Beth & Merritt Clifton at VegFest 2015 in Seattle.
One year ago today, at 2:27 a.m. on April 12, 2014, I took a deep breath and sent out the first announcement of the existence of ANIMALS 24-7.
After 45 years on humane beats in print journalism, but barely 45 days of learning the ropes and wires of electronic publication, I was about to find out if the world would respond positively to the debut of a new kind of humane news media –– not a slick magazine, not a newspaper, not a stream of shallow activist alerts, but an online forum providing frequently updated background on the urgent topics of the day, hosting debate among experts over questions that advocacy organizations with entrenched positions might prefer to suppress.
My ambition remained what it had been through four and a half decades in print: to serve the humane community of interest, much as community newspapers used to serve communities united by geography, presenting everything from urgent breaking news to obituaries for distinguished citizens.
Big unknowns
The big unknowns were whether humane news in a new format would be well-received by a reading and thinking audience, and whether wholly donor-supported news for such a selective audience could fly.
Almost everyone cares about animals, but only a very special subset of people who care about animals actually care enough to want to be well-informed about the causes, issues, and organizations to which they donate money and volunteer time.
Were there enough such people willing to contribute to enable ANIMALS 24-7 to grow and thrive?
I had no advertising, no grant support, no wealthy underwriter, and no major or even minor national or international animal charity behind me –– just my own good credit, and an electronic mailing list I had spent weeks assembling from my personal contacts.
Merritt Clifton & copy editor.
(Beth Clifton photo)
I pushed the red button on my laptop screen and ANIMALS 24-7 was launched. Successfully, or just off the deep end into the unknown?
Six long minutes
For six long minutes I waited. Probably no one would be up so early, I thought. Probably no one would see the ANIMALS 24-7 announcement until later in the morning.
Then came the first reader response, a note of congratulation from Debasis Chakrabarti, founder of the Compassionate Crusaders Trust in Kolkata, India. Debasis’ 2003 essay “How no-kill dog control came to Kolkata, India” has helped directors of neuter/return programs around the world to effectively balance the needs of animals with the concerns of humans. It is in fact reposted on the ANIMALS 24-7 web site: http://wp.me/p4pKmM-gK.
Three minutes after that came a warm and supportive message from Shamsudeen Fagbo, DVM, MSc, Coordinator, zoonotic diseases, at the Ministry of Health in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Internationally known for many contributions to the understanding of zoonotic diseases, Shamsudeen Fagbo may be the world’s leading expert on illnesses contracted by humans from eating dogs.
As the world turned and more people rose to check their e-mail and face the day, additional messages of support came, and some donations, too. More than 1,800 people visited the ANIMALS 24-7 web site that first day, and more than 1,500 the next day.
Chasing deadline. (Beth Clifton photo)
Sustaining momentum
But launching ANIMALS 24-7 was one thing; sustaining our momentum was another, against intensive competition from mainstream media, other animal-oriented electronic media offering just a short-and-shallow take on current events, and the reality that practically anyone online who cares about animals is inundated in alerts and appeals, among which the daily ANIMALS 24-7 announcements of new content may get lost.
There was also the reality that ANIMALS 24-7, as independent media, presents independently researched perspectives on humane issues––and often those perspectives conflict with what major national and international organizations would like you to believe.
TIME magazine featured our research in June 2014.
ANIMALS 24-7 was extensively quoted by other leading news media within weeks, including in a TIME magazine cover feature. Our first few dozen donors were practically a who’s who of humane movement leaders who no longer work for major national and international animal charities, and therefore feel at liberty to speak their minds about some of the wrong turns the big groups have taken.
But none of the really big groups have even acknowledged in their own media that we exist.
And when we began to attract advertisers, we soon ran into an organized boycott, for pointing out that the big national groups’ advocacy of pit bulls and other dangerous dogs conflicts with the views of nearly two-thirds of the public, including animal advocates who keep other pets.
Introducing Beth
On the other side of the coin and the issues, a former police officer, animal control officer and vet tech felt so strongly favorable toward me and my work that in July 2014 she left her home in Florida and threw in her lot with me and ANIMALS 24-7. Beth Clifton soon became my wife, partner, and the ANIMALS 24-7 social media editor and photographer. Readership has rapidly increased since her arrival.
