Imprisoned since 2005 JAIPUR, India––Sansar Chand, 56, on March 18, 2014 died of cancer at the Sawai Man Singh Hospital in Jaipur. Chand, who spent his life mostly in New Delhi, was scheduled to attend a hearing that day on charges pertaining to his role in poaching tigers out of Sariska National Park in 2004. The […]
Virginia Handley, longtime California animal lobbyist, dies at 68
Was also involved in performing arts Virginia Handley, 68, was on March 20, 2014 found dead by a neighbor at her home in El Sobrante, California. Handley apparently died from natural causes. A second-generation animal advocate, Virginia Handley and her mother Grace Handley cofounded the San Francisco-based Animal Switchboard information hotline in 1970, assisted by […]
Humane innovator Clarissa Baldwin retires from Dogs Trust
Saved former National Canine Defence League LONDON––Clarissa Baldwin, who took charge of the then-faltering National Canine Defence League in 1986 and turned it into the globally influential Dogs Trust, on March 11, 2014 announced her retirement. “I joined Dogs Trust in 1974 as head of public relations on a six-month contract and ending up staying for […]
Giraffe killing in Copenhagen brings zoo culling to global notice
Marius the giraffe was then dissected COPENHAGEN––Despite a worldwide campaign to save him, a healthy 18-month-old bull giraffe named Marius was on the morning of February 9, 2014 lured from his quarters at the Copenhagen Zoo with a treat of rye bread, then dispatched with a captive […]
How many other animals did pit bulls kill in 2013?
An attempt to find out How many other dogs, cats, and domestic hoofed animals do dogs kill or injure each year in the U.S.? How many are killed or seriously injured by pit bulls? Often asked, these questions have eluded answer because no agency systematically tracks dog attacks on other animals, and even if any […]
Lithuania advised against plan to kill 90% of wild boars to fight African swine fever
“Has little or no chance of success” VILNIUS, Lithuania––The European Food Safety Authority on March 17, 2014 reported that a Lithuanian government plan to fight African swine fever by killing wild boars has little or no chance of success. “No evidence was found in scientific literature proving that wild boar populations can be drastically reduced by […]
Iron Maiden undercover probe reveals the poop on pig farming
More than most of the public cared to know OWENSBORO, Kentucky––The American public on February 20, 2014 learned more about pig feeding and porcine epidemic diarrhea than almost anyone wanted to know. Humane Society of the U.S. investigators working undercover at Iron Maiden Farms in Owensboro, Kentucky in early 2014 expected to videotape the use […]
ASEAN nations move to implement dog meat trafficking ban
Four-nation agreement BANGKOK, Thailand–– Representatives of the Thai Department of Livestock Development, Vietnam Department of Public Health, and parallel agencies in Laos and Cambodia on February 28, 2014 agreed on plans to intercept traffic in dogs for slaughter along the Vietnamese/Laotian border and the Thai/Laotian border. […]
Police respond––slowly––to complaints about dog slaughter in South Korea
Police presence temporarily interrupted business BUSAN, South Korea––Attempting to invoke lightly enforced existing laws to try to close the Gupo and Nopodong live markets in Busan, South Korea, the Korea Alliance for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was on February 9, 2014 disappointed by a purportedly slow […]
Weak dog laws blamed for deaths in Ohio & U.K.
Montgomery County Animal Resource Center and Royal SPCA of England & Wales each ignored repeated complaints DAYTON, Ohio; BLACKBURN, Lancashire, U.K.––Animal control officials blamed weaknesses in the dog laws of Ohio and the United Kingdom for the early February 2014 deaths of Klonda Richey, 57, and Ava-Jane […]