Animals 24-7

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

Three-legged bears in the Great Smokies may be no accident

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U.S. bear hunters & Asian gangsters cut paws & deals             ASHEVILLE,  North Carolina––Jody Williams and his Facebook group Help Asheville Bears want to catch the perp,  or multiple perps,  responsible for their recent discovery that at least 15 three-legged North American black bears are struggling for survival in the Smoky and Blue Ridge Mountains,  […]

The minks’ jinx: is COVID-19 an exploited species’ revenge?

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Dutch disclose second case of mink-to-human COVID-19 transmission             WAGENINGEN, the Netherlands;  WUHAN, China––“A second case has become known on one of the infected mink farms where,  most likely,  SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19]passed from mink to human,”  Dutch minister of health Hugo DeYoung and minister of agriculture Carola Schouten jointly advised the Dutch parliament on May 25, 2020. […]

Puppies & kittens everywhere, but none in shelters to adopt

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Suspension of spay/neuter & intake services due to COVID-19 cuts adoptions by a third from 2019             NEW YORK CITY––Celebrating rehoming every dog and cat in custody soon after COVID-19 shutdowns began,  animal shelters from coast to coast are suddenly––and predictably––weeping,  wailing,  and tearing hair about having no adoptable animals to offer in response to […]

Pandas follow the Calgary Stampede out of town––and back to China

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COVID-19 red ink left the Calgary Zoo with a black-and-white choice  CALGARY,  Alberta,  Canada––Giving up hope that a rare giant panda exhibit will continue to pay for itself––and of managing to keep the pandas fed through the COVID-19 pandemic––the Calgary Zoological Society on May 12,  2020 disclosed to media that it has asked the Canadian […]

“That touch of mink” & COVID-19: Dutch outbreak hints mink may be host

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Fur farming to end in The Netherlands by 2024 WAGENINGEN, The Netherlands––The discovery that ranched mink can become infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus may lend momentum to the Dutch national plan to phase out mink farming entirely by 2024. Concern that mink themselves might become a COVID-19 reservoir may also dampen Chinese enthusiasm for rebuilding […]

“Asian murder hornet”: surrogate for COVID-19 terror

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Or,  how two “great sparrow bees” incited a national hunt for alleged Chinese alien invaders             BLAINE, Washington––How did the Asian giant hornet,  known for centuries in Japan as the “great sparrow bee,”  generally regarded as beneficial to farmers for killing insect pests,  suddenly become feared in the U.S. as the so-called “murder hornet”? After […]

COVID-19: far more U.S. meat workers hit than Wuhan “wet market” staff

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Infectious as “wet markets” are,  U.S. slaughterhouse conditions appear to be much worse             WATERLOO & SIOUX CITY, Iowa;  SIOUX FALLS,  South Dakota––COVID-19 has infected hundreds of U.S. slaughterhouse workers,  who may have spread the pandemic disease to whole cities,  USA Today reported late on April 22,  2020. The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan,  […]

People who buy meat from glass cases have little room to throw stones

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(Beth Clifton collage) “Wet markets” in China & U.S. slaughterhouses both kill people as well as animals SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota––Underscoring that people who buy meat from glass cases have little room to throw stones at the “wet markets” of China and the developing world,  which sell live animals,  the Chinese-owned Smithfield Foods pig slaughterhouse […]

COVID-19: India feeds stray dogs; ASPCA says “don’t fix them”

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ASPCA advice to shelters could increase puppy & kitten litters by about half a million  While pet keepers in the developed world fret about the apparently infinitesimally small risk of pets and humans infecting and reinfecting each other,  following the discovery of COVID-19 infecting one cat in Liege,  Belgium,  and two dogs and a cat […]

From gorillas to shelter dogs: animals caught in the COVID-19 crunch

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No animals other than bats & humans are known to get COVID-19,  but millions are affected by the human response             WASHINGTON D.C.––Animals and animal-related projects from Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo to National Institutes of Health-funded laboratories are feeling the impact of the international COVID-19 scare underway throughout early 2020,  […]