Animals 24-7

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

Guerrillas gun down 12 gorilla guards & five others in Virunga, DRC

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Resurgent Ebola and COVID-19 escalate threats to already high-risk habitat VIRUNGA NATIONAL PARK,  Democratic Republic of the Congo––At least 17 people,  including 12 Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation rangers whose primary duty is protecting critically endangered mountain gorillas,  were killed in an April 24,  2020 ambush attack. No gorillas are known to have been caught […]

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 […]

Ravaging Asia & Africa: a much deadlier plague than COVID-19

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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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

David Wills, ex-humane exec, convicted; may get life in child sex case

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17-count conviction follows two-week trial; sentence pending             ROCKPORT,  Texas––David Keith Wills,  a former executive of four humane  organizations including the Humane  Society of the United States,  faces a potential sentence of life in prison,  following his conviction on October 8,  2019  by a U.S. federal court jury in Rockport,  Texas on 17 counts pertaining […]