ANIMALS 24-7 posted 524 news articles, editorials, and guest columns in our first 52 weeks, reaching nearly 220,000 readers.
And we know now that our concept is viable. While celebrating our first birthday, we look forward to many happy returns, with your continued generous support. With every click on our free subscription link at the right side of the ANIMALS 24-7 home page, every click to read ANIMALS 24-7 content, and every click to add your own perspective as a comment, you tell us that ANIMALS 24-7 matters to you, as the independent voice serving the humane community.
Beth & Merritt Clifton.
(Geoff Geiger photo)
Your generous donations continue to be vital to our work. We welcome every birthday gift, every lighted candle, and every voice raised in song around our vegan cake. We are still young and growing––and we vigorously represent your hopes and aspirations for a better, kinder, healthier world for animals and the people who care about them.
Please click here to send us your birthday greeting!
Much appreciated,
Merritt & Beth
Merritt & Beth Clifton, editors, ANIMALS 24-7
Please donate to support our work:
https://www.animals24-7.org/donate
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY 24/7 ~ We’re SO GRATEFUL TO/FOR YOU!!!
YOU MAKE HUMANS BETTER FOR THE WORLD,
AND IN DOING THAT YOU HELP THOSE WHOSE LIVES WE TOUCH.
CELEBRATE WELL, YOU DESERVE IT!
Congrats! and great running form!
From https://www.events.runningroom.com/site/4107/CindyNew_EN.pdf:
“One of Montreal’s best-known runners, Cindy New’s passion for the sport continues today. She is a familiar, friendly face at many running events. Cindy won the Montreal Marathon in 1988 and again in 1990 where she set a personal best of 2:41. She won the Vermont City Marathon in 1994 and 1996. Cindy has also had numerous podium finishes in marathons across North America. As part of the Canadian National Team competing in the marathon at the Francophone Games she won silver in 1989 in Morocco and struck gold in Paris in 1994. She won the Hamilton Around The Bay 30K in 1996 where she set a Canadian Masters Record. That same year, she also set the Master’s Record for the Toronto Half Marathon. She has won the Standard Life 10k in Montreal 11 times. In 2005, she accumulated the highest points ever recorded by a man or woman in being named the Green Mountain Athletic Association 2005 Grand Prix Winner.”
Cindy has been a vegetarian (mostly vegan) throughout her long running career, and has been a compassionate animal advocate for even longer than she has been a runner, developing her lifelong love of animals perhaps before she could crawl. We met when I beat her by about a heartbeat at the Sri Chinmoy Marathon in March 1983. It was my fastest of 22 marathons (3:05) and her first marathon and for many years slowest; also the only time I ever finished anything ahead of her. Cindy has always used her success as a runner to advance kindness and compassion toward both animals and humans, as exemplar now for several generations of other successful vegetarian and vegan athletes.
I first met you years ago at what might have been the first “no-kill” conference. I was very impressed by your knowledge and wisdom. I edit newsletters and have edited all of yours, printed them, and given them to people who haven’t been as involved as I have in your writings. I especially like your honest approach to subjects regardless of the opposition you might face. Your honesty is refreshing and that sets you out from most writers. Glad to see Beth Clifton. Good choice you two!
Congratulations on your first year. Keep up the vitally necessary work.
It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop. ~ Confucius
Congratulations, Merritt!
Congratulations! Thank you for what you do, and do so well!
Great work!!! Unless you listen and read with an open mind you can’t have a reasoned opinion. I appreciate your efforts so much. 40 years in animal welfare and still learning, still evolving. Thank you
Congrats. It is nice to note that you two like minded folks found each other. So heartwarming.
I could not be more proud of Merritt, his lifetime of accomplishments and his dedication to speaking the truth even when that truth is unpopular and a sacrifice to him. Merritt is the light and love of my life and it has been an honor and privilege to work beside him and support him on Animals 24-7 everyday since arriving in Washington. I love you Merritt Clifton!
