Pledging to quit animal tests, VW tries again to shake Nazi origin WOLFSBURG, Germany––Monkeys are no longer breathing diesel fumes. Volkswagen publicists are likely breathing sighs of relief. Nazi tactics and ideology live on elsewhere. Examples include the use of the Nazi-developed pesticide Compound 1080 to kill a targeted goal of two million feral […]
Koalas, “world’s cutest critters,” under fire: logging, disease, cars & pit bulls
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 […]
Down Under drive to kill brumby wild horses brings bill to save them
Man from Monaro stands in the bootprints of The Man From Snowy River SYDNEY, Australia––In a reversal of fortune as abrupt as a stallion wheeling on hind legs to strike at an aggressive rival, the wild horses of Kosciuszko National Park in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales are suddenly slated for protected […]
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 […]
Why are wildlife agencies dousing vast regions with deadly poisons?
Catherine de Medici might have considered wildlife poisoning schemes medieval Let me tell you about the birds and bees, and the cats and the rats, and the possums and the pigs, and the technocratic descendants of Catherine de Medici at USDA Wildlife Services, Threatened Species Strategy of Australia, and Zero Invasive Predators of New Zealand, […]
Whalers claim a victory, but Sea Shepherds get the refund
Aussie Sea Shepherds pledge to continue chasing the Japanese whaling fleet TOKYO, LOS ANGELES––The Institute of Cetacean Research, the front organization for the Japanese whaling industry, and Kyodo Senpaku, the company that owns and operates the Japanese whaling fleet, on August 23, 2016 globally publicized a claimed courtroom victory over the Sea Shepherd Conservation […]
Should all feral cats go to heaven? Or hell?
Purges pursued with religious fervor (See also What to call cats, & why their name matters.) WORCESTER, Massachusetts––Named Australia’s first “threatened species commissioner” in July 2014, Gregory Andrews in July 2015, a year later, announced a five-year plan to exterminate feral cats. “Australian Environment Minister Greg Hunt “is declaring war on feral cats, and he’s asked […]
Japanese whalers fined $1 million for contempt of court
Were ordered to stop by Australian court in 2008, & by International Court of Justice in 2014 Sydney, Australia––Sydney Federal Court Justice Margaret Jagot on November 18, 2015 fined the Japanese whaling firm Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha $1 million Australian for killing whales in Australian waters, within the Southern Ocean sanctuary recognized by the International Whaling […]
Harpoon: Into the heart of whaling
by Andrew Darby DaCapo Press (11 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142), 2008. 320 pages, hardcover. $25.00. Reviewed by Merritt Clifton Long covering whaling and whale-related politics for the Melbourne Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, Andrew Darby enjoys a reputation as the best there ever was on the whale beat, at least since Herman Melville […]
“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 […]