Animals 24-7

News on dogs, cats, horses, wildlife, zoonoses, & nature

Factory-farmed pigs get a break from vaccine breakthrough

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For factory-farmed pigs,  avoiding African swine fever may be about as good as the grim news gets GREENPORT, New York––With all eyes on the progress of vaccination against the global COVID-19 pandemic,  which has to date killed nearly 3.5 million people,  the U.S. Department of Agriculture Research Service in early May quietly announced a breakthrough […]

Seaspiracy: seas, piracy, & Cowspiracy meet fishy business

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Fishing industry screams bloody murder Reviewed by Merritt & Beth Clifton Seaspiracy,  whose title is a fusion of “seas” and “piracy,”  and a play on Cowspiracy,  the 2014 independent blockbluster documentary also produced by Kip Anderson,  on March 24,  2021 premiered worldwide on Netflix. Within 10 days Seaspiracy had become a runaway hit,  seen by […]

Legendary giant turtle, believed extinct, resurfaces in Hanoi lake

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Five years after the “last” giant softshell turtle died,  one and possibly three more turn up, plus one in zoo             HANOI, Vietnam––Five years after the January 2016 death of Cu Rua in Hoan Kiem Lake plunged Vietnam into national mourning for the legendary giant softshell turtle,  then believed to have been the last of […]

Kaavan flies to sanctuary with “elephant singers” Cher and Amir Khalil

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World of friends help “world’s loneliest elephant”             ISLAMABAD, Pakistan;  PHNOM PENH, Cambodia––Kaavan,  long billed “the world’s loneliest elephant,”  was a flying elephant this morning,  November 30,  2020,  en route from the defunct Marghuzar Zoo in Islamabad,  Pakistan,  to share a 25,000-acre habitat with three female Asian elephants inside the the one-million acre Kulen-Promtep Wildlife […]

China prosecutes 10 times more wildlife scofflaws in 2020 than U.S.

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COVID-19 triggers sustained crackdown on illegal fishers,  poachers, & traffickers BEIJING, China—Cracking down on wildlife-related crime in response to the global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic,  China prosecuted more than 15,000 alleged perpetrators in the first nine months of 2020. About 7,000 prosecutions were for illegal fishing,  4,000 for poaching land animals and birds,  and 3,000 for […]

Horsemeat, dog meat, & how “angel” Marc Ching fell from grace

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Donors ignored years of warnings about convict turned “rescue” celebrity LOS ANGELES––Marc Ching,  who in November 2018 offered to sell the city of Los Angeles vegan food for impounded dogs at a substantial discount,  is reportedly to be arraigned in December 2020 on one misdemeanor count each of practicing veterinary medicine without a license,  false advertising,  […]

Three-legged bears in the Great Smokies may be no accident

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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,  […]

Pandas follow the Calgary Stampede out of town––and back to China

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COVID-19 red ink left the Calgary Zoo with a black-and-white choice  CALGARY,  Alberta,  Canada––Giving up hope that a rare giant panda exhibit will continue to pay for itself––and of managing to keep the pandas fed through the COVID-19 pandemic––the Calgary Zoological Society on May 12,  2020 disclosed to media that it has asked the Canadian […]

“Asian murder hornet”: surrogate for COVID-19 terror

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Or,  how two “great sparrow bees” incited a national hunt for alleged Chinese alien invaders             BLAINE, Washington––How did the Asian giant hornet,  known for centuries in Japan as the “great sparrow bee,”  generally regarded as beneficial to farmers for killing insect pests,  suddenly become feared in the U.S. as the so-called “murder hornet”? After […]

COVID-19: India feeds stray dogs; ASPCA says “don’t fix them”

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ASPCA advice to shelters could increase puppy & kitten litters by about half a million  While pet keepers in the developed world fret about the apparently infinitesimally small risk of pets and humans infecting and reinfecting each other,  following the discovery of COVID-19 infecting one cat in Liege,  Belgium,  and two dogs and a cat […]