World fiddles while grasshoppers munch NINGBO, China; NAIROBI, Kenya––A much deadlier plague than the COVID-19 coronavirus is sweeping westward from China through Pakistan, across Central Asia, and throughout the Horn of Africa, flying 100 miles a day, devouring crops enough to feed as many as 34 million people, according to the United Nations Food […]
Secrets of Doris Day’s life & work for animals
Publicity added much spin & gloss to what was already a positive record CARMEL, California––Doris Day, 97, died from pneumonia on May 13, 2019. Day was remembered worldwide as a singer who recorded more than 650 songs between 1939 and 1967; an actress who starred in more than 40 films between 1947 and 1968, […]
Cassowary victim had helped to spur ostrich-&-emu boom
“See the gentle cassowary On the plains of Timbuktu Eating up the missionary Hat and coat and hymn-book too.” Attributed to Theodore Hook (1788-1841) HIGH SPRINGS, Florida––Remembering the cassowary rhyme from childhood, and that “Cassowaries are found mainly in Australia and New Guinea. Never in Africa!”, International Primate Protection League founder Shirley McGreal was […]
Ahmed el Sherbiny, 66, brought “humane spring” to Egypt
Headed three leading organizations CAIRO, Egypt––Ahmed el Sherbiny, 66, who with his British-born wife Jackie led the Egyptian Society of Animal Friends, the Egyptian Federation for Animal Welfare, and the Middle East Network for Animal Welfare, on March 7, 2019 died at home in Shabramont, Giza, a Cairo suburb, after several years of fighting multiple […]
The poop on live transport, whaling, & Ramadan 2018
Old ships, ancient customs FREMANTLE, Australia––Seventy thousand Australian sheep aboard the 38-year-old livestock carrier Al Messilah, or anyhow those who survive the journey, are due to reach Kuwait on May 14, 2018, according to VesselFinder.com. The voyage continues a trade that Animals Australia likens to whaling in terms of cruelty and obsolescence, but which […]
South Sudan bans hunting; follows Kenya, with Chinese support
Kenya banned hunting in 1977 JUBA, South Sudan––Emulating one of the longtime keys to economic success in neighboring Kenya, the seven-year-old nation of South Sudan on March 6, 2018 “banned all forms of wildlife hunting, including commercial trade in wildlife trophies,” the Xinhua news agency reported. The specific mention of “wildlife trophies” by the […]
Who killed ivory trade investigator Esmond Martin, why?
Survived more than 30 years of work in some of the world’s most dangerous places, only to be stabbed in his bed NAIROBI, Kenya––Nairobi police homicide detectives appear to believe that renowned elephant ivory and rhino horn trafficking investigator Esmond Bradley Martin Jr., 75, was murdered on February 5, 2018 in connection with a […]
Losing their asses: China trade deals deplete global donkey population
Is the demand real or a bubble? Either way, donkeys suffer BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan; NAIROBI, Kenya; JOHANNESBURG, South Africa––Developing nations from South Africa to Kyrgyzstan have become urgently concerned about losing their asses in trade deals with China. Literally. But whether Chinese donkey-brokers are buying donkeys for slaughter because of authentic market demand within China […]
Egyptian writer gets three years in prison for criticizing Eid slaughter
Allegedly insulted Islam CAIRO, Egypt––Found guilty of insulting Islam for criticizing mass public slaughter of animals at the 2015 Eid al Adha, or Feast of Sacrifice, Egyptian writer Fatima Naoot, 52, was on January 26, 2016 sentenced to serve three years in prison and to pay a fine of 2,000 Egyptian pounds, amounting to […]
Keeping the Horn of Africa impaled on dilemma
How rebuilding drought-stricken herds perpetuates starvation & poverty PARIS, NAIROBI––The 2014 film documentary Cowspiracy was rarely mentioned among the many conspiracy theories pertaining to global warming and climate change that were bandied about in connection with the recent COP 21 Paris Climate Conference. Most of the COPs, “COP” in this context being short for United […]