Animals 24-7

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

South Africa debates end to “canned lion” industry & ivory sales

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“High-Level Panel Report on Lions, Rhinos, Elephants & Leopards” recommends turnabout in national wildlife policy             JOHANNESBURG, South Africa––A South African government wildlife policy study recommends an end to breeding captive lions for cub-petting, trophy shoots of captive-bred and raised lions,  and exports of lion bones for use in traditional Chinese medicine. The paper also […]

Factory-farmed pigs get a break from vaccine breakthrough

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For factory-farmed pigs,  avoiding African swine fever may be about as good as the grim news gets GREENPORT, New York––With all eyes on the progress of vaccination against the global COVID-19 pandemic,  which has to date killed nearly 3.5 million people,  the U.S. Department of Agriculture Research Service in early May quietly announced a breakthrough […]

Remembering Rory Young, Glenn Summerlin, & Helen Marston

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Soldier,  fundraiser,  & campaigner:  three animal advocates whose work & approaches could scarcely have differed more Rory Young,  49,  founder of the anti-poaching organization Chengeta Wildlife,  was killed on April 26, 2021,  along with Spanish journalist David Beriáin,  44,  and photographer Roberto Fraile,  47,  in an ambush in Burkina Faso attributed to the jihadist militia […]

Did Namibia sell 170 elephants to China to make way for oil drilling?

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Murky Namibian elephant deal might involve as much as $22 million paid to someone,  even if oil rights are not involved WINDHOEK,  Namibia––Two weeks after the Namibian government sold 170 elephants to five undisclosed buyers,  to be transported to parts unknown,  Namibian minister of environment and tourism Pohamba Shifeta has yet to reveal the details […]

Did Chinese zoos buy 170 Namibian elephants sold at secret auction?

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Namibian officials say disclosing purchasers might jeopardize the deal             WINDHOEK, Namibia––Who bought 170 elephants,  auctioned off by the Namibian government against international law,  despite months of protest? Suspicion is growing that Namibia will not disclose the elephants’ buyers until the elephants have already been flown to their destinations,  probably Chinese zoos,  the buyers of […]

“Conserving” rhinos to the brink of extinction

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Zoo births one rhino,  scientists make five rhino embryos,  trophy hunters buy rights to shoot dozens,  & poachers kill 1,000-plus per year DUBBO, Australia;  BERLIN, Germany––The Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo,  Australia,  on March 1,  2021 informed media that it “is celebrating the birth of a critically endangered black rhino calf.” Born to a four-time […]

Murder along the equator: seven die defending parrots & gorillas

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Colombian and Congolese wildlife guardians were ambushed RONCESVALLES,  Colombia;  VIRUNGA NATIONAL PARK,  Democratic Republic of Congo––Simultaneous sad reminders of the human cost of wildlife conservation came on January 10,  2021 from the Reserva Loros Andinos in southwestern Colombia and Virunga National Park in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The Reserva Loros Andinos and Virunga […]

Ethiopian woman who saved rare Italian goat breed is raped, killed

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“Happy Goat” farmer/sanctuarian Agitu Ideo Gudeta,  42,  was reportedly killed by Ghanian she gave a job VALLE dei MOCHENI,  Trentino,  Italy––Goat herder Adams Suleimani,  32,  an immigrant to Italy from Ghana,  has reportedly confessed to raping Happy Goat [La Capra Felice] farmer/sanctuarian and cheesemaker Agitu Ideo Gudeta,  42,  and bludgeoning her to death with a hammer,  […]

Nashville needed giant Gambian pouched rats on Christmas morning

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But all the giant Gambian pouched rats in the U.S. were dodging wildlife law enforcement on Grassy Key GRASSY KEY, Florida––Giant Gambian pouched rats,  deployed in Nashville at the right hour of Christmas morning,  might have prevented the 6:30 a.m. explosion of a bomb inside a recreational vehicle that damaged at least 43 businesses,  may […]

The incredible, recent, global rise in the stranding of marine mammals

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by Bill McGraw,  Ph.D. Boquete, Panama During late September, 2020,  Australia experienced the largest mass stranding of whales in the history of that country. Two weeks later,  during early October 2020,  the stranding of 7,000 cape fur seals on the coast of Namibia was identified as a major marine mammal stranding event. Disturbingly, this was […]