Animals 24-7

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

When the cats are away, the mice will play––and the rats & rabbits

By

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 […]

Tatenda the rescued baby rhino dies in Zimbabwe

By

Survived poachers’ attack in 2007 HARARE,  Zimbabwe––For nearly a decade the baby black rhino Tatenda was an internationally known symbol of hope for Zimbabwean wildlife and for black rhinos as a species,  but no more. “It is with great sadness that we have to report that our beloved Tatenda has passed away,”  e-mailed Zimbabwe Conservation Task […]

“Jaws 13, Cecil 0” at Johannesburg endangered species meeting

By

Hunters prevail on African lion listing          JOHANNESBURG,  South Africa––The final score in the last contentious rounds at the 12-day CITES CoP 17 meeting in Johannesburg,  South Africa might be posted as “Jaws 13,  Cecil 0,”  with a series of landmark decisions for sharks but nothing good done for African lions. Concluding on October 5,  […]

What “CITES CoP 17” means to animals in plain English

By

Elephants,  rhinos,  African grey parrots,  & pangolins among the species whose fates are on the block          JOHANNESBURG,  South Africa––The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) seventeenth triennial Conference of Parties (CoP 17) on October 2,  2016 adopted a resolution of elephant-sized importance to elephants worldwide,  more than 140,000 of whom have been […]

Fatal dog attacks & dogfighting explode in South Africa

By

Pit Bull Union of South Africa executives convicted on related charges          CAPE TOWN,  South Africa––Faith Hendricks,  18 months old,  was on September 1,  2016 killed in her parents’ yard by the family pit bull in Mount Pleasant,  South Africa,  a suburb of Port Elizabeth on the Eastern Cape. Marchen Hoffman,  age 6,  was killed […]

Hippos out of water: easy trophy targets

By

May be shot even in Colombian mini-refuge CAPE TOWN, LUSAKA, MEDALIN–– Hippopotamuses, under the gun now in Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, decried as a menace by fishing villages in Kenya, Uganda, and Malawi, and perhaps soon to be shot in Colombia, might be described as casualties of global warming. Evolved due to global warming […]

Kenyans rise in protest over lions shot & speared

By

Incidents recall the Cecil case in Zimbabwe          NAIROBI,  Kenya;  JOS,  Nigeria––More than 2,000 Kenyans had signed petitions protesting the violent deaths of two lions on the outskirts of Nairobi,  the national capital,  within 48 hours of the shooting of the first lion,  Mohawk,  and 24 hours of the discovery of the remains of the […]

Zoos tried not to let anyone see an elephant fly

By

17 eles flown from Swaziland to Dallas, Wichita,  & Omaha zoos DALLAS,  Texas––Why were 17 elephants stuffed aboard a custom-built Boeing 747 on March 8,  2016 and flown secretly to Alliance Field in Dallas? It wasn’t just because trunks are not allowed as carry-on baggage on regularly scheduled commercial flights. The 17 elephants,  equivalent in […]

Former Michigan Humane Society & Humane Society of the U.S. executive David Wills is indicted in Texas for sexual abuse of a child

By

Wills was pushing shrimp schemes          CORPUS CHRISTI,  Texas–– Former Michigan Humane Society president and Humane Society of the U.S. vice president for investigations David K. Wills,  62,  is reportedly soon to stand trial in Texas on felony charges of continuous sexual abuse of a child and continuous trafficking of a child. Reported Bart Bedsole of […]

Wildlife contraceptive researcher Jay Kirkpatrick, 75

By

Developed PZP for use in 85 species          Jay Kirkpatrick,  75,  for more than 40 years a leading developer of contraceptive vaccines for wild horses,  deer,  elk,  and other wildlife,  died on December 16,  2015 in Billings,  Montana “from a brief but serious illness,”  family and friends said. Kirkpatrick,  originally from Bucks County,  Pennsylvania,  spent […]