Manicured image as “positive reinforcement” trainer & conservationist was, like the Siegfried & Roy show, largely illusory LAS VEGAS––Entertainer Roy Horn, 75, whose illusion acts with longtime partner Siegfried Fischbacher famously featured white tigers, pythons, and elephants, died on May 8, 2020 in Las Vegas, his home for nearly 50 years, from complications of […]
“Cry Me A Cockroach”: Valentine’s Day sadism & the San Antonio Zoo
Cockroaches & rats named after ex-spouses to be fed to snakes SAN ANTONIO, Texas––San Antonio Zoo executive director Tim Morrow and staff appear to be going full speed ahead with a Valentine’s Day “Cry Me A Cockroach” event, despite complaints from around the world that it is mean-spirited, sadistic, and misleading, promotes a hostile […]
Lost in translation: “personhood” verdict reportedly won for elephant
Transfer-of-goods tax ruling followed precedent for nonprofit transactions CHAPADA DOS GUIMARÅES, Mato Grosso, Brazil––The retired Asian elephant Ramba, 52, arrived late on October 18, 2019 at the Santuário de Elefantes do Brasil, or Elephant Sanctuary Brazil, after a 73-hour journey from Chile. The transaction was completed after the elephant […]
Fur sales, wildlife acts, & hiding dog bite history banned in California
Fur-bearing animals & adopters of shelter/rescue dogs win protections SACRAMENTO, California––The new animal-related law in California that Governor Gavin Newsom and mass media said least about, to help protect Californians against recklessly rehomed dogs with bite history, may in the end become the most emulated among the raft of bills sent to Newsom’s desk […]
Last acts for animal circuses in Russia, India, New Jersey, & Hawaii
Russian law protects Moscow State Circus monopoly MOSCOW, NEW DELHI––New legislation in Russia, whose circuses have for almost a century been the most attended worldwide, and in India, where the circus tradition started, appear to be among the final acts in several thousand years of traveling exhibitions of performing animals. The new Russian “Law […]
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 […]
Hurricane Irma: survival stories from 27 zoos & sanctuaries
No losses of zoo & sanctuary animals reported! (See also Hurricane Irma: first reports on animals in the Caribbean islands, Hurricane Irma: Hemingway cats & dolphin rescuer Rick Trout rode it out in the Keys , and Hurricane Irma: how wildlife endured) Current USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service licensing data indicates that at least 217 […]
Dick Gregory, 50 years a vegan activist, dies at 84
Had record of advocacy for non-violent food nearly as long as careers in comedy and civil rights Dick Gregory, 84, remembered by most media as “a groundbreaking comedian and civil rights activist,” but also actively advocating a vegan lifestyle for nearly two-thirds of his life, died in Washington D.C. on August 19, 2017 from a […]
Will ALDF fight return to Europe of big cats who performed for Ringling?
Endangered Species Act definitions changed while 15 cats were in U.S. on tour ELLENTON, Florida; COTATI, California––The Animal Legal Defense Fund on May 25, 2017 let the world know via media release that it “strongly objects” to an application from the no longer performing Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for a U.S. […]
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 […]