Finding the truth amid emotive incidents “What Have We Done to the Whale?” headlined the August 17, 2020 online edition of The New Yorker. Added the subhead, “The creatures once symbolized our efforts to save the planet; now they demonstrate all the ways we have devastated it.” The hand-wringing essay by Amia Srinivasan that followed also appeared […]
Three-legged bears in the Great Smokies may be no accident
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, […]
Pandas follow the Calgary Stampede out of town––and back to China
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
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
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 […]
From gorillas to shelter dogs: animals caught in the COVID-19 crunch
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, […]
COVID-19 hot tip for coffee growers: don’t go bat-@#$% nuts!
COVID-19 shows “Eat @#$% & die!” is a warning, not a metaphor KUNMING, China; LONDON, U.K.; SEATTLE––One might imagine that the midst of a global pandemic of COVID-19, a disease apparently originating in bats, would not be the best time for selling bat-processed coffee. At this writing, COVID-19 has infected nearly 175,000 people, worldwide, killing […]
COVID-19: What can wildlife management teach us?
No, it is not “shoot the victims”! SEATTLE––Perhaps the most startling statistic pertaining to the global spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus is the statistic almost nobody mentions: the ratio of compensatory versus additive mortality. What’s that? It is not that as of March 10, 2020 there are still only about 140,000 COVID-19 cases of […]
Why COVID-19 is NOT the zoonotic illness most likely to kill you
Panicked stress may be killing more people than the disease itself SEATTLE, ATLANTA, HONG KONG––Amid escalating global panic over the worldwide rapid spread of the recently identified coronavirus COVID-19, a person not familiar with ProMED–mail might expect the most panic-stricken person of all to be ProMED–mail deputy editor Marjorie P. Pollack, M.D. ProMED-mail is […]
Wild animals off market in China: crackdown on coronavirus
“Huge hidden dangers to public health & safety” BEIJING, China––Responding to the COVID-19 coronavirus, which has now killed nearly 2,600 people worldwide, the 170-member National People’s Congress Standing Committee, the top legislative body in China, on February 24, 2020 provisionally banned all consumption of wildlife and trade in wild-caught species, other than fish. Announced […]
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