Animals 24-7

News & perspective for the humane community

Is Down Under biological warfare killing bunnies across the Pacific?

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Spreading disease by air is much easier than containing it by any method             LANGLEY, Washington––About sixty feral Belgian hares, long beloved village pets in Langley,  Washington,  may be the latest casualties of deliberate releases of the rabbit hemorrhagic disease RHD-1 in Australia and New Zealand,  8,000 and 7,500 miles across the Pacific Ocean,  respectively. […]

Livestock shipment to Middle East goes sideways; to Hawaii, goes backward

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Drowned sheep & asphixiated cattle result from opposite approaches to maximizing profit MILILANI, Hawaii––Compared to the drowning deaths of more than 14,350 sheep on November 24,  2019 aboard the capsized Queen Hind in the port of Midia,  Romania,  the deaths of 21 Angus heifers aboard a Young Brothers barge en route from Honolulu to Kauai,  […]

Gadhi Mai 2019: more animals killed than in 2014, but fewer people watched

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But drone videos show––again––that the body count was vastly lower than is often claimed BARIYARPUR,  Nepal––More animals were slain at the 2019 Gadhi Mai sacrificial massacre in Bariyarpur,  Nepal,  than in 2014––a deeply disappointing discovery,  after 15 years of international efforts to stop the every-five-years bloodbath held in honor of a local goddess. Drone video […]

Iran to keep six cheetah conservationists in prison. Two more await fate.

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Sentences of six to 10 years come amid violent repression of anti-government protests & five-day Internet shutdown TEHRAN, Iran––The Iranian theocracy headed by Hassan Rouhani on November 20,  2019 celebrated “victory” over six days of public protest over fuel prices soaring by as much as 300%––and sent a warning to the protesters––by sentencing six of eight […]

Will African swine fever make China vegan?

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Whatever happens, most of the world will eat less pork SYDNEY,  Australia;  HONG KONG––Will African swine fever,  a viral disease now projected to kill at least half the pigs in China and a quarter of all the pigs in the world,  accelerate the trend toward vegan eating? Or speed the transition toward factory farming? Or […]

Bali: fighting rabies & dolphin captivity amid mud & ashes of a live volcano

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Long uphill struggles pay off             DENPASSAR, Bali,  Indonesia––Fireballs and lava are no longer flying from Mount Agung,  the reputed Balinese home of the gods,  but smoke,  steam,  and noxious gases are still rising from thermal vents,  keeping most humans at a distance,  Bali Animal Welfare Association (BAWA) dog rescuers excepted. Rabies persists in three […]

Dolphin defender Ric O’Barry, cleared by Tokyo court, plans return to Japan

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Three-judge panel rules O’Barry was wrongly barred entry & deported in 2016 TOKYO––“I’m gonna go back and do it again!” dolphin defender Ric O’Barry emailed to ANIMALS 24-7 late on October 3,  2019,  after attorneys Megumi Wada and Takashi Takano won a Tokyo District Court ruling on O’Barry’s behalf that O’Barry is free to return to […]

Cockfighters vs. coal miners, Taiji vs. Hong Kong: animal suffering gets lost

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What happens when animal issues are overwhelmed by current events?             HARLAN COUNTY, Kentucky;  TAIJI, Japan;  BALI, Indonesia––A trainload of coal worth $1.4 million,  blockaded for six weeks by illegally laid off miners whose last pay checks bounced,  might at a glance appear to have nothing to do with an alleged cockfighting ring run by […]

Elephants, giraffes, sharks, Asian otters & seahorses fare well in Switzerland

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African elephants win protection near where exports for display began             GENEVA, Switzerland––Live elephant exports from Africa for exhibition at least nominally ended by plenary vote at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Triennial Conference of the Parties on August 27,  2019 in Geneva,  Switzerland,  about 200 miles north from where the […]

Will Nairobi shoot dogs, vaccinate them, or serve them for dinner?

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Governor’s proposals confuse & alarm Kenya             NAIROBI, Kenya––Does Nairobi County governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko want to shoot street dogs,  vaccinate them against rabies,  or serve them for dinner? Three and a half months after the Sonko administration began running the three proposals up the flagpole to see who might salute,  neither Nairobi citizens,  news […]