Little known outside Kenya, hugely influential within NAIROBI, Kenya––Pioneering Kenyan journalist and wildlife advocate Sidney Quntai Tauwo, 57, died “on the morning of April 20, 2018 after a short illness which he courageously fought, but lost,” Africa Network for Animal Welfare senior officer for communications and advocacy Sebastian Mwanza emailed to ANIMALS 24-7 on […]
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 […]
Busted in 2016, “Tiger Temple” is reincarnated as “Golden Tiger Zoo”
Too much gold in tigers for monks to stay out of the business KANCHANABURI, Thailand––The notorious “Tiger Temple” in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, nominally closed when wildlife authorities impounded 147 tigers in May 2016, has reportedly been reincarnated as the soon-to-open Golden Tiger Zoo, with 24 tigers acquired from the Mali Salika Tiger Zoo in Nakhon Nayok, just […]
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 […]
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 […]
From pit bulls to street dogs, irresponsible advocacy inflames “dog menace”
Dismissing dangerous dog behavior––or blaming the victims––disregards public trust SPRINGFIELD, Missouri; PHUKET, Thailand––Superficially, the dog-versus-human conflicts raging in Springfield, Missouri, where breed-specific legislation is at issue, and in Phuket, Thailand, where few dogs have any evident breed-specific traits, could scarcely look more different. Pit bull attacks are the problem in Springfield: 38 in three […]
China: Stopping dog trucks is the easy part. Saving dogs is harder.
Some dogs die from their ordeal, but more than 80% are saved GUANGZHOU, China––The hardest part of rescuing a truckload of suspected stolen dogs en route to slaughter in Guangzhou, China on June 19, 2017 had only just began when the cages of dogs were unloaded. The cargo, initially believed to be about 800 […]
Philippine mad dogs claim deadly revenge for being eaten
Eradicating rabies requires ending dog-eating too CAUAYAN, Philippines––For the second time in three years a rabies outbreak linked to eating dogs has hit the western Philippines, underscoring the importance of ending dog meat consumption if canine rabies is to be eradicated. The rabies outbreak was declared by the Negros Occidental provincial department of health […]
Soi Dog Foundation & Indian Ocean tsunami heroine Gill Dalley, 58
Lost legs rescuing a dog in 2004 PHUKET, Thailand––“It is with profound regret and unfathomable sadness that we announce the passing of Gill Dalley,” the Soi Dog Foundation announced on February 13, 2017. “The inaugural winner of the Canine Hero of the Year award at the 2011 Animals for Asia conference in Chengdu, China, […]
Why the Oregon Zoo euthanized Packy the elephant
Antibiotic-resistant asymptomatic TB strain had epidemic potential PORTLAND, Oregon––Oregon Zoo veterinary staff on February 9, 2017 euthanized Packy, 54, the oldest male elephant in the U.S., after a multi-year losing battle against an antibiotic-resistant strain of the lung disease tuberculosis which had already killed two other Oregon Zoo elephants and infected seven zoo staff […]