California trails China, Singapore, Taiwan, & Hong Kong in regulation of frog & turtle sales at live markets SAN DIEGO, California––Meeting on December 13-14, 2023 at the Handlery Hotel in San Diego, the California Fish & Game Commission will be asked yet again to ban the import into California of live American bullfrogs and freshwater […]
Five deaths of note: two vegans, two animal entertainers, & a sanctuarian
Vegan poet Benjamin Zephaniah, reality TV star Chris Wilson, sanctuarian David Stevens, exotic cat trainer Dirk Arthur, & vegan “influencer” Zhanna Samsonova did not even have beans in common Benjamin Zephaniah Performance protest poet, actor, reggae musician, and vegan animal advocate Benjamin Zephaniah, 65, died early on December 7, 2023, eight weeks after he was […]
Rabid kitten & dog jeopardize eradication success stories in U.S. & India
Apparently isolated cases, but both rabies outbreaks came where they should not have OMAHA, Nebraska; CHENNAI, India––Recent discoveries of a rabid kitten in east-central Omaha, Nebraska, and a rabid dog in Royapuram, a northern suburb of Chennai, India, indicate threats to two of the most influential rabies eradication success stories anywhere, ever. The rabid kitten, […]
How global campaign against greyhound racing got to the home stretch
Brooklyn Goes Home: The Rise and Fall of American Greyhound Racing and the Dog that Inspired a Movement by Christine A. Dorchak & Carey Theil 224 pages. $8.99 Kindle; $17.96 paperback. Lantern Publishing & Media, P.O. Box 1350, Woodstock, NY 12498 www.lanternpm.org Reviewed by Merritt Clifton Don’t judge this book by the cover. The pastel […]
Feds give Makah tribe the go-ahead to kill gray whales again
NOAA issues Final Environmental Impact Statement, the last legal obstacle between gray whales & Makah harpoons & bullets SEATTLE, Washington––An early 2024 resumption of gray whale killing by the Makah tribe of Neah Bay, Washington, seems all but assured after the November 17, 2023 publication of a 2,364-page Final Environmental Impact Statement on the Makah […]
South Korean government pledges dog-eating will be banned by 2027
Governing party and leading opposition party both favor banning dog consumption SEOUL, South Korea––Dog-eating in South Korea appears likely to be banned after January 1, 2027. “In a special consultative meeting at the National Assembly,” reported Lee Jaeeun for the Korea Herald on November 17, 2023, “the Yoon Suk Yeol administration and officials of the […]
Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt endorses the cockfighting industry
Praises Oklahoma Game Fowl Commission for “preserving heritage” OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma––Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt all but dropped his rooster into a cockpit and placed a bet at the Oklahoma Game Fowl Commission annual legislative meeting on November 12, 2023 in McAlester, Oklahoma. “Hey everyone. Governor Kevin Stitt here,” he opened, addressing the meeting by video. […]
Rabies deaths drive effort in Vietnam to stop eating dogs & cats
Soi Dog Foundation enlists teachers & practitioners of traditional medicine in campaign HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam––Sixty-four human deaths from rabies in Vietnam during the first nine months of 2023, an increase of 21 from the first nine months of 2022, have sparked renewed efforts to eradicate the dog and cat meat traffic. Medically recognized […]
EATS Act: beware of zombie stealth attack on U.S. farmed animals
Promising abolition of live exports, King Charles III of U.K. demonstrates why EATS would be the shits for poultry, pigs, & cattle LONDON, U.K.; WASHINGTON D.C.––Kings of England, Scotland, and Wales have not had a say in the passage of United States legislation since 1776, when the Thirteen Colonies and Vermont gave the British […]
“Bird flu” whacks marine mammals; are bird-eating people next?
High pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 hits in unexpected places around the globe GALAPAGOS ISLANDS, Ecuador; PUGET SOUND, Washington; DES MOINES, Iowa––Beyond the birding world, and only the small segment of that who pay attention to avian diseases, hardly anyone noticed the “canary in the coal mine” when on September 20, 2023 the Galapagos National Park […]