Society of the U.S. at the polls on election day, November 6, 2018, and all of the Humane Society … [Read More...]
Johnny Rodrigues, 69, fought to save wildlife in Zimbabwe
Felled by cancer after surviving two wars, poachers' gunfire, & the Mugabe regime QUARTEIERA, Portugal––Johnny Rodrigues, 69, founder of the the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force and an enthusiastic contributor of information and occasional guest columns to ANIMALS 24-7, died on September 17, 2018 at his daughter Lorraine and son-in-law Gavin Randall’s home in Portugal, after a prolonged … [Read More...]
Albuquerque sued again for allegedly rehoming dangerous dogs
Earlier cases allege rehoming dangerous cats, too ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico––Already sued half a dozen times in under four years over issues pertaining to rehoming dangerous animals, the city of Albuquerque was in the fourth week of October 2018 sued yet again, this time by former Albuquerque Animal Welfare employee Victoria Murphy. Murphy in her filing alleges that “In 2014 she … [Read More...]
Fight over feces-flinging gorilla Ndume goes to federal court
Having lost Harambe, the Cincinnati Zoo wants him back. Having lost Koko, the Gorilla Foundation signs "No." CINCINNATI, SAN FRANCISCO––Fighting to maintain a mission and identity since the June 2018 death of Koko the signing gorilla, Gorilla Foundation founder Francine “Penny” Patterson, 71, is now fighting in federal court as well to retain Ndume, 37, the last gorilla left … [Read More...]
Could Zambia contracept wild hippos instead of culling?
Or is hippo overpopulation even really the issue? LUSAKA, Zambia––Why has Zambian tourism minister Charles Banda revived a five-year-old plan to cull up to 250 hippopotamuses per year from South Luangwa National Park, only two years after scrapping it? “The South Luangwa National Park has a population of more than 13,000 hippos but the area is only ideal for 5,000 hippos,” Banda told media … [Read More...]