“Golden age of television” survivor had caregivers influential in the rise of animal rights opposition to zoos and circuses SAN FRANCISCO––The San Francisco Zoo chimpanzee Cobby, 63, who died on June 5, 2021, was remembered by mass media as “the oldest male chimp living in an accredited North American zoo.” But that may have been the […]
Last acts for animal circuses in Russia, India, New Jersey, & Hawaii
Russian law protects Moscow State Circus monopoly MOSCOW, NEW DELHI––New legislation in Russia, whose circuses have for almost a century been the most attended worldwide, and in India, where the circus tradition started, appear to be among the final acts in several thousand years of traveling exhibitions of performing animals. The new Russian “Law […]
“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 […]
Train speeding in the wee hours kills four elephants
“India ain’t big enough for both of us.” KOLKATA, India––The Howrah-Mumbai Mail train in the wee hours of April 16, 2018 killed four elephants on the same stretch of track in Jharsuguda district, Odissa state, where two others died after falling into trackside ditches in separate incidents in September and October 2017. […]
Daphne Sheldrick, 83, showed Kenya that wildlife is worth most when alive
Known for elephant & rhino rescue, but contributions were much bigger than that NAIROBI, Kenya––The facts of the life of the late Daphne Sheldrick, who died at age 83 on April 12, 2018 after a long battle with breast cancer, are much more easily summarized than her legacy to wildlife, elephants in particular, and […]
Will videotaped beatings kill the last elephant polo tournament?
PETA video shows mahout hit elephant on the head “approximately 15 times” BANGKOK, Thailand––The likelihood that the recently completed 16th annual King’s Cup Elephant Polo Tournament in Bangkok, Thailand will mark the end of the sport increased on March 9, 2018, the second day of the four-day event, concluded on March 11, when PETA/Asia […]
Who killed ivory trade investigator Esmond Martin, why?
Survived more than 30 years of work in some of the world’s most dangerous places, only to be stabbed in his bed NAIROBI, Kenya––Nairobi police homicide detectives appear to believe that renowned elephant ivory and rhino horn trafficking investigator Esmond Bradley Martin Jr., 75, was murdered on February 5, 2018 in connection with a […]
China halts ivory sales, but leads the world in live elephant imports
No more “state-approved ivory dealers” BEIJING, China; HARARE, Zimbabwe––All trade in elephant ivory is now illegal in China, effective January 1, 2018, except in Hong Kong, which is reportedly soon to enact a similar prohibition, to take effect in 2022. “From now on, if a merchant tells you ‘this is a state-approved ivory dealer’… […]
Elephant polo follows woolly mammoths toward extinction
Scheduled at only one place, for just four days, in 2018 BANGKOK, Thailand––Elephant polo might in theory stagger on for years or even decades after the four-day 2018 King’s Cup Elephant Polo Tournament––if the last tournament host, Anantara Hotels & Resorts, remains willing to pour promotional effort into it and mahouts have elephants to […]
Has China made trains animal-friendly, while U.S. & India fail?
The dog survived, but the elephants didn’t. The pandas may never know the trains are there. DUPONT, Washington; GUWAHATI, India; CHENGDU, China––Just like in the movies, the dog survived. A Dachshund/terrier mix belonging to passenger Shaheim Lewis, Daisy went flying but suffered no serious injuries, according to the Tacoma Tribune, when Amtrak Cascades passenger train […]