That was not a Time magazine cover feature, it was online, and written by an intern, and it has been debunked. If you want to read something accurate about pit bulls, read my article in Time’s print edition, which unlike the Time.com article and apparently everything on this website, was fact-checked against primary sources. http://nation.time.com/2013/07/11/the-great-pit-bull-makeover/
Paul Tullis’ article “The Softer Side of Pit Bulls. A reviled breed gets a makeover” does not appear to have been credibly fact-checked by anyone.
For example, Tullis cites a 2012 American Veterinary Medical Association claim that “in controlled studies, pits have never been identified as ‘disproportionately dangerous,'” without mentioning the many findings to the contrary reported in peer-reviewed medical journals, including:
John K. Bini, MD, Stephen M. Cohn, MD, Shirley M. Acosta, RN, BSN, Marilyn J. McFarland, RN, MS, Mark T. Muir, MD, and Joel E. Michalek, PhD. Mortality, Mauling, and Maiming by Vicious Dogs. Annals of Surgery, Volume 253, Number 4, April 2011, page 791;
Lisa B. E. Shields, MD, Mark L. Bernstein, DDS, John C. Hunsaker, III, MD, JD, and Donna M. Stewart, MD. Dog Bite-Related Fatalities: A 15-Year Review of Kentucky Medical Examiner Cases, American Journal of Forensic Medical Pathology 2009;30: pages 223-230;
Angelo Monroy, MD, Philomena Behar, MD, Mark Nagy, MD, Christopher Poje, MD, Michael Pizzuto, MD, and Linda Brodsky, MD. Head and neck dog bites in children. Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (2009) 140, pages 354-357;
and Emergency Department Visits and Inpatient Stays Involving Dog Bites, 2008, Laurel Holmquist, M.A. and Anne Elixhauser, Ph.D., Healthcare Cost & Utilization Project Statistical Brief #101, November 2010.
Tullis went on to cite a study published by the American Journal of Sociological Research which claimed that “vets, shelter workers and other animal professionals” were poor at identifying dogs by breed from photos. However, a recent study by Emily Weiss of the ASPCA, done in partnership with the Richmond SPCA of Richmond, Virginia, found that shelter workers accurately identify pit bulls 96% of the time, as compared to DNA findings.
Tullis then quoted Donald Cleary of the National Canine Research Council, without mentioning that the NCRC is a subsidiary of the pro-pit bull Animal Farm Foundation, an egregious failure to identify the vested interest of a source.
Continued Tullis, “The majority of dog attacks reported in Northeastern newspapers from 1864 to 1899 were by bloodhounds, according to Cleary’s colleague Karen Delise.” In fact, the “bloodhounds” of that time frame were pit bulls crossed with mastiffs, as detailed at http://retrieverman.net/tag/cuban-bloodhound/ by Scottie Westfall and at http://thetruthaboutpitbulls.blogspot.com/2010/08/scapegoats-part-1-bloodhound.html by Dawn James. While most people think of a “bloodhound” as the English bloodhound caricatured as the “crime dog” McGruff, the English bloodhound was not even introduced to the U.S. until 1881, and only 14 English bloodhounds were registered in the U.S. as late as 1889.
Apparently continuing to rely on NCRD claims, Tullis went on to claim, “The period after World War II saw a spike in reports of attacks by German shepherds.” Indeed, reports of attacks by German shepherds increased, but pit bulls have accounted for more than half of all dog attack fatalities in the U.S. in every 10-year time frame from 1844 to the present, including in the first five, 10, 15, 20, and 25 years after World War II.
Tullis concluded by noting how pit bull adoptions have soared, without noting that there were only two fatalities involving shelter dogs from 1858 through 1999, both involving wolf hybrids, one in 1988 and one in 1989. There were three fatalities involving shelter dogs from 2000 through 2009, involving a pit bull, a Doberman, and a Presa Canario. There have been at least 38 fatalities involving shelter dogs from 2010 to present, involving 30 pit bulls, seven bull mastiffs, two Rottweilers, a Lab who may have been part pit bull, and a husky.