Sentences of six to 10 years come amid violent repression of anti-government protests & five-day Internet shutdown TEHRAN, Iran––The Iranian theocracy headed by Hassan Rouhani on November 20, 2019 celebrated “victory” over six days of public protest over fuel prices soaring by as much as 300%––and sent a warning to the protesters––by sentencing six of eight […]
Finches found in hair curlers: trafficked to sing, or to fight?
Singing said to be behind smuggling busts, but the money may be in fights among caged finches NEW YORK, N.Y.––Circumstantial evidence hints that some or perhaps all of a parade of men caught in the act of allegedly bootlegging Guyanese seed finches into the U.S., purportedly to sell for use in high-stakes singing contests, might […]
Panda people put in a word for cheetah people facing death in Iran
World Wildlife Fund “stands in solidarity” with researchers charged with alleged espionage GLAND, Switzerland––The World Wildlife Fund “stands in solidarity with eight Iranian men and women on trial in Tehran this month on charges linked to their conservation work,” WWF announced from headquarters in Gland, Switzerland on February 22, 2019. The World Wildlife Fund declaration comes four […]
Russia bans “dogs of dangerous breeds” under new humane law
Vladimir Putin signs “Law on Responsible Treatment of Animals” into effect MOSCOW, Russia––Possession and handling of pit bulls and other dogs of dangerous breeds is to be strictly regulated throughout Russia, under a new national “Law on Responsible Treatment of Animals” signed into effect by Russian president Vladimir Putin on December 26, 2018. The new “Law […]
Iranian cheetah defenders face the death penalty
Accused of “sowing corruption on earth” TEHRAN, Iran––Because fair trials in Iran are historically scarcer than the highly endangered Asiatic cheetah, who survives only in remote habitat in the eastern part of the country, the global conservation, scientific, and human rights communities are anxious as a cat on a hot tin roof about “espionage” […]
“We can still save them”: wild cat conservationist Alan Rabinowitz, 65
The “Indiana Jones of wildlife conservation” was an optimist in a field dominated by doom-and-gloom NEW YORK CITY––Wild cat conservationist Alan Rabinowitz died of cancer on August 5, 2018 in Manhattan, New York City, after an 18-year struggle that began with a diagnosis of leukemia in 2001 and spanned most of the achievements for […]
The many faces of Nasim Aghdam, vegan turned YouTube shooter
Social media performer more engaged in self-promotion than in message-focused statement SAN DIEGO, California––Claiming more than 300,000 people had viewed her 60-odd (and sometimes very odd) YouTube videos on vegan and animal rights themes, Nasim Aghdam on April 3, 2018, two days before what would have been her 38th birthday, abruptly multiplied her audience and […]
Leaving The Wild: The Unnatural History of Dogs, Cats, Cows & Horses
by Gavin Ehringer Pegasus Books, distributed by W.W. Norton & Co. 364 pages. $27.95 hardcover. In stores December 5, 2017. Reviewed by Merritt Clifton Remember the most gripping and informative few books you ever read about dogs, cats, cows, and/or horses, by authors as thorough as the multi-time best sellers Desmond Morris, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, […]
Did the bastards kill any bustards? Oil sheik hunters evicted from Pakistan
Officially, the oil sheiks didn’t use their falcons THARPARKAR, Pakistan––Birding enthusiasts, conservationists, and inquiring minds throughout Pakistan are wondering how endangered houbara bustards really fared this past winter, after––according to the Urdu newspaper Daily Dunya––an alleged falconing camp set up in Tharparkar, Sindh district, by Qatari prince Fahad Abdul Rahman Al Thani was removed […]
How plastic reindeer can feed the world
(at least as well as livestock gift charities) The 2015 holiday giving season is here. Predictably as plastic replicas of Santa Claus’ reindeer appearing on Sunbelt rooftops where no snow ever falls, livestock gift charities including World Vision, Oxfam, and the original, Heifer International, are saturating mass media with appeals to donors to subsidize distributing […]