How did Wildlife SOS cofounder & experienced anti-poaching investigator Kartick Satyanarayan get caught in such a tangle? AGRA, India––Wildlife law enforcement agents worldwide, both with government agencies and with nonprofit organizations, might take a lesson from the present plight of Wildlife SOS cofounder Kartick Satyanarayan. In particular, Satyanarayan could probably teach quite a bit from […]
Cats & dogs: how tigers, leopards, jaguars, & coyotes survive in suburbs
Dog & cat feeders unwittingly bait wild predators Cats hunt, dogs scavenge. When either dog or cat numbers drop, the other changes behavior MUMBAI, India; MAHAHUAL, Mexico; KATHAMANDU, Nepal; SAN FRANCISCO, California––Recent reports of tiger, jaguar, leopard, and coyote predation in human-dominated habitat come as reminders that the cat/dog relationship, even in the presence of […]
Haj 2026 ends with livestock slaughter down, killing dogs judicially decried
Blockade of the Strait of Hormuz stopped livestock shipments to seven nations. Islamabad High Court rules that indiscriminately killing street dogs contradicts Islamic law. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan––The 2026 Haj season, meaning the pilgrimage-to-Mecca season observed by the Islamic faithful, ended on May 30-31 with both good and bad news for animals. The bad news, as ever, […]
Safety from dog attacks is basic human right, India Supreme Court rules
Current pace of fatal dog attacks in Tamil Nadu state alone would project to more than 3,000/year for the whole of India NEW DELHI, India––Issuing the most emphatic Supreme Court of India ruling yet against “dog menace,” a three-judge panel reviewing Indian dog law since August 2025 on May 19, 2026 held that neither dogs […]
How “tiger porn” & kitten handling Trump the Big Cat Public Safety Act
The Shalom Wildlife Sanctuary, Knoxville Zoo, and Sharkarosa Zoo defy the intent of the Big Cat Public Safety Act, if not the actual letter of it WEST BEND, Wisconsin; KNOXVILLE, Tennessee; PILOT POINT, Texas––One might call it “tiger porn.” Mingling fantasy with delusion, voyeurism, exhibitionism, and profitable showmanship, the grotesquely misnamed roadside zoo calling […]
Naked Ape author Desmond Morris, 98, helped to shape AR movement
Desmond Morris’ ideas helped to form “animal rights” arguments, but Morris stood apart from the cause LONDON, U.K.––Naked Ape author Desmond Morris, 98, an influence upon and fellow traveler with the animal rights movement for much of his life, but at odds with vegans and vegetarians, died on April 19, 2026, in Naas, County Kildare, […]
He arose! Jonathan the 194-year-old tortoise did not die on April 1!
Reports of his death, as Mark Twain said, were “Greatly exaggerated.” HELENA––“Heartbroken to share that our beloved Jonathan,” a Seychelles tortoise with an estimated age of 194 years, “the world’s oldest living land animal, has passed away today peacefully,” a scammer purporting to be St. Helena veterinarian Joe Hollins posted to social media on April […]
Beyond Evolution, by Michael W. Fox
Beyond Evolution by Michael W. Fox The Lyons Press (123 West 18th St., New York, NY 10011), 1999. 256 pages, hardcover. $24.95. Reviewed by Merritt Clifton in November 1999. “Few parents teach their children reverence for all life, opening their hearts to the wonders and mysteries of wild nature,” former Humane Society of the […]
Elephant menace brings prayers in India, trophy hunting in Botswana
22 people killed by one rampaging elephant in Jharkand RANCHI, Jharkhand, India; GABORONE, Botswana––“Rogue elephant kills two more in Jharkhand, toll reaches 22 in nine days,” bannered Mukesh Ranjan for the New Indian Express on January 9, 2025. This came just 48 hours after Shashi Singh of The Statesman, an Indian national newspaper published since […]
Five little noted but accomplished animal advocates who died in 2025
Marshall R. Thompson, Jamie Massey, Sarah Fisher, Neil C. Wolff, DVM, and Vincent van der Merwe Among the many accomplished animal advocates whose passage in the last months of 2025 mostly escaped notice from all but family and friends were Marshall R. Thompson, Jamie Massey, Sarah Fisher, Neil C. Wolff, DVM, and Vincent van der […]