Florida roadside zoo showman starred on TV for 50 years NORWALK, Connecticut––Few viewers of the NBC nature documentary television series Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom during the original run of the program, 1963-1971, might have expected that host Jim Fowler would die quietly at home at age 89––but he did, on May 8, 2019, in […]
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 […]
Perp to serve no time for first U.S. federal “crush video” conviction
Credited with time served for Texas state charges HOUSTON, Texas––Ashley Nicole Richards, 25, the first federal defendant to be sentenced in a “crush video” case, on February 26, 2016 was ordered to serve 33 months in prison, but U.S. District Judge Sim Lake credited her with having already served the time during 42 months […]
Pit bull advocates
Pit bulls, “bullying & backlash,” & who is really threatening whom Parallels between the messages sent by advocates for aggressive dogs, and the messages internalized by victims of domestic violence, by Branwyn Finch Don’t bully my breed, but we will bully the victims, by Beth Clifton Will Cesar Millan be charged for “hog-dog rodeo”? What […]
Elephant sanctuarian Carol Buckley takes up fencing
“Good fences make good neighbors.” ––Robert Frost Whatever became of Carol Buckley, the former circus elephant trainer who founded the world-renowned Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, but made a controversial exit in March 2010? “Buckley is currently in Thailand installing the country’s first solar powered chain-free corrals for captive elephants,” Elephant Aid International publicist Patricia Jones […]
Big Cat Rescue: remembering every large & exotic cat
Memorial Wall includes nearly every cat species TAMPA, Florida––Visitors to Big Cat Rescue will see almost every species of cat whom anyone has ever raised in captivity. The cats are without exception kept in exemplary conditions, displaying the relaxed ferocity in repose that most cats take as a birthright. But visitors will see no “Wall […]
Elephant polo ends in Jaipur, but elephant use & abuse in tourism continue
From Azam Siddiqui, New Delhi, India: I have immense joy in sharing the news that elephant polo organizers have pledged not to hold elephant polo matches in the state of Rajasthan, India. Reported Rachna Singh for the Times of India on January 9, 2015, “Tour operators are now informing the foreign agents not to book […]