Ads at your local supermarket probably go farther on behalf of farmed animals by Irene Muschel I just opened my computer and found myself looking at a startling American SPCA fund-raising email that encourages people to support the breeding, raising, and slaughter of animals destined for human consumption. The email, captioned “Take a Bite Out […]
Heart failure fells Vier Pfoten (Four Paws) founder Helmut Dungler, 56
Dungler died at the Lionsrock sanctuary he founded BETHLEHEM, South Africa––Helmut Dungler, 56, founder of the international animal charity Vier Pfoten (Four Paws), died on January 5, 2020 from a sudden massive heart attack suffered on one of his frequent visits to the Lionsrock sanctuary, among the biggest and most ambitious of the many […]
Helping animals through the Australian firestorm
Reports from 25 of the hundreds of animal aid charities working in the hot zones CANBERRA, Australian Capital Territories––More than 100 wildfires raging in Australian coastal forests and wooded parts of the Australian interior in September 2019 exploded beyond immediate hope of control and burst into global consciousness during the first days of 2020, splitting […]
Mountain goat massacre begins in Grand Tetons
Shaky science may doom mountain goats in their own habitat JACKSON, Wyoming––The northern and western slopes of the Cathedral Mountains in Grand Teton National Park were on January 5, 2020 closed to the public to allow air gunners flown by Baker Aircraft of Baker City, Oregon, to massacre as many as 100 mountain goats […]
Dog attack deaths & maimings, U.S. & Canada, 1982-2019 log
Pit bulls killed 33 of 46 U.S. victims of fatal dog attacks in 2019
Two pit bulls ended last victim’s troubled life in a Houston ditch HOUSTON, Texas––Medessa Jean Ragsdale, 44, the last identified dog attack fatality of 2019, had few other distinctions in life, but most certainly did not want that one. Ragsdale, as a 19-year-old high school junior in Hutchinson, Kansas, received a brief mention in the […]
Krefeld Zoo fire killed 30+ animals due to poor design & preparation
Candle-powered flying paper lanterns allegedly caused the fire. But inadequate attention to fire safety caused the deaths. KREFIELD, Germany––A fire that killed more than 30 apes, monkeys, bats and birds at the Krefeld Zoo in the first minutes of 2020 apparently began when one or more flying cylindrical paper lanterns propelled by small votive candles […]
Montreal carriage horse trade ends, after 354 years
“Calèche” industry was long intertwined with defunct harness track, start of the Premarin industry, horse slaughter, and a notorious glue factory MONTREAL, Quebec––The last vehicle-pulling horses in Montreal, Quebec, are to be off the streets before sunset on December 31, 2019––an hour which, as this article is posted, has already come and gone. “Far […]
Why U.S. furriers don’t advertise much any more
Mink coat ads vanish from newsprint SACRAMENTO, California––A furrier somewhere in the U.S. may yet buy a page of advertising, in what little remains of 2019, in one of the thousands of newspapers that are electronically searchable at www.NewspaperArchive.com. As of December 29, 2019, however, the year appeared to be ending without a single NewspaperArchive […]
Sidney Holt, 93, achieved goal that great whales would outlive him
70-year scientific career focused on whale conservation PACIANO, Italy––Marine scientist Sidney J. Holt, 93, died on December 22, 2019 at his home in Paciano, Italy, about 80 miles north of Rome and 10 miles north of his previous longtime home in Citta della Pieve, Italy. Holt thereby realized his often stated life’s ambition of having […]