“Super Typhoon Ragasa” hit six nations in four days before blowing out HONG KONG, MANILA––Super Typhoon Ragasa, expected to be one of the deadliest and most damaging typhoons on record, instead seems to have proved chiefly that weather is still often unpredictable, and as regards animals, that animal welfare organizations in Southeast Asia are well […]
Asian Animal Protection Network founder John Wedderburn, 83
Medical doctor John Wedderman quietly linked 759 Asian animal advocates into the beginnings of an international movement HONG KONG––Asian Animal Protection Network founder John Wedderburn, 83, among the most influential yet least well-known builders of the global animal rights and humane movements, died on November 25, 2024 at his retirement home in West Java, Indonesia. […]
Big fish, little fish, red fish, blue fish: hard times for aquariums
Hurricane damage, Animal Welfare Act fines, & bad publicity drive out even “Codfather” Vince Covino SARASOTA, Florida; MYSTIC, Connecticut; NIAGARA, Ontario––The Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium in Sarasota, Florida is plugging ahead with a $130 million upgrade and expansion of facilities scheduled to open before the site reaches 70 years of age in early 2025. […]
Fast-rising s/n rate may save Taiwan national no-kill scheme from collapse
Dog & cat populations still rising at 5% per year, but high spay/neuter compliance suggests leveling off is near TAIPEI, Taiwan––A rapidly rising spay/neuter rate may be overtaking annual 5% increases in the Taiwanese dog and cat populations just in time to save the eight-year-old national “no-kill” animal control policy from catastrophic collapse. A 70% […]
Trixie the whale shark dies young at the Georgia Aquarium
Three whale sharks left of six brought from Taiwan in 2006-2007 ATLANTA, Georgia––Trixie the whale shark, who could have lived up to 130 years in the wild, died on November 27, 2020 after just 14 years at the Georgia Aquarium. Trixie, believed to have been about 32 feet long, still about eight feet short […]
Virunga ranger, Taiwanese doctor, & PETA staffer lived & died for animals
Virunga National Park Ranger Bagurubumwe Chuhoze Deogene, 47, Mira Fong, 74, and Jennifer Woods, 58, died on October 10, September 6, and August 22, 2020, respectively, having in common almost nothing in their life histories except their dedication to animals. Bagurubumwe Chuhoze Deogene Joining the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature in 1996, at […]
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, […]
How can we fight the veterinary suicide epidemic?
New CDC study confirms soaring vet suicides, especially among women ATLANTA–– American female veterinarians are five times more likely to commit suicide as other American women, while American male veterinarians are “only” twice as likely to commit suicide as other American men, according to a newly published study of 36 years’ worth of veterinary death data. […]
Live animal markets in New York City: a cut-throat business at best
Customs change with waves of immigration NEW YORK CITY, N.Y.––Escaping the Iranian Revolution with her parents at age 6, artist Sara Rahbar as an adult has produced an internationally recognized portfolio on themes often involving human and animal suffering. Yet Rahbar found herself wholly unprepared for the misery she met close to hand on […]
Mike O’Connor & the Zen of saving the Olympic mountain goats
Port Townsend author emerges as defender of mountain goats slated for extirpation “Attached is a copy of a flyer I have put together in defense of the mountain goats of the Olympic Peninsula,” emailed Mike O’Connor of Port Townsend, Washington, on May 17, 2018, in response to the May 8, 2018 ANIMALS 24-7 article Goat sacrifice to begin at Olympic National Park. “I […]


