North Carolina breeder killed by one of her own “Beloved Boerboels” ASHEVILLE, North Carolina; DURBAN, South Africa––Buncombe County Animal Services on May 1, 2017 removed five boerboel dogs and a Great Pyranees from the home of Jane Marie Egle, 59, after shooting a sixth boerboel who had fatally mauled Egle. Relocating to the Asheville […]
Rhinos worldwide put at risk in South African crap game
Can rhinos survive a real-life test of libertarian economic theory? JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA—The South African Constitutional Court on April 5, 2017 opened the way to legal trade in rhino horn––and probably more illegal rhino horn trafficking worldwide––by dismissing an appeal from the South African Department of Environmental Affairs to keep a moratorium on domestic sales of […]
Fatal cheetah attack spotlights big cat breeding industry
Lions & tigers bred for heads & bones PHILIPPOLIS, Karoo, South Africa––A captive cheetah on March 18, 2017 fatally mauled the three-year-old son of Jacob Pieterse, an employee at tiger breeder and filmmaker John Varty’s Tiger Canyon wildlife farm and tourist attraction. Police spokesperson Motantsi Makhele told media that the victim died while being […]
Court of Appeals rules airlines have right to ban hunting trophies
Verdict issued against rhino shooter Corey Knowlton, Safari Clubs, & coplaintiffs DALLAS, Texas––The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on March 20, 2017 ruled that Delta Airlines is under no legal obligation to carry hunting trophies. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling against trophy hunter Corey Knowlton, […]
Under the Skin: How ejiao threatens the common ass
The Donkey Sanctuary saddles up Free download from https://www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/under-the-skin/full-report Reviewed by Merritt Clifton BEIJING––Can demand for a commodity that constitutes only one ten-thousandth of the global market for traditional Chinese medicine really pose what Donkey Rescue World blogger David C. Duncan calls “an existential threat” to barnyard animals as abundant worldwide as donkeys? This is […]
World Wildlife Fund accused of beating up the little guys
Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development investigates complaint from Survival International PARIS, France––Acting at request of Switzerland, the 35-nation Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has agreed to investigate a complaint from the London-based charity Survival International that the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has repeatedly, systematically, and severely violated the human rights of […]
What’s on the menu? Mice & rats, frozen or live
South African bust sheds light on a dirty business KLOOF, South Africa––Six hundred dead rodents plus dying rats, rabbits and mice, left unfed for days, on December 20, 2016 brought home to the Kloof & Highway SPCA branch of the National SPCA of South Africa what spokesperson Sue Noakes termed “the stark reality of […]
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 […]
What if an island has no cats?
Birds on remote islands are sometimes better off with cats than without them Part II of a two-part series. See also When the cats are away, the mice will play––and the rats & rabbits. Gough Island, also in the South Atlantic, never had any cats. “Today, the British-owned island, described as the home of the most […]
When the cats are away, the mice will play––and the rats & rabbits
Purging cats from South Atlantic islands often harms birds more than helps them (Part I of a two-part series. See also What if an island has no cats?) LONDON, U.K.––Fourteen years after declaring victory over feral cats on remote Ascension Island, on behalf of sooty terns, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds […]