Animals 24-7

News on dogs, cats, horses, wildlife, zoonoses, & nature

COVID-19 brings no net gains for marine life––except in Iceland

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“There is no market,”  but fish,  shellfish,  seals,  & whales are all still hunted WESTERLY,  Rhode Island;  HONOLULU,  Hawaii;  REYKJAVIK, Iceland––Restaurant closures ordered because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have economically crippled the U.S. commercial fishing industry from Long Island Sound to Hawaii,  and have hit the fishing industry worldwide,  but––except in Iceland,  where a case […]

From gorillas to shelter dogs: animals caught in the COVID-19 crunch

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No animals other than bats & humans are known to get COVID-19,  but millions are affected by the human response             WASHINGTON D.C.––Animals and animal-related projects from Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo to National Institutes of Health-funded laboratories are feeling the impact of the international COVID-19 scare underway throughout early 2020,  […]

Noted in passing: “Turtle God” & rhino, elephant, & lion advocates

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Victims of cancer,  assassins,  & two killed by the species they loved “Turtle God” Peter Pritchard,  76,  died in hospice care on February 26,  2020.   Known as “the Turtle God,”  recalled longtime Tampa Times environmental reporter Craig Pittman,  Pritchard at his home in Oviedo,  Florida kept what Pittman believed to be “the largest private collection […]

COVID-19 hot tip for coffee growers:  don’t go [email protected]#$% nuts!

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COVID-19 shows “Eat @#$% & die!” is a warning,  not a metaphor KUNMING,  China;  LONDON, U.K.;  SEATTLE––One might imagine that the midst of a global pandemic of COVID-19,  a disease apparently originating in bats, would not be the best time for selling bat-processed coffee. At this writing,  COVID-19 has infected nearly 175,000 people,  worldwide,  killing […]

COVID-19 & “The Next Big One”:  Spillover revisited

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Science writer David Quammen saw COVID-19 coming COVID-19,  though renamed twice just in the first few months of 2020,  “is not as novel as you might think,”  explained veteran science writer David Quammen in the January 28,  2020 edition of The New York Times. Quammen,  72,  was uniquely positioned to comment,  not only because he […]

Elephant trophy auction covers for opening bushmeat trade

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Global warming intensifies pressure to profit from wildlife before habitat loss depletes species GABERONE,  Botswana;  HARARE,  Zimbabwe;  DAR ES SALAAM,  Tanzania––Big as they are,  the 60 elephants whose lives were auctioned at Bobonong Kgotla,  Botswana on February 7,  2020 may be the least of the casualties from attempts by the governments of Botswana and Tanzania […]

Leading Kenyan conservationist barred from Nairobi National Park

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Paula Kahumbu opposed rock concert where Elsa the lion cub was “born free”             NAIROBI,  Kenya––Bringing immediate global attention to his own lack of anything resembling conservation credentials,  Kenya Wildlife Service director general John Migui Waweru on February 18,  2020 reportedly barred Wildlife Direct executive director Paula Kahumbu from Nairobi National Park. Waweru,  59,  appointed […]

Deadly Wuhan coronavirus may be pangolin’s best friend

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Pangolins carry a 99% identical coronavirus,  report Chinese scientists             GUANGZHOU, China––Will the Wuhan coronavirus,  newly linked to pangolins,  save one of the world’s most endangered animals? Headlines over the weekend of February 8-9,  2020 amplified global panic that the number of confirmed Wuhan coronavirus deaths had soared beyond the 2003 toll from severe acute […]

Heart failure fells Vier Pfoten (Four Paws) founder Helmut Dungler, 56

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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 […]

Obits: defenders of cats, dogs, wild horses, bees, crabs, & elephants

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Elaine Adair, Dayton Hyde, Susan Rudnicki,  Alana Cutland,  & Matthew Talbot had in common service to animals Elaine Adair Elaine Adair,  cofounder of the Mississippi Spay & Neuter Alliance (MS-SPAN),  born Elaine Girton on October 15, 1950 in Bloomsburg,  Pennsylvania,   died after a long struggle against cancer on October 14, 2019,  one day before what would […]