Dear friends & readers: Shotgun blasts boomed out across the Saratoga Passage, almost directly below our home three short blocks away as we started down toward Hidden Beach with our dogs, Teddy, a young Jack Russell/Shi tzu mix, and Bo, an old cattle dog mix. A startled flock of surf … [Read More...]
Deborah Sue Culwell gets a year in jail for Coachella puppy dumping
Unsympathetic suspect, but shelter policies may have been accessories to the alleged crime COACHELLA, California––Riverside County Superior Court Judge Harold Hopp on August 14, 2019 sentenced Deborah Sue Culwell, 59, to serve 365 days in custody for abandoning seven puppies in a … [Read More...]
Will Nairobi shoot dogs, vaccinate them, or serve them for dinner?
Governor's proposals confuse & alarm Kenya NAIROBI, Kenya––Does Nairobi County governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko want to shoot street dogs, vaccinate them against rabies, or serve them for dinner? Three and a half months after the Sonko administration began running the three proposals … [Read More...]
30-year ASPCA rep Julie Morris, 1955-2019: The paradox of “St. Julie”
Morris mostly told the humane community what it wanted to hear NEW YORK, N.Y.––Julie Morris, 63, an American SPCA staff member since 1990, and a 41-year veteran of humane work, died on August 3, 2019 after a multi-year battle with cancer. Among the best-liked and most recognized people in animal welfare, Morris was widely eulogized as a leader, but an ANIMALS 24-7 review of … [Read More...]
Bali hotel dolphins rescued––but will they be freed?
10-year effort gets animals out of sub-par facility BALI, Indonesia––The Jakarta Animal Aid Network and Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project on August 7, 2019 celebrated the transfer of two dolphins and a menagerie of other animals from “deplorable conditions” at the Melka Excelsior Hotel in Lovina, North Bali, Indonesia to a variety of other Bali animal exhibition sites. “Evacuation … [Read More...]
Pit bulls win, victims lose in USDOT & South Dakota Supreme Court rulings
USDOT "guidance" to airlines follows letter of Americans with Disabilities Act WASHINGTON D.C., PIERRE, South Dakota––Public safety and pit bull victim advocates on August 8, 2019 suffered a double disappointment, as the U.S. Department of Transportation and the South Dakota Supreme Court each issued edicts against breed-specific public policy. Both the U.S. Department of … [Read More...]
Did the Omak Suicide Race start with a horse massacre & the KKK?
Uncovering the nasty origins of an ugly event OMAK, Washington––The 86th annual edition of the bizarre and often deadly “World Famous Suicide Race” held annually in Omak, Washington, is to be held nightly, August 8-11, 2019. Bizarre as the race itself is, even more bizarre––and perplexing––is that the 12 Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation embrace as their own an … [Read More...]
Galveston mock lynching may hasten police horse era to an end
Incident "makes me want to cry," says former mounted police officer Beth Clifton GALVESTON, Texas––Two Galveston mounted police officers clipped a handcuffed homeless and reportedly bipolar black man to a rope, with a noose at the other end of the rope, and walked the man between their horses eight blocks through the city streets on August 3, 2019. The two police officers, P. … [Read More...]
Why mass shooters sometimes sound like conservationists
Madison Grant was the missing link EL PASO, Texas; NEW YORK CITY––Much more than misanthropy links mass shootings by white supremacists to the obsession of mainstream conservation societies with extirpating “invasive species” and “cleansing” wildlife habitat of any trace of human presence. But don’t expect the Boone & Crockett Club, the Sierra Club, and the Wildlife … [Read More...]
Rescued dogs overheat––and pigs & chickens, as humane oversight fails
If rescue transporters can't keep dogs from cooking in crates, what happens to livestock? NEW YORK CITY, TORONTO, LONDON (U.K.)––Again a New York City-based dog adoption transport has come to grief in hot weather, again leaving the rest of the adoption rescue transport to wonder why. Recounted Gabrielle Fonrouge of the New York Post on July 22, 2019, “Don — a 2-year-old pit … [Read More...]
SHARK video shows dogs baiting bulls at Calif. Salinas Rodeo 2019
Fans watched dogs torment bulls in the main arena after official events SALINAS, California––The 109th California Rodeo Salinas had nearly ended on Sunday, July 19, 2019. The loudspeaker was still announcing the last “bullfighting” events, in which “rodeo clowns” tease young bulls who are already agitated by bucking straps cinched tightly around their waists. Attendees, however, … [Read More...]
Cruelty charges filed against Aussie live sheep shippers––a first!
Shipping company already lost live export license PERTH, Australia––Cruelty charges were on July 31, 2019 filed against two former directors of the live animal shipping company Emanuel Exports over the August 2017 deaths of more than 2,400 sheep from heat stress aboard the Awassi Express. The sheep were in transit to slaughter in Qatar, Kuwait and United Arab … [Read More...]
Michael Garcia’s sadism did not begin with video of pit bull mix killing fawn
Allowed pit bull mix to chase wildlife "every day" LAS CRUCES, New Mexico––“Gus provided the best action at the end of the day. Got his first big game kill!!” boasted Michael Garcia, 36, of his pit bull mix on July 19, 2019. Gus attacked, violently shook, and eventually killed a spotted fawn. The fawn audibly whimpered for her mother, shown in the video standing helplessly … [Read More...]
2 pit bulls, 29 dead cats, but Dothan changes topic to fundraising
Overnight shelter massacre DOTHAN, Alabama––Changing the subject from how two pit bulls killed 29 cats to appealing for multi-millions of dollars to build a new animal shelter took Dothan, Alabama city officials barely seconds on July 25, 2019. Dothan Animal Shelter staff found the 29 cats mauled to death when they arrived for work that morning. The two pit bulls who killed the … [Read More...]
Uttam Dahal, 33, was dynamo for animals in Nepal despite ill health
Dahal won 2014 Supreme Court of Nepal case against Gadhi Mai mass sacrifice KATHMANDU, Nepal––Nepal Animal Welfare & Research Center founder Uttam G.P. Dahal, 33, died on July 26, 2019 after battling illness for most of his brief but dynamic life. Dahal left Santana Sharma, his wife of just two years and two months, and a daughter, Samridhi, born in May 2019. Dahal had … [Read More...]
New York bans declawing cats; Massachusetts next?
2015 "Favorite Vet" contest outcome tipped balance toward declaw bans across North America ALBANY, New York––Governor Andrew Cuomo on July 22, 2019 signed into law Assembly Bill A-1303, making New York the first U.S. state to ban declawing cats. There are about 4.2 million cats in New York state, about half of them in the New York City metropolitan area. Nearly two-thirds of … [Read More...]