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 […]
Greyhound racing goes to the dogs in Miami, Macau, & Australia
Magic City is allowed to replace greyhound racing with jai alai––a precedent for “decoupling” animal racing from gambling permits MIAMI, Florida––The Magic City casino in West Flagler, Florida, after more than 13 years of legal struggle, is soon to become the first Florida betting venue to be allowed to abandon animal racing while continuing […]
“Ban white tigers & lion/tiger hybrids,” sanctuarians beg feds
Petition seeks rulemaking under Animal Health Protection Act & Animal Welfare Act WASHINGTON D.C.––Nearly 200 years of entrepreneurs speculatively breeding white tigers and lion/tiger hybrids are enough, say a coalition of animal advocacy organizations and several leading sanctuaries where “tigons,” “ligers,” and “liligers” have lived out their days after proving no longer profitable for […]
Fatal cheetah attack spotlights big cat breeding industry
Lions & tigers bred for heads & bones PHILIPPOLIS, Karoo, South Africa––A captive cheetah on March 18, 2017 fatally mauled the three-year-old son of Jacob Pieterse, an employee at tiger breeder and filmmaker John Varty’s Tiger Canyon wildlife farm and tourist attraction. Police spokesperson Motantsi Makhele told media that the victim died while being […]
Zimbabwe sells wildlife to Chinese zoo empire
But the traffic does not go unseen HARARE, Zimbabwe––Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force founder Johnny Rodrigues had surgery on March 10, 2016, lost his wife Cheryl on March 30, 2016, contracted an e-coli infection in Washington D.C. on July 30, 2016, and was nearly bankrupted by unexpected hospital costs, but after months of mourning and relative […]
A tale of two of the world’s oldest tigers, both named Bengali
One Bengali lived at Big Cat Rescue, the other at Associated Humane Societies’ Popcorn Park Zoo Bengali, 21 or 22 years of age, either way one of the half dozen oldest tigers on record, and one of two tigers within that elite half dozen to share the name Bengali, died on May 31, 2016 at […]
Zoos tried not to let anyone see an elephant fly
17 eles flown from Swaziland to Dallas, Wichita, & Omaha zoos DALLAS, Texas––Why were 17 elephants stuffed aboard a custom-built Boeing 747 on March 8, 2016 and flown secretly to Alliance Field in Dallas? It wasn’t just because trunks are not allowed as carry-on baggage on regularly scheduled commercial flights. The 17 elephants, equivalent in […]
“Xi & Obama: please talk tigers!”
Fourteen leading tiger experts appeal to Chinese and U.S. presidents Discussion of China’s tiger farms and its growing domestic trade in luxury tiger products was unfortunately not on the table for President Xi’s September 24, 2015 visit with U.S. President Barack Obama. Between 5,000 and 6,000 tigers are being farmed today in China for a luxury […]
Were Zimbabwean baby elephants bootlegged to China?
10th July 2015 The Elephant Story by Johnny Rodrigues In January 2014 we heard that Rowan Martin and Hank Jenkins were tasked with going around Zimbabwe to locate some elephants to be exported to China. They were apparently paid quite well for this and they finally decided on Hwange National Park. In August 2014 tourists in Hwange […]
Ric O’Barry reports campaign success in China
Good news continues from China, where I have been on a book promotion tour for the Simplified Chinese edition of The Cove, with Swiss journalist Hans Peter Roth and photographer Sasha Abdolmajid, A user of the Chinese social media platform WeChat posting under the name Enterprise Volunteers on May 23, 2015 merged three media reports […]