Do koalas need better protected traditional habitat, or more new growth? BRISBANE, SYDNEY, Australia––Can a newly made $34 million commitment by the Australian government save koalas? Or are koalas already doomed by the deadly combination of global warming and development? Jeopardized by bushfires, dogs (especially pit bulls), disease, deforestation, and drivers speeding through fragmented […]
The poop on live transport, whaling, & Ramadan 2018
Old ships, ancient customs FREMANTLE, Australia––Seventy thousand Australian sheep aboard the 38-year-old livestock carrier Al Messilah, or anyhow those who survive the journey, are due to reach Kuwait on May 14, 2018, according to VesselFinder.com. The voyage continues a trade that Animals Australia likens to whaling in terms of cruelty and obsolescence, but which […]
Are sick factory-farmed salmon running amok in Puget Sound?
Wild Fish Conservancy study suggests yes SEATTLE, Washington––Are salmon throughout the Pacific Northwest at risk from a crippling disease spread by estimated 162,000 hatchery-bred Atlantic salmon who on August 20, 2017 made a jailbreak from a ruptured sea pen at Cypress Island in Puget Sound? If so, will further losses to the already overfished wild salmon […]
Brush possum killings build momentum for “boycott New Zealand” drive
Coercing children to kill possums oversteps international bounds WELLINGTON, New Zealand––If New Zealand conservation minister Maggie Barry held the portfolios for attracting tourism and economic development instead, she might be less notoriously dismissive of increasing international humane concern about the outcomes of the scheme she announced in 2015 to rid the nation of “invasive” […]
The animal issue that made Donald Trump a presidential candidate
Or, what is bio-xenophobia? (Part I of a four-part series. See also How an ant doctor came to be driving public policy; How the Twin Towers fell on animals too; and Questioning the claims of “crisis.”) With just six weeks left of the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign season, xenophobia, the fear of foreigners, has thus far […]
“Confessions of a vegan” author Sam de Brito, 46
Cause of death unknown Sam de Brito, 46, an internationally syndicated author and columnist known for acerbic comments about vegetarians and vegans before becoming a vegan himself, was found dead on October 12, 2015 at his home in North Bondi, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The cause of death was not immediately […]
Fallen crane & stampede take spotlight from haj animal victims
At least 900,000 animals killed among 24 nations RIYADH, Saudi Arabia––After decades of global controversy over animal transport and slaughter in connection with Eid al Adha sacrificial rites, the animal victims of the 2015 Islamic pilgrimage season went almost unnoticed amid furor over human victims. The start of the pilgrimage season, called the haj […]
Did botched pre-Ramadan sheep shipment start an epidemic?
TBILISI, Georgia––How many sheep were casualties of a botched pre-Ramadan live transport from the nation of Georgia to Saudi Arabia and Jordan in late May 2015? The authentic toll might never be known. Exported for ritual sacrifice, the sheep instead fell ill in transit, were refused at several ports, and reportedly died in large numbers upon […]
Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity, by Lester R. Brown
Earth Policy Institute (1350 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 403, Washington, DC 20036), 2012. 141 pages, paperback. $15.00. Reviewed by Merritt Clifton Publicity materials for Full Planet, Empty Plates credit Lester R. Brown with producing more than 50 books, including the annual Worldwatch reports he edited for 30 years as founder of the Worldwatch Institute. Leaving the Worldwatch Institute in […]
Videotaped Eid al Adha slaughter cruelty in Gaza shocks Australia
(November/December 2013) GAZA, CANBERRA––Amateur videos posted to social media by witnesses to Eid al Adha slaughters in Gaza on October 15, 2013 appear to have provided some of the most damning evidence yet of the failure of the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System to protect Australian livestock from abuse after arrival